Heaven Cent

by Piers Anthony

  With that thought, Marrow had to be satisfied, as his skull was carried down into the heart of the goblin realm.

  Chapter 10

  Naga

  They reached Mt. Etamin at dawn. "Hang on!" Draco growled as he dived for the tiny entrance. Dolph hung on, knowing the nature of the passage.

  But as they swam through the water-filled cave, the fish were agitated. Dolph, in dragonfly form, could not understand fish talk, but Draco reacted immediately. He swam faster, and burst out of the inner pool at formidable velocity.

  The bats were hovering. Dolph, being a flying creature, could understand them slightly. "Goblins!" they were chorusing. "Raid!" No wonder Draco had reacted; goblins were always bad news!

  Draco landed at the nest. Dolph resumed boy form. Both gazed for a moment, appalled.

  The nest was a mess. Its neat rim of stones had been disrupted, and all the gems were gone. There was no sign of Marrow Bones. The goblins had indeed raided.

  The bats were chittering volubly. Dolph changed to bat form so that he could understand them. Gradually the details fell into place.

  Shortly after Draco and Dolph had departed, the goblins had broken in, having evidently timed this for Draco's absence. Marrow had fought them off bravely, using great imagination, supervising the bats and fish so that their efforts were far more effective. He had thrown most of the gems into the water and helped guard them there, so that the goblins could not get them. He had performed numerous acts of heroism, including the dumping of a basketful of fish into the goblins' main cache of gems, so mat these had been rescued. But the goblins had finally taken him apart and carried him away in pieces. Then they had had a couple of hours to dive for the gems under water. But the fish had hidden them well, and constantly harried the goblins, so that their search was slow and unrewarding. They had in the end gotten only a few gems before they had to flee lest the dragon return and catch them. Most of the gems were safe in the water, and the fish would bring them out at Draco's command.

  Draco turned to Dolph. "Your friend was a hero. He saved my treasure. Once the goblins got my gems from this cave, I could not have pursued them. Because of him, I have only cleanup to do. Therefore, in gratitude, I will give you the other firewater opal with the first. I will have the fish bring them both up now." He flew to the water, put his head under, and gave directions. But in a moment he returned without them, puzzled. "Perrin says those two opals never reached the water."

  "The opals?" Brick chattered. "The skeleton put them in his head!"

  "His head?" Draco asked, perplexed.

  "His head is hollow," Dolph explained in bat talk. "But I don't see why he didn't throw them in the water."

  "They were closing on him," Brick chittered. "He was caught with them."

  "But then he went into the water," Dolph said. "Why didn't he remove them then?"

  "He couldn't," Brick said. "He became a grid, then a basket, and then he was taken apart. The goblins spoke of cracking open his skull to get them."

  "I've got to rescue Marrow!" Dolph exclaimed.

  "I can see that he fought valiantly and well," Draco said. "But I can not go into the goblins' caves; they are too small. I fear he is lost, and the two opals with him. Perhaps I can give you other stones in lieu—"

  "I can go after him!" Dolph said. "I can assume goblin form and go where they go. I must rescue him!"

  "That is not wise," Draco cautioned. "They would know you for a stranger, and quickly take you captive too. Your folks would not like that."

  "I've got to rescue Marrow!" Dolph repeated with childish stubbornness.

  The dragon issued a smoky sigh. "Then I must obtain for you some adult company. I assumed that responsibility when we made our truce, and I can not let you depart alone. I shall introduce you to the naga,"

  "The naga? Who is he?"

  "The naga are crossbreeds with your folk, who can nevertheless travel into goblin territory. They are the only creatures the goblins fear, for they prey on goblins. But they do not help strangers for nothing. They will exact a price for their assistance."

  "But I have nothing to give them!"

  "They will then require some service of you, which will not be inconsequential. Really, Prince, I feel it would be better for you to give up your skeleton and return to your home. I will carry you there forthwith, if—"

  "No! I'll pay what the naga ask, if they can help me rescue Marrow!"

