Faun & Games

by Piers Anthony

  Why don't they cross in toward the castle?”

  “When the margins are laid down, they seem to exert control over whatever they enclose,” Grey said. “The inanimate things remain as they were, but the animate things become ghostly. You are the first folk to pass through them and reach us, since the marginalization began a few weeks ago. On occasion we have seen birds from elsewhere fly in, but soon they drop into a marginalized segment and become ghostly.”

  “But then that should have happened to us, too,” Imbri said.

  “We would have thought so,” Ivy agreed. “But we are very glad you got through.”

  “The blanket!” Forrest exclaimed. “It must have helped.”

  “Blanket?” Princess Ida asked.

  “He has a blanket of obscurity that Cathryn Centaur gave us,” Imbri said.

  “Cathryn!” Eve said, her dark eyes brightening like stars. “Is she all right?”

  “Yes, she's fine,” Imbri answered. “She's the one who told us to come to you twins. But how do you know her, since you live beyond her limit of old age?”

  Eve smiled. “Our From limit comes close to her To limit. We used to explore that way, and we met her. We were so small that we had gotten lost, but she called out to us and directed us back To, so that we were all right.”

  “So we like her, and feel that we owe her a service,” Dawn said. “But we have found no way to render it.”

  “That must be why she sent us to you,” Forrest said. “She knew that you would help us in our search, since she couldn't.”

  “Search?” Eve asked.

  “I am looking for a faun for a tree in Xanth. That is what brought us to Ptero. Everything else constitutes the complications of that search.”

  “Things do get complicated,” King Ivy agreed. “By any chance, did the Good Magician in Xanth send you to Ptero?”

  “Yes,” Forrest agreed. “And the Good Magician in Ptero sent us-” He paused. “Why, he must have chained himself, I mean, made a chain from himself to himself, to get help to you from Xanth!

  He sent us to his other self, here, and then-” He paused, momentarily confused by the complication of it.

  “It isn't easy to fathom Humfrey's ways,” Grey agreed. “But they always make sense at the end. I came to appreciate that during the years when I worked for him.”

  “But I'm still just a faun,” Forrest said. “I can't do any special magic, and I don't know a whole lot. How could I possibly succeed, where Magicians and Sorceresses have failed?”

  “If the Good Magician believes you can succeed, then I'm sure it's true,” Grey said. Then he looked thoughtful. “Tell me, Forrest: do you happen to know Princess Ida's talent?”

  “Yes. It's the Idea.”

  “Too bad,” King Ivy muttered.

  “What?” Forrest asked, startled.

  Grey raised a hand. “My wife was thinking of something else. Allow me, if you will, to explore this just a bit further. Do you know how Ida's talent actually works?”

  “Yes. Her moon is a solidification of all the ideas associated with Xanth. It's where they are stored. That's why we are here: in pursuit of an idea. The idea of a faun who can associate with my neighboring tree.”

  Ivy looked up, seeming interested.

  “And that is the extent of it?” Grey asked. “It's just the moon?”

  What was the point of this? “Yes, as far as I know. Am I being stupid about something?”

  “By no means,” Grey said quickly. “No one can be expected to know what he hasn't seen and hasn't been told.”

  “I suppose so,” Forrest agreed. He glanced at Imbri, but she averted her gaze. That bothered him. He looked at the twin girls, and they averted their gazes too. “There is something, isn't there!”

  “There is something you don't know, but it is no fault in you,” Grey said carefully.

  “So why don't you tell me what it is, so I won't be so stupid?”

  “You are not stupid, you are merely ignorant of something, as anyone in your situation would be. I shall be glad to tell you, but I would like to establish something first.”

  This was getting annoying. Forrest didn't like games where everyone else knew what he didn't, and shared a smug superiority because of it.

  “Establish what?”

  “I would like to ascertain whether you agree with my point about the Good Magician.”

  “That it isn't easy to fathom his ways? Yes, I agree.”

  “And that since he seems to believe that you can succeed in this mission to Ptero, it must be true.”

