"You, too, are uncommonly clever," Trent told her. Gloha discovered that she had not after all used up her own store of blush.
Then the Magician gestured, and the centaur became a truly monstrous bird. The roc took the suddenly tiny-seeming man in its ferociously huge beak, spread its giant pinions, and launched into the air. Now, there was an act of trust, Gloha realized: the bird could cut the man in half simply by closing its beak. It flew up, circling the stalagmite, until it reached the top. Then it flipped its head, opened its beak, and the man sailed up through the hole. He didn't fall out again, so he must have landed somewhere.
Now the roc flew as close to the hole in the ceiling as possible without colliding with the stalagmite. The tip of one wing brushed past the hole-and the big bird vanished. In its place was a tiny hummingbird.
Gloha had been halfway keeping pace, staying clear of the immense downdraft from the roc's wings. Now she flew up through the hole herself.
There were Trent and Cynthia, waiting for her. "See? It was routine," the centaur filly said nonchalantly as she let go of the man. He must have held her steady as he transformed her, or perhaps she had clung to him for balance as she adjusted.
Trent smiled obliquely. "Routine," he agreed.
But Gloha was seriously wondering how many more such tricky transitions they would be able to make. This did not strike her as a safe or easy route. It was more like trying to gain entry to the Good Magician's castle. But she didn't want to alarm the others, so she kept her meek little mouth shut. About that and whatever else she might conjecture about that wasn't her business.
They moved on again. This time the passage led to a snoozing goblin. "Ahem," Trent said.
The goblin rolled over on his mat, "Go away, dunderhead," he muttered without opening his eyes.
"I presume this is the goblin checkpoint," Trent said.
"We want you to be sure you know that we have a safe conduct pass."
The goblins forced open an eye. Then suddenly both eyes wedged wide. "What are you creatures doing here?"
"We are on our way out of the underworld," Trent said evenly. "We are following the established exit route, for which we have a pass." He showed the pass.
"But that's impossible! We changed the route so nobody could get through."
Trent, Gloha, and Cynthia shared three halves of a glance. Suddenly something was making sense. Goblin mischief.
The Magician turned back to the goblin. "And why would you change the path?" he inquired with truly deceptive mildness.
"Because we don't honor any deals made by the crappy saps who ran this region before we got here, but we didn't want to say so outright before we got really well established. So we could claim that travelers just got lost or something, in case the demons snooped."
"And the regular path is easier to travel?"
"Of course it is, yokel. It just winds straight up past the checkpoints to the surface. But now we'll erase that, and eat any more travelers who come, pass or not."
"That could plunge the underworld into war, after decades of peace."
"Yeah," the goblin said zestfully. "So now get ready for the pot, because we're going to stew you three for supper. Better take off your packs and clothes; they don't boil well." He squinted at them. "One dumb human man, one stupid winged goblin girl-oh, we'll have fun with you before we cut off those wings!-and one idiotic winged centaur filly." Then the goblin did a double take. "A winged centaur! We hate winged centaurs! Ever since that little snoop came to Goblin Mountain and made it possible for a girl to be chief. What a pain! We real he-man goblins just had to get the Hades out of there and find a place to regroup. Oh, we'll pull out your feathers one by one, and make you hurt worse and worse, until you're just begging to be dumped into the boiling pot! What a treat we have coming!"
Gloha felt an awful chill, and she could tell that Cynthia was experiencing the same ugly draft. But the Magician seemed oddly unconcerned. Gloha was pretty sure that was misleading, she hoped.
"And this path now goes straight on up to the surface?" Trent inquired conversationally. "No more hazards?"
"Sure. But you won't be taking it, man-puss, because we're closing the gate. You might as well eat that pass before we feed it to you."
"And you are the only goblin guarding this path?"
"Right." The goblin paused. "Except for the other hundred that moved in while we were talking." He waved, and suddenly the passage beyond was crammed with goblins carrying spears and clubs. "You thought maybe you'd just run over me and be gone, meat-man? You're even dumber than you look."
