Cube Route (28 page)

    “Your talent is the idea? I didn't know.”

    “My Xanth self would not have told you, because then she could not have helped you as much.”

    “She did help me. She believes that my Quest will be successful, and I will become beautiful.”

    “Then you surely will succeed, and be beautiful. But what man, knowing my talent, would be interested in me? He wouldn't dare get any ideas. I'm so blue.”

    Cube was amazed. Here was a Princess and a Sorceress--they did go together--who was alone and lonely, in much the way Cube had been before starting this Quest. “Maybe if he didn't know your talent, it would work.”

    “I would not deceive him. My talent is too strong to allow him to be ignorant. In fact, I think no one but a Magician would care to associate with me at all, and he would surely know.”

    Cube wondered if the thread had brought her here to help solve Ida's problem. Yet how could she, a mere ordinary person, presume to try to solve the problem of a Sorceress? “I wish I could help,” she said. “But I have no idea how.”

    Ida smiled ruefully. “I wish you had had an idea, because then I could have agreed with it. So now we know you can't help me. But I thank you for the thought.”

    “Maybe that pacifier could help you. It can bring about some remarkable coincidences.”

    “Oh, I wouldn't keep it. I am merely looking at it. On this world, anyone who gives a gift gains stature, while anyone who receives it loses stature.”

    “This is a social thing?”

    “No, a physical one. If you gave me this charm, you would become larger and I smaller, unless I gave you something of equivalent value in return.”

    Physical size change! That was indeed different from Cube's experience. The folk of this world would have to be very careful about gifts. She was glad she had learned of this before accepting anything from anyone. Except--

    “You gave me refreshments. Does that change our sizes?”

    “No, that is ordinary hospitality. My refreshments for your company; it balances. Balance is important.”

    Obviously true. Still this situation bothered Cube. The thread had taken her to remarkable places, and did not seem to be done yet. She suspected she could not continue until she did help Ida. There had to be something else. “How is it you have the moons? Aren't they like a talent?”

    “They relate to my talent. The moons are filled with all the ideas that haven't made it to Xanth proper. They have nowhere else to go, you see, so they exist on their own worlds.”

    A dim bulb flashed over Cube's head. “All the might-be folk--they're ideas! Until they make it to Xanth proper.”

    “Exactly. And I'm an idea too, a derivative of my Xanth-proper self. That way she doesn't have to hold all the ideas in her own head; she can store them in the moons.”

    “I'm astounded that there can be so many worlds and ideas and people. Each one seems as big as all Xanth. Is there any end to them?”

    “None we know of. Perhaps someday someone will explore all the way to the last world. There used to be travelers back and forth, but recently there haven't been. That's another reason it has become dull. You are the first in some time.”

    “I hope nothing has happened to the others.”

    “I hope so too.” Ida got up and walked to the fireplace. “It is cool here; I'll light a log.”

    “There's no need just for me. I don't mean to be a burden.”

    “You're not a burden, dear, you're a visitor. You are alleviating the dullness. I will be sorry when you go on your way.” She fished a small knot of wood from a wood bin, set it in the fireplace, and snapped her fingers. A fire formed, igniting the knot. It blazed up vigorously, and she carefully set sticks of wood over it to burn.

    There was a knock on the door. “Another visitor!” Ida said. “Would you answer that, dear? I'm afraid the fire will go out if I leave it too soon.”

    “Yes, certainly.” Cube got up and went to the door and opened it.

    A handsome red man stood there. “Would not,” he said.

    “Excuse me?”

    “You misunderstand. That's wood as in a tree, and knot as in tied string. Wood knot. I smelled the wood smoke, and came immediately.”

    “Came for what?” Cube asked, confused.

    “To marry you, of course. It is fated that I marry the one I would not, I mean wood knot.” He gazed at her more closely. “Perhaps a small spell can improve your appearance.”

    Cube began to get a glimmer. “Oh, I'm not the mistress of this house. I didn't burn the knot. You are looking for Seren.”

    He looked relieved. “I do not know this name.”

    “She's really a Princess, but there's a spell--”

    “Say no more. I understand. May I come in?”

