And there was Metria, in a splendiferously stunning gown and veil, marching down the center aisle with a phenomenal bouquet of flowers, She almost floated, which she certainly could do if she wished to. The nude nymphs went "Ooooo!" almost in unison, wishing they could dress like that.
Veleno waited at the front. He was almost handsome in his dark formal suit.
They came together-and there was Professor Grossclout, speaking words so solemn and full of import that Gloha was to wish ever after that she could remember what they were.
There was a pause. "The ring."
Trent stepped forward from the other side. He too was handsomely suited. He presented a little box. Gloha realized that the ring must also be of castle substance, so could not be handled by demons. So Trent was playing the part of best man. Gloha wondered if that wasn't taking nonhostility to an extreme. Yet why not? If the marriage actually worked, they would all be free without violence or deceit.
Veleno took out the ring. Metria looked for a place to put her bouquet. Gloha quickly stepped up to take it. But as she did, it puffed into smoke. Oh-it wasn't real; the demoness had formed it out of her own substance to add to the effect. Still, to maintain appearances someone had needed to take it at this stage of the ceremony.
Now came the critical part. Veleno lifted the ring, and Metria lifted her left hand. Would the ring fit on her, or would it pass right through her substance the way all the other things of the castle did?
The ring stayed. Metria held her hand up triumphantly, showing it off. She had become real to the castle.
"Man and wife," Gloha heard the Professor intone.
Then Veleno took her in his arms and kissed her. His hands did not pass through her, and neither did his lips. She was real to him too.
Satisfied, Professor Grossclout grandly faded out. So did Magpie and Dara, more petitely. They had done what they had come to do.
The scene dissolved into the wedding feast. The nymphs did not need to eat, but they nibbled at the assorted pies anyway. Gloha, Trent, and Graeboe had already eaten, but they also nibbled. Meanwhile the groom and bride disappeared into the nuptial chamber for the consummation, where Metria would make Veleno deliriously happy for an hour or so. Gloha knew it didn't mean anything; what counted was whether the bride remained solid and with her memory intact on the following morning. Until then, nobody could be released. That was the deal.
Meanwhile it was left to the rest of them to clean up. They all pitched in, restoring the castle to its previous condition, with one exception: they left the decorations. Why not be festive another day?
At last it was done. The nymphs retired to their cells to sleep, feeling most comfortable there. In the morning they would remember none of this. But their cells would no longer be locked, so they would be able to come out and deport or disport themselves as they wished. There weren't any fauns here, but perhaps the nymphs could run around and scream a little anyway.
Trent, Marrow, Graeboe, and Gloha sat at the kitchen table, unwinding. Soon they too would return to their cells to sleep, this time taking pillows with them to make it comfortable. Everything depended on the morrow. "Do you think it will take?" Trent asked.
"Oh, I hope so!" Gloha said fervently. "The demons seemed to think it would."
"I understand that the Professor Demon is never wrong," Marrow remarked.
"It is odd that he came to handle the service himself," Graeboe said. "Considering that he has no respect for Metria."
"His attitude does seem odd," Marrow agreed. "It was almost as if he thought she wouldn't like being married."
"He said that she was going to get what was coming to her," Gloha said, remembering. "And when I said that we weren't exactly Metria's friends, Magpie said it was all the better."
Trent shook his head. "Strange. I think we have not yet grasped the full import of this occasion."
They sat in silence for a while and a half, not getting up the gumption to retire after their arduous day.
Metria appeared, wearing a gauzy nightdress which showed the pink halter and panty beneath. "Oh, are you folk still up?" she asked, surprised.
"By inertia," Trent said. "Why are you here?"
"I made Veleno so deliriously happy that he pooped out. It will take him several moments to recover for the next bout. So I sneaked down to fetch a nice pie."
"But you don't need to eat, Metria," Gloha said.
"Not for me. For him. He'll be hungry, after that that effort."
Even Marrow seemed to be taken aback by this. "You are trying to do something nice for him that isn't what is strictly prescribed by the deal?"
