“Ugh!” Eve said.
“Well, maybe it's not a good idea.”
Eve sighed. “No, it makes sense. It's just not very romantic.”
So they circled the castle at a distance, until they came to the pit. It had every type of refuse, and it stank. But they climbed down into it, looking for the most recent bag.
“Ah, here it is,” Eve said, putting her hand on it. “Recently carried by Jan Itor. It contains trash and kitchen leavings collected by the night watchman, A. Lert. They are from all over the castle.”
“Just what we need,” Dawn said. “I know you'll just love sinking your hands in all that, sister dear.”
“With luck, some of it isn't dead yet, sister dear,” Eve agreed, wrinkling her nose. “So you will also have the pleasure.” She opened the bag and pulled out a tube. “Toothpaste that pastes the mouth closed. No wonder they threw it out.”
Dawn spied a large ant struggling to escape the bag. She let it walk on her hand. “This is a de-odor-ant. It can make a person lose the sense of smell. I guess they threw it out because they like the smell of blue cheese.”
Eve pulled out an old pen. “This is what is left of an invisible ink pen,” she said. “Originally the pen held several large ugly animals, but each animal used up some of the ink, and the pen gradually shrank, until it was too small to be of use.”
“What about the layout of the castle?” Forrest asked. “Is there a secret entrance? Where does the Wizard stay?”
In due course, piecing through the thrown away junk, they were able to work out a fair notion of the castle plan. The Wizard lived in the highest chamber, through which the blue lines passed. The lines actually seemed to come from below, however: the dungeon. That was entirely sealed off from outside, and only the Wizard had access from inside. There was no refuse from it; evidently it had its own internal garbage dump. So the riddle of the lines remained.
“We need more information than we can get from outside,” Forrest said.
“But if even the servants don't know what's in that dungeon, who else will know?”
“Only the Wizard,” Imbri said. “And he keeps the secret, so that no one else can steal talents from Ptero and give them away for power.”
“But someone else must know,” Forrest said. “Because there are three other Wizards with the secret.”
“And they used it to make themselves supreme in their triangles,” Dawn said.
“And they won't tell us either,” Eve agreed.
“We need a better idea,” Imbri said.
Something flirted with Forrest's attention, and slid away. He pursued it, and managed to nab it before it escaped. It was an idea. “Idea!” he exclaimed. “Ida-her talent is the Idea. Maybe she would have an idea.”
“But Ida's far away,” Dawn said.
“That is, her head is-and huge,” Eve agreed.
“No-I mean the Ida who must be here. Your world of Ptero orbits Ida of Xanth; this world of Pyramid orbits Ida of Ptero. So there must be an Ida here with another world, and maybe she would know the secrets of the worlds.”
The girls exchanged another glance. “This is weird,” Dawn said.
“But maybe true,” Eve said.
“And worth a try,” Imbri said. “If there's any chance she's here, and she would know -she's a nice person, and surely would help us.”
They climbed out of the pit and walked away from the castle. They found a lake that didn't have any objectionable magic and washed up. The girls simply waded in with their clothing on, and after a startled moment Forrest realized that since their clothing was part of their soul-stuff, it didn't matter.
Then they pondered how to locate Ida. “I can learn much from living folk,” Dawn said. “But it's sort of random; finding out whether they know a particular person could take a long time.”
“Same for the inanimate,” Eve said. “I could see whether a rock had ever seen a particular person pass, but first I'd have to go through its entire list of people, which could be hundreds. And it might not recognize a particular person anyway; rocks aren't very smart.”
“Grandpa Dor could make them talk,” Dawn said. “That made it much easier.”
“Of course we had to watch our skirts when Grandpa Dor was around,” Eve said. “Any rock we stepped over would blab about what it saw.”
“Unless Grandma Irene was there,” Dawn said. “She could glare a rock into silence from far away.”
“We miss them,” Eve concluded sadly.
. “I think we'll have to ask someone,” Forrest decided. “That means letting the blanket of obscurity wear off.”
“Which in turn is risky,” Imbri said.
“I know it. So maybe the three of you should remain protected by it, while I stay apart, so I can become evident alone.”
“Maybe you should ride me, so that if there is trouble, I can gallop away with you.”
Forrest thought of protesting, but realized that she wanted to take the same risk he did. “Good notion.” He looked around. It seemed to be getting late in the day. “Let's find a place to sleep, and in the morning the girls can take the canned blanket spell while we go out.”
They looked for a good place to settle. Soon they found a small range of blue mountains. Very small: they were hardly waist high. But the mini-peaks should serve to conceal them from the view of the main path, when they lay down.
But as they approached the range, it got up and walked away. Astonished, they watched it depart. Then Dawn laughed. “A mountain goat!” she said. “I should have recognized it.”
They found another place, near blue berry bushes, which made it handy for supper. As they ate, the wind came up, whistling softly through the trees. It made a sad melody. “I always liked the blues,” Eve remarked.
But as darkness closed, the temperature dropped. Forrest realized that he hadn't thought to bring a second blanket. So he dug out the one he had and gave it to the girls. “This will do for the two of you,” he said.
