xanth 40 - isis orb

by Anthony, Piers

  The harpies were silent. They knew it was this deal or nothing.

  “I’m sure other harpy flocks will be happy to accept these terms, if you don’t. Shall we depart?”

  They hesitated. Hardly spread his wings as if to fly away. That much was a bluff, because Glenna couldn’t fly, but it accented the point.

  The harpies hastily caved. They knew it was the best offer they were ever likely to get. At least Hardly understood them.

  Hardly faced the members of the Quest. “I thank you for your service. If you should return this way, the harpies will welcome you.” He glanced at a harpy who was opening her mouth, and she quickly closed it. “And I thank you specifically, Quin, for enabling this outcome. You have been a true friend.”

  “You are welcome,” Quin said. Hapless knew it was heartfelt, because Quin would have been stuck for it otherwise.

  “Now we shall proceed to our apartment in the mountain,” Hardly said. “This way, my dear.” They left the nest and went to a hole in the mountain. In two thirds of a moment they were gone.

  “I am relieved,” Quin said.

  “So are we,” Hapless agreed. It was an understatement.

  Chapter 7:

  Faro

  They had not gotten a full night’s rest, but they were eager to move on before any further complication could find them. Hapless opened the box.

  There was a picture of a female winged centaur, with the name FARO.

  “Well, now,” Zed said.

  Hapless agreed. Lady centaurs were well endowed, and normally did not wear clothing. If Nya was interesting in this respect, Faro was more so.

  “Ahem,” Feline murmured.

  “She has nice hair,” Zed said. “We appreciate it.”

  She did have nice long brown tresses that curled from her head through her mane and down around her front. Hapless was happy to leave it at that.

  “Isn’t that a boy’s name?” Feline asked.

  “Yes, normally,” Zed said. “But names are fickle; they don’t always remain with their original genders. This one means ‘I do well,’ and there’s also a card game.”

  “Well, let’s go recruit her,” Feline said with resignation. “She’ll be able to fly with you dragons.”

  The new path proceeded to the mountain, then straight down it at an impossible angle. “We can’t follow that,” Feline said. “We’ll fall off.”

  “Not necessarily,” Zed said. “I have heard of some very special paths.”

  “We’ll try it,” Hapless said. He nerved himself and marched along the path.

  “Wait!” Zed called. “You have to be last.”

  Oh. Yes. He kept forgetting. “Sorry.”

  Zed went first. When he reached the mountain, he turned and walked down the slant without difficulty.

  The others stared. Why wasn’t he falling?

  “I’m on the level,” Zed called, seeing their astonishment. “It’s part of the enchantment.”

  “All right,” Feline said bravely. “I’m next.” She went to the mountain, turned so that she was facing down, and walked without difficulty. “I’m on the level!” she agreed, thrilled.

  Nya followed, then Quin, both in their dragon forms so that they could fly if they had to. They didn’t. Finally Hapless. Sure enough, it was as if he remained level and the mountain turned sidewise, so that it was beneath his feet. He was becoming more impressed with the paths; their enchantments could be imaginative.

  They trekked down the mountain to the trees below, then through the forest to the sea. Then over the sea, walking on the water. Sea serpents eyed them, but did not attack, evidently having seen such paths before.

  When they were well out to sea, a storm struck. They saw it coursing across the sky heading toward them. “It doesn’t know we’re protected,” Feline said, chuckling. She made an impolite gesture toward it.

  “Caution,” Zed said. “That could be Fracto.”

  “Who?”

  “Cumulo Fracto Nimbus, the worst of clouds, self styled king of all clouds. He likes to rain on parades and picnics.”

  “I don’t care who he thinks he is,” Feline said. “He can’t touch us as long as we’re on the enchanted path.”

  “Still, it’s probably better to ignore him.”

  “Oh, poo!” She made another gesture, larger and more insulting.

