Faun and Games (65 page)

gray face.
 
Immediately a chill wind rose, stirred by their presence,

and blew snow in their faces.
 
They were at a different angle here, but

it was no better than the other angles; they were unable to walk. They

could slide somewhat on the snow, which facilitated things, but this

promised to be a difficult journey.

"Do you think we could get more help traveling?" Forrest asked. "I fear

we'll never make it, at this rate."

"I'm checking the snow," Eve said.
 
"But it's freshly fallen, and

doesn't have much experience of this region."

And there don't seem to be any living creatures or plants here," Dawn

said.

So they slogged on.
 
They found that they could slide Imbri across the

snow, especially if they braced each other so as to get good temporary

footholds.
 
So progress improved.
 
But it was still too slow.

At last, as the day faded, worn out with the struggle, they had Jfraya

open a door into an isolated cave.
 
It was blessedly warm, and they were

able to stand comfortably on the walls, but Dawn and Eve were doubtful.

"There are mites," Dawn said.
 
"Stalag mites."

"And they stop anyone from using this cave," Eve added.

Too bad," Forrest said.
 
"We need to rest here.
 
We're protected by our

clothing." For all of them were wearing closely fitting jackets and

pants that kept them warm despite the weather.
 
They did not remove them

right away, preferring to be sure the cave was safe.

Forrest looked at the stone spikes hanging from the cave ceiling, and

rising from the floor.
 
"What are these called?"

"Stalactites and stalagmites," Eve said, touching them.
 
"The first

descend from the ceiling, and the second rise from the floor."

"How can we keep that straight?" Jfraya asked.
 
"They sound so much

alike."

Suddenly Forrest jumped.
 
"Something bit my leg!" he said, trying to

scratch at it through the tight trousers.
 
It was not a problem he had

had before, because he normally did not wear clothing on his tuffed

lower half Then the twins jumped.
 
"ooo!" Dawn cried.
 
"Something bit my

calf."

"And something bit my thigh," Eve said.
 
"It's the mites.
 
They are

crawling up under our tights."

Then all of them were jumping and trying to scratch.

"We have to get them off," Jfraya said, yanking down her own pants.

Forrest turned away from her, as a matter of courtesy, but that turned

him toward the twins, who were yanking down theirs.
 
Their bare legs

were astonishingly nice, but he tried not to notice.
 
In any event he

was busy pulling down his own, so as to be able to get at the biting

mites.

In two thirds of a moment all o]' them were bare-legged and scratching

off the mites.
 
Then Ghina managed to fill the cave with her sleep

spell, and the remaining mites fell asleep and dropped off.
 
However,

the spell also affected the rest of them, though more slowly because

they were more massive.
 
So they lay down to sleep.

The last thing Forrest remembered was Imbri's dreamlet.
 
"Now we know

how to remember the stone columns," she said.
 
"when the mites go up,

the tites come down." He groaned and tried to forget it.

After some time, he woke, and so did the others.
 
The mites seemed to

have given up, or maybe they remained stunned by the sleep spell. But it

was time to resume travel.
 
So they pulled their leggings back on,

tightened their jackets, and braved the snow above.

It wasn't as bad as they remembered it.
 
It was worse.
 
The snow had

piled up until it was chest high on Forrest, and it was dense and hard.

This promised to be absolutely awful.

"Say," Imbri said in a joint dreamlet.
 
"Why can't we use the snow the

same way as we do the cave walls?"

The others turned to her, not understanding.
 
But then she made a

dreamlet picture, showing a path being trampled into the snowsidewise.

So that five of them could walk on it, sidewise, and the sixth, Jfraya,

could walk on the other side of it.

Suddenly it made sense.
 
Jfraya and Dawn held each other, their heads

going in opposite directions, and used their feet to stomp banks of snow

to either side.
 
When they tired, Eve and Forrest tried it, she using

her feet to stomp while using her hands to hold him in place so he could

use his own hands to beat the snow into shape on the other side.

It worked, to a degree: Imbri was able to walk on the sideways path, her

body scraping the snow of the center.
 
