Yon Ill Wind (21 page)

“She's cute,” Karen said, taking the baby.  Already Demonica was changing shape, in the way Karen was coming to understand.  Her face was growing larger and her body smaller, until finally she was nothing but a head.  Then she became light, and floated out of Karen's arms.

Dawn caught her.  “I told you she was fun,” she said.

“I could tell you everything about her, but everyone already knows.  She'll be even more fun when she's old enough to play.” She rocked the baby in her arms.

“I don't want to ask something stupid,” Karen said. “But—”

“Stupid things are the most fun,” Eve said.

That emboldened her.  “There seem to be a lot of Princes and Princesses and little girls here.  Is it always this way?”

“That is not a stupid question,” Nada said, laughing.

“No, it is unusual.  When we received news of the developing storm, we all felt that the children and babies should be brought to the safest place in Xanth.  So we all came to Castle Roogna, which is enchanted to protect its occupants, especially royal ones.  So Grey and Ivy came from the Good Magician's castle, and Vore and I came from my father, Nabob's, cave, and of course, Electra and the twins were here to begin with.  This is really our first reunion since the deliveries.  Ivy, Electra, and I have been great friends since we were girls.”

“Oh.  I should have realized.”

“You had no way to know, dear.  Now, as to why all our offspring are female—that does seem curious.  We think it is just coincidence, and that there will be males in due course.  But we're happy with what we have.”

“So are we,” Dawn said.  “Boys are a pain.”

Karen laughed, agreeing.  “I should know.  I have two brothers.”

There was a swirl of smoke.  Two eyes appeared in it.

“I resent that,” the smoke said.

“Hi, Mentia,” one of the twins said.  “You came in too late.  We weren't calling you a pain.”

“We were calling boys a pain,” the other said.

“That's what I heard,” the smoke said, forming into a beautiful woman with her dress on sideways.  Karen wasn't sure how that was possible, but it was the case.  “Seeing as how the stork brought my better half a boy.”

“A boy?” Karen asked.

The woman looked at her.  “You're new here, aren't you?  So you don't know how my better half, Metria, moved half of Xanth to get the attention of the stork last year, and finally served it with a magic summons, so it had to deliver.  So now she has Ted, on whom she dotes.

He will grow up to love children too.  Disgusting.”

Karen managed to put it together.  Demon Mentia—dementia.  She was a bit crazy, as her clothing indicated.  Demon Ted—demented.  Demon Vore—devour.  She laughed.

These demons had a certain sense of word, just as the imps did.

“What brings you here, Mentia?” Nada inquired.

“Were you curious about how the other half-demon baby was doing?”

“That, too,” Mentia said.  “They should be great playmates.  Maybe they'll grow up and marry one day.  But I came here because I was summoned.  It seems Xanth needs me.”

“Xanth certainly needs something,” Nada agreed.  “But I'm not sure it's a crazy demoness.  We already have too

much madness stirring up.”

“Madness?  That's it, then.  The madder the environment, the saner I get.”

Nada nodded.  “So that's it.  Then you had better go see the King; they've been waiting for you.”

“Pronto,” the demoness agreed, vanishing in another puff of smoke.

“We had better go down too,” Jenny said. “That means the journey to Mount Rushmost is about to start.”

They left the children and hurried into the hall.  A regal young woman was approaching from the stairway.  She was just about perfect in every way, but there was something odd about her.  “Oh, hi.  Princess Ida!” Jenny said.

“This is Karen Mundane.”

“Yes, I just met her family,” Ida said.  “I was coming to fetch you down, Karen.”

“But I don't need a Princess to guide me,” Karen protested, embarrassed.  The oddness was related to the woman's head.

Ida smiled.  “Think nothing of it.  Right now there are so many Princesses in the castle that we are having to find ways to make ourselves useful.”

Karen finally identified the oddness.  There was something moving around the Princess's head.  It looked like a Ping-Pong ball.  “Princess, if you don't mind my asking—”

“You are curious about my moon,” Ida said, not at all offended.  “It arrived last year, and I didn't have the heart to send it away.  It's really no trouble, and it reflects my moods.  You may look at it if you wish, but don't try to touch it, for it will avoid you.” She angled her head so that the plane of the moon's orbit swung down, and Karen got a good look.  The surface was sunny, with little seas and land masses showing.  There were islands and continents, and ice caps at the poles.  A little cloud bank came into view as the moon turned, and there was a rainstorm over one section.  It was a complete world in itself.

