Luck of the Draw (Xanth) (24 page)

The mass of the monster solidified. Tubes appeared within his substance. Gas hissed through the tubes, thick and dank smelling. That explained why he needed fresh air.

“TURN OFF SOUND,” a tube hissed.

Bryce checked the control panel by the entry, and found a switch marked
SOUND.
He pushed it to the
OFF
position.

Piper warmed up. First one tube would hiss a note, then another, a different note. The notes became clearer and more melodic. Then there came a tune, played by an assortment of tubes. Bryce realized with surprise that it was a four-part harmony, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Some of the notes were piercingly high, others reverberatingly low. This really was an organ!

“READY,” the tube said.

Bryce turned the sound back on. “The Musician Piper is about to play the ‘Gnobody Gnows the Trouble I’ve Seen Dirge’ for the Gnobody Gnomes,” he announced. “This is a somber occasion. Please take your places and do not interrupt the music.”

Then Piper started playing the Dirge. It was not unduly loud, but there was amazing power in it. The high notes were penetrating, the low notes authoritative. Overall it was lovely, compelling, and overwhelmingly sad. Bryce felt his eyes sting, not from the gases, but from evoked emotion despite his ignorance of the deceased gnome for whom this was being rendered. The song picked him up emotionally, wafted him through the soft air, ran him through an ill-tempered meat grinder, and finally buried him about two miles and six feet underground.

Bryce slowly came to his senses. The monster was coalescing back into the man. The Dirge was done. “Thank you for your consideration,” Bryce said to the unseen audience. “Now the regular programming will resume.” He turned off the sound.

“You did well,” Piper said as his head molded into shape.

“Me? You were phenomenal! I never heard such power in music of any kind. You say you’re Xanth’s second-best musician? I find that hard to believe.”

“You underestimate the walking skeleton, as I did. He also may be Xanth’s finest person.”

Bryce did not argue the case, still bemused by the astonishing experience of the Dirge. They exited the freight car and returned to the passenger car where the others were.

Arsenal, Anna, and Mindy were sitting with their heads hanging, their faces tear-streaked. They had listened.

The troll was there too, as forebodingly dark as ever. “The gnomes are impressed and appreciative,” he said. “So are we, because we value their business. Each member of your party is hereby granted a lifetime pass to use our facilities free of further charge. We have just one request.”

It seemed that trolls could also be generous when pleased. “What is it?” Bryce asked.

“The Dirge was so well rendered that it has put the entire passenger list into nearly catatonic depression. We ask that you play a more cheering melody to bring them out of it.”

Piper smiled. He put his piccolo to his lips. He piped a wonderfully uplifting merry little tune. Bryce’s depression lifted, and he was sure the effect was similar throughout the train.

The remaining trip was routine. They did more spot shows for audiences that warmly reacted to them, and between times rested and feasted in their chamber. The Autotroll intersected what turned out to be the Soul Train, for ailing souls, running underground, jealously guarded by demons. The party of gnomes transferred to it and were gone. Their naturally dour expressions remained; evidently they had not listened to the upbeat melody, preferring to remain depressed in honor of their lost comrade.

In due course the train drew to a halt at its last stop: the Panhandle. This was of course like a huge pan with an immensely long handle. They debarked with their trikes at the very tip of that handle. The Autotroll chugged around a wide loop of track and moved back the way it had come. The easy part of their journey was over.

Just beyond the end of the track, at the foot of a mountain, was a small pavilion with a table. On the table was a sign:
RING OF POWER: DEMONSTRATOR MODEL.

“Just like that?” Anna asked skeptically.

“The Quests have been set up for us,” Arsenal reminded her. “The Demons evidently saw no reason to leave us in doubt. Now who is interested in this one?”

“What does it do?” Bryce asked.

“Try it and find out,” Pose suggested. He sat down on the big toe of the foot of the mountain. The others sat on the other toes.

Bryce shrugged and picked up the ring. It seemed quite ordinary. It seemed to be made of brass, without decoration. He slipped it on his middle finger. Nothing happened. “How do I invoke it?” he asked.

Pose shrugged. He was improving on his human mannerisms. “Rings differ. Maybe the challenge is to discover the key to its operation.”

