Xone of Contention

by Piers Anthony

  Because though his passion had faded somewhat in their years of marriage, he still did love her. She could be selfish and difficult and cutting, but she could also be wonderful. Tonight had been an example. She knew exactly how to please him, and she was matchless when she tried.

  He got up and crawled up the side of the nest to the ladder. He was clothed; they had dressed again, after, as neither one of them was quite used to the ways of Xanth, and wanted to be ready for surprises. He climbed down and walked toward the privy. This was just a pit covered by illusion, but it served well enough. He could see, as there was a faint glow from the ground, maybe of magical origin. He liked the ambient magic of Xanth.

  He emerged from the privy and paused. Had he heard something?

  "Edsel," a voice called from the night.

  "Here," he said, surprised. "Who are you? Where are you?"

  “I’m Breanna. Here by the path. Come quickly."

  He walked toward her. She was standing just beyond the path, in the darkness. "What's up? I thought you were with Justin."

  "I was," she said. "But something came up. You must come right away."

  "What came up?"

  "There is danger. You must leave this place now. Come with me."

  "Danger?"

  "Yes. Hurry."

  This was confusing. "I thought this place was enchanted to be safe."

  "Bad magic is coming," she said urgently. "We must be well away before it gets here. At dawn. Far away. We must go."

  "Without Pia? Without Justin?"

  "Justin is finding a safe place." she said. "Get Pia."

  He remained bothered. "Are you sure? I mean, to sneak out in the night—"

  "I am sure. Quickly, Edsel. We must go. Be very silent."

  "Okay." He returned to the nest. "Pia," he whispered, touching her shoulder.

  She was hard to wake. It was her diabetes, he thought; when she went down, it was for the count. But he kept after her. "Pia. Wake up. We have to get out of here."

  She stirred. "Huh? Didn't I already take care of you?"

  "This isn't sex. Wake up. We have to go."

  "You go. I'll stay." She pulled the blanket over her head.

  It was a struggle, but he finally got through to her. She got herself together, grabbed her purse, and followed him out of the nest. They descended the ladder and walked across to where Breanna was waiting.

  "What's this?" Pia asked. "We can't go outside the enchanted area."

  "We must," Breanna said "Danger."

  "But—"

  "She says it's coming here at dawn," Edsel said. "Bad magic. We have to clear the area before it gets here."

  Pia evidently didn't have the mental coherence to argue. "Then let's get to where I can finish sleeping "

  "This way," Breanna said, turning to follow a small side path. Small glowing fungus growing along the sides marked it.

  They followed. Edsel didn't like this, but it was the job of the Companions to keep the visitors safe, and he had to trust their judgment. They had been right about everything else.

  The path wound deviously through the night. Edsel had no idea where they were going. He wanted to ask, but didn't want to be too obvious about his ignorance. So he tried to lead into it by broaching a different subject. "How did it work out with Justin?'

  "Justin is finding a sate place," she said

  She had said that before “No, I mean last night You know, holding hands."

  "We do hold hands." she agreed.

  "Not this way Petting.”

  "We pet pets," the girl said "They are nice."

  Something was wrong "Does this make sense to you?" he asked Pia"

  "No I don't think this is Breanna "

  Uh-oh. But he had to find out. "Breanna, exactly what is this danger that's coming? We have a right to know."

  "Danger," she said "Coming at dawn You must get far away "

  "You said that before," Edsel said

  "Before," she agreed "You must hurry, before the danger comes at dawn '

  Edsel stopped walking, and Pia stopped with him "We're not going anywhere until you answer a question how did you hold hands with Justin?"

  “We do hold hands,” she agreed. "Hurry."

  "Show me how,” he said.

  "This way. Down this path. Hurry."

  "Hold my hand," he said He reached out to catch her hand.

  His hand passed right through hers without touching. She was illusion.

  “It s a spook." Pia said “We’ve been tricked."

  "For sure " he agreed "And you know she never said 'for sure. She doesn't know about the hand holding. She's just a programmed image responding to verbal cues. I was a fool not to catch on sooner.”

  This was Pia's chance to say something suitably cutting but she passed it up "Let's get the bleep back to the safe area." He noted with bemusement that she couldn't say a bad word in the presence of even a fake underage person. That Adult Conspiracy was literal minded.

  They turned back—but the path was gone The lights had blinked out, but it was more that that, there was nothing but a thick tangle of briars there.

  "I think I've heard of this," Edsel said. "It's a one-way path. See, it's still there ahead of us."

  "So's the spook," she said nervously

  Edsel thought as rapidly and well as he could, considering that his mind felt numbed "It's a programmed spook An image, with a few sentences keyed by our statements We can't go back, maybe we should go forward. You know pretend to be still taken in. So the spook won't suspect. Until we have a chance to get away."

  "Do it," she agreed.

  They faced the spook "Sorry about the delay," Edsel said "Let's go where we're going."

  "We must go quickly," the spook agreed “Before the danger comes at dawn."

  "Yes, we must go," he said He took Pia's hand, not for any naughty purpose, but because he knew how frightened she had to be, and wanted to reassure her "The real Breanna and Justin will discover we're gone, and come after us," he whispered "We just have to play along until then."