"Well-yes," the demoness said defensively. "Can't a wife do something for her husband if she wants to?"
"It's almost as if you care," Graeboe remarked. Metria looked nonplussed. "That must be an illusion." Trent squinted at her, evidently thinking of something. "Say something mean about him," he suggested mildly. Metria opened her mouth.
"I-don't care to."
"If I didn't know better, I'd suspect you of having part of a soul," Trent said.
"That's nonsense! I'm just trying to make him deliriously happy for a few hours. It's a matter of professional pride."
"Since when do you have that land of pride?" Gloha asked.
"Since-I got married," the demoness replied, surprised.
"That ceremony-it must have done more than marry you," Gloha said. "When I took the oath of nonhostility I felt invisible bonds close on me, binding me to what I swore. Did you feel that?"
"Why, yes," Metria said, similarly surprised. "I was so concerned with doing it exactly right that I didn't pay much attention. It did make me start relating to the castle, so I could pretend to summon the stork with him."
"Pretend?" Graeboe asked.
"We demons never summon storks unless we want to," Metria explained. "We just go through the motions, deluding mortals, but it isn't real. Who in her right mind would want to mess with a baby?"
"I would," Gloha said. "If I had the right-the right family."
Trent pursed his lips in the very mildest of expressions. "And you don't have the right family, Metria?"
"I didn't say that! Veleno's not a bad man, just isolated. There's nothing wrong with him that a good loving woman can't fix."
"And are you that woman?"
"Of course not!" Then she looked pained. "But-there's something. I don't know."
"Is it wonderful yet painful, leaving you so confused you hardly know what you feel?" Graeboe asked.
"That's it exactly!" the demoness agreed. "How did you know?"
"I think you are experiencing the first confused pangs of love," he said.
"I am? But-but that's what I was looking for!"
"And it isn't what you expected?" Gloha asked, interested.
"No. I don't know what I expected, but not this. It-I don't know if I like it."
"Love doesn't necessarily care whether you like it," Trent said sadly. "It can bring you enormous grief. But you would never trade it for any other experience. Metria, I believe that your wedding ceremony brought you half of Veleno's soul. Now you are able to experience the full range of human emotions and commitments."
"Not half of them?" Gloha asked.
"Half a soul is still a soul," he said. "It normally regenerates, becoming complete. You have a considerable experience ahead of you."
"But I didn't want a soul," Metria protested. "I just wanted to see what love is like."
"I think Professor Grossclout knew that," Graeboe said. "He knew you would be getting more than you wanted. He came to make sure it happened."
"Grossclout!" Metria exclaimed. "That infernal spook! He wanted to get back at me for never taking his classes seriously."
"I'd say he found a way," Trent said.
"What am I going to do with a soul?" she expostulated.
"You whatted?" Gloha asked.
"Shouted, yelled, howled, bellowed, proclaimed, argued earnestly-"
"Exc
laimed?"
"Whatever," she agreed crossly. "Say, wait-I didn't say the word!"
"I still didn't understand it," Gloha said.
"Well, anyway," the demoness said tragically. "Where will I go, what will I do?"
"Frankly, my dear," Trent started, with three-fifths of a smile, "I don't-"
"Suffer," Graeboe said instead. "You'll suffer, Metria."
"Well, I'll have none of it. I'm going to-" She paused, distracted.
"You're going to what?" Marrow asked.
She sighed. "I'm going to get that pie for him." She puffed out.
Trent shook his head. "I think I wouldn't care to cross Professor Grossclout," he remarked.
"If that is his penalty for being crossed, I would gladly do it," Marrow said. "I want half a soul."
Gloha saw Graeboe look thoughtful, but he didn't comment. "Well, we had better sleep if we're going to," she said, standing.
Graeboe tried to stand, but didn't make it. "Perhaps I will remain here," he said.
He was trying to be gracious about his weakness, and not bother anyone else with it. Gloha didn't want to embarrass him by offering to carry him again. "Maybe I'll stay here too," she said.