  Draco made a snort of exasperation, exactly like those Dolph had noted in other adults at times, only with more heat. "Then I will introduce you to King Nabob, somewhat against my better judgment. Change form and take hold; we must go to a neighbor cave."

  Dolph resumed the dragonfly form, and took hold. Draco flew to the water, swam through the nether passage, and crawled out the upper one. He flew a short distance to another opening in the mountain, and entered.

  The head of a man showed in the darkness at the back of the cave. "What brings you here, Draco?" the man inquired guardedly. "We have not abridged our covenant."

  "Change form," Draco growled to Dolph. "I can not speak their tongue well, but you can. Explain that I brought you to see King Nabob."

  Dolph resumed boy form. "I am Prince Dolph," he said. "I have come to see King Nabob."

  "You are human!" the man exclaimed, surprised. "What do you want with our kind?"

  "Draco says that only you can help me rescue my friend, but you will ask a price."

  "Does this have something to do with goblins?"

  "Yes. They carried away my friend Marrow."

  "One moment." The man turned about and moved away. Now Dolph saw that his body was that of a great serpent. This was a man-headed snake!

  In exactly one moment another naga appeared. This one wore a crown. "Remember your protocol," Draco growled under his breath to Dolph. "This is the King."

  Dolph bowed. "Thank you for granting me an audience, Your Majesty," he said. "I am Prince Dolph, of Castle Roogna."

  The King studied him. "You are a long way from home, Prince. You look to be quite young, too."

  "I am nine years old. I am suppose to have an adult creature with me. But Marrow Bones has been taken by the goblins, so Draco brought me here. Will you help me rescue Marrow?"

  King Nabob glanced at Draco. "This Marrow Bones is a worthy creature?"

  Draco growled assent.

  "And this human lad?"

  Another affirmative growl

  The King returned to Dolph. "You are a shape changer, Prince?"

  "Yes, Your Majesty."

  “Can you assume our form?”

  For answer, Dolph became a naga, with only his head remaining unchanged.

  "We do not challenge massed goblins lightly," King Nabob said. "We could take losses. How do you propose to compensate us for this effort?"

  Dolph tried to spread his hands, but had none. "Draco said you might require a service.”

  The King considered. "You are the scion of King Trent, the Transformer?"

  "I am his grandson, Your Majesty."

  The King nodded. "That would be a decent liaison. You will marry my daughter."

  Ooops! "But I'm only nine years old."

  "True." The King pondered another moment. "Then you will be betrothed to her, and marry her when you come of age. She is young, also."

  Dolph knew that this was problematical. His mother would throw a queen-sized fit! "Your Majesty, is there no other service I can render you for your assistance?''

  "No other I desire."

  Dolph knew he had to rescue Marrow, whatever the price. "Then I agree," he said heavily.

  "Excellent! I will summon my offspring now." The King whistled.

  In a moment a female naga joined them. She had sinuous gray-brown tresses and brown-gray eyes. Her face was really quite cute, and she had little laugh-lines around her dimples.

  "Nada, meet your betrothed, Prince Dolph of the human kind."

  "Hello, Prince," Nada said shyly.

 
; "Hello, Princess," Dolph replied just as shyly.

  "Seal it with a kiss," the King directed.

  Nada undulated up and brought her face to Dolph's. She tried to kiss him, but their noses bumped. "Oh, mice!" she exclaimed, embarrassed.

  "Tilt your head, stupid!" the King snapped. "Have you never kissed a boy before?"

  "Never, Daddy," she confessed innocently. She tilted her head and tried again. This time their noses did not bump, and her lips touched Dolph's.

  It was by any standard a clumsy kiss; both Vida Vila the nature nymph and Mela Merwoman had been much, much better at it. But Dolph experienced a strange, rather pleasant sensation. He realized that he liked Nada. So he kissed her back.

  She drew away. "But he has," she said. "I like him."

  "So it's sealed," the King said. "Very well, Draco, you may go; we shall take it from here."

  Without further word or growl, Draco backed out of the cave and was gone. Dolph was left with the naga.

  The King harrumphed. "Well, let's get about it," he said. "We can't afford to be all day while the goblins march."

