Cube Route (11 page)

    “Especially with you,” Harmony added.

    “She wouldn't speak to you for a week,” Rhythm concluded. Then the three of them overflowed with titters.

    “Girls, this is serious. We can't afford the risk.”

    Melody gave her a brief serious look. “We can take care of ourselves.”

    Harmony nodded agreement. “And we mean to do it.”

    Rhythm tapped her little drum. “Mother would not have let us go, otherwise.”

    “They seem very sure, for children,” Forili remarked.

    Cube hesitated a moment more, then decided. “We'll try it. I hope this isn't disaster.”

    “Where be thy dragon?” Forili asked. “Needs we must select the closest trail.”

    Wordlessly, Rhythm pointed southwest.

    Forili assumed her bat form and hovered just above the group. The three Princesses mounted Viola. Ryver walked behind them, followed by Karia and Cube. Metria brought up the rear in the form of a small black cloud. Stu, in wolf form, led the way.

    The trail climbed steeply through the crevice between mountain slopes, confined by closely growing foliage. There was no way to see danger ahead; there was no visibility. But the wolf was sniffing the air, tracking the trolls that way, and Viola's ears were twitching nervously. Scent and sound--these were effective senses in this situation.

    Abruptly Stu turned back, the fur on his neck rising. That was warning enough. The Princesses slid off the unicorn and readied their instruments. Then the party resumed forward motion.

    The attack was sudden and surprising. It came from the rear. Three grotesque manlike figures charged in, waving crude clubs. There was hardly time to turn around.

    Metria's cloud floated into the face of the first troll. She materialized in her lovely form, her face in his face. There was a resounding smack, and he fell back like a chopped tree. That interfered with the progress of the second. A bat flitted over his head and struck the second, becoming Forili's human form. She kissed him, and he too fell as if clubbed.

    The third was grossly female. “My turn,” Ryver said. He dissolved into water, flowed down the slope to the troll's feet, and rose up again in human form. He kissed her, and she sank to the ground, duly stunned. Cube hadn't realized he could turn to water in the absence of a pond or river.

    Something jostled Cube. She turned to discover a fourth troll emerging from the brush on the side. She screamed. Then his gnarly arms wrapped around her and lifted her off her feet. He hauled her into the foliage and started running heavily through the forest, heedless of the slope.

    “Let me go!” Cube cried, sounding stupid even to herself.

    “Marry pretty maiden,” he rasped.

    That amazed her into non-resistance. He thought she was pretty? But compared to the female troll, maybe she was. But that didn't mean she wanted to marry a troll!

    However, it gave her an idea. She twisted around within his grasp, found his ugly face, and kissed it.

    He stopped running, his grip on her loosening. He wasn't stunned enough to fall, but he did stand there halfway dazed. She got free of his grasp and backed away, and he did not protest. Then she turned to plunge back to the path and her group.

    The wolf surged out of the brush, almost colliding with her. He assumed manform. “Be thou whole?”

    “Yes,” she gasped. “I--I kissed him. He wanted to marry me.”

    “Thou wouldst not much enjoy life as a troll. Follow.” He reverted to wolf form and led her up the slope. She struggled after, using her hands to beat away the restraining saplings and branches.

    Soon they came to the trail. There were the others, on guard against further attack, but no trolls. She rejoined them gladly. “A troll carried me away,” she explained. “He wanted to marry me.”

    “We know,” Karia said. “We realized too late that the ambush was a diversion. You were their target. They hoped to get you away while the rest of us fought. Then we would not know where you were.”

    “You're pretty,” Melody said.

    “For a troll,” Harmony added.

    “Girls!” Karia snapped, cutting off Rhythm's conclusion.

    “It's all right,” Cube said. “I am pretty for a troll. I proved it when I vanquished him with a kiss.”

    “We apologize,” Rhythm concluded belatedly.

    “We must move on before more come,” Ryver said.

    They moved on. On the far slope of the pass another band of trolls did charge them, but this time the others formed a wedge around Cube so she could not be reached. The three Princesses disappeared, then reappeared before three trolls, jumping up to kiss them. They giggled as the trolls fell.

    Then the party hurried down the trail and to the level land south of the mountains. They were beyond the troll demesnes--but now they were in dragon demesnes.

