xanth 40 - isis orb (22 page)

“I could seduce you, and you’d be mine. The others would be too late.”

She knew her power. “Yes.”

“But there’s a caution.”

“That fate will have its way regardless?”

“Make that two cautions. The second is that it could mess up the Quest. You might not continue if you already had your girl.”

“I suppose. But I still want to find my musical instrument.”

“Yes. So it’s not sure.”

“What’s the first caution?”

“That I’m not quite sure I want you. You’re sort of lunky for a human, and you like me mainly for my curves.”

She had him dead to rights. It was those curves that gave her the power to seduce him, if she chose to invoke them. He didn’t even try to argue. “Yes.”

“And you’re honest to a fault. I’m not used to that, in a man.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh shut up and sleep or I’ll kiss you.”

“But—”

She shut him up with a kiss. By the time he recovered from it, he was asleep.

“But I do like you more than is convenient,” she murmured, snuggling against him. Maybe he only dreamed that, since he was asleep. Regardless, she was worth dreaming about.

After their morning ablutions, they gathered around Hapless for the opening of the Box. He lifted the lid and they all peered in.

There was a picture of a horrendous six-headed griffin, with the words AIR TOTEM.

“That’s what I have to pacify?” Quin asked, dismayed.

“It’s a flying creature,” Nya said. “Makes sense for Air.”

“I may have to chase it down in air. That means I’ll have to play my accordion while flying, and that Hapless will have to be within range. Those are fair challenges.”

“Maybe I can run along behind you as you fly,” Hapless said. “If the terrain permits.”

“If,” Quin agreed grimly. “The powers that be are not making this easy.”

“If Quests were easy, everyone would take them,” Faro said.

The path led from the box to the south. That made sense, because the Region of Air was south of the Region of Earth. They followed it, and the ground was reasonably even and uncluttered.

They came to the boundary wall, which scintillated, looking like a curtain of solidified air. They stepped through it and found themselves in another fairly pleasant landscape, with fields and forests, mountains and valleys, and rivers and lakes. The path led straight toward its center.

“Why do I suspect it will not be this simple?” Quin asked rhetorically.

Why, indeed.

They followed the path toward a jagged mountain in the Region’s center. At the very top of the highest jag was what looked like a huge nest. In the nest was a large bird. Or maybe a griffin.

“A griffin is a cross between an eagle and a lion,” Zed said helpfully. “It has the head and wings of the eagle, and the body of the lion. Details can vary, however.”

“Such as having six heads,” Quin said.

“That is unusual, but it seems not outside the range.”

“It must get hungry, supporting all those heads,” Feline said. “It may be hard to stop all the heads at once; one will get through your defenses to peck you.”

“Thank you for that clarification,” Quin said dryly.

“We may need to think about this, lest we get in trouble,” Hapless said.

“Uh-oh,” Nya said. “The beast stirs.”

Indeed, it seemed that the griffin had spied them. He spread his wings and launched into the air. In no more than three scant moments, or two and a half generous ones, he was swooping down on them. The creature was huge, the size of a centaur, with each of the six heads looking more vicious than the others.

They scattered, taking cover wherever it offered. Hapless got under a rather prickly bush.

The griffin flew on by, leaving only a six-throated screech behind. Evidently he was merely assessing the situation. But there was no doubt he was the one they were after, because the faint sparkle of the path tracked his motions.

“So now he knows we’re after him,” Feline said, reappearing from behind a small tree. “And he doesn’t like it.”

“No element of surprise,” Zed agreed.

“Uh-oh,” Nya repeated. “Now the Region is reacting.”

“Reacting?” Hapless asked.

A stiff gust of wind caught him in a buffet, almost knocking him off his feet. More winds followed. A storm was brewing.

“The Region of Air features wind,” Faro said. “We’re in for a blow.”

“Does the Region care about what we’re after?” Hapless asked.

“In a way. You never can be sure, with the inanimate.”

“We’d better get under cover before it blows us away.” That was not much of an exaggeration.

They hurried on toward the craggy mountain. The wind picked up until Hapless could hardly keep his feet, and he saw that even the centaurs were having some difficulty. Only the serpentine dragons were handling it, being too low to the ground to give the wind much purchase.