They looked at him. “I wish this wasn't a serious mission,” Dawn said.
“Because then we could share the blanket with you,” Eve said.
“I'm sorry too,” he said. “But I will join Imbri.” For Imbri in mare form was both warm and safe. So things worked out after all.
He lay down beside Imbri. “You really are a nice person,” she murmured in a dreamlet for him alone.
“No I'm not. I really wanted to sleep with them.”
“I know you did. Right between them. Knowing that they would probably dissolve their clothing under the blanket, just as I did. But you refused to do it. That's what makes you nice, just as you were with me.”
“But I should not even be wanting to do such things!”
“You are a faun. It's your nature.”
“And what of you?” he demanded. “What do you think, when you see me reacting to those pretty girls?”
“It makes me feel less guilty for what I did to you.”
“You didn't do anything to me!”
“Yes I did. And I will make it up to you, when I figure out how.”
“You know I can't really do anything with those girls. They're princesses.
“They are of a slightly different culture than the one we encountered in Xanth. Maybe it's all right for them to play with fauns, if they want to.”
“I doubt their mother would approve.”
“Mothers never do. In the old days I delivered thousands of bad dreams to worried mothers. They think their daughters must be pristine and never do what the mothers did when they were young. So the daughters simply don't tell their mothers.” She chuckled, in the dreamlet. “Now that Queen Iris has been rejuvenated to her twenties, she doesn't tell her daughter Irene, who would Not Approve Iris's present activities.
Folk seldom approve the fun others have.”
“Still-”
“Forrest, those two girls know their own minds, and they know your nature. If they decide to celebrate with you, you should fee
l free.”
“Well, I don't feel free. I mean, I would love it, but I don't think it's proper.”
Her dreamlet image shook her head. “Because you have been placed in the role of adviser, which implies parental authority. So you act as a parent would, though you wish you could act as a normal faun would.”
“That's it!” he agreed as a bulb flashed over his head. “How well you understand.”
“Well, I have had some experience in dreams, and what you feel for the girls is a dream.”
“Thank you, Imbri! You have helped me to clarify my mixed feelings.”
“Maybe that's what I'm here for.” The dreamlet image walked across to the fading bulb and planted a kiss on it. Forrest felt the kiss on his face.
He was startled. “Imbri-”
“I will change to maiden form, if you ask me. I know my own mind too.”
Suddenly he was horribly tempted. Imbri was definitely of sufficient age and experience, and she surely did know her own mind. But he had to demur. “I- can't ask you to do that.”
“I know, Forrest, I know. You don't feel free to be a faun, or free to make commitments of that nature, so you are caught in a personal limbo.
I wish I could free you from it. And I will, if I ever find the way.
Meanwhile, I respect your stance, and I respect you.”
“Uh, thank you.”
“Would it help if I sent you a wish-fulfillment dream?”
“It might. But I think I need to focus on my mission, now, and not waste imagination on anything else.”
“Then I will send you a dream of deep sleep.”
In his mind's eye he saw a pale blue cloud floating toward him. The words DEEP SLEEP were embossed on its surface. It loomed large, smelling of gentle music, and encompassed him, and he sank into it with relief.
He woke much refreshed. His head was against Imbri's gently heaving side. Dawn & Eve were up and picking blue berries, wearing blue skirts and slippers. In a moment they spied his flickering eyelids and came to join him.
“Have a berry, Forrest,” Dawn said, plumping herself down crosslegged beside him.
“Yes, they are very good,” Eve said, doing the same. Their firm legs showed well beyond the knees. Were they teasing him again?
He opened his mouth to say, “But I can pick my own berries.”
But before the first word popped out, Eve leaned dangerously forward and popped a berry in. It was delicious. He chewed it, then opened his mouth to thank her-and she popped in another.
He gave up the unequal struggle, and ate the berries he was given. There was something to be said for being catered to by willing maidens.
But they had a day ahead of them. Forrest dug into his knapsack and brought out the canned blanket. “Don't invoke this until after Imbri and I are out of range,” he told them. “And don't do anything too wild we don't know the limit of the obscurity.”
“Yes, Master,” they said together, and laughed, their tightly bloused bosoms heaving.
“And get out of those nuisance clothes before something freaks me out.”
They glanced down, startled. “oops, we forgot,” Dawn said. Her pale blue blouse rippled and became a heavy blue plaid shirt.
“We just naturally dressed our usual way, when we woke,” Eve said. Her blue-black skirt twisted and formed itself into baggy dark blue jeans.
“After just naturally sleeping nude.”
“And dreaming of fun with a faun.”
Then they stood, together. Dawn's light blue skirt changed to pale blue jeans just a bare instant before it would have shown Too Much, and Eve's dark blouse changed to a dark shirt just a transparent instant after it had shown More Than Enough.
They were definitely teasing him. Apparently they just couldn't help themselves. He would simply have to try to ignore it. He wished himself success. Already he was wondering just how blue their panties might be.
Then he mounted Imbri, and she walked out onto the path. She didn't hurry, because they weren't trying to go anywhere, just to meet someone they could ask directions of. He glanced back, but didn't notice anyone. Good; that meant that the girls had invoked the blanket of obscurity, and unless they did something foolish, like dancing naked and screaming, he wouldn't notice them.
