Geis of the Gargoyle (57 page)

"Why, sure.
 
Princess," Hiatus said, starting to step forward.

"Nuh-uh," Mentia said, extending an arm to restrain him.
 
'There's demon substance in that battery."

"You won't take my battery?" Electra asked, looking extremely innocent.

"You're an enemy illusion," Iris said grimly.
 
"We don't trust you."

"Then you must accept the other thing I have for you," Electra said, setting down the battery.
 
"Assault." And she sprouted fangs and pounced on Surprise.

But Gayle moved more swiftly, leaping to intercept her.
 
The gargoyle knocked the woman to the side, so that the child was never touched.
 
The image of Electra dissolved into an irritated cloud.

"Gee, thanks," Surprise said, curiously unconcerned.
 
Maybe she thought the attack had been another harmless illusion.
 
She stepped forward to investigate the battery.

Mentia formed into a bright metal shield and jumped between the child and the battery.
 
And the battery exploded.
 
Shards of metal flew out, some bouncing off the shield.
 
One struck Gary, but it didn't hurt him, being illusion.
 
But it was clear that there was substance in the ones that struck the shield, because it clanged loudly with their impact.

Iris kneeled down before Surprise.
 
"Are you all right, dear?" she asked.

"Sure." But now the child looked shaken.
 
"Why did that nice lady try to hurt me?"

"Because you are evidently now the leading threat to the freedom of the philter," Mentia said, reforming from the shield.
 
"The rest of us were threats when we were figuring out how to locate and control it, but now we know how to do that, so we no longer matter to it.
 
We will need your magic for the actual conjuration, so it seeks to destroy you first."

"How do you know that?" Gary asked, surprised.

"Because the philter is a cold, logical demon without a lot of direct physical substance or energy to waste.
 
It wouldn't attack her physically unless it feared her."

The others nodded.
 
The demoness had proved to be the most sensible of them all, again.

"We shall have to be specially protective toward her," Iris said.

"I will carry her," Gayle said.
 
She lay down before the child, and Surprise climbed up onto the stone back and grabbed on to the stone fur.
 
"This is fun!" she announced.
 
"A gargle ride!"

"A gargle ride," Gary agreed, though he winced internally.
 
They had to keep the child safe, and happy as well, if they could manage it.

Already something new was developing.
 
A group of creatures was advancing from the castle.
 
"Centaurs!" Iris said.
 
"Beware their expert archery."

"But if the arrows are illusion-" Gary began.

"Whatever flies at Surprise won't be," Mentia said.
 
"Any more than the fragments of the battery that flew at her were."

"Then we had better take evasive action," Gary said, appreciating the point.
 
"But it's hard to flee when we can't see the real terrain."

"I can't abolish the philter's illusion, but I can recognize it," Iris said.
 
"There's an avenue through the city, that way." She pointed to the thickest section of the orchard surrounding the castle.
 
"We can run along that with fair safety."

"And it looks completely impassable," Mentia said.
 
"Suggesting that that's the way the philter least wants us to go."

They were still searching for they knew not what.
 
Gary remained doubtful, but had no better alternative to suggest, so he kept his mouth shut.
 
In this Region of Madness, maybe the maddest notions were appropriate.

So Gary ran, trusting her perception, and the others followed him.
 
It looked as if he were heading directly into a thicket of needle cacti, but there was nothing there.
 
It reminded him of Desiree's magic path, invisible to those not on it.
 
But this one remained invisible while they were on it.

However, the centaurs changed course to pursue.
 
Several nocked arrows to their bows as they galloped within range.
 
Mentia formed into another shield, this one with legs, and ran directly behind Gayle and Surprise, protecting them.
 
But at the rate the centaurs were overhauling them, they'd soon get around that.

"We can't outrun those illusions," Hiatus said, puffing.

"There's a real hinged stone column here," Iris gasped, pointing to the left.
 
"Hide behind that."

Gary swerved into what looked like a mud puddle, and glanced off the side of the stone column.
 
Ouch! But he found the comer of it, and gestured to the others.
 
They whipped around it and clustered behind its protection, the illusion-invisible stone at their backs.

Mentia formed into a metallic tube with wheels.
 
"What's that?" Gary asked.

"A cannon," a mouth on the tube said.
 
"When the centaurs appear, touch this flame to my rear." A thin torch appeared.

Gary took the torch.
 
When the centaurs slued around the corner, he touched the flame to the back of the cannon.
 
There was a muffled boom, and smoke flew out of the mouth.
 
A big ball plowed through the centaurs, knocking them down.

