Heaven Cent

by Piers Anthony

  "The fish told me there was an intruder," Draco growled in dragon talk, which was similar to serpent talk; they were two branches of the great family of reptile languages. "But they said it was a bone man and an armored fossil. I think I am dealing with a form changer, here."

  So much for the concealment of his nature! But maybe he could still bluff through. Dolph hissed again and slithered boldly forward, lifting his fangs.

  "Let us just find out of what you are made," Draco said, sounding distressingly unworried. He spread his wings and launched into the air. He looped once, then angled down at Dolph's head. He fired a searing bolt.

  Dolph whipped his head aside. That was too close! He struck at the dragon's body, but was far too slow; Draco was past and away, leaving Dolph's fangs to snap on air.

  "A bit clumsy, aren't we," Draco remarked as he looped back for another shot.

  Dolph realized that this was a losing form. He was more massive than the dragon, and his jaws could crush the dragon's body if they connected. But he was slower and clumsier; he would never catch the dragon before getting badly burned.

  He changed back to ogre form. "Me bash in flash!" he roared in ogre talk.

  Draco was already coming in for the second pass. Dolph swung a hamfist at his snout. His ogre form was more practiced than his giant serpent form, so the fist came across more swiftly and accurately than the dragon expected. It was Draco's turn to duck out of the way as the fist smoked by him. He careened down close to the floor, and almost into the water before regaining control.

  Dolph stomped after the dragon, following up his advantage. He could tell exactly where the dragon was because of the glow of fire at the snoot. But Draco flew up out of reach.

  Well, there was a way to handle that. Dolph tromped over to the section beneath the nest and scooped up a handful of bones. He hurled them at the dragon.

  The bones turned out to be too light and irregular to make good missiles. But he rummaged in the darkness and found a few animal skulls. These were better. He waited until Draco came in for a fire run, and heaved a skull directly at the glow.

  But this time the dragon was ready. He swerved just enough to let the skull go by, then fired. Dolph had to jump, because even an ogre was not tough enough to withstand such a burn.

  He hurled another skull, but the dragon wriggled in the air, avoiding it. Draco was simply too mobile for the ogre; he had the freedom of the entire cave, while the ogre was confined to the floor. Sooner or later Dolph would get singed or toasted, and then he would be in real trouble. It was turning out to be more difficult to handle even this small dragon than he had anticipated.

  Of course all he needed to do was to distract Draco until Marrow found the firewater opal; then he could change to some fireproof form and go home.

  "What's that in my nest?" Draco growled, spying Marrow.

  Oops! Now the distraction would have to improve, or Marrow would be toasted. The skeleton could withstand fire, but if Draco followed it up with a good bone-crunching, that could be bad. Dolph had to step up the pace.

  He would have to tackle Draco in the air. He became a griffin. Griffins were fine fliers and fine fighters, and they could see well at night. Because this griffin was about twice the mass of the dragon, he had the advantage. He took off, uttering a great challenging squawk.

  Draco spun about in the air, readying his shot of fire, but Dolph dodged and angled in, as adroit in air as his foe. He reached for Draco with his talons. The moment he got hold of the dragon, he would stab him with his beak, and that would be the end.

  Draco whipped his snout around, blowing out fire. It was a sustained blast; it swung across in an arc to intersect Dolph's position. Dolph dived, but the line of fire followed; he could not outrace it.

  Close to the floor, he became a large land dragon. He landed with a whomp that jarred him. But now he had his own fire, and was armored against fire, as fire-breathers had to be. The fire touched him and did not hurt him; instead it helped him warm up his own furnace.

  Now he oriented, pumped his bellows, and let fly a bolt twice as fierce as Draco's. But it missed, for Draco had cleared out the moment he noted the new form.

  Dolph stalked him, but without avail. Draco knew his cave, and could dodge endlessly. He kept disappearing behind a bank of stalagmites, then reappearing to blast at Dolph's tail. The tail was not well armored; those sallies hurt!