    “I--”

    “Who is it, Cube?” Ida called.

    “What a lovely voice,” the man said. “We must be properly introduced. I am Magician Jaycn.”

    “Uh, yes, I will introduce you,” Cube said. “Do come in.” She led him inside.

    Ida was just rising from the fire. “Hello,” she said, surprised.

    “This is Seren,” Cube said, finding that she still was unable to speak Ida's real identity. “A very fine person with remarkable magic.” Then, to Ida: “This is Magician Jaycn. He has come to marry you.”

    “Marry me!” Ida exclaimed. “But first I have to tell him--”

    Jaycn held up a hand in a powerful stop signal. “Tell me nothing, Seren, before you hear this. I am under a curse that I may have no relations with any woman whose magic I know. I see you are beautiful and I know this is my only chance, so I must ask you to swear that you will never tell me the nature of your magic.”

    “But--” Ida protested, nonplussed.

    “My only chance was to come to the wood knot when it was invoked,” Jaycn continued. “Because it is an unusual variant of reverse wood. When it is burned, it changes reality to what might have happened but did not. You might have married me, but did not, because we did not know of each other. I lived on the red face, and you on the blue face. But I smelled the smoke and came at once. Swear never to tell me your magic, and we can confirm this reality, which frankly promises to be better than that lonely life I have known hitherto.”

    Still Ida hesitated, not wanting to deceive anyone.

    “He has a point,” Cube said. “His curse prevents him from marrying any woman whose magic talent he knows, so it would be unkind of you to spoil it by telling him.”

    “I suppose it would,” Ida agreed. She looked at Jaycn. “If you really do not want to know.”

    “I really do not,” Jaycn said. “What is that orbiting your head?”

    “That's a small affliction she has,” Cube said quickly. “She can't get rid of it, because it relates deviously to her magic. But it's harmless if ignored.”

    Jaycn caught on immediately. “I shall ignore it, of course.”

    “Have something to eat,” Ida said, handing him a glass of blue drink. Evidently she was somewhat flustered, understandably. The appearance of the Magician had been entirely serendipitous. Because she had the pacifier, Cube realized. It had struck again, perhaps changing her life.

    “I must give you something in return,” Jacyn said, and Cube understood why.

    “No need,” Ida said quickly. “You are giving me the pleasure of your company.”

    But awkwardness remained. “Tell us about yourself,” Cube said. “You are a Magician? What is your magic?”

    “I am the Magician of Matter. I can convert liquid to gas.” He demonstrated by glancing at the blue drink, which fizzled into a cloud that floated out of the glass. “And gas to solid.” The cloud shrank into a blue block. “And solid to liquid.” He caught the blue liquid in the glass as the block dissolved. “And vice versa, of course.” He sipped the drink. “Very good, I must say. Reminiscent of our red lemonade.” He looked at Ida. “Now tell me more about you. Everything except your magic. You are of course single?”

    “Oh, yes,” Ida agreed. “Come sit down. We have much to catch up on.”

    Cube saw that the thread now extended to the doughnut orbiting Ida's head. So her journey wasn't done yet. “I think I should be on my way,” she said. “Seren, may I speak with you privately for a moment?”

    At this point Ida was surely eager to be alone with the Magician. “Certainly.”

    The two of them stepped out the door. “I think I should take back the charm,” she said, reaching for the pacifier. “You have no further need of it, I suspect.”

    “Yes! I can tell him my real name, now that I won't tell him my magic.” She returned it.

    “And I need to follow the thread on to your moon.”

    “Torus. Do you have a way?”

    “Yes.” Cube got into the dogsled. “Farewell, Princess!” And to the sled: “Go.”

    The dogsled took off, zooming along the thread toward Ida's head. But it did not collide; the doughnut-shaped moon loomed larger, and soon Ida disappeared in largeness. Cube was coming down for a landing on the inner side of Torus. She was sure that Princess Ida would be able to carry on, now that her life had been serendipitously changed. That wood knot must have been there all the time, but never burned before the pacifier caused it to happen. What a devious interaction of spells!

    So what would it be like on this weird-shaped world, and what kind of magic did it have? This was certainly a tour to remember.