Gloha felt a worse chill. Suddenly they were faced with bad faith-because of bad goblins who had fled the enlightened female chiefship of cousin-once-removed Gwenny and come here to establish their evil order. She knew the three could expect no mercy, because she knew what goblin men were like in their natural state. This was doom.
"I take it that you don't know who I am," Trent said, seeming unperturbed.
"Human scum, I am proud to tell you I have no idea who you are, and don't care to soil my mind learning. You'll taste just as good as anyone else, once we add the spices. Now get those clothes off before we hack them off."
"I am Magician Trent. Perhaps you have heard of me."
"Of course I never heard of you, crapbrain! And even if I had, I-" He paused. "Who?"
"The Magician of Transformation."
The goblin began to sidle away. "It don't mean nothing to me! You're probably lying anyway."
Trent strode forward, gesturing. The goblin became a large purple snake with venom dripping from its fangs. "Now go greet your comrades," Trent said.
But the snake did not flee. Instead it slithered toward the Magician. Gloha realized that the change of form did not stop it from being an enemy, any more than her change of form had stopped her from being a friend. Trent's magic could not change personality.
The purple snake became a pink elephant, the kind of monster that drunks dreamed of. But the passage was not large enough for it, so it filled the space completely, blocking off the other goblins. But it also blocked off the easy escape route to the single-G-mite chamber.
"We need another exit," the Magician said mildly. "Gloha, can you find your way through goblin tunnels?"
"Yes. But there will be enemy goblins in them. They'll attack us from ambush before you can transform them. They'll throw stones from beyond your range. I don't think we can get through them."
"What about some passage they won't use?"
"They can go anywhere we can, because you can't fly." She hated to bring that liability up to him again, but it was unfortunately true.
"Then find a passage you two can use and they can't. I'll keep them from following, if they make the attempt."
He was offering to sacrifice himself so that the two of them could escape. Gloha knew she wouldn't accept that, and she thought Cynthia wouldn't either. In fact she was pretty almost certainly sure Cynthia wouldn't. But there was no point in arguing about that right now. She peered down the passages that debouched from this region. Already she heard the sounds of goblins running through passages, closing in on this one by devious routes.
Then she spied a goblin sign. "I see a forbidden tunnel!" she cried. "This way!" She ran toward it.
"Why is it forbidden?" Cynthia asked as she trotted after her.
"I don't know. But it means that goblins won't use it, and that's what we want."
They entered the tunnel as goblins appeared in the one behind them. This one was well lighted by fungus and big enough for them all to use comfortably, which made Gloha wonder, because both the man and the centaur were twice the height of any goblin.. Why should such a large tunnel be forbidden? If they were afraid to use it, why hadn't they blocked it off?
It led fairly directly to another large cavern whose base was filled with water. That was all; there was no offshoot passages. Just the quiet pool.
"The goblins are afraid of this?" Cynthia asked, perplexed.
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"Yes," Gloha said. "I don't understand why. If there were any really bad monster here, they would have blocked off the tunnel, so that it couldn't come out after them. Instead they merely marked it forbidden. This is distinctly odd. But it doesn't mean that it's safe for us, or that it is any way out. Just that they won't be coming in here."
Cynthia peered across the dark water. "I think I see something."
They all peered. "It looks furry," Gloha said.
The thing came toward them. Indeed it was furry; in fact it seemed to be a big ball of fur. But when it got close, it opened a furry mouth that seemed somewhat bigger than it was, and snapped with large furry teeth. Sparks flew as the teeth clashed together.
"This is not a place to swim," Trent said. "I gather the fur monster does not leave the water. That means that the goblins don't need to fear it coming after them. They just have to stay clear of its pool."
"Yes, that would explain the simple warning sign," Gloha agreed. "Goblins are lazy; they don't do anything they don't have to. If there's no need to block off a tunnel, they won't bother. So they just posted the warning and let it be."
