Faun and Games (37 page)

as a member of the royal family and maybe marry a nice princess."

"That's a worthy ambition," King Dolph agreed.
 
"Very well: go find out

whether the man with the bead really is my true father."

"Okay.
 
I'll go to Stork Headquarters and check the records."

"Do that."

Son exited.
 
The light faded on the King and followed Son.
 
He walked

slowly across the stage, and the scenery moved past him in the opposite

direction, showing his progress.
 
But before he got to the Stork Works

he encountered a pretty girl.
 
She had long dark hair with a matching

dark temper.

"I say," Son inquired, "are you by any chance a princess?" For he had

always been intrigued by dark-tempered girls; there was just something

about them.
 
His attitude on stage showed this clearly.

"No, I am merely Raven, an ordinary person whose talent is to change the

color of my eyes to match my moods." Her eyes brightened as she spoke.

"Too bad," he said with real regret.
 
"For I mean to marry a princess."

"Too bad," she agreed, her eyes darkening moodily.
 
"For you are a

handsome man with the look of a Magician about you.
 
I mean to marry a

Magician."

"Well, maybe you'll find one.
 
Are you going my way?"

"I believe I am.
 
Shall we travel together until we separate?" Her eyes

turned hopeful blue.

"That works for me." So they walked together, and the scenery moved on

behind them to show their joint progress.

"Shall I tell you my abbreviated life history as we travel?" Raven

inquired as the scrolling scenery threatened to become repetitive, and

therefore in need of distraction from.

"I am always interested in the life histories of pretty girls," Son

said.
 
"Even if they aren't princesses."

So she told him her story.
 
"My mother wanted me to be a powerful

Sorceress.
 
She wasn't much impressed with my eye colors." Her eyes

turned motley dull depressive brown.
 
"So she made a deal with a demon.

The demon gave me a bottle on a cord around my neck.
 
It enables me to

take snatches of other people's talents and store them inside the

bottle.
 
Then I can use these samples of magic."

"Oh, I say now-could I use any of those talents?
 
I can think of some

that would be really handy."

"No," she said regretfully, her eyes turning a gloomy gray.
 
"There is a

spell on it which allows only me to use it.
 
In return for this bottle,

which does on occasion give me Sorceress-like powers, my mother agreed

to give the demon her other child to be his slave.
 
She believed it to

be a good bargain, because she had no other children."

"One can never be certain of such a thing," Son said.
 
"I am the

unacknowledged first son of Magician Grey Murphy and Sorceress Ivy, and

now I have returned to make my status known.
 
I am on a quest to

ascertain whether King Dolph has an unacknowledged father.

"That's fascinating," Raven said, clearly unfascinated.
 
Her eyes turned

dishwater dull.
 
"I am now sixteen, and I have a lovely sister named

Robin.
 
I am afraid that the demon is going to take Robin away to be his

slave, especially if she grows up to be as pretty as I am. She is

fifteen, and shows every sign of it.
 
So I am traveling to Castle Roogna

to seek help."

"But I just came from Castle Roogna," Son said.

"Why didn't you say so?" Raven demanded angrily, her eyes turning

smoldery.

"You didn't ask."

"Oh.
 
Well, I suppose I had better turn around and go the other way."

"But you can't do that!" Son protested.

"Why can't I?"

"Because I have fallen in love with you."

This made her pause.
 
"But I'm not a princess," she protested.

"But you are beautiful."

"True," she said reasonably.
 
"But however persuasive that may be, it

still doesn't make me royal, unfortunately."

"Yet if I successfully claim my heritage, and am recognized as a prince,

and marry you, then you will become a princess," he pointed out with a

certain appealing logic.

Raven's eyes turned speculatively bright.
 
"I suppose if you prove to be

a Magician, it would be feasible.
 
You are, after all, a handsome man.

"Good.
 
Let's get on to the storks."

"The storks!" she exclaimed, alarmed.
 
"I wasn't ready to go quite that

far, that fast.
 
I think signaling even one stork is a very serious

thing, especially before marriage."

