Zombie Lover (17 page)

So Breanna got up and walked back and forth, staring in the direction the path went before it faded. It seemed pointless, but she had nothing better to offer.

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'Yes " Justin said.
  
'/ see it" "See what?" "The lack of parallax "

"I guess I'm not seeing what you're seeing." "Let me help you Walk again, and attune to my vision ' She tried, though mystified. And suddenly she saw what he meant. The distant trees were shifting their positions in most of the forest, but in one area they weren't. They looked just the same from one angle as from
 
another.
 
Like a picture,
 
whose perspective didn't change. "That's the illusion!" she exclaimed. "That unmoving picture!"

"Yes, by elimination
 
So now we can define it by continuing parallax, reducing the area of search "

"You're pretty smart." she said admiringly.

"No, just old, with time to think "

She walked back and forth, and soon narrowed the "picture" down to an area just about the size of a castle and moat. Then she used her cane to probe ahead, and walked to the edge of that region. When she got there, her cane came up against something solid. It was a low wall. She poked beyond it, found footing, and stepped over.

The illusion vanished. The Good Magician's Castle stood there in all its glory. They had conquered the illusion.

Curious, she stepped back over the low wall, which was evidently there to prevent anyone from blundering into the moat. The castle disappeared, and the picture of forest returned. She stepped back inside, and the castle returned. That was the inner limit of the illusion. All she had had to do was find her way through it; it didn't work from the inside. Just as a person couldn't look at a painting from the back of it.

"Well, that wasn't so bad after all," Breanna murmured. "Thanks to your insight, Justin."

"And your sight, "he replied, seeming as pleased as she was. "Where's Mare Imbn'7"

The mare appeared in a day-dreamlet. "/ am here, maintaining the contact between you.

"Oh, okay. You just faded out."

"It's my nature, except when I'm with m\ free and faun. Da\-dreams seldom last long.''

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PIERS ANTHOX\

That made sense, maybe. Breanna walked toward the drawbridge, which was down. But as she did, the ground became sticky. At first it was just a nuisance, but with each step it got worse, until she could hardly drag her feet up. She was stuck to the ground.

"I think we have encountered the second challenge," she murmured. "I'm in a sticky situation."

' Can you back out and circle around the bad patch?" Justin asked. She tried, but now she was completely stuck. "No. Like a fool, I barged right in until it was too late."

"Like anyone encountering the unexpected," he corrected her. There was just something about this tree that appealed. Her folks were quick to rebuke her when she messed up; Justin made her action seem reasonable. "So what now? Do I take off my shoes and jump?" "And get your pretty feet dirty? No, there must be a better way, if this is a challenge Let me ponder "

Meanwhile, something happened beside the drawbridge. The lid of a large container slowly lifted. There was a picture of a skull and crossbones on the box. "This is not a good sign," Breanna muttered, feeling a chill. Was a monster going to come from that crate to gobble her. since she couldn't get away?

A skull appeared, followed by a skeleton. It looked around with its eye sockets, spied her, and rattled forward. It stopped just beyond the sticky section. "Apop Tosis at your service," it said.

Breanna was terrified, so she bluffed. "Not at my service. Whatever you're selling, I don't want it."

"Skeletons aren't generally dangerous," Justin said. "They lack desires of the flesh "

That helped. "What do you want?" she demanded, still not exactly

settled.

"I see you are in a sticky situation, so I have come to help you."

"I don't think I want—" she started.

But Justin was more cautious. "This must be part of the challenge It is better to hear him out"

"To be impolite," Breanna improvised. "How do you want to help

me?"

"Let me make myself more comfortable," Apop said. He brought out a bottle labeled Boot Rear and lifted it to his jawbone. There didn't seem to be any fluid in it, but suddenly he sailed into the air.

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flying apart. The bones fell to the ground in a pattern, forming a rocking chair with the skull on the seat. "I always carry some boot rear with me," he explained. "So I don't have to depend on someone else to boot me in the rear so that I can change configuration."

"Good policy," Breanna agreed guardedly. "I'm not exactly in a position to boot anybody's rear right now." Skeletons were not her favorite companions, though they weren't as bad as zombies. At least they weren't rotting.

"Now I will ask you three questions." Apop said. "If you answer them well, you will get out of your sticky situation. But if you don't, you will find it embarrassing."

"Yeah, sure," she muttered.

"First question: Are you a bigot?"

"What the bleep kind of a question is that?" she demanded, outraged. "Of course I'm not! How could you even suggest it?" But as she spoke, something awkward happened. Her clothing was shrinking. Her blouse felt tight, and her skirt was riding up on her hips.

