"Of course." Vida Vila pointed at the brook, and the water cleared. "Drink all you want, Prince." But then she frowned. "Are you sure?" she said aside to Marrow. "He doesn't look much like a prince."
"He's a form changer," Marrow explained. "For forest travel he assumes the form of an ogre. He can assume another form if you promise not to try to hurt him."
"I promise!" Vida exclaimed, her hair shimmering in her excitement. "I've always wanted a prince!"
Dolph reverted to boy form. He got down next to the brook. The water certainly seemed good. If Marrow believed it was safe, it surely was; adults had good instincts about such things. He drank deeply, and it was the finest water he had ever tasted.
Then, as he got up, he remembered that he was no longer alone with Marrow. There was a woman present, and he was naked. Now he missed his bag of belongings back on the other side of the river; the situation with the harpies had caused him to forget the problem of nakedness. So he had no clothes to change into anyway. It was too late to change to some other form; she had already seen him. He felt a blush developing.
"You must introduce us," Vida said to Marrow.
The skeleton shrugged. "Prince Dolph, this is Vida, the vila of this forest. Vida, this is Dolph, the son of King Dor."
"Uh, glad to meet you," Dolph said doubtfully, extending his hand. He reminded himself that this was not really a human woman, but some kind of forest creature who could change forms, just as he could. That in itself was surprising, but Vida avoided the hand, stepped in close, and embraced him. Her body was marvelously cushiony. He opened his mouth in surprise, only to have it covered by hers. She gave him a deep kiss that practically smothered him.
"Now wasn't that nice?" she inquired as she let him up for air. "There is much, much more where that came from, after we are married."
Dolph had been about to close his mouth, but this locked it open. What had she said?
"I fear there has been a misunderstanding," Marrow said. "Dolph is not—"
"Not interested in marriage yet?" the woman finished. "Well, maybe that is understandable. This is fairly sudden, I confess. I had not been thinking of it either, until I learned his identity. Suppose I remove my clothing?"
"I—" Dolph began.
The leaves shimmered on her torso, and faded out. Now she was a voluptuous naked nymph whose hair played about her ample curves. "Now isn't this a body fit for a prince?" she inquired. "I assure you, it's fully functional, for it is my natural form. Now if you will just assume your own natural form so that you can react in manly fashion, I'm sure you will be satisfied."
"But—" Dolph said.
"Let me encourage you," Vida said. "I normally don't give samples before marriage, but in this case I can make an exception. Just let me get really close to you—" As she spoke, she took him in her arms again, this time lifting him off his feet and bearing him down to the ground so that she could wrap her legs around him as well as her arms. "Now change, Prince," she whispered huskily. "I am ready for you!"
"Help!" Dolph cried.
Marrow stepped in. "This is his natural form," he informed the vila. "Dolph is a young prince, just nine years old. He is not ready for marriage."
It took a moment for that to sink in, for Vida was in the process of capturing Dolph's mourn for another thorough kiss. "How old?" she asked.
"Nine!" Dolph answered.
She pondered. "Well, maybe in a few more years." She released him. "Too bad; I have so much to offer right now."
"Indubitably the case," Marrow agreed smoothly. "We regret the confusion."
"So you are a child," Vida said, readjusting. "We vila are very protective toward children. Come, you must eat; a growing boy needs nourishment."
"Uh—"
"And you really shouldn't be going around without clothing; you'll catch your death of a cold!" She made a gesture with her hands, and suddenly Dolph was wearing a cloak of green leaves.
"Perhaps some food would be good for him," Marrow agreed.
"Yes." A huge green salad appeared in her hands. "Now eat it all, and brush your teeth after," she admonished Dolph. "Then you will have to wash up, especially behind the ears."
It occurred to Dolph that he might have been better off as a man. Her wrestling would have been more fun than this salad! Now she was acting just like a mother.
But it seemed he was stuck for it, because Marrow, though he did not have to eat himself, knew that living folk had to do it. Like so many adults, Marrow thought that yucky salad was better than candy corn on the cob.
But it wasn't all bad. After the meal, Vida changed into a fine big horse so that Dolph could ride in style, and carried him up the mountain to her tree. This was a huge old beech, with white sand all around it and the sound of ocean breakers in its branches. She invited them to spend the night here, and Marrow approved. "No one bothers anyone under the protection of a vila," Marrow said.
They talked, for Vida was eager to impress Dolph with her virtue as a prospective bride, for the time when he should be ready for one. He learned that the vily were the guardians of mountain forests, like hamadryads, only far more powerful. They could assume a number of forms, and could cause and cure illness in those who intruded on their forests. That was why the harpies had stopped at the border; they feared the local vila. But this power came at a price: the vily were forever tied to their trees, and if the tree died, so did its vila. Thus Marrow's threat to cut down her tree had completely unnerved her; she could have made a living creature sicken and die before ever reaching her tree, but Marrow was not alive in that sense. A vila could wander far from her tree, and remain away from it as long as she wished, unlike the hamadryad who had to stay quite close. But if Vida wandered too far, someone might sneak in and harm her tree, and she could not afford to risk that. So she maintained a nice forest as far out as she deemed proper, and that was it. She was sorry to have threatened Dolph, but he had looked just like an ogre, and ogres were notorious for damaging trees. Had she known at the outset that he was a prince—
"You know, it is true that you are young," she said, thinking of something. "But perhaps if you assumed the form of a grown man, we could do something interesting together."
"Oh? What?" Dolph asked, intrigued.- He had never been able to assume the form of anything older than himself, but this talent improved as he grew, so maybe he could be a man now.
"I think not," Marrow said quickly.
"But—" Dolph and Vida said together.
"She is not thinking of wrestling or handball," the skeleton explained. "She is thinking of mushy stuff."
"Ugh!" Dolph exclaimