Luck of the Draw

  She had more than come to terms with Piper’s other nature.

  They camped in the refreshing normal landscape of the path beyond the Regions. Mindy found pies and pods for their dinner. “I will trike back to the station and take the train to the Good Magician’s Castle,” Arsenal said. “I’m done here.” He mounted his trike and rode north. He would be caught by darkness, but he was obviously unconcerned. After all, he had the Sword.

  Now they were four, counting Mindy. “Let’s rest the night,” Anna suggested. “And worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.” The others were happy to agree.

  Mindy found pillows and blankets, two of each. Piper and Anna took one set, Bryce and Mindy the other. The two couples settled down a little apart, fully clothed under the blankets.

  Piper brought out his piccolo and played a lovely evening hymn. The music put them all in a good mood.

  “You were great,” Mindy murmured to Bryce. “How did you ever figure it out?”

  “I worked from a Mundane memory. I was lucky it clicked in time, even if we didn’t have Lucky to generate the luck.”

  “Arsenal was twice as lucky. He’d have been done for, otherwise.”

  “I do what I can. We have all helped each other, and that has facilitated things for all of us.”

  “May I tell you a secret?”

  “Mindy, I’m not trying to pry into anything that’s not my business.”

  “I think I am falling for you.”

  He did not pretend to misunderstand. “Mindy, don’t do that! I love the princess, and if by some fluke she chooses me, she has the first call. You know that.”

  “I do know that,” she agreed. “And I know I’m just an ordinary servant girl. There’s no future in my feeling. But it’s there.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do.”

  “You can kiss me.”

  He thought to protest, then stifled it. Emotions did not always follow sensible courses.

  He kissed her. She sighed, then went to sleep.

  He felt both guilty and relieved. She was a nice girl, but way too young for him even if he became free. Her crush was flattering but foolish.

  But it reminded him of the problematical nature of his participation here. He was not about to marry a sixteen-year-old girl, even if the princess selected him, the love spell notwithstanding. But what would be the consequence of rejecting her, apart from his own broken heart? And if she did not choose him, as seemed more likely, then what was he to do with the rest of his life here in this fantasy land? Did he really want to return to Caprice Castle and collect puns with Mindy?

  He had no satisfactory answer.

  11

  GEM

  Bryce woke to find Mindy already up and busy. She was here to see to the incidental needs of the party, and she was good at that. Her experience at Caprice Castle seemed to have made her a good servant. All she wanted in return was some affection from him, and he was unable to provide that. He felt guilty again.

  Well, maybe he could help her. He got up and joined her where she was setting out pies she had harvested. “Anything I can do?”

  She glanced at him, and blushed. “I apologize for what I said last night. I shouldn’t have.”

  “Not a gourd-style apology!” he said, alarmed.

  She reflected half an instant, then burst out laughing. “What a mess that would be! No, this is garden variety. I put you in an awkward situation, and I regret it.”

  “I—accept your apology,” he said, still feeling awkward.

  Now Piper and Anna were up. Their relationship was really none of his business. He felt guilty again for being intensely curious about it. Piper was old too, and committed to the princess too, but evidently more flexible about peripheral relationships.

  They had breakfast, then oriented on the next Quest. “What says the scroll?” Piper asked Mindy.

  She brought out the scroll and unrolled it. “The Gold Coast,” she said.

  “Oh, is that like the one in Mundania?” Bryce asked. “Where affluent tourists go?”

  Piper smiled tolerantly. “You forget how literal things can be in Xanth. The Gold Coast is made of gold.”

  “I’d like to see that!”

  “You will,” Anna said. “As soon as we figure out how to get there.”

  “Well, there’s the Trollway not far to the north,” Mindy said. “Or we can intercept an enchanted path south of the Regions.”

  “Both of which will take time,” Bryce said. “Is there a faster way?”

  “Not unless we fly,” Mindy said. “And I’m not keen on trying to get a dragon or roc bird to carry us there. They might forget and eat us instead.”

