Demons Don’t Dream (9 page)

They walked on along the river. Kim half hoped she would see a water dragon, but she didn't. It was like Mundania: the creatures were there, but seldom to be seen. Maybe it was just as well.

"Are we south of the Void yet?" she asked after a bit. "Maybe we should cut back west now."

"I don't think so," Jenny said cautiously.

"Oh, come on; let's go see." Kim found a path and forged along it

"No, no!" Jenny cried. "It's not safe!"

But Kim was being willful again. She knew it but also knew that she was tired of walking down the river. She wanted to see the Water Wing—or the Earth region, to verify that her map was correct.

She came abruptly to a line of demarcation. The trees of the forest were reasonably normal—and then there just didn't seem to be anything much. It wasn't exactly a wall or precipice; she just didn't seem to be able to focus on it How odd!

"Stop!" Jenny cried from behind. "Don't take one step farther!"

"Oh, don't be silly," Kim retorted. "I can't take a step here anyway; I'm just looking at it through the screen." Except that she wasn't exactly looking, she was just well, trying to look.

So she moved forward. Suddenly there was a scene ahead: a gently sloping valley, with lush green turf and pretty little flowers of several colors sprinkled throughout. Pleasant puffy clouds drifted above, delicate columns of mist hovered over a lake, and the air was sweet. "Oh, this is nice!" she breathed.

Then the view jerked and turned sideways. The terrain spun horrendously. "Hey!"  Kim cried. "What's happening?'

There was a change of scene. Suddenly there was Jenny Elf, her arms spread wide, hands clenching on something. The lovely landscape was gone.

"What are you doing?" Kim demanded. "I saw a really beautiful place, and I want to go back there."

"I'm hauling you out of the Void," Jenny said. "You're lucky I managed to catch hold of the back of your screen. Otherwise you would have been gone. Because nothing can cross out of the Void, once it is past that boundary."

"But I was just looking!" Kim protested. "I'm immune to getting caught, because it's just a picture, to me."

"Well, your screen was getting caught!" Jenny retorted. "And what happens to your role as a Player if you fall into the Void?”

That sobered her. "I lose," she admitted. "And I have to start over again, with the hazards at least as bad. That's no good. Even if I do lose, the first time, I want to get just as far as I can, so I know what to look out for next time. Thank you, Jenny; you did the right thing."

"That's all right," Jenny said. But she looked shaken, and Kim knew why: it was now twice that Kim had willfully gotten them into trouble.

“I’ll try to behave better, really I will," Kim said contritely. But Jenny still looked wary.

They returned to the river and moved on south. Suddenly a huge bird took off ahead of them, perhaps startled by their approach. "That must be a roc!" Kim exclaimed. But then she saw that it had four legs with hooves, and the head of a horse. "No—it's a winged horse!"

"An alicorn," Jenny said. "I never saw one of those before!"

"A what?"

"An alicorn. A winged unicorn. There aren't many, but sometimes a griffin and a unicorn will meet at a love spring—well, I don't know what happens, but then we have alicorns."

“What do you mean, you don't know what happens?” Kim said sharply. "I read about how you were inducted into the Adult Conspiracy at age fourteen, and you must be fifteen now. Only a year younger than me—and I know what happens."

"You're Mundane," Jenny said. "Mundanes have funny ideas about things. But for the purpose of this game, I'm still a child, with the limits of a child. Professor Grossclout decreed it. So I can't know anything that's in the Adult Conspiracy, even if I might know out in real Xanth."

"Why should you be defined as a child?" Kim asked, surprised.

"So I will have the innocence of a child. That's an advantage, in some situations. I may be able to help you get somewhere, or do something, that an adult couldn't"

"That would be interesting," Kim said. "Very well: we won't discuss how alicorns come to be. They get delivered by the stork, or whatever."

"Yes.”

They moved on. Kim never did get to see a water dragon, but she realized that there was plenty of Xanth to go yet.

It was clouding up. A storm was building in the sky. “Oops," Jenny said. “Try to stay out of sight. That looks like Fracto."

"Who?"

