Five Portraits (21 page)

“But there's nothing there!”

“It's invisible.”

“Another illusion?” Santo asked.

“Not exactly.”

“The illusion of invisibility!” Astrid exclaimed.

“Yes. We have to stop it before it bites us.”

“Santo?” Astrid asked.

“I'll try. Point to it, Squid.”

Squid changed form and pointed with a moving tentacle, tracing the progress of the bat. It seemed to be headed toward Astrid; she heard the faint sound approaching. Santo squinted, still not seeing it.

“Hole it anyway,” Astrid said nervously.

Then there was a little shriek. An injured bat fell out of the air and dropped into the gulf. Astrid caught only a passing glimpse, but its teeth looked vicious. It had come to feed.

“Now we know,” Astrid said. “Here in the red chamber the creatures are real, but covered by illusions. I fear that's more dangerous.”

They organized for the new threat. Squid kept close ears and nose on anything approaching, and Santo was ready to send holes where she pointed. Meanwhile the group swung on across as rapidly as was feasible. They needed to get out of this chamber.

But Astrid feared there could be something worse beyond it.

There was another sound, as of a steaming kettle. “Steamer dragon,” Squid announced, pointing.

Santo loosed a hole where she pointed. There was an angry hiss, and for a moment they saw a small dragon threshing an injured tail. Then a hole appeared in its head and it dropped.

But now there were several sounds, coming from all around them. “They're mobbing us!” Astrid said, alarmed. “We need a better way to identify them, or we're lost.”

“Maybe I can do it,” Myst said.

“Do it,” Astrid agreed.

The child dissolved into a small thick cloud of mist. Then it expanded, becoming a large thin cloud.

And the invisible creatures showed up within the cloud as blobs of nothing. They remained invisible, but since the mist was visible, their invisibility outlined them. They were like clear bubbles in the fog. “Beautiful!” Astrid murmured.

Santo swung around, sending needle-size holes toward each hole in the cloud. There was a series of squeaks, squawks, and hisses as the creatures were holed. They dropped down. Soon the cloud was clear.

“Coalesce, Myst!” Astrid called. “Get back on your swing!”

The cloud condensed, and soon the child was back on her swing. “I'm glad there's not a wind,” she said.

Astrid hadn't thought of that, in the tension of the moment. A wind would have blown Myst away. “If we come to a windy section, stay solid,” she said.

They reached the next wall and swung through, one by one. This chamber was pale blue, like washed-out sky, and the swings matched.

What illusion threat would they find here? Astrid was developing a solid respect for illusions. They could be as lethal as completely solid creatures. “Let's get on across,” she said. “But watch for anything even slightly unusual.”

They swung on across, getting efficient at this mode of travel. Then, at the center, where they could neither advance nor retreat readily, the next siege began. A small dragon flew toward them.

“Back to visible illusions?” Firenze asked. “We can ignore them.”

“I don't trust this,” Astrid said. “This should be worse than the others, not a repeat.”

“There's something funny about that illusion,” Santo said. “It's not flying right.”

“Not for a dragon,” Squid agreed. “That's more like a bat.”

“Let me try,” Win said. She stood on her swing and sent a blast of air at the odd dragon as it came at her.

And it was swept backward. It struggled to right itself and resume its approach.

“It's real!” Astrid said, surprised.

“It's not real,” Squid said. “At least not the way it looks.”

“Santo, hole it,” Astrid said grimly.

The boy oriented. A hole appeared in the dragon. The creature spun out of control and fluttered down into the gulf—as a bat.

“I knew it!” Squid said. “A bat—masked as a dragon.”

“But why?” Myst asked.

Astrid had the answer. “Everything here is an illusion, of one type or another. So this time the illusion covers real creatures, instead of just making them invisible. So we'll think they aren't real, and they can reach us and chomp us.”

“Tricky,” Win said, letting her wind fade.

