Geis of the Gargoyle Page 17

  Yet there was a problem while Xanth remained an island, too. The human population was diminishing. At first no one realized that this was happening, and then the reason for it was not clear. But finally they understood: mankind was fissioning off into crossbreed species. There were numerous magic springs, including those with love elixir. Any human who drank from one of these fell passionately into love with the first creature of the opposite sex he or she saw, and proceeded to summon the stork with that creature. The storks, being literal-minded creatures, delivered babies split evenly between the two species. When those babies grew up, they preferred crossbreeds like themselves, and so magically new breeds appeared. Some humans changed size or form somewhat even without crossbreeding. At this time there appeared the first harpies, merfolk, naga, sphinxes, fauns, nymphs, ogres, goblins, elves, fairies, werefolk, and other crossbreeds and variants. All derived at least in part from human stock, but many preferred not to admit that their lineage had been debased by such a connection and became the enemies of pure human folk.

  Some human communities were able to make deals with gargoyles to purify their water so that no more of them were lost. (Gary was jolted back into self-awareness at this point in the historical narration). But sometimes there were misunderstandings or disagreements, and the gargoyles would move on. At other times foolish young humans would deliberately drink from love springs, thinking themselves invulnerable to their effects. Some did it on dares.

  Whatever the reason, their later offspring were lost to the core human species. As time passed, the human population slowly but steadily shrank.

  Finally the remaining humans realized that they had to address this problem. They decided to collect the remnant of their pure human folk and live in a completely protected region, so that there would be no further fissioning. But they remained concerned about the other threat, of invasion from Mundania, for they saw that the water was slowly retreating in the north. In time there would once more be a land connection, and the brute Mundanes would charge savagely down again, overrunning Xanth and overwhelming the magic humans already there. Yet they did not want to prevent all immigration, because they desperately needed new pure human stock to replace what been lost to crossbreeding. How could they address the problems of too much and too little at the same time?

  From this dilemma came an answer that was to change the future history of Xanth. They decided to devise a mixed rampart of illusion and confusion to wall off Xanth from Mundania, working from a special city in the one place this could be done: the Region of Madness. Because only here was there magic of such intensity as to be able to power the special device they contemplated. There should be few other species in this region, and in any event they would make sure to have a gargoyle to protect their water supply. They would wall the city in, so that their foolish young could not readily go outside to imbibe mischief, and dangerous creatures outside could not enter.

  For there were indeed dangers here, of more than the mortal kind. It was an act of special courage for the community of mankind to come here.

  Thus came to be the greatest and most special city in all the history of Xanth: Stone Hinge.

  The picture faded. “But we see you are tired and sleepy,” Hanna said. “We must let you retire now, and continue this history another time.”

  Gary was satisfied to agree. He found the story fascinating, especially the parts concerning gargoyles, but he needed to have some human sleep and time to ponder it all before he would be ready for much more. He saw that the others had a similar sentiment.

  So by common consent they departed the banquet hall and went upstairs to their chambers. Surprise was already asleep; Mentia had to carry her.

  Gary entered his suite and before he knew it he was asleep on the bed. He was hardly aware of Hanna helping him to get there. His human body had a need of rest that his real body had not.

  Chapter 8

  KEYSTONE

  In the morning Gary woke refreshed. But there was someone in the bed with him. Perplexed, he lifted away the cover to discover it was Hanna the Handmaiden. Not only was she sound asleep, she had lost her nightclothes. He hadn't realized that she lacked a place to sleep; he would have given her the bed if she had asked for it. He was accustomed to sleeping on the ground, though the human body required some cushioning that his natural body did not.

  He got up carefully so as not to disturb her, and tended to the various inconveniences of the fleshy human condition. But he did wonder passingly how an illusion could be sleeping. Surely she should simply fade into nothingness when not conscious—if she had any true consciousness at all. And even if she did, why should she be in his bed?

  She must have her own place to sleep, if she required sleep.

  Then he realized with a pang of guilt that she must have given him her own room. That was why she now lacked a private place. That explained why the chamber was so nice. He would have to apologize for unwittingly displacing her.

  Dressed and ready for the day, he stood gazing at her.

  She was certainly an aesthetic creature by human standards, with a torso reminiscent of a sandglass, fine long dark tresses, firmly fleshed legs, and fine facial features.

  She made him think, oddly, of flying storks—many of them.

  “Now there is an artful pose,” Mentia remarked, appearing beside him. “Whoever is Grafting her seems to know what he's doing.”

  “Grafting her?” Gary asked blankly.

  “You don't think illusions generate themselves, do you?

  Someone is projecting likenesses of Hanna and Desi, and he's pretty good at it. Of course he can't animate them both at once.”

  “He can't? But they were both with us last night.”

  “Didn't you notice how they took turns dancing and talking? Only one at a time was truly animate, while the other was on autopilot.”

  “On what?”