"But this doesn't look like enough to back off a whole goblin tribe," Cynthia said. "The creature is hardly half as massive as I am. That's enough to gobble up any goblin that might fall in the water-"
"Or be thrown in," Trent suggested.
"But the tribe could gather and throw a barrage of spears at it from the edge," Gloha finished. "You're right; goblins are lazy, but in a case like this their meanness should make up for it. They should take pleasure in attacking it from the safety of the shore, just because it's there. There must be something more."
"And we had better find out what it is," Trent said, his mildness fading now that there was no one close by who needed deceiving. "Now I can transform this creature into something innocuous. But I don't know whether it's the only one, or what else may be lurking near. I am not comfortable with this."
The man was a master of understatement! "I suppose you could transform me into something that shouldn't fear the furball," Gloha said. "Like maybe an allegory. Then I could explore the depths of the pool to see if there's any exit from it. There doesn't seem to be any above or around it."
"Let's not act too quickly, if we don't have to," Trent said. "I have learned to be careful about what I don't understand. There is a mystery about this pool that the presence of a monster doesn't satisfactorily explain."
Cynthia leaned forward over the water and dipped the tip of a finger. Immediately the furball shot through the water and snapped at her hand. "Oh!" she cried, whipping it away.
"That thing is fast," Gloha said.
"It's not that. That water stings." She brought her finger to her mouth.
"Don't do that!" Trent snapped, startling her. "That water may be poison."
"Oh!" she repeated, staring at her hurting finger.
Gloha brought out a handkerchief. "There is a bit of healing elixir in this," she said. She used it to wipe off the finger, which she saw was already blistering. Poison indeed!
"Oh thank you," Cynthia said. "That feels so much better."
"So now we know another reason why the goblins avoid this pool," Trent said. "It is poison water. The fur monster must be specially adapted to it. Still I'm not sure we have fathomed the whole of this unpleasant mystery-and I think we shall have to, if we want to pass through this pool to escape this region."
"How can we know there is any way out under the pool?" Gloha asked. "There might be underwater caves that don't go anywhere."
"I see no water dripping down from the dome above it. Yet the pool is not brackish or cloudy. It seems to be fresh water, such as it is. That suggests that there is a wellspring somewhere below the surface. If we find that inlet, it may be our outlet."
"I suppose," Gloha said dubiously. "We certainly don't seem to have any other way out."
"But we can't go through poisoned water," Cynthia protested.
"I wonder," Trent said thoughtfully. "It seems unlikely that it would be poisoned by contact with the local rock, because then other waters in the region should suffer a similar effect, and we have not noted this. That river we diverted was quite pure. I think the goblins would not have poisoned it, because that just makes it useless to them. That suggests that this pool is magically poisoned."
"Magically poisoned!" Gloha exclaimed. "You mean, like some pools are love springs, and some are hate springs, and some are youth springs, or healing springs, and so on-this one is a poison spring?"
"Something like that," he agreed. "If it did not wish to be molested by goblins, this device would be effective."
"It certainly would!" Gloha agreed. "But that stops us from molesting it too."
"But perhaps we can make a deal with it. Sometimes the inanimate has special desires."
"You mean things that aren't alive, like pools, want things?" Cynthia asked.
"My son-in-law Dor has the ability to talk with the inanimate. It is clear from his experience that inanimate things have concerns, just as animate ones do. We lack the ability to communicate as he does, unfortunately, but maybe we can handle it."
"We can talk to water?" Gloha asked, as doubtful as Cynthia. Stones might be considered individual entities, but water was just fluid.
"Perhaps. I suspect that the fur monster understands the pool, and perhaps it will tell us what the pool desires that we might provide."
Both girls looked at him, not trusting this.
"Suppose I transform one of you into a similar furball, also immune to the poison," he said. "I can do this, despite not really knowing its nature, because my talent takes care of the details. Then you could communicate with it, get some answers, and perhaps make a deal."