“Cumulo Fracto Nimbus, the meanest of clouds. He always blows an ill wind. If there's anything interesting happening, he comes and wets on it."

"Oh, pooh," Kim said, intrigued. Now she remembered Fracto, with contempt. "I'm not afraid of any cloud!"

A vague face formed on the cloud. "I heeeard thaaaht!" Fracto puffed.

"So what? You're just a bag of wind."

"Ixnay," Jenny was murmuring. "Don't work him up."

But it was too late. The angry cloud was swelling up like a toad with gas, looming over them. Already the first cold gusts of wind were coming, bearing the first fat drops of water. Fracto's mouth pursed and blew out a much fiercer wind, containing flecks of sleet. They were in for it

"I'm sorry,"  Kim said, realizing that this could indeed be mischief. "I guess my big mouth has gotten us into another."

"It's all right," Jenny said without overwhelming enthusiasm. "Let's see if we can maybe get up in a tree, so we don't get flooded out."

"It's not all right,"  Kim said. "You've been trying to do your job. But I'm just—well, I know I'm no beauty, so I try to make up by being smart with my mouth. It's a defensive mechanism. Only sometimes I'm doing it when I shouldn't Like right now. And making it tough for you. So I'll try to watch it Okay?"

"Okay," Jenny agreed, with an appreciative smile.

Meanwhile, they had Fracto's rage to deal with. Jenny cast about for a suitable tree to climb, but all the trees in view were wrong in separate ways. Some had tall, featureless trunks not easy to climb, some had thorns, and many were too small. "Sammy, find us a close tree to climb," Jenny said to the little cat.

Sammy bounded off. "Wait for me!" Jenny cried, chasing after him.  Kim followed. Her screen just seemed to go wherever she looked, exactly as if she were really in the scene, and much of the time she forgot that she wasn't. Kim heard a faint eerie music. It was enchanting, but too distant to be intelligible.

They crossed an open area.  Kim saw a giant spreading acorn tree beyond, easy to climb and sit in. The cat knew exactly where to go. But Fracto chose this moment to strike with all his fell force. A solid—well, liquid—sheet of rain came down to smite them. The water smacked into her screen, blurring it; she wished she had windshield wipers.

"Sammy!" Jenny cried, diving down. The cat had gotten swept into a sudden gully washer which was taking advantage of a gully, and he was getting washed away to the side. Jenny grabbed him, but then fell into the gully herself.

More rain poured down, sluicing across the scene. Kim grabbed a handkerchief and tried to wipe her screen, but her hand just passed through it without effect How silly, to think she could affect a scene within the computer game!

"KiM!" Jenny cried, being carried along by the rushing water. She was flailing, but couldn't get free, because she was holding the cat with one hand and water was coursing in from all around.

There was a rumble of satisfaction from Fracto. He was succeeding in messing them up.

Kim followed along, unable to do anything to help. She felt really guilty, because she was the one who had set off the irascible cloud, while Jenny was the one paying the consequence. "Jenny!" she called, knowing it was pointless

But maybe she could help. She could go ahead and see if mere were any good places to get free of the gullywash. Then she could tell Jenny, and she could get out of there.

But the storm just seemed to get worse, and she just couldn't see anything other than bits of overhanging branches and more water flowing in. All the world seemed to be water!

Again she heard that eerie music. It was as if someone were singing, and playing a stringed instrument It was ethereally lovely, but still too faint to understand.  The gullywash became a stream, and the stream a river. Kim tried to find a shore, or even a shallow place, but the Kites had retreated, leaving a broad expanse of water, with still more rain pelting down to trouble the surface. Jenny was being carried into a veritable sea!

Then she heard a sinister rushing sound. That sounded like—like a waterfall! Right ahead.

She hurried back to find Jenny, who was doing her best to stay afloat with the cat Her hair and clothing were matted, and her spectacles were thoroughly fogged. "You have to get out!"  Kim cried. "There's a waterfall!"

Sammy perked an ear. He meowed. Jenny smiled. "He says it's only a cataract," she reported.