“Oh, how cute!” Karen exclaimed—and the moon brightened.  “What's it called?”

“Why, we don't have a name for it,” Ida said, surprised.  “What do you think it should be called?”

“Gee, I don't know,” Karen said, pondering.  Then she had such a bright idea that a bulb flashed over her head, brightening the moon further.  “Back in Mundania there's an asteroid called Ida, and it has a little moon, and I learned in school how they named it Dactyl, which means something or other.  But since this isn't that, it needs another name.  So let's call it Ptero.”

“Terra?” Jenny asked.  “What a funny name!”

“No, it's got a funny spelling.  Pee-tee-ee-rr-o.  That's why I like it.  You see, there's this sort of dragonlike flying reptile that used to exist, called a pterodactyl, and this is a flying moon, so—”

“That's a wonderful idea,” Ida said.  “Moon, do you like that name?”

The moon did a little dance of pleasure.  Karen hoped it didn't shake its rain cloud off.

“So Ptero it is,” Ida said.  “Thank you for the idea, Karen.  I would not have been able to think of it myself.”

“Oh, I'm sure you—” Karen started to protest.  But Jenny jogged her elbow.

“We must go on downstairs,” Jenny explained.  “Before they miss us.”

Oh.  Of course.  Karen had been so intrigued by Ida's moon that she had forgotten that they were supposed to be going somewhere.  They started walking.

“You have a difficult mission ahead,” Jenny said.  “Do you think you will be able to reach the top of Mount Rushmost and convince Fracto to help fight the ill wind?”

“Oh, sure,” Karen said confidently.  “Dad can do anything he puts his mind to.  He's a physics Professor.”

“I'm sure he can,” Ida agreed.  “I'm sure he will be able to convince Fracto.”

Jenny seemed quite pleased about something, and so did Ptero Moon, though Karen couldn't see what.  They stepped downstairs.  Sure enough, everyone was gathering there.  Even David had been dragged from the Tapestry.

“The demon guide has arrived,” King Dor announced.

“Hear, hear!” a chair said.

“The mission will be successful!” Jenny exclaimed. “Fracto will help.”

“That is good to know,” the King said.

“And Ida's moon is called Ter—Pfter—”

“Ptero,” Ida said firmly.  “Karen named it.”

“Ptero—as in feather or wing?” Dad asked.

“No, as in Dactyl,” Karen said.

He laughed.  “Surely so.  I see you hit it off well with the Princess.”

“For sure!” a rug said.

“That's good,” the King agreed, nodding in a significant manner.

“Yes,” Karen said, getting shy again.  Had she been too familiar with Princess Ida?

“Everything's fine,” Ida said.  “I'm so glad to have a name for my moon.”

Karen was relieved that she had committed no offense.

But she suspected that there was something important she was missing.

Jim Baldwin saw his daughter's cute confusion, and wished he could ease it, but this was not the occasion.

She had done far better work than she knew.

“I think we must be on our way,” he said.  “We thank you.  King Dor, for your assistance.”

“It is we who thank you for yours,” the King replied graciously, and his buxom green-haired wife smiled agreement.  “You did not need to risk your family to help Xanth.”

Jim glanced at Trenita Imp, who now sat on Queen Irene's shoulder.  “I think we did, after the hospitality of the imps, which presaged yours.” Trenita smiled.

“It still will not be easy,” the King said.  “Our best hopes go with you.”

“Yeah, we don't want to get blown away,” the King's crown remarked.

“Let's go,” D. Mentia said, floating toward the exit.

She had finally managed to get her clothing on straight, which was just as well; a demoness might not mind what she showed, as long as it wasn't her underwear, but it could be distracting.

They followed her out.  The madness had intensified; Jim could feel its oppressive effect despite the protective ambiance of the castle.  Indeed, this was unlikely to be easy, despite their seeming assurance that they would succeed.

The King had made that plain.  Ordinarily such a trip, with a demon guide, would be routine, but with the stirred-up magic dust changing things, nothing was certain.