  “Yes, I suppose, though he seems more devious than he has to be.”

  “So you too believe that you will succeed.”

  What was with all this circuitous dialogue? “Yes! I don't know how I'll succeed, but I probably will.”

  “I'm sure you will,” Ida agreed.

  “Thank you, Princess.” Forrest turned his attention back to Magician Consort Grey. “So what is it I don't know, aside from how to live up to the Good Magician's expectation?”

  “The rest of the nature of Princess Ida's talent. It is true that it is the Idea, but that is not the whole of it. It is that anything she accepts as true, is true, and she is glad to agree with the beliefs of others.”

  “That's nice,” Forrest said, glancing at Ida. “But isn't that true of anybody? I don't accept anything as true that I know is not true, after all.”

  “But you could be mistaken.”

  “Yes. Anyone could.”

  “Princess Ida is never mistaken.”

  This was odd. “But anyone can be confused, or have wrong information, at some point.”

  “Not Ida. When she accepts an idea, it is true. That is her talent.”

  “But-” Forrest looked again at the princess. “No offense, Princess. But so what?”

  “Since she agrees that you will succeed in your mission, you will succeed,” Grey said. “That is her talent. Her reality becomes our reality.”

  A pale gleam dawned. “As a Sorceress, she makes things come true,” Forrest said. “That really helps. But why didn't she just decide that one of you could overcome this marginalization? Why bring an ignorant faun into it?”

  “Because the idea has to come from someone who doesn't know her talent.”

  Forrest pondered that. All of them obviously knew Princess Ida well.

  Even Imbri had known the Princess before. Only Forrest himself hadn't known her talent, though he had thought he did. So only his own belief in the success of his mission counted. His ignorance had been his greatest asset. “So now I will succeed,” he said slowly. “But what I believe after this won't count, because now I know the true nature of Princess Ida's talent.”

  “That's it,” Grey agreed. “But it is enough. That assurance guarantees not only your personal success, but the salvation of the whole human complement of Ptero. Until this point, we have had to face the prospect of extinction.”

  Forrest was amazed, and not completely pleased. “So I was sent here because of what I didn't know, so that you could persuade me that I could succeed, so that it would become possible for me to succeed, thanks to Princess Ida, so that you could escape your fate.”

  “Oh, don't be so poopy about it,” Dawn said.

  “We'll make it up to you,” Eve added. Both of them inhaled.

  “You will not!” Electra snapped.

  They burst into mirth. Even Forrest had to laugh at that. The prospect of working with them was beginning to seem not so bad. At least they were cheerful, and surely their talents were worthwhile.

  “So now it seems we all know where we stand,” King Ivy said. “We have no better notion than you do how to proceed from here, but we will give you any support you need.”

  “Thank you,” Forrest said. “I suppose I should consult with the girls and see if we can develop any strategy for dealing with the margins.”

  “Sure, let's go to the bedroom right away,” Dawn said brightly.

  “I'll tu
rn down the sheets,” Eve agreed darkly.

  “Girls!” Electra said severely. “When I was your age, at least I had some manners.”

  “Mom, when you were our age, you were married,” Dawn said. “And exploring the Adult Conspiracy.”

  “And in blue jeans, too,” Eve added. “While we wear dresses.”

  She spun about, causing her skirt to rise dangerously. “Now it's our turn, while we're lush and full.”

  “Of all the ages to be stuck in,” Electra moaned. “You're impossible.

  “Oh come on Mom,” Dawn said. “You enjoyed signaling the stork to order us. Admit it.”

  “Maybe the Tapestry room,” Imbri suggested. “If it's not being used. So you can show us exactly where things are.”

  “Oh, we can do that without the Tapestry,” Dawn said serenely, tugging at her blouse. Eve tugged at her skirt. But this time King Ivy added her glare to that of Electra, and the two decided to behave.

