Xone Of Contention (26 page)

“Ordinary magic can not overrule Magician caliber magic.” Tristan said. ”Com-Pewter is supreme in this cave, except for Magician Grey, of course. But if you wish anything changed—"

“No, this is just fine.” Pia said. ”It really is pretty much like home."

“Then perhaps we should begin,” Grey said.

“If the two of you will touch the two of them, the connection will be established,” Tristan said to Edsel and Pia.

“Wait!” Pia cried, alarmed. “Do we lose our souls or something?”

“I assure you, this is not the case.” Tristan said. “This is merely a link between you, so that the two observers will always know what the subjects are experiencing.”

“And do they also know what we're doing?” Pia asked sharply.

“No. This is one way only. My master has been as yet unable to develop the magic required for two way temporal communication.”

“That a relief,” Pia said. Edsel agreed, though he didn't say so. They went to stand before Grey and Robota. Edsel extended his hand to Grey, and Pia extended hers to Robota. When Edsel’s fingers touched Grey's he felt an electric tingle. That was all.

“That's it?” Pia asked, sounding almost disappointed. "Close your eyes and look,” Tristan said.

Edsel closed his eyes and tried to see. He saw himself standing there, with his eves shut. Startled, he opened his eyes, and for a moment suffered a double image. Then the view of himself faded, and his vision was normal again.

“I was seeing through your eyes!” he said to Grey.

“Yes. The magic sends to you. Then you can tell Com Pewter, especially when there is anything alarming.”

“I don't like to ask this question.” Edsel said. “But I think I must. Suppose you die?”

Grey smiled “That is unlikely in Xanth, because of my magic, and Robota of course can't die, though she could be destroyed. But it is possible in Mundania. and I admit I am nervous about that aspect of our journey. If it happens, your awareness will go blank. Then I regret that it will fall to you to advise the others.”

“Advise me.” Tristan said. “I will advise the others.”

“I hope that doesn't happen,” Edsel said. “This is becoming much more serious than I expected.”

“We believe that the mission can be safely accomplished,” Tristan said. “In any event, there is no personal risk to the two of you. It would not be ethical to subject you to that.”'

“Yet you are subjecting Xanth to the risk of serious change.”

Grey gave him a straight look. “Not if you are sufficiently vigilant.”

Edsel shut up. He would do his best, though he sincerely hoped that nothing went wrong. His knees felt a bit weak.

Com Pewter's screen lighted. DO IT

Grey nodded “Perhaps I should carry you, at this stage, Robota.”

“Yes.”

Grey picked up the golem and tucked her into a shirt pocket. He turned to the exit tunnel. He took several steps, then paused, turning hack. “If I discover a problem I don't believe we can handle, I will signal you, like this.” He lifted his two hands in a gesture as of prayer. “That will mean to send help.”

“If we see that, we'll tell Tristan.” Edsel agreed. "But I sincerely hope it's not necessary.”

“I hope so too.” Tristan said. “Because I am the one who will have to go there, and I do not feel competent, as a troll.”

“I know the feeling, as a Mundane,” Edsel said.

Grey turned again and walked on out of the cave.

Edsel, suddenly uncertain about the connection, closed his eyes and concentrated. He saw a light, growing, and realized that it was at the end of the tunnel. It was the opening, as Grey approached it. Then daylight was around him. “The connection is working,” he said, relieved, as he opened his eyes.

“I know.” Pia said.

Edsel closed his eyes again — and found his vision sailing up into the sky. He stumbled, almost falling, until someone steadied him. It was Breanna. “Something's wrong,” he said.

“For sure. I hope you're not sick.”

“Perhaps you are seeing the invisible giant picking them up for transport,” Tristan said.

Oh. Edsel felt foolish. “Yes. I forgot about the giant.”

“Perhaps it would be easier if you retired to your office and sat down.” Tristan suggested.

Edsel was feeling giddy. “Yes. Grey's images and mine don't mesh perfectly. It's like motion sickness.” He walked to his den and took his chair. Pia did the same with hers.

Now Breanna talked to Tristan. “It's going to he a long wait. How about some solitaire?”

“Perhaps we can connect with Terian and Com Passion,” Tristan said, sounding pleased.

