It turned out to be a normal house, with wooden walls and a thatched roof. Still, that did not guarantee that its occupant was friendly. But Kim was so tired that she did the easy thing: she hoped for the best. She approached the door and knocked, while Nada waited nearby in serpent form.
The door opened. A woman stood there. She was absolutely repulsive. She opened her warty face. "Yes?" she said in a voice like gravel in a gearbox.
Kim glanced down at Bubbles. The dog hadn't barked. That suggested that this woman was not a menace. She might even be a decent person, under all mat piled-on ugliness. "I'm—I'm a traveler, looking for an easy route to the Good Magician's castle," Kim said hesitantly. "I wondered if—"
"Why, you poor girl the woman graveled. "You look so tired and hungry! You must come in and have a bit to eat!"
Kim glanced again at Bubbles. Still no objection. She decided to trust the dog's judgment. "Thank you,” she said. "I'm Kim. This is Bubbles. May she come in too?”
"Of course, dear, if she's housebroken."
Kim realized that she didn't know about that "I—“ she started doubtfully.
"Oh, that's all right; I’ll clean it up if there's a problem. I'm Ma Anathe. I love to have visitors, but I receive so few."
They entered the house. It was larger inside than outside, which was possible in a magic land. It was neatly arranged, and clean.
"Let me serve you some gruel," Anathe grated, as if rocks were caught in a grinder. "It is simple, but all I have."
"I'm sure it will do," Kim said doubtfully. She took her place at the wooden table.
Anathe set a wooden bowl of gruel before her, and another down on the floor for Bubbles. The dog lapped hers appreciatively, once again reassuring Kim. So she took the wooden spoon and tried a cautious sip—and it was good. It definitely was not gruel and unusual punishment
"Now, about your trip to the Good Magician's castle," Anathe graveled. She seemed to have only those two tones: grate and gravel. "You must get on the enchanted path—"
"I can't" Kim said apologetically. "I'm—I'm a Player in a game, and I have to take my chances."
"Oh, so that's why you are so far into nowhere!" the woman grated. "That's why you are visiting old Anathe Ma! You're desperate."
Kim considered her response. Some diplomacy was in order. "It is true. But if I had known how nice you are, I would have visited anyway."
"That's sweet of you to say," Anathe said sourly. "I don't know much about this game, but I know better than to interfere with demons. If they say you can't use the enchanted paths, then you had best avoid them. That means you will have trouble crossing Kiss Mee."
"Yes," Kim agreed. The gruel was making her sleepy. She saw that it had the same effect on Bubbles, who was going into a dognap.
"Unfortunately that will route you past the foundry," Anathe continued. "The centaurs may be difficult. They don't like strangers there."
She continued to talk, but Kim was just too tired and sleepy to listen. She put her head on the table and slept.
She woke to the sound of Nada Naga's human voice. "What have you done with her? I warn you, if you have hurt her—you're not one of the game challenges, so you have no call to—"
"Hush, woman!" Anathe granted. "Your friend is just sleeping. How could you let her get so tired? And her poor dog, too—that animal is too old for prolonged adventure."
Kim was about to raise her head, to reassure Nada. But something made her wait. She had not chosen Nada as her Companion; Dug had. She had gone along when he offered to trade, but she had never been quite sure this was legitimate. So while Nada certainly seemed to be a nice person and a competent Companion, Kim had just the slightest guilty tinge of doubt about her. Would Nada do the same job for her as she would have for Dug? So she was curious how Nada would react when Kim seemed to be in trouble.
"Did you give them a magic potion?" Nada demanded. "The demons won't like it if—"
"No potion!" Anathe graveled. "Just good, simple gruel, with a tiny drop of healing elixir. It was all I had. They were both ready to collapse when they came here. I couldn't let them go on like that. If you're supposed to be helping them, you should be ashamed."
Nada stroked across the chamber to the table. "Kim! Are you all right?"
Now Kim lifted her head. She felt somewhat refreshed. It had indeed been good gruel. "I'm all right. I was just so tired, I must have fallen asleep."
"Are you sure?" Nada herself look unsure.
