Xone of Contention

by Anthony, Piers

  “And we’ll do it your way. With children and home cooking.”

  “I—I don’t understand.”

  He had been too far away to overhear her dialogue with the guilt spook. She climbed into the boat and hugged him. “You will. But right now you’ll have to settle for me wet.”

  “Any way you want!” he agreed enthusiastically. “Here’s a towel.” He started drying her off, somewhat ineffectively.

  “Wrap her in a blanket,” Breanna suggested. “Meanwhile, we had better get on into the mountains.”

  “For sure,” Breanna said. She looked around. “Monica, time to get back in the boat.”

  The child came running back from the bushes. “Look what I found!”

  “First in, then tell,” Breanna said.

  The boat resumed his trek, while Edsel swathed Pia in a voluminous blanket so she could get out of her clothing and get thoroughly dry. She knew this wasn’t the occasion to go naked again.

  “So what did you find?” Breanna asked DeMonica.

  “A slug.”

  “Yuck!”

  The child laughed. “No, not a real slug. A fake slug. That pretends to be a coin or something. See, it takes any shape I want.” She held up a tiny dark disk. In her hand it shaped itself into a thimble, then a star.

  “Hey, that’s clever,” Edsel said. “Can I make it work too?”

  “Sure.” The child delighted in teaching the man how to do it. Edsel had always been good with children; it was Pia who hadn’t wanted any. Until now. If by any chance they had succeeded in getting the stork’s attention, she would keep what it brought her. Of course this was Xanth, and they were in borrowed bodies, so it didn’t count. But the principle was there. In Xanth or Mundania, she knew Edsel would be happy to cooperate.

  It was getting on time for her shot, but she didn’t feel the need. She pricked her finger and did the blood test, and it showed she was perfect. Could she really be rid of her ailment? That seemed too good to be true. Yet she continued to feel great, physically, and good mentally too. It was as if the healing spring had healed her emotions as well as her body. As if it had made her whole.

  They came into the region of snow. It was smaller and higher than it had been; more snow had melted. That meant that more water was flowing down to flood the valley. The Demon CoTwo needed to be stopped immediately. Which was of course why they had gone for the magic locket.

  “The locket!” Pia exclaimed. “Where’s Willow?”

  “She must have been delayed,” Breanna said. “She wouldn’t stand us up deliberately.”

  “But what if CoTwo comes?”

  “Don’t speak his name!” Breanna said.

  Too late. A dark swirling cloud formed. “Did I hear my name?” the voice of the demon came.

  “We’re in for it now,” Breanna said darkly.

  “You got that right, Blackwave darling,” the demon said, as his tawny body took muscular shape. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from here?”

  “I’ll distract him,” Edsel said, jumping out of the boat. “You get out of range.”

  Para turned, ready to flee.

  “Not so fast, quackfoot,” CoTwo said, reaching out to hook a huge finger into the back so as to hold the boat in place. “I think you would make excellent kindling.”

  “I’ll distract him,” Pia said, scrambling out, her blanket still around her. “To stall for time.”

  The demon gazed down at her. “What have we here? A shrouded nymph?”

  “A shrouded woman,” Pia said bravely. She opened the front of her blanket.

  “Well well! Aren’t you the shapely one. What are you up to, sensual creature?” He lifted his finger from the boat, and it scooted away. But then he aimed a blast of air at it, and boat and remaining occupants tumbled headlong into the river.

  But Pia couldn’t help them. She had to distract the demon long enough to give Willow time to bring the magic locket. How could she do that? She knew only one way. “I—I’ll dance for you,” she said.

  “Indeed you shall,” CoTwo agreed. He reached out, caught the edge of her blanket between thumb and forefinger, and jerked. The blanket whipped away, and set Pia madly spinning.

  She caught her balance. Now she was naked, for there had not been time for her clothing to dry; the blanket was her clothing. She didn’t even have her panties on, so couldn’t freak out the demon, assuming that demons could be so freaked. But she had to carry through.

