Two To The Fifth (31 page)

She recovered her composure. “The Roc's entourage will arrive tomorrow morning. Pack your things early.” She departed.

She'd have taken you to her bed, had you been interested.

If you took over her body, I would he interested.

But it would reveal you as a normal man.

And that was the rub.

They packed before dawn, knowing that this was the big event. Jim made food for them all, so that there would be no delay for breakfast. They were tensely ready.

“Wait outside the city,” Lullaby said.

They marched out to the plain beside Elasti. There was a giant basket sitting there. It was the size of a house.

“Get in,” Lullaby said.

They got in.

Then the birds came: a squadron of monstrous roc hens, a winged brown mass that darkened the sky. They came in for a landing all around the basket: six of them. The ground shuddered as each put down her landing gear: enormous metallic talons. Sparks sprayed out as those claws slid across the hard surface of the landing field, braking the giant bodies.

“Farewell,” Lullaby said, stepping back. “I sincerely wish you well.” She got well clear of the rocs, who waited impassively while she passed under the beak of one to get beyond their hexagon. The monstrous bird could have snapped her up and swallowed her in half a flick of an instant, but did not. That was another impressive example of the discipline of Ragna Roc's Minions of whatever species.

Then the great birds caught lines in their talons, spread their wings, and taxied in formation for the takeoff. The lines stretched taut, connected to the basket. The rocs leaped into the air together, their wings blasting powerful downdrafts. They forged upward, and the basket hung between them, buffeted by peripheral turbulence. The troupe members hung on to the handholds all around the edge. This was a trip like no other. Their entire troupe, together with its folded tents and other paraphernalia, was being lofted as if it were just an incidental package.

The rocs achieved traveling elevation, then stroked forward at cruising velocity. The wind of passage was so strong that vapor trails formed, obscuring the surrounding scenery. There was no way to tell exactly where they were going. This was not accidental, Cyrus realized; most folk had no idea where Ragna Roc lived. The Good Magician knew, but kept the secret, so as not to invite the malign attention of the Roc.

Soon they arrived. Rocs flew so fast that all of Xanth was within minutes. They glided down toward Rock Candy Castle.

There was a concerted gasp of awe from the actresses. “It's absolutely beautiful,” Xina said.

“Good enough to eat,” the Witch agreed, “I'd love to have some of their leftover rubble to build a little candy house in the forest to attract children.” It was humor; the Witch actually liked children, and both Rhythm and Kadence liked her.

Tuff made as if to press her into the ground with his fist. “Volcanic rock is good enough.”

“I can duplicate rock candy,” Jim said.

“On that scale?”

Jim sighed. “No. That's a whole mountain.”

And it was. The castle perched on a mountain of multicolored rock candy with outcroppings of translucent projections. The base of the castle was chocolate brown, giving way to lime green, and on up through other colors to the highest glassy tower. And what a tower it was! It had no spire, but was shaped into the form of a monstrous bowl.

“It's a nest!” Acro Nymph exclaimed.

“For Ragna Roc.” Dusti agreed.

The nearer they came, the larger the castle became. Stones that had seemed the size of dominoes turned out to be the size of cinder blocks, then of brightly faceted boulders. Tiny peepholes became sparkling windows. A mousehole of a door expanded into an elephant avenue. Rock Candy Castle was not only beautiful, it was enormous.

The hen formation glided down onto a raised landing field that turned out to be quite large enough. The basket bumped to a halt. Then the rocs released the lines, spread their wings, and took off again. Their job was done.

“I have to admit to being impressed,” Cyrus murmured.

Rhythm squeezed his hand. He glanced at her, and noticed she had two ribbons in her hair, one green, the other brown. He did not remember them; she must have done a quick primping just before the journey.

They scrambled out of the basket, uncertain what was next. Would they be pitching their tents here? But the shining pavement was too hard for them to drive stakes into.

A group of people appeared. “Hello, honored visitors,” a man said. “I am Alex, and my talent is making stone invisible. We used it for windows in the lower stories. It is my pleasure to welcome you to Castle Rock Candy, and to make your stay here as pleasant as possible.”

“I am Cyrus Cyborg,” Cyrus said, not completely at ease. “This is my troupe. We are here to present plays for the entourage of Ragna Roc.”