"Yes. Anathe is very nice. Her gruel is very good." Kim reached down to pat Bubbles, who was now also awake. The dog wagged her tail.
Nada did a visible reassessment. Then she turned to Anathe. "I think I owe you an apology. I assumed—"
"Don't bother," the woman grated. "I understand. Everyone thinks that I must be as evil as I look. It is why I live alone."
"Appearances can be deceptive," Nada agreed awkwardly.
"Yes. Few would believe you are a serpent woman."
Now Nada was startled. "How did you know that?"
Anathema smiled. The effect was horrendous. "There are old pine needles in your hair, but none on your clothing, so you weren't rolling on the ground. You must have been in another shape. A werewolf would have walked over the fallen needles, but a serpent would be right down in them. I knew that a lovely young woman like you would not be guarding a person unless she was sure of her power. I have heard about the naga folk. You must have been in serpent form, and just changed."
"True." Nada brought out a comb and ran it through her lustrous gray-brown hair. Several needles fell out, as well as some bits of thread. "There are those who see me in serpent form and are horrified."
"At least you can change your form."
Nada nodded. "You have no magic to compensate?"
"My talent is making good gruel."
There didn't seem to be much help there. "Well, thank you," Nada said. "We must be on our way."
"Yes. I was just telling Kim the route. You must try to get past the foundry without aggravating the centaurs."
"We shall try," Nada said.
"But how can we repay you for the gruel?" Kim asked, standing.
"The pleasure of your brief company was enough," Anathe graveled. She bent down to pat Bubbles' head, and the dog wagged her tail. Then, in a murmur only Kim could hear: "Be watchful, girl; I fear something is afoot."
They left, and resumed their travel west. There was a path from the house, which made it much easier. Kim continued to feel better, as if the gruel had a developing effect as it was digested. Bubbles, too, was more alert.
Then Kim realized something. The dog had accepted Ma Anathe's pat. She had shied away from all others before, except for Kim herself. Bubbles had been right that the woman was not evil, and the dog even liked her, in her nondemonstrative fashion. That was most interesting. Especially since Bubbles was just as cautious about Nada as she was about anyone else.
And Anathe Ma had warned her about something. Kim might have dismissed it, but she trusted the dog's instinct. Anybody Bubbles trusted enough to receive a pat from had to be taken seriously. But what should she be watchful for? She didn't know, and probably Anathe had not known either; it was just intuition. But it aligned with Kim's own. Something was subtly not right.
All she could do was follow the advice: to be watchful. That she would.
The path wound along through the forest as if it had not a care in the world. Sometimes it made a straight rigid backbone, while at other times it practiced sinuous curves. It flirted with a big tangle tree, but stayed just out of reach. Once it set a couple of muddy puddles for unwary feet.
Bubbles hesitated, looking nervous. Kim was learning the signs; the dog was shy about most people, especially strangers, and barked when there was danger. She ignored most objects, but distrusted those that were unusual. So there must be something unusual here.
She saw a patch of flowers beside the path. But they were strange, even for Xanth. They were grotesquel
y ugly, and they smelted worse. Yet she recognized them as roses. They had the general configuration of roses, but somehow gave the opposite impression. Perhaps that was because they were the color of barf with the smell of puke. Beyond them were regular roses, pretty and sweet-smelling; only one circular patch was ugly.
Kim paused. Could this be a garden cultivated by Anathe? But the woman did not have an ugly house or personality, and her gruel had been good; why should she have ugly roses? There must be some other explanation.
Then she saw a single small chip of wood in the middle of the ugly patch. It looked like a fragment of the heart of pine, the kind her dad had used to start a fire hi the fireplace, because it had so much clotted sap that it burned like a torch.
Suddenly it clicked. "Reverse wood!" she cried. She stooped to pick it up.
"Be careful!" Nada exclaimed. “That could be dangerous!"
"Not to me," Kim replied. "I'm a Mundane. I have no magic. As far as I know, reverse wood reverses magic, not mundane things."
