Zombie Lover (19 page)

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"He's coming," Justin said.

Sure enough, there was a man with reddish skin, wearing a feather tucked in a band around his head. He approached the dream catcher.

"What have we were?" he asked rhetorically. "A night mare? Well, just let me you lead you to a safe stall." He reached out and touched the dream catcher, and Imbri suddenly dropped to the ground.

He was going to take her away, captive! "No you don't!" Breanna cried, jumping from her hiding place. "That's m\ mare!"

The man looked at her. His mouth dropped open. Then she remembered that she had lost her clothing. No wonder he was staring. But it was too late to do anything about that. "Come, Imbri," she said, and led the mare to the castle wall. Her hand passed right through the horse, but Imbri came along with her.

Suddenly Breanna's dreams were back. She wanted to destroy the Adult Conspiracy. She wanted to be free and successful and beautiful and all the rest. She had ambitions. She had dreams.

"You did it'" Justin said.

She had, she realized, freed Imbri. They had broken the dream-catcher spell, freeing all their dreams. They were now beyond the dream catchers. The day mare might not be able to pass them without getting caught, but she had no need to go near them again.

"Yes, I think we got past the third challenge," Breanna agreed, satisfied.

"Thanks to your state of exposure, which I had forgotten "

"So had I," she confessed, trying to force a blush by her dark complexion. "You know, I do object to the Adult Conspiracy, but I still am not comfortable going around naked. People might stare, as the red man did. Would it be hypocritical for me to put something on, now that we're through the challenges?"

"By no means The full name is 'The Adult Conspiracy to Keep Interesting Things from Children ' By asserting your freedom from it, you merely establish your right to say or do what you wish You may go clothed or unclothed as you choose Considering the weather, which I think is a trifle cool it makes sense for you to wear something for the time being '

Once again, she found she liked his attitude. The region wasn't cold, but it remained a dandy pretext.

As it happened, there was a small lady slipper plant growing by

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the castle wall, with a pair of delicate slippers that just fit her. Near it was a cowslip plant with a ripe slip, so she harvested that and donned it. It fit a bit snugly, but covered the essentials.

She found a shiny facet of the wall and peered at her refection. It showed her that the fit was more than snug; the slip clung to her upper and nether sections in a way that made them bulge and seem twice as prominent as they really were. "I look like a cow!" she exclaimed.

"That does seem to be the penalty for wearing a cowslip," Justin said. "But if you will accept the view of one whose days of being a human man are rather long gone, the reflected view is not an unattractive aspect."

She reconsidered. If he thought it was all right, maybe it was, even if it did make her look way older than fifteen. "I guess it will do."

She went to the entrance. A woman was just approaching it from inside. The woman listened, then turned her head toward Breanna, her eyes seeming not quite to focus. "Hello, Breanna and Justin," she said. "And Mare Imbri. I am Wira, the Good Magician's daughter-in-law. I will show you to his study."

"Thank you," Breanna said, surprised. "How do you know our names?"

"The Good Magician saw you coming, and told me. He assumes you know the price of an Answer." Wira glanced at her, but again her gaze missed by a vague amount.

As usual, Breanna spoke before she thought. "Are you blind?"

"Yes. But I know this castle well, and will get you safely where you need to be."

"Oh, I didn't mean that you couldn't—" But it was already impossibly awkward, so she cut her losses and shut up.

"She's not upset," Imbri murmured, assuming girlform in these closer quarters. "She's Hugo's wife, and is one of the few folk for whom Humfrey is genuinely fond, though he doesn't speak of it. She knows, though. " Then, after a pause: "/ need to go now. I think the Good Magician will take care of you."

"Sure, thanks," Breanna said. "You've done more than enough for me."

Mare Imbri faded out.

Breanna followed Wira through the labyrinth of the castle, up a

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tightly winding staircase, and to a dingy cubby where a century-old gnome pored over a huge archaic tome. "Good Magician, here are Breanna of the Black Wave, and Justin Tree of the North Village, here to ask you Questions."

The gnome looked up. "State your Questions."

"Justin Tree wishes to have a nice adventure, without changing from being a tree," Breanna said. She paused, in case Justin had a correction to make. He didn't. "I want to find out how to escape the zombies."

The Good Magician's gaze was disconcertingly like Wira's, and Breanna realized that he was looking through her to Justin. "You could have an adventure as a tree if a dragon were to toast your foliage."

' 'Not that kind!'' Justin protested. ' 'A human type adventure.''

Breanna started to translate, but the Good Magician raised his hand. "Rhetorical. I know the kind he wants. His best Answer requires the service of another person." Now his old eyes focused on Breanna. "That person is you."

"Me!"

