Part 8 (1/2)

”Except that we still don't know what happened to the Good Magician,” Chex reminded him. ”So we still don't have the Answers we came for.”

”Maybe a magic mirror can tell us where he went,” Esk suggested.

They located a mirror. But as they approached, it flickered. ”Castle Roogna calling Magician Humfrey,” it said. ”Come in, Humfrey. Over.”

”He's not here,” Esk said to the mirror.

”Castle Roogna calling Magician Humfrey,” it repeated. ”Come in, Humfrey. Over.”

”How do I turn this thing on to answer?” Esk asked.

The mirror formed an eye and eyed him. ”You can't, ogre-snoot,” it said. ”I respond only to authorized personnel. Tell the Good Magician to get his d.i.n.ky posterior down here and answer the King.”

”But the Good Magician's not here!” Chex exclaimed.

”I didn't ask for excuses, nymph-noodle,” the mirror retorted. ”Just get him here.”

”Listen, gla.s.sface!” Esk said, raising a fist.

”Uh-uh, mundane-brain,” it said. ”I'm worth a lot more than you are. It's a capital offense to break a mirror.”

”Just put the King through to us, and we'll tell him what's happening here,” Chex said angrily.

”Sorry, you don't have proper clearance, ponytail.” And the mirror went blank.

”I can see why mirrors get broken,” Esk muttered.

”It's just the perversity of the inanimate,” Chex said. ”I greatly fear we'll just have to go on to Castle Roogna ourselves, and tell them what we have found here, and see what they can do about it.”

”Cavtle Roogna?” Volney asked.

”It may be the only way we can make any progress toward the solutions to our problems,” she said.

So indeed it seemed.

Chapter 5. Ivy.

They spent the night in the Magician's castle, and headed out for Castle Roogna in the morning. They brought along a ladder they found in a storage shed; Chex hauled it along by holding one end under an arm and resting the other end on her rump. The ladder interfered somewhat with her tail, so that the biting flies were more of a nuisance than usual, but the distance was not far.

They forged into the mountain of illusion, Volney leading the way. When he announced the chasm, Chex uns.h.i.+pped the ladder and pushed it out over the void. Then she secured one end, while Esk walked across it on hands and feet. At the other end, he sat and held it while Volney crossed. Finally they hauled the ladder the rest of the way across, and Chex made a running leap and hurdled the chasm as before. The whole business was accomplished much more swiftly and comfortably than their prior crossing.

They walked on out the north side and resumed the path. ”You know, I wonder how those little smokers got across,” Esk remarked. ”Could they hurdle that distance?”

”They're pretty active,” Chex said. ”I suspect they could. Perhaps they charged forward blindly, and some made it while some did not. We don't know how many were in that cage.”

He nodded. Her surmise seemed reasonable enough. Perhaps they had been lucky that only a fraction of the dragons had surmounted the hurdle.

Then they came to the lake. ”And how did they cross this?” Esk asked. ”Do dragons swim, and if they do, does the water monster let them pa.s.s?”

Chex glanced at the open water, where the monster waited, then at the side, where the carnivorous reeds waited. ”They must have had some other way.”

Volney sniffed the end of the path at the waterline. ”If the mountain wav illuvion, could thiv be illuvion too?” he asked. ”Or could it be another avpect?”

”Another aspect of illusion?” Chex asked, puzzled.

The vole walked out across the water.

Esk and Chex stared. ”It's real!” Esk cried.

Chex slapped her own flank resoundingly. ”A one-way causeway!” she exclaimed.

”I think not,” Volney said.

But they were already racing for the path. Both stepped on it-and both sank through it and into the muck.

Yet Volney remained above the water. ”How-?” Esk demanded, somewhat miffed.

”I keep my eyev cloved,” the vole explained.

”Eyes closed?” Chex asked blankly as she hauled herself out.

”If what we vee iv not volid,” Volney said, ”then vometimev what we do not vee iv volid.”

”What we do not see is solid,” Esk repeated thoughtfully.

Chex nodded. ”Another reversal. The Good Magician seems very fond of that sort of thing.”

”Very fond,” Esk agreed, in no better mood than she. Had they realized this before, they could have saved themselves an enormous amount of difficulty.

”But if the lake monster should encroach-” she said.

”It iv an enchanted path, iv it not?” the vole asked, proceeding forward.

She nodded. ”True-it should be secure. The dragons were on it because they were travelers; the Good Magician let them go home early, for a reason we do not yet grasp. Other monsters should still be barred-and indeed, we have encountered no others on it. So the water monster should be barred.” She s.h.i.+vered. ”Yet I begin to feel claustrophobic again. I am by no means eager to trust myself on that path blindly, though I hardly relish the mucky trip around the lake.”

Esk pondered. ”Suppose you earned me, as you did before-and I kept my eyes open? Would the path become illusory because of me, or remain solid because of you?”

She smiled. ”Let's find out! I wouldn't do this with just anyone, but I trust you, Esk.”

Esk found himself fl.u.s.tered by the compliment. Centaurs were notoriously distrustful of the judgment of others.

Chex closed her eyes while Esk mounted. Then he directed her toward the path. ”Straight ahead-no, slightly to your right,” he said.

”That's too clumsy,” she said. ”Just gesture with your knees.”

”My knees?”