  This just wasn't doing it. Despite Dolph's advantage of size and firepower, Draco still was getting the better of it. If Dolph made any mistake, he would lose.

  He would have to make it even in every respect, by matching Draco's own type. Dolph became a firedrake.

  Now two almost identical dragons confronted each other. Dolph fired a jet of flame at the other, but Draco dodged it readily—and sent a return blast that heated Dolph's tail. Ouch!

  He quickly discovered that Draco's lifetime experience in this form gave him a considerable tactical advantage. Their physical equipment might be the same, but Draco's reflexes were perfectly attuned to his capacities, while Dolph had to figure things out pretty much for the first time. He was no match for the dragon in this form, either.

  He dived to the floor, Draco hot on his tail. As he landed, he assumed the form of a basilisk, and whipped about to face his pursuer. This form was deadly to almost all other forms; the moment their gazes locked, the other would be dead. All Dolph had to do was keep watching the other, so that Draco could not orient on him without meeting gazes. He did not need any special training or skill for this; even his natural clumsiness with the form would not diminish this effect.

  But Draco had been alert, and he sheered off the moment Dolph changed. He knew about basilisks. He looped around, then closed his eyes, oriented by memory, and fired a jet.

  Dolph scooted for cover. The fire singed his tail again. Draco didn't have to see him to attack him!

  But maybe he could change that. Dolph became the bat, and launched himself at the nest. By the time Draco caught up, he was on the nest, and back in his basilisk form. The dragon's treasure was all around him; let Draco blast that!

  Draco sheered off again, and made several loops in the air, pondering. Then he closed his eyes again, and come in to the nest. But he did not breathe fire this time. He simply landed blind, as his familiarity with the region enabled him to do.

  Marrow crowded out of the way on one side, and Dolph scuttled off on the other. Was the dragon trying to crush his tiny body with its much larger one? He could avoid that!

  But Draco did not seem to be doing that. Instead he flexed his coils as if rearranging them for the night. His bright scales reflected the glow from the larger gems in the nest: the moonstones and sunstones.

  Then Dolph realized what the nature of the trap was. If he saw his own face reflected in a scale, he would stun or kill himself! That was one of the few vulnerabilities of this form. Obviously Draco had dealt with basilisks before. He could only hurt himself, because his bite could never penetrate the dragon's scales, and his gaze could not hurt a creature who refused to look at him. Indeed, if Draco managed to chomp him, and spit him out quickly to avoid the poison, Dolph could be mortally crushed.

  He scrambled out of the nest, jumped down, and became the bat in midair. He flew quickly across to the side of the cave closest to the underwater entrance. Then he became a tangle tree, rooted in the sludge of that region.

  The dragon was already back in the air, orienting for another shot; he knew that he could look now, because basilisks could not fly. He intended to toast Dolph before Dolph could get established in some more formidable form.

  But a tangle tree was no ordinary creature. It was a carnivorous plant, with thick foliage and tentacles. A blast of fire could make it wilt, but could not overcome it. Meanwhile, Dolph was extending his roots down through the water to close off the entrance, and extending his tentacles to grab the dragon in the air. The tree could sense things without light, so there was no problem about locating Draco. Of cours
e the tree could not grow well in darkness, but this was only a temporary form.

  Draco hovered just outside tentacle range. He jetted fire at a cluster of tentacles, but Dolph moved them out of the way and reached for the dragon with a longer tentacle he was growing. Draco turned and snapped at the new tentacle, which whipped clear of the teeth. They fenced that way for a while, without having much effect on each other.

  Finally the dragon growled something in his language, but Dolph could not understand it; tree talk was too far removed from reptile talk. "Same to you, fried-brain," he retorted in leaf language, making an insult gesture with a tentacle.

  Draco flew back to the nest. Now Dolph saw the impasse: he could withstand the attacks of the dragon, and could prevent the dragon from leaving, because his tentacles would overwhelm the dragon if he got caught. But Dolph could not get the firewater opal. Marrow could do that, but now the dragon was facing the skeleton, and it was obvious that if Marrow tried anything, he would get thoroughly chomped. Dolph couldn't help his friend unless he changed form again and went over there—but Draco had already demonstrated that he was superior in the air and on the nest.