Edsel tuned them out and closed his eyes again. Now he saw the Land of Xanth coursing by below. It was a patchwork of jungle, lake, and field. He realized that the legs of the giant must be between him and the land, but they were completely invisible, so it was like low level flying. Soon they approached the boundary at the northwest region, what in Mundania was called the Florida panhandle.

The land came up. Grey was being set down. He turned and waved, probably to the departing giant. Maybe the giant waved back.

Grey turned to look at the nearby sea. It was changing color from blueish to greenish. Then, suddenly. Grey ran west, away from Xanth. Mundane foliage surrounded him.

“Are you ail right. Robota?” Grey inquired, patting his pocket.

“I'm fading.” she answered. “But I will not lose my magic entirely. Keep me near your ear so I can translate for you.”

Grey walked on. The scenery did not look like Florida. Edsel opened his eyes “Are they in the right place? I don't recognize the landscape.”

Tristan looked up from his card game. “They are in the land you call Italy, circa 1885, if I have your numbers correct.”

“1885'” Pia exclaimed, opening her eyes. “You mean, like a century ago?”

“Perhaps I can clarity this.” Justin said. “In terms of the Xanth time they are visiting, it is about seventy-five years, when the Evil Magician Trent first transformed me into a tree for trying to oppose him. But when he was thereafter exiled, he emerged in Mundania of southern Europe near the end of the nineteenth century, your time. He returned to Xanth twenty years later, and became King. Grey is following his route, as it is easier to do that than to establish a new temporal route.”

“Clear as mud.” Pia said.

“There is no fixed connection between Xanth and Mundania.” Tristan said. “A person can step from Xanth into any time of Mundania. and return into any time of Xanth, if he knows how. Thus that is merely a stepping stone.”

“From Xanth now to Italy then,” Edsel said. “From Italy then to Xanth then. Only not exactly the same then.”

“That's close enough,” Pia said, rolling her eyes.

Edsel closed his eyes and tuned in again. So did Pia.

Grey approached a settlement by the sea. He spoke gibberish to a native. The native responded. “Robota is speaking for him. in his voice,” Pia reported. “He is holding her up near his face so it's not obvious. It's Italian. He—she's asking for the road to France.”

“You can understand Italian?” Edsel asked, amazed.

“No. I can understand Robota. She understands Italian.”

Grey negotiated to get a horse to ride, and set off. Mountains loomed ahead. “But this may take days!” Edsel protested.

“For him. yes,” Tristan said. “But when he returns here, he will do so within a day of his time of departure, so you will not be unduly delayed.”

“But how can I follow days, in hours?”

“You fast-forward past the dull stuff.” Breanna said.

“This is weird.” Pia said.

“Ain't magic wonderful,” Breanna said. laughing.

Edsel tried it. Lo. suddenly he was looking at southern France. At least the mountains were behind and the landscape looked vaguely French In a moment Pia confirmed it.

Skipping ahead, they found Grey joining Evil Magician Trent's Mundane army. Grey was able to do this because Trent didn't know him back then. In fact, it was before Grey had been delivered, so no one in Mundania could have known him.

Edsel took a break. He stretched and walked out to join the others. They were playing quadruple solitaire with illusion cards, freely interfering with each other's layouts and evidently having a great time Justin and Breanna formed one team, and Tristan and Pewter the other, the troll/mouse making the moves per the machine's printed instructions. Breanna looked up. “Oh, hi, Ed. Everything okay?” “They're passing through Mundania. and there is no problem. In tact it's dull: I’ll be fastforwarding soon.”

“For sure.” Breanna slapped an illusion card down across the layout.

“Trump.”

Angry swirls of colored light crossed Pewter's screen, his way of showing frustration. Then they cleared. “Double.” Tristan said, putting down a card for the machine.

“Raise,” Justin said, placing one of his cards

HIT ME Pewter's screen printed.

Breanna laid down three cards. “Meld,”

Tristan picked one up. “Kiss mee.”

“Just what kind of solitaire is this?” Edsel asked, baffled.

“It's one we invented, called Kiss Mee Donkee.” Breanna explained. “It's sort of eclectic.”

“So I see.” Edsel still could not make head or tail of the play. “You know. Com-Pewter could play better it he had a joystick and keyboard. Considering the nature of Xanth. those would probably give him joy and the key to new insights.”

