Cube Route (10 page)

    They turned around and flew back along the line. There was nothing until they arrived back at the book fair.

    “I wonder,” Karia said. “Where would a person hide, if he truly did not want to be found?”

    “Somewhere nobody would look.”

    “How about a book?”

    “A dragon wouldn't fit in a book, unless he were ensorceled.”

    “I wonder. We all fit in your pouch.”

    “You are thinking a book could be like the pouch?”

    “Perhaps in the sense of being a portal to another realm. We think it is figurative, but with magic it just might be literal.”

    “It just might,” Cube agreed.

    They walked back through the fair until they came to the book they had admired before,Phaze. Cube poked a finger at the picture on the cover.

    It went into the picture. Then she was sliding after it. She was entering the book, just as she had the pouch.

    She landed on green turf. The three people looked at her, startled. “Who be thee?” the man asked.

    “I, uh--just dropped in,” Cube answered.

    Then Karia landed beside her. The three people stared. “What manner of creature art thou?” the man asked.

    “I am a winged centaur,” Karia said. “You haven't seen one before?”

    “Never.”

    Then Cube caught on. “We entered the book! We are in the book's world. Phaze.”

    “True, this be Phaze,” the man said. “Thy world is different?”

    “We call it Xanth,” Karia replied.

    The man exchanged a blank glance with the two women. “We know it not.”

    “The book--it's a portal,” Karia said. “Just as we guessed. We have entered another world.”

    “Could the dragon be here?”

    “Here there be dragons,” the man agreed. “Mostly in the Purple Mountains to the south, but some do wander.”

    Drek could have hidden in the world of a book! “We came here looking for a particular dragon,” Cube said.

    The man laughed. “Why wouldst thou desire a dragon?”

    “We believe he can help us. But he is hiding. We need to locate him.”

    “Dragons ne'er help others,” the man said. “They eat them.”

    “I think we had better get a new direction,” Karia said.

    Cube wanted to bring the Princesses out, but didn't want the strangers to see it happen. Then she had a bright notion. “I think the rest of our party is about to arrive.”

    “The same way we did,” Karia agreed.

    Cube put a hand into the concealed pouch. “Princesses,” she whispered.

    The three girls appeared. “Yes, here they are,” Cube said.

    “Whence come these?” the man asked.

    “We are all from Xanth,” Cube said quickly. “Just visiting Phaze. We just want to find the dragon.”

    The three Princesses huddled, then pointed the direction. “That away,” Melody said.

    “Far away,” Harmony agreed.

    “But a stronger signal,” Rhythm concluded.

    “Then we had better get going,” Karia said.

    The man exchanged another glance with his companions. “Phaze be not a land safe for strangers to travel,” he said. “There be dangers on land and in air. Particularly for children.”

    “He is surely correct,” Karia said. “This isn't Xanth. We should not take unnecessary risks.”

    Cube considered. “Maybe we can make a deal.” She faced the man. “We have--some magic. What might we do for you, in exchange for your help finding our dragon?”

    “We were looking not for reward, but merely advising of danger. We like not to see children endangered.” He smiled at the Princesses, who smiled back.

    “Perhaps we should introduce ourselves,” Karia said. “I am Karia Winged Centaur, and these are Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm.” She had not identified the rank of the children.

    “And I am called Cube,” Cube said.

    “So appealing to meet thee, mare,” the man said, his eyes lingering for a long moment, perhaps a moment and a half, on her front. Then he turned to Cube. “And thee, woman,” his eyes not lingering. Then to the three Princesses. “And you, girls. I am Stoturyso Wolf, Stu for brief, and these are my companions Viola Corn and Forili Vamp. We be competent travelers, for we return not to our own kind.”

    Karia nodded thoughtfully. “I mean no offense, but I suspect you are not fully human.”

    “Indeed we are not,” Stu agreed. “And I think neither be thy children mere young folk nor this thy full party. Shall we exchange wider introductions?”

    Cube struggled with propriety versus secrecy, and decided that since this was a different realm, they could afford to be open. “We will do this, if our full nature is not told elsewhere.”

