Heaven Cent

  Soon they spied the mountains. A roc flying at cruising velocity covered territory in a hurry! The range looked like a huge mundane bear.

  "No, that's the wrong range," Marrow said. "That's a bear named Ursa, who is chasing the dragon range. Just ahead of it we should see the tail of—there it is, at eleven o'clock!"

  Dolph really didn't know what the skeleton meant by the o'clocks; there was a huge time-keeping mechanism in the gourd that enabled the night mares to deliver their bad dreams precisely when required, but as far as he knew that had nothing to do with mountains. But ahead and slightly to the left he saw the tail of the mountain range. He swerved to follow it.

  It went for several peaks, then curved to the right for several more. At peak number eight it made an abrupt turn left, and then another, heading up into the raised head of the dragon, formed by four peaks. "The tip of the nose is Mount Etamin ..." Marrow began.

  Mount Eat-amin, Dolph thought. But it didn't look very tasty. In fact it looked quite unfriendly.

  "But we had better land a bit apart from it, so the dragon won't know we're coming," the skeleton concluded.

  Good idea! Dolph made a descending spiral, and touched ground in a field some distance beyond the mountain. There was a cross wind, but he was improving at landings, too, and did not bump too badly.

  He returned to his normal form and stood naked. It was cool here, but he didn't grab for his knapsack that Marrow now wore because he expected to assume his ogre form in a moment. "How should I tackle him?” he asked. "He can't be too big, since he's a flying dragon."

  "But he's a firedrake," Marrow said. "That suggests two difficulties: he breathes fire, and he lives in a cave. If you brace him in the air, he'll be more maneuverable than you, and may scorch you before you get started. But if you brace him in the cave, your size will be limited, and the terrain will be familiar to him and not to you. That could be bad."

  Dolph nodded. Suddenly it came home to him that this was serious business! He had never actually fought a dragon before, and he knew they were dangerous. "But maybe I can bluff him out," he said.

  "I hope so. But it will be better if he is absent from the nest, so that we don't have to face him at all."

  "That's right," Dolph said, realizing. "I don't have to fight him, I just have to get the firewater opal. But how do we know whether's he's in the nest?"

  "We may have to wait and watch, and if we see him leave, then we'll know. The accounts say he is a solitary dragon, which means there should be no nestmate to guard the nest during his absence."

  "Good idea!" Dolph exclaimed, relieved.

  They walked quietly toward Mt. Etamin, guided by its icy pinnacle, which sparkled like a star above the forest. They watched the sky constantly to see whether the dragon either departed or arrived. All was quiet; even the birds avoided this region. No large animals were in evidence; here and there scorched foliage suggested where one might have been toasted by the dragon. Small animals were abundant, because they were not hunted by the dragon, and those who did hunt them had been eaten by the dragon. Draco was evidently an efficient hunter, and that did not make Dolph feel easy.

  They came to the base of the mountain. This was a steep slope, scorched bare of vegetation, clifflike in its extent; Some distance up Dolph saw the cave that was the entrance to the dragon's lair. It was not as large as he had expected; was this the wrong cave, belonging to a smaller dragon?

  But Marrow seemed certain this was it, so Dolph did not ask. He became a small bird of uncertain species and perched on Marrow's shoulder, watching that cave. They waited silently for an hour, as the sun dropped slowly in the sky. It was important that they keep quiet, for if they made noise and the dragon heard it, the element of surprise would be gone.

  In the second hour Dolph's attention weakened, and he snoozed. He knew, however, that the skeleton would maintain the watch, since he needed no sleep and had little imagination. This was a time when it was a great advantage to be boneheaded.

  Marrow moved his shoulder slightly, waking Dolph. For a moment Dolph could not remember where he was. Then he saw the dragon sailing up from the cave. Draco was leaving!

  They had waited and won! It was now dusk, and evidently the dragon was going out to hunt for his supper. Dolph would have been getting sleepy by this time, but his snooze invigorated him; he was ready to act now.

  "We must try to get in, get the firewater opal, and get away before Draco returns," Marrow said. "It will be dark in there, so perhaps you should assume a lighted form that I can carry in."