But it was too slow. They needed

not merely to use the path quickly, but to make it quickly.
 
So they

simplified it.
 
Since only Jfraya faced the other way, her path was for

her alone, and she hardly needed it once she had made it.
 
So she became

a brace instead, stabilizing the others without wearing herself out.

That allowed the others to take turns, with one tramping out the path

while the others followed, walking normally.

So their progress improved.
 
Still, they had a long way to go, and the

terrain was rough, and their time was limited.
 
They needed to reach the

Gray Wizard's castle by dusk, to be sure of their success. When they

encountered steep hills, they were able to tramp their sidewise path

more readily.
 
When they came to a frozen lake, they slid rapidly across

it.
 
But as the day passed, it slowly became clear that they were not

going to make it in time.

Worse, Jfraya slipped and injured one foot.
 
Now she had to hop,

following the path at the rear, and leaning on Imbri for support.

"So do we plow on through the night, hoping the Wizard has not gotten

the word about the other Wizards?" Forrest asked.
 
"Or do we take our

time, recover our strength, and hope we can handle him anyway?"

The others exchanged a circular glance.
 
"We plow on," Jfraya said.

Since she was the injured one, that was enough.

They plowed on, and in the night they finally spied the gray light of

the Wizard's castle.
 
It was surrounded by snow-covered trees and looked

peaceful.
 
"Maybe he doesn't know," Eve breathed.

But as they made their way to the castle's outer wall, passing the ring

of trees, Eve stiffened.
 
She signaled Dawn, who brushed by the tree Eve

had just touched.
 
Then came a joint dreamlet: "Those are ore trees."

Forrest felt a chill not of the landscape.
 
Ore trees were actually huge

vicious animals that resembled trees only when in repose.
 
They were the

most dangerous of guardians.
 
They might be snoozing now, but if they

came alert, they might pounce too suddenly for Ghina to put to sleep. It

would be impossible for them to flee these monsters at any speed,

because of their sidewise orientation.
 
The party had to hope that the

orcs were not alert.
 
So far that seemed to be the case.

They fetched up against the castle wall, at last able to stand almost

normally.
 
What a relief that was!

Eve touched the stone with a finger.
 
"There is no disturbance within,"

she announced via dreamlet.
 
"A number of living creatures are on the

other side."

Forrest nodded.
 
JJraya drew a door on the base of the castle wall, and

opened it.
 
They entered the dark chamber.
 
It looked as if they were

going to win after all.
 
They found an inner wall to stand on, Jfraya

still leaning on Imbri.

Suddenly lights came on.
 
They were surrounded by creatures, and none of

them looked friendly.
 
It was a trap.

"So you come at last, my pets," a huge dark woman said.
 
"But where is

your last member?"

This must be the Wizard-or Wizardess.
 
It hadn't occurred to Forrest

that the Wizard could be female, but of course it was possible. More

than possible.
 
It hardly mattered; they had walked into a trap, with

the orcs outside and the Wizard's guards inside.
 
All the Wizard had had

to do was wait.

"Last member?" Forrest asked blankly.

"It was reported that there were six in your party.
 
Where is the last

one hiding?"

"No one is hiding," Forrest said.
 
"We are all here." For Ghina was

visible, in her heavy winter clothing.

The huge woman frowned.
 
"So you think to deceive me.
 
We shall see

about that.
 
Cerci!"

Two servants pushed forward a large tank of water.
 
In it was a mermaid,

her tail in the water, her head above the surface.
 
"Yes, mistress," the

mermaid said.

"Change-" The Wizard looked around.
 
"That one." She pointed to Ghina.

The mermaid reached her arm toward Ghina.
 
"Oink!" she said.

And Ghina became a visible pig.

Forrest was appalled.
 
So was Ghina.
 
She squealed as her clothing

dropped off.
 
She ran around the floor.
 
She was clearly horrified.

Guards circled the pig and prodded it into a cage.
 
It looked out, tears

welling from its eyes, understanding its plight.

The Wizard turned back to Forrest.
 
"Now I ask you again, faun: where is

your sixth member?
 
Where is she hiding?"