    Stu glanced at the two women. “We agree to bruit it not about.”

    “The children are the Sorceresses Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm,” Cube said. “Capable of performing considerable magic.”

    The three reacted. “Adepts?” Stu asked, alarmed.

    “What is an Adept?”

    “A person with much power o' magic, a likely ruler o' his demesnes.”

    “That's close,” Cube said. “But they are not planning on doing any mischief here.” Then she reached her hand into the pouch. “Ryver,” she murmured.

    The man appeared. His eyes oriented instantly on the two attractive Phaze women. “Hello!”

    “Our salutation to thee,” Stu said.

    “And one more member of our party,” Cube said. She reached in again, and brought out Metria. “The Demoness Metria.”

    Again the three reacted. “A demon!” Stu said. “They come not often this way.”

    The demoness swirled into smoke, then spied Stu and coalesced into her loveliest shape. “Well, now, mortal. Whatever can I do for you?” Her blouse tightened and her skirt shortened.

    Stu took a good look, then turned to his own companions. “Now will we show our further natures. I am not a man but a werewolf.” He abruptly changed form, becoming a formidable wolf.

    “Oh, can we pet you?” Melody asked.

    “We love wolves,” Harmony added.

    “Especially werewolves,” Rhythm concluded.

    Now one of the women, Viola, spoke for the first time. “Thou mayst pet him, Melody, as he be tame.”

    “But pet not any strange wolf,” the other woman, Forili, cautioned. “They be not always tame.”

    The three Princesses grouped around Stu, petting him on head, neck, and back.

    “And I be a unicorn,” Viola said, changing into one.

    That immediately distracted the children from the wolf. “Oh, may we ride on you?” Melody asked.

    “We love unicorns,” Harmony added.

    “But we hardly ever see one,” Rhythm concluded.

    “Thou mayst ride her,” Forili said. “She also be tame.” She lifted the children up to the unicorn's back.

    The unicorn took them for a brief ride and returned. Then Forili spoke again. “And I be a vampire.” She changed into a large bat.

    For some reason the Princesses did not clamor to experience her nature.

    Stu returned to manform. “Normally packs, herds, and flocks remain with their own kind,” he said. “But we prefer each other's company. This makes us unwelcome at home, so we travel together, not completely satisfied. We cannot marry without the support o' our kind.”

    Cube caught on. “You want acceptance of your relationship.”

    He nodded. “And that we fear we can ne'er have.”

    “One male and two females?” Karia asked. “Does your society accept plural marriages?”

    “Nay. We need also another male. That be another reason we travel, hoping to find one.”

    “But suppose we could do something partway equivalent for you? Such as make you a castle, a preserve, where you could associate without being condemned?”

    He shook his head. “Castles be beyond the means o' regular folk.”

    “But not necessarily beyond our means,” Cube said, glancing at the Princesses. “If there is a suitable place.”

    “We know a place in the Purple Mountains,” Stu said. “But unless thy children be truly Adepts, it is not feasible.”

    “Perhaps a token demonstration would be in order,” Karia suggested.

    The Princesses were glad to cooperate. They hummed, played, and beat, and soon formed a one-quarter-scale replica of Castle MaiDragon on the ground. Impressed, the wolf sniffed it and the two females peered over its outer wall at the myriad turrets and byways.

    “Canst put such an edifice on a mountain slope?” Stu asked.

    “Sure,” Melody said.

    “Anywhere,” Harmony agreed.

    “Full size,” Rhythm concluded.

    “For such a structure o' our own, we would guide thy group anywhere,” Stu said.

    Thus the deal was made. Stu resumed wolf form, while Viola kept unicorn form, and Forili retained human form and rode on her back. Cube put the others back in the pouch and rode Karia. They followed the running wolf, while conversing side by side.

    “How camest thou to these demesnes?” Forili asked. “It be apparent that thy folk are not o' our world.”

    “You may find this hard to believe. We entered by stepping into the cover of a book about Phaze. The three of you were pictured there.”

    “There be a book about us?”

    “There seems to be. But in our land, it is just a story.”

    “It be more than a story to us.”