“Found something,” Nya called. “Cave entrance.”

“But is it safe?” Feline asked.

“Surely for dragons. We’ll explore it first.”

The two dragons disappeared into the ground, while Hapless, Feline, and the two centaurs huddled at the entrance.

Soon they returned. “The cave is clear, but it may not be safe,” Nya reported. “It’s a wind tunnel.”

“A what?” Hapless asked.

“A tunnel for wind. It is actually a straight hole in the hill, no dips or curves, no obstructions. Flying creatures can test their abilities there, as the wind increases. When the wind velocity exceeds their ability, they get blown out. They can practice, learning to fly more strongly. But it’s not good for us, as the wind velocity will increase to tornado force and blow us out too. We would become projectiles, smacking into something and getting battered or killed.”

“But we have to get out of this storm!” Indeed, the wind was still increasing.

“There may be a way,” Zed said. “We two centaurs are massive enough to block the ends of the tunnel, so the rest of you could get shelter within it until the storm blows over.”

“Let’s do it!”

Zed placed himself at the tunnel entrance, and Faro went to the exit. Zed lay down across the entrance, cutting off the wind there. They made their way to the other end, where Faro made way for them to pass her, then lay across it as Zed had. She folded her wings tightly to prevent wind eddy currents from tugging at their feathers. The wind tunnel was quiet, perhaps for the first time in eons.

It was a relief to be out of the howl. Nya and Quin assumed their naga and harpy forms so they could talk. “We are operating as a team, again,” Feline said. “Helping each other to get along.”

“Each episode brings us closer together,” Nya said. “But it’s no guarantee that we will complete the Quest successfully.”

Time passed, but the storm did not abate. “This is not getting us closer to winning the Totem,” Quin said.

“We are pinned here waiting for a storm to pass,” Nya said. “But suppose it doesn’t pass? This is after all the Region of Air.”

There it was. “This tunnel may be a trap,” Hapless said. “Not in the sense of getting ambushed by a monster, but because we can’t stay here forever. I fear we’ll have to get out and brave the storm after all.”

“I fear you’re right,” Quin said. “But we’ll need a plan.”

“A plan?”

“You have to get close enough to the griffin to enchant him with your music. I have to be close enough to you so that you can play well enough. That storm seems to be making both impossible. You can’t fly nearly as well as the griffin in this wind, and if you’re high in the air, I can’t be near you. Just blundering along won’t do.”

“Good thinking,” Feline said. “So let’s work out the plan.”

There was a silence. No one had a plan.

Hapless realized that it was up to him, again. He did not regard himself as a strategist, but he had to come up with something. Only his creative mind was blank.

“Think outside the box,” Feline reminded him.

If thinking inside the box meant having Quin pursue the griffin and not catching him, and not being able to play music competently if he did catch him, that was certainly a losing strategy. But what else was there? If they didn’t pursue the griffin they would never catch him, and if Quin couldn’t catch him, how could Hapless help? Herding was out of the question in this environment. The whole thing seemed to be a loss. Were they going to have to give up?

Give up? That was no good. Yet the thought gave him a faint glimmer of a notion that hovered just outside his range. What was it?

“Too bad we can’t make the griffin come to us,” Nya said. “Then we could nab him.”

The bulb lit. “Come to us!” Hapless said. “If we can’t chase the griffin, we can make the griffin chase us.”

“And do what—eat us?” Feline asked.

“He’d have trouble eating two dragons, even with those six heads,” Nya said. “He’s not going to come to us. He’ll just stay away from us until we give up and go away.”

“That’s what he hopes,” Hapless said. “But he’s thinking inside the box.”

The three others looked at him. “Maybe you’re a bit too far outside the box for us to follow,” Quin said.

“Here it is,” Hapless said. “Even the griffin must get tired fighting the wind in this stormy Region. That’s why he has his nest in the crags: where he can safely rest between storms. He’s probably up there now, since we’re no threat to him, trapped down here under the storm.”

“I follow you so far,” Feline said. “So why should he come down to us?”

“Because Quin will fly up to the nest, playing his accordion. The griffin knows he can’t stay there for that. So he’ll fly away, leaving Quin with nothing.”