  The cloud reared up, becoming black with rain. It splatted against the path. When the drops went around, outlining the protective tunnel without reaching them, its fury redoubled. Winds howled, battering the path.

  Then the cloud got smart. Instead of attacking the path directly, it whipped up the surface of the sea. Giant waves formed and crashed against the tunnel, heaving it upward, then dropping it low. The path rested on the ocean’s surface, and when that surface moved, so did the path. Up and down, up and down and around. It was as if they were inside a thrashing serpent.

  Hapless felt himself getting motion sick. Feline joined him, looking no better. Before long they both spewed out the contents of their stomachs. That set off the others, and soon Zed, Nya and Quin were spewing too.

  “Make it stop!” Zed begged.

  “I guess I’d better,” Feline agreed. She faced the wall. “Fracto Cloud! I apolo (heave!) gize!”

  The storm continued unabated.

  “Try a feminine wile,” Nya murmured.

  “Oh, bleep!” But Feline opened her shirt, presenting a fine peek to the cloud. “I’m sorry I (cough!) insulted you!” The cough really shook her assets.

  The wind died out. The battering stopped. The path settled back to the surface of the sea. The cloud, having made his point, moved on and the sun came out.

  “You were right, Zed,” Feline said as she closed up her shirt. “Caution is best.”

  “It usually is,” the centaur replied.

  The path was quiet, but they did not feel like resuming their trek immediately. They moved on beyond the puke, seeing it dissolve into the sea as Hapless’s pack left it behind; then they rested in place. After a while as digestion improved they ate token amounts from Hapless’s pack. Then they got moving again, slowly. It was a lesson of sorts.

  Well before dusk they made camp for the night, still on the water. Hapless set his pack down so he could join the others. They set up with their musical instruments and played diverting, relaxing music. That helped despite his own musical frustration. Then they ate a bit more and settled down to sleep. Hapless noticed that Nya and Quin were both in dragon form and conversing in hisses; evidently they were getting along. Zed stood alone, thinking his own thoughts. They surely concerned the pretty centaur filly they were about to recruit. True, she was winged, and there was not a lot of interaction between flying and land centaurs, but this was a special situation. It had to be intriguing.

  “I was foolish,” Feline said as she came to be with him for the night. “I brought this motion sickness upon us. I’m still recovering.”

  “You didn’t know.”

  “Zed tried to warn me. I didn’t listen.”

  “Next time you’ll listen.”

  “Oh, yes.” She pondered briefly. “I think I should make it up to you. I’ve been teasing you; it’s time I stopped. So if you want …” She trailed off suggestively.

  He was tempted, but knew better. Anyway, they were too public here. “Not that way. I haven’t yet learned to ignore your curves.”

  “I knew you’d say that.”

  “I’m pretty predictable.”

  “Yes. I like that about you.”

  “You don’t like an adventurous spirit?”

  “Oh, I do. But that’s not you, and I wouldn’t try to change you.”

  “Thank you,” he said uncertainly.

  “I wonder who they are?”

  “Who?”

  “Your other girlfriends. The good girl and the bad girl. Do you think they’re as pretty as me?”

  “Are you teasing me again?”

  “Teasing myself, maybe. I’m jealous
of them.”

  “When they don’t even exist, yet?”

  “That’s the key: yet. I want to put them into the past instead of the future. What’s the use tantalizing you if you have someone else to go to? Maybe even two someone elses?”

  There wasn’t much he could say about that, so he didn’t try. Feline nestled against him and they slept.

  In the morning they handled functions by tossing bags off the path, ate some more, and got moving again. They were all pretty much recovered from the sickness. The path continued across the water. The trek was actually becoming dull.

  “Land ho!” Feline called out.

  The others looked. There was an island ahead. That made sense, as what was the point in crossing water otherwise?

  And there on the small beach was the flying centaur watching them approach. She had brown hair on her equine body and human head, with a marvelous shock of auburn hair trailing back into a mane, and large folded wings, exactly like her picture. Overall she was a glorious creature, and not merely for her bare front.