"He must vicariously share the adventure of a person in human form, with that person's consent. The best person, considering availability, compatibility, and interest of adventure, is you. But there are two constraints. You are beneath the age of consent, which means indoctrination into the Adult Con—"

"No I'm not!" she protested. "I reject the Adult Conspiracy."

"Therefore that is not an issue," he continued, unsurprised. "The other is that you are female, and may not wish to share your feelings with a male mind. It is my policy not to require unkind service for an Answer. Therefore if you wish to decline, and to perform some other service for your Answer—''

"No, that's okay," Breanna said. "I was just caught off guard. Justin's okay; I like him. He can share my adventure if he wants to." She found the decision surprisingly easy to make. It was almost as if she had thought something like this out before, and agreed. It wasn't as if she planned to do anything she might be ashamed of. She realized that Justin had been not only helpful on the challenges, but nice company. He didn't act superior, the way too many older folk were too likely to do, and he didn't come across as prejudiced against

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the Black Wave. She liked him. It was weird, because she hadn't been looking for any friends among whites, males, or trees, but there it was. There was just something about him. Maybe it was his archaic courtesy.

"Then that will be your service, which will terminate in a year or by mutual agreement." His eyes refocused on Justin. "Your service will be to be on call indefinitely as a consultant for selections, challenges, and solutions."

"You need help on such things?" Justin asked, surprised. Breanna repeated it aloud.

"It takes time to research and decide which querents are worthy, and to devise and institute challenges that will discourage those who are not serious without eliminating the worthy," Humfrey said. "The services of those who assisted before are concluding. Things have become awkward, and we stand in need of intellectual assistance. It will not be necessary for you to leave your tree site or to interrupt your personal adventure; the work is intellectual."

"/ will be glad to do it," Justin said. "It will make me fee! useful again."

Breanna realized that the Good Magician respected Justin's intellect in much the way she did. The tree-man was smart and balanced. Maybe his time as a tree had filled out his intellect.

Humfrey focused again on Breanna. "You can escape the pursuit of the zombies by going to the Isle of Women. This isle is not easy to locate, so you will be guided by one who knows the way. Wira will introduce you, and give you what you need."

"Gee, thanks," she said. But the Good Magician had already tuned her out, and was back in his tome.

"This way," Wira said, and led the way back down the stairs. Breanna suspected that there was plenty yet to discover. But that was okay, because not only was she about to escape the zombies, she had gained a good companion.

"Thank you," Justin said.

6

WORLDS BEYOND KEN

J

olph still found it strange, becoming small enough to enter a world he knew was the size of a large cherry. In fact, since they were already on a world that size, this one was that much smaller. It made his imagination begin to shrivel, so he tuned that out and just focused on where they were going.

The four-sided triangle that was Pyramid expanded. It was rotating, and he saw the triangles change from blue to red to green. He didn't see the fourth side, until he realized that it was at the bottom, and was somber gray, maybe because it didn't see much light.

The pyramid expanded, and some of the detail on the sides came clearer. There were mountains and valleys and plains and lakes, just as on Ptero. But everything on the blue side was a shade of blue, including the trees and houses. Everything on the red side was similarly a shade of red, including the lakes and clouds. It was rather pretty, in its monochromatic way.

Then the nearest face became too big to see around, and it was like dropping onto a map. It was the green side, which would have seemed natural if its sky wasn't green too.

This world's Ida was supposed to be on the blue side, but the green side was where they were landing. Actually they didn't know that the Zombie Master had gone on to that Ida, so they needed to find his footprints and follow them, as before.

This time they made a better landing, and dented the ground only

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a little. They let go each others' hands, dusted themselves off, and looked around.

They stood in a green glade surrounded by a green jungle. A green lake was to one side. Between them and the lake was a patch of green sand. There was no sign of glowing footprints.

4 'Maybe that sand will know,1' Dor said. He walked across toward it.

"Don't step on me," the sand said. "I'm a sand trap.1'

Bink picked up a green stone and tossed it into the sand. A sand bar jumped up and snapped across, pinning the rock. "Oh, you tricked me!" the sand said.

"Have you seen a stranger pass by here?" Dor asked.

"No." Then the sand reconsidered. "But would you like me to help you look?"

"Yes."

"Done." The sand patch became a size larger, and Dor became a

size smaller.

"Oops, we forgot," Dolph said. "Things that do favors grow, and the receivers shrink."

"I'll survive," Dor said. "It's only filler material."

"Still," Bink said, "we had best be careful."

The sand humped up and formed into a green man shape. "Sandy Sandman, at your service," it said.

Dor, though slightly diminished in size, had not lost his common sense. "Since you have agreed to help us search, and been rewarded, part of that service should be some advice on how to get along here, so that our search doesn't get messed up."