Part 21 (1/2)

These were very practical plants, Bink abruptly realized. Their spells compelled pa.s.sing animals to deposit nutritious fluids and solids on the soil, greatly promoting plant growth. Fertilizer magic!

Farther along, one animal neither fled their approach nor acted hostile. This was a knee-high, snuffling quadruped with a greatly extended snout. Trent drew his sword as it ambled toward them, but Fanchon stopped him. ”I recognize that one,” she said. ”It's a magic-sniffer.”

”It smells by magic?” Bink asked.

”It smells magic,” she said. ”We used to use one on my folks' farm, to sniff out magic herbs and things. The stronger the magic, the more it reacts. But it's harmless.”

”What does it feed on”” Trent asked, keeping his hand on his sword.

”Magic berries. Other magic doesn't seem to affect it one way or the other; it is just curious. It doesn't differentiate by type of spell, just intensity.”

They stood and watched. Fanchon was nearest to the sniffer, so it approached her first. It snorted, making a flutelike sound. ”See, I have some magic; it likes me,” she said.

What magic? Bink wondered. She had never shown any talent, and never actually told him what she could do. There was still too much he did not know about her.

Satisfied, the sniffer moved on to Trent. This time its reaction was much stronger; it danced around, emitting a medley of notes. ”Sure enough,” Trent said, with a certain justified pride. ”It knows a Magician when it smells one.”

Then it came to Bink--and frisked almost as much as it had for Trent. ”So much for perception,” Bink said, laughing with embarra.s.sment.

But Trent did not laugh. ”It believes you are almost as strong a magician as I am,” he said, his fingers tapping his sword with unconscious significance. Then he caught himself, and seemed to be at ease again.

”I wish I were,” Bink said. ”But I was banished for lack of magic.” Yet the Magician Humfrey had told him he had very strong magic that could not be brought out. Now his curiosity and frustration were increased by this happenstance. What kind of a talent could he have that hid itself so determinedly, or was it hidden by some outside spell?

They trudged on. They cut poles with which to poke the ground ahead for invisible barriers and pitfalls and other suspiciously unsuspect aspects of the wild. This made progress slow--but they dared not hurry. Actually, they had no reason to hurry; their only purposes were concealment and survival.

Food turned out to be no problem. They did not trust the various fruit and candy trees they saw; some might be magic, and serve the interests of their hosts rather than the interests of the consumers, though they looked similar to crop trees. But Trent merely turned a hostile thistle tree into a luxuriant multifruit tree, and they feasted on apples, pears, bananas, blackberries, and tomatoes. It reminded Bink how great was the power of a true Magician, for Trent's talent really embraced that of food conjuration as a mere subtalent. Properly exploited, the reach of his magic was enormous.

But they were still heading into the wilderness, not out of it. Illusions became bolder, more persistent, and harder to penetrate. There were more sounds, louder, more ominous. Now and then the ground shuddered, and there were great not-too-distant bellowings. Trees leaned toward them, leaves twitching.

”I think,” Fanchon said, ”we have not begun to appreciate the potency of this forest. Its whole innocuous permeability may have been merely to encourage us to get more deeply in.”

Bink, looking nervously about, agreed. ”We picked the safest-seeming route. Maybe that's where we went wrong. We should have taken the most threatening one.”

”And gotten consumed by a tangle tree,” Fanchon said.

”Let's try going back,” Bink suggested. Seeing their doubt, he added: ”Just to test.”

They tried it. Almost immediately the forest darkened and tightened. More trees appeared, blocking the way they had come; were they illusions, or had they been invisible before? Bink was reminded of the one-way path he had walked from the Good Magician's castle, but this was more ominous. These were not nice trees; they were gnarled colossi bearing thorns and twitching vines. Branches crisscrossed one another, leaves sprouting to form new barriers even as the trio watched. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

”No doubt about it,” Trent said. ”We failed to see the forest for the trees. I could transform any in our direct path, but if some started firing thorns at us we would be in trouble regardless.”

”Even if we wanted to go that way,” Fanchon said, looking west. ”We'd never have time to retrace it all through that resistance. Not before night.”

Night--that was the worst time for hostile magic. ”But the alternative is to go the way it wants us to go,” Bink said, alarmed. ”That may be easy now, but it surely is not our best choice.”

”Perhaps the wilderness does not know us well enough,” Trent said with a grim smile. ”I do feel competent to handle most threats, so long as someone watches behind me and stands guard as I sleep.”