  Dolph hoped it was all right. He did not know these folk, and worried that they might not understand the devious adult concept of honor as well as Marrow or Draco did.

  "Daddy will organize whatever it is," Nada told him. "I've never been betrothed to a human prince before! Isn't this exciting?"

  "You have been betrothed to others?" Dolph inquired, taken slightly aback.

  "Well, no, not actually," she confessed, with a tasteful hint of a blush. "But I knew Daddy would betroth me to someone, as soon as he found a good match. He's very conscientious about things like that. We don't have enough human blood, so I sort of thought it would be to a human instead of a snake."

  Because the naga were a cross between man and serpent, Dolph realized. It did seem to make sense.

  Meanwhile the King had been snapping orders left and right to the naga that had appeared in the cave. Now he returned to Dolph. "We have assembled a force and de-marked an interception route," he announced. "We can catch the goblins before they reach their stronghold, but we shall have to move rapidly. It would be better if we left you behind, but I fear your presence will be necessary to reassure your guardian that we are acting in his interest. Remain with Nada; she will guide you, for she knows our methods."

  "Uh, sure, Your Majesty," Dolph agreed. Adults were always so assertive!

  "Get a slither on!" the King ordered. Immediately the naga set off at a rapid slide, their bodies moving efficiently along the contours of the cave.

  "We'll follow," Nada said, setting off.

  Dolph went with her, but quickly got tangled in his own coils. He had never assumed such a mixed form before, and had no experience with it. His human head wanted to walk, while his serpent torso wanted to slither. He could see very well, despite the darkness, because this form was adapted to it, but could not move in the manner he was accustomed to.

  "Oh, that's right—you're human!" Nada said. "You don't know how to slither!"

  "I sure don't!" he agreed ruefully. Actually he could have done it without difficulty as a full serpent, because the serpent-brain would have handled it. "I changed to this form to talk to the King, but it takes me a while to get used to a new form.”

  "I know. It took me forever to master walking," she said. "I kept falling over."

  "You can change form too?" he asked, surprised.

  "Of course! To human and to snake. We all can, because that's our nature. But I like my natural form best. Don't you?"

  "Yes. But my natural form is human."

  "Well, you can't help that," she said sympathetically. "But at least you can change to a better shape. Here, I’ll show you how to slither. Just watch me."

  Dolph realized that the form changing of the other creatures related to their origins. The merwoman had fish and human ancestry, so she could go either way, while the naga could assume the forms of their ancestry. They were not magicians; they had limited abilities. He, in contrast, could assume any form, regardless of his ancestry, and that was a far broader talent.

  Nada undulated across the cavern. Her serpentine body flexed sinuously, and was really quite pretty in its motion. "You just sort of brace against things and squeeze forward," she explained.

  He tried it, following the same route she had taken, trying to flex his torso the same way. He was clumsy but was able to move. His human brain was getting the hang of it.

  The King reappeared. "What's keeping you?" he demanded.

  "Just a little trouble making progress, Your .Majesty," Dolph said, embarrassed.

  "My fault, Daddy," Nada said quickly. "I didn't realize—"

  "It's a betrothal, not a marriage!" the King snapped. "No call to get serious yet! Wait till you're of age. Now come along; we can't hold up the journey."

  Dolph exchanged a glance with Nada, who made another hint of a blush. Parents were parents, throughout Xanth, and maybe Mundania too! Wordlessly they followed the King.

  Dolph still had some difficulty keeping the pace. "Here," Nada said. "Go beside me, and copy my motions exactly, until you catch on. It's not hard."

  Dolph joined her, so that their serpentine torsos were touching, he on the left, she on the right. She moved her head right, and he followed, maintaining the contact. Her mid-torso pressed left, and he gave way. Their bodies slid forward with surprising ease. Then her head swung left while her torso swung right, and as he duplicated the motion, he moved smoothly forward too. It was like magic! All they had to do was undulate with the right rhythm, and travel came of its own. Soon they were swaying neatly together, and making better progress.

  The King glanced back. He shook his head. "Such eagerness!" he muttered. "Just can't wait for adult games! What is the young generation coming to?"