"I should think it would be more comfortable in your private cell," Marrow said.
"Well, it might, but-" she started.
"So I shall be glad to carry Graeboe there," the skeleton finished. "He carried me before."
"That is kind of you," Graeboe agreed. The skeleton picked him up and walked away.
"I'll fetch pillows," Gloha said quickly.
But when she had several pillows, she realized that they were too big for her to carry. She would have to make the long trip to the highest cell with one pillow at a time. That promised to be tedious. It would also use up more of the time she had hoped to have for sleeping.
Metria reappeared. "Got a problem?" she inquired.
"None you need to concern yourself about," Gloha said shortly.
"Yes I do. You are a nice person who never did anyone any harm, and you deserve assistance. I'll carry those up."
Gloha was taken aback. Then she remembered the soul. The demoness had become a caring person. "Thank you, Metria."
"It's weird, having to be concerned how others feel," Metria remarked as she carried the pillows. "But this business of love-I'm so afraid I'll do something wrong, or that he'll do something wrong, though I know these concerns are foolish. Sometimes I'm happy and sometimes I'm terrified. I'm just so mixed up. I wish-"
After a moment Gloha realized that the demoness wanted to be asked. This was definitely not the old Metria. "What do you wish?"
"I wish I had a-someone to-to listen-to understand-to advise-I don't know what. This is all so new."
"You wish you had a friend," Gloha said in a burst of realization that brightened the passage.
"That must be it. But there isn't-demons don't have friends."
"Maybe they do if they want them," Gloha said.
"Who would ever want to be friends with a demon?" Metria asked plaintively.
Gloha saw that the demoness' problem was her problem too. She had gotten Metria into this, and it had saved Gloha from a horrible fate. Maybe the demoness had done it for her own selfish reason, without knowing the full consequence, but Gloha owed her a considerable favor. "I would, maybe," she said.
Metria paused on an upper landing. "Would what?" she asked cautiously.
"I would be your friend."
The demoness froze. "Oh, I couldn't ask," she said. "I-oh, thank you. I feel so much better now." She was smiling, but tears were flowing from her eyes.
"I haven't experienced love myself, exactly," Gloha said, touched. "But I think your feelings are normal."
"I hope they get untangled soon."
They reached the high chamber. Marrow and Graeboe were there, talking, but they stopped as the others arrived.
Metria set down the pillows. "I have to get back," she said. "But-"
"Pop in, anytime," Gloha said.
The demoness nodded, and faded out.
"I will depart now," Marrow said, and did so.
Gloha arranged the pillows to make Graeboe comfortable. He seemed thoughtful as well as weak, but she decided not to ask what he and Marrow had been talking about. In a moment he was asleep, and in another, so was she.
Something was strange. The floor seemed to be sagging. That was impossible, of course, but Gloha couldn't just dismiss it. She sat up, looking around.
Dawn was brightening. Beyond the barred window a pink cloud was losing its color. The window looked slightly skew. She got up, knowing that it was merely an effect of the magic of perspective, but unable to restrain her curiosity. She touched a bar-and it felt not quite hard. Not soft, certainly, but not metallic. More like wood.
She looked up-and saw a dip in the ceiling. Imagination? She spread her wings and flew up to touch it. And it was slightly soft. And it gave a bit where her finger poked it. It was sagging!
Something was definitely amiss. She dropped to the floor. "Graeboe-I think we'd better get out of here."
He woke. "I think not."
"Not?"
"I don't think I can get up. I think my time is coming."
Something seemed to tear inside her. "No, Graeboe!" she cried. "Not yet. You haven't found your-your answer."
"I found enough. You must pry open the bars and fly out."
"Pry open the-! I can't do that!"
"The castle is dissolving. It means that Veleno has found someone who remembers her wedding the following morning. The enchantment is dissipating. You must escape before you are caught in the collapse.