  That made so much sense that Dolph changed immediately to a glowworm. Marrow picked him up and set him in his left eye socket where his tender body was protected.

  Then the skeleton stashed the knapsack in the esthetic crook of a small symme tree and walked swiftly to the base of the cliff.

  "Uh, I fear . . ." Marrow began.

  Dolph couldn't speak human language in this form, so he waited. What was Marrow's problem?

  "... I will need your help for a moment," the skeleton concluded. "This wall is sheer, and too steep for me to climb. Perhaps if you assume bird form—" He paused, reconsidering. "No, you could not be large enough to carry me up, yet small enough to land within that aperture."

  Dolph realized that a living human brain was needed. He crawled out of Marrow's socket, dropped to the ground, and converted to human form on the way. "Maybe I could turn ogre, and throw you up there."

  "Excellent notion!" Marrow exclaimed.

  In a moment it was done. The ogre hurled the skeleton up, then became a small bird and flew up, then turned glowworm again and got back into the eye socket. They were navigating hurdles more readily than before!

  Marrow crawled on knucklebones and kneecaps into the cave, Dolph's green light shining ahead. There was just room to pass this way. The walls of the cave were fairly smooth; the dragon must have polished them to prevent any sharp edge from scraping a scale.

  Before long the tunnel widened into a regular cave, with stalactites pointing down from the ceiling like—naturally!— dragon's teeth. Some of them even dripped saliva. But stone saliva was not poisonous, Dolph trusted.

  Then the cave ended in a black pool.

  "This is odd," Marrow said. "Dragons normally have comfortable nests lined with jewels. A water dragon might sleep in a pool, but Draco is a flying dragon, and a fire-breather. This does not seem right. Yet we saw him departing from this cave, and I found no alternate passage. I can not explain this."

  It was time for a living human brain again. Dolph retained his human consciousness in the worm form, but heavy thinking was beyond it. He crawled out and changed.

  There was room for them both, here, though their toes were in the water and they could not stand.

  It was completely black in the cave, and Dolph could not see a thing. But there really was little to see; just the water below and the stalactites above. He could remember those readily enough. At the moment all he needed was his brain.

  "If Draco came from this cave, I can think of three reasons," he said, as that brain began to operate. "Maybe he was just visiting, looking for something to eat in here."

  “This cave is empty; he would know that," Marrow responded. "In any event, he would not have waited several hours before emerging, unless he was eating something—and there are no bones here."

  "They might be at the bottom of the pool," Dolph pointed out.

  "True," Marrow agreed, this notion new to him. "So maybe this is the wrong cave."

  "Maybe not," Dolph said, his brain percolating. "It could be that he has a spell to let him rest on the water without getting wet. Then he can bring his food in here and eat it, and let the bones sink down below."

  "But then where is the firewater opal?"

  That was a good question. "Then maybe the third reason is the right one," Dolph said, his brain getting really warmed up. "Maybe this is not the end of the tunnel. Maybe it goes through the water."

  "But firedrakes
don't go through water!" Marrow protested.

  "How do we know that? Maybe they can, only not when we're watching."

  "That is true; we should see whether the tunnel continues under the water."

  Dolph did not want to be the glowworm for underwater travel; the water would quickly put out the glow. "Maybe lean be a fish."

  "I suspect—" Marrow began.

  "Or whatever you suggest."

  "—that an armored fish would be better," the skeleton concluded.

  "Urn. Yes. No telling what might be in that water." He considered, but could not think of an armored fish. "An there such things?"

  "There are in the gourd. They are fossils, like me and Grace*!. We know them only in their skeletal form, of course, but you could become a living one. Or maybe an armored arthropod."

  "Who?"

  "A lobster or horseshoe crab, or—try a trilobite. Maybe you'll like it."

  "A trilobyte?"

  "I suppose that would be satisfactory. That species might have more memory or intelligence than the original."

  So Dolph put his feet in the water and became a trilobyte. This turned out to be a flat armored thing like a fish with trailing spines on its head, and two mouth tentacles. It was a pretty interesting creature, and seemed able to take care of itself. It had no trouble swimming in the dark water.

