Esrever Doom (Xanth) (22 page)

“That does make sense,” Yukay agreed. “That might enable you to complete your Quest in mere hours, instead of trudging around interminably with us.”

Naomi and Zosi faced away, but not before he caught the glint of a tear at Zosi’s eye.

That brought him up short. He discovered, now that he saw the prospect of an early conclusion, that he rather liked associating with them. Xanth was impossibly strange, but they had been buffering its wild impact. They had become familiar. Yukay with her ready explanations, Zosi with her niceness, Zap with her complete support. The group was, in its limited fashion, like a family. “Let me think about this.”

“Of course,” Yukay agreed.

They were always so decent about what might seem to them like his arbitrary decisions. That did not make him feel better.

Kody walked in a little circle, pondering. But his thoughts refused to settle. He did not know what he really wanted, or what to do about it.

“Squawk.”

He looked at Zap.
THREE CARS RACE

And there it was. Ivan wanted a prize. Zap wanted a prize. Kody wanted a prize. If they all entered the race, maybe one of them would win and get the prize he or she wanted. If it was not Kody, then that issue would be settled; he would continue searching the way they had been doing. If he did win—well, then he could ponder it further. Once again the griffin had come up with a plausible path.

“Zap, I’m going to kiss you,” he said. He bent to kiss her on the beak, and she did not flinch away though she looked a little surprised. “Now let’s work out the details.”

They discussed it, and decided that Ivan would drive one car, with Naomi riding with him. Yukay would drive another, with Zap riding with her. And Kody would drive the third, with Zosi.

Then Kody gave them all lessons in driving, as none of them had done anything like this before. They all piled into a practice car and Kody drove it. “These are stick-shift vehicles,” he said. “Automatic shifts exist, but control is better with stick in tight situations, so we’ll leave the autos to other contestants. First you turn on the motor, like this.” The key was already there. The motor came instantly to life. “Then you press this left-side floor pedal, the clutch. That disengages the motor. Then you use the gearshift to put it in first gear, and—”

He paused, because all of them were blank.

“Start over,” he said, turning the motor off. He slid the driver’s seat back. “Yukay, sit on my lap. I will guide your hands and feet.”

Yukay sat on his lap. She was a marvelously supple lapful. He had her rest her feet on his, and her hands on his. “We start it this way.”

Soon the car was moving. Then, suddenly, Yukay’s body came to life. She pushed off his hands and feet and started competently driving it, complete with brakes and turn signals. It was her talent manifesting. “That’s it!” he said. “You’ve got it. Just remember it. Can you do that?”

“I think so,” she said. “The motions are automatic, once I’ve been through them. As long as I stay in the race, making it a single event.”

“Go get your own car, and make space for Zap.”

She did. “Now Ivan,” Kody said. “I will ride beside you, and direct your hands and feet.” He did, and after a few missteps Ivan began to get it.

“This is great!” Ivan said. “I like this machine.”

“I think you have a natural talent for it. Now go practice with Naomi.”

Now Kody looked for a car for himself. He selected one that he judged to be not the most powerful, but the most nimble. Maneuvering was likely to count more than velocity, in this deadly race. Zosi rode beside him, fascinated with the way he used his hands and feet to make the thing move back and forth and to the sides.

As the time of the race approached, they got together again. “Now the strategy,” Kody said. “Only one car can win: the one that runs the full course without getting crashed out by others. So you will have to be constantly on guard. Every intersection is a chance for mischief. These cars are strongest with their bumpers, front and back; a side impact is likely to be lethal. So if you have to crash into another car, do it head-on. Make sure you have your seat belts on.”

“Squawk.”
TEAM

Kody considered briefly. “Right again, Zap. We’ll surely all do better if we operate as a team, running interference for each other. That means if you see an enemy car coming to ram one of us, you ram it first. If all three of our cars get through, then we can make it a straight race to the finish line to determine the winner. Remember, the course is marked by red banners, so when in doubt, follow them.”

