Heaven Cent

  "Perhaps there is," Grace’l said. "Does the second plant have to be a witch hazel?"

  "Well, we do need two plants, or the triangulation magic doesn't work. I'm not sure what else—"

  "Would an arrowroot do?"

  "Why yes, it would! But I didn't see any of them, either.*'

  "I seem to remember seeing one," Grace’l said. "Perhaps I am mistaken."

  That was possible, Marrow realized. She had not been in this realm long, and would not know all the plants. Yet there was vegetation in the gourd realm too, and arrowroot was part of it; they used the arrows for barbs in bad dreams.

  They followed her to the plant, and it was an arrowroot. They let it smell the knapsack, then waited while its roots adjusted. One arrowhead poked out of the ground, pointing the direction. They had their second line!

  They extended the two lines to the water, and judged where they intersected. That would be where the lair was, under the water. They had the location; now all they needed was the air plant. It took only a moment to fetch that.

  “Remember, I can not help you once you enter the water," Chex warned them. "I will watch you via the mirror, so that I know when to haul you up, but if anything goes wrong, I can not come after you."

  "We can handle it,” Marrow said, hoping that was the case. If the merwoman sent big fish to haul them away, their whole plan would be in trouble. But what else was there to do but try?

  He and Grace’l climbed into the net, and Chex tucked the mirror into the top of her mane where she could recover it readily. Then she flicked the net with her tail, making it lighter. She grasped the ends of the net in both hands, flicked herself, spread her wings, and took off. She had to struggle to carry them, but there was reason for not making them lighter.

  She carried them to the spot where the two lines crossed. She hovered while Marrow and Grace’l climbed out of the net and dropped into the water. Then she winged back to the beach. She would gather some heavy rocks there, that she could use to weight the net and carry it to the bottom, when it was time to pick them up.

  Marrow and Grace’l held bone hands as they plunged down. When they had been in the form of a boat and sail, they had floated, because a boat was designed to float, even when capsized. Now they were in normal form, and that did not float. Had Chex flicked them with her tail to make them lighter, they would have floated, and that would have been no good for this. As it was, they were slowed somewhat by the buoyant air plant.

  Marrow watched nervously for big fish but saw none. Would they catch the merwoman by surprise? That would be wonderful! But it was as likely that she was merely preparing worse things for them below.

  They reached thick seaweed growing at the bottom, and sank through it. Now they were in a forest of the stuff, with sea trees, sea bushes, and sea grass. It could almost be taken for a landside jungle or a setting in the gourd, except for the small fish swimming through it.

  They peered around, not bothered by the darkness here any more than by that of night, and in a moment spotted the canopy of the merwoman's lair. The directions had been true, and now they could rescue Dolph—if the merwoman did not stop them.

  Grace’l stayed back, and Marrow stepped through the wall, braced for anything. If anything happened to him, she would try to escape. She might be able to accomplish what he could not, if the merwoman did not know of her presence. That was the remainder of the plan. She had the air plant, so that once Marrow knew it was all right, they could get Dolph to the surface without drowning him.

  There was the merwoman, hovering without moving. She was staring at something on the sea floor, and she did not even look up as Marrow entered. This was very strange!

  Then he saw what she was staring at. It was a hypnogourd! No wonder she did not react to him; no mortal creature reacted to anything, as long as he or she was staring into the peephole of a gourd. Only the gourd folk themselves were immune, because the gourd was their natural habitat. They did not stare into the gourd, they entered it.

  But where was Dolph? He was nowhere to be seen. How could he be rescued, if—?

  "The gourd!" Grace’l exclaimed, peeking in from beyond. "He is the gourd!"

  Of course! How clever of the boy! He had nullified the merwoman by immobilizing her with a gourd.

  All they had to do was haul the gourd up to the surface in the net, and it would be done. This was turning out much better than anticipated.

  Marrow picked up the gourd, which was halfway floating anyway. But in so doing he made a fatal mistake. His action broke the contact of the merwoman's eye with the peephole.

  Suddenly she was alert again. "What's this?" she demanded.

