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  "Unless they cooked him already," Grundy remarked.

  Chex almost fell out of the sky. What a genius the golem had for the wrong thought!

  "But they don't have a pot going," Grundy continued. "They couldn't have done it in this time."

  Maybe it was the right thought after all! He was right: there was no smoke, no fire. So either Che had not been cooked or he wasn't here at all. She wasn't sure which to hope for.

  She flew back to the ogre. "They're right ahead," she called. "Keep an eye out for the foal!"

  "Me goal save foal," he agreed.

  Well, he had the right attitude. But she felt better now that it seemed unlikely that the foal was there.

  "Next group is human, checking the centaur village north of the Gap," Grundy said.

  Chex knew why no centaurs were participating in the search: they did not accept her as one of them. Indeed, they considered her a monstrosity, a degenerate crossbreed. She had been welcomed by the winged monsters but not by her own kind. But she tried not to dwell on that; there was nothing to be gained by it. In time there might be an established species of winged centaurs, needing no affiliations with the ground-bound centaurs, just as the winged dragons survived nicely independent of the land dragons. But not if Che was lost!

  The human party consisted of three milkweed maids. They must have been given some kind of speed-up spell, because they could not have gotten this far this fast otherwise. They were crossing the invisible bridge, seeming to be in midair, and giggling as they teased each other about what monster below might be seeing up whose skirt. There was no monster below; the Gap Dragon had joined the search effort. But milkweed maids tended to be silly anyway; it was said to be one of the features that made them attractive to men. Chex did not quite understand that, but of course she wasn't human.

  She swooped low. "Have you seen anything?" she called.

  "Just trees!" one called. "But we haven't started looking yet, because our assignment is the centaur village. Someone else is checking the forest south of the Gap."

  "Good luck!" Chex said. But she didn't think Che would be at the centaur village, because though the centaurs did not approve of winged crossbreeds, they were honorable folk who would not interfere. They would not have cared to use so much magic, either, or to conceal their activity, for pride (some said arrogance) was a centaur's nature.

  They continued their check of the various parties. They were all searching diligently, but without any success. To stave off her developing gloom, Chex pondered her relationship with Che.

  It had all started with her wedding, really. She had met Cheiron, the only other winged centaur in Xanth, and probably would have fallen in love with him even if he hadn't been handsome and strong and smart and experienced. They had agreed to mate—the human folk called it marriage—and the Simurgh herself had flown in to officiate. The Simurgh was the largest and oldest of birds, who had seen the destruction and regeneration of the universe three times and was probably good for one or two more times. She had handled things competently, of course, and made one passing reference that astonished Chex and Cheiron. FROM THIS UNION, she had said in her powerful mental projection, WILL COME ONE WHOSE LIFE WILL CHANGE THE COURSE OF THE HISTORY OF XANTH. Then she had required all the attending winged monsters, and even Prince Dolph, who had managed to sneak in by assuming the form of a dragonfly, to make an oath to protect that one from harm. It had become clear why the Simurgh had come: to ensure the safety of the future foal.

  In due course Che had arrived. The stork had not delivered him, and he hadn't turned up under a cabbage leaf; the centaurs, being realistic about natural functions of all kinds, had more direct if uncomfortable means of acquiring their offspring. After all, storks were notoriously myopic, and sometimes misdelivered babies. Maybe that was all right for human folk, but no centaur would care to risk it.

  Che was beautiful from the start, with his dark brown pelt and soft little wings. The winged monsters had looked out for him, so that no griffin, dragon, roc, or anything else that flew, right down through harpies to little dragonflies, was any threat. In fact, young flying dragons had flown in to play with him, though he could not yet fly himself, and they had spread the word to the landbound dragons. The land dragons were not bound by the oath, but many of them had vestigial wings and identified with their flying cousins, so they were careful of Che also.