Bink thought of the Magician's powers of magic and swordplay, and had to agree. The forest might be one giant spider web--but that spider might become a gnat, unexpectedly. ”Maybe we should gamble that we can handle it,” Bink said. ”At least we'll find out what it is.” For the first time, he was glad to have the Evil Magician along.

”Yes, there is always that,” Fanchon agreed sourly.

Now that they had made the decision, progress became easier. The threatenings of the forest remained, but they a.s.sumed the aspect of background warnings. As dusk came, the way opened out into a clearing, within which stood an old, run-down stone fortress.

”Oh, no!” Fanchon exclaimed. ”Not a haunted castle!”

Thunder cracked behind them. A chill wind came up, cutting through their tunics. Bink s.h.i.+vered. ”I think we spend the night there--or in the rain,” he said. ”Could you transform it into a harmless cottage?”

”My talent applies only to living things,” Trent said. ”That excludes buildings---and storms.”

Glowing eyes appeared in the forest behind them. ”If those things rush us,” Fanchon said, ”you could only transform a couple before they were on us, since you can't zap them from a distance.”

”And not at night,” Trent said. ”Remember--I have to see my subject, too. All things considered, I think we had better oblige the local powers that be and enter the castle. Carefully--and once inside, we should sleep in s.h.i.+fts. It is likely to be a difficult night.”

Bink shuddered. The last place he wanted to spend the night was there---but he realized they had come far too deeply into the trap to extricate themselves readily. There was powerful magic here, the magic of an entire region. Too much to fight directly--now.

So they yielded, goaded by the looming storm. The ramparts were tall, but covered by moss and clinging vines. The drawbridge was down, its once-stout timbers rotting in place. Yet there was an ancient, lingering, rugged magnificence about it. ”This castle has style,” Trent observed.

They tapped the planks, locating a reasonably solid section on which to cross. The moat was overgrown with weeds, and its water was stagnant. ”Shame to see a good castle get run down,” Trent said. ”It is obviously deserted, and has been for decades.”

”Or centuries,” Bink added.

”Why would a forest herd us into a derelict castle?” Fanchon asked. ”Even if something really horrible lurks here--what would our deaths profit the forest? We were only pa.s.sing through--and we would make it much faster if the forest just left us alone. We intend it no harm.”

”There is always a rationale,” Trent said. ”Magic does not focus without purpose.”

They approached the front portcullis as the storm broke. That encouraged them to step inside, though the interior was almost black.

”Maybe we can find a torch,” Fanchon said. ”Feel along the walls. Usually a castle will have something near the entrance--”

Cras.h.!.+ The raised portcullis, which they had a.s.sumed was corroded in place, crashed down behind them. The iron bars were far too heavy to lift; the three were trapped inside. ”The jaws close,” Trent remarked, not seeming perturbed. But Bink could see that his sword was in his hand.

Fanchon made a half-m.u.f.fled scream, clutching at Bink's arm. He looked ahead and saw a ghost. There was no question about it: the thing was a humped white sheet with dead-black eyeholes. It made a mouthless moan.

Trent's sword whistled as he stepped forward. The blade sliced through the sheet--with no visible effect. The ghost floated away through a wall.

”This castle is haunted, no question,” Trent said matter-of-factly.

”If you believed that, you wouldn't be so calm,” Fanchon said accusingly.

”On the contrary. It is physical menaces I fear,” Trent replied. ”The thing to remember about ghosts is that they have no concrete manifestation, and lack also the ability of shades to animate living creatures. Therefore they cannot directly affect ordinary people. They act only through the fear they inspire---so it is merely necessary to have no fear. In addition, this particular ghost was as surprised to see us as we were to see it. It was probably merely investigating the fall of the portcullis. It certainly meant no harm.”

It was obvious that Trent was not afraid. He had not used his sword in panic, but to verify that it was a genuine ghost he faced. This was courage of a type Bink had never had; he was s.h.i.+vering with fear and reaction.

Fanchon had better control, now that her initial scream was out. ”We could fall into quite physical pits or set off more b.o.o.bytraps if we tried to explore this place in the dark. We're sheltered from the rain here--why don't we sleep right here in s.h.i.+fts until morning?”

”You have marvelous common sense, my dear,” Trent said. ”Shall we draw straws for first watch?”

”I'll take it,” Bink said. ”I'm too scared to sleep anyway.”

”So am I,” Fanchon said, and Bink felt warm grat.i.tude for her admission. ”I have not yet become blase about ghosts.”