    Forili became human. “Find thy dragon,” she said urgently. “Before other dragons find us.” Indeed, they could see a large figure in the southern sky that wasn't birdlike.

    Rhythm pointed west. They moved that way, and came to a projecting foothill. In Xanth, Cube thought, that would be in the shape of a foot, but here it was merely an adjunct to the larger mountain beyond.

    And there was a well-beaten trail into the wooded wilderness of the foothill. That would be the dragon's path.

    It occurred to Cube, somewhat belatedly, that she had little idea how to communicate with the dragon. Did he speak in the human manner? That seemed doubtful. Did he understand human talk? That was more likely; many creatures did, and if he was Becka's friend, they might have had that in common. So she would have to talk to the dragon, and hope that he understood. And agreed.

    Suddenly they were at the dragon's den: a cave in the slope. Cube was sure of it, because there was a pile of bones outside it. Was the dragon there?

    “We can shield you from fire,” Melody said.

    “Or smoke,” Harmony added.

    “But we're not sure about stink,” Rhythm concluded, and they snickered.

    “This is my job,” Cube said. She walked out to stand before the den. “Drek Dragon--are you there? We come to talk with you.”

    A large head poked out of the cave. It was typically dragon, with a long greenish snoot, myriad teeth, big eyes, and small ears. There was a faint odor of violets.

    “I am Cube Human of Xanth,” she continued boldly, because she was afraid that if she were not bold she would soon be terrified. “Your friend Becka Dragongirl sent me. She said you might be interested in my Quest. It is to find a--a new territory of Xanth that may not be like what we have known. The Good Magician told me I would be beautiful if I reached it. Maybe it would do something similarly good for you. I don't know and can't promise. But the Good Magician did say that my Companions would be rewarded. Are you interested?”

    She paused. She wasn't sure the dragon even understood her. How could she tell? Then she noticed that though the rest of him was still, Drek's right ear was wiggling. That was all, but it was a start.

    “I--I don't know how to talk with you,” she said. “But I see your ear moving. Does that meaning anything?”

    The ear continued to wiggle. Maybe it itched.

    She tried again. “Does it mean nothing?”

    The right ear stopped wiggling--and the left ear wiggled instead.

    Had she been in Xanth, a bulb would have flashed over her head. “That means no, doesn't it! The right ear is yes, the left ear is no!”

    The right ear wiggled again.

    “I need nine Companions to achieve my Quest,” she said, excited. “I would like you to be one of them. You could protect us.”

    The right ear wiggled. “Does that mean you are interested?”

    The right ear wiggled again.

    “Or not interested.”

    The left ear wiggled.

    She had it. “Then let me tell you more about it, on the assumption that you will join our group. I will introduce the other Companions.” She did so, and each of the others stepped up to be seen as she named them. “There are three others, but they are not from Xanth; they are helping us travel. They are a werewolf, a vampire, and a unicorn, and they mean you no harm. We have agreed to make them a suitable castle here in the Purple Mountains in exchange for their help.”

    The dragon wiggled both ears. Then he drew himself slowly out of the cave. He turned sinuously as he emerged, going to the right. He started down the path there. He paused, glancing back, wiggling his right ear.

    “You want us to follow you!” Cube exclaimed.

    They followed the dragon to a valley behind the foothill. The forest gave way to widely spaced larger trees leading down to a fair-sized river. The valley was ringed by mountains, hills, and foothills, with the river squeezing out by plunging underground. Overall it was about as nice and secluded a region as Cube had seen.

    “I wish we could have our castle here,” Stu murmured, assuming human form.

    The dragon's right ear wiggled.

    The werewolf turned to the dragon. “Art thou offering us this valley during thy absence, if thou joinst Cube's Quest?” The right ear wiggled. “Until thy return--and if thou dost not return, it be ours?” The ear continued to wiggle. “We be caretakers in thine absence, protecting the valley from intrusion by others.” More wiggles.

    “I believe we have a deal,” Cube said, more than satisfied. “Girls?”

    The three Princesses huddled, then produced their instruments and made their music. The very air around them seemed to crackle with invisible power as their magic gathered. Then a full-sized castle developed on the far slope beyond the river. At first it was tenuous, as if formed of fog, but gradually it firmed, until it seemed quite solid in every detail.

    At last they stopped, and for the first time Cube saw them tired. This had been a significant feat of magic, requiring a great deal of power.