  Their family had led an almost idyllic life, here in the glade. When she and Cheiron wanted to go somewhere alone, or to help some of their friends, they never lacked for foal-sitters. Even Draco Dragon, the terror of north-central Xanth, had come in once, and not just because of the oath. He had a special debt to the skeleton Marrow Bones, who had saved his nestful of pretty stones, and Marrow was Chex's friend. Dragons had a keen sense of loyalty to those they respected, though fortunately there were not many of these. So Che had never lacked for company and was a happy little centaur.

  What was it that the Simurgh saw in Che's future? How could he change the history of Xanth? Though Chex loved him overwhelmingly, she knew, somewhere in the nonparental reaches of her mind, that he was, after all, only a winged centaur like his parents. The regular centaurs would not acknowledge him at all, and the human folk thought him a mere curiosity. There was no indication that he was destined for greatness—or even, at this moment, for survival. Yet the Simurgh would not have made a mistake; she was the keeper of the seeds, and there was little if anything about the tides of life she did not understand.

  Then Chex had a horrible thought. Suppose Che wasn't the one the Simurgh meant? He was the result of Chex's union with Cheiron, to be sure, but perhaps not the only one. Also, it wasn't clear exactly how he was to change the history of Xanth. Could it be by getting himself abducted and killed, and setting off the winged monsters in some sort of rampage?

  No, she couldn't accept such notions! She had to believe that Che would survive to grow into an adult flying centaur, and that in that state he would accomplish something undreamed of in the philosophies of those who presently ignored him. She had to see that he was cared for and educated in the ways that he needed, so that when the time for greatness came upon him he would be ready.

  And surely she would do that, for the Simurgh would have known, if Che were destined for an untimely end. Someone had kidnapped him—technically, kidnapping applied to little goats, but it remained the best word—but would not kill him, and they would rescue him and the prophecy of his greatness would be back on track. That was the way it had to be.

  Reassured for what she realized might not be a fully objective reason, Chex flew on her round, checking the search parties that were radiating from Castle Roogna. Grundy knew where all of them were, approximately, and when they weren't quite where he expected, the neighborhood plants were glad to give him reports.

  They came to a party consisting of two pretty young women: Nada and Electra. They were going to the Good Magician's castle to ask him where Che was. Chex was ashamed to admit that she hadn't thought of that obvious method. The Good Magician, traditionally, knew everything and told it for the price of a year's service. Of course the original Good Magician, Humfrey, wasn't there now, but his apprentice, Grey Murphy, was, and he was trying hard to fill the post. The Princess Ivy was there to Enhance him when he needed it, and that helped. Could he answer? Chex hoped so!

  She went on back north of the Gap, where Prince Dolph was checking the Elements. The Elements were five special regions in north central Xanth: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and the Void. Each was dangerous in its own way, as Chex knew well from her nearness to Air, but Dolph could assume any living form. That meant he could become a creature that could handle any Element he entered, so that he could explore it safely. She didn't see him, which was probably good; it meant he was in some other form, deep in an Element, and if Che had been taken there, Dolph would find him and probably rescue him.

  She had completed the circuit. All the search parties were busy, but none had found Che. She would
have to stop at her cabin and rest and eat, before going out on another circuit. She would keep doing this until she had risen to this horrible challenge: that of finding and rescuing her foal.

  As she came down, she saw something in the clearing. Was it Che? Her heart leaped, which caused her body to rise and almost made her overshoot her landing. But it was not. It was only a little elf girl. Her heart sank, which caused her to drop and almost undershoot her landing. She came down solidly on all fours and folded her wings. Then she approached the elf, who was staring at her as if astonished.

  "Who are you?" she inquired. "What are you doing so far from your elm?"

  The elf scuffled her feet. She was young, a child really, yet was unusually large for the elves Chex had seen. A normal elf stood a quarter the height of a normal human being, while this one was half human height. She had a turned-up nose, a few freckles spattered across her cheeks, and ragged brown hair that couldn't quite make up its mind between chestnut and butter. Her eyes were brown, and seemed nearsighted. That reminded Chex of Arnolde Centaur and Good Magician Humfrey, who used spectacles to correct their vis-ion—which was even odder, because she'd never met either of them. "My cat—" the elf child said.

