Part 31 (2/2)
Jaylin touched it. ”Ooo, it's swell!”
”Precisely. But I'm at a slight loss as to how to use it.”
The others touched the rock, and agreed that it was definitely the Foop. But no one had any idea how to use it.
”The Six Rings of Xanth are supposed to control it,” Cynthia reminded them.
”Perhaps we should depart the Region of Water and find a more secure place to consider,” Justin suggested.
”For sure,” Breanna agreed for all of them.
Jaylin mounted Putre, and the party moved rapidly out of the Regions and south across the Gap Chasm, and on to Castle Zombie. There they hesitated.
”Mare Imbrium,” Justin said. ”We are very glad to have you back with us. But there is a complication.”
A dreamlet cloud appeared over her head. In it was the head of a black-haired human woman. ”I know,” that woman said. ”Putre has caught me up with what happened after I fell into the Void. Not only do I have a foal, I have become a tree nymph.”
”I think this will make it difficult for you to return to your prior situation,” Justin said gently.
”That's right!” Breanna agreed. ”How can there be two of you?”
”They should get together and talk it over,” Sim squawked. ”They can decide what is best.”
The others circled a glance around, nodding. Sim was indeed a very bright bird.
”What of Putre?” Jaylin asked.
”He should go with his dam,” Justin said. ”He found her. There is no further need of him to locate the Ring of Void, or to convey you there.”
”I guess that's right,” Jaylin agreed. She went to hug the colt. ”I'll miss you, horseface. You really helped me.”
A little heart floated up. Then the two horses departed, and Jaylin wiped away a tear.
”You can see him again, after we're through with the Foop,” Justin said.
”In Mundania?”
He had no answer for that. He wished he had not spoken.
”We'd better go inside and catch up Jonathan and Millie,” Breanna said. ”And figure out the Foop.”
Soon they were in the throes of it. ”Six Rings and a rock,” Breanna said. ”Who would have thought they'd be so hard to put together?”
”Perhaps if we knew what the Foop does, we would know how to invoke it,” Cynthia said.
”Considering the power of the Six Rings,” Che said, ”the Foop must be of a greater magnitude. It is hard to conceive of anything in Xanth that would require more than the control of all the Regions and the creatures and things within them.”
”Well, our mission is to rescue the Demon Earth, so it must have power beyond Xanth,” Justin said. ”In fact, if only another Demon can have abducted D. Earth, it must have power of the Demons themselves.”
”That makes a conceivable need,” Che agreed. ”Each of the major Demons has equivalent power, and we have seen how all the magic of the Land of Xanth is mere trace leakage from the Demon Xanth. This thing must be potentially stronger than the Demon Xanth himself.”
”So maybe we should ask him,” Jaylin said.
There was a silence. Then Justin broke it. ”We could do that, but he might not like the idea of our using the Foop.”
”A rival power,” Che agreed. ”It does seem better that we discover this on our own.”
They studied the stone. ”What are those warts?” Breanna asked.
”Stones are seldom regular,” Che said. ”They are fragments of larger processes. I a.s.sume the projections are random.”
”Random can be dangerous,” Sim squawked. ”We had to deal with the Random Factor.”
”Why would anything about an object of this potential power be random?” Breanna asked.
They considered again. Then Sim put it together: ”I note six projections,” he squawked. ”We have six Rings. They must have to be touching the Foop to control it.”
”One Ring per wart,” Breanna said. ”It works for me.”
They took off their Rings and tried placing them on the projections. Each one fit perfectly. Obviously that was where they were supposed to go.
”Now what?” Cynthia asked.
”Maybe we have to invoke it, the way we do the individual Rings,” Jaylin said. ”Maybe just thinking what we want.”
Breanna held her spread hands over the rock. ”Rise, Foop,” she intoned dramatically.
Nothing happened.
”Is it possible,” Justin asked, ”that there needs to be a particular order? That is, each Ring must be on a designated k.n.o.b?”
”It sure as bleep is,” Jaylin said. Then, seeing the other glance reprovingly at her, she apologized. ”Sorry about the bad word. It just slipped out. What I mean is, that with a computer in Mundania you have to have everything just exactly right. You can't change the order to suit you. This must be like that. Maybe it's like a code, to be sure n.o.body gets it activated by accident.”
”But if there's a set order,” Che asked, ”why do the k.n.o.bs accept the wrong Rings? We can't put the Rings on the wrong people.”
”That must be part of the protection,” Jaylin said. ”It's like a secret code, and you have to know it to get it right.”
”But we don't know it.”
”So I guess we have to crack the code. Then we'll know it for next time.”
The others nodded. They started changing the positions of the Rings. It was surprising how many patterns there could be for six Rings with six k.n.o.bs.
A swirl of smoke formed. ”We're getting something!” Breanna said.
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