"You transformed Cynthia last time," Gloha said. "It's my turn." She hardly believed that this would work, but what other hope was there?
The Magician approached her and gestured. Suddenly she was a hairy furball. She rolled into the pool with a satisfying splash. The water felt wonderful.
The other furball charged aggressively across, its teeth leading the way. "Wait, furface!" she cried in its language, which wasn't exactly verbal but which came naturally to her. "I'm your kind. Let's talk."
"You're female!" the other said, amazed. "I'm male. Let's-"
“Talk first!" she insisted. She hadn't expected this particular complication.
"What about?" he demanded impatiently.
"About this pool. Is it magically poisoned?"
"Of course. Isn't it great? No one else bothers me. Of course I do get lonely. So let's-"
"Can the magic be nullified? So regular creatures could pass through it without -getting dissolved?"
"Sure, if Aqui wants. But what's the point? Now let's-"
"That's the pool? Aqui?"
"Sure. And I'm Fur. We get along great, but we get bored with just each other's company, you know? So let's-"
Gloha realized that Fur had a one-track mind. She probably wouldn't get much help from him until she got his concern settled. Well, she was of age. It was more of a sacrifice than she had anticipated, but they did have to find a way out of the underworld. "Exactly what is it you want to do?" she asked guardedly.
"I want to play, of course. I haven't had a playmate in years. Neither has Aqui. We're getting bored with each other."
"Play? Just how do you mean?"
"You know. Racing around the pool. Splashing each other. Playing hide-and-peek down below. All that fun stuff."
Gloha realized that though she was of age, Fur wasn't. He was still a child, and wanted childish play. She could readily oblige him in that. "Catch me if you can!" she cried, and took off through the water at a zoom. She didn't know exactly how she did it, as she had no arms or legs or tail; she just moved.
"Great!" he responded, and zoomed after her.
She dived. Immediately she saw that there was an exit: water was flowing in from a hole well below the surface, and filtering out thro
ugh a lattice on the opposite side. This was indeed fresh water, that surely was as fresh and pure as ever, the moment it left the magic ambience of the pool. Trent had been right about it. He seemed to be right about most things.
But she should make sure. So as Fur was about to catch up with her, she dodged to the side and shot into the spring. "Hey, no fair!" he cried. She paused in the current. "Why?"
"Because that doesn't go anywhere fun. Just straight up to the outside world. I don't want to go there."
"I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "I didn't realize." She shot back down with the current so swiftly that Fur wasn't able to tag her before she was past him. "Pokey Fur! Pokey Fur!" she cried.
"Am not! Am not!" he retorted. "Anyway, you're worse."
"How?"
"Because you're a gurl!" The term was neither written nor verbal, but he managed to misspell it anyway.
She paused as if stricken. "Oh, my, you're right! How can I ever live it down?"
He was immediately contrite. "Aw, I didn't mean it. You can't help it I'm sorry."
"That's okay," she said generously. Then, seizing the moment: "If you two had a nice new playmate to stay here, would you let three funny creatures go by?"
"A playmate to stay? Gee, yes!"
"Then check with Aqui, while I check with my folks," she said. She realized that it was best to be positive and assertive when dealing with children and the inanimate.
"Okay." Fur zoomed somewhere down in the depths of the pool while she zoomed for the surface.
She went to the edge. "Transform me back," she cried.
But she saw the Magician hesitate. Then she realized why. He didn't know which fur monster she was. So she moved in a pattern across the water. G-L-O-H-A she spelled, then zoomed back.
This time there was no hesitation. The Magician gestured, and she was the winged goblin girl again.
"We can make a deal!" she gasped. “There's a river out! Right to the surface. But we need to give them a playmate to keep. I was thinking maybe you could transform an ant or something into another furball, and-"
"We may not need to do that," Trent said. "We have with us a creature who loves fresh water in what he wishes to be his natural form."