  Marrow waded in, needing no change of form for this. He simply dropped to the bottom and walked.

  The tunnel did continue under the water. There was dragon scent that Dolph's arthropod senses readily picked up, marking a channel deeper into the mountain. He led, swimming slowly near the bottom, while Marrow forged after. He had never been an arthropod before, whatever it was, but he found he liked this form; for one thing, he was having no trouble breathing the water. Not that he should, but after his experience with Mela, and the way her enchantment interfered with his water breathing, he had been a bit nervous.

  Suddenly a host of little fish swarmed in. They circled Dolph and Marrow, eying them. Then the leader of the pack nudged his snout close to Dolph's antennae and demanded in fish talk: "Who are thou, roach-face? I recognize not thy shield of arms."

  Dolph was not a fish, so he found it difficult to understand the words, but he got the essence. There was something about the fish's attitude that annoyed him. Therefore he responded more gruffly than he might have. "Get out of my face before I chomp you, fish-eye."

  "Only dragons pass here unchallenged, bug-brain," the fish asserted. "I demand of thee again, show thy colors."

  "Perhaps—" Marrow began.

  "The only color I'll show you is the color of my teeth, fin-foot!" Dolph exclaimed angrily. Then he realized that in this form he didn't exactly have teeth. But he did have an armored mouth, and that was good enough.

  The fish swelled up to its full diminutive size. "Know, O miscreant, that thou hast affronted Perrin Piranha, terror of the cave waters! Now shalt thou discover the consequence of thy folly."

  "—we should humor them," the skeleton concluded, a bit late. "There is no point in antagonizing natives unnecessarily."

  Perrin and his fellow piranhas charged. They swarmed in around both Dolph and Marrow, their big mouths gaping. They chomped whatever they reached.

  But Dolph was thoroughly armored, and Marrow was all bone. Dogfish liked to chew bones, and had tough teeth for it, but these were not dogfish. "Ouch!" Perrin cried as he dented a tooth on one of Dolph's head spines. "Oooo!" others wailed as they crunched on Marrow's shins.

  Dolph had a number of legs near his face. He used them to grab Perrin. "Now it is our turn," he said, hauling the struggling fish up to his chitinous mouth. "Where would you like me to take the first bite: head or tail?"

  He had hoped to cow the obnoxious fish. He was disappointed. "Go ahead, bite my head off, varlet!" Perrin said boldly. "Thou shallst have no satisfaction of me! I spit on thy snoot!" And indeed he did spit, though it was ineffective in the water.

  Dolph was young, and had not had a great deal of experience in life. But he had spent many, many hours watching the great events depicted in the Tapestry. He recognized bravery when he saw it. This little fish might be obnoxious, but he had a certain redeeming quality of character.

  "It might be better—" Marrow began.

  "Right," Dolph said. The Tapestry had educated him in this respect too. "Perrin, you are a worthy enemy. Therefore I release you, that we may oppose each other again with honor, at some future time.” He let go.

  The fish hovered a moment, not entirely surprised. "What be thy name, then?"

  "Prince Dolph of Xanth."

  "A prince! Then doth that figure! I bid thee adieu, till that future encounter." The fish swam away, and all his troop went with him.

  "That was well handled," Marrow said.

  Dolph experienced a surge of pleasure. The skeleton's compliments did not come often, but that was only part of it. Mostly it was because he knew the compliment was deserved. He had for once handled a situation properly.

  The cave rose, and they came to another dry section. Dolph swam to the surface of the water and waited. Marrow stepped out, then put down his bone hand and lifted Dolph clear. Then Dolph resumed the glowworm form. Marrow lifted him to the eye socket. They were back in business, afoot and with a light.

  Then a host of dark shapes swarmed down at them, much as the fish had. They turned out to be bats.

  "Ho, varlet!" the leader bat squeaked. "Halt and be recognized!"

  Not again! Naturally the creature spoke in bat language, and Dolph was hard pressed to understand it. But to a degree all animal languages were connected, and as a glowworm he could make out the gist.

