Part 9 (1/2)
”I am a centaur,” he said modestly.
”Maybe by the time we get there, she'll have forgotten us,” Gwenny said.
”That is my hope.”
The path enabled them to travel rapidly. Nevertheless it was more than a day's walk. ”Maybe we should look for a place to camp for the night,” Jenny said.
Sammy ran ahead of them. As always, she followed, because the cat was almost as good at getting lost as he was at finding things. Che and Gwenny followed her.
Sammy took a side path they wouldn't otherwise have noticed. It led to a little park. They found a nice umbrella tree, conveniently placed for just such travelers as themselves, with nearby fruit and nut trees and a big pillow bush. So they dined on breadfruit with b.u.t.ternuts and drank vanilla milkweed pods, with candy canes for dessert.
”Do you think we'll stop liking such things, when we turn adult and join the Conspiracy against fun?” Gwenny asked.
”Oh, I hope not!” Jenny exclaimed.
”Yet somehow it seems that everything changes, when a person grows up,” Che said sadly. ”Look at Electra.”
”Actually, she's not so bad,” Gwenny said. ”She still wears blue jeans by day. Maybe she didn't really join the Conspiracy.”
”She summoned the stork,” Che pointed out.
”Maybe it's possible to learn how to do that, without adopting the bad parts, like spinach,” Jenny said hopefully.
”Let's agree that we'll subscribe to only the good parts of the Conspiracy,” Che suggested. ”We'll be different, when we grow up.”
”Yes!” Gwenny agreed. The three of them clasped hands, sharing the oath.
They settled down for the night, moving into a dream and then into sleep, as usual.
Che suffered a bellyache during the night. He wished he hadn't eaten quite so many candy canes; they now had a distressing aftertaste. He heard the girls tossing restlessly in their sleep, and knew that they had the same problem. It was of course impossible that a person could ever get too much candy; still, there was something.
Maybe there had been a curse on some of them.
In the morning they marched the rest of the way to the Good Magician's castle. None of them had been here before, so it was more daunting than Castle Roogna had been, despite being smaller and without the tree guardians. Well, technically Jenny had been here, but only briefly; she had been allowed to inquire about the way back to the World of Two Moons, but then had changed her mind before getting the Answer. She had decided that she wasn't ready to leave Xanth yet, to Che and Gwenny's relief. But since the Good Magician's castle was different each time anyone visited it, that hardly counted. Now it was just a somewhat dilapidated stone edifice surrounded by a small moat. It seemed undefended: there was no moat monster, and the drawbridge was down. No person was in sight.
As they came closer, they saw that their first impression had been deceptive. This was not an ordinary castle at all.
It was made of pastry and candy. The walls were not stone, but fruitcake with large stonelike sections of fruit. The roof seemed to be peanut brittle. The drawbridge was gingerbread, and the moat fizzed like pop from Lake Tsoda Popka.
They managed to exchange a three-party glance. ”Why don't I trust this?” Gwenny inquired.
”Because it is not trustworthy,” Che replied. ”The Good Magician always knows when a querent is coming, and is always prepared.”
”Querent?”
”Supplicant, pet.i.tioner, beggar, moocher, sponge-”
”Oh, stop it!” Gwenny said, laughing. ”You mean folk like us, who come to ask a Question.”
”Whatever,” Che agreed, scowling. But he couldn't hold it more than a moment, and had to smile. At least it broke their tension, or dented it somewhat.
”There must be something we don't see,” Jenny said.
”Since I will ask the Question, so that I can do the year's service, I might as well lead the way.” She started toward the drawbridge.
”Wait!” Gwenny protested. ”There may be danger. I should go first, even if I'm not going to actually ask the Question.
”No need to quarrel, girls,” Che said, putting on a superior smirk.
”First, we can be reasonably sure there's no danger, because the Good Magician wouldn't want to hurt us, and the winged monsters wouldn't allow it anyway.
”But the winged monsters aren't watching at the moment,” Jenny said, looking around.
”Certainly they are,” he said, maintaining his superior smirk.
”Oh? Where?”
Che pointed to a purple dragonfly perched on a nearby bush. ”There.”
She looked. ”But that's only a bug!”
”That's a winged monster. He will report to the others if anything happens, or take care of it himself.”
”I don't believe it,” Jenny said.
”Ixnay,” Gwenny murmured warningly.
She was too late. The dragonfly had taken umbrage. It jetted into the air, leaving a trail of sparks and a contrail of vapor. It zoomed away.
In a moment it returned, leading a phalanx of dragonflies. Now the sound of their wings was audible. They swung around in formation and oriented on Jenny Elf.
”Duck!” Che cried. ”It's a strafing run!”
The three of them threw themselves to the ground. Little streaks of flame pa.s.sed over them and burned the nearby foliage. The dragonflies flew on out of sight.
They picked themselves up. ”They weren't shooting for effect,” Che said. ”If we hadn't ducked, they would have held their fire. I think.”
”I guess they made their point,” Jenny said. ”I'm sorry I doubted.”
The purple dragonfly reappeared and perched on her shoulder. ”He accepts your apology,” Che said.
Gwenny laughed. ”But you don't have to kiss him.”
Jenny was serious. ”Still, they can't help us with the Good Magician's challenge. It's not allowed.”
”Maybe Sammy can find a safe way in,” Che suggested.
Immediately the little cat bounded across the gingerbread drawbridge.
Jenny ran after him, as she always did.