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whom they served; it would be one of my successors.
I told Grundy to watch my castle while I was gone. The Gorgon would use my magic carpet to fetch her
sister and reunite her with her dulcimer. Meanwhile, I mounted Mare Imbri, who was solid by daylight
now, and we headed for Castle Roogna. How I hated all this! I was too old for such adventure, but it had
been thrust upon me.
Mare Imbri, being female, was naturally curious about what was none of her business. She formed a
dreamlet which showed her as a black-gowned and rather attractive human woman, her hair in a long
ponytail. "Why didn't you let the Gorgon be with you?" this dream woman asked me. "She really seems
to care for you."
"Of course she cares for me, the idiot!" I snapped. "She's a better wife than I deserve. Always was.
Always will be."
"But then-" "Because I don't want her to see my ignominious doom. My wife will perform better if not
handicapped by hope."
"That is a cruel mechanism," the dream woman said as the mare carried me into the eye of a gourd for
rapid transit.
"No more cruel than the dreams of night mares," I retorted. But of course Imbri herself had lost that
meanness; that was why she was no longer a night mare by profession.
We arrived at Castle Roogna. I made clear to Queen Iris that Bink was to be the next king after me. His
talent of not being harmed by magic might be useless against the Mundanes, but he was a full Magician,
and that was what counted. After that, I informed her, it would be Arnolde Centaur.
"And after him?" Iris asked tightly.
"If the full chain of future kings were known," I pointed out, "our hidden enemy might nullify them in
advance."
"What can I do to help save Xanth?" she asked. She evidently thought I was getting senile.
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"Bide your time, woman. In due course you will have your reward: the single thing you most desire."
For so that too was written, though I had forgotten what it was she most desired.
Then I took a nap. and Mare Imbri trotted out to the zombie graveyard to graze.
Later we went to the place of my ignominy: the baobab tree. There I met Imbri's friend the Day Horse, a
handsome white stallion. And there it was I performed my most colossal act of folly: I failed to
recognize my enemy when I saw him. For the Day Horse was the equine aspect of the Horseman, and he
connected my vision to the gourd, and I was gone.
I found myself locked in the realm of bad dreams, instead of passing through it as I had when riding
Mare Imbri. I was in a castle chamber, which was pleasantly appointed with tables, chairs, and beds.
There were Kings Trent, Dor, and Jonathan the Zombie Master.
"So good to see you again, Humfrey," Trent said. "What's the news?"
I was taken aback. How could he be so casual? Then he laughed, and I knew he was teasing me in his
fashion. I shook hands with him and Jonathan, and then with Dor, who was no longer a child at age
twenty-four and had served honorably as king. He seemed slightly taken aback, which gratified me. We
were all now recent kings, with a certain morbid camaraderie.
"The wives are mourning," I reported. Dor had just been married to Irene, after a betrothal of eight years
duration; they had not seen fit to rush things. Irene had finally taken a hand and tricked him into the
ceremony. But she had played it too close; the sudden duties of the kingship had occupied him in the
crisis, and they had had no wedding night. "I told Iris that Bink and Arnolde Centaur were to follow me
as king. Meanwhile, I failed to recognize the Horseman when I met him." Actually I'm not quite certain
now exactly when I figured out the identity of the Horseman; it was some time ago. But the scene was
something like that, I'm sure.
"Didn't we all!" Jonathan agreed.
I caught them up on the recent events of the battle against the Last Wave, and they nodded. All of us
were wise too late.
Then we settled down to a game of poker, a game Trent had picked up in Mundania. One might think
that this consisted of poking a nymph, but this was not the case. It consisted of dealing out cards and
bluffing about the values of our holdings. It was a fitting occupation for kings. Dor, being of a younger
generation, merely watched. We used our closest approximations to Mundane value, as this was a
Mundane game: lettuce, clams, and bucksaws, all provided by the dream realm. We were of course, all
sharing a sustained dream; our bodies were lying in their various places, comatose, being tended by our
assorted women. We knew that if we were not rescued in a few days, our bodies would die, and then we
would have no escape from this realm, except perhaps into the neighboring realm of Hell. It seemed best
not to dwell on that; the decision was out of our hands.
We were comfortable enough, aside from the boredom. We did not feel the discomforts of our bodies.
Our bodies seemed solid here, because we were all spirits, none of us having any more solidity than the
others. The Night Stallion checked in on us every so often and provided anything we wanted within
reason. But he could not provide us with our freedom.
In due course Bink showed up. We welcomed him, especially his son, Dor, acquainted him with our
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r r
situation, and learned the latest details of the battle of Xanth. Bink had met the enemy leader Hasbinbad
in single combat, and was getting the better of it, but they had had to break off because of darkness. So
they had made a truce for the night and retired. Then Hasbinbad had treacherously attacked in the
darkness, but Bink had been ready for him, avoiding the trap, then pursued him to the brink of the Gap
Chasm. We were all able to remember that cleft, now, because the Forget Spell worked on our physical
bodies, not our souls. He had been wounded, but had forced Hasbinbad into the Gap, where he had
fallen to his death. Then a white horse had come, and the Horseman had locked Bink into the gourd.
"But you cannot be harmed by magic!" Trent protested.
"I wasn't harmed by magic," Bink pointed out.
"But if we all die here-" Dor said, worried.
"We are unlikely to," I said. "If Bink's talent allowed him to join us, we must be safe."
The others nodded agreement. We were all comforted.
Then Mare Imbri showed up. The Night Stallion gave her a tail-lashing for her tardiness and brought her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]