xanth 40 - isis orb (38 page)

“And you could similarly transform any other person, merely by invoking the Orb, becoming the greatest transformer ever seen in the Land of Xanth, would you?”

“Well, I—”

“And others flocked to you, begging you to transform them into better forms, or to give them riches, or beautiful slave women, and you could do it almost without effort, would you?”

“I guess.”

“And if the line of supplicants got to be endless, everyone wanting something, without limit, and be mad at you if you didn’t do it?”

Hapless became annoyed. “I’d tell them to go away. What right have they to beg favors from a stranger?”

“That is the beginning of arrogance. You will become imperious, like a king. That is corruption.”

She did seem to have a point. So he changed the subject. “Why are you telling us this?” Hapless asked.

“Not because I want to,” the Goddess said. “Because I am required to. When you made me become the Orb, you also invoked its constraints, which I am obliged to interpret for you. I have to warn you about the cliff you are about to step over, even though I know you will ignore the caution. It’s a thankless chore.”

“What do you advise? To throw away the Orb?”

She winced. “No, don’t do that. Someone will find it, because it seeks to be found, and that person will become corrupted by it and probably do incalculable harm. No, instead you must decommission it. Release me, then release the Totems, so that no one will be able to draw on this power without going through what you did, braving the five Regions and then tackling me. Chances are that won’t happen in a century, or in a millennium, or ever. Your lives will return to their utter dullness, but Xanth will be safe, at least from this particular threat.”

“But if I release you, you’ll try to seduce me again, and make me do your will.”

“Indeed. This is another thing about Power, whatever form it takes: it can be as difficult and dangerous to release as to acquire. You can’t just let it go and forget it.”

“Bleep,” Hapless muttered.

“Uneasy is the head that wears the crown. Believe me, I understand.”

Hapless put away the Orb. “I guess we have some thinking to do.”

“But it’s your decision, Hapless,” Feline said.

Hapless sat down beside Myst, who was playing with illusion balls borrowed from a fragment of the wall that Faro had broken. “What do you advise?

“Fix Faro. Quiet Quin. Orbit Orb. Marry Mom.”

Hapless kept a straight face. “What do the rest of you think about this advice?”

“I’m not completely sure about that last,” Feline said, with only the suggestion of a trace of a smile.

“If I may translate,” Merge said, “my daughter thinks you should grant the wishes of Faro and Quin, then shut down the Orb. Then, if Feline is amenable, marry me and adopt Myst.”

The child clapped her little hands. “Yes! Aunt Feline can help with the wedding.”

They looked at Feline.

“Are you a virgin?” Feline asked Merge.

How did that relate? Hapless was confused yet again.

“What’s a virgin?” Myst asked.

“Someone who’s never done more than kissing and hugging a friend,” Feline said.

“Oh,” the child said. She took her illusion balls and went to play by herself, not caring to be bored by any such dull adult discussion.

Now Merge answered Feline’s question. “Yes. I am a virgin.”

“Do you want to marry a virgin?”

Merge was startled. “Why no, actually. I always expected to marry a man of experience. Then there would be no, well, fumbling.” She blushed delicately.

“I love Hapless, but I don’t think I have to marry him,” Feline said. “There are fields yet to play, tomcats to tease, now that I know that my curves aren’t everything. I’ll always be his friend, and yours. Suppose I de-virginate him and turn him over to you to marry?”

“Oh, would you? I would be so grateful.”

“After we conclude the Quest,” Feline said with the trace of a bit of an obscure smile.

“Yes, of course.”

So they had agreed, without consulting Hapless. They had made the decision for him. But he liked the result. He could marry Merge without alienating Feline.

Chapter 17:

Shadows

They went outside to a pleasant illusion meadow. The snapshot showed it to be a weedy barren, but that was fine; they needed flying space.

“First, let’s verify that you aren’t cured of your fear, Faro,” Hapless said. “Give me the Horn, and fly without it.”

The winged centaur gave him the Void Totem. It did not throb with power; it was inert in his hand. He could not command it, only she.

Faro trotted forward, then spread her wings and leaped into the air. And immediately stalled and landed again. “The fear is back,” she said tightly.

Hapless returned the Horn to her. “Try it again.”

