Part 15 (2/2)
Again the three reacted. ”A demon!” Stu said. ”They come not often this way.”
The demoness swirled into smoke, then spied Stu and coalesced into her loveliest shape. ”Well, now, mortal. Whatever can I do for you?” Her blouse tightened and her skirt shortened.
Stu took a good look, then turned to his own companions. ”Now will we show our further natures. I am not a man but a werewolf.” He abruptly changed form, becoming a formidable wolf.
”Oh, can we pet you?” Melody asked.
”We love wolves,” Harmony added.
”Especially werewolves,” Rhythm concluded.
Now one of the women, Viola, spoke for the first time. ”Thou mayst pet him, Melody, as he be tame.”
”But pet not any strange wolf,” the other woman, Forili, cautioned. ”They be not always tame.”
The three Princesses grouped around Stu, petting him on head, neck, and back.
”And I be a unicorn,” Viola said, changing into one.
That immediately distracted the children from the wolf. ”Oh, may we ride on you?” Melody asked.
”We love unicorns,” Harmony added.
”But we hardly ever see one,” Rhythm concluded.
”Thou mayst ride her,” Forili said. ”She also be tame.” She lifted the children up to the unicorn's back.
The unicorn took them for a brief ride and returned. Then Forili spoke again. ”And I be a vampire.” She changed into a large bat.
For some reason the Princesses did not clamor to experience her nature.
Stu returned to manform. ”Normally packs, herds, and flocks remain with their own kind,” he said. ”But we prefer each other's company. This makes us unwelcome at home, so we travel together, not completely satisfied. We cannot marry without the support o' our kind.”
Cube caught on. ”You want acceptance of your relations.h.i.+p.”
He nodded. ”And that we fear we can ne'er have.”
”One male and two females?” Karia asked. ”Does your society accept plural marriages?”
”Nay. We need also another male. That be another reason we travel, hoping to find one.”
”But suppose we could do something partway equivalent for you? Such as make you a castle, a preserve, where you could a.s.sociate without being condemned?”
He shook his head. ”Castles be beyond the means o' regular folk.”
”But not necessarily beyond our means,” Cube said, glancing at the Princesses. ”If there is a suitable place.”
”We know a place in the Purple Mountains,” Stu said. ”But unless thy children be truly Adepts, it is not feasible.”
”Perhaps a token demonstration would be in order,” Karia suggested.
The Princesses were glad to cooperate. They hummed, played, and beat, and soon formed a one-quarter-scale replica of Castle MaiDragon on the ground. Impressed, the wolf sniffed it and the two females peered over its outer wall at the myriad turrets and byways.
”Canst put such an edifice on a mountain slope?” Stu asked.
”Sure,” Melody said.
”Anywhere,” Harmony agreed.
”Full size,” Rhythm concluded.
”For such a structure o' our own, we would guide thy group anywhere,” Stu said.
Thus the deal was made. Stu resumed wolf form, while Viola kept unicorn form, and Forili retained human form and rode on her back. Cube put the others back in the pouch and rode Karia. They followed the running wolf, while conversing side by side.
”How camest thou to these demesnes?” Forili asked. ”It be apparent that thy folk are not o' our world.”
”You may find this hard to believe. We entered by stepping into the cover of a book about Phaze. The three of you were pictured there.”
”There be a book about us?”
”There seems to be. But in our land, it is just a story.”
”It be more than a story to us.”
There was a musical note of agreement. Startled, Cube looked at the unicorn. ”That sounded like a violin!”
”Aye. That be Viola's instrument.”
”But I see no violin.”
”It be her horn. Each unicorn plays a different instrument. They be most versatile.”
”They certainly are.”
Viola played an ongoing melody, the beat provided by her trotting hooves. It was quite nice.
”I say it as shouldn't, not being their kind,” Forili said. ”But a herd o' 'corns marching in formation be a most melodious thing.”
”I should think so!”
They continued to exchange information about their two worlds as they moved toward the Purple Mountains. It was a long trip, and night fell before they got there. They stopped for the night beside a clear river, and the Princesses conjured meat for Stu, oats for Viola, and blood for Forili to eat in their natural forms, and more familiar food for their own party. Most of them could have remained in the pouch, but they preferred to come out and experience the world of Phaze.
The Princesses conjured a little pavilion made of hard chocolate, half filled it with marshmallow pillows, and slept there: their way of roughing it. Ryver disappeared into the nearest river, interested in the water of this world. Metria disappeared into the air, determined to check out the demons here. That left Cube and Karia, neither of whom was willing to go into the pouch while the Princesses were at possible risk out of it. So they joined them in the pavilion, which the Princesses obligingly made larger.
Stu a.s.sumed his wolf form and curled up beside the pavilion. Viola a.s.sumed her unicorn form and grazed in the night; she could sleep while grazing, it turned out. Forili a.s.sumed her bat form and hung from the branch of a nearby tree for her sleep. It seemed that they had to revert to their natural forms when sleeping; it required conscious will to maintain their human emulations. Cube thought that was just as well, because she wasn't sure whether they might otherwise have been inclined to summon the stork, or whatever it was in this world, and that would have been awkward with the Princesses in the vicinity.
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