Luck of the Draw (Xanth) (32 page)

But Bryce kept thinking about bees. “Maybe we don’t need the hive. The bees are here. If only we could talk to them!”

“Let’s try,” Anna said.

“Well, they have a language of sorts in their dances,” Bryce said. “But I don’t think we could do their kind of dance.”

“Too bad they aren’t telepathic,” Mindy said.

“How do we know they aren’t?” Anna said. “Maybe we should try.”

They tried, willing the bees to respond.

Yes.

“I got an answer!” Bryce exclaimed. He looked around. “Are you a bee?”

Yes.

“Are you hearing what I’m hearing?” Bryce asked the others. “In your minds?” Both girls nodded.

Bryce looked again. “Which bee?”

Which one do you think?

“The important one! The Queen Bee!”

Correct.
A bee flew up and hovered before him.
Will you offer a lady a seat?

“Certainly,” he said, raising his right hand.

The bee landed on it.
Thank you.

“So you are the Object we must win?”

Ask for the Demonstration.

“We would like to see it,” Bryce said.

“Pretend one of you is an attacking ogre.”

“I’ll do it,” Mindy said. “I can join in the demonstration, not the Challenge.” She raised her hands high. “I’m an ogre! I’ll pulp your head and crunch your bones.”

The bees of the meadow abruptly left their flowers and converged on Mindy. They landed on her body. In three-quarters of an instant she was completely covered.

“No!” Bryce said, horrified.

Don’t bee concerned. They are not stinging her. This is merely a demonstration.

Oh. Indeed, Mindy was not screaming in pain, though she did seem quite nervous.

“Note the ‘bee’ talk,” Anna murmured. “She doesn’t say ‘be.’ That’s typical of such dialects.”

That ogre would bee severely distracted,
the queen continued.
Worse, if we stung its eyes and tongue.

“Eyes and tongue,” Anna repeated, shuddering. She had her own horror there.

“The bees can protect a person from an attack by a living creature,” Bryce agreed.

Scaly creatures are harder, but many have sensitive noses. Robots are more difficult, but we can jam their air intakes and put out their fires.

“Impressive,” Bryce agreed, impressed.

The bees flew off Mindy, leaving her unharmed.

If you are hungry, we can provide honey,
the queen thought. A small swarm appeared, carrying a honeycomb. They set it down before the three.
Eat.

They tried the honey. It was delicious and invigorating.

“So you can feed a person, also,” Bryce said. “That could be very useful on occasion.”

If you need reconnaissance, we can scout the next valley and report, or delve into a cave, unobserved.

“That too could be very useful on occasion,” Bryce said.

And in an emergency, we can carry a person.

Bryce was surprised. “Carry a person? But we weigh so much more than you do.”

A bee can carry thirty times its own weight. We will demonstrate again.

The bees returned to cluster on Mindy. This time they formed loops of bees clinging to each other, that circled her arms and legs. Then they buzzed their wings. Mindy rose slowly into the air. They were indeed carrying her.

“That could be useful if a person needed to cross a deep crevasse,” Bryce said, as the bees set Mindy gently down again.

I will travel with the one who wins me, and serve the one to whom I am given. That is my role in the Quest.

“It seems like a good gift,” Mindy said. “The services of the bees are certainly worthwhile.”

“It does indeed,” Bryce agreed. He looked at Anna. “Is this one that appeals to you?”

“Yes, actually,” Anna said. “I like the anomaly of a small friendly living creature instead of a powerful inanimate object. It’s a woman’s type of gift. If I win it, my brother can give it to the princess, who may like it enough to choose him.”

“Your brother,” Mindy said. “That’s something I don’t understand. Why didn’t he come on this Quest himself?”

“It’s complicated,” Anna said uneasily.

“Maybe it’s something we should understand,” Bryce said. “You have been putting your health and life in danger to win something for him to use. Why are you doing it?”

“I support my brother. He needs this.”

“Won’t the princess know that he didn’t earn it?” Mindy asked. “Why would she choose him?”

I am curious too. I would like to think that the person who wins me would not pass me on to an undeserving relative.

