Geis of the Gargoyle (38 page)

"Then we had better get out of here in a hurry!"

"I'm not sure that's wise." She gave him the last of his clothing.

"But if it's going to eat us-"

"We think it won't eat us as long as it has the hope of getting at least one soul.
 
The soul is incalculably valuable to it, as it is to us.
 
But if we leave the Region of Madness, it will lose us.
 
It would probably rather eat us than let us go.
 
So that's when it's most likely to attack physically.
 
We don't dare try to leave until we know a good deal more about the nature of our enemy, and then we'll have to do it by surprise, so we can get clear before it realizes.
 
But if we act as if we're staying, it will probably hold off.
 
After all, it hasn't even tried for my soul yet, or Surprise's."

"Probably it would have to shut down the two female illusions entirely, and craft male illusions instead," Gary said.

"Yes.
 
And it may know that females are less foolish than males, so can't be seduced as readily.
 
It was a close call with you-and with Hiatus."

"What happened with him?"

"That's how we got the key.
 
He's in love with Desiree, and Desi is a .real temptation.
 
But he knows she's just an image, and he wants the original.
 
He was willing to go along with the image, to an extent, because males are foolish about nymphs and the like, but he didn't rum off his mind.
 
And finally he got her to admit what she was really after."

"Why did she tell him?"

"Hiatus' role as Lord Hiat is a pretty devious character.
 
He hinted that he might be more seducible if he knew Desi truly loved him.
 
She said she could truly love him if she got a soul.
 
That gave him the hint.
 
He told Mentia, and she told me, and we realized what Hanna wanted from you."

"I never even thought of it," Gary said, shuddering with reaction.
 
"She said she just wanted to help me relax."

"Yes, so you would let go of your soul more readily."

"How-how would she actually take my soul?"

"We're not sure.
 
But we think that at the moment of the ellipsis of stork summoning, a person's soul is loosened.
 
It's the desire to share with one's partner; the two souls wish to embrace even as the two bodies are doing.
 
So that instant of generosity may allow an unscrupulous partner to snatch the soul.
 
Once it's done, it's done; I think you would have a hard time getting it back."

"I think I owe you my deepest appreciation for interceding," Gary said, feeling weak in the human knees.

Iris smiled.
 
She was surprisingly attractive that way.
 
"Just do the same for me, if it is ever required."

"But you are forewarned.
 
You will never let your soul be loose."

'This thing is smart, very smart.
 
It is surely figuring out a new strategy even now.
 
We may find that as tricky to grasp and oppose as we did this one.
 
With its command of illusion, we will hardly know what is real and what isn't."

"That's another thing.
 
If talents never repeat-"

"How can it have the same talent as I have? That has bothered me all along.
 
Actually it's not quite true that talents never repeat; a person in one historical time may have a talent used by another person in another time.
 
And the Curse Fiends, or Curse Friends as they call themselves, all seem to have the same talent of cursing.
 
But I have never known of a Magician-caliber talent repeating.
 
There have been close variants, though.
 
Sometimes different talents can have similar effect.
 
So 1 think this creature has a talent for illusion that may seem similar to mine, but differs in its mechanism.
 
At any rate, it's an interesting situation.
 
I have learned how to identify its illusions, which complement mine.
 
If I deleted my illusions.
 
Hinge would become a mere shadow of itself.
 
I see no point in that, so I maintain them.
 
I think that's best, until we know more about our enemy.
 
For one thing, it might assume that I would shut down my illusions preparatory to departing."

"Maintain your illusions!" Gary agreed.

"So now we had better get together with the other members of our party, and decide what to do next."

"We should keep searching for the philter," Gary said.
 
"That's why we came, and why we would be expected to stay.
 
Once we find it-"

"The crunch will come," she said.
 
"Because our enemy will know we're done here.
 
Good point."

They left Gary's room and went to the one where Mentia and Surprise stayed.
 
The other two were there, as was Hiatus.
 
"I understand I helped interrupt something," Hiatus said to Gary.

"Thank you," Gary said feelingly.
 
"The Queen explained."

"Just as I have explained to Surprise," Mentia said.

The child turned to Gary.
 
"How come you weren't explaining it to me, Tooter?"

"Tutor," Gary said.
 
"I was-" He caught Iris' warning glance.
 
He couldn't tell a child what he had almost done with Hanna.
 
"I was getting dressed."

"Oh.
 
I thought maybe you were getting 'duced by Desi."