  The gourd changed to Dolph. "Mela, meet Marrow Bones.” he said. "Marrow, meet Mela Merwoman. Marrow is here to rescue me."

  "But I never saw him come in!" Mela exclaimed. "How did he do that?"

  "I did it," Dolph said. "I assumed the form of a hypnogourd, so that you could not stop him."

  "But you promised not to harm me!"

  "I didn't harm you. I only held you for a while, so that I could escape. That's fair, isn't it?"

  "No, that isn't fair!" she retorted. "Sure as fire melts sand, it isn't!"

  "But I never touched you! I am only escaping."

  "All my hopes of having a family again depend on you," she said tearfully. Marrow was not sure how a person could have tears underwater, but she was doing it. That filled him with alarm, for tears were a notorious device used by women against men. Was Dolph young enough to withstand it?

  "But you can have a family with someone else," Dolph protested.

  "No I can't," she insisted. "It was sheer, sheer luck mat I captured you, and it will never happen again in a hundred years! And I can't marry a merman either, I told you about that. All I can do is keep you until you grow up, and then I can have a nice family. You are hurting me by escaping!"

  "What does that matter?" Marrow asked. "Prince Dolph has other business. He has a Quest."

  "All my hopes, so cruelly dashed to pieces!" she wailed, the tears flowing more copiously.

  Dolph looked increasingly uncomfortable. "I am hurting her," he muttered. "I promised not to do that."

  "But she is hurting you by holding you captive!" Marrow argued. Chex's warning was fresh in his mind: that he might have to persuade the boy to leave. How true, how true!

  "She has been very nice to me, really," Dolph said.

  "She has promised me all the pretty stones I want, and said I could ride her sea horse, and when I get old enough she'll even tell me the secret of summoning the stork. It's pretty nice down here, and she's really pretty, too. I don't want to hurt her."

  "Thank you," Mela said, looking pained.

  Marrow realized that he was losing the contest. The merwoman had already made too much of an impression on the boy, despite feeding him nutritious food. He would have to make some kind of deal with her. But what could it be, when all she wanted was a man to make a family with, in due course?

  "Why can't she marry a merman?" Grace’l asked, stepping in. There really was no further point in her remaining hidden.

  "Because she has no firewater opal," Dolph explained.

  "No what?" Marrow asked.

  "Her husband had a precious gem, but a dragon killed him and took it, and without it her estate isn't worth enough to interest another merman," Dolph explained. "So she needs me instead, and I guess it would be wrong for me to leave her.”

  Mela smiled at Dolph, and he smiled back. Marrow knew that he had to do something right away, for the merwoman's magic was taking hold already. There seemed to be a spell that fleshly females cast over fleshly males, despite the males' best efforts to escape. He had hoped Dolph was young enough to be immune, but it seemed he was only partially immune. That was unfortunate.

  "Maybe if she got that gem back . . ." Grace’l suggested.

  The merwoman's gaze snapped up. "Back?"

  Marrow grasped that opening. "Suppose you recovered the f
irewater opal?" he asked. "Then you would not have to keep Dolph, for you could catch a merman."

  "Why, yes, mat is true," Mela said. "But I can not go that far on land. I am not used to using legs that much." Her tail became a pair of quite-well-formed bare human legs.

  "Yes, you can't," Dolph agreed, staring at the legs as they scissored smoothly in the water.

  "But we could," Marrow said. "We could fetch it back for you, because we are comfortable on land."

  Mela's mouth watered. "Would you? Oh, how wonderful that would be! But the dragon is so fierce—"

  "Prince Dolph is a form changer. He can become a larger dragon and make the other dragon give it up. Then we can return it to you, and you won't need Dolph anymore."

  "But—" Dolph said, still watching the legs.

  "But it would be a challenge for a hero," Marrow said quickly. "A real adventure! Everyone would be impressed."

  "Say, yeah," Dolph agreed.

  "And then you could continue on your Quest to find the Good Magician Humfrey," Marrow added.