  But the dragon was not attacking the skeleton, and Marrow was not trying to get away. They seemed to be conversing. What was going on? Then Marrow stood at the edge of the nest and waved to Dolph. "Truce!" he called, "Draco offers a truce."

  Dolph was able to understand Marrow's words, mainly because he knew the skeleton and could interpret the nuances. Draco was asking for a truce? Was this a trick? But in the face of this stalemate, it was worth exploring.

  Dolph became the firedrake, and flew cautiously toward the nest, ready to veer clear if necessary. "What's this about a truce?" he growled in dragon talk.

  "Just that," Draco growled back. "I want to talk."

  "Okay, talk," Dolph said, hovering at a reasonable distance.

  "The skeleton tells me you are a prince of your kind."

  "Yes."

  "Then you understand honor."

  "No, I'm too young for that."

  The dragon was evidently discomfited. He turned to Marrow. "How can a prince not comprehend honor?" he asked.

  "When he is a child who has not yet had sufficient experience of it," Marrow replied. "The learning of this is part of what he requires to become adult."

  "Does this have something to do with the Adult Conspiracy?" Dolph asked suspiciously.

  Both Marrow and Draco laughed, to Dolph's annoyance. "Not really, though it could relate," Marrow said. "The concept of honor is fundamental to adult dealings with others, particularly in war. Conformity to a high standard of conduct, of which integrity is integral. In this case it means that neither you nor Draco must break the truce until both of you formally agree to end it, and you will not try to harm each other in the interim. It will be as if you are friends, even though you know you are not."

  Dolph considered. "Does that mean he can't toast me if I return to boy form, and I can't take the firewater opal?"

  "Exactly. Not while the truce is in force."

  "Then what's the point of it?"

  "Draco has a pressing appointment. He wishes to attend a ceremony now, and return to finish this engagement after the ceremony is over."

  "Would that be the same ceremony Chex went to?" Dolph asked, interested.

  "You know Chex Centaur?" Draco asked, surprised.

  "She is my friend," Marrow said. "We visited Mt. Rushmost together three years ago. She helped us out of a difficulty yesterday."

  "But it's her wedding I am going to!" Draco exclaimed.

  "Her wedding!" Dolph and Marrow asked together.

  "Yes. She is to marry Cheiron Centaur. I do not want to miss that ceremony. All the winged monsters will be attending."

  "I wish I could attend!" Marrow exclaimed. "She never mentioned the nature of the ceremony."

  "Of course not. You are not a winged monster, so are not eligible to attend. She would not have wished to hurt your feelings."

  "Surely so," Marrow agreed.

  "I agree to this truce," Dolph said, assuming boy form. "I want to go to that ceremony too."

  "You are not eligible either, Prince," Draco reminded him laconically.

  "In any event—" Marrow began.

  "But I could become eligible," Dolph pointed out. "I can assume the form of a winged monster."

  "They would know you were not. Every attendee will be known to some other, and your form would be known to none."

  "—this is not advisable procedure," Marrow concluded.

  But Dolph was determined to go. "You would not care to leave me here near your nest, Draco, when I do not understand about honor.”

  Draco considered, gazing at the gems that filled the bed of the nest. "You have a point. I dislike leaving my nest unattended, in any event, and more so when there is a raider in the vicinity."

  "But if I change form and fly with you, you will have no concern about that. Marrow can remain to watch your nest; he is a creature of honor."

  "This is preposterous!" Marrow protested.

  Draco turned his gaze on Marrow. "How can I be assured of that?"

  "My parents assigned him as my Adult Companion for my Quest. They are very choosey about such things."

  Draco nodded. "So I understand. The Man-King is reputed to be easygoing, but his wife would be suitable for governing dragon cubs."

  "The dragon cubs wouldn't like it," Dolph muttered.