Nada looked doubtful, but did not protest. Kim picked up the chip, and sure enough, it did not hurt her or change her perception. But the roses that had been in its vicinity were already changing, becoming as lovely as the ones beyond the range of the chip. They were magic blue roses, with chocolate perfume; the magic had been reversed by the wood.
She held the chip down for Bubbles to sniff. The dog evinced no fear of it; apparently it had been the reversed roses that had bothered her. She was evidently Mundane, like Kim, so that chip didn't affect her directly.
That sent Kim into a brief spell of wondering. If Bubbles was of Mundane origin, how had she gotten into that floating bubble? Mundania did not have any magical trash disposal. Well, maybe sometime she would learn the answer.
Kim tucked the chip into a pocket. She was sure it would come in handy, in due course. After all, this was the game; things didn't happen just by accident. Maybe a dragon would try to toast her with fire, and the wood would turn it to cool water. The chip was surely the key to an upcoming challenge.
There was a dim sound ahead, but it grew brighter as they approached it. It sounded like metal being pounded.
They came to a cabin formed from knotted trees. "That's an ogre den," Nada said, alarmed.
Kim had had more than enough experience with ogres. She looked for a way to bypass the cabin. But again the jungle closed in thickly, making it impossible to deviate from the path. They would have to chance it. "Maybe those ogres aren't looking for trouble," she said with faint hope.
"Peaceful ogres? That's an oxymoron!"
But Bubbles wasn't barking, and that was a positive sign. As Anathe had shown, not all ugly folk were bad. Anyway, the way she was being channeled here suggested that it was another challenge. So she would just have to handle it. Watchfully.
The sound turned out to be an ogre pounding centaur shoes. These were not like people shoes; they were U-shaped bits of metal. Sparks flew up with each blow, and the metal turned red-hot. There was no forge; the ogre's blows were so hard that the heat came directly from them.
Kim wanted to try to sneak past without the ogre noticing, but knew that the game would never let her get away with that. Sure enough, in a moment the ogre looked up and saw her. "See she!" he roared.
But Bubbles didn't bark, so Kim stood her ground. In a moment an ogress came from the house. Or was she an ogress? There was something exceedingly odd about her, and in a moment Kim realized what it was: she wasn't ugly. She was at worst ordinary. No fangs. No hairy nose. Just a reasonably homely countenance. Kim had heard of only one un-ugly ogress in Xanth, but this one wasn't she. Was it possible that there were two of them? What was ogredom coming to!
The ogress looked at Kim. Simultaneously, Bubbles growled. That meant trouble.
The ogress did not seem threatening. She smiled and stepped toward them. But Bubbles whined and hid behind Kim.
Was this the danger Anathe had warned her about? Was the pretty ogress smiling to cover some sinister plot? What could it be? The woman was making no threatening gestures.
Nada Naga stepped in front of Kim. "Stop there, ogress," she said firmly.
But the ogress didn't stop. She just kept smiling and advancing. Nada, annoyed, strode forward to intercept her. "What are you up to?" Nada demanded.
"I just want to touch you," the ogress said, extending her hand.
"Why?" Nada asked, with understandable mistrust.
"I just have to do it," the woman said. Then she lunged forward, and her hand touched Nada.
Immediately Nada changed. Not to serpent form; she became ugly. In fact, she was as hideous as Ma Anathe. The ogre woman, in contrast, became radiantly beautiful.
"Oh, ugh!" Nada cried, realizing what had happened. She changed to serpent form, but that didn't help; she was an ugly reptile.
Kim now had some understanding of the threat. But she didn't care. "Hey, change her back!" she cried, advancing on the ogress.
"I can't," the ogress wailed. "I want to, but I can't. It's my curse."
"What do you mean, you can't?" Kim demanded. "If you can enchant a person, you can break the enchantment, can't you?"
"No I can't. It is my talent to make others ugly. To take their beauty for myself. I have to do it; I can't stop myself. And it ruins me, because no ogre will marry a pretty ogress. Father has been trying to get me married off for years, but every time I start to get suitably ugly, some pretty girl comes along and ruins it." She broke into tears, which was a decidedly unogrish thing to do.