“Try saying the words ‘I invoke you,’” Anna suggested.

“I invoke you, Ring of Power,” Bryce said formally. Still nothing happened.

“You may need to figure out exactly what power this ring relates to,” Piper said. “Physical, mental, emotional, magic—there surely is something. The Demons would not place a dud.”

“And how the bleep am I to know something like that?” Bryce demanded, frustrated. “Do I wish for a mountain to move six inches to the left?”

There was a rumble that shook the ground. The others exclaimed, jumping up.

The mountain foot had moved six inches to the left.

Bryce privately enjoyed their discomfort. They had left him to figure out the Ring, and had gotten jolted because of it. “Well, now. Let’s see the mountain rise up a foot.”

The mountain foot lifted a foot. Nothing on it changed; the rocks and trees on the slope remained undisturbed. But they were now on a mountain that floated in the air.

The Ring of Power really could move mountains.

“Let’s have the mountain settle slowly back to the ground,” Bryce said. “Exactly where it was before.”

The mountain settled gently down to the ground.

It occurred to Bryce that this Ring could be dangerous if carelessly or improperly used. That made him nervous. It was simply too much power, capable of being exerted too casually. “I think we have a notion of the nature of the Ring of Power,” he said, sliding it off his finger. “Who wants to take it? That person can experiment with it on the way to the Good Magician’s Castle.”

“Weapons are my thing,” Arsenal said. “Moving mountains aren’t.”

“Music is my thing,” Piper said.

“Anomalies are mine,” Anna said. “I’d prefer to get something that will help me to control them better.”

“That leaves it to me,” Pose said. “I appreciate power, and believe the princess will too. I’ll take it.”

The Ring sailed out of Bryce’s hand. It flew in an arc to the mountain and landed on it. The mountain puffed into a cloud of smoke. This thinned and dissipated, revealing a wonderland of brass rings. There were stacks of rings forming trees, others forming round houses, others forming paths leading past ring-shaped pools, fields, and hills. It was a nice enough scene, fashioned entirely of rings. The whole was enclosed in one big circle, outside of which the terrain was normal.

“And I think our challenge is to find it,” Arsenal said. “At least we know where to look.”

“One of those rings must be the one,” Piper agreed. “But which one?”

“And it probably can be any size,” Anna said.

“Needle in a haystack,” Bryce said.

“There must be thousands of rings,” Pose said, dismayed. “It could take years to check them all. And how do we know that any one ring is THE ring?”

“I wonder,” Bryce said. “This whole scene formed instantly. That suggests it’s less solid than it seems.” He stepped into the circle and touched a ring-tree.

His hand passed through it.

“Illusion!” Anna said. “Just like the zombie graveyard!”

“Illusion,” Bryce agreed. “Cheap magic. That simplifies things somewhat; the ring we need to find will be the one solid one.” He swept his hand through another tree.

“That will still take a lot of searching,” Pose said. “I could cover more territory by dissipating into smoke myself, but then I wouldn’t be able to feel something solid. I’m stuck with man-limitations.”

“But it can be done,” Arsenal said. “Let’s all get on it. We can divide it into sections for each of us to focus on.” He waded in, swinging his hands.

The others joined him, taking different sections. Bryce had one with several houses. That was weird, because when he entered one, swinging his hands through its walls, he encountered illusion residents: people made of rings. Before he knew it he was feeling through a young ring woman. She screamed soundlessly and slapped him, but her ringed hand passed through his face.

“Sorry, ma’am,” he said, embarrassed. “But I have to check everything here by touching it, or trying to.”

She considered. Evidently she could hear him. She turned away and pulled up her ringed skirt to flash her copper-ring panties. She could smite him that way. Fortunately he was warned by his left eye, and closed his right eye. He spanked her on the bottom, and touched nothing. She had the grace to laugh, soundlessly.

After an hour, discovering nothing solid, Bryce paused to reconsider. Could he find a more efficient way to check things? This way would take days that they surely didn’t have.

He walked back to the outer rim. Mindy was sitting on it, watching without participating. She was still wearing her dress from the Autotroll, without petticoats, and her knees were carelessly separated. “Um, Mindy, you may want to sit differently,” he said, approaching her.