“Of course. But you are also much-appreciated guests. Because you may be understandably perplexed by the multitude of people and wonders here, we will provide each member of your troupe with a personal guide and assistant who will cater to your every need and inclination.”

“Oh, we don't need anything like that.” Cyrus said, “All we need is a place to camp and pitch our tents, and a stage to put on our plays.”

The trace of a frown hovered in the vicinity of Alex's mouth. “This is standard procedure for visitors, by order of the Roc. We hope you don't find it burdensome.”

So it wasn't an option. Ragna would be keeping a close eye on every one of them. “In that case, thank you,” Cyrus said, “But we shall want to camp together. We become uneasy when separated.” Because who knew what mischief could befall them, without the others knowing?

“Perhaps a compromise. We will provide you with a cluster of cottages your troupe may use as it wishes.”

“That would be nice.” Cyrus agreed warily.

“Let me introduce your guides.” Alex snapped his fingers, and two almost identical young men stepped forward. “This is Obvious, who is quick to see the nature of any situation, and this is his twin brother Obvious-Lee, who cancels out that ability. They would like to assist sisters.”

Rhythm smiled. “I am Rhyme, and this is my little sister Kadence. We hope you know where the best rock candy for eating is.” She was being deliberately childish, Cyrus knew, so as to conceal any hint of her real nature.

“We do,” Obvious said. He shot a glance at Lee. “And don't cancel that!”

Kadence clapped her hands together. “Oh, goody! Let's go.” She was playing her little sister role, which wasn't difficult for her because she'd been doing it all along.

“Now be careful, dears,” the Witch said, playing her motherly role. “You may eat only three pieces, so you won't get sick to your tummies.”

“But she didn't say how big those pieces can be,” Rhythm stage whispered to Kadence. The two went off with the brothers, just like naughty children.

“Maybe you had better keep an eye on the children,” Cyrus said to the Witch. “Just in case. Their mother would be most annoyed if they got tummy aches.”

A woman stepped forward. “I am Kim. My talent is that I can't be harmed by mundane means, only magical means. I will guide you and help you keep an eye on the children. I have children of my own.”

“Thank you,” the Witch said. Like Cyrus, she was not really easy with all this assistance, but all they could do was make the best of it. “But Kim, if you can't be harmed by magical means, you have nothing to fear from the Roc. So why are you here?”

“I did not join Ragna from fear, but from promise: I will have a much better life serving the god than I ever would in garden-variety Xanth. I shall be glad to talk to you about it, because you, too, can have improvement.”

The Witch shot Cyrus a helpless glance. It seemed that each assistant was going to be working on a troupe member for conversion.

The little party went off to find candy. Alex continued to assign guides to the members of the troupe. For Cyrus there was a man named Gole. Gole did not meet his gaze.

“Is there a reason?” Cyrus asked, slightly puzzled and slightly more annoyed.

“My talent is to gaze into a person's eyes and make an illusory copy that is exactly opposite in nature and talent,” Gole said, “It lasts for only an hour, but anything it does with its talent is real and endures. So I will not meet your gaze unless there is reason, because you would probably not like what resulted.”

“I wouldn't,” Cyrus agreed, shuddering. A talent like that could be dangerous.

“But should anyone else try to bother you, then I would look into his or her face, and that person probably would be distracted for an hour.” Gole allowed half a smile to escape. “But no one here will try to bother an honored guest.”

And what if Cyrus did something the Roc didn't like? Gole was surely an effective guard, but also a threat. Maybe that was the point: letting Cyrus know that he and his troupe had better behave.

The last human member of the troupe to get an assistant was Curtis. This was Ray, who had the ability of rearranging his body in unusual ways. For example, he put one of his hands on the end of a leg. Then he put his head on the end of his arm where his hand had been. “Do you think I could be an actor?” he asked, smiling from that vantage.

“Possibly,” Curtis said, taken aback.

Then came the Dragon Lady, Her assistant was a woman carrying a large dragonhead mask. “I am Masque,” she said. “I make very special masks from living creatures. They imbue the wearer with one quality of the creature. This one is a dragon mask I will use myself.” She put it on, and blasted out a jet of fire.

“I'm impressed,” Lady said, “What other masks do you have?”

“A number,” Masque said, removing the mask, “I have one for ogre strength, ugliness, or stupidity. Another for nymphly beauty. Would you like to see my collection?”