  The centaur waved. Zed waved back.

  They reached the beach. Zed did the honors. “Faro Centaur, I presume?”

  “The same,” she agreed. “I dreamed that there would be a Quest I could join, so I could get my wish. You must be that Quest. It seems unlikely that anything else would arrive on an enchanted path that leads across the sea to my front hooves.”

  “We are that Quest,” Zed agreed. “What is your wish?

  “That is simply told. I am a flying centaur, but I don’t fly because I have acrophobia. I am afraid of heights. I want to get over it.”

  “So you are in effect a land centaur,” Zed said.

  “In effect,” Faro agreed. “Not by choice.”

  “Did this phobia come upon you recently?”

  “Not at all. I have had it all my life. I can fly, but not high enough to make it worthwhile. The other centaur children nicknamed me Fear O’ Heights. That is easy to derive from my name.”

  “That is cruel.”

  “But also true. My fear limits me and I wish to abolish it.” She grimaced. “My classmates sought to encourage me by stranding me on this island. They figure that when I get frustrated enough, I will fly away from it. That isn’t working; the mere thought of flying high paralyzes me.”

  “Couldn’t you fly low over the water?” Zed asked. “Virtually skimming it?”

  “I could, but I won’t. The sea predators are lurking, waiting to snap at my legs and pull me down. To avoid them I would have to rise at least a body length, and I can’t.”

  She glanced at Zed. “If I may inquire, why are you on this Quest? You appear to be normal, apart from your interesting coloration.”

  “I want to find true love. I am actually a crossbreed. My sire was a zebra. This tended to isolate me as a foal and as an adult.”

  “I understand how that is.” Obviously she did.

  “Allow me to introduce the other members of the Quest,” Zed said. “Hapless Human, who wants to be able to play a musical instrument. Feline, a human/cat crossbreed who wishes to be loved for something other than her curves. Nya, a naga/dragon crossbreed who wants to find her purpose in life. And Quin, a harpy/dragon crossbreed who wants to become human.”

  “So you are mostly crossbreeds and misfits,” Faro said.

  “So it seems,” Zed agreed. “It may be a requirement for the risky challenge of a Quest. Sensible folk don’t do such things.”

  “They don’t,” she agreed. “I think I need to know more about the Quest.”

  They explained about the Totems and the Isis Orb, with its power to grant their wishes.

  Faro nodded. “It is said that the devil is in the details. What are your details?”

  “Well, for one thing we play music,” Zed said.

  Hapless conjured instruments, and the others played a nice harmonic melody.

  “What instrument do you play?” Hapless asked.

  “I have always been partial to the drums, but I am only a mediocre player.”

  He conjured a fine three-drum set and presented it to her. She tried it, and was instantly proficient. Even without other music, the beats were compelling. “It’s magic! I know I am not that good. It makes the player a virtuoso.”

  “Only in my presence,” Hapless said ruefully. “And only if played by someone else.”

  “You summoned it. You can’t play it?”

  Hapless took the drums and tapped on them with the drumsticks. The result was a horrible thumping like a herd of lost wounded elephants. He had made the point.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “That’s like having wings but not being able to fly.”

  He found that a nice analogy. He liked her, and not just because of her front.

  “I suppose we should be on our way,” Feline said.

  “I suppose we should,” Hapless agreed. “Obviously the Orb is not on this isle.” He brought out the box, explaining how it worked.

  “Oh, are there more Companions?” Faro asked. “I understand that five is the normal number. That is, a leader and five supporters.”

  “I believe it varies,” Zed said. “We’ll soon know.”

  Hapless opened the box. They gathered around to peer into it.

  The picture was of a fiery faun, with the words FIRE TOTEM.

  “A Totem!” Zed said. “Not another Companion.”

  “That means the roster of Companions is complete at five,” Feline said. “That’s a relief.”

