Geis of the Gargoyle (27 page)

"Any time we get tired of it," Iris said, "I can simply abolish the illusion, and we will be back among the ruins."

"Perhaps," Mentia said grimly.

That bothered Gary, because Mentia was now their sanest member.
 
But he did not want to leave the illusion until he had located the philter.

9 HINGE

Gary led the way out of the train, wary of what might lie outside.
 
The illusion of the ancient city remained, but he wasn't sure whether they had actually traveled anywhere in reality.
 
If they had, where had the train of thought taken them? Here in the madness, anything could be dangerous or non-existent, or both.

There was a small group of people gathered on the station platform.
 
One of them evidently recognized him, for she stepped briskly forward.
 
She was armed, and her hair was militantly coifed.

"Hannah Barbarian!" he exclaimed, dismayed.
 
"What are you doing here?"

"My lord, surely you jest," she replied diffidently.

Could he be mistaken? She looked like the aggressive woman he had encountered at the Good Magician's castle, but she wasn't acting like her.
 
"Am I confusing you with someone else?"

She smiled, which was another disconcerting thing.
 
"My lord Gar the Good, you know I exist merely to serve your will.
 
Let me help you down the step.
 
You are surely fatigued after your wearisome travel." And she reached forth to take firm hold of his elbow, steadying him as he descended.

Gary got smart, realizing that this had to be an aspect of illusion or madness.
 
"I confess I am a bit confused.
 
Humor me.
 
Your name is-?"

"Hanna the Handmaiden, of course, my lord, as it has ever been.
 
I see you are in sore need of my ministrations."

It seemed better to play along with this illusion rather than challenge it.
 
Maybe Sorceress Iris was having a bit of fun with him.

But Iris was the next off the train.
 
"What is this?" she asked, startled.

"0 Queen Iri, have you forgotten me?" Hanna asked.
 
"I am handmaiden to my lord Gar the Good, loyal and subservient."

"Subservient?" Gary asked, surprised again.

"My lord, you tease me cruelly," Hanna said, looking woeful.
 
"When was I ever other than your most humble and obedient servant?"

"I didn't conjure this image," Iris said, looking perplexed and faintly alarmed.
 
"This madness is getting out of hand."

"Not for naught is she called Iri the Irate," Hanna murmured to Gary.
 
Then, smiling brightly, to Iris: "My lady, I apologize most humbly for making you angry."

"I said mad, not angry," Iris said.
 
But she seemed to have come to the same decision as Gary: to play along until she had a better notion what was happening.

Surprise appeared next "And how good it is to see you again.
 
Princess Supi the Super," Hanna said.
 
"I pray your esteemed mother the Queen has not been wroth with you too."

The child, startled, changed color.
 
She turned bright green.
 
"Supi the Super?" she echoed.
 
"I like it!"

Iris glanced back.
 
"Dear, you had better change back before someone notices," she said guardedly.

Surprise changed to blue, then back to normal.
 
"Super!" she repeated, smiling.

"My lord, do you encourage her in this?" Hanna inquired anxiously.

"Encourage her?" Gary said blankly.
 
"How can I prevent her from doing whatever she chooses?"

"But you are her tutor, my lord.
 
It is your prerogative to instruct her in all things mannerly and magical, so that she does not waste her powers."

"Waste her powers?" Gary was still having trouble orienting.

"You know as well as do we all that though Supi, being the sole heir to the crown of Xanth, has more magic than any other, she can invoke each aspect of it once and once only.
 
Thus it is horrible to waste it frivolously, lest we need it for the final conjuration."

"Once only?" Gary asked, and saw that Iris was as surprised as he.
 
"Can this be true?"

But the next person was descending from the train.
 
This was Mentia.

"Ah, my lady Menti the Mentor," Hanna said.
 
"And it is good to see you again, too."

"Mentor to what?" his asked, her voice carefully controlled.

"Why to Princess Supi, of course.
 
For she is ever in need of attention, and you her mother are naturally often too busy to be bothered."

Iris frowned, but did not respond.
 
Mentia, rationally quick on the uptake, merely nodded.
 
"Certainly we take excellent care of the child," she agreed.

Now Hiatus appeared.
 
Another person stepped from the background group.
 
"My lord Hiat!" she cried.
 
"I am so glad to see you safely home."

"Desiree!" he cried, astonished.
 
For indeed it was she.

"Desi the Desolate," she agreed.
 
"Surely you have not so soon forgotten the nymph you rescued from evil and befriended, and who now serves you in any way you allow?"