“Yes I would, I wonder whether it would be possible to obtain a few masks from you, if I have anything to trade for them. Such as one to make me seem more human.”

“Certainly. You can have any you like, if you swear fealty to Ragna Roc.”

Oops. Cyrus winced.

“I will think about it,” the Lady said noncommittally. Bless her.

Even Don Donkey got a companion, a silly ass named Burrito who constantly cracked lame jokes about digesting beans or cutting cheese, but was ever alert. It seemed the Big Bird didn't trust even a robot animal to be alone.

They went as a group to the cottage cluster. This was on an open rock candy plateau at one side of the larger castle, and there were several pie trees growing in big tubs beside the cottages. Overall, it was a very nice site.

“Here is yours,” Gole said, bringing Cyrus to a cottage. It was beautiful, with pale blue translucent rock candy walls, a berry-straw thatched roof, and lovely flowers growing around it. “You may occupy it alone, or have company of your choice.”

“Company?”

“Rhyme.”

Of course they knew about that; Lullaby would have informed them, “Thank you.”

“We have in mind giving you a day and night to acclimatize, then showing your three plays on consecutive nights following,” Gole said.

“That's considerate.” It also gave the Minions longer to try to persuade the troupe members to defect.

“But first, if you are ready, comes the interview with the Roc.”

“Interview?”

“Ragna wishes to converse with you and Rhyme. Something about a prophecy.”

“Prophecy?” How much did they know?

“Two to the Fifth. I don't pretend to understand what it means, but I am merely a lowly Minion. Ragna will surely have a greater perspective.”

They knew too much, “We will meet the Roc when Rhyme returns from her rock candy shopping.”

“She is already waiting outside the cottage.”

He was being channeled, but seemed to have no choice, “Thank you.”

Cyrus used the basin and pitcher provided to wash up, and the rock candy glass mirror to verify his appearance. He was nervous about this meeting, uncertain what would happen. Ragna might simply delete him, thus preemptively canceling his mission.

Rhythm was indeed waiting outside, with Obvious, who had guided her to exactly where she needed to be. Obviously.

“Did you hear?” Rhythm asked with girlish excitement. “We are getting to meet Ragna Roc!”

“Yes,” Cyrus agreed shortly. He was under no obligation to pretend naïveté about this dangerous encounter.

The guides conducted the two of them through several large arched chambers, up an enormous circular stairway, and to the lofty nest that was the Roc's residence. They came out onto a raised rim that surrounded the nest.

And there was Ragna Roc. He was a giant dull brown bird, undistinguished as rocs went, but still dauntingly impressive. Beside him, on the ledge, stood a kind-faced woman.

The bird squawked.

“Leave us,” the woman said to the two guides. They walked quickly away.

The bird squawked again.

The woman turned to the two visitors. “Ragna Roc greets you, Cyrus Cyborg, and Princess Rhythm,” she said. “I am Em Pathy, translating for the god. My talent is to alter emotions.” She smiled briefly. “Do not be concerned; I am under strict orders to leave yours alone. Ragna desires an honest dialogue.”

So Rhythm's disguise had been penetrated.

“Thank you, Em,” Cyrus said. “It seems we are not fooling anyone.”

Ragna squawked.

“He understands human talk,” Em said. “And you are correct: he recognizes the Princess, and her two sisters.”

“Sisters?” Cyrus asked blankly.

Squawk.

“The two ribbons,” Em translated. “Please resume your natural forms now. Princesses.”

Rhythm drew the green and brown ribbons from her hair and dangled them before her. They fluttered, shimmered, and fuzzed into vapor in the manner of a demon. The vapor coalesced into Princess Melody in a green dress, and Princess Harmony in brown.

“You didn't tell me!” Cyrus exclaimed, astonished.

“Secrets are best kept secret,” Melody said.

“So that they don't leak out,” Harmony agreed.

“And this one was important,” Rhythm said.

So they were back in their threesome mode. Cyrus was not completely pleased with the deception.

Ragna squawked, amused.

“Your purpose was to bring one Princess here,” Em said. “She then conjured the others. So that the three of them could face Ragna together.”

“So it seems,” Cyrus agreed wryly. “But how did Ragna know, if I didn't know?”