She did. This time she sailed up to treetop height, then spiraled higher with no problem. It was definitely the Totem.

When she landed, Hapless raised the Orb. “What is the exact protocol?” he asked Isis.

“First you must orient the five Totems to focus on the Orb. Each must activate briefly. That in turn activates the Orb so that it is ready to function. It’s a safety feature. You never want to activate it carelessly.”

“Totems,” Hapless said.

The five gathered around. He could tell by the power throbbing in the air that the Totems were now activated.

“Next step?”

“Faro must touch the Orb and make her wish, which I will intercept and rephrase. That should do it. But remember, your invocation of the Orb’s power will affect you also.”

“I know.” He glanced at the Orb in his hand. “I just want to be sure there’s no shadow of a doubt.”

“Oops!”

“What?”

“It pulsed. You made a wish.”

“What wish?” he asked, nettled and nervous.

“That there be no shadow of a doubt. I didn’t think of it as a formal wish, so did not intercept it. It slipped though, and I fear the Orb acted. It had been activated, and you were touching it when you spoke.”

They all stood in place, as if afraid to move. How right she had been about never activating it carelessly!

“What did it do?” Zed asked.

“Something relating to shadows. I can’t quite nail it.”

Hapless looked around. Everything seemed normal. “I guess nothing’s wrong,” Hapless said.

“I don’t like this,” Isis said. “Please don’t speak of any desire or preference in the presence of the Orb. It’s not safe.”

“I won’t,” Hapless agreed. “Faro, your turn.”

Faro stepped up and touched the Orb with one finger. “I wish to have no fear of heights.”

There was a pause. “I have processed it,” Isis said. “It should have taken effect.”

Faro handed the Horn back to Hapless. Then she launched into the air. She flew high. “I’m cured!” she called down from well above their heads. “Oh, I’m so pleased!”

The others applauded. “So are we all,” Zed said.

She glided down, landed, and recovered the Horn. Then she took off again. It made no difference. That was evidently what she was verifying. She could now fly with or without the Totem. That simply, it had worked.

But Hapless felt a stronger affiliation with the Orb. He knew this was because of the exercise of its power, but that did not change the feeling. He did want more of it. But there remained one more wish to make.

“Now Quin,” Hapless said. “Phrase your wish carefully before you speak it.”

The dragon with the harpy front end slithered forward to touch the sphere. “I wish I could make a completely human form that I could assume at will, without sacrificing my present forms.”

There was another pause. “I have processed it,” Isis said.

“Change,” Feline suggested.

Quin disappeared. In his place stood a handsome naked man.

“Well, now,” Feline said approvingly.

“Did it work?” the man asked. It was Quin.

“Look in the unbroken wall,” Feline said. “At your reflection.”

Quin walked to the illusion glass wall of the house beside the meadow and stared at himself in its mirror. “It worked,” he repeated. “Glorious! I am all man in this form.”

“You sure are,” Feline said, contemplating his midriff. “And well endowed.”

But Hapless had received another jolt of affinity with the Orb. Already he did not want to give it up. Which meant it was time to do so.

“Perhaps a smudge of illusion would be in order,” Merge suggested, if not blushing red, at least managing pastel pink.

Quin fetched some fogginess from the wall, and applied it to his groin. Now only obscurity was visible there.

“Where is your shadow?” Feline asked. For the sun was out and shining warmly.

They all looked. Quin had no shadow.

“What’s this?” Nya asked, pointing to the ground where Quin had stood before. There was his shadow. By itself.

“And this?” Faro asked. For she had no shadow either. At least not where she stood. Her shadow was where she had been standing before.

None of them had shadows. All their shadows had stayed in place when they moved.

“This is distinctly odd,” Quin said. “Something changed recently.”

“When I spoke of the shadow of a doubt,” Hapless said. “And the Orb reacted.”

“Now we know what happened,” Zed said. “It separated our shadows from our bodies. The shadow of a doubt. That did not show up until we moved, and then it took us a while to notice. The local trees and bushes still have their shadows, because they haven’t moved.”

“Subtle,” Faro said. “But we had better comprehend it, lest there be aspects we don’t like.”