It was time for the race. They lined up with about seventeen other cars. Theirs were three black ones, a color other drivers did not seem to favor. A loud horn blew, and they were off.

Immediately other cars started swerving into each other, trying to knock them off the better tracks. The tracks themselves were a spaghetti pattern, winding about, crossing and recrossing each other. It was almost impossible to be sure of avoiding collisions.

Indeed, other cars were gleefully racing to the intersections, trying to catch each other broadside. One succeeded, and the victim car was not only pushed off the trail, it rolled over and finished on its roof. It was out of the race.

“Look,” Zosi said.

There was a sign he had almost missed.
MOUNTAIN ROUTE

“Now that’s interesting,” Kody said. “There is a red flag there, so it must go through. But it may be rough riding.”

“No rougher than crashing.”

“Right. Maybe easier to handle. I’ll signal the others.”

Ivan was just ahead of them. Kody honked, then put an arm out his window, pointing to the offshoot trail. Ivan could recognize him because of the color of his car. He saw Ivan nod.

He swerved to close on Yukay, and signaled her. She too nodded, and swerved her car in that direction. But another car was barreling through, aiming to catch her broadside as she made her turn.

Kody jammed his foot down on the gas pedal, angling to intercept the other car. He slewed into it, shoving it off the trail. Yukay escaped, but Kody’s car was badly dented. Fortunately nothing vital had been bashed.

Then they were on the mountain trail. But three other cars had seen their maneuver, and swerved to take it too. A red one, a green one, and a blue one.

Kody knew how to handle that. He was third in their line of three. He took the center of the trail, blocking off the next pursuing car so that Ivan and Yukay could move ahead without having to watch their tails. When the red car tried to get around him, Kody moved across to block it again. It could not pass him. It fell back, frustrated.

Then, probably by sheer chance, the other two cars, green and blue, zoomed up side by side. He could block one, but not both. What to do?

But Yukay dropped back, taking her place beside Kody. Now they had a two-car block, and the trail was not wide enough for more.

Until the trail divided. The blue car peeled off and took the right trail, and Kody could not stop it without leaving the left trail vulnerable. The blue car forged ahead, unblocked.

Suddenly a car zoomed in from the side, on a cross trail Kody hadn’t seen. It crashed into the side of the blue car, denting it in and almost breaking it in half. It was Ivan! He had looped back to help them.

After that other cars were not so eager to challenge them. They had the mountain trail to themselves. That did not mean the way was easy; the trail soon rose up into those mountains, and became a narrow cut in the side. They had to slow down to navigate it safely.

And more colored cars came up behind them, eager to smash bumpers. A bump on a curve could boost a car right off the ridge and send it rolling down the sleep slope. How could they handle this challenge?

Kody had an idea. He slowed his car, then brought it to a complete halt right in the middle of a curve. He could not be passed, and if anyone tried to bump him—

A purple car tried. It came charging up. Zosi put her arms over her head.

Just before the purple car struck, Kody let up on the clutch. He had kept the motor running. Now his car lurched forward and stalled. But it was enough; the purple car, unimpeded, missed his car and sailed off the ledge. It bounced down the mountain, turning end over end. Finally it landed in the water of the river below, and sank. It was out of the race.

Zosi peeked out from under her arms. “No crash?” she asked faintly.

“No crash,” Kody agreed with satisfaction.
This time.

He started the motor again and drove forward to catch up to the other black cars, which were waiting for him. The enemy cars seemed to have been cleared out of this section, so it was safe to move on. Kody continued as the third of the three.

“Keep an eye out behind,” he told Zosi.

She turned around in her seat to peer back.

“No, use the rearview mirror.”

She looked down at her bottom. “There’s a mirror there?”

She had no familiarity with cars. Kody realized that he should have considered that before giving her technical instructions. “I’m sorry, Zosi. I didn’t mean to confuse you. Look out the side window. There’s a mirror mounted there. You can see behind us via that.”

“Oh!” she said, surprised as she found it. “I can see everything! But it’s moving backwards.”

