Zombie Lover (6 page)

Bink and Chameleon were in a guest room, having evidently come to Castle Roogna for the youth potions. Maybe they knew why they had been selected. Dor knocked on the door.

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"It's King Dor," the door called to the folk inside.

"Come in. Dor," Bink's voice called.

Dor opened the door and stepped in. And stood amazed.

Before him stood a lad of twenty one, and a girl of sixteen. The lad was handsome and muscular. The girl was ugly. Both were in ill-fitting clothing; indeed, the girl was in the process of pinning the boy's trousers so they would fit better.

"I think this is the wrong room," Dor said, embarrassed.

"No it isn't, son," the woman said in Chameleon's voice. "Don't stand there with your mouth agape; close the door behind you."

It really was true. These were his parents, youthened by—

"Sixty years," Chameleon said. "We each took the same dosage. We have no idea why the Good Magician sent the elixir, but concluded that he must have good reason. He has not made any requirement of us, as yet."

"But he surely will, in due course," Bink added. "I must say that apart from the awkwardness of ill-fitting clothing, it feels rather good to be young again. There's a certain vigor I had forgotten."

"Why did you come, Dor?" Chameleon asked. She tended to be abrupt in her smart/ugly phase, having little patience with the slower intellects of others. She was more popular when in her lovely/stupid phase.

"I came to ask Bink if he would like to go out with me and Dolph to question the zombies, who are stirred up. I thought a three generation excursion might be fun."

"Good idea," Ghameleon said. "Go ahead, Bink; you're not much help around here. I'll fix your other clothes and mine in the interim." She paused. "Including a showy dress for my other phase."

Bink nodded appreciatively. Chameleon had been generally acknowledged to be the loveliest woman in Xanth, when young and in phase, and even in age she was elegant. Now she was young again. Dor found it awkward thinking of his parents having romantic interests, but realized it was possible. His mother's combination of traits at the far end—extreme beauty and extreme stupidity—made her a very fine romantic prospect. The extremes would be much sharper, now that she was a teenager. Well, soon they would return to the North Village, and he could put that awkward aspect out of his mind.

Chameleon worked swiftly with needle and thread, and Bink's trousers assumed a better fit. "Let's go," he said, with the seeming aban-

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PIERS ANTHONY

don of his youth He tended to grow more interested in traveling away from the home, when Chameleon was in her smart phase, but of course it would not be kind to speculate why

"First we must check with Jenny Elf," Dor said as they walked down the hall "Maybe she has the answers to several questions "

"Good idea," the youth agreed It was just about impossible to think of him as an aging father

Dolph appeared, in newer and cleaner clothing "I'm ready, Dad," he said "Who's your friend7"

"Your granddad," Bmk said

"My what1?"

"This is Bmk," Dor explained, understanding his son's confusion "He has been youthened to twenty one "

"But that's younger than I am1" Dolph protested

"Physically," Bmk said, smiling

"You do sound like him But why9"

"We hope that Jenny will know," Bmk said "She was the one who got the package with the potions Maybe the other papers in it will say "

Jenny Elf was in an office chamber on the mam floor, laboring at a desk On her left was a huge pile of envelopes, and on her right a small pile of addressed envelopes Before her, on the desk, was her cat, Sammy She looked up wearily as they approached She was a small girl, with pointed ears, freckles, big spectacles, and four-fingered hands She had come to Xanth by accident, at the age of twelve, when some kind of hole had appeared in the fabric of whatever, and been stuck here since It had been nine years, because it happened just before Dolph and Electra married

"That's a big pile of papers," Dolph said sympathetically "Can I help you with any of them9"

That was one thing about his son, Dor realized his sympathetic nature If anyone had a problem, Dolph always wanted to help out He and Jenny had been friends since they met

"I wish you could, Dolph, ' Jenny said "But the instructions say that all of the invitations must be written in the same hand and that s mine They all have to be done in two days too, so I must keep at it " She shook her nght hand and little sprigs of tiredness flew out from it

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"Invitations9" Bmk asked

Jenny glanced at him, startled "Why you're Bmk1" she said 'T didn't recognize you "

"Chameleon and I took the potions as soon as we got to our room," Bmk said "They worked "

"So I see " She concentrated, and recovered the question "Yes, these are wedding invitations "

"Wedding9" Dor asked, surprised again
 
"Who is the groom9"

"The note says he is no one we know But he is a prince or king, who will marry a common girl and make her a princess or queen It is scheduled to happen here at Castle Roogna in just one week, so everything must be ready by then, and the invitations have to go out in time to bring all the participants "

"Who is invited7" Bmk asked

"Everyone, I think Of course I haven't looked at all the names on the list yet " She indicated a long scroll "Some of them have assignments too "