  “Too bad we don’t have magic carpets,” Anna said, smiling. “So we could fly right over the Gap Chasm and south.”

  “I wonder,” Mindy said thoughtfully. “Bryce, don’t you have your magic pen?”

  “Yes, of course. But I don’t see how—” He paused. “Could it actually draw a workable carpet?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe you can find out.”

  Bryce brought out the pen the princess had given him. He sketched a simple little rug. “Invoke.”

  The rug slid off the page, expanding, becoming a carpet about three feet wide by five feet long. It sailed up and would have escaped into the air, except that Piper grabbed it and held it down. “A little wild,” Piper remarked.

  “See if it works,” Mindy said.

  Piper wrestled the carpet to the ground, spread it out, and sat on it. “Lift,” he said.

  The carpet jerked upward, tilting, almost pitching him off. He grabbed the edges and hung on. “A little wild,” he repeated. “But yes, it works.”

  “I think they have to be broken in, at first,” Mindy said. “Until they learn the signals.”

  “I understand a well-trained carpet responds to invisible signals by its rider,” Anna said.

  “Yes,” Piper agreed. “I have encountered some in my day. But usually it doesn’t take long, because carpets like to fly and carry folk. It’s their justification for existence.”

  Bryce drew another rug. Anna caught this one as it expanded, and hung on to it while it heaved and bucked. Soon it settled down, and she was riding in comfort.

  “There’s a problem,” Piper said. “When you drew the second carpet, mine disappeared.”

  Oops. But Bryce got an idea.

  He drew a third, this one twice the length and breadth of the others. Then they wrestled it down and cut it into four smaller carpets. They had gotten around a limit of the pen. Piper and Anna took the first two and resumed taming them.

  Mindy got one of the quarters. She lay on it facedown and flew it as if riding a sled, using fingers and toes to remain anchored, and soon it too settled down. “I’m nervous about heights,” she explained. “This keeps me low.”

  Bryce took the fourth piece for himself. He caught it as it separated from the rest, put a knee on it, and held it down. He sat on it, gripping the two sides as Piper had done.

  The thing shook as if trying to dislodge him. It tried to curl up so he had less room to sit. It rose a few feet, then dived. It whirled around, almost flinging him off. But in his youth Bryce had ridden horses, and was wise to its antics. His perch seemed precarious, but he remained seated, and when it saw that it could not readily dump him, the carpet behaved.

  They practiced at low altitude, flying in slow circles. Mindy stayed with her sled posture, and stayed low enough so that it was almost like being on a real sled. Then they loaded their folded trikes and tied them down with threads from the edges of the carpets. The carpets supported the additional weight without a problem. Mindy gradually got acclimatized and sailed higher, so as not to hold the others back.

  Bryce had a new appreciation for the power of the pen. He was glad that Mindy had reminded him of it.

  When they were ready, they sat or lay on their four carpets and took off together, forming a formation. They sailed up
to just above treetop level, which was the maximum height Mindy could handle, and moved forward. They hoped in this manner to remain inconspicuous, and not attract the attention of any neighborhood dragons. If a dragon came they would have to land so that they could either hide or Piper could change form and fight. It was better to avoid any such trouble.

  They skirted the Region of Air, which they definitely did not want to tangle with, lest they be blown out of the sky. Then, surprisingly soon, they reached the Gap Chasm.

  “Oh, no!” Mindy said, shuddering. “I can’t do that!”

  Yet it would be tedious to try to circle around the chasm, and Bryce wasn’t certain they could safely drop down into it either. What could they do?

  He thought of something. “Close your eyes. Pretend you’re two feet above the ground. We can surround you and steer you right. Soon we’ll be across and you can look around again.”

  She winced, but nerved herself. “Will you hold my hand?”

  “I will hold your hand,” Bryce agreed. He steered his carpet to float right beside hers, almost overlapping, and took her right hand with his left.