He realized the nature of her confusion.
 
"I am going to Stork

Headquarters, to check the records of deliveries, to ascertain whether

King Dolph was delivered to Dor and Irene, or to an anonymous cane

cutter.
 
For some reason, the King wishes to know."

Raven's eyes blushed beet red.
 
"Oh!
 
I'm so embarrassed.
 
I thought you

meant-"

"Well, I certainly wouldn't mind summoning the stork with you, so if you

prefer to take it that way-"

"No, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead," she decided, her eyes becoming

a peaceful green.
 
"Let's go question the storks."

So they continued on to the Stork Works, which were exactly as Forrest

and Imbri had seen them.
 
The stork in charge of Records didn't want to

show them to unauthorized personnel, but Son used his talent to chance

its mind and satisfy it that they were authorized. They looked on the

page listing Dolph.
 
"Delivered to Ruben and Rowena, cane cutters," it

said.

"Oh no!" Son said, somewhat dismayed.
 
"I fear I will have bad news for

ex-King Dolph."

"I fear I have even worse news for him," Raven said faintly.

He looked at her in surprise.
 
"What could be worse than suddenly never

having been a king?"

"Suddenly being enslaved to a demon."

He stared at he]- in wild surmise.
 
"You mean?"

"Yes!
 
Ruben and Rowena are my parents.
 
He is my Long-lost brother I

never knew I had."

"But how is this possible?
 
Dolph is thirty years older than you are.

Raven's eyes turned a nonplused color.
 
"Why, I never thought of that.

They aren't old enough.
 
This whole scene is impossible."

"Cut!" the curse fiend director cried.
 
"This is all wrong.
 
How did

that ending get in the play?"

"I'm sure I don't know," Raven said.

"Look, Madame Take, you spoke the line.
 
You-" :, My name is Miss Take,"

the actress said primly.

"Well, this is all your fault, Miss Take!
 
You got the line wrong."

"Don't yell at my sister like that!" another curse fiend exclaimed.

"You are the one who cast her in that role."

"As a favor to you, Out Take," the Director retorted.
 
"Now we're in a

prime picklement.
 
Tomorrow is the show; it's too late to get another

actress."

"Well, if you were a better director, you'd have had an understudy."

The director pulled out two handfuls of his hair.
 
"Oh, woe 'ts me!

The shame of it!
 
The play won't go on!

There was a silence.
 
Slowly Forrest realized that this wasn't really a

curse fiend play rehearsal, but a Challenge: he was supposed to figure

out what to do.
 
That meant that there must be something, if he could

just comprehend it.

He was getting half a notion how these things worked.
 
The elements of

the Challenge were always in plain view; it was just a matter of

understanding their relevance.
 
There usually wasn't much that was

extraneous; most of a given setting was pertinent.
 
That meant that the

play, the audience, and the chamber all related.
 
But how?

Suddenly he had it.
 
"You can fix the play!" he called.

The Director whirled to face him.
 
"What interference is this?"

"I am Forrest Faun, and I have a notion how you can fix it," Forrest

said, standing.
 
"But it may seem unusual."

"No idea is too unusual, if it saves the play.
 
What is it?"

"My neighbor on my left must marry the actress for Raven."

"What are you talking about, you foolish faun?" the Director demanded.

"The private lives of the actors and audience have nothing to do with

the play!"

"Yes they do," Forrest said.
 
"Your play went wrong because the actress,

Miss Take, has a talent that is bound to foul it up.
 
Since it is too

late to change the actress, you must change her name, so that it no

longer has a bad effect.
 
As it happens, Justin Case here can do that by

marrying her, so that her name becomes Mrs.
 
Case."

"But he doesn't want to marry a failed actress."

"Speak for yourself, Director," Justin Case said, standing.
 
"She's a

beautiful woman, in or out of the play."

"But she wouldn't want to--"

"I'd do anything to save my role," Miss Take said.

The Director nodded.
 
"Very well, then, but be quick about it.
 
We'll