  "Yes," she agreed, terrified

  They followed the spook down the glowing path Edsel turned his head to peek behind them, and saw that the path was disappearing as they went. One way, indeed. This was an aspect of magic he would have preferred not to encounter. Even if they got free of the spook, how could they ever make their way back through that jungle? They were no longer protected from dragons or tangle trees.

  The path continued interminably. Now Edsel had time to consider other aspects. Why had this trap been set for them? Whoever had set it up had known something about them. Their names, that they were visitors who could be fooled. The names of their Companions, from whom they were to be separated. But who could be behind this? Or what?

  The path continued, and so did the spook All they could do was follow. But Edsel kept his eyes open, watching for any escape, or even a hint of what they were caught in.

  On and on Edsel's legs were getting tired, and Pia was stumbling against him. The spook had been right about wherever it was they were going being far away.

  The sky began to lighten. Dawn was coming. That was a relief; at least they would be able to see something other than the glowing path. But that would not necessarily be good news. It might merely clarify how bad the trouble was.

  "What's that?" Pia asked, squeezing his hand almost painfully tight.

  Edsel looked. A jagged line was forming in the sky. It widened and lengthened, and light spilled out. One end was overhead; the other was touching the horizon.

  "The crack of dawn!" he exclaimed, catching on.

  At that, the crack wedged all the way open, and light poured across the land. The spook faded out.

  The path also faded. They were left standing on a brushy plain. Ahead of them was a dark castle.

  "I think that's where we are headed," Edsel said.

  Pia shuddered. "I don't want to go there."

  Edsel looked around. "I see a stream�
�and a boat. I think we had better borrow that boat and get away from here."

  "Yes."

  They tramped through the brush to the boat. It was tied to a deserted cabin. "We must mark this place," Edsel said. "So we know where to return the boat." He didn't want to think of himself as a thief.

  He untied the boat and held it steady while Pia got in. There were two paddles lying along its bottom. They took these and moved into the stream. Fortunately the current was away from the castle.

  The stream carried them along; they needed the paddles only to steer the boat. Soon it debouched into a lake. The castle seemed to be on the edge of the lake, so they paddled the other way.

  "There's an island," Pia said, pointing.

  "Maybe that's the best place to hide," he said. "Until Justin and Breanna come looking for us."

  "Yes " She seemed a trifle encouraged.

  They paddled toward the island. "Maybe the real deadline the spook had was to get us to that castle before the crack of dawn." he said. "The way she vanished, and the path faded, when the light came—"

  "Vampires," she said.

  "But we delayed just enough to be behind schedule. So we escaped. They can't chase us in daylight. So if Justin and Breanna come before then, we'll be all right."

  "We were such fools. We should have known."

  "My fault. I took her at her word. I really thought it was Breanna, though I see now that she was obviously phony from the outset. Next time I'll know better." Assuming they got out of this fix. Pia's fear was evident in part by her lack of any cutting comments; she lost inspiration when nervous.

  The island looked lovely, but Edsel did not trust that. He paddled around it, looking for anything suspicious.

  "Oh, come on," Pia said impatiently. "I need to get steady so I can take my shot, use the toilet, clean up, and get the bleep off my feet."

  Edsel didn't argue. Pia had to keep her shot schedule, which included checking her blood sugar. She had to have rest after exertion, or she would get out of adJustinent. It could be dangerous to mess that up. So he guided the boat to an inlet with a small beach and drove the prow ashore so it would be anchored.

  Pia stepped out first. He caught a glimpse of her high thigh as she lifted her leg, but didn't say anything. He still liked such views, though her legs were thicker than they had been. As her foot touched the sand, she paused, then completed her motion. Then he got out—and felt something like a mild electric shock as his shoe landed.

  "You felt it too?" Pia asked.

  "Yes. Static electricity?"

  "Must be." Then she moved off to the bushes to handle her business, while he hauled the boat the rest of the way to the land.

  There was a cluster of what looked like stalks of straw sticking out of the ground. Edsel had a notion, so he picked one and bit on the end. Sure enough; it was a strawberry. "We have breakfast," he announced.

  "Good. I'm famished."

  He sat on the beach and chewed on the straw. He tried to conjure a solid illusion, but nothing happened. He tried again, and nothing happened again.

  Alarmed, he called to Pia; "How's your magic talent doing?"

  "I haven't thought of it since yesterday, when all it showed me was a walk along a wooded shore.?” Then she paused. "Oh, no! I just realized that it's this shore. I thought it looked familiar, but didn't place it before."

  "But that makes sense," he said. "You couldn't change that view— because it wasn't anything you were doing then that affected it. It was the spook in the night. If we'd said no to it, that would have changed our future."

  She emerged from the brush. "That's right! Sometimes you remind me what I saw in you."

  His cleverness in figuring things out, at least if they resembled computer programming in any way. His mind worked in flow charts, this leading to that, that leading to the other, and the whole process leading to a feasible process of software. "But I was a bit late figuring this one out.” he said ruefully.

