Golem in the Gears (21 page)

And he, Grundy, had never truly known what he was missing, all of his life! But he couldn't tell her that. She had what he lacked: a future with the human or elven kind.

"Dawn is coming," he said somewhat gruffly. "We had better get the bed to cover."

"Oh, my, yes!" she agreed. She sat up carefully, shifted to human-size, and helped Snortimer carry the bed to the deep shade of a stout umbrella tree. Then, remaining that size, she moved about the area, locating and plucking some fruits that she brought back to the bed. Then she changed back to golem-size, and they chewed into the huge fruit.

Now the sun was up and bright. "I think the ghost is gone, now," Grundy said. "She must have had to take some other form. So we can relax."

"Just the same," she said, "stay close by me."

Again, he knew he would be sorry, for the closer he stayed by her, the more he liked her, and not just as a friend. When she found her own place with her own kind, whichever kind that might be, he would be twice as lonely as before. But at least there was this moment—this moment of the journey. Now he, like she, was not in any great hurry to complete it.

They settled on the bed, lying side by side. She took and held his hand, and he did not protest. Her little inti- micies were so innocent, for her, and so significant for him—but he didn't want to point that out to her. Her naivete was part of her appeal.

They slept again, and this time no night mare visited. But a pesky fly did. It was a fast-buzzing, biting kind, and it settled on Grundy's leg and took a chomp. To a human-sized person it would have been a nuisance; to Grundy it was a jolt that wrenched him brutally from his repose.

The fly was clumsy. He reached down and grabbed it by the wings. It buzzed furiously, but he held it tight.

"You bit me!" he exclaimed, in fly-talk, looking at the welt rising around the fang marks on his leg.

"I'll do more than that to you, wretched golem!" it responded.

"Yeah?" He looked about. Above them was a large spider's web. "Do you want this fly?" he called out in spider-talk.

The spider came out. "Certainly, if you're not going to eat it yourself."

Grundy stood, then heaved the fly into the web. "Catch!

The spider caught. In a moment the fly was tied up in webbing. Then the spider chomped off the fly's head.

"So much for that," Grundy said, slightly nauseated. He wiped his hand off on the mattress of the bed. What had possessed that fly to attack him like that?"

"Ooo!" Rapunzel exclaimed.

Grundy looked. Now a bee was coming at him, in a bee-line. He threw himself out of the way, and the bee plunged into the mattress and stung it before realizing that it had missed its target. "Curses!" the bee buzzed in bee- talk. "Foiled again!"

Unfortunately for the bee, it was one of the type that die after stinging. In a moment the bee rolled over, dead. Grundy took hold of it by a wing and hauled it to the edge of the bed and over, so that it dropped to the ground.

"Why did it do that?" Rapunzel asked, amazed.

"I wish I knew!" Grundy said. "The insects of this region don't seem to like me."

"Not only the insects!" the damsel exclaimed. "Look!"

A hummingbird was approaching. The humming became loud as it hurled itself at Grundy. He leaped out of the way, and it missed him and smacked into the trunk of the umbrella tree. The shock was so great that it dropped to the ground,dead.

"This is most curious," Grundy said. "All these crea- tures attacking so blindly, and dying so quickly!"

There was a commotion in the brush. A rat scurried toward them, its little red eyes gleaming, its needle-sharp teeth showing. "I'm going to chomp your legs off, then your arms, then your head!" it snarled in rat-talk. 'Then I'll get mean."

"You can't fight that!" Rapunzel cried with alarm.

Indeed, he could not; the rat massed a good deal more than he did, and had natural weapons he could not match. It charged to the nearest leg of the bed and began to scramble up.

"Snortimer!" Grundy cried.

The leg of the bed was in shadow. A big, hairy hand came forth to grab the rat. It hurled the rodent into the trunk of a tree.

The rat squeaked as it struck, and fell to the ground, dead.

Grundy relaxed somewhat. "Something about this doesn't add up," he said. "These creatures don't even know me, yet—"

There was another disturbance. A Mundane hound came into sight. Now that the border to Mundania was open. Mundane creatures had migrated to Xanth in increasing numbers. Many fell prey to the magic preda- tors, but some survived nicely—and the hounds were among the latter group.

This one slavered as it charged directly toward Grundy. Rapunzel screamed and jumped off the bed, assuming her human size. She scrambled into the brush.

The hound leaped for the bed. Grundy threw himself to the side, and the hound missed, landing on the far side. It rolled and turned, growling. "Grundy Golem, you will be dead meat!" Then it leaped again, jaws gaping.

Again, Grundy threw himself to the side, and the hound was unable to correct course because it was in midair. But again it reoriented. Grundy knew that he could not avoid it much longer. But what could he do? He didn't have time to get to a tree so that he could climb out of its reach; he had to remain where he was, precarious as that might be.

The hound leaped a third time, sailing over the bed— and a club crashed down on its head, killing it.

Amazed, Grundy looked up. There was Rapunzel, holding a heavy dead branch. "Oh, I never killed a real animal before!" she cried. "But I had to! It was going to eat you!"

"You had to," Grundy agreed weakly. Had Xanth gone mad? All these completely unprovoked attacks!

"What did it growl at you?" she asked.

"It called me by name," Grundy said, remembering.

"But how could it know your name?"

Then the truth dawned: "The Sea Hag!" he exclaimed. "She's assuming new forms!"

"She hates you," the damsel agreed.

There was a roar. "Oh, no!" Grundy cried. "That's a chimaera!"

"We can't fight that!" she said.

"We never thought of what she would do if she didn't get your body!" Grundy said. "She's more dangerous this way than she was as either Hag or ghost!"

The chimaera stalked toward them. It had the head of a lion, the tail of a serpent, and a second head of a Mun- dane goat growing out of its back. It was one of the most ferocious of Xanthly creatures.