“Please, I’d rather not discuss it.”

“I don’t want to cause you unnecessary distress,” Bryce said. “But I don’t want to collude in setting something up for an unworthy Suitor. I don’t see why the princess would choose a man who had to have his sister do the hard work and take the considerable risk. I think you owe us an explanation.”

Anna broke down in tears. “You’re right. I know it. But I just
can’t.
”

Something was wrong. Bryce looked at Mindy, then at the Queen Bee perched on his hand.

There is mischief she can’t reveal. I am telepathic, so I know it is there. I can’t read it unless she brings it up specifically, but it must be resolved.

“Queen, can we put this Challenge on hold for a while?” Bryce asked. “While we work this out?”

Yes. This is important.

Bryce turned to Anna. “We know something is wrong. How can we make it right?”

“You can’t,” Anna said, weeping. “I hate it, but nothing in Xanth can make it right.”

Bryce got a suspicion. “Queen, I realize this is premature, as we have not yet won you. But will you help in this separate matter, before we actually continue the Quest and try to win you?”

Yes.

So it was another anomaly: the prize working with them before being won. Anna’s nature was having effect. “Then please have your bees prevent what we discuss here from getting out. Can they do that?”

Yes. They are telepathic too; it is how we communicate. They will set up a shell through which no outsider can fathom what’s inside.

“Thank you. Please do it now.”

The queen did not move, and he heard no signal, but the other bees rose up and formed a transparent globe around them. The buzzing of their wings echoed the telepathic interference they were running.

Bryce focused on Anna. “I know something is very wrong, and that you can’t tell me directly what it is. My guess is that there is some threat to you and your family that forces you to cooperate in something you don’t want to.”

“That’s not exactly it,” she said. “But I can’t tell you what it is.”

That confirmed that there was something. “So I want you to answer some yes-no questions.” He paused. “Falsely.”

She gazed at him. “I—I don’t understand.”

“I want you to lie. To say yes instead of no, and no instead of yes. To never tell the truth, only the opposite.”

“But I don’t want to lie. I’ve always tried to be honest.”

“And I commend you for it. But this is an aspect of a kind of game where the rules change. It’s not really lying when you know I know you are not telling the truth. It is more like an exercise in reverse logic, tricky to do, but part of the game. You won’t be admitting anything you’re not supposed to; you’ll be denying it.”

Anna looked at Mindy. “Does this make sense to you?”

“I’m not sure,” Mindy said. “But I trust Bryce’s judgment. He’s been right before, and is probably right this time. I know there are tricky games where the rules are different, as he says. I don’t know why he wants to play it now, but that will surely come clear soon.”

Anna looked at Bryce’s hand. “What about you, Queen Bee?”

It verges on genius.

“Genius?” Anna repeated. “Telling me to lie?”

Trust him.

Anna spread her hands. “Then I’ll do it, for whatever it’s worth.”

“Is your name Anna Molly?”

“Of course it is!” Then she caught herself. “I mean, no, it isn’t.”

Bryce smiled. “That’s the spirit. Think before you answer, to make sure it’s not the truth.” He paused, then started the serious questions. “Did someone threaten you or your family, to make you do something you didn’t want to?”

Anna hesitated. “Yes,” she answered slowly.

So it really wasn’t that. That surprised him. “Did someone promise you or your family something?”

“No.”

“Something phenomenal, that you might get no other way?”

“No.”

“Great success?”

Anna hesitated. “No.” Then she reconsidered. “Yes.”

Bryce pondered. His device was working, but it wasn’t giving him the answers he expected. What could be interpreted either way?

“True love?” Mindy asked.

“No!” Anna said.

So that was it. And it had already been paid, because Anna had found love with Piper. That was not success in the sense of winning power or riches, but a woman might well choose love over material success.

So they were making progress. They still needed to ascertain who had done this, and why. Bryce had an idea about the first. “The one who promised you this: was it a Demon?”

“No.”

“And if you told, were you threatened with the loss of it?”

“No,” Anna said uncomfortably.