  They went to the Tapestry room. Forrest was almost afraid that he would see himself lying on the bed there, but it was empty. The four of them sat on the bed, facing the Tapestry. Forrest found himself flanked by Dawn & Eve, their soft hips touching his. He was uncomfortable, but pretended not to notice. He knew they were having innocent fun with him, and didn't mean what they hinted.

  “Can the Tapestry show the margins?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Dawn said. She was usually the first to speak, and Eve the last. “There they are.”

  A pattern of lines appeared on the picture. They crisscrossed the valley, forming a giant circle. Castle Roogna was in the center of the portion that remained clear. The lines extended out to the pun strips that bordered the human territory, and stopped there. None seemed to be near the Good Magician's castle, however.

  “So the attack is limited to the human region,” Forrest said, trying to proceed intelligently despite his continuing awareness of the maidenly hips touching him. He tried to think of the girls as the little ones he had first seen, but it just didn't work; they were big girls now.

  “Yes,” Eve agreed somberly. “Even the margins can't stand the puns.

  “Imbri and I thought the pattern resembles a game played by invisible giants,” he said. “Tossing knives.”

  “Oh, you're so smart!” Dawn exclaimed, nudging him.

  He was determined not to be falsely flattered. “Do you have invisible giants here?”

  “Sure,” Eve agreed soberly. “But they haven't done anything like this before.”

  “In any event, they wouldn't have magic like this,” Imbri pointed out.

  “Who would have magic like this?”

  “We don't know,” Dawn said.

  “Maybe an evil Wizard,” Eve added.

  “Not a Magician or Sorcerer?” he asked.

  “We don't think there are any left,” Dawn explained. “So it must be something non-human.”

  Forrest nodded. “That makes sense to me.”

  Both girls turned their heads to look at him. “You mean you're taking one of our suggestions seriously?” Eve asked.

  Forrest was taken aback. “Shouldn't I? You both know more about this situation than I do.”

  “Nobody ever took us seriously before,” Dawn said.

  Forrest began to get a glimmer why they tended to misbehave. “I'm supposed to advise you how to handle the marginalization. I can't do that if I don't take you seriously.”

  The two exchanged a glance, on either side of his face. It brushed his head, feeling like a caress. “You'll actually pay attention to our ideas?” Eve asked.

  “Yes, of course. What are they?”

  “We think the Wizard must be hiding in the hills somewhere, in an ugly castle, hating human beings because he's not pretty like us,” Dawn said.

  “And he's casting out margins to hem us in so we can't escape, so he can destroy us all,” Eve said.

  “ Then we should find him and stop him,” Forrest said. “But how?”

  “You got through the lines,” Dawn said. “So maybe you can take us through, so we can sneak up on him.”

  “But the lines are one way.”

  “We can't be sure of that,” Eve said uncertainly. “Maybe it just seems that way.”

  “But if even Grey Murphy couldn't dent them-”

  “We think maybe the Wizard is watching, and does something to strengthen a margin when one of us approaches it, to make us think we are trapped more solidly than we are,” Dawn said eagerly. “Maybe if we could go to a line without being noticed, we could get through it, or do something to it.”

  “Well, if my blanket of obscurity helps-”

  They clapped their hands in perfect unison. “Let's try it!” Eve said.

  “The worst we can do is fail.”

  “By all means,” Forrest agreed, pleased with the progress they were making. The twins were no longer trying to distract him; they were genuinely interested in the project.

  They went downstairs and to the front gate. There Forrest brought out the canned blanket and invoked it. Nothing seemed to happen, but he proceeded with confidence toward the margins.

  They stopped before the nearest line, which was red. “When Imbri and I came through, the lines were visible, but we couldn't touch them,” he said. “But we didn't try very hard. If your theory is right, we should be very quiet and careful, because the spell of obscurity may not be very strong. I don't know how far out it reaches, so we should remain closely grouped, too.”

  They clustered in close, the twins touching him on either side, but this time they were not trying to tease him. “It might also be that it's the margins themselves that react when people approach,” Dawn said. “So that you got through because they didn't know you were challenging them.”