"But-" he started.

"We all have titles or descriptions, it seems," Gary told him.
 
"We feel it best not to debate them."

"Descriptions?"

"Hiat the Hedonist," Hanna offered helpfully.

"I never .called you that!" Desi protested.
 
"I honor you as uncle of Princess Supi, closest in the royal descent after her, and a bold and handsome man."

Hiatus seemed stunned by this description, but not annoyed.
 
He, too, was coming to realize that something odd was occurring here.
 
"I am glad to be with you again,

Desiree-I mean Desi."

"And now that the introductions have been accomplished," Iris said, "perhaps we should go where we are going."

"Why, to the palace, of course," Hanna said.
 
"We know you all are tired after your sojourn abroad."

"Abroad?" Gary asked.

"To the very nonmagical extreme edge of Xanth, where the awful Mundanes threaten to overrun," Hanna said.
 
"Surely a harrowing excursion."

"Very true," Iris agreed quickly.
 
"And now we really must get home and rest for a time.
 
Please convey us there

by the simplest route."

"We have merely to cross the street," Hanna said.
 
"How clever of my lady to express it so." But her sober expression suggested that she did not regard the Queen as all that clever.

So they followed Hanna out of the station and across the street, which was now being used by assorted crossbreeds.
 
A small sphinx was hauling a wagon of fruit, and a clean harpy was sweeping the street by blowing the debris and dirt away by the force of her wingbeats.
 
An ogre was scrubbing the palace windows, using an assortment of sponges mounted on long handles.

Gary was amazed.
 
He had never heard of a sphinx serving as a beast of burden, or of a harpy cleaning anything up, or of .an ogre being gentle with windows.
 
These were illusion figures, of course, but usually illusions echoed the natures of the creatures they represented.
 
He glanced at Iris.

"Don't look at me," she muttered.
 
"None of these people or creatures are my handiwork."

Hiatus took note.
 
"They aren't? Then who's making them?"

"How should I know?" she asked irritably.
 
"I thought I was the only one with illusion of this caliber."

"Maybe they're real," Mentia said.

"No, they're illusion," Iris said.
 
"Trust me to know my art.
 
They just aren't mine."

"I knew Desi was too good to be true," Hiatus said morosely.
 
"The real Desiree isn't interested in me."

"And the real Hannah is a militant feminist," Gary said.

"Not at all like Hanna the Handmaiden."

"Something very strange is occurring," Mentia said.
 
"It's a function of the increased madness, of course, but not of any type I have heard of."

"It's fun!" Surprise said.

Iris was thoughtful.
 
"Actually, my husband Trent remarked how he entered the madness and encountered figures from his past in Mundania.
 
They seemed real, and acted as they had when he knew them, but were actually animated by his companions in the quest he was on."

"Among whom was my better self Metria," Mentia agreed, remembering.
 
"She became sober in the madness, as I have, and developed a taste for love.
 
That was the mischief that drove me out-and now I am discovering aspects of it myself.
 
So perhaps this is the normal course of madness, after all."

"But what of the people and creatures we aren't remembering or imagining?" Iris asked.
 
"They aren't like those we may have known, other than in their appearance."

"That remains odd," the demoness agreed.

They reached the palace gate.
 
Gary admired the fine stone structure, as it had a number of rare facets, including a self-cleaning panel of detergent stone.
 
He would have liked to study it more closely, but didn't want to separate from the party.

The interior of the palace was of course palatial, with arched ceilings and spacious chambers.
 
The group was guided up an elaborate spiraling stone stairway to the residential floor, where it seemed their apartments were clustered.
 
Gary saw Desi take Hiatus to their suite, after guiding Iris and Surprise to theirs.
 
Hanna showed Mentia to hers, then took Gary into his.

"I must massage your tired body, my lord," Hanna said solicitously.
 
"I know how traveling wearies you beyond endurance."

"Actually I didn't travel that far," Gary said.
 
"And the train was comfortable."

"First we must get these grimy clothes off you," she said, as if he hadn't spoken.
 
He realized that as an illusion imitation person, she probably didn't have a lot of personality.
 
But her hands seemed surprisingly solid as she drew off his jacket and then his shoes and trousers.
 
He knew that illusion was remarkable stuff, but hadn't realized that it could be felt this solidly as well as seen and heard.

She made him lie on a stone pallet, and she pressed and kneaded his human shoulders and back.
 
Suddenly he realized how tired he actually was, and how wonderfully relaxing this massage was.
 
Hanna the Handmaiden was a maiden who really knew how to use her hands.