  "But elves don't have cats," Chex protested. "In fact, nobody does; there are no straight cats in Xanth, only punnish variants like the cat-o'-nine-tails."

  "Xanth?" the girl asked, seeming perplexed.

  Chex was tired and in a hurry, but she realized that something was wrong here. "Yes, Xanth, where we all live. Don't try to tell me you're from Mundania!"

  "No, I'm from the World of Two Moons. My cat—"

  "I told you, there are no—" Then Chex saw the cat. He was an orange fluff ball, that did seem to have an elven cast to his features. He was lying stretched out on the ground, tail extended behind, looking like nothing so much as a speed bump: a hump in the trail designed to trip up speeding centaurs. "How—?" she asked, somewhat at a loss.

  "Something strange here," Grundy murmured. "There are no elf elms close by. She should be too weak to stand. And look at the size of her! She's as big as a goblin!"

  "Sammy can find anything, except home," the elf said. "Only usually I never know what he's looking for. So he gets lost. I have to keep up with him so I can bring him back after he finds it." She paused, looking at the cat. "I think he was looking for a feather, this time." Indeed, the cat had a feather between his tawny paws.

  "That's not just a feather," Chex said. "That's a first-molt wing feather from my foal, Che. There are very few like it anywhere."

  "I guess he wanted a special feather, then," the elf said. Then, seemingly with an effort, she raised her face to look at Chex. "If you don't mind, please, could you tell me—what are you?"

  Chex was taken aback. "I am a flying centaur, of course! A winged monster, technically. Haven't you ever seen a centaur before?"

  The girl shook her head. "No."

  "Your elm must be far from civilization!"

  "What's an elm?"

  "A tree, of course."

  "We don't have many trees in the World of Two Moons. At least, not ones I can see well." She looked around, blinking. "Are those trees?"

  "Yes, of course. It's all forested here. But how can you not have an elm? All elves—"

  "I don't have an elm, not even a wolf friend, though I think one day I will be with Lone Wolf. So right now I just have a cat," the girl said, "who finds things, but gets lost, which is how I met him, because there aren't any others like him in our world—and this time I think I'm lost too, because this is a very strange place."

  "But all elves are associated with elms!" Chex protested. "Where did you say you were from?"

  "My holt is at—"

  "Your what?"

  "My holt. It's—"

  Chex realized that something was not merely odd, it was decidedly strange, just as Grundy had said. "I think we had better start over. Let's introduce ourselves. You are.?"

  "Jenny of the World of Two Moons."

  "And I am Chex Centaur of Xanth. Now I think we should—" She broke off, because she had noticed something even stranger. "Are those your ears?"

  The child touched her left ear. "Yes. Is something wrong?" "It's pointed!"

  Jenny was perplexed. "Aren't yours?"

  "No. Can't you see?"

  "Your head is sort of fuzzy, from here."

  So it was true: the elf could not see well at a distance. "My dear, we must get you some spectacles," Chex said. It was as if she had to mother someone, while her foal was missing. "We have a spectacle bush here, and we haven't harvested any of its fruit, so there are plenty." She led the elf to it. "They correct vision, and fit magically, of course. Here, try this pair." She picked it and set it on Jenny's face, carefully. It was rather big for her, but the side pieces closed around her head and hooked behind her phenomenally pointed ears. Her hair had masked the effect somewhat before, but now there was no doubt. There were no ears in Xanth like that! Not on humanoid folk.

  Jenny's eyes grew even bigger than they naturally were, magnified by the spectacles. "I can see everything!" she exclaimed, amazed.

  "Well of course. That's what spectacles do. They enable you to see every spectacle in sight. I'm surprised you didn't have a pair before."

  "There are none at home," Jenny said, lifting a hand to touch the amazing device.

  Chex was surprised yet again. "Your hand—you're missing a finger!"

  Jenny looked at her hand. "No I'm not. All four are there."

  "But other elves have five fingers!" Chex protested. "All humanoids do. See, I have five." She held forth her hand.

  Jenny stared. "How odd!"

  "You're really not from Xanth!" Chex said, realizing why the girl was confused. "You look like an elf, but you're quite different in detail."

