Faun and Games (50 page)

They were definitely teasing him.
 
Apparently they just couldn't help

themselves.
 
He would simply have to try to ignore it.
 
He wished

himself success.
 
Already he was wondering just how blue their panties

might be.

Then he mounted Imbri, and she walked out onto the path.
 
She didn't

hurry, because they weren't trying to go anywhere, just to meet someone

they could ask directions of.
 
He glanced back, but didn't notice

anyone.
 
Good; that meant that the girls had invoked the blanket of

obscurity, and unless they did something foolish, like dancing naked and

screaming, he wouldn't notice them.

Soon they approached a woman who was walking along the path in the

opposite direction.
 
"Hello," Forrest called, hoping that this was the

right way to address a Pyramid native.

She looked sharply at him.
 
"Do you want something from me, faun?"

He reminded himself that the folk here always looked for chances to get

ahead by giving things away.
 
"Yes, actually."

"Who are you and what do you want?"

This seemed surprisingly easy.
 
"I am Forrest Faun, and I want to locate

Princess Ida."

"We don't have any princesses here."

"Maybe she's not a princess here.
 
She has a moon orbiting her head."

The woman shook her head.
 
"Never heard of her.
 
So I can't help you. So

I might as well harass you."

"Harass me?"

"I am Polly Motph, and I can change myself into what I can imagine.

Today I am irritable, so I shall become a dragon and gobble you and your

stupid horse up, hoping you don't taste too bad." Her face stretched out

to become a dragon's snout, and her body burst out of its clothes to

become serpentine.

"But we haven't done anything to you," Forrest protested.

"Precisely," the dragon said, snapping at them.

Imbri leaped into the air to avoid the teeth.
 
She landed at a full

gallop, getting out of there.

Unfortunately Forrest wasn't used to riding, and wasn't ready.
 
When the

mare shot forward, Forrest didn't.
 
He landed on his butt in the path.

"Well, now," the dragon said.
 
"You're too small for a dragon, but just

right for a griffin." She warped into a griffin.

Forrest scrambled to his feet and ran.
 
But the griffin's beak darted

forward and caught his tail.
 
His hoofs were moving, but he wasn't

getting anywhere.

Imbri turned and came charging back.
 
"Naaaay!" she neighed.
 
She

leaped, her forehoofs aiming for the griffin's body.

"Curses," the griffin muttered, in the process releasing Forrest. Then

it twisted into a flying snake and wriggled out of the way.

Imbri landed and galloped on, unable to halt on such short notice. But

she had given For-rest the reprieve he needed.
 
He ran after her, hoping

to get enough of a lead so that the monster couldn't catch him.

But Polly morphed back into the griffin, and took flight.
 
Forrest heard

the wing-beats as she gained on him.

Then, suddenly, he collided with something remarkably soft.
 
He landed

in a tangle of limbs.
 
He blinked, and saw what he hadn't noticed

before, though she was up against his chest: "Dawn!"

"Hey, I finally got your attention," she said, drawing her face from his

ear and fluffing out her red hair.

"But the griffin-"

"Has lost track of you," Eve said.

He looked at his legs, and discovered what else he hadn't noticed: they

were tangled up with another girl's legs.
 
"Eve!"

She drew her face from his belly and fluffed out her tangled black

tresses.
 
"I really didn't think we would get to this stage until after

the mission," she confessed.

"What are you girls doing?"

"We are saving you from getting chomped," Dawn said, prying her

flattened bosom from his chest.

"With the help of the blanket of obscurity," Eve said, unwrapping her

cramped legs from his thighs.

"Because we really don't want you to be hurt."

"Even if you would simply be launched back to Ptero."

"Because without your guidance, we would not be able to complete our

mission."

"And we really do like your company."

By this time they had unstuck the rest of themselves from his body. Both

girls were disheveled, but still pretty in a wild sort of way.

"Uh, thank you," Forrest said, realizing that he could indeed have been

gobbled and banished from this region for whatever period was required

by the framework of Pyramid.
 
They had saved him from that by

intervening in the only way they could, considering that he was not

aware of their presence: by tackling him and bringing him into the

coverage of the blanket.

Dawn gave him a direct green eyed glance, as bright as sunshine. "You

are welcome."

Eve gave him a sidelong black eyed glance, as mysterious as night.

"It was our pleasure."

Forrest tried once more to get through to them.
 
"You know, your teasing

ways are very difficult for me to handle."

Dawn shook her head.
 
"Some of what you take for teasing is merely our

natural flair."

Eve frowned.
 
"And in this particular instance, we were not teasing. We

really did want to save you, and we really do like you."

Forrest was nonplused.
 
"I mean, you really are two very lovely and

provocative young women, and I-"

"We know," Dawn said seriously.
 
"We know our nature, and what kind of

reaction is to be expected from a male of any type."

"And we are ready," Eve said, just as seriously, "to make absolutely

plain our readiness to accommodate that reaction, in due course."

Every time he tried to reason with them, it just got worse!
 
"But I told

you, this mission-"

"We understand," Dawn began.

"But we are falling 'n love with you,"

I
  
' Eve concluded.

Then tears dropped from all four of their eyes.

Forrest's jaw dropped.
 
"But you were just flirting, and I knew that. It

wasn't serious.
 
You are princesses, and I'm just a faun."

"We are girls who have never been certain whether any given man's

interest in us was because of our royalty," Dawn said.

"Or because of our physical appeal," Eve continued.

"Or our Sorceress caliber magic."

"Or our novelty as morning and evening twins."

"And we cared for none of these kinds of interest, in themselves."

"We wanted to be valued for ourselves."

"But I do know of your royalty, and appreciate your beauty, and your

magic, and your novelty," Forrest protested.
 
"I am fascinated by all of

them.
 
So I am no better than any of those you have encountered.
 
And I

am just a faun of no particular autho.,ity or ability. So-"

"So you have no ambition with respect to us," Dawn said.

"Just a healthy desire to celebrate with us in your quaint fashion," Eve

said.

"And accomplish your mission."

"And go your way."

"Yes.
 
I can't remain in your world.
 
I must return to my tree.
 
And

since I know that true human beings don't believe in dalliance for its

own sake, I am trying to avoid it."

"Which is our point," Dawn said.
 
"You know us, and appreciate all our

points, yet have no ulterior motive."

"You are the first male outside our family," Eve said, "whom we can

truly trust.
 
Therefore we love you."

"But trust is only one element of a meaningful relationship," he

protested.
 
"And it is a property of fauns to make the females they

touch want to celebrate.
 
So your emotions may not be genuine, or at

least not natural."

"But we are young and fickle, and our love will not endure."

"So we hope to indulge it with you during this window of opportunity."

"And then we will go our separate ways," Dawn said.

"And remember each other with a certain wistful fondness," Eve said.

"With delight in the memory of the experience."

"Which was our very first of this type."

"And no regrets."

"And no regrets."

Forrest was overwhelmed.
 
Maybe they were influenced by his faunish

effect on females, but they had understanding too.
 
"This-this is not an

offer I can decline.
 
But while we are on the mission-"

"It would be an abuse of the trust placed in all of us to play certain

fauny games," Dawn said.

"And such faun & games might interfere with our pursuit of the mission,"

Eve agreed.

"So for now we will pretend that this dialogue has not yet occurred."

"But we will never doubt that it will occur in due course."

"Uh, yes," Forrest agreed.
 
He was deeply touched, but knew that this

was no time to be distracted from the mission.
 
"Where's Imbri?"

They looked out at the rest of the region.
 
Polly Morph, in whatever