"So that's what a cannon is," Hiatus said, impressed.

The remaining centaurs took positions behind other stone hinges.
 
The stones looked like trees, but Iris identified them for what they were.
 
The cannon would not reach the centaurs beyond those columns.

"But neither can their arrows reach us," Gary said with some satisfaction.

Then an arrow sailed around the comer, just missing him.
 
It struck a projection of stone and fell with a death rattle.

"One of those centaurs can shoot around comers," Hiatus said, awed.

"These special effects in madness are stretching my imagination," Mentia said, resuming her usual shape and squeezing her ballooning head back together.
 
But stretch marks remained on her forehead.

More arrows squealed around the comer, striking all around them.
 
Only one was real, and that one struck Gayle's shoulder and was shattered.
 
But it remained nervous business, because the arrows appeared so swiftly that they could not tell which ones were real until after they struck.
 
One of them passed right through Iris' nose-and though that one was illusory, it did have some effect.

"Oh, I'm losing my wits!" Iris cried, as a shower of whitish glowing blips sprayed out from her head.
 
"I'm just not used to taking my own medicine!" She grabbed ineffectively for the blips.

"I'll help," Surprise said eagerly.
 
She crossed her eyes.
 
The wits expanded to building block size, and lay tumbled about, their glow now suffusing the area.
 
"Oops-that worked wrong."

"Wait-we can use those as they are," Mentia said.
 
"Stack them up before us to make a safe mental haven." She grabbed a big wit and set it on the ground before Surprise.

Gary picked up another wit and set it beside the first, and Hiatus joined in.
 
Soon they had formed a wall as high as they were, and the arrows could no longer get through.

"But why are some of these brighter than others?" Hiatus asked, pointing to the uneven glowing of the wall.
 
Gary shrugged.
 
"Some are dim wits." "Thank you so much," Iris said caustically.
 
"I have a more serious question," Mentia said.
 
"Why did Surprise's talent misfire? She was trying to collect the wits, and instead she made them large." "She's a child," Gary said.
 
"She doesn't have perfect control yet."

"Yes I do," Surprise said.
 
"Except when we first got into the madness, but now I allow for that.
 
Something messed me up."

"Are you sure, dear?" Iris asked.
 
She had recovered her wits.
 
They weren't in her head, but they were right before her and well organized into the wall, so she seemed to be all right now.
 
"Couldn't you have gotten confused in the excitement?"

"No," the child said with certainty.
 
"Something interfered."

"The philter?" Mentia asked.
 
"If it can change your magic, we have more of a challenge than we thought."

"No, it can read my mind but it can't change it-or my talent," Surprise said.

"We don't need to hassle the child about something unimportant," Hiatus said.
 
"She's doing her best."

"You don't believe me," Surprise said accusingly.

"It's not that," Hiatus said, taken aback.
 
"It's just that-"

"You think I'm too young to know what's what!"

"Please, dear, don't get fussed up," Iris said, alarmed.

"And you do too! You all think I'm confused."

"Well, you are young," Gary said.
 
"But that's no disparagement."

"Well, I'll show you!" Surprise flared.
 
"I'll make myself old!"

"No, don't waste your magic!" Mentia cried.
 
But her voice of reason was too late.

Surprise crossed her eyes.
 
Suddenly she was a grown woman.
 
Fortunately her clothing had grown along with her.
 
She was now an attractive lady of perhaps thirty, though she looked unfinished in some undefined way.
 
"I am now adult," she said.
 
"I apologize for my erstwhile childishness.
 
But I assure you that some force outside myself or the philter distorted my prior effort of magic.
 
I had intended to draw the wits magnetically into my hands, and instead they expanded and solidified."

"Oh, you are lovely, but you need a finishing touch," Iris said.
 
She reached into a pocket and brought something out.

"What is that?" Surprise asked.

"Makeup.
 
It's a secret illusion girls use that boys don't know about.
 
It makes girls who are too young look older, and women who are too old look younger." She touched Surprise's mature face with powder and sticks of color, and sure enough, soon the woman came into better focus.

The others exchanged most of a glance.
 
Surprise did seem to be a credible witness.
 
"What do you suppose caused that distortion?" Mentia inquired.

"I have no idea.
 
But I can orient on it, if you wish."

"Perhaps you should, as it may be important for us to know what is influencing us."

Then Gary realized what Mentia was after.
 
That mysterious thing they might need to complete their job, that the philter was trying to hide from them: they might be near it.
 
But the demoness was being cautious, lest this be merely a false lead made by the philter.