"What is happening?" Justin inquired.

"Can I talk to you silently?" she subvocalized.

"Yes, we are dream connected, so I can hear whatever you direct to me, as well as what you hear from outside I heard the skeleton's question But then you started wriggling, and I don't know why I am unable to fathom your actual thoughts, so that you retain your natural modesty "

He couldn't read her mind. That was a relief. She also liked the way he phrased her desire for mental privacy. She had never been to a court, but suspected Justin was courtly. "Because my clothing suddenly shrank," she said silently. "Maybe it got wet."

"Maybe," he agreed. "Meanwhile, I'm not sure you gave a satisfactory answer to the question "

"It was a lousy question!"

"Perhaps it is intended to make you react negatively "

"Well, it succeeded! It's outrageous to suggest that I could be a bigot. I'm black!"

"/ hadn't realized But does your color relate9"

"Sure it does. I'm a victim, not an oppressor."

"/ fear I am being slow in comprehension What is the definition of bigot?"

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"It's a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing belief or opinion. We were up against it in Mundania. That's one huge reason

we left."

"Then your answer must be no The penalty must be because you objected to the question rather than answering it"

He had to be right. She had let the question blow her equilibrium, like an idiot. "For sure." She faced the skeleton. "No, I can't be a

bigot."

Apop didn't answer. But her clothing shrank another notch. Her blouse was constricting her breathing, and in danger of tearing, and her skirt was becoming a mini.

"My clothing's still shrinking," she told Justin, alarmed.

"There must be a connection to your answer to the question," the tree concluded. "Perhaps it is a penalty for what is considered an unsatisfactory answer"

"1 don't give half a bleep what a stupid skeleton thinks is unsatisfactory," she retorted. "He has no business asking such a question."

"Now I don't wish to be offensive," Justin said carefully. "But it strikes me that if the skeleton desires a certain answer, and can make you uncomfortable when you don't give it, some consideration may

be required "

"Meaning I'm stuck here, literally, and getting my undies in a knot,

so I'd better watch my mouth."

"I'm sure they are very nice undies "

"You didn't tell me anything useful."

"Perhaps some finesse is in order More than one answer may be acceptable, or perhaps more than one phrasing "

"Okay, I'll try." She took a breath and spoke aloud again. "Maybe it depends on your definition of bigotry." Her clothing didn't tighten, but neither did it loosen. "Maybe every person is a bit bigoted in some respects, and not in others. Maybe I am too. But I don't want to be."

Now her clothing loosened. "By bleep, Justin, you were right again! I gave a more reasoned answer, and my clothing relaxed. This is weird, but who's to argue with what works?"

"Most situations merely respond to the proper key, if it can be found," the tree said.

The skeleton spoke again. "Second question: What is your fondest

wish?"

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"That's easy: to be a queen, with all the privileges thereof."

Her clothing writhed warningly.

"Isn't that zombie you encountered a king?" Justin asked. "So that if you married him, you would be a queen?"

Breanna felt an awful sinking sensation. She hadn't thought things through. "Yes. Scratch that answer. I don't want to be a zombie queen." She addressed the skeleton. "I want to get away from that zombie who's chasing me. That's why I'm here." But her clothing tightened again.

"Hey, wait a minute!" she cried. "Who the bleep would want to marry a zombie? I've got a right to get away." But her clothing tightened worse than before.

"Perhaps a zombie might see that as bigotry," Justin said.

"Well, who cares what a bleeping bag of rot cares! It isn't as if he's a person."

Then she paused. "Hoo, boy, I just heard myself talking. That's the way the bad whites talked about us, in Mundania. The bigots."

"But you aren't a bigot "

"I'm not quite so sure, anymore. I mean, how do I know that zombie king isn't a decent person, apart from his physical condition? All I could see was his rot, and I freaked out."

"Well, zombies are not fun to be around "

"Nevertheless, in retrospect I'm not exactly proud of my reaction. I still don't want to marry Xeth, but I think I could have been more polite about it."

"Fortunately you are already past the first question There should be a better answer for the second one, though "

"There sure should be." She faced the skeleton again. "I think that wasn't my fondest wish. I think I need more tolerance. To maybe grow a bit in attitude. So maybe at some point I'll talk with the zombie, and explain myself better. I guess what my fondest wish really is, is to be all that I can be, in every way I can be, including understanding and open-mmdedness."

Her clothing loosened entirely.

"You sure put me on the right track," she told Justin. "The funny thing is, I believe it. I wasn't reacting well before."