A cataract Naturally the cat wouldn't worry about that But it remained a serious matter for a person. "You don't want to go through that,"  Kim said. "Who knows where it leads!"

"I don't have much choice," Jenny said sadly. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better Companion for you. But if you move on south, maybe you can still find the Good Magician and go on with me game."

"Don't be silly," Kim said. "I'm not going to leave you here." But how could she do anything useful?

The sound of the cataract swelled. Within it seemed to be that eerie melody, not quite drowned out tantalizingly familiar. As if mere were a damsel with a dulcimer somewhere beyond. But between her and them was the crashing water. Kim floated along, trying desperately to think of something, and failing. The rain was still pouring, and a stiff wind was boosting Jenny right on toward the disaster.

Maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe it was just a little bit of rapids, and then the water would drain off to the side and Jenny could scramble out onshore. Kim went ahead to take one more look.

It was much worse man she had had any right to fear. There was a misty veil, and beyond it a plunge into a dark ocean. That seemed hopeless.

She turned back to find Jenny—and the elf was already there, being carried right into the plunge. Jenny shrieked as she floated over the brink.

Kim dived for her. Her hands caught hold of something.

Then she, too, was hauled over the brink. Instead of saving Jenny, she had just gotten herself into trouble.

They fell, seemingly endlessly. Water was all around, in columns. Below was a frightening whirlpool.

They plunged into it, Jenny was swirled away. Kim inhaled to try to scream, but breathed water. She choked.

Then something was hauling her. She struggled feebly, to no avail. Whatever it was would have its way with her.

She landed on a warm grassy bank. She blinked, seeing the head and shoulders of a man. She had been rescued!

"Jenny!" she gasped. "Jenny Elf! She's in there—"

The man dived under the water. A fluke showed as he disappeared.

A fluke?

Kim sat up, coughing out pockets of water. She was utterly bedraggled, but safe, and the rain had stopped. But where was she?

Then Jenny Elf appeared, still holding Sammy. She seemed to be swimming rapidly, but without effort, just halfway sliding across the water. Kim blinked, then realized mat Jenny was being carried by the man, who seemed not to need his arms for swimming. How strange!

The man set Jenny on the bank beside Kim. She was smaller than Kim had realized, being only about two-thirds her own height. But of course she was an elf. Other elves of Xanth were even smaller.

The man started to haul himself out of the water. "Eeeek!" Jenny cried. "You can't change here! I'm not in the Adult Conspiracy!"

"Oops," the man said. "Then I remain in merform for the nonce." He flipped up his nether section, and lo, it was a green tail. He was a triton! A man with the tail of a fish.

“Thank you for saving us," Jenny said. "I am Jenny Elf, and this is Kim, a Player in the game. I'm her Companion. if I may ask—"

“I am Cyrus Merman," the man said. "Son of Morris Merman and the Siren. My mother makes beautiful music, but she no longer makes it for strangers."

"That music!"  Kim exclaimed. "That was the Siren's song!"

Cyrus looked chagrined. "Oh, you heard it! We thought no one was near. My mother's music always leads strangers to trouble, so she never—"

"She didn't know," Jenny said. "We were just passing, and then we ran afoul of Fracto, and he blew up a tempest and washed us into the Water Wing."

"The Water Wing!"  Kim cried with recognition. "That's where we were heading."

"You picked a treacherous route," Cyrus remarked. "It was fortunate I happened to be near. Of course I was near because I was listening to my mother's music. I don't have a wife to keep me distracted, you see."

"I thought the Siren stopped her music,"  Kim said, perplexed. "I read how Chester Centaur destroyed her instrument, where the magic was."

"For a long time she wouldn't sing or play at all," Cyrus agreed. "But there are so few people in the Water Wing that it seemed safe, so she remade her magic dulcimer, and now my father and I love to listen. The music doesn't hurt anyone, it is just incredibly fascinating to men, who must come and listen to it. The problem is that they tend to forget what they are doing, and crash their ships into rocks or do other foolish things. But my father and I are used to it, and anyway, we are unlikely to drown. So we just listen and enjoy it."