  She started to dance, making her hips shift and her flesh jiggle. She had the best shape of her life, and it seemed the best health of her life, thanks to her sixteen year old body and the loss of her diabetes. She could impress any man—but the demon was not exactly a man. Could she distract him long enough?

  She whirled and bounced and lifted a leg fetchingly, giving it her all. Where was Willow?

  “You’re pretty good,” CoTwo said. “In fact I think I’ll keep you.”

  “Keep me?” She didn’t like the sound of that.

  “You came back when I sent you away. You are trying to stall me so your friends can escape. But you do have an interesting shape. So I will subject you to a fate worse than death.”

  She had been too successful in diverting him. Now he wanted her for storkish purposes. Pia tried to run, but the demon’s arm stretched out impossibly long, and his hand became huge. It caught her around the torso, not hard but very firm. It lifted her into the air, so that her bare legs dangled.

  As with the Guilt monster, she could not escape. She had to tackle it directly. But she knew that vowing to be a better person would not have much effect this time. So she pretended confusion. “Worse than—?”

  “Are you a masochist?”

  “No way!”

  “Excellent. Because I am a sadist. I am going to bind you in chains, and whip you, and force you unwillingly to serve my pleasure at your great discomfort dozens of times a day until I tire of you. Then I’ll break you and throw you away.”

  If he had intended to frighten her, he had succeeded. Pia screamed. She couldn’t help it, though she knew that was what the demon wanted.

  CoTwo smiled. There was nothing nice about it. “Yes, scream, my fair little toy. Scream in anticipation, because the reality will be much worse.” The arm contracted, bringing her closer.

  As she tried dizzily to free herself, her eye caught a glimpse of something in the sky. It looked like a bird, a plane—no, a winged elf. Willow was arriving!

  All she had to do was stall a little more. Pia forced a sexy smile. “No, I’m sure the reality will be much better. You’re quite a figure of a creature.”

  “Don’t try to fool me, precious. I will make you scream in physical and emotional pain.” The huge fingers contracted cruelly, showing that this was no bluff. She was already hurting.

  “But—but don’t you want me smiling?” she gasped. “Obliging your every foolish whim?”

  “Obliging, yes. Smiling, no. I like my toys to suffer.”

  “Not so fast, hot stuff!” It was Edsel.

  CoTwo looked. So did Pia. Edsel was advancing on the demon, holding the magic locket before him. She remembered that the locket had to be close to the object before it could be invoked. Could Edsel get close enough?

  The demon dropped Pia like a squeezed sponge and focused on the man. “What do you propose to do about it?” CoTwo demanded.

  “I am going to put you inside this magic locket,” Edsel said evenly. “Just as soon as I get you into its range.”

  “Ed, don’t tell him that!” Pia cried from the ground. But she was being foolish, because he already had told, giving away the element of surprise.

  “Fascinating,” the demon said. “That really is the magic locket. I thought it was lost centuries ago along with the other Hinge artifacts. Where did you find it?”

  “Demon Ted and DeMonica found it,” Edsel said, carefully aiming the front of the locket at CoTwo. “We recovered it from the Fanta Sea. It’s the one thing that will stop you, be
cause when invoked, it puts whatever it is aimed at within, and even a demon can’t escape. Once you are safely inside, you will stay there, and only a little of your substance will remain outside. Not enough to warm Xanth much. The mountains will cool, and the glaciers will grow again, and the valley below will no longer flood, and the trees will prosper.”

  “What are you—an environmentalist nut or something like that?” CoTwo asked derisively.

  “Something like that,” Edsel agreed. He was close to the demon now.

  “Don’t dally, Ed,” Pia cried. “Just do it!” Needless delay was sheer folly, when dealing with a brute like CoTwo.

  “It won’t work,” CoTwo said.

  “Oh? Why not?” Edsel held the locket up and opened his mouth, about to invoke it.

  The demon’s hand swept through the air so fast it left a glowing blurstreak. It snatched the locket from Edsel’s hand. “Because now I have the magic locket,” CoTwo said triumphantly.

  Pia screamed. She hated seeming like a helpless damsel, but that was what she had become.

  “No,” Edsel said, looking horrified. “What are you going to do?”

