Part 8 (1/2)
”That is the normal course,” the centaur agreed, not quite evincing impatience at this rehearsal of the obvious.
”But if you had made made it through, it would have been your mission.”
”Agreed.” Karia was polite, but her tail was switching restlessly, causing little clouds of lightened dust to rise.
”And maybe your problem would have been solved at the end of it.”
”Perhaps.”
”The Good Magician didn't tell me he would make me beautiful after I accomplished the mission. He told me I would be beautiful. My impression was that it would happen when I got there.”
”The Good Magician's Services often do work out that way.” Now her mane was wavering, as her impatience worked its way forward.
”So if you had done it, your problem would have been solved right there. Not because you had completed your Service, but because that is where the solution is.”
Karia paused a third of a moment. ”That is an arguable case.”
”So if you go there now, you may after all have your Answer, despite not seeing the Good Magician. And that might be your reward for partic.i.p.ating.”
”That is by no means certain, but by no means uncertain. Perhaps there is an even chance.” Then the centaur made her decision. ”I will join you. If you are correct, I will have my desire, and if you are incorrect I will still have what may be an excellent adventure.”
”Wonderful! Now I can tell you all about it.” She proceeded to do that, and Karia listened and nodded.
”Counter Xanth. Things are surely different there, and perhaps the laws of magic differ, so that our liabilities differ too. That might indeed cure me. In any event, it should be a remarkable experience.”
”Only it seems I have to go there alone,” Cube said. ”I wonder why I need Companions, when they aren't supposed to travel with me. That is, openly.”
”I can answer that. In any trip there are likely to be occasions where a single traveler is balked or in danger. For example, you may encounter a creva.s.se you can't safely cross. Then you would bring me out of the pouch, and I would fly you across. You would do it when no one was observing, so my presence would not be advertised. Similarly, there may be tasks the others can perform at need, inconspicuously. We do not need to be traveling openly with you to be effective aids to your progress.”
”That must be it. You make it so clear.”
”I would be less than a proper centaur if I did not reason and express myself clearly.”
”I am glad to have you along,” Cube said. ”That leaves me only seven more to find, to make up the nine.”
”Nine? That's interesting. That's the square of three. It must have significance.”
”It must,” Cube agreed, seeing it. ”Now if only--” She cut that off.
”If only?”
”No need to bother you with it.”
”Is it relevant to the Quest?”
”Not really.”
”Allow me to be the judge of that.”
”All right. It's that I had hoped to recruit another person, a man I met just before I met you, but I can't.”
”A man. You are attracted to him?”
”Does it show?”
”Yes. A faint little heart leaked from you when you mentioned him. But he lacks interest in you?”
”Yes. Because--”
”I understand. That is why you want to be beautiful.”
”Yes. Actually I wanted to be beautiful before I met him, but he added to the desire.”
”There are other qualities than physical appearance.”
”That men notice?”
Karia nodded. ”Point taken. Still, there are other reasons to undertake this Quest, as I have just learned. They should be sufficient to enlist him also.”
”The demoness Metria asked him, and he asked if I was beautiful yet. That was answer enough.”
”Perhaps not. It is true that men are governed mostly by appearance, but there is a mitigating factor here.”
”There is?”
”If you succeed in the Quest, you will be beautiful. He might want to be present for the occasion.”
”I hadn't thought of that! Maybe he would.”
”So I suggest we make an effort to recruit him, and perhaps in due course you will have your beauty and your man.”
”It's a dream.”
”Where is he?”
”He said that everybody knew him in his area, but I'm not sure what his area is.”
”The demoness Metria knows, however, since she spoke with him.”
”That's right. I'll bring her out and ask her.”
Cube brought out the pouch and reached in. ”Metria.”
A smoky-feeling hand caught hers. She drew it out, and in a fraction of a moment the demoness was with them. ”But I just went in,” she said. ”Why did you bring me out immediately?”
”It has been several hours,” Cube said.
”Impossible!”
”Consider the position of the sun,” Karia suggested.