    They went as a party to the castle. There was actually a drawbridge across the river, part of the conjuration. The castle itself was huge, with a front gate more than large enough for a unicorn or dragon to pass without being crowded. It was solid stone; Cube tapped on a wall to verify that. Inside were great halls and chambers, completely furnished. It was ready for occupancy, but completely empty except for them.

    The folk of Phaze were plainly awed. “You three indeed be Adepts,” Stu said.

    Cube thought of something. “If Drek returns--the castle is his?”

    “Sure,” Melody said.

    “That's the deal, isn't it?” Harmony asked.

    “But maybe they could share it,” Rhythm suggested.

    The werewolf looked at the dragon. The right ear wiggled. They did have a deal.

Sidestepping

    The journey back to their starting point in Phaze did not seem as long or arduous as the one down. The three natives accompanied them, and so did Drek Dragon. No trolls attacked them as they followed the mountain trail; apparently they were wary of the dragon. Then Cube got an idea, and the others agreed, surprised. She put them all into the purse, including wolf, bat, unicorn, and dragon, then rode Karia, who flew there much faster than they could otherwise have traveled. She brought them all out at what she called the Cover Site, and they were surprised, having thought they had gone in and out immediately. But they soon verified that they were two days' travel away from the Purple Mountain Retreat.

    Only then did Cube realize that she didn't know how to return to Xanth. They tried walking back and forth across the area, thinking there might be an invisible curtain leading back, but there was not. Even the Princesses had no idea; they could perform mighty magic when they tried, but they had no information on how to cross between worlds.

    Karia put her fine centaur mind to it. “We entered via a picture of Phaze. Perhaps if we reproduced that picture, there would be effect.” But though wolf, bat, and unicorn obligingly posed as they had been, there was no effect.

    Drek Dragon wiggled his right ear. Did he have an idea? Then Cube suffered another bulbless realization: “You came here before us, Drek! You know the way!”

    He did, but it took a while to convey, because they had to speak it while the dragon agreed or disagreed. So they played the game of Nineteen Questions, all of them making suggestions, and the dragon wiggling ears.

    “Try some other site?” Karia asked. Drek's left ear wiggled: No.

    “Try it at the same hour of the day we arrived?” Cube asked. No.

    “The two of you came through a picture,” Stu said.

    The dragon's right ear wiggled, pointing at the werewolf.

    “So a picture is needed,” Stu continued.

    “A picture of Xanth!” Cube exclaimed.

    The right ear wiggled. Now they had it.

    The Princesses conjured an easel with a painting of Castle Roogna. They set it up where Karia and Cube had come through before. Then Karia put out one hand to touch it--and suddenly slid through the painting.

    Surprised by this success, Cube peered at the painting. There was Karia, standing before the castle, waving. She was indeed in Xanth.

    “Then we must go,” Cube said, finding herself suddenly regretful. “I am glad to have made your acquaintance, and hope to see you again someday, if that is possible.”

    “Welcome,” Stu said, embracing her. Cube tried to conceal her pleasure at being hugged by a handsome male, but didn't quite succeed.

    “Hey, if you hug strange men, I can hug strange women,” Ryver said, and proceeded to embrace Viola and Forili in their human forms, while the Princesses tittered. Now Cube had to conceal her jealousy, for both Phaze females were quite attractive in their human forms. That was not surprising, since they had crafted those forms themselves. If Cube had been able to craft her own form, she'd be lovely too.

    Then everyone except the dragon got into the pouch. Drek obviously knew how to cross between worlds himself.

    “Is thy quest public in thy land?” Stu asked.

    “No, it is private,” Cube replied. “Secret, in fact.” Then she got the gist of his point. “And if Drek shows up beside Castle Roogna, many people will know that something unusual is up.”

    The dragon agreed. He poked the tip of his hind foot into the pouch, and slid into it. That was an interesting maneuver, as he had a good length of tail beyond the foot, yet somehow did not straddle the mouth of the pouch.

    Then Cube faced the painting. “You can keep the picture,” she said with a smile, and put her hand into it.

    “We dare not use it,” Stu said, “lest--” But his remaining words were lost as she passed out of Phaze.