  “What do you think, foolish mortal? The same thing you were going to do to me. I’ll conjure you into the locket. Then I’ll make your girlfriend scream and scream as I ravish her. When she has suffered so much that she can’t scream any more, I will break her in half and put her into the locket for you to enjoy. What do you think of that?”

  “I can’t stand it!” Edsel cried, turning to run away.

  CoTwo leaped forward, bearing the locket. He aimed it at Edsel at close range. “In!” he said as Pia screamed again in sheer despair.

  There was an implosion as the locket took in substance. A cloud of smoke puffed around, obscuring the scene.

  Pia burst into tears. Not for herself, but for her lost husband. “Oh, Ed—you were so brave, and I’m so undeserving. I’ll never forget you or stop loving you.”

  The smoke dissipated. There stood Edsel. “That’s great,” he said.

  “Ed! You’re free!” She wasn’t sure she could believe it. She ran to hug him. “What happened? How did you—?”

  “Well, I outsmarted him. I—”

  But as he spoke, a horrible suspicion suffused her. Could this be the demon, emulating Edsel, to torment her further? She had to know.

  “Ed, who was I with, before I was with you?”

  He looked at her, surprised. “What has that got to do with the price of beans in Mundania?”

  “Just answer. Please.”

  “Dug, of course.”

  But the demon might have eavesdropped on prior conversations, and picked that up. “How did you get me?”

  “We made a bet. My motorcycle against his girlfriend. I won. So—”

  “It really is you!” She hugged him again, and kissed him ardently. She couldn’t remember ever before being so relieved.

  Willow Elf flew down. “I hate to interrupt, but I need the locket.”

  “For sure,” Edsel said. “But I’d better adjust it first.” He bent and lifted the locket from where it had fallen, and used his fingernail to pry off the front panel.

  “What are you doing?” Pia asked, amazed.

  “Well, I figured I couldn’t get close enough to CoTwo to conjure him in, so I faked him out. I used Monica’s slug to put this fake front on the back, so it was actually facing the opposite way it seemed to. Then—”

  “So he conjured himself inside!” Pia said. “Instead of you. That was brilliant, Ed. When he grabbed it, I thought—”

  “That was the idea. You really helped, Pia, because you believed.” He handed the locket to Willow. “Now it’s right. Remember to point it the right way when you invoke it.”

  “For sure,” Willow agreed, smiling. Then she spread her wings and ascended.

  Para Boat waddled up, carrying Justin and Breanna. “We need to get back to Com Passion’s cave, and let Para go,” the Black Wave girl said. “He’s done more than enough for us.”

  Ed looked at Pia. “You know, I just love holding a bare damsel like this. But maybe you’d be warmer in the blanket.”

  “For sure,” she agreed, kissing him again. “Oh, Ed, I love you. I really do, now.”

  “Ugh,” DeMonica said. “Are you two going to get mushy?”

  “For sure,” they said together, laughing.

  12

  WEATHER

  The storm seemed to have cleared the air. They packed their gear and rolled up their sleeping bags and started back along the trail. Their camping excursion would have to be cut short; they needed to get to a computer terminal and to the O-Xone before Dearth struck again.

  “Let me make sure I have this straight,” Kim said. “All you need is to connect with Ed and Pia via the Modemode, and switch back, at then it will all be over?”

  “Yes,” Chlorine said. “Once Nimby is back in his own body, in Xanth, Dearth can’t touch him.”

  “But couldn’t Dearth do something awful to Ed, for vengeance? Like stepping on a nuisance ant?”

  “Dearth wouldn’t bother. Nimby is all that matters. Once he escapes, the game is done, and Dearth will pay no further attention.”

  “Are you sure? That’s not the way a human person would react.”

  “Demons aren’t human. It took Nimby time and concentration to learn any human things, like dreaming. It doesn’t come naturally. He wouldn’t have done that, if he hadn’t gotten so closely involved with human folk, because of his wager. No other Demon has done that. They remain indifferent to antly affairs. It’s just not in a Demon to care what happens to Ed or Pia, one way or the other, when their bodies are no longer host to our spirits. They will be perfectly safe.”