  “Thank you,” she said faintly. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

  Piper led the way, and Anna closed in on Mindy’s left side. Now they were a formation of one leader, followed by three abreast. They moved forward over the chasm.

  Mindy did not move or protest, but her hand was clenching his almost painfully tight. She was trying to pretend, but did know where she was.

  They maintained altitude, zooming straight across the gulf that opened out alarmingly below them. Bryce had not seen it before from this elevation, and was mightily impressed. It was different than it had seemed when he was down in it. There was nothing like this in his section of Mundania. He saw trees far below, and rocks and fields, and here and there a small cloud floating between them and the bottom.

  “It’s awesome,” he murmured, trying to alleviate Mindy’s tension.

  Mindy did not look. “With luck we might even spot the Gap Dragon,” she said bravely.

  “We’ve met,” he said, laughing. She laughed with him. That was one of the things about her: she loved to laugh. Even when she was terrified.

  The crossing seemed interminable. Bryce realized there was a headwind, slowing them. The small carpets lacked power, and were well loaded, so now they were barely making progress. Bryce peered ahead, trying to spot the far edge of the Gap.

  That was when he saw the other cloud. Oh, no! That looked like Fracto, the mean-spirited storm they had escaped when they went underground. Would Fracto recognize them? Would he remember? Would he hold a grudge?

  Yes, yes, and yes. The cloud swelled up before them. In fact it was the source of the headwind, stopping them from getting safely across.

  “We need to turn back,” Bryce said tersely. “Drift with the wind, get back to land.”

  Whereupon the wind stopped. Fog was forming behind them as Fracto flung out misty tentacles to surround them.

  “What’s happening?” Mindy asked through clenched teeth.

  “Weather,” Bryce said. Then, to the others: “Then we can descend, and wait it out.”

  But the wind returned, rocking the carpets. They might get dumped before they could land.

  “There’s a mesa!” Piper said. “On a mountain.”

  “In the Gap Chasm?” Piper asked. “How can it be here?”

  “It’s an anomaly,” Anna said.

  Oh. Her talent was working for them. They dropped to a landing on the flat surface just before the rain started. Mindy opened her eyes, relieved, and got up off her carpet.

  A large snake slithered close. Before they could react, it transformed into a lovely nude young woman. Bryce realized that transformations were hard on clothing unless it was built into the magic. “I am Nara Naga, chief of the Noway Naga,” she said. “Who are you and what brings you to Menace Mesa?”

  “The storm,” Bryce said. “We were flying across when Fracto caught us. We had to land suddenly. I am Bryce, this is Piper, and these are Anna and Mindy. We’re on a Quest that takes us south. We’ll move on as soon as we can.”

  “That’s all right,” Nara said. “These things happen. Come into our parlor.” She gestured, and a door appeared in the ground. A sloped ramp led down into a cave. “Quickly, before we all get drenched.” She led the way down and in.

  They followed, encouraged by the thickening rain. Another naga maiden appeared and closed the door behind them, shutting out the rain just as it was getting heavy. They had escaped Fracto again, barely. Literally bare, for the naga.

  “You must be hungry after your flight,” Nara said. “We’ll feed you.”

  “Well, actually—” Bryce started, because they had had a good breakfast and it was not yet noon.

  “We insist on demonstrating our hospitality,” Nara said. “Have some sweet cakes.” She showed them to a table that was spread with small cakes of assorted colors.

  “Goblin cakes,” Mindy said. “However did you get those? Usually the goblins won’t share them.”

  “We live in the upper section of the mountain,” Nara said, standing behind the table. She took a breath. She was very good at breathing; possibly it had something to do with her lack of a shirt. Had she worn a bra she would have freaked out the men; as it was she came close. “There is a goblin colony in the lower section. We trade with them. We trade similarly with the harpy roost nearby, and the nickelpede nest on the surface.”

  “That’s interesting,” Piper said, observing that breathing. “Usually goblins, harpies, and naga are deadly enemies, and nickelpedes have no friends at all.”