    There was a musical note of agreement. Startled, Cube looked at the unicorn. “That sounded like a violin!”

    “Aye. That be Viola's instrument.”

    “But I see no violin.”

    “It be her horn. Each unicorn plays a different instrument. They be most versatile.”

    “They certainly are.”

    Viola played an ongoing melody, the beat provided by her trotting hooves. It was quite nice.

    “I say it as shouldn't, not being their kind,” Forili said. “But a herd o' 'corns marching in formation be a most melodious thing.”

    “I should think so!”

    They continued to exchange information about their two worlds as they moved toward the Purple Mountains. It was a long trip, and night fell before they got there. They stopped for the night beside a clear river, and the Princesses conjured meat for Stu, oats for Viola, and blood for Forili to eat in their natural forms, and more familiar food for their own party. Most of them could have remained in the pouch, but they preferred to come out and experience the world of Phaze.

    The Princesses conjured a little pavilion made of hard chocolate, half filled it with marshmallow pillows, and slept there: their way of roughing it. Ryver disappeared into the nearest river, interested in the water of this world. Metria disappeared into the air, determined to check out the demons here. That left Cube and Karia, neither of whom was willing to go into the pouch while the Princesses were at possible risk out of it. So they joined them in the pavilion, which the Princesses obligingly made larger.

    Stu assumed his wolf form and curled up beside the pavilion. Viola assumed her unicorn form and grazed in the night; she could sleep while grazing, it turned out. Forili assumed her bat form and hung from the branch of a nearby tree for her sleep. It seemed that they had to revert to their natural forms when sleeping; it required conscious will to maintain their human emulations. Cube thought that was just as well, because she wasn't sure whether they might otherwise have been inclined to summon the stork, or whatever it was in this world, and that would have been awkward with the Princesses in the vicinity.

    In the morning Ryver and Metria returned, having taken their measures of the world. They and the Princesses got in the pouch, and the journey resumed. “Thy friends are interesting,” Forili remarked. “What manner of land is this Xanth?”

    Cube explained as well as she could, but it was clear that Xanth was impossibly strange to the vampire. Puns hardly existed in Phaze, and its social structure was odd.

    The Purple Mountains loomed, seeming to grow out of the ground as the unicorn and centaur approached. They were literally purple overall, but closer inspection revealed them to be otherwise normal.

    Then the unicorn halted, playing a warning note on her horn. “We be entering troll demesnes,” Forili explained. “Needs must we consult on direction, and prepare for attack.”

    “Attack,” Cube said, not liking this.

    “Trolls be not generally nice creatures. They kill, cook, and eat the flesh of other creatures. There be few ways to pass by them safely.”

    “What ways?” Cube asked tightly.

    “Safest is to kill them. But they be doughty fighters, and there be many of them, and they become more aggressive when attacked. So we have avoided that. But the other way be not comfortable.”

    “We don't like killing,” Cube said. “What other way?”

    “They be vulnerable to prettiness. They understand it not, and try to fend it off or destroy it. Could a pretty girl get close enough to kiss a troll male, she will stun him for an hour and pacify him for a day. A handsome man can do the same to a troll female.”

    “You get past them by kissing them!” Cube said.

    “It be finely timed,” Forili agreed. “I will fly to one, assume human form, and kiss before he can wring my neck. But this would be not effective for thee.”

    “I'm not pretty,” Cube said.

    “For a troll, thou beist pretty enough. But thou couldst not get close enough, being confined to human form.”

    Oh. “Our demon companion could do it,” Karia said.

    “Aye. But if several come, more be needed.”

    “Let me consult.” Cube drew out the others and explained the situation.

    “No problem,” Metria said. “I'll be smoke until I kiss.”

    “I can turn water until close enough,” Ryver said.

    “We can do it too,” Melody said.

    “With an invisible magic shield,” Harmony agreed.

    “Until we're in their faces,” Rhythm concluded.

    Cube remained wary. “I'm not sure about this. You three would be nice morsels for them. What would your mother say if they caught you?”

    Melody looked serious. “If they cooked and ate us, she would be most annoyed,” Melody said.