They resumed swinging. Another creature appeared, this one a vicious-looking hawk. “Our swinging alerts them,” Firenze said. “So they don't waste their energy going after nothing.”

Santo holed the hawk. It growled in pain and dropped, becoming a dragon.

They swung again, passing an intersecting line of swings. Win swung back toward Astrid. “Where are you going?” Astrid asked, surprised.

The child didn't answer. She collided with Astrid's swing, put her dead down, and bit Astrid on the leg.

Astonished, Astrid put a hand down and caught the child by the scruff of the neck. But it wasn't clothing she caught; it was the scaly neck of a dragon. It was an illusion!

Now she saw the real Win ahead on another swing. Furious, she hauled the mock dragon up to her face and stared into the supposed child's eyes.

In a moment she held a small dead dragon in her hand. She dropped it into the gulf. Then she checked her leg. The dragon had been small, and her basilisk skin was tough; there wasn't much damage. But it was a lesson.

“Did you see that?” she asked the children.

“Win swung back,” Santo said. “Only it wasn't her; it was a dragon copying her. I'd have holed it if I'd realized.”

“Suppose it was the real Win?” Squid asked.

“That's what we're up against in this section,” Astrid said. “Illusion-covered creatures—including ones that look like us. We don't dare attack them carelessly, lest we hurt one of our own.”

“I can tell, now that I know to look,” Squid said. “That fake Win was a mirror image.”

She could tell a mirror image by sight? She really did have superior sight! “Then coordinate with Santo,” Astrid said. “Tell him which ones are the fakes so he can hole them.”

“And the fakes can't talk,” Firenze said. “So when in doubt, talk.”

They resumed swinging. Another figure appeared. This one was a copy of Santo himself. “That's not you,” Squid said confidently. “Hole it.”

“I suspected as much,” Santo said with a bit of a smile as he holed the image of himself. It became a hawk and fluttered into the gulf. “Weird.”

There were other attacks, but they dealt with them and continued moving. They had gotten on top of another type of illusion.

They made it to the next wall, and swung through.

The fourth chamber was pale green, from stalactites and swings down in the gulf. There were no illusions visible, but those would surely appear once they were committed to the swings. There was a large stone platform or mesa in the center that could serve as a resting point.

“We need to be ready for anything,” Astrid said. “I think Myst should travel as a cloud, ready to condense the moment she needs to. Squid should keep alert for anything, real or illusion, and let us all know. Santo needs to be ready to hole anything she tells him to. I will be ready to Stare anything similarly. Firenze can firework as necessary. We all have to trust each other, even if we see more copies of ourselves.”

The children nodded. Then they set out, with Win leading the way, blowing and swinging. It was slow, but no longer very slow as they connected efficiently.

When they got well out into the gulf, things exploded into action. Suddenly there was a host of flying dragons, birds, bats, and huge insects. There were also invisible creatures, as Myst's mist showed. And some of the visible creatures, Astrid was sure, would be not illusions but illusion-covered creatures. All were converging on the swings.

“You know what to do!” Astrid called.

“In the cloud,” Squid said. “Three blips.”

Santo oriented, and the three blips developed holes, became little flying monsters, and fell down into the void.

“The Astrid behind you is not her,” Squid said. Santo whirled and holed the figure of Astrid, and it became a dragon and fell.

“The others are straight illusions,” Squid said. “Ignore them.”

One of those was a giant flying scorpion headed right for Astrid. She nerved herself and let it collide with her—and pass on through without effect. Firenze stood up to a giant rabid bat similarly.

Thus organized, they made it to the central platform, which was not an illusion. They got on it, relieved, ready to rest before moving on. Myst coalesced into her solid form.

A man appeared. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“He's real,” Squid said, surprised. “Not human, but not a monster or an illusion.”

Astrid faced him. “We are a party of one adult and five children seeking to depart from the Storage rooms of the Playground. Is this something you know anything about?”