    They landed and zoomed across the rounded surface. At least this world was normally colored, so Cube was not obviously alien. But after the time magic of Ptero, and the size magic of Pyramid, she was nervous about this new world. What mischief might come of her ignorance?

    Another thing that was weird was the fact that this world made an enormous curve, passing right over her head as she crossed the inside of the doughnut. She could see its mountains, rivers, and lakes, and marveled that none of them fell across the empty center to land on her head. But with enough magic, anything was possible.

    She came to another lake. No, it was larger, a sea, for there was a sign saying SARAH SEA, and again the thread went right across it. The thread must have known that she would have a way to follow it unflinchingly.

    There was an island on the sea, and it bore a sign saying ISLE OF NIFFEN. It seemed nice enough, but the thread didn't pause until it came to another house and stopped. Why did she think this would belong to another Princess Ida?

    She got out and knocked on the door. Sure enough, it was answered by Ida, this time with an orbiting cone. It seemed that each moon was a different shape as well as having different magic.

    Cube plunged right in. “I'm Seren, from Xanth proper. I'm following a thread that took me to your door. There must be something I'm supposed to do or learn here before I go on, and I hope you will help me do or learn it.”

    “This is a problem,” Ida said. “On this world, favors rendered incur burdens of love. If I did you a favor, you would love me, and I suspect you would prefer not to do that.”

    So that was the local magic. “Is there any favor I can do you in return, to equalize it?”

    “I am aware of none.”

    But Cube was already thinking of something. “I have a charm that generates serendipity. It makes good things happen by surprise. If I lent it to you, it might do you some good.”

    “I am already well enough off, thank you.”

    “Such as maybe finding you a good man.”

    Ida paused. “Come in.”

    “Thank you.” Cube entered the house.

    “How did you know I would like to locate a good man?”

    “I discussed it with the Ida on Pyramid. The charm found one for her. Of course I can't guarantee what it will do; the results are always unexpected.”

    “I understand. May I see it?”

    Cube presented the pacifier. “But I must warn you, it assigns you its name when you have it.”

    “That is hard to believe.” Ida took the pacifier.

    “What is your name?”

    “Seren, of course.” She paused. “Oh, I see.”

    “You will have your own name back when it leaves you.”

    “This alarms me,” Ida said. “Please take back your charm.” She returned it to Cube.

    “I'm not sure what else I have to offer.”

    “We have been assuming that we have to exchange favors. But it may be that you are merely traveling through, and this constitutes no favor.”

    “I suppose that is possible,” Cube agreed dubiously.

    “Where does your thread lead?”

    Now Cube saw it. “To your moon.”

    “That confirms it. Go on to Cone, unhampered.”

    “Thank you.” Cube went out, got in the dogsled, and urged it onward. It zoomed along the thread toward Ida's head, and soon was arriving at the growing cone-shaped world.

    Thereafter, things blurred as Cube followed the thread through world after world, seeking the Ida on each and going to her moon. Cone was filled with water, and Ida lived at the bottom of the pointed sea; somehow breathing wasn't a problem. Her moon was Dumbbell, where everyone constantly exercised. Then Pincushion, where everyone lived on huge long pins, and Spiral, like a little galaxy, Tangle, like knots in spaghetti, Motes, which seemed to be a swarm of particles, Trapezoid, which was not exactly cubic, and Shoe. Every old woman lived in Shoe, with myriads of children, so that none of them knew what to do. Then Implosion, Puzzle, and Octopus, which had to be seen to be believed. Then Tesseract--and the thread stopped.

    The dogsled came to a halt inside a hollow cube the size of a world. The mountains, forests, lakes, and houses were all on the six great walls of it. And there was no way out.

    Cube looked around. The dogsled rested on the floor of the giant box, beside a river and a hill, near a wall. Everything seemed normal, except that the thread stopped. That was why she knew there was no way out; the thread ended.

    Well, not exactly. As she peered more closely, she saw that the thread actually turned and went into the wall to the right. But the wall was a picture, a painting, a mural, and the thread became a diminishing line on it, until it disappeared behind a painted house.