Soon they approached a woman who was walking along the path in the opposite direction. “Hello,” Forrest called, hoping that this was the right way to address a Pyramid native.
She looked sharply at him. “Do you want something from me, faun?”
He reminded himself that the folk here always looked for chances to get ahead by giving things away. “Yes, actually.”
“Who are you and what do you want?”
This seemed surprisingly easy. “I am Forrest Faun, and I want to locate Princess Ida.”
“We don't have any princesses here.”
“Maybe she's not a princess here. She has a moon orbiting her head.”
The woman shook her head. “Never heard of her. So I can't help you. So I might as well harass you.”
“Harass me?”
“I am Polly Morph, and I can change myself into what I can imagine.
Today I am irritable, so I shall become a dragon and gobble you and your stupid horse up, hoping you don't taste too bad.” Her face stretched out to become a dragon's snout, and her body burst out of its clothes to become serpentine.
“But we haven't done anything to you,” Forrest protested.
“Precisely,” the dragon said, snapping at them.
Imbri leaped into the air to avoid the teeth. She landed at a full gallop, getting out of there.
Unfortunately Forrest wasn't used to riding, and wasn't ready. When the mare shot forward, Forrest didn't. He landed on his butt in the path.
“Well, now,” the dragon said. “You're too small for a dragon, but just right for a griffin.” She warped into a griffin.
Forrest scrambled to his feet and ran. But the griffin's beak darted forward and caught his tail. His hoofs were moving, but he wasn't getting anywhere.
Imbri turned and came charging back. “Naaaay!” she neighed. She leaped, her forehoofs aiming for the griffin's body.
“Curses,” the griffin muttered, in the process releasing Forrest. Then it twisted into a flying snake and wriggled out of the way.
Imbri landed and galloped on, unable to halt on such short notice. But she had given Forrest the reprieve he needed. He ran after her, hoping to get enough of a lead so that the monster couldn't catch him.
But Polly morphed back into the griffin, and took flight. Forrest heard the wing-beats as she gained on him.
Then, suddenly, he collided with something remarkably soft. He landed in a tangle of limbs. He blinked, and saw what he hadn't noticed before, though she was up against his chest: “Dawn!”
“Hey, I finally got your attention,” she said, drawing her face from his ear and fluffing out her red hair.
“But the griffin-”
“Has lost track of you,” Eve said.
He looked at his legs, and discovered what else he hadn't noticed: they were tangled up with another girl's legs. “Eve!”
She drew her face from his belly and fluffed out her tangled black tresses. “I really didn't think we would get to this stage until after the mission,” she confessed.
“What are you girls doing?”
“We are saving you from getting chomped,” Dawn said, prying her flattened bosom from his chest.
“With the help of the blanket of obscurity,” Eve said, unwrapping her cramped legs from his thighs.
“Because we really don't want you to be hurt.”
“Even if you would simply be launched back to Ptero.”
“Because without your guidance, we would not be able to complete our mission.”
“And we really do like your company.”
By this time they had unstuck the rest of themselves from his body. Both girls were disheveled, but still pretty in a wild sort of way.
&n
bsp; “Uh, thank you,” Forrest said, realizing that he could indeed have been gobbled and banished from this region for whatever period was required by the framework of Pyramid. They had saved him from that by intervening in the only way they could, considering that he was not aware of their presence: by tackling him and bringing him into the coverage of the blanket.
Dawn gave him a direct green eyed glance, as bright as sunshine. “You are welcome.”
Eve gave him a sidelong black eyed glance, as mysterious as night.
“It was our pleasure.”
Forrest tried once more to get through to them. “You know, your teasing ways are very difficult for me to handle.”
Dawn shook her head. “Some of what you take for teasing is merely our natural flair.”
Eve frowned. “And in this particular instance, we were not teasing. We really did want to save you, and we really do like you.”
Forrest was nonplused. “I mean, you really are two very lovely and provocative young women, and I-”
“We know,” Dawn said seriously. “We know our nature, and what kind of reaction is to be expected from a male of any type.”
“And we are ready,” Eve said, just as seriously, “to make absolutely plain our readiness to accommodate that reaction, in due course.”
Every time he tried to reason with them, it just got worse! “But I told you, this mission-”
“We understand,” Dawn began.
“But we are falling in love with you,” Eve concluded.
Then tears dropped from all four of their eyes.
Forrest's jaw dropped. “But you were just flirting, and I knew that. It wasn't serious. You are princesses, and I'm just a faun.”
“We are girls who have never been certain whether any given man's interest in us was because of our royalty,” Dawn said.
“Or because of our physical appeal,” Eve continued.
“Or our Sorceress caliber magic.”
“Or our novelty as morning and evening twins.”
“And we cared for none of these kinds of interest, in themselves.”
“We wanted to be valued for ourselves.”
“But I do know of your royalty, and appreciate your beauty, and your magic, and your novelty,” Forrest protested. “I am fascinated by all of them. So I am no better than any of those you have encountered. And I am just a faun of no particular authority or ability. So-”