  He wriggled out of Marrow's eye socket and became a big bat. "I am Prince Dolph of Xanth," he said. "I come on private business, and request that you let me pass." As a bat he had no trouble with the bat language, of course.

  "A prince? Don't make me laugh!" And all the hovering bats burst into shrill laughter.

  "I have identified myself," Dolph said evenly, following the protocol as he understood it. "Who are you?"

  "I am Brick Bat, and this is my battalion," the bat replied. "We don't intend to let you pass, you faker. We rule this roost."

  "I suspect—" Marrow began.

  "Ah, shut your face, you bag of bones!" Brick snapped.

  "Look, we're trying to be polite," Dolph said, wishing he didn't have to be.

  "—that these animals are not going to be reasonable," Marrow concluded.

  "You bet we aren't, you animated spook!" Brick said. The bats and Marrow didn't seem to have any trouble understanding each other, though they spoke different languages. It occurred to Dolph that the creatures of the gourd might have a special ability to communicate, because they never could tell into what creature's bad dream they might be thrust.

  Dolph's juvenile hope flared. "Does that mean we can bash them?"

  "Our time is limited," Marrow said. "We had better ignore them. But if they have the temerity to attack—"

  Dolph wasn't sure what "temerity" meant, but—

  "Attack!" Brick Bat cried. Immediately the battalion swarmed in, biting.

  That saved Dolph the trouble of inquiring about the word. He assumed a form he had practiced long before, in the dusky towers of Castle Roogna. He became a vampire bat. He flew at the smaller bats, his fangs gaping. They scattered, terrified; they were not vampires, and the sight of this one affected them in much the way a charging ogre affected ordinary human folk.

  Dolph enjoyed flying in the dark cave, using his high-pitched voice to locate the walls. It was just about as good as seeing with eyes and needed no light source. He would keep this form in mind, too; the bat was a good flier. He had forgotten how good!

  Now they came to the dragon's nest. It was on a ledge high in the cave; only a flying creature could reach it. There was no way to miss it, for the floor of the cave beneath was mounded with cracked bones. Dolph had no trouble, of course, but Marrow was stuck below. It was h
ard to pick him out amidst all the inanimate bones.

  "I can get the firewater opal," Dolph piped. "Which one is it?" For as he landed on the rim of the great nest, he picked up the echoes of hundreds of gems.

  "It should have a fiery and liquid gleam," Marrow said.

  "I can't hear the gleam!"

  "You had better bring me up there," Marrow said. "I can see in the dark, so should have no problem."

  Dolph flew down to the cave floor, assumed ogre form, and heaved the skeleton up and into the nest. He was about to return to bat form, when his gross ogre ears heard something.

  "He's coming, he's coming!" the bats were chanting. "He'll crunch your stupid bones to bits, to bits!"

  Oops! "I think we're in trouble," Marrow remarked from above. "You had better distract the dragon, while I search for the opal. There are so many gems here, it may take a while."

  Distract the dragon! Dolph dreaded the notion. Why had Draco returned so soon? It would have been so much better if they could have escaped quietly with the opal; the dragon might never have noticed mat it was missing.

  Now he heard a hissing, as the dragon forged through the water. No doubt about it now, flying dragons could swim when they chose to! But how did they keep their fire when they got all wet?

  He heard the creature splashing at the surface. His ogre eyes saw Draco's nose glowing. That was it: he held his breath! It surely did not take the dragon long to pass through the water, and the stifled fire would be no problem for that little time.

  "Gonna getcha!" the bats chorused. "Gonna getcha, gonna getcha!"

  Well, Dolph had planned to bluff the dragon; now was his chance. What form would be best? He decided to make it large but credible; if the dragon saw a figure too big to have come through the tight entrance, he would know it wasn't a real monster, and therefore might realize that it was inexperienced. The biggest monster that could have come through the tunnel was a serpent, because its cross section was small though its body could be massive.

  Dolph became a giant serpent, with phenomenal fangs. He lifted his head and issued a horrendous hiss as the dragon cleared the water. That should put the creature on notice; Dolph was almost scaring himself!