Then he froze.

“I’m sorry; I wasn’t thinking,” she said, clapping her knees together.

“It’s not that,” he said. “I didn’t see anything. I just realized something. You’re sitting on a ring.”

“Yes, there are no chairs out here. This lets me watch without participating.”

“So that’s a solid ring.”

“A big one,” she agreed, smiling. Then she paused. “The Ring of Power may be any size.”

“That’s my thought.”

“Pick it up and find out.”

“No. That’s for Pose.” Bryce walked back into the circled area, searching out the demon.

He found him in a region with a fancy rock garden made out of rings, with statues of rings, methodically sweeping hands through them all. “Yo,” Pose said, spying him. “You finish your territory?”

“Not exactly. Mindy is sitting on the outer rim.”

“Yes, I saw her. Almost freaked out, except that demons don’t freak the way men do. Someone should tell her.”

“I did,” Bryce said, and waited.

“So what’s your point?” Then the demon did an almost human double take. “She. Is. Sitting. On. A. Ring.”

“A big ring,” Bryce agreed. “I thought you might want to check it out.”

“Why didn’t you take it?”

“I believe we agreed that this one is yours to take.”

“So you came to tell me.”

“Yes.”

Pose shook his head. “If this is it, I’ll lose your association just when I’m getting to like you.”

“That’s the irony of our situation.”

They arrived at the rim where Mindy still sat, her knees demurely together. “Let’s see what we have,” Pose said. He bent down, put his hands on the big ring, and heaved it up.

It shrank in an instant back to the size the demonstrator model had been. Mindy fell on the ground, her support abruptly gone. “Oh!”

Bryce went quickly to help her get back to her feet as the illusion setting faded out. The prior mountain was back, with its big foot. “We really owe this discovery to you. If you hadn’t been sitting on it, it never would have occurred to me that it was solid.”

“And here I was trying to stay out of your Quest,” she said. “But you’re the one who figured it out.”

The other searchers returned, realizing that the problem had been solved.

Meanwhile Pose was donning the Ring and trying it out. He lifted the mountain a few inches, and set it down again. “This is it, all right. I’ll experiment on my way back, so that I can demonstrate its full potential to the princess.”

They bid each other farewell, and Pose rode his trike away with the Ring of Power. He was still emulating human form and limitations, hoping to impress the princess with his humanity.

Bryce sighed. “Did we do the right thing? He means to depose the present human government of Xanth.”

“The princess knows that,” Anna said. “She won’t choose him.”

“Unless she hankers to be King of Xanth much faster than she will be otherwise,” Piper said.

“I don’t think she’s that type,” Bryce said.

“Let’s hope so,” Arsenal said.

“Why don’t we all relax before tackling the next Quest,” Mindy suggested.

“I’m for that,” Piper said. “I’ll play a relaxing melody.”

He did and they did, making an impromptu camp. Mindy foraged for pies, milkweed pods, blankets, pillows, and even found a tent left by tent caterpillars. They rested and ate, then had Piper play dance music. Bryce and Arsenal danced with Mindy and Anna, and it was all very compatible.

“You know, if I weren’t in love with the princess,” Arsenal said, “I’d be interested in either of you girls. You’re nice people, and fun to be with.”

Bryce agreed. There were ways in which these young women were better matches for the men than the princess. But he couldn’t say that, because he, too, loved the princess.

They spent the night in the tent, taking turns to do sentinel duty, just in case. The girls obviously were not worried about any intentions the men might have. They had all come to know each other, and to respect each other, and they increasingly trusted each other. They were all, after initial questions, good people. They were becoming friends.

Yet they all knew that this was a temporary association. Tomorrow another would Quest for an Object, and their group would diminish again. All too soon the group would diminish to one Suitor, and then to none. Bryce was almost sorry.

10

S
WORD

B
ryce woke with a girl in his arms. He was on his back, and she was lying half on his body, her face nestled in the hollow of his shoulder. She must have rolled over in the night and unconsciously overlapped him. She was pleasantly soft, especially where her chest heaved gently against his.