Pewter was interested, so Edsel described those devices in greater detail, and the others saw about making them. He returned to his study and resumed tracking Grey Pia remained in her chair with her eyes closed, either locked into the past or asleep.

They marched east, back toward Italy. But Grey went ahead, because he needed to be in Xanth before Trent got there. He used his magic to nullify the deadly shield that was now there, and the familiar magic landscape returned.

Robota came back to full animation. She was a golem, but used illusion to change her appearance and her reality adjustment to magnify her size. Now she resembled an elf, still much smaller than Grey, but able to keep up with him on her own. Edsel assumed that Grey looked like himself, but Robota now resembled an elfin Pia, quite pretty.

They spent a night on the path to the North Village, as it was a fair hike from the border. The path was not enchanted, and there were dangers, but Grey nullified them. Robota was metallic in essence, and could hardly be hurt by routine monsters, but she was practicing the ways of living feminimity, so as to be able to fool the Storm King.

They found a mush room that was big enough. The mush was mostly on the outside, and the room mainly inside, so it worked well enough. They brought pies in, and Grey ate one while Robota emulated him. “I can take bites in my mouth, but can't keep them there,” she said. “What should I do with them?”

Grey considered. "Maybe make spot illusions to conceal them, and set them down.”

“But then there will be a growing pile of pie bites on the table.”

He considered again. “Maybe make spot illusions of pies, and of bites missing from the pie.”

“Yes!” she agreed, pleased. She practiced, and soon had a reasonably realistic mode of eating. When the pie was finished, she quietly moved it elsewhere on the table, and let it revert to complete, as if it were a new one.

“And my clothing,” she said. “Do I have it right?”

“I'm not sure exactly what the elves of this time wear,” Grey said “But maybe you can represent yourself as one from a distant tree, with different conventions.”

“Yes. I shall be Silica, a princess of the Mineral Elves.” She shifted her outfit to a dark gray blouse and skirt.

“That should do.” Gray agreed.

“Now to be realistically female, how much here?” she asked, indicating her bosom.

“Well—”

“Say when it's right,” she said. Her bosom expanded.

“Ah—” he started, evidently uncertain how to handle this.

It became full, then large, then huge, then so large it burst out of the blouse and threatened to fill the room.

“Let's start over,” Grey said quickly.

The monstrous breasts vanished, and the slightly filled blouse reappeared. The bosom started expanding again. “When!” Grey said, stopping it at a reasonable magnitude.

After that they covered the legs, until she had a rather nice set under a tastefully brief skirt “And don't show your—”

“I know,” she said. “they freak men out.” Then she reconsidered. “But I think I'd like to do that, some time.”

“Not on this mission,” he said firmly. “We can't risk mischief.” Grey slept, and Edsel's window closed. But Pia's continued “She's experimenting wilh poses,” she reported. “Breathing deeply. crossing her legs.”

“She doesn't sleep,” he said. “So she has time to work things out.” Pia opened her eyes and looked around “What time is it in real life?”

Breanna looked up from her card game “Early evening. You've been at it a while.”

“Can we pick them up when we want to?” Pia asked. “Like in their morning, when it's our morning?”

“Yes,” Tristan said, playing a card. They seemed to he playing a new, different game of interactive solitaire, with Pewter using his new joystick to deal smiley-face cards. Edsel decided not to inquire. “Does this suite have a bedroom?” Pia asked. A door appeared. “It does now,” Tristan said Pia got up and opened the door “Is it private?” Tristan considered. “Technically, nothing is private in this cave. My master governs all of it. But apart from that context, it is private.” Pia nodded. “Then come on. Ed.”

Edsel was glad to comply. He joined her in the bedroom, and found it was very like their own bedroom at home. It was almost as it they were back in Mundania.

“Do you know what Robota's doing now?” Pia asked as she joined him in bed.

“No. My window is closed.”

“She's practicing wiles.”

“But Grey's asleep.”

“Yes. I think she knows better than to try them on him when he's awake; he's faithful to Ivy. But now she's pretending. She wants to be a real woman.”

“I suppose it's sort of sad. being an animate creature of metal.”

“Yes. She does have feelings; I can feel them. She knows she exists for a purpose, and that purpose isn't to be a normal woman. But because she has to emulate one, she has the emotions, and that becomes painful.”