  “A term derived from pilot fish who are good at navigation. They can do it in their sleep. A sleeping fish may be moving, but is not responsive to others. That's the way the alternate maiden is. Right now Desi is active, seducing Hiatus, so Hanna is on standby mode.” She glanced sidelong at him, her eyes gravitating to the side of her face so that her head did not have to turn. “It might be interesting if you were to accept her seduction now, to see what would happen. Possibly your hand would pass right through her body, or maybe the touch would wake her.

  That is, attract the attention of her master to you, so that he would animate her. Perhaps Desi would have to turn off in the midst of her activity.”

  “Seduction?”

  Mentia laughed. “And you did not realize, as you did not with Iris. Because you are a gargoyle. But since we are in serious business here, with possible danger, I had better educate you. A human woman never exposes any portion of her body between the elbows, knees, and neck accidentally. Not when a man is present. The more she shows, the more interested in his reaction she is.” Her eyes moved back to the front of her face. “I would judge that Illusion Hanna is about as interested in yours as she can be, because that is what we demons term X-rated. Not even any panties.”

  “Well, of course I wouldn't have looked, if there were panties!” Gary said righteously. “I know the human convention.”

  “Perhaps not enough of it. Panties represent the limit of what an unrelated male is supposed not to see. What Hanna is showing you now is beyond that limit.”

  “I don't understand.”

  She smiled, perhaps a bit wistfully. “Innocence is such precious stuff,” she said irrelevantly. “For now, just accept my word: Hanna is extremely interested in you.”

  “But how can an illusion be interested in anything?”

  “Ah, there's the rub,” she said, lifting a hand to rub her face, which rubbed out at that spot. So for the moment she was missing half an eye. “Illusions have no consciousness and therefore no will. It simply means that whoever is Grafting Hanna wishes to seduce you, being ignorant of your true nature. Per
haps it is some magically talented female who admires your looks.”

  “A woman like Iris?”

  “There's another rub,” she said, rubbing out the rest of the eye. “Iris is the Sorceress of Illusion, and is unique among human women in the nature and magnitude of her talent. There is no other human woman like her. But there may be some other kind of female with a similar, though surely not identical, talent of illusion. She may like you, but realize that you would not be interested in her true form, so she tries to seduce you by means of a human illusion.”

  “This could not be Iris herself?”

  “It could be, but I am almost sure it isn't. At this moment Iris is sleeping, which means that her illusions are on auto. Now I realize that this does not exclude Hanna, who is on auto now. But it doesn't explain Desi, who is intriguingly active. Unless Lord Hiat is made of sterner stuff than I judge, he will very shortly be discovering exactly how far an illusion can go. I also have seen that Iris denies Grafting these particular illusions, as she denies Grafting last night's banquet, and I have no reason to doubt her word in this respect. She is privately quite curious and annoyed at this rival illusion, which does seem to approach her own in power and finesse. So I think Iris is innocent, apart from the fact that she evinces no interest in Hiatus, who is a pretty dull fellow whom she knew as an obnoxious child.”

  “Then who could it be?”

  “Or what could it be. I fear we are encountering something mindboggling, and the only reason it isn't boggling our minds is that we have next to no notion of its nature.”

  “Then what should we do?”

  “Play along until we do get boggled.”

  “But I'm not here to get boggled! I'm here to find the philter.”

  “And we are here to help you, albeit with our own diverse purposes also in mind. And in that helpful spirit, I suggest that you not do anything foolish, such as trying to break up this massive structure of illusion, because not only would that be likely to mess up your quest, it could be dangerous in its own right. We need to understand better the nature of the entity with whom we are interacting before we do anything bold or devious.”

  There was as usual very good sense in what she said.

  “So we play along, and stay alert,” he said.

  “And try not to let on about what we learn,” she agreed.

  “I consider it safe to talk candidly with you now only because I verified that the entity's attention is elsewhere at the moment.”

  Hanna stirred. Gary and Mentia exchanged a hasty glance, and she made a zip-mouth gesture, her mouth becoming a zipper. Then she faded.

  So either Hiatus' seduction was complete, or it had halted for some reason. Hanna was returning to animation.

  And what should he do now?

  He decided that it would be safer to take the initiative than to let her take it. “Ah, you are awake,” he said warmly. “I was glad to see you sleep so well, after everything you did yesterday. Now we can go to breakfast.”

  Hanna seemed a trifle out of sorts. “Yes, of course,” she said after a moment. She got out of bed, spreading her bare legs in his direction. When Gary politely averted his gaze, she made a little exclamation of modesty. “Oh! I am inadvertently indecent! Thank you for not looking.” Panties appeared (he saw them by peripheral vision), and then a prim day dress formed around her.

  They stepped out into the hall. Hiatus was already there, looking uncomfortable. “What's the matter?” Gary asked.

  Hiatus shook his head. “If she had only been real, I would have done it,” he muttered. “But I know the real Desiree would never be like that. Not without marriage.”

  But before they could join the others and go down for another presumably sumptuous meal, there was an odd wavering in the scene. “Oops,” Hanna said. “A storm is coming.”

  Mentia appeared. “Something strange just—oh, I see you noticed.”