  "Exactly. Not one of them would get free of the nest unsupervised. I remember my own nestling days. But I did learn how to be a dragon! I also learned not to question the judgment of such a creature, whatever her form. Marrow, will you undertake to safeguard my nest during my absence?"

  "By no means!" Marrow said. "This would be a grave distortion of—"

  "He agrees," Dolph said. "He can blow his bone whistle if there is trouble."

  "I think perhaps he does agree," Draco agreed. "Then let us be off; there is very little time remaining. Assume the form of a dragonfly and hang on to my back; I will get there faster if I don't have to wait for you."

  "But—" Marrow cried.

  Dolph became a dragonfly and buzzed over to land on Draco's back, between his wings. He took firm hold with his claws, knowing that a rough ride was coming.

  "Be careful!" Marrow cried as they took off. Then Draco plunged into the water. They were on their way.

  Chapter 8

  Ceremony

  Dolph closed his eyes and held his breath while the dragon forged through the water, this wasn't hard to do in this form, because his big eyes had special membranes and his breathing wasn't like that of his human form. Then Draco burst out of the cave and forged into the night air. He climbed so high that Dolph was afraid they would get burned by the stars, but the dragon knew his way and steered safely clear of them.

  Draco, his elevation attained, headed south. The stars passed rapidly by, above and below them, and the great dark Land of Xanth moved more slowly, identified only by stray lanterns and natural glimmers. Dolph could see only at an angle to the sides, because of the body of the dragon, but it was enough.

  "What is your Quest?" Draco inquired.

  "I want to find the Good Magician Humfrey," Dolph replied promptly. He was glad to have anyone know his business, because that made it seem more important. Because he was in dragon form now, it was easy to converse.

  "What makes you think you can find him, when others can not?"

  "I found a message in a secret chamber of his castle saying 'Skeleton Key to Heaven Cent' so I knew he had left it for me, to tell where he is. So we went to the key where it pointed, but all we found was a skeleton."

  "There is more than one key," Draco said.

  "Yes. So we sailed south to check the next, only this merwoman caught me, and she wouldn't let me go unless we got her firewater opal back, and—"

  "So that's what you were after!" Draco exclaimed. "My opals!"

  "Yeah. Because—opals? How many do you ha
ve?"

  "Two. I'm the only one with a set of those, because they are very hard to obtain. They enhance youthfulness in the possessor, or at least the impression of it. But why should you, a prince, become a thief, when you already possess sufficient youth?"

  "Well, you stole it from the merman, so—"

  Draco's body shuddered and heated. "I did not steal it! I won it!"

  "You mean by killing its owner?"

  "I see I shall have to set you straight about that.” Draco said grimly. "Obviously the merwoman did not tell you the whole story. What exactly did she tell you?"

  "Just that they had this one special gem, and without it she can't get a new merman to marry her in place of the one you killed when you took the stone. So she wants it back, and she's holding Grace’l hostage until we bring it."

  "Grace’l?"

  "She's another skeleton, like Marrow, only female. We'll trade her for the firewater opal, and then Mela can get another husband. She was going to keep me until I grew up, but I guess I should find the Good Magician first."

  "I see the way of it. So you were going to take the opal before I returned, but I came back too soon."

  "Right. So then I had to fight you for it."

  "Naturally. The only way to gain anything from a good dragon is to steal it or fight for it or outwit the dragon, and I am difficult to outwit. Very well, let me explain why it is my stone, not the merwoman's. It all started about two years back, when I made a wager with Merwin Merman. He had the other firewater opal, you see, and a pair of those is worth ten times as much as either one alone, so we agreed they should be together. We had a contest to see which of us should have the set, and I won, only he reneged. He tried to kill me and take them anyway, but I killed him and got my due. So those gems are mine, fair and square, by right of wit and of combat."

  Dolph realized that the dragon had a case, if this was true. But he wasn't sure it was true. "What contest did you have, and how did you win?"

  "Fire, water, sand. Do you know that one?"