  Jenny shrugged. "I guess you can call me an elf if you want," she said. "I'm just a person, really."

  "Yes, of course. But here in Xanth you are considered an elf. How did you get here?"

  "I didn't see." Which made sense. How could she have seen where she was going, if she could not make out details of the landscape as she passed them? She was as lost as Che!

  "I think you will have to stay here until we find out what happened," Chex decided. "You are here looking for a feather, and I am looking for the one that feather came from, my lost foal, Che. Now perhaps we should—"

  But she broke off, because at that point the little cat came alive and bolted for the forest. "Sammy!" Jenny cried, running after him. "Wait for me! You'll get lost again!"

  "Jenny!" Chex cried in turn. "You'll both get lost! That forest's dangerous!"

  But cat and elf were already disappearing into the jungle, heedless of the danger. Chex realized that they must have come through it, somehow escaping the predators.

  "We'd better find her," Grundy said. "Maybe it's coincidence that she appeared right when Che disappeared, but maybe not."

  Chex hadn't thought of that. Could her foal have been turned into—? No, impossible! But it was true that this was a remarkably strange business.

  She trotted to the center of the glade, spread her wings, and leaped into the air as she smacked her body with her tail. In a moment she was climbing up past the trees. She flew over them in the direction the elf girl had gone, but the canopy was too thick and she could see neither the ground nor anything on it. They were gone.

  "We can alert the others about the elf," Grundy said. "If she really is from elsewhere, she can't stay hidden long."

  Chex agreed, but remained disquieted. Why should a strange elf girl show up here, right at this time?

  She looped about and glided back to the glade. She had better things to do than loop helplessly around the forest! She had to find Che and could not afford to waste her time or energy pursuing strangers. But it was certainly a curious encounter!

  Chapter 2. Jenny's Journey

  Jenny ran after the cat. "Wait for me! You'll get lost again!" But of course Sammy didn'
t listen; he never did. He wasn't trying to run away from her, he just got so caught up in whatever he was chasing that he lost track of everything else and often got himself into trouble. She couldn't let that happen; they were already in a very strange region, and if it got any stranger they might never find their way out!

  Sammy plunged into the thickest foliage of the jungle. Jenny had no choice but to plunge in after him, though the brush threatened to ruin whatever remained of her clothing. It was bad enough getting her hair all tangled in a knot from burrs and things in her desperate effort to keep up. If she ever lost sight of him, she might never catch him again!

  She heard the centaur lady calling after her. "That forest's dangerous!" That was the strangest looking creature Jenny had ever seen, like an animal and a bird and a woman all jammed together, but she seemed nice. She had a foal, she had said, which meant she was somebody's mother, and that was a good sign. Mothers were a class unto themselves, a good class. It had been very nice of her to find the magic spectacles; Jenny had never known such things existed. They made all the difference in this strange world! But she just couldn't stay and talk when Sammy was taking off.

  She tore through the brush, and in a moment spied Sammy ahead of her, running up a slope, dodging around bushes that grew pretty colored pillows. Pillows? That was crazy; pillows didn't grow on bushes, they had to be made of bird down and cloth, sewn together and all. When the hunters and their wolf friends brought back birds for eating, they always saved the feathers. Nothing was wasted. But those certainly did look like pillows growing!

  Sammy ran on over a ridge and down the other side. Here there were cornlike plants, with their ears getting ripe. Jenny brushed by one, and it exploded, sending bits of puffed corn out. It was popcorn! She snatched some out of the air and stuffed it in her mouth, because she was hungry after chasing Sammy this far.

  Now the cat got on a nice little path through the jungle, leading to a giant tree with hanging tentacles.

  "No, Sammy!" Jenny cried in alarm. She had seen one of those trees before. The tentacles had tried to grab her, and she had been lucky to escape them. In fact she had lost her knife in the process, which upset her considerably. "Don't go near that tree!" At least now she could recognize it from a distance, instead of blundering into it. She would have to thank Chex for the spectacles, once Sammy stopped and they could go back.