Gloha realized that he had correctly understood the situation. That explained the sagging of the castle. The bars would no longer be strong enough to hold her, and that was the fastest exit. She went to them and wedged them apart as if they were strands of rubber. Looking out the window and down, she saw the entire castle leaning lopsidedly as its foundations lost their solidity.
She hurried back to Graeboe. "I'll take you too," she said. "Gloha, it isn't worth your effort. I will be gone before the morning is done anyway. This is as good a way as any. But if you would-" He paused, somewhat as Metria had. "What do you wish?" she asked, her heart hurting. "If you would kiss me before you go-"
"I'm not going!" she cried. "Not without you." She got down, about to pick him up. But as she did so, she realized that the flight down, carrying him, would be perilous; she wasn't that strong a flyer. So she didn't gamble. She put her face down and kissed him on his little mouth.
Something went through her, like a gentle shock. Then the floor tilted, and she had to act. She hauled Graeboe up in her arms, scrambled to the window, and jammed through. It was slanting crazily, and the bars stretched readily. She lunged out, fell, spread her wings, and flew as hard as she could.
But it wasn't enough. Graeboe's weight bore her down, and she was falling too fast to land safely. She struggled to fly harder, but was able only to slow her descent. They were going to crash.
"Drop me!" Graeboe cried.
"No!" she cried back, hanging on to him more tightly. The ground rushed up. Gloha closed her eyes. She struck something soft and springy. She bounced. She opened her eyes. She had landed on a big resilient cushion. It had enabled her to light harmlessly. But how had it come there?
The cushion opened a mouth as Gloha landed the second time. "Don't look so surprised," it said. "What are friends for, anyway?"
"Metria!" she cried gladly.
The cushion faded, leaving them on the ground. "Must see about Magician Trent," the lingering words came.
"Why did she save us?" Graeboe asked as she set him down on a nearby hummock.
"We're friends. We agreed to be, on the way up to the room last night. She needs a friend." Gloha looked up at the melting castle. "And it seems I needed one too."
"Ah. Because she is new to conscience and love. It must be difficult for her."
"It is. Sh
e has to sort it out all at once. But she must be succeeding, because the enchantment is ending. I'll help her all I can. After all, she saved me from something I very much didn't want." She glanced at the ground. "Twice."
"Which perhaps leads into my second question. Why didn't you drop me and save yourself, when it was apparent that you couldn't save us both?"
"I just couldn't!"
He did not pursue the matter. They watched the castle fold in on itself as its substance lost cohesion. Meanwhile the front door opened and nymphs ran out across the drawbridge, their hair streaming behind them. They had been freed, and were going home, where they would surely be welcomed. But where were Trent and Marrow?
Then those two emerged as well. They were the ones who had gotten the nymphs out.
"What about Veleno?" Gloha asked.
Metria appeared. "Are you kidding? I got him Out first, of course. He's waiting over there."
They looked where she gestured. Veleno was lying on the ground, which accounted for why Gloha had overlooked him before. He had a dreamy smile on his face.
Gloha walked across to him. "Are you all right?"
"Never better," he replied. "I had to ask her to let me be for a while; there's only so much delirious happiness a man can stand all at once, when he's not used to it."
"I guess you did meet the demons' requirement," Gloha said. "You found a woman to love you."
"Metria's no mere woman. She's something else." He closed his eyes, and the dreamy smile returned. Evidently he was satisfied.
The castle continued to settle, as if on a very hot surface. Smoke rose from it, fuzzing into the sky. It collapsed into a mound, and the mound shrank into a pile, and the pile bubbled into a molehill. Finally the last of it steamed away, leaving only a bare island in a dirty pool.
"Well, that's it, dear," Metria said to Veleno. "I was going to bug out after this point, but somehow I no longer want to. Let's go home to your village."
"Weren't you helping these folk to fulfill their own quests?" he asked.
"In my fashion. But now they're free, so they can go on about their business."
"That's true," Gloha said. "Metria has done her part, and helped us a great deal. We can handle things on our own now."