    In half a moment she was standing beside Karia, outside Castle Roogna. Cube turned to look behind her, but there was only the orchard. Still, she waved, just in case the folk of Phaze could see her in their picture, just as she had seen Karia.

    Then she turned to the centaur. “Let's not go into the castle,” she said.

    “Agreed. Let me take you away from here.”

    “Agreed.” She mounted, and the centaur flicked them both, trotted, spread her wings, and took off.

    Once they were away from the castle, Karia addressed the next question: “We have seven Companions. Who is next?”

    “I have no idea.”

    “Perhaps it is time to get, if you will excuse the expression, scientific.”

    That was an unfamiliar word. “Beg pardon?”

    “It is a Mundane method for finding things out. I am thinking of asking the Princesses to do a Find on the next Companion, just as they did on the last one.”

    “Would that work? Without a specific name?”

    “I don't know. But it seems worth the effort.”

    Cube had to agree. So they landed in a private glade and brought out the Princesses. “Can you do a Find on our next Companion?”

    “Sure,” Melody said brightly.

    “That's great!”

    “Who is he?” Harmony asked curiously.

    “We don't know.”

    “Oh,” Rhythm said dully.

    But they tried it, and got a direction. It seemed there was a potential Companion not far distant. The Princesses returned to the pouch.

    They resumed flight, and soon came to a likely site: a cave set into a hillside. “Another dragon?” Karia asked.

    “I hope not. It is nothing against dragons, but we already have one.”

    “Agreed.” The centaur glided down for a landing.

    The cave turned out to be a human dwelling with a door. There were curtains and flowers, and things were neat. A woman, by the look of it.

    “I think this is your job, again,” Karia said.

    “Yes.” Cube braced herself and knocked on the door.

    There was no answer. She knocked again, with no better response. Then she tried the latch.

    The door opened, revealing a nicely furnished interior. It was a cave, but also a tasteful residence. “Hello?”

    Still no answer. “They must be out,” Cube called back to the centaur.

    “That must be the case. We did not have an appointment.”

    “I suppose we'll just have to wait for them to return.”

    Karia looked thoughtful. “I wonder. There was a complication before you enlisted the Princesses, and the search for the dragon was remarkable. It occurs to me that we are encountering more complications than might be routine. Do you think there might be interference?”

    “I haven't been on a Quest before. I don't know what is routine. Do you think something has happened to the person who lives here?”

    “Perhaps it is my imagination, but it does seem possible. If so, we should consult.”

    “That wouldn't hurt.” Cube brought out the others and explained the situation.

    “We can find out,” Melody said eagerly.

    “We'll do a magic tracer,” Harmony agreed.

    “That will tell us,” Rhythm concluded.

    The three put their heads together, then made their music. Magic intensified. The air above them turned dark.

    “There's bad magic here,” Melody announced.

    “Very strong magic,” Harmony agreed.

    “Too strong for us,” Rhythm concluded.

    “Too strong!” Karia said, startled. “But together you are the strongest Sorceresses in Xanth.”

    “Sure,” Melody agreed.

    “But this is stronger,” Harmony added.

    “Which means it must be Demon magic,” Rhythm concluded.

    “We have a demon with us,” Cube said.

    “Didn't you hear the capital D?” Metria asked. “The difference between a Demon and a demon is like that between the king of Xanth and a squashed ant.”

    “I don't understand.”

    Ryver and Drek looked at Cube, puzzled.

    “She's from the back woods,” Karia explained. “So I will explain. Metria is an ordinary demon, but there is another class. The capital Demons have the power of whole worlds. All of the magic of Xanth derives from the incidental leakage from the body of the Demon Xanth. The magic of gravity that suffuses Mundania and Xanth is from similar leakage from the body of the Demon Earth. There are more distant Demons of equivalent power. They seldom meddle in the affairs of mortal creatures; in fact they are rarely even aware of them. That is surely just as well, for they have the power to obliterate all of us on a whim.”

    “Half a whim,” Metria said. “Or less.”

    Cube was amazed. “I never knew! But why would one of these--Demons--want to interfere with our quest? If we are so insignificant--wouldn't he either ignore us or squash us flat, like that ant?”

    “That is a fair question,” the centaur agreed. “I conjecture that a Demon contest may be occurring.”

    “Contest?”