“Have you grown, Hapless?” Faro asked. “You seem taller.”

“I, uh—”

“We are all taller,” Merge said.

“I don’t feel different,” Hapless said.

“The shadows haven’t changed,” Zed said, looking down at his. “Neither position nor their size or shape. But we are changing. I fear this is mischief.”

“We’re changing the way shadows change!” Feline said. “Getting longer as the day progresses.”

“That’s a reversal,” Faro said. “Normally we hold our form, while the shadows change.”

“Now that we are separated from our shadows,” Nya said, “It seems that the truth about the connection is being revealed. Normally the shadows absorb the change. Deprived of them, we are suffering it ourselves. We do need our shadows.”

“But what happens at night?” Zed asked. “When shadows normally disappear? Will we fade out entirely?”

“Or become infinitely large?” Faro asked.

“I think we’d better get reattached to our shadows,” Feline said. “If the Orb can do this, it can undo it.”

“Uh—” Hapless began.

“Spit it out, man,” Feline said. “There’s a reason why not?”

“Maybe,” he said. “Each time I use the Orb, its power over me increases. Originally it hardly appealed to me. Now I want to use it again. I’m being corrupted by the desire for its power.”

“We were going to win the Orb, get our wishes granted, and quit with the Orb, weren’t we?” Feline asked. “You’re changing your mind?

“Not yet. But each use of it affects me. I can’t be sure which one will tip the balance.”

“This is relevant,” Zed said. “Power is known to corrupt. We have felt empowered by our Totems. Now Hapless is being affected by the Orb. It should be decommissioned as soon as possible.”

“After we fix the shadows,” Feline said.

The others considered for much of a moment, and agreed. “Our wishes have been granted,” Quin said. “It may be that the granting of all six wishes via the use of the Orb would have completed the corruption. As it is, only two, perhaps three wishes have been granted, the third inadvertently. If reversing it counts as another wish, then the corruption would be two thirds complete. This is only conjecture.”

“But persuasive,” Zed agreed. “We had better fix the shadows, then immediately decommission the Orb. That should be our safest course.”

They were agreed. Hapless lifted the Orb. “Isis—”

“I heard,” she replied on speakerphone. “The parameters are not as simple as a straight six-count, but as an approximation it will do.”

“Parameters?” Merge asked.

“Variable boundaries,” Zed said.

“The shadows are probably the less risky course,” Isis said. “Constantly changing your sizes may be awkward, but not as final as getting corrupted.”

“My curves are already getting seriously distorted,” Feline complained. Indeed, she looked stretched out, too tall and thin for her figure.

“I did not achieve a full human form only to have it constantly distorted by the time of day,” Quin said. “I want it to be handsome.”

“Let’s gamble,” Nya said. Her human portion was getting awkwardly elongated, while her serpent portion was compacted. It was not an esthetic effect.

They took a quick vote, and agreed to gamble.

“You may be sorry,” Isis said. “Undoing a prior wish isn’t as easy as making a new one. The phrasing is critical. I hope I get this right.” A keyboard appeared before her, in the sphere, and she typed busily. “There. I think I have it properly couched. Ready?”

“Ready,” Hapless agreed, dry mouthed. “I hereby make that wish.”

There was a jolt. The shadows zipped to rejoin their owners. But the folk had not thought to go stand by their own shadows. Quin, in manform, suddenly had the shadow of a centaur. Feline had the shadow of a harpy/dragon crossbreed. The others seemed to have their own shadows, at least.

Well, Hapless and Merge had exchanged shadows. Hers was big and clumsy, while his was small and refined.

“They will correct themselves,” Isis said. “Just give them time to acclimatize. “Shadows are not the brightest things.” She smiled, indicating a pun, but no one was much amused.

But now Hapless was assaulted by the worst siege yet. He felt the power of the Orb infusing him, taking possession of his spirit. It was trying to make him its own. He fought it, but its power was greater than his.

“Don’t fight it, Hapless,” Isis said. “Flow with it. You are not yet lost.”

“What do you care?” he demanded, nervousness giving him an unkind edge.

“I do care, Hapless. You own the Orb, and I am your servant. I am trying to guide you to your best outcome. Do you know what a riptide is?”