  "I feel better anyway," she said, stopping to kiss him briefly. He liked that too; she had friendly little ways. Of course they didn't mean anything, they were just social manners.

  "Have a straw," he said, handing her one.

  She tried it. "Strawberry!" Then she looked as if she had just swallowed a pun. "And I just walked into that one. I think I could almost get to like Xanth, if it weren't for the abysmal jokes."

  "They are more my speed." he agreed. "Not for decent folk. But about your talent: what do you see for tomorrow?"

  She concentrated. "Nothing. It's not working."

  "That's what I was afraid of. I think we've lost our talents."

  "Lost our—how could that happen?"

  "I can't be sure, but my guess is that static electricity shock we got. Maybe this island steals talents."

  "That's crazy!"

  "So is Xanth."

  She nodded. "Point made." She stretched—another gesture he liked. "But I've got to rest. Why don't you keep a lookout for Justin and Breanna while I sleep. Then I'll stand watch while you sleep."

  "Okay." The business of the talents bothered him, but he wanted to figure it out better before scaring her with his dark conjectures.

  She spied a pillow bush, harvested several nice pillows, and set them on the beach. Then she lay down on them, closed her eyes, and slept. She could do that much more readily than he could; in fact he had trouble sleeping in daylight, even when he felt logy. As he did now.

  He tried again to make a solid illusion, and failed again. It definitely wasn't working. So probably he was right this island stole talents. That was why it was deserted; regular Xanth folk would know better than to set foot on it.

  He found a suitable tree, sat in the sand before it, and leaned back against the trunk, looking out across the water. Justin and Breanna would have to come by water or air, and either way, this was the best way to see them. At the moment the lake was quiet, and so was the sky. There was just one puffy cloud relaxing in the sunlight, evidently having nothing better to do at the moment.

  Idly, he tried to figure out what the cloud resembled. A mushroom? A squashed bug? A human face? No, none of those; it was just a blob. A face would have eyes and mouth and ears. Eyes there and there, and ears to either side, and a bulbous nose. Yes, like that.

  Edsel blinked. It had a face! But it hadn't been before. It had been largely shapeless.

  Could it be? With sudden excitement, he focused on the cloud. Bug, he thought. With six legs, and wings, and antenna, and huge bug eyes.

  Slowly the cloud shifted, sprouting legs. The ears became wings. Two antenna grew at one end. And the human eyes became bulging bug eyes.

  He was doing it! But just to be sure, he tried another form. Something that couldn't be confused for natural. A geometric form. A triangle.

  The edges of the cloud fuzzed. The outline changed. It became a triangle.

  "I have a new talent," he breathed. "The island didn't steal my talent, it exchanged it." He glanced at Pia, decorously asleep. "And it must have exchanged hers too."

  Then he had a sober second thought. What good was shaping clouds? Sure, it could be fun, but it wouldn't feed him or get him un-lost. At least the solid illusions could have helped him scare off a monster. So he wasn't better off.

  But maybe Pia had done better. He would have her look for her new talent, when she woke. Maybe it would be more useful than her original one had proved to be. One would have thought that seeing one day into the future would be phenomenally useful, but circumstances had nullified it. Maybe there was a lesson of life there, if he could figure it out.

  Meanwhile, he pondered the likely rules of changes of talents. If the exchange happened when a person first touched the island, which seemed likely considering that slight shock they had felt, would it do it again if a person left the island and returned? That seemed likely, because the island couldn't be presumed to be intelligent. It just had this property of switching talents with whoever touched it.

  And if th
e first time switched out his original talent, would a second time bring it back? Well, there was a way to find out.

  Edsel got up and went to the boat. He pushed it into the water, then stepped carefully into it. He paddled it out a few strokes, then reversed and came back in. Was that far enough?

  He brought it close, and stepped back onto the beach. And felt the shock. So he was right about that much.

  He looked at the cloud, which was trying to drift out of range. He concentrated, trying to form it into a square. Nothing happened.

  He tried to make a solid illusion. Nothing happened.

  He pondered. So there had been an exchange, but not a reversion. So he must have a new talent, essentially random. He would have to figure it out.

  So what could it be? He had lucked out the first time, idly watching the cloud. Now he had no idea. But maybe his contemplation of the cloud hadn't been completely random; maybe his new talent had guided him. Edsel wasn't much of a believer in lucky coincidences; usually there were reasons for things whose logic could be discovered by the right sort of search. This flowed to that, which flowed to the other. So maybe he should just let his mind drift, and he would come across it.

  He sat down and leaned back against the tree. And the tree gave way.

  He jumped up, startled. The tree had sunk a short distance into the ground. How could that be? It was solid; it hadn't done that before.

  Unless his talent had done it.

  Edsel pondered, then put his arms around the trunk and pushed down. The trunk sank lower.

  That was it. He walked to a nearby boulder and put his hand on the top, pressing down. The stone sank.

  Interesting, but what good was it? He was not a pile driver. And it couldn't be good for the tree. Could he reverse it?

  He walked back to the tree, put his arms around it, and lifted. Nothing happened. So this was a one way talent.

  "Sorry, tree," he said. "I didn't mean to do it. I didn't know my own strength."