That applied to Ida's reassurance, too.  Princess Ida's Sorceress-class talent was the Idea; whatever she believed was true.  But the Idea had to come from elsewhere—from someone who didn't know Ida's magic.  That was what limited it.  The elf girl Jenny had cleverly solicited Karen's innocent endorsement of their mission, and Ida had agreed, which meant that they would indeed succeed—if the rising madness didn't interfere.  No one knew exactly how the madness might affect Ida's talent.  So the outcome was not, after all, sure.  But he did not care to tell the children that.

Mary and Sean knew, but they would keep silent too.

They got into the RV, with the demoness taking the front passenger seat so she could show him the way, as Nimby had before.  The sultry creature was now in a tight clingy sweater and a too-short skirt.  He wasn't sure whether she was trying to flirt with him, or provoke Mary, or if this was her natural manner of appearance among humans.  “South along the main enchanted path,” she said.

“And move rapidly, because the dust is getting worse.”

“How can you tell?” he asked her.  “Not that I doubt you, but with the effects of the dust, could that lead you astray?”

“No.  This is why they summoned me.  You see, I am only half a demoness.  I am Metria's worser half, and normally I am slightly crazy, as you may have noted.  But I have been in madness before, and found that it reverses my nature, making me increasingly sane.  I feel that sanity closing in now.  You are Mundanes, so aren't much affected by it, but the surrounding effects will bring mischief.  It is best to avoid as much of it as you can.”

Half a demoness, who got sane while others got mad.

This land never ceased to produce novelties.  “How did you come to separate from your better half?”

“Metria was always a mischievous creature.  Then she got married to a mortal, inherited half his soul, and fell in love, in that order.  I, her soulless crazy aspect, couldn't stand it, so I fissioned off and had my own adventure.

Unfortunately it led me into madness, and I suffered sanity.

I came to accept Metria's situation, and must confess her half-demon baby son is cute.  So we two halves have reconciled.  But because I alone among regular Xanthly creatures can handle the madness, the King asked me to help, and because the rising dust makes me unconscionably sensible, I agreed.  You will be able to trust my judgment, when you can't trust your own.”

“Well, I am becoming accustomed to trusting the judgment of inscrutable creatures, after Nimby.”

“Who?”

“Nimby is a striped dragon with the head of a donkey who knows what is going on.  He assumes human form and travels with Chlorine, a beautiful young woman who was sent to guide us by the Good Magician.”

“I don't know her either.  What's her talent?”

“Poisoning water.”

“Garden variety.  But that dragon you describe—there must be some mistake.  He might be able to turn human, or to know things, but not both.  There's a pretty strict limit of one talent per person.”

“I think he said that one was a talent and the other was inherent.”

“Maybe.  But I'm pretty sane now, and that sounds wrong.  There is something strange about Nimby.”

Jim laughed.  “There is something strange about this whole land!”

“Better than the excruciating dullness of Mundania.”

To that he had no answer.

They made good time, and in due course Mentia indicated the turnoff road.  “Now we're leaving the enchanted path,” she reminded him.  “It may get nasty.”

“I know.” There had been a time, two days or two millennia ago, when he would have laughed at magic.  Now he felt a dread respect for it.

But instead of turning ugly, the scenery turned beautiful.

“Hey, look at the flowers!” Karen cried, peering out her window.

“Those look like carnations,” Mary said.  “A whole field of them.”

Mentia looked.  “Uh-oh.  Those look like re-incarnations.

Growing wild and strong in the madness.”

Jim experienced a chill. “What magic will they do?”

“Regular ones aren't too bad,” the demoness said seriously.  “Folk sniff one, and have a strong memory of a loved one.  If they sniff several together, they may actually see and hear the loved one.  But this is a whole broad expanse, strengthened by the magic dust.  I think you should try to avoid smelling them.”

“Close the windows!” he called back to the others.  But he was too late; David had opened his.  The thick perfume of the flowers was circulating in the vehicle.

Suddenly Jim saw his father standing by the road, waving.  He slowed to pick him up; he hadn't seen his father since five years ago, when—

“Keep moving!” Mentia said.  “Don't stop.  Get on out of here.”

“But that's my father,” Jim protested.

“Drive on—or I'll drive for you.”

That jolted him out of it for a moment.  “A demoness can drive an RV?”