She didn’t want to lose that love, understandably. But why would a Demon prefer to have a Suitor’s sister compete instead of the Suitor? “Is there something you are supposed to do here?”

“No.” Then again she reconsidered. “Not exactly. Or I mean, exactly.”

Another fudgy answer.

Is it something your mere presence accomplishes?
the Queen Bee asked.

“No!”

And there it was. “Because you are female?” Bryce asked.

“No.”

This remained perplexing. “Does it relate to another Suitor?”

“No.”

“Me?” Because he was the only other Suitor left.

“No.”

Suddenly it was getting personal. “Because I would treat a woman differently than a man?”

“No.”

“But I try to be fair with anyone, male or female,” Bryce protested.

“No.”

“You’re a gentleman,” Mindy said. “You have a somewhat courtly manner with women.” She smiled obscurely. “You don’t take advantage of them.”

“No,” Anna said, agreeing with her.

“And if it came to a choice of who would get to try for the Object,” Mindy continued, “in this case the Queen Bee, and she wanted to, you would let her.”

“No,” Anna said.

“Well of course I would. But I would do the same for a man.”

“Maybe the Demon didn’t know that,” Mindy said. “Because Anna’s Demon would not have been familiar with you. Just with early indications that you showed before the Quest formally began. So Anna is here to see that you don’t take the Bee.”

“No,” Anna agreed.

“But what difference does it make?” Bryce asked. “There’s another Object remaining to try for after this one. I can take that one.”

“Yes,” Anna said.

Bryce, Mindy, and the Queen Bee looked at her, startled.

“You can take another,” Anna said. “You don’t have to take this one.”

Bryce whistled. “That ups the ante. This is the last Object I have a chance of winning?”

“No,” Anna said, smiling sadly.

“But if I take this one, you could still take the next one,” Bryce said.

“No.” Then Anna amplified. “If you don’t take this one, you can take the next one. You will still be in the game. The princess hates you. She will never choose you.”

“Oho!” Mindy exclaimed. “The Demons figure the princess likes you, Bryce, and will choose you if she has a chance. Then all the others will lose. They are trying to see that you wash out, don’t have a gift for her, and are eliminated. This is the point where that is decided.”

“No!” Anna agreed.

“So it is part of the game,” Bryce said. “Not just to get good gifts for the princess, but to eliminate other competitors.”

“No,” Anna agreed again. “I—I think you stink, and I really like the idea of making you wash out.”

“Well, you can have the Bee,” Bryce said. “I’ll take my chances on the next Object.”

Anna nodded, tears flowing down her face. So, oddly, did Mindy, as tearfully.

Oh, my,
the Bee thought.
This session must end now.

“I think we have it straight, at last,” Bryce agreed. “No one has told anyone anything true, and nothing is changed. We’ll proceed as before.”

Anna ran to him and kissed him fleetingly on the cheek. Then she organized. “I will take the Bee.”

The Queen Bee took off from Bryce’s hand and flew across the meadow.
I will sit atop the Hive,
her thought came back. Now the hive appeared, in the middle of the meadow.
We will allow no one to approach. Any who try will not be stung to death, merely to unconsciousness, so that they lose. Good fortune.

“Lucky is no longer with us,” Bryce said.

“I must stay out of this,” Mindy said.

Anna started walking toward the hive. Immediately a swarm of bees rose up and hovered between her and the hive. That was warning enough.

“It
is
a challenge,” Anna said. “I know the Queen bears us no malice, but she has to do her job.”

Indeed. If you wash out here, we could use a beekeeper for sundry chores. You would have all the honey you want, and no one would sting you.

“Thank you,” Anna said. “I might take you up on that, as I like you and love your honey. But first I have to try to win you.”

Of course.

“Could I make really tight clothing, so they couldn’t get at me?” Anna asked Bryce.

“That would be risky,” Bryce said. “They could sting through thick cloth, and crawl into any hollows. It would have to be airtight, and then you’d have trouble breathing.”

“Could I borrow a carpet and fly over them? Dropping down suddenly from above?”

“Not with creatures of the air like bees,” Bryce said.