  “A relief?” Quin asked. “Why?”

  “No more bare breasts,” Nya said, laughing as she shook hers. “Two sets are enough.”

  “Three,” Feline said, flashing hers. But she seemed irritated rather than amused. “Regardless, more than five Companions would become cumbersome. We need a manageable group.”

  Quin eyed the picture. “I’m not sure how manageable that is. That’s a fire spirit.”

  “We can worry about that when we get there,” Zed said. “Is there a path?”

  They looked, and made out the path. It rose into the air and arced across the water.

  “Uh-oh,” Faro said.

  “Maybe we can walk it,” Zed said. He put a fore-hoof on it and pressed down.

  His foot landed back on the ground with a thud.

  “Or maybe not,” Feline said, testing it herself with no better success.

  “It seems that is not so much a path, but a guide,” Zed said. “A line to follow so we won’t get lost. Unfortunately not all of us can follow it.”

  “Four of us can’t,” Faro said.

  “It may not protect us either,” Zed said. “We shall have to think outside the box.”

  “Let’s split into two or three groups and storm-brain for ideas,” Feline suggested. “Then get together and compare them.”

  “That seems good to me,” Zed said. “Maybe three pairs?”

  “Choose your partner,” Feline said.

  “You. You understand stripes.”

  She laughed. “That makes sense to me. “Give me a ride.” She vaulted smoothly onto his back. He walked beside the shore as they talked.

  “Dragon form?” Quin asked Nya.

  She changed as he did. The two launched into the air.

  “I think we’re the leftovers,” Hapless said to Faro. “Sorry about that.” Facing her, he saw that her human portion stood significantly taller than he was. In fact her breasts were at his face level. That mixed his feelings.

  “I’m not sorry,” she said graciously. “You understand frustration.”

  “I do.” He put the box in his pack and set the pack on the ground to anchor the new path. It would not go anywhere without him.

  “You don’t need to walk,” Faro told him. “I can carry you.”

  “You’re not a beast of burden.”

  “There’s no burden.”

  “I weigh what I weigh. You have no call to handle my weight as well as yours.”

  “You evidently lack exp
erience with flying centaurs.”

  “You’re the first I’ve met,” he agreed. “And I must say, you’re very pretty, either as human or equine.”

  “Thank you. I’m probably the prettiest flightless flying centaur extant, and the only one. But that’s not my point. You don’t know how we fly.”

  “Don’t you flap your wings, like birds?”

  “We do. But that’s not enough. Our wingspan is not sufficient to lift us into the air. We are too massive for our wings.” She unfolded her wings and spread them wide. It was impressive; they reached out a centaur body length to either side, and from above her head down to touch the ground. She was framed in white.

  “They look big enough to me. They’re huge!”

  “I won’t bore you with the square-cube rule,” she said seriously as she folded her wings. “Simplified, the larger the body, the bigger the wings need to be, in proportion. A hummingbird can have stubby little wings; a roc would need wings filling the sky.”

  “But roc’s wings are in proportion,” he protested.

  “Yes. They use a device similar to ours. Let me show you.”

  “Show me?”

  “Get on my back. We’re going to fly. Not high, I assure you, but at least clear of the ground.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Allow me.” She reached down, caught him under his shoulders, and heaved him up, clasping him to her generous bosom. Then she turned around and swung him onto her back, behind the wings. He was amazed in several respects: by her evident arm power, by the way she pressed him against her, and by the way her torso twisted around until her head was facing back toward her body. He was astride her as her head returned to the forward position.

  “I’m on your back,” he said. “But I’m not sure—”

  Her tail flicked against his back, then against her own side. Was she swishing flies away?

  Then he felt strange. It was as if he were about to float away. “I, uh—”

  “I lightened you,” she explained. “Then myself.”

  “Oh, you didn’t frighten me. Surprised me, though.”

  “Not frighten. Lighten. I made you light. Now hang on to my mane.” She started to trot forward.