Part 36 (1/2)

Indeed, they came down somewhat hard, having misjudged the oddly contoured terrain of Torus, which curved away to east and west and upward to north and south. Imbri landed solidly on her four hoofs, but Forrest fell on his back, and the two girls tumbled in spread limbed disarray that would have been embarra.s.sing if they hadn't been in blue jeans.

As they got to their a.s.sorted feet, they discovered that the glade was not nearly as nice as it had seemed from afar. It was bare of gra.s.s, and littered with bones. ”What kind of place is this?” Dawn asked nervously.

Eve touched a bone. ”Uh-oh,” she said. ”This bone belonged to an animal that was eaten by a tangle tree.”

”But that means-” Dawn said, looking quickly around.

Now they all saw it: the single tree in the center was the largest, awfullest tangle tree Forrest had ever seen. It had an enormous number of tentacles, and these were now quivering as the tree realized that prey was near.

”We have about half an instant to get out of here,” Forrest said, starting to run.

But a tentacle lashed out and struck his knapsack. There was a dragon claw on the end that hooked right in. In only a quarter of an instant Forrest was hauled into the air.

Imbri galloped over. ”I'll rescue you,” she cried in a dreamlet. ”I'll bite through the vine before it hauls you into the maw.”

”You can't!” Dawn cried. ”That tentacle is armored with dragon scales!”

She was correct. Imbri reared up on her hind feet and clamped her teeth on the tentacle just over For-rest's head. There was a clang as enamel ground against metal. Then Imbri dropped down, unsuccessful.

”Get away from here, the rest of you!” Forrest cried.

”Not while you're in trouble,” Eve said. ”We'll stop it somehow.”

”You can't stop an armored tangle tree!”

But the two girls, heedless of their own safety, drew two sharp little knives he hadn't known they carried, and reached up to stab at the tentacle from either side. One must have gotten a point past the armor, because suddenly the tree squealed in pain or outrage, and the tentacle hauled Forrest up twice as high. Then two more tentacles whipped out and wrapped around the girls. They screamed as they too were hauled into the air.

”Ooooh, this is worse than I thought,” Eve cried, as she reached up to touch a metal scale. ”The tree has eaten many dragons, and saved their scales to make it impervious.”

Dawn reached up similarly. ”And it has healing elixir in its sap, so that it heals as fast as it is injured.”

”Look at that trunk!” Eve cried. ”It has mirrors to make it almost invisible.”

”And it has the strength of a sphinx,” Dawn said, gleaning more information from the living part of the tentacle she touched.

”If the trunk is also protected by dragon scales,” Eve said, ”then it can't be burned, even by salamander fire.”

”And it has a voice, and can talk,” Dawn said.

”For sure,” the tree said. ”Now which of you delectable creatures shall I chomp first?”

”None of them!” Imbri cried in a dreamlet. ”I'll kick your bark in.”

”Oh, sure.” Three more tentacles whipped out and wrapped around the mare. Soon she was dangling in air too.

”I'll send you Torus's worst dream,” Imbri threatened.

”I am Torus's worst dream!”

Then Forrest got halfway smart. He reached into his pack and brought out the canned blanket of obscurity spell. ”Invoke!” he cried.

The blanket wafted out and covered him and part of the tentacle that held him. The tree forgot about both. The tentacle went limp, letting Forrest drop to the ground.

”Ha ha-the faun got away!” Dawn cried gleefully.

”What faun?” the tree demanded.

”The one you caught,” Eve said. ”Now you can't eat him.”

”I'll find him!” And the tree wrenched its roots from the ground and began writhing across the glade, searching for its missing prey. It shot tentacles out to circle the edge of the glade, so that no one could escape, even if unseen.

All four of them stared, astonished. ”This truly is the worst tangle tree ever,” Imbri said.

Now a tentacle reached into the tree's central foliage and brought out a sword. ”Where are you, faun?” the voice rasped. ”Come taste this steel I liberated from a human fool who attacked me. He didn't taste very good, but I love his sword.”

That sword was whipping around so swiftly that Forrest had to stay well back to avoid it. Even if the tree couldn't locate him directly, it knew there was a faun somewhere, and was bound to get him eventually. He could feel the merest tingle of the blanket covering him, and realized that he could move it about if he handled it carefully. That explained Cathryn Centaur's throwing motions; she really did have hold of her blankets.

Then Dawn tried a new tack. ”I know all about you, tangler,” she called. ”You lied. You're not Torus's worst dream. What about the Golem King?”

The whole tree shuddered. ”I will eat you first, you impertinent creature,” it said. ”You look delicious.” The tentacle started to swing toward the trunk.

”I am delicious,” Dawn retorted. ”But you don't deserve me, because the Golem King is worse than you, and he should get me.”

The tentacle hesitated. ”You're bluffing,” the tree said. ”You don't know anything about the Golem King.”

Forrest made his way toward her. If he could throw the blanket over her before she got eaten, the tree would lose track of her too.

”Yes I do!” Dawn said. The tree didn't know that she was reading all this information from its own partly living wooden flesh. ”The Golem King can make golems in a second. He can make golems like people, and like tangle trees, and like dragons, and he can make them life size or gnat size. He's a golem himself-and so are you, you big fake!

”Aieeee!” the tree screamed.

”And if he ever got hold of a pretty living girl like me, he wouldn't eat me, he'd marry me,” Dawn concluded triumphantly. ”Because he's lonely down in the earth region where he lives, because n.o.body else will go there. He's cunning and can change his form instantly, but he has no company, and that's what he wants most of all. So when he finds out that you caught me and ate me, instead of turning me over to him, he'll destroy you with one flick of his finger. Or maybe turn you into a golem privy potty.”

”Or a golem sphinx dropping,” Eve added, t.i.ttering.

It almost worked. The tree shuddered, and the three captives were lowered toward the ground. But then it recovered some of its wooden cunning. ”But I'll make sure he never finds out. I'll gobble all of you down immediately and bury your bones where they'll never be found.”

The tentacle started moving again.

Forrest leaped the last few steps toward Dawn, and flung the blanket over her head. He couldn't see it, and hoped it didn't hang up on the tentacle-vine holding her.

Then she dropped slowly to the ground. It had worked! The tangler had forgotten about her.

”Oooo, thank you!” she exclaimed, kissing him firmly on the right eye.

”I was afraid you wouldn't be in time.”

”You were great,” he said. ”You made it pause long enough.”

She kissed him again. ”Say, I have an idea-”