  “That makes even more sense to me,” Forrest said. “The lines are here all the time, and if they have any awareness-”

  “The inanimate does have awareness,” Eve said. “I can talk to it, though not the way Grandpa Dor can. I will try to fathom the nature of the margins, if I am able to get close enough to make contact.”

  “You couldn't touch it, before?” Forrest asked.

  “It was just a blank nothing,” she said. “I reached out my hand, and it stopped as if meeting a wall, but there was nothing there. I can tell anything about anything inanimate, but this wasn't a thing, it was a force. I couldn't reach its substance, if it has any.”

  “Let's see if we can cross the line,” Forrest suggested. “Then let's explore it from the other side. But if we do succeed in crossing it, don't make any exclamations of joy or victory, because that might attract the attention of whatever brings down those birds who fly in. We don't want to be trapped as they were.”

  The two girls shuddered together. “We'll be very subdued,” Dawn said.

  “I'll go first,” Forrest decided. “Then you follow me, Dawn. Then Eve, then Imbri.”

  “But shouldn't someone remain on the other side, in case we are trapped?” Eve asked. “So she can tell the others what happened?”

  Forrest nodded. “Good point. Maybe Dawn should be last, so that both of you aren't at risk.”

  The twins exchanged another glance. Forrest noticed that their glances were identical, except that one was bright and the other dark, and met exactly in the center of the space between them. Then Dawn nodded.

  “When there is something animate to check, I'll cross first,” she said.

  Forrest reached across the space over the line. A faint shadow showed on his arm, but there was no resistance. He stepped across, and stood on the other side.

  Eve tried it next. She reached to the invisible wall, and found nothing, so she too stepped across. She looked back at her sister. “Can you hear me, Dawn?”

  “Yes,” Dawn agreed. “So we're doing it.”

  Imbri crossed. “Now let's see if you can analyze it from this side,” she said.

  Eve squatted so that she could touch the line on the ground. “It's still not-wait, it's very faint, bu
t I can feel something. It's not the thing, just the energy from it, which piles up at the ground. It-it's because it isn't projecting up from the ground, it's coming down from above.

  “Down from above!” Forrest echoed, surprised. “But there's nothing up there!

  Imbri looked up. “Nothing except Xanth. Is this an idea coming from Princess Ida in Xanth?”

  “She wouldn't do anything mean like this,” Dawn said. “We know her, she's nice.”

  “Then it must be from somewhere else,” Forrest said. “Can you trace it?”

  Eve moved her hand. “Maybe. It's energy, but I can feel the slightest tingle. It seems to go straight up from the shadow on the ground.

  “If it comes from above, it must come from somewhere,” Imbri said.

  “Ptero is turning, so shouldn't the shadow be moving across the ground?”

  The other three looked at her. “It should,” Dawn agreed. “So maybe it isn't coming from above.”

  “But it is,” Eve said. “I can tell.”

  “Maybe not from beyond Ptero,” Forrest suggested. “Could it curve or bend?”

  “That's it,” Eve said. “I can tell now; it turns a corner. I can feel that much from its nature. A corner that way.” She closed her eyes and pointed.

  “That's toward Castle Roogna!” Imbri said.

  “The enemy menace is in Castle Roogna?” Dawn asked, appalled. “But that's us.”

  “Could you have an enemy in your midst?” Forrest asked, feeling a chill.

  “No,” Dawn said. “There's only King Ivy and Consort Grey; they would never betray the human territory. After all, they govern it. There's mom-she'd never do it either. And Aunt Ida is Ivy's twin sister; she'd never do it. It isn't the two of us, either. And there's no one else in the castle, now; we know.”

  Forrest got a weird notion. “There could be others.”

  Eve looked at him. “We have explored every cranny of the castle, with our magic. There's no one.”

  “Have you explored Pyramid?”

  Both their mouths dropped open. “Pyramid!” Dawn said. “It's a whole separate world in itself! Anything could be there.”

  “Including even an evil Wizard,” Eve agreed. “We never thought of that.”