"Assignments9" Dor asked

"Matron of Honor—things like that That's Electra "

"Are any of us on that hsf7" Dolph asked

"I don't know "

Then Sammy Cat moved his paw It landed on one section of the list "Oh, thank you Sammy," Jenny said Her cat's talent was to find anything—except home That was part of the reason Jenny was stuck here in Xanth Sammy had led her here, but couldn't lead her back

Jenny checked the list where the paw was "Yes, here it is King Dor is to be in loco Father of the Bride "

"But my daughter Ivy's already married'" he protested

"In loco" Bmk reminded him "That means instead of Maybe her real father can't do it, so you will fill in "

"Oh " It was obvious in retrospect

Jenny read farther
 
"Bmk is to be Best Man "

"But I don't even know the groom1" Bmk said

"And Dolph is an Usher Head Usher "

"Okay," Dolph agreed
 
"I guess I can handle that "

"What about you, Jenny9" Dor asked "Since you're doing all this work "

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PifcRS ANTHONY

The
 
girl's eyes
 
widened m
 
surprise
  
"I didn't think to look Sammy9"

The cat lifted a paw—and set it down again, off the list

"But you can find anything," Jenny reminded him

Dor caught on, unpleasantly "Not if it's not there I fear you aren't invited, Jenny "

"Not invited1" Dolph said angrily "She has to do this mountain of work, wearing out her poor little hand—and she's not even invited7"

"It's all right," Jenny said quickly "My birthday is on the same day Sammy and I will have a chance to celebrate by ourselves''

A glance bounced back and forth between the three men "It's not fair," Dolph said "She's not a slave She should at least be invited "

"Maybe there's a mistake," Dor said "We can ask the Good Magician "

"No, please don't bother him," Jenny said "Really, 1 don't mind helping I'm sure it will be a very nice wedding "

Another glance bounced around between them Then the desk spoke "It had better be "

Dolph still wasn't satisfied "Jenny, I don't need to be an usher for somebody I don't even know I'll join you for your birthday instead We've been friends for a long time " He stroked Sammy, which was proof of what he said because the cat did not accept the touch of just anybody

The girl was plainly touched She blinked back a tear "That's very nice of you, Dolph It's true that you and Electra have been very kind to me But it's not right to go against something the Good Magician has set up There is surely excellent reason for you to be Head Usher Sammy and I will be just fine "

"She's right, son," Dor said "And you don't have to choose one or the other The wedding won't take all day "

"It's at three in the afternoon," Jenny said

"Then let's have your birthday in the morning," Dolph said "I know Electra will want to be there too And Che Centaur, of course, and Gwenny Goblin " They were Jenny's closest friends, though Gwendolyn was now Queen of Goblin Mountain, making the goblins behave Che was tutor for Sim, the Simurgh's chick, who would some millennium inherit the position of Wisest Bird in the Universe

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If Che came, so might Sim, and that would go far toward making the occasion significant Every winged monster in Xanth was pledged to protect Che, and every living thing was pledged to help Sim and his guardian nanny Roxanne Roc Che Centaur was destined to change the history of Xanth, by influencing Sim, and no one could be sure what events they attended might thus become truly significant

"So will Irene and I, ' Dor said, sharing his son's disquiet about the way the girl was being snubbed He didn't care who else attended, he would be there regardless

"And Chameleon and I," Bink said

Jenny had to blink back several more tears She removed her glasses and dabbed at her eyes with a hankie "Thank you That would be nice But I had better get back to work on these invitations, so as to finish them in time "

They needed to leave before Jenny's tears overflowed and fell on the invitations 'Next week," Dor said firmly, guiding his son and young father to the door

"It still bothers me," Dolph muttered as they walked down the hall "How complicated would it have been to add her name to the hst> The Good Magician couldn't have lorgotten her, because he's making her do the handwriting chore ''

"He's a century old," Bink reminded them "And not known tor manners Maybe he figured that doing the invitations was enough of a privilege for her "

Dolph snorted

Dor remembered something "Didn't Jenny get a gene-tic to fix her eyes so she wouldn't need those spectacles9"

Dolph smiled "Yes But she has worn those spectacles so long that she forgets to take them olf''

They walked on out of the front gate There in the moat was Souffle Serpent Dor glanced at him m surprise "I thought you were on duty at the Good Magician's castle," he remarked

The moat monster hissed
  
The surface of the water translated "Who do you think brought the old gnome's package to Jenny Elf7"

"Well, when you return," Dolph said hotly, "tell him we don't like the way he snubbed Jenny Elf, after— '

"Don't do that, ' Dor said quickly "I m sure it was just an oversight