  “Hanna says a storm is coming,” Gary told her.

  Hiatus shrugged. “A storm shouldn't bother a stone edifice much.”

  “A madness storm,” Hanna clarified. “We shall have to go into defensive mode. Hurry; we can't stay in the building.” She led the way down the stairs almost at a run.

  “I'll wake Iris and Surprise,” Mentia said, popping out.

  Gary and Hiatus followed Hanna out of the palace.

  There was the ogre tromping up. “The others will be out in a moment,” Hanna told him. “You can start now.”

  The ogre went to the outer wall of the castle and pounded a fist against a stone panel. The stone shook with the impact, and the whole palace shuddered. There were clicking sounds throughout.

  Iris and Surprise emerged, following a bouncing ball.

  The ball took one last bounce, then sprouted arms and legs. In a moment a body filled in. “Everyone's out except Desi,” Mentia announced.

  Then Desi appeared. “I am here,” she said.

  Gary glanced covertly at Hanna. She was standing still, with no expression. She was, as Mentia had pointed out, on autopilot. There was only one presence, with alternating presentations.

  He looked at the real people. Iris seemed understandably harried, but the child was unusually quiet. Probably the realization of the limit of her talent still depressed her.

  She had thought she could do anything, without limit, and now knew that she could do anything only once. Perhaps Gary had accomplished his tutoring with that discovery, and Surprise was now ready to go home. Once they found the philter.

  The ogre pulled at the overhanging section of the palace roof. The roof separated, with widening cracks running up to the peak and radiating down from there. Then the ogre pushed up on the overhang, and the rest of the roof section hinged down toward the ground, the chamber beneath it collapsing into flatness. The other palace sections shut down similarly. They had thought that it would require a pair of ogres to fold these stones, but perhaps this was an especially strong one. Or one ogre sufficed for a palace that was in large part illusion.

  Gary glanced again at the illusion maidens, without being obvious, and saw that now both were unmoving. The animation was being focused on the ogre and the palace.

  So this spectacle, while impressive, was not as extensive as it looked—and of course most of the scene was illusion anyway.

  Hanna came back to life. “We must go to the center circle,” she said. “There we will be safe.”

  They followed her away from the folding palace, along an avenue lined by large stone buildings being similarly compacted. The whole vast city was being reduced to a series of folded stones. But Gary saw that all the other ogres working on other buildings followed exactly the pattern of the ogre working on the palace; they were in lockstep, or perhaps lock image. More autopiloting. And they worked only when Hanna was walking in a straight line, neither speaking nor gesturing.

  So the illusion had limits, as Mentia had explained. But who was directing it? For what purpose? This had started out as Iris' image of the ancient city, based on Gary's reading of the rock pictures. Now another party was contributing. But why? And what danger might there be?

  Meanwhile signs of the coming storm were growing.

  Winds were tugging at distant pennants, and dust was stirring into clouds, obscuring the more distant buildings.

  There was a faint keening, getting louder. The sky was overcast and turning troubled.

  In the center of the city was a clear region, and in the center of that was a round pool of clear water. Hanna relaxed. “We shall be safe from the storm here,” she said.

  “How so?” Mentia asked. “The folded buildings may be able to withstand severe battering, but this is exposed.”

  “The battering is only partly physical,” Desi said. “It is the madness that makes them vulnerable. See.” She gestured, and they saw that one of the buildings had been missed. Either there weren't enough ogres for them all, or each ogre had several buildings to do and this one hadn't been done yet.

  The dusty wind
swirled around the building—and the structure changed. Its stone turned translucent, and faintly pink. When a strong gust of wind pushed against it, the building gave way like a mound of gelatin.

  “The madness changes things,” Hanna said. “That's why we can't depend on the firmness of stone. The structure will revert to stone after the storm passes, but it may be deformed into some other shape, if it remains intact.”

  “And it may not be much fun for the people in that building,” Iris said, wincing.

  “True,” Desi said. “They may lose their lives, or their sanity, in which case they will not return to normal after the storm.”

  “That still doesn't explain why it should be any better here,” Iris said.

  “This inner circle is safe,” Hanna said. “Because the city of Hinge is so designed that the pattern of folded buildings generates a madness-free zone here. Magic within the circle is normal or below normal, depending on the strength of the storm.”

  “Then why not simply live in the circle?” Hiatus asked.

  “Because when there is no storm, the level of magic within the circle is very low,” Desi said. “Talents don't work. Ogres lose their strength. Crossbreeds get sick as their bodies try to separate into the components of their ancestry. Magic plants wilt or even die.”

  “In short, it's like Mundania,” Mentia said. “A drear place of no magic.”

  “Yes,” Hanna said. “And demons can't function at all.”

  Mentia winced. It was impressive: her entire face drew back, folding inward, so that her nose inverted and dragged her eyes and mouth along after it. “I won't stay here after the storm is gone,” she said from the other side of her head.

  “But if you go out during the storm,” Desi said, “you will be overloaded with magic, and perhaps explode into a cloud of madness.”