  "Yes!" Dolph agreed, remembering his adventure. Then his eye caught another flexing of the merwoman's legs. "Still—"

  "By all means, you must follow up your Quest!" Mela said, her legs converting back into the tail. "If you can't recover the firewater opal, then you can return to me." It was evident that she really preferred the gem, if she could have it.

  "But how could you be sure I would return?" Dolph asked. "I mean, I might just keep the opal and go home."

  "This is not the princely way," Marrow said quickly. "A prince has honor. He always does what he says he will do."

  "Oh," Dolph said. Marrow realized that he was not totally committed to the notion of escaping the clutches of the merwoman. "But I haven't learned about honor yet, so—“

  "You haven't?" Mela said, frowning. "You mean your word not to hurt me was not good? Had I but known—"

  "Oh, no, I wouldn't hurt you!" Dolph protested, glancing where he seemed to hope her legs would reappear. "But—"

  "Then it seems I do need a guarantee. Maybe this is not such a good idea!"

  Ouch! It was falling apart, just when he had it put together! Marrow struggled to get another good notion in his skull.

  "A hostage," Grace’l said. "You must leave a hostage, to guarantee your return."

  "But we have no one to do that!" Marrow protested.

  "Yes we do," Grace’l said. "I will serve as hostage. You won't need me on the visit to the dragon."

  "But would Dolph come back for you?" Mela asked doubtfully.

  "Not Dolph, perhaps," Grace’l said. "But—" she glanced at Marrow.

  "Of course I would come back for you!" Marrow said, more vehemently than he would have thought

  "I thought you might,' Grace’l said.

  The merwoman considered. "Yes, he might. Certainly it's worth the gamble. Very well; I'll accept you as a hostage. But if you try to escape, I'll turn loose my pack of dogfish."

  "I won't try to escape. I don't know my way around this realm."

  So it was agreed. Mela told them where the dragon was reported to reside. They agreed to leave the magic mirror with Grace’l so that she and the merwoman could watch their progress. The mirror could not locate an unknown thing, but it could follow a particular person if tuned to that person at the outset. Marrow took the air plant and guided Dolph out to where the weighted net came down. They emptied out its cargo of stones and climbed in. It rose through the water, being lifted as Chex flew higher in the sky.

  They emerged from the choppy waves and swung into the air. Marrow knew that it was hard for Chex to carry their weight, for Dolph was more solid than Grace’l despite his youth, but she could not get low enough to flick them with her tail. Marrow could have jumped out and walked to land on the bottom, but this would have taken time, and Dolph would have been left alone for that period. So they swung just over the water, their arcs just brushing the waves.

  They swung to shore and climbed out of the net. Chex came down, her bosom heaving. "That was—(pant)—a job!" she said. "But where's Grace’l?"

  Marrow explained about the deal and the hostage. She arched an eyebrow but did not object. She turned over the mirror, so that they could drop it in the sea for Grace’l and Mela. "I would stay with you longer, but I really must get to that ceremony," she said. "Just be very careful when dealing with that dragon; they aren't all ignorant brutes, you know. In fact, some winged monsters can be quite intelligent. I'm one myself."

  Dolph laughed, thinking that a joke; obviously he did not think of the lovely flying centaur filly as a monster.

  "We shall exercise due caution," Marrow assured her. He did not relish the prospect of confronting a dragon, regardless of the creature's intellect, but it was better than leaving Dolph to the wiles of the merwoman. Even now, the boy was casting glances back toward the sea, as if regretting leaving it. That had been too close a call; he could only hope that they did not encounter any more predatory females on this Quest!

  "Well, I wish you the best," Chex said. She spread her wings, flicked herself, and took off, leaving the net behind. Marrow wondered what ceremony it was that she was so eager to attend there at Mount Rushmost with the winged monsters. Well, it really was not his business. His business was to get Prince Dolph through this Quest unscathed.

  Mela showed up soon thereafter, sitting in the bubbling surf. Marrow gave her the mirror and talked to her, getting the details straight.

  Chapter 7

  Draco

  Dolph watched Chex Centaur disappear in the distant sky. He had known that she was Marrow's friend, but had not realized that she would come to help him. She had enabled Marrow to rescue Dolph, which was lucky for him.