“Exactly,” Quin agreed. “And even if he stayed, I would not be able to charm him, since you would still be down here underground.”

“That does seem to make sense,” Nya said.

“So where’s the catch?” Feline asked Hapless.

“Well, Quin will doggedly pursue him around and around the Region of Air, through the storm. He won’t be as fast as the griffin, especially carrying the accordion, so there’s really nothing to worry about. Finally the griffin will tire of the chase and return to the nest to rest. Quin will follow him there. At which point the griffin, fed up with this stupid game, will launch into the air, ready to bite Quin half a dozen times in a single lunge.”

“While I’m trying to play a useless accordion,” Quin agreed. “This is suicide. He’ll eat me for dinner.”

“No,” Hapless said. “He will be mesmerized, and when you touch him he’ll compact into the Totem, and it will be done.”

They looked at him again. “Is there perhaps a detail you omitted?” Nya asked.

Hapless considered. “Oh. Maybe there is. It is that I will be up near the nest, having climbed the crag while you distracted the griffin with your clumsy chase. So when he attacks you, your music will get him.”

They considered that. “You have a way to reach the nest on your own?” Feline inquired.

“I hope to have Nya’s help. Naga can climb well, can’t they?”

“We can,” Nya agreed. “But you’re human, not another naga.”

“But you should be able to ferret out a feasible route, and help me navigate it.”

“Maybe. But this is highly chancy. You could fall and kill yourself.”

“It’s well outside the box,” Hapless agreed.

They considered again. “Maybe we could rope the two of you together,” Feline said. “So that when you fall, she can catch you, as it were.”

“But it just maybe possibly might work,” Quin said dubiously.

“Which is a better chance than the box offers,” Hapless said.

“I wonder,” Quin said. “Would the height make you nervous?”

“Oh, yes,” Hapless agreed. “I dread it with something between fear and terror. Riding Faro was easy, but climbing a windswept snowy ledge is something else.”

“But?”

“But it’s something I think I had better try.”

“This would require considerable nerve,” Nya said.

“I think the word is gumption,” Feline said. “Hapless may not be the smartest, strongest, boldest, or luckiest man extant, but he’s surely the gumptionest.”

“Thank you for that vote of confidence,” Hapless said.

“You’re welcome, you idiot.” She kissed him on the ear.

“Then let’s move out,” Hapless said, emboldened by the gesture. “We have to get to the base of the mountain.”

“While I distract the griffin,” Quin said. “Conjure me my accordion, please.”

Hapless did. Quin put it on, then changed to dragon form, which was better for flying. He growled, and it sounded like “I’m ready. I hope.”

They moved to the end of the tunnel. “We’re coming out,” Feline called. “We have a Plan.”

“The storm is unabated,” Faro said. “I can’t fly in this; it’s dangerous.” Indeed, her hair and mane were flying across her face, obscuring her vision, and the wind was so strong it wouldn’t be safe for her to open her wings. They were tightly clamped to her body, acting like a partial cloak.

“Stay on the ground,” Quin said, resuming harpy form for a moment. “I’m the only one flying at the moment. I’m more sinuous.” He reverted to dragon, except for his arms, which remained to clasp the accordion. It looked awkward, but he seemed to know what he was doing.

“And me,” Nya said. “I will try to bolster you.” She shifted to her dragon form.

“I fear this is mischief,” Faro said.

“You and I both,” Feline said. “But our air-headed leader is determined. We need to get to that mountain.”

Zed joined them, having seen them emerge. “Nya and I will try to shield you,” he said. “Stay between us, and hang on, those of you with hands.”

Hapless and Feline wedged between the two centaurs and grabbed hold of manes. That did seem to lend some stability. Then the centaurs stepped forward together. It was working. For one step.

Meanwhile the two dragons faced into the wind and spread their wings. They were immediately pushed backwards, not forwards. Then they rose into the air, actually flying backwards. Both Hapless and Feline stared.

“It’s not as backwards as it looks,” Faro explained. “The wind is in effect providing their forward speed. They are flying in its current to gain elevation. Then they’ll turn and ride it. It’s not something I would care to try, but they’ll be all right as long as they maintain their balance and orientation. Their serpentine torsos can’t be broadsided as readily as my equine body can be.”