  “We are isolated here in the mountain,” Nara explained. Bryce remembered that she had called it Menace Mountain. He was not entirely easy with that. “We are out of contact with our own kind, and the goblins are similarly separated from theirs. We make the best of it.”

  “That’s nice,” Anna said, nibbling on a green cake.

  “Very nice,” Mindy agreed, trying a blue cake.

  What could they do? Bryce and Piper picked up red and black cakes while gazing involuntarily at Nara’s impressive torso. The pastries were truly tasty, perhaps rendered more so by the conducive context.

  “I will show you to your chamber,” Nara said, turning in a manner that displayed her side and back, which were just as good as her front.

  “Oh, we’re not staying,” Bryce protested. “We only came in out of the rain.”

  “Perhaps,” Nara said. She opened a door to a room with two bunks and a barred window. “This should do.”

  “But there’s no need—” Bryce said.

  Nara stepped up and kissed him on the mouth. Bryce froze in place, surprised both by the kiss and its potency. It was not the same as a gourd apology kiss, he thought, as there was nothing apologetic about it, but it had its own authority. “Perhaps you and I will tryst tonight,” she murmured.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t—”

  She caught his hand and set it on her finely sculpted bare bottom. That was when he freaked out despite her lack of panties.

  “Wake!” Piper said.

  Bryce stirred woozily. He was lying on a bunk. “I think I freaked out. That naga woman—”

  “She drugged us,” Piper said. “Fool that I was, I never suspected. I should have known she was not flashing that luscious body for nothing. She distracted us while she fed us that tainted food.”

  Bryce began to make sense of it. “That bare body, that breathing. That bottom. She was preventing me from doing any serious thinking, until the cake took effect.”

  “Exactly,” Piper said. “I have encountered that type before, but wasn’t alert. We’re in trouble.”

  “I wasn’t distracted by her body,” Mindy said. “But I suspected nothing. Why did she do it? We were no threat to her folk.”

  “Where is Anna?” Piper asked.

  They looked around. There were only the three of them in the room. “Trouble,” Bryce agreed
.

  “Go to the window,” Nara said. She was standing outside the door, which Bryce now saw was a barred gate. This was a prison cell!

  They went to the window. It looked out from the sheer cliff of the side of the mountain. There was no purchase above, below, or to the sides, and the drop to the floor of the chasm was horrendous. The cell seemed to be inside a U-shaped curve, so that they could see that cliff curving near the open section of the U.

  Enough time had passed so that Fracto had given up the siege. That was not necessarily encouraging.

  “We’re prisoners,” Mindy said, appalled. “But why? We’re not criminals. We’ve done nothing to deserve this.”

  “Precisely,” Nara said. “You are innocent travelers of exactly the kind we favor. We are, incidentally, not a normal tribe of naga. We were banned because of our special tastes. Keep watching, and you will see your companion being displayed.”

  “Displayed?” Bryce asked, staring at her. He did not like the implications at all.

  “For the goblins, harpies, and nickelpedes,” Nara said. “I told you how we trade with them. We do it by providing them with live raw meat, which they greatly appreciate. That prevents them from coming after us for such treats.”

  “Raw meat?” Piper asked. “Anna?”

  “We normally start with the most innocently appealing specimen,” Nara said. “But never fear, your turns will come.”

  Piper was still peering out the window. “There’s Anna! They’re suspending her from a pole!”

  Bryce went to look. There was Anna in a harness, hanging below a horizontally projecting pole. She was evidently just now waking up from the drugging, not yet fully aware of her situation.

  Now Piper turned to face Nara. “What is the mechanism of this display?”

  “I’m so glad you asked,” the naga said. She remained nude, but somehow Bryce did not find her as attractive as before. “First to come will be the harpies, who will pluck out her eyes and tongue and anything else they fancy. Some of them have necklaces of eyeballs. Next the male goblins will arrive, to poke into the parts of her body they fancy. By the time they are sated, the nickelpedes will get there to consume the rest. At that point she will finally die. We all love to hear the screaming.”