Cube Route Part 17

Chapter 6: Sidestepping.

The journey back to their starting point in Phaze did not seem as long or arduous as the one down. The three natives accompanied them, and so did Drek Dragon. No trolls attacked them as they followed the mountain trail; apparently they were wary of the dragon. Then Cube got an idea, and the others agreed, surprised. She put them all into the purse, including wolf, bat, unicorn, and dragon, then rode Karia, who flew there much faster than they could otherwise have traveled. She brought them all out at what she called the Cover Site, and they were surprised, having thought they had gone in and out immediately. But they soon verified that they were two days' travel away from the Purple Mountain Retreat.

Only then did Cube realize that she didn't know how to return to Xanth. They tried walking back and forth across the area, thinking there might be an invisible curtain leading back, but there was not. Even the Princesses had no idea; they could perform mighty magic when they tried, but they had no information on how to cross between worlds.

Karia put her fine centaur mind to it. "We entered via a picture of Phaze. Perhaps if we reproduced that picture, there would be effect." But though wolf, bat, and unicorn obligingly posed as they had been, there was no effect.

Drek Dragon wiggled his right ear. Did he have an idea? Then Cube suffered another bulbless realization: "You came here before us, Drek! You know the way!"

He did, but it took a while to convey, because they had to speak it while the dragon agreed or disagreed. So they played the game of Nineteen Questions, all of them making suggestions, and the dragon wiggling ears.

"Try some other site?" Karia asked. Drek's left ear wiggled: No.

"Try it at the same hour of the day we arrived?" Cube asked. No.

"The two of you came through a picture," Stu said.

The dragon's right ear wiggled, pointing at the werewolf.

"So a picture is needed," Stu continued.

"A picture of Xanth!" Cube exclaimed.

The right ear wiggled. Now they had it.

The Princesses conjured an easel with a painting of Castle Roogna. They set it up where Karia and Cube had come through before. Then Karia put out one hand to touch it--and suddenly slid through the painting.

Surprised by this success, Cube peered at the painting. There was Karia, standing before the castle, waving. She was indeed in Xanth.

"Then we must go," Cube said, finding herself suddenly regretful. "I am glad to have made your acquaintance, and hope to see you again someday, if that is possible."

"Welcome," Stu said, embracing her. Cube tried to conceal her pleasure at being hugged by a handsome male, but didn't quite succeed.

"Hey, if you hug strange men, I can hug strange women," Ryver said, and proceeded to embrace Viola and Forili in their human forms, while the Princesses t.i.ttered. Now Cube had to conceal her jealousy, for both Phaze females were quite attractive in their human forms. That was not surprising, since they had crafted those forms themselves. If Cube had been able to craft her own form, she'd be lovely too.

Then everyone except the dragon got into the pouch. Drek obviously knew how to cross between worlds himself.

"Is thy quest public in thy land?" Stu asked.

"No, it is private," Cube replied. "Secret, in fact." Then she got the gist of his point. "And if Drek shows up beside Castle Roogna, many people will know that something unusual is up."

The dragon agreed. He poked the tip of his hind foot into the pouch, and slid into it. That was an interesting maneuver, as he had a good length of tail beyond the foot, yet somehow did not straddle the mouth of the pouch.

Then Cube faced the painting. "You can keep the picture," she said with a smile, and put her hand into it.

"We dare not use it," Stu said, "lest--" But his remaining words were lost as she pa.s.sed out of Phaze.

In half a moment she was standing beside Karia, outside Castle Roogna. Cube turned to look behind her, but there was only the orchard. Still, she waved, just in case the folk of Phaze could see her in their picture, just as she had seen Karia.

Then she turned to the centaur. "Let's not go into the castle," she said.

"Agreed. Let me take you away from here."

"Agreed." She mounted, and the centaur flicked them both, trotted, spread her wings, and took off.

Once they were away from the castle, Karia addressed the next question: "We have seven Companions. Who is next?"

"I have no idea."

"Perhaps it is time to get, if you will excuse the expression, scientific."

That was an unfamiliar word. "Beg pardon?"

"It is a Mundane method for finding things out. I am thinking of asking the Princesses to do a Find on the next Companion, just as they did on the last one."

"Would that work? Without a specific name?"

"I don't know. But it seems worth the effort."

Cube had to agree. So they landed in a private glade and brought out the Princesses. "Can you do a Find on our next Companion?"

"Sure," Melody said brightly.

"That's great!"

"Who is he?" Harmony asked curiously.

"We don't know."

"Oh," Rhythm said dully.

But they tried it, and got a direction. It seemed there was a potential Companion not far distant. The Princesses returned to the pouch.

They resumed flight, and soon came to a likely site: a cave set into a hillside. "Another dragon?" Karia asked.

"I hope not. It is nothing against dragons, but we already have one."

"Agreed." The centaur glided down for a landing.

The cave turned out to be a human dwelling with a door. There were curtains and flowers, and things were neat. A woman, by the look of it.

"I think this is your job, again," Karia said.

"Yes." Cube braced herself and knocked on the door.

There was no answer. She knocked again, with no better response. Then she tried the latch.

The door opened, revealing a nicely furnished interior. It was a cave, but also a tasteful residence. "h.e.l.lo?"