"So, stupid golem, you come to your ridiculous end!" the goathead bleated in caprine talk. "How could you ever have thought you could oppose one of my ilk?"

"What's she saying?" Rapunzel asked, shaking with terror.

"I'll tell you what I'm saying!" the lionhead roared in feline tongue. "Golem, I'm going to consume you and that Bed Monster, piece by bloody piece, unless—"

"She's making a deal!" Grundy whispered, amazed all over again.

"What kind of deal?" the damsel asked, perplexed despite her terror.

"Tell her this, Golem," the goathead bleated. "I will destroy you and the Bed Monster, unless the damsel returns to me."

Suddenly the nature of the campaign came clear! The Sea Hag had not given up on Rapunzel; she wanted the damsel back under control, in the Ivory Tower. That would have only one end.

"I won't tell her that!" Grundy said.

"Tell her!" the lionhead roared. "Or I'll destroy her too!"

And that, too, made sense. If the Sea Hag couldn't have her captive back, there would be nothing left for her except revenge. Certainly she would never let Rapunzel go free to live her own life! Wouldn't it be better at least to let the damsel live?

"I know what she wants!" Rapunzel cried. "Oh, I'd rather die!"

"Then die you shall!" the lionhead roared. "But first you will watch what I do to your foolish friends, just in case you should be moved to change your mind." The monster stalked forward.

But now there was a new commotion—and Grundy knew it couldn't be another incarnation of the Hag, because the last one hadn't died.

In a moment it came into view: two people, a handsome

young man and a pretty young woman. "Jordan! Thren- ody!" Grundy cried with enormous relief.

The chimaera glanced back with one of its heads. "Nobody can save you, Golem!" it snarled. "I will destroy them too!"

Grundy wondered what impossible coincidence had brought his friends here at this moment. But he didn't stop to ponder. "I'm in trouble!" he called.

Jordan drew his sword. "Not anymore," he said con- fidently. He advanced on the monster. He was a fine figure of a barbarian warrior.

"Very well, fool!" the lionhead snarled. No ordinary man could stand up to a chimaera, and the Hag knew it.

Jordan, however, was not an ordinary man. He had been a ghost for several hundred years, and now was alive again. He had been just about fearless in his first life, and now he was more so. He had a special talent that the Hag might not know about.

The chimaera pounced. Jordan slashed so quickly and hard with his sword that the monster's lionhead was lopped off.

Surprised, the monster landed, turned, and surveyed the situation. Another creature might have died on the spot, but this one was made of sterner stuff. Then the goathead opened its mouth and spewed forth a stream of fire.

Jordan tried to duck, but wasn't quick enough. The fire caught the upper part of his head, burning off his hair, one ear, and an eyeball or two. Rapunzel screamed.

Now the chimaera stepped up, the goathead guiding the lionclaws. It raised a foot, about to disembowel the still- standing man.

"Right before you!" Threnody called. "Now!"

r

With one mighty heave of his sword, Jordan cut off the goathead.

This was too much even for the chimaera. It fell down and died.

"But the man!" Rapunzel cried with horror. "His eyes!"

"Yes, I'm afraid they're pretty well cooked," Threnody said, cocking her head as she studied Jordan. "But don't be concerned; he heals quickly."

"He—?"

"His talent," Grundy explained. "He can't be perma- nently hurt. You'll see."

Threnody took Jordan by the hand and guided him to the bed. "Sit down," she told him. "Danger's over."

Grundy wasn't at all sure of that, but he hoped there would be a while before the Hag found another monster to occupy. "How did you come to be here?" he asked.

"We received a message from Bink," Threnody explained. "He told us that it would probably be a good thing if we traveled through this section of Xanth. So we did."

"Bink! But he didn't even know I'd be here, or what trouble I'd be in!"

"It must have been a lucky coincidence, then," she said.

A lucky coincidence. The kind that happened perpet- ually when Bink was around. Now it had been extended to the farthest shore of Xanth. What was there about the man?

Threnody glanced at Rapunzel. "I don't believe I know you."

"She's Rapunzel," Grundy said. "I'm rescuing her from the Sea Hag."

"The Sea Hag?"

"She's immortal. She occupies other folk's bodies, until

they die. She was in this chimaera. Now she'll appear in some other form, and try to kill us again. We're under siege."

Threnody pursed her lips. "I see. Then I think we had better stay with you for a while." She glanced at Jordan. "Feeling better, dear?"

Jordan's head was already sprouting new hair. His scorched-off ear was growing back, and his eyes seemed to be uncocking. It was an amazing thing to watch. He nodded affirmatively; he was feeling better.

"You may have to fight again, soon," Threnody told him.

Jordan shrugged. Evidently the prospect didn't bother him.

"If no attack occurs within an hour, we should be all right," Threnody said. "What sort of form will this Hag assume next?"

"There's no telling," Grundy said. "We'll have to be suspicious of everything."

"Very well. I'll stand guard; the rest of you rest."

"I couldn't rest!" Rapunzel protested. "This has been so horrible!"

"Then let the menfolk rest," Threnody suggested. "You and I can chat."

Grundy sighed internally. Now the damsel would find out what real human beings were like. He had known it would happen, but had hoped he would have a few more days before then. Still, the arrival of Jordan and Threnody had been most timely, and he really couldn't protest. His relationship with Rapunzel would be over, but at least he had his life.

"Come on, Jordan," he said to the healing man. "Lie down here for an hour. I'll snooze on your chest, if you

don't mind. That way, I'll know if anything approaches you."

Jordan lay down, and Grundy climbed onto the man's solid chest and lay down. He didn't really expect to sleep, but he surprised himself by doing so almost immediately.

Chapter 12. Ever-Glades