  “That’s a relief,” Kim said.

  “But while Nimby and I remain here, Edsel and Pia’s bodies are definitely at risk,” Chlorine continued grimly. “Nimby would lose considerable status if his host body were killed while he was in it.”

  “Killed!”

  “As you said: stepping on an ant. Actually the body wouldn’t die as long as Nimby remained confined in it, but—”

  “But can that happen?” Kim asked with a shudder. “I mean, if it’s only weather that Dearth controls?”

  “Weather can become ugly.”

  “The weather is beautiful right now.”

  “But consider last night,” Dug said. “The way that storm came up, and washed out the one peg to collapse our tent and waterlog our computer. That impresses me.”

  “It should,” Chlorine said. “Demons have enormous power, when they choose to exercise it. So we need to reach the O-Xone and revert identities as soon as possible.”

  “Before Dearth realizes,” Dug agreed. “Like an ant avoiding a trap, unnoticed.’

  “Yes.” But Chlorine, alerted by Nimby, doubted that it would be that easy.

  They hiked to the base camp, where their car and motorcycle waited. They loaded the gear. Then Dug and Kim got into the car, and Nimby and Chlorine got on the motorcycle.

  The cycle’s motor started right up, but the car didn’t follow. They looped back to check.

  “Dead,” Kim called. “Storm must have shorted out the battery.”

  The folk of a neighbor car approached. “Need a jump?” the man asked.

  “ ’Fraid so,” Dug said. “Thanks.”

  The man had jumper cables. Kim explained the process to Chlorine as the men did it. “The cables connect the good battery to the dead one, and provide current to start the motor. Then it recharges its own battery as it runs.”

  But it didn’t work. Dug’s car remained dead.

  “I think you have a worse problem,” the man said. “Better call Triple B.”

  “I guess we’ll have to,” Dug agreed. “But thanks for the jump.” To the others, he said “They’ll come fairly promptly, but we’ll still have to get the car towed and fixed, and that could take longer.”

  They consulted. “Maybe you two should get on back to town,
” Kim said. “We’re going to be delayed several hours, by the look of it. You can go to a library and use their connection, and switch back before we get out of here.”

  Chlorine looked at Nimby. He shook his head no. Then he touched her hand.

  Oh. “Nimby thinks Dearth is trying to separate us. We will be relatively vulnerable without our knowledgeable Companions. It is better to remain together.”

  Dug and Kim exchanged a look. “That could be,” Dug said. “And we don’t want to put you into any unnecessary risk.”

  “We must advise you that there is risk to you, as long as you remain with us,” Chlorine said.

  “But maybe less than there is to you if you are alone,” Kim said. “So we’d better stick together.”

  Dug considered. “I wonder. I think there is risk in delay, and risk in separating. Maybe we should call a taxi, just to get this done in a hurry.”

  “But maybe Dearth has anticipated that,” Kim said. “In which case we would be playing into his hands. I wonder—can Nimby sense the larger situation? So as to know what course is best?”

  Chlorine checked. “He can’t fathom the intention of Dearth, but can focus on the likely route that help will come to us from Xanth, if we can’t reach the O-Xone on our own.”

  “Maybe try that, while we wait,” Dug said. “I think this is a bit like a chess game. We need to see more of the board before making our next move.”

  Nimby agreed. So Dug went to call Triple B, while Nimby sat in the dead car and focused his ambient Awareness on NoName Key, where a person from Xanth would most likely pass through to Mundania with magic dust. If any of the Modemode folk got through to the real folk in Xanth.

  And the news was good. “Willow Elf has passed through,” Chlorine said. “Carrying a locket of magic dust. She has joined the Baldwin family. They are setting out to bring it here.”

  “But how will they find us?” Kim asked.

  “They have the address of Ed and Pia’s home,” Chlorine said. “They will go there.”

  “So that’s where we should be going, as soon as we can,” Kim said.

  Chlorine looked at Nimby. “Yes.” But she wasn’t speaking the truth, because Nimby indicated no. Because Dearth was now listening, and would block whatever they tried to do.