Still no answer. "They must be out," Cube called back to the centaur.

"That must be the case. We did not have an appointment."

"I suppose we'll just have to wait for them to return."

Karia looked thoughtful. "I wonder. There was a complication before you enlisted the Princesses, and the search for the dragon was remarkable. It occurs to me that we are encountering more complications than might be routine. Do you think there might be interference?"

"I haven't been on a Quest before. I don't know what is routine. Do you think something has happened to the person who lives here?"

"Perhaps it is my imagination, but it does seem possible. If so, we should consult."

"That wouldn't hurt." Cube brought out the others and explained the situation.

"We can find out," Melody said eagerly.

"We'll do a magic tracer," Harmony agreed.

"That will tell us," Rhythm concluded.

The three put their heads together, then made their music. Magic intensified. The air above them turned dark.

"There's bad magic here," Melody announced.

"Very strong magic," Harmony agreed.

"Too strong for us," Rhythm concluded.

"Too strong!" Karia said, startled. "But together you are the strongest Sorceresses in Xanth."

"Sure," Melody agreed.

"But this is stronger," Harmony added.

"Which means it must be Demon magic," Rhythm concluded.

"We have a demon with us," Cube said.

"Didn't you hear the capital D?" Metria asked. "The difference between a Demon and a demon is like that between the king of Xanth and a squashed ant."

"I don't understand."

Ryver and Drek looked at Cube, puzzled.

"She's from the back woods," Karia explained. "So I will explain. Metria is an ordinary demon, but there is another cla.s.s. The capital Demons have the power of whole worlds. All of the magic of Xanth derives from the incidental leakage from the body of the Demon Xanth. The magic of gravity that suffuses Mundania and Xanth is from similar leakage from the body of the Demon Earth. There are more distant Demons of equivalent power. They seldom meddle in the affairs of mortal creatures; in fact they are rarely even aware of them. That is surely just as well, for they have the power to obliterate all of us on a whim."

"Half a whim," Metria said. "Or less."

Cube was amazed. "I never knew! But why would one of these--Demons--want to interfere with our quest? If we are so insignificant--wouldn't he either ignore us or squash us flat, like that ant?"

"That is a fair question," the centaur agreed. "I conjecture that a Demon contest may be occurring."

"Contest?"

"The Demons, being omniscient and omnipotent, are at times bored," Karia said. "So they engage in contests between themselves. An essential element of any contest is randomness; a game is no fun when one knows how it will turn out. One of the random factors--and I am not referring to the monster in Castle MaiDragon--is the activity of mortal beings. We are, as Metria pointed out, like ants to them, and rather silly in our minuscule mortal concerns. They may place a wager on our quirky actions, and watch without interfering. The winner is the one who correctly predicts the outcome of a particular situation. But sometimes, perhaps, they cheat."

"How could someone cheat, when everyone knows everything?"

"I gather that most Demons are not paying much attention. Or there might not be a contest at the moment. I understand that one Demon is not supposed to interfere in the business of another. That is, Demon Earth keeps his magic finger out of the affairs of Xanth, and Demon Xanth leaves Mundania alone. But if one does decide to interfere, he may do it surrept.i.tiously, so as not to be caught."

"Now it's starting to make sense," Cube said. "If there is something about this Quest that a Demon doesn't like, but he's not supposed to mess in, then he might do something sneaky."

"This is my thought," the centaur agreed.

"I think you're on to something, Karia," Metria said. Then she paused as the centaur's eyes misted and she started drifting away. "Oops."

Cube snapped her fingers. "Centaur! Attend to us."

Karia's body dropped to the ground. "Did I do it again?"

"Metria spoke your name."

"I forgot," the demoness said, blus.h.i.+ng. The blush spread across her face, then drifted off to the side, collided with a wall, and stained it dull red. "I said you're on to something. One year ago a Demon contest won Counter Xanth from the foreign Demoness Fornax. That is the land we're trying to make a safe route to, so it can be colonized. It figures that Fornax would like to leave it empty, so it's pristine in case she should win it back in some other contest. So she could try to stop us from making that route--but not openly."

"That makes sense to me," Cube agreed. "But it's a pretty big a.s.sumption, just because a prospective Companion is out of the house at the moment."

"Not so big," Karia said, "considering the trace of magic stronger than the Princesses can fathom. It may be that the Demoness reckoned without the presence of the Princesses, or our insight into the problem, so thought we would not detect her mischief."

"Not paying attention," Ryver agreed. "But if this is the case, do we want to continue? The next ploy may be deadly. We can't fight Demon magic."

That drew Cube up short. "Of course you others don't have to take such a risk. I'll carry on alone."

Ryver looked at her. "Despite the risk?"

"It's my job. I don't know whether I can do it without Companions, but at least I can try."

"I doubt there would be much risk to us," Karia said. "The Demoness would not want to be obvious, and a death on this Quest would be obvious. That might attract the attention of the local Demon, Xanth, and cost her a point. She wouldn't like that. I'll stay. But perhaps the Princesses should return home."

"Oh no you don't!" Melody cried.

"We want a dangerous adventure," Harmony agreed.

"And if this is it, so much the better," Rhythm concluded.

"If you idiots are staying, count me in too," Metria said. "I can't let you be crazier than I am."