The man puffed up to a larger size, literally. “Of course I know. This is my private Storage purse, normally closed to intruders. I made it, I maintain it. There is a penalty for intrusion.”

So he was a figure of some consequence. This could be very good or very bad. Astrid put on her most fetching smile, one almost guaranteed to soften the heart or head of any male. “Then let's introduce ourselves. I am Astrid Basilisk, effective nanny for these children.”

The man took that in, but neither flinched nor warmed. “I am Dwarf Demon Gambol, specializing in games.”

A Dwarf Demon! That must be Gambol as in gamboling, skipping or frolicking, playing games. Even the least of Demons had more sheer power than the whole of the mortal creatures of Xanth. Certainly he would be immune to her Stare. She needed to tread carefully here. She smiled again, winsomely. “Then you are the proprietor of the Playground and all its impressive annexes.”

“As I said.” But he was beginning to melt. Her smile was in some respects the inverse of her Stare, making men become accommodating. She was a bit nervous employing its power, because if she made too much of an impression he would get an idea that seemed never to be far from a male mind. Even Demons could have somewhat mortal tastes, as the marriages between Demons and mortals indicated.

“We were visiting the Playground because of its fine recreational facilities, especially its Stage for Plays, when someone folded it up with us inside. Was that you, without being aware of us?”

“That was not me,” Gambol said. “The Playground is for children to use freely. But they should stay out of Storage, which has become overrun with vermin.”

Such as goblins, harpies, werewolves and dragons? “We encountered those. Now we seek only to escape, so we can return to our home. But the path has been arduous.”

Gambol considered. “You are near the exit. Considering that your presence here is involuntary, I will let you go. But the children must remain here.”

“No,” Astrid said firmly. She was fully conscious than a mortal did not say No to a Demon, but she had no choice. “We must leave together. These children are my responsibility and I must get them home.”

He considered. “So you do have a bit of backbone, basilisk. How do you propose to buy the freedom of the children?”

And there it was. He was interested in something that could not be done in the presence of children, and that she did not want to do at all. She couldn't even be too explicit about discussing it while they listened. “I am a virtually married woman. If there is any service I can render that does not compromise that, I will consider it.”

Gambol smiled. “I like your attitude. I was thinking of a game.”

“That depends on the game,” she said guardedly.

“The kind children can play. I collect and save all kinds of children's games. Give me a new one, and I will let your party go.”

Astrid was at a loss. She did not know of any children's game that he would not already be familiar with.

“We can help,” Firenze said.

“Oh, thank you!” Astrid said gratefully.

“First we have to invent it,” Santo said.

“Invent it,” Gambol agreed.

The children linked hands, Communing. Then they separated. “Please stand here, Aunt Astrid,” Squid said, leading her to a spot in the center of the platform.

Then the children quickly sketched a network of lines circling around her, like a big puzzle. Soon they had it completed.

“This game is called ‘Basilisk,'” Win said.

“It's a maze,” Myst said.

“The object is to start at this side,” Firenze said, “and find our way through it to the other side.”

“But there's a basilisk in the center,” Santo said. “Her Stare is lethal and even her closeness is deadly. So she is hard to pass.”

“But all paths go past her,” Squid said.

“So there's no way to avoid her,” Win said.

“But there is a way to get through,” Myst concluded.

Gambol contemplated the maze. He tried walking along one path, then another, and another. But all paths led to Astrid. “I could pass, of course, but I see no way for a child,” he said.

The children smiled in unison.

“What is the way?” the Demon asked, faintly nettled.

“Love the basilisk,” Firenze said.

“Do what?”

“And trust her,” Santo said.

“But she's deadly!”

“And she will love you back,” Squid said.

“And let you pass,” Win added.

“Unharmed,” Myst concluded.

Then they demonstrated. Firenze entered the maze and navigated it to the center where Astrid stood. “I love you, basilisk,” he said, not looking directly at her.

Astrid kissed him quickly. “And I love you, Firenze.”

He walked on, completing the maze.