“That’s the magic of reflection. Let me know the moment you see any car coming up behind us. That will allow me to pay full attention to what’s ahead of us.”

“Yes, I will do that.”

He reached across and took her hand, squeezing it briefly. “Have you thought more about being the governess for little Plato?”

“I know I should do it,” she said sadly. “But I just can’t.”

“You feel unqualified?”

“No, I think I could do it, and of course Eve would usually be there to set him straight if there was a problem.”

“You dread living in Hades?”

“No. That’s no worse than regular Xanth, for me.”

“Living is that bad?”

“Not exactly.”

Kody shook his head. “I don’t see the appeal in being a zombie.”

“Zombies don’t have much feeling.”

“Feeling?”

“Joy, sadness, excitement, anger, fear…” She trailed off.

“I heard that ellipsis. It means there’s something you’re not saying.”

“Yes.”

Kody might have been annoyed, but had learned patience with Zosi. “Something you’d rather not talk about?”

“Yes.”

“Is it anything I might help you with?”

“Maybe.”

Now his curiosity was growing. “Zosi, please. I don’t like seeing you unhappy. Will you tell me what it is?”

“Yes,” she said faintly.

That was his cue not to press it further. But his curiosity overruled his decency. “Tell me.”

“Love.”

It took him a moment to reorient. “That’s the emotion you don’t want to discuss?”

“Yes.”

“What is so bad about love?”

“Nothing, I think. It’s wonderful.”

“Then why don’t you want to talk about it?”

“You’ll be mad.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Annoyed.”

With anyone else he would be verging on it. “Zosi, I promise not to be annoyed. What is it?”

She was silent. He glanced at her, and saw she was crying.

“Oh, Zosi, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Only I’m not sure how I did that.”

She just continued crying.

She needed to be held and comforted. But there was no place to park the car, and pausing here might not be safe anyway.

“Zosi, I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I can’t stop driving right now, but if you squeeze over toward me I’ll put my arm around you.”

“But you need it to drive the car.”

“I can spare it for a while.”

She managed to get close beside him without unfastening the seat belt. He put his right arm around her shoulders and drew her close.

Then, belatedly, it came to him. “You love me! And I can’t stay.”

Her tears accelerated.

“And you don’t want to live if you can’t be with me.”

She put her face against his shoulder, soaking it.

“You’d rather be a zombie, because then it won’t hurt so much.”

“Zombies don’t feel much love,” she murmured.

“But if I could stay, then you wouldn’t mind living so much.”

“Yes.”

Kody experienced a whirlpool of emotion. “I wish I could stay! So I could be with you. I think I love you, Zosi. But I can’t stay. When this Quest concludes, I’ll wake and be gone. I have no choice.”

“Yes.”

“I can’t fault you for not wanting to live. They’ll have to find some other person to governess Plato.”

She continued silently crying.

“Zosi, I can’t take my eyes off the trail. We’d run off the pavement. I want to kiss you, but I’d get freakish and we’d crash. Still, if you kiss me on the side of the face, that would be nice.”

She lifted her head and kissed his cheek. It was nice.

That was all they could do. At least they understood each other.

After a while she returned to her seat and resumed looking behind them. Fortunately no cars were following.

The trail ascended across the mountain slope. They left the trees below and advanced through brushy reaches. They could see down into the neighboring valley, where trees clustered around a river; it was nice scenery.

But Kody distrusted this. There was bound to be something to interfere with their progress toward the end. Races didn’t like to make it easy.

Then he spied it. The mountain rose up to a ridge, and the trail climbed on top of that ridge. There was a nervously narrow section high above the valleys on either side, with no guard rails. It was wide enough for a car, but only barely; any drift to either side would put a wheel over and stall the car right there, if it didn’t tumble all the way down.

They drew up in a line before it and consulted. “We can make it,” Ivan said. “Single file and very slow. But I don’t trust it.” He was echoing Kody’s thought.

“Squawk.” Zap spread her wings and took off. She flew above the trail, checking it. Soon she returned. “Squawk,” she repeated, and on her side was printed
GAP
.