    “The Demons, being omniscient and omnipotent, are at times bored,” Karia said. “So they engage in contests between themselves. An essential element of any contest is randomness; a game is no fun when one knows how it will turn out. One of the random factors--and I am not referring to the monster in Castle MaiDragon--is the activity of mortal beings. We are, as Metria pointed out, like ants to them, and rather silly in our minuscule mortal concerns. They may place a wager on our quirky actions, and watch without interfering. The winner is the one who correctly predicts the outcome of a particular situation. But sometimes, perhaps, they cheat.”

    “How could someone cheat, when everyone knows everything?”

    “I gather that most Demons are not paying much attention. Or there might not be a contest at the moment. I understand that one Demon is not supposed to interfere in the business of another. That is, Demon Earth keeps his magic finger out of the affairs of Xanth, and Demon Xanth leaves Mundania alone. But if one does decide to interfere, he may do it surreptitiously, so as not to be caught.”

    “Now it's starting to make sense,” Cube said. “If there is something about this Quest that a Demon doesn't like, but he's not supposed to mess in, then he might do something sneaky.”

    “This is my thought,” the centaur agreed.

    “I think you're on to something, Karia,” Metria said. Then she paused as the centaur's eyes misted and she started drifting away. “Oops.”

    Cube snapped her fingers. “Centaur! Attend to us.”

    Karia's body dropped to the ground. “Did I do it again?”

    “Metria spoke your name.”

    “I forgot,” the demoness said, blushing. The blush spread across her face, then drifted off to the side, collided with a wall, and stained it dull red. “I said you're on to something. One year ago a Demon contest won Counter Xanth from the foreign Demoness Fornax. That is the land we're trying to make a safe route to, so it can be colonized. It figures that Fornax would like to leave it empty, so it's pristine in case she should win it back in some other contest. So she could try to stop us from making that route--but not openly.”

    “That makes sense to me,” Cube agreed. “But it's a pretty big assumption, just because a prospective Companion is out of the house at the moment.”

    “Not so big,” Karia said, “considering the trace of magic stronger than the Princesses can fathom. It may be that the Demoness reckoned without the presence of the Princesses, or our insight into the problem, so thought we would not detect her mischief.”

    “Not paying attention,” Ryver agreed. “But if this is the case, do we want to continue? The next ploy may be deadly. We can't fight Demon magic.”

    That drew Cube up short. “Of course you others don't have to take such a risk. I'll carry on alone.”

    Ryver looked at her. “Despite the risk?”

    “It's my job. I don't know whether I can do it without Companions, but at least I can try.”

    “I doubt there would be much risk to us,” Karia said. “The Demoness would not want to be obvious, and a death on this Quest would be obvious. That might attract the attention of the local Demon, Xanth, and cost her a point. She wouldn't like that. I'll stay. But perhaps the Princesses should return home.”

    “Oh no you don't!” Melody cried.

    “We want a dangerous adventure,” Harmony agreed.

    “And if this is it, so much the better,” Rhythm concluded.

    “If you idiots are staying, count me in too,” Metria said. “I can't let you be crazier than I am.”

    “Then I'm in too,” Ryver said, glancing at her décolletage, which in her supposed distraction had drooped to the very verge of Too Low.

    They looked at Drek. The dragon's right ear wiggled. He was in too.

    Cube found herself halfway choked up. “Thanks, folks,” she said. “I hope it all turns out well.”

    “Now we need to track our prospect,” Karia said. “Girls?”

    Rhythm pointed into the cave-house.

    Cube considered. “I think, in the circumstances, we had better go in. We'll apologize if we need to.”

    They entered cautiously. There was a smaller cave behind the front chamber. Karia was too large for this, so reluctantly went into the pouch. “But summon me if there is room, if I can help,” she said as she slid out of sight.

    The cave led back into the mountain. It soon lost the trappings of residence and became a winding tunnel. It became too tight for Ryver, so he too entered the pouch. Drek, however, had no trouble, though he was far more massive than the others, because his body was serpentine. He understood caves. Now he led the way, confident even in the looming darkness, with Metria following close after in the form of a small scudding cloud.

    The Princesses made an incidental tune, and light formed around them, illuminating the passage so that Cube could see. That helped, though she remained not entirely easy about caves. She understood that they could be infested with goblins. Of course her nickelpedes could handle goblins, but might also gouge one of her Companions in the confusion.