"Seduced by Hanna," Gary said before he caught himself.
 
"I mean-oh, never mind.
 
We have a serious situation here.
 
What are we going to do about it?"

"On top of that, we messed up with the Interface," Mentia said.
 
"I was about to tell you, before the illusion got hot for you.
 
It was supposed to incorporate a filter element, so that the water passing through it from Mundania isn't polluted.
 
But that isn't there."

"Philter?" Gary asked.

"Filter.
 
It's right there in the specs they worked out over the centuries.
 
We forgot to include it in our invocation.
 
Now the bad water comes right in."

Gary was stricken.
 
"That's why the geis of the gargoyle had to continue! It was supposed to be abated by the inclusion of the filter-of the magic philter.
 
How could we have overlooked that all-important detail?"

Desi appeared.
 
"It's our fault," she said.
 
"I am desolate because of it."

"Desi the Desolate," Hiatus said somewhat cynically.
 
"What do you care that we made a mistake?"

"Because if Hanna and I hadn't been distracting you, you might not have made it," Desi said.

"Distraction!" Hiatus exclaimed.
 
"You were trying to steal my soul!"

"I didn't realize it was so important to you," Desi said, sending him a desolate glance.
 
"I never had a soul of my own." She looked so sad that Gary was almost tempted to try to console her-and she hadn't even been directing her effort at him.
 
"I'll do anything to make it up to you." She put one hand to her dress.

"Not that!" Iris snapped.
 
"If you really want to help, tell us how to fix that omission from the Interface."

"Why, of course," Desi said.
 
"Just assign the gargoyles to the inflowing rivers."

"But that's what we came to end!" Gary protested.
 
"I'm tired of-" Then he caught himself.
 
"Of having to depend on gargoyles to do what should be automatic."

"I'm sorry for the gargoyles," Desi said.
 
"But the Interface is permanent.
 
It can only be fixed by being corrected and recompiled."

"Recompiled?"

"That's what you just did, in your roles as ancient folk.
 
You compiled it and set it in place."

"And now we are at the three-thousandth anniversary of that compilation," Mentia said.
 
"So we can fix it."

"You could recompile it," Desi said, "but there doesn't seem to be much point." "Why not?"

"Because the reason you didn't include the filtration factor is that you lost the philter.
 
Since you don't have that, you can't improve on the Interface as it stands.
 
The outer and inner filters will have to remain as they are."

"Inner filter?" Iris asked sharply.
 
"What is that?"

"The one that confines the madness to a small region," Desi explained.
 
"With that filter in place, only ordinary magic can escape to the main part of Xanth."

"The expanding madness!" Hiatus exclaimed.
 
"Because of the missing filter!"

"How," Iris asked firmly, "can we fix the inner filter? Patch it with more gargoyles?"

Desi laughed.
 
"Of course not! For that you need a spot filtration spell.
 
Then the Interface, thus patched, will be as good as it was supposed to be."

"Except that the gargoyles will be stuck forever doing a job they shouldn't have to do," Gary said dryly, which was unusual for his species.

"Who cares?" Desi asked.
 
"They're only animals."

Iris spoke before Gary could.
 
"We, as compassionate folk, do not care to subject any species, whether human, crossbreed, or animal, to unnecessary drudgery.
 
We must

fix the Interface."

Mentia had another angle.
 
"That spot filtration spell that contains the madness-how durable is it?"

"Oh, that's no problem; it will last as long as the magic does."

"Until the magic stops," Iris said, sending a significant glance around.
 
Gary realized that she was thinking of the Time of No Magic: that was what had terminated the spot spell the ancients had made, so that the madness started overrunning its boundary and making all manner of mischief in Xanth.
 
That was the last piece in the mystery of the problem of the present-and the philter could fix it, too.
 
They really had to find that thing!

"We must find the philter," Hiatus said.
 
"We know it is here somewhere.
 
Can you help us do that?"

"No," Desi said.
 
"It is impossible to find the lost philter."

"Let's speak frankly," Iris said.
 
"We are here to find the philter, and we do not intend to leave without it.
 
Why do you say it is impossible to find?"

"You want to speak frankly?" Desi asked.
 
"Then you shall have it.
 
You can not find the philter, because the ancients whom you have just reprised could not find it.
 
They patched the Interface by means of gargoyles and spell, and then folded down Hinge for the last time and went to regular Xanth, where they soon crossbred the last of their species to extinction.
 
If they couldn't find it, then neither can you, three thousand years later."