Kim's mind was chugging along with a high compression ratio. Was this the challenge? If so, there was a way to handle it. Suddenly she knew what that way was.
“Take this," she said, bringing out the chip of reverse wood. “Touch her again."
The beautiful ogress took the chip, confused. She poked a lovely finger at the serpent, as if afraid it would get bitten off. Nada, realizing that Kim was onto something, remained still, and allowed herself to be touched.
Suddenly the serpent was beautiful, and the ogress was mediocre. The effect had been reversed!
"Oh!" the ogress exclaimed, delighted. "What fine magic! What is it?"
"It is reverse wood," Kim explained. "It reverses the effect of your magic."
"You mean that with it, the ones I touch will become pretty while I turn ugly? Oh, this will change my whole life! I must have it. What do you want for it?"
"Oh, I just found it by the path," Kim said. "You can have it. But I can tell you something you might like to do. In there is a woman in a house to the east who is very ugly. She—"
"Yes, Anathe Ma! I have always envied her ugliness."
"Touch her with the chip, and her ugliness will be yours."
"Oh, I will!" the ogress cried. "Father, I must run. But when I return, I'll be truly ogrish!" She ran off down the path. Before long the ogress would be phenomenally ugly, and a kind old woman would be beautiful. It seemed fitting.
Kim picked up Nada's clothes and put them in her pack. Nada continued in serpent form, as there was a male in view.
They paused by the laboring ogre. He ignored them. Bubbles did not seem unduly distressed, so Kim figured he was not a threat to them. She had the feeling that there was more here to be gleaned. This work must be connected to the foundry, and she would have to pass the foundry.
The ogre was doing impressive work. His centaur shoes were minor works of metallic art, and were surely a great help for those centaurs who required them. But what was there here that might help her handle the foundry?
The ogre pounded. A hot fragment of metal tore free and spun into the ground almost by Kim's feet. She stepped back, not wanting to be burned—then reconsidered, and stepped back to where she was. She picked up two sticks and used them to pick up the cooling metal. It was almost in the shape of a crude key.
A key. Could be. Just as the chip of reverse wood had helped solve a problem, this might help solve another. When she encountered that problem. She had th
e answer; now all she needed was me question. Maybe.
She found a heavy leaf, and set the key in that. Then she folded the leaf around it, and put mat in her pocket where the reverse wood chip had been. "Thank you, ogre," she said.
"Girl some welcome," he grunted, continuing his labors.
Kim walked on, satisfied. She had the feeling that she was making progress in the game.
But had she taken care of the thing Anathe had warned her about? She wasn't sure.
Once they were beyond the ill-kempt view of the ogre shoemaker, Nada returned to human form. She was completely lovely again. There was no doubt of this, because she was bare. Every charm practically scintillated. Kim gave her back her clothing, stifling another surge of jealousy. Oh, to look like that! "I think I found a way to thank Anathe for her kindness," she said. "Now she will look as nice as she is."
"I'm just glad you had the reverse wood chip," Nada said. "I have no desire to be an unbeautiful beast"
Neither did Kim. But magic wasn't going to make her beautiful. She would always be a distinctly ordinary girl. In and out of the game.
They moved on. There was a sign ahead: FOUNDRY. "I hope this is the last challenge before we reach the Good Magician's castle," Kim said. "I like Xanth, but I'm getting tired of constantly exercising my brain and body."
"It has been wearing for me too," Nada said. "No offense."
"How did you get to be a Companion?" Kim asked. She had read the Xanth books, but couldn't remember that detail. "Did you volunteer?"
"No, I committed an indiscretion in the realm of the gourd, and was required to pay for it in this manner. Jenny is serving her year for the Good Magician, having done a favor for a friend."
"Well, at least you get to stay in Xanth. Dug and I have to leave, when our games are over."
"But you can return to play again."
"Yes. But it's not quite the same. I wish I could live here all the time."
"All Mundanes do."
They crested a hill, and there in the next valley was the foundry: a huge building surrounded by centaurs. Many of them were lying down; others were standing, but seemed uncomfortable.
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