  He turned his gaze to the sea as the merwoman swam away. It was true that he needed to get on with his Quest; yet Mela had been sort of nice. If—

  "We must plan our campaign," Marrow said briskly, interrupting Dolph's thought. "According to the merwoman, it was Draco Dragon who killed her husband and stole the firewater opal, and he resides at Mount Etamin, which is one of a constellation of peaks in dragon country, near the Region of Air. Chex inherited some knowledge of geography from her dam, Chem, and says we should be able to recognize it from above; the range is in the form of a giant dragon."

  Dolph had not been paying very good attention to the skeleton's discussions with Mela or Chex, having been distracted by the merwoman's legs. He had never really noticed legs before, but each time he saw these he found them oddly interesting. In fact—

  "So you must assume the form of a roc and carry me northeast to the Region of Air, where we shall survey the situation. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can recover the opal and exchange it for Grace’l."

  "I wonder what it is about her limbs," Dolph mused.

  "Well, she does have nice bones,” Marrow said. "Very nice bones, in fact. But this is not the time to think about Grace’l; it is the time to get moving."

  Dolph had not been thinking about Grace’l’s limbs, but he decided not to clarify that. He became the roc, picked up the skeleton, and took off for the northwest. Marrow hastily grabbed Dolph's knapsack; the skeleton was good at remembering such details. Perhaps it was because there was extra room for memories in that hollow skull.

  This time he flew more strongly, because of the practice he had had in this form before. He could assume any living form, and assume the attributes of that form, including its language and special talents, but it did take practice to use them effectively. He knew that each time he became the roc he would be better at it, though he would never be as good at it as the natural rocs were. He tended to specialize for this reason; it was no use being bad at a hundred kinds of creature, when he could be adequate at a dozen or good at three. It was part of his talent that he also retained his human awareness, no matter what sized creature he became, or what type—even a plant, even a hypnogourd!—or how long he held that form. But he had not yet decided which forms were best
for specialization He liked the ogre for land, because no creature in its right mind bothered an ogre, and the roc for the air, for similar reason, but he hadn't figured out a good water form. Maybe a merman; then he could—

  "There's the Gap Chasm!" Marrow exclaimed.

  Dolph restrained a shiver of annoyance. How did the skeleton manage to interrupt a line of thought every time it got interesting? He peered down. Sure enough, there was the great jagged cleft that traversed the Land of Xanth, separating the top half from the bottom half. Dolph understood that for many years it had appeared on no maps— and still appeared on no Mundane maps, not that that mattered—because there had been a powerful Forget Spell on it. His father Dor had detonated that spell some eight hundred and twenty-seven years ago, give or take a few decades, and since that time no one had been able to remember the chasm when away from it, until the Time of No Magic had severely weakened the Forget Spell. Then it had begun breaking up, and little whorls of it had spun off and made mischief, because anyone caught by one forgot everything. Finally the whorls had cleared, and the only remaining effect was Ivy's pet dragon, Stanley Steamer, who had once been the dread Gap Dragon, and would be again when he got ready. How did Ivy rate? Dolph had never had a pet dragon! Girls got all the good things, because folk thought they were cute and sweet. They ought to ask brothers about that! Girls were neither cute nor sweet, they were pains. Except maybe for some of the nonhuman ones, like—

  "Keep alert," Marrow warned. "We are now passing over dragon country."

  Dolph grabbed for the fleeting thought but missed it, and it was gone. Once again the skeleton had interrupted something that promised to get interesting. Adults had a definite talent for that. It seemed to be part of the Adult Conspiracy. What was the big secret about summoning the stork? If only he could figure that out, and be free of adult restrictions—

  "Dragon at three o'clock," Marrow announced.

  He was right. Dolph took evasive action, climbing above dragon altitude. The best way to handle dragons was to avoid them. If Dolph had had a choice, he would have avoided Draco too. But responsibilities had a way of cropping up and taking over, when adults were involved. It was too bad.