  "Adult games?" Dolph asked, perplexed.

  Nada essayed a third hint of a blush, almost achieving it this time. "You know. Stork summoning."

  "You know how to do that?" Dolph asked, suddenly interested.

  "Of course not! I thought you did."

  "Me? No. No adult will tell me."

  "Me neither. If you ever find it out, will you promise to tell me too?"

  "Sure." Dolph tried to shrug, but it didn't work in this body. "And if you find out, you can tell me."

  "Maybe," she said, with a cute hint of mischief. Then she named her face, which remained just beside his, and kissed him again, briefly. This time she got her nose right. It was very nice.

  The King chose this moment to look back again. "Now that's enough!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "At least wait till we have rescued the skeleton!"

  They broke quickly. "He's afraid we'll figure it out for ourselves," Dolph whispered.

  "Some day, some way, we'll find out what they're hiding," she agreed. "Then look out, adults! We'll tell all the younglings, and the conspiracy will be finished."

  Dolph definitely liked her attitude.

  They undulated onward. Thanks to Nada's guidance, he was moving along fairly well now, and was able to do it by himself. They moved into single file, following the King.

  They came to a pool. "Now we can cut off the goblin detachment by using the river channels.” the King said. "The gobs are restricted to the dry ones, so must take many diversions. Just hold your breath and swim; mere are breathing nooks every so often." Then he plunged into the water.

  "Urn—" Dolph said, eying the black expanse.

  "It's as easy swimming as slithering," Nada said. "Just do the same thing, and you'll move ahead. Why don't you go first, and if you falter or get lost, I’ll nudge you in the right direction so you won't drown?"

  That was not the most encouraging idea, but Dolph realized that it would have to do. He might have changed to fish-form and solved the problem, but he wanted to remain matched to Nada, because—well, he wasn't sure why. He took a big breath and slithered in.

  To his surprise, it worked. He undulated, and forged through the water. He reac
hed the breathing spot in plenty of time.

  In a moment Nada came up beside him. "See? It's fun!"

  There was barely room for the two of them here. Their heads were close together. "Are you going to kiss me again?" Dolph asked. Now he realized why he wanted to keep this form!

  "Should I?" she asked, surprised.

  "Well, uh, you did it twice before, when we got close."

  "Then it's about your turn, isn't it?"

  He hadn't thought of that. He kissed her, making sure to get the nose right. This, too, seemed to work better each time.

  The King's head popped up beside them. "What is holding you up now?" he demanded. "Oh." He ducked down and was gone.

  Nada laughed. "I think Daddy's beginning to regret this betrothal. If we weren't betrothed, he could tell us no. That's the rule."

  Dolph was perceiving increasing advantages to the betrothal. He had never cared for mushy stuff, but this was different: it was fun. Each time they kissed, he liked her better. "All the same, we had better not delay him any more," he said. "I've got to rescue my friend Marrow."

  "Of course," she agreed. That was another thing he liked about her: she never argued with him.

  He took another breath and dived again. After that it was easy enough, as they went from air bubble to air bubble, following the water channel.

  They arrived at a larger cave that had a path worn through its center. There were six naga, as well as the King and Dolph and Nada. "They will be arriving in two moments," the King said. "Now you younglings stay out of the action; we don't want you hurt. But when we have the situation under control, Prince Dolph must talk to the skeleton."

  "A skeleton?" Nada asked, horrified.

  "Marrow is a good person," Dolph said, "But he is a human skeleton."

  "If you say so," she said uncertainly. "But I wouldn't refer to one of my friends that way." It was as close as she had come to differing with him.

  Then the two moments were up, and the goblin column appeared. The naga had faded back behind stalagmites and were hidden, as were the King and Dolph and Nada.

  The column proceeded. There were three goblin guards, followed by six goblins carrying bags of bones, then three more guards. Twelve in all. Twice the number of fighting naga. That made Dolph nervous, for her knew that goblins were ferocious fighters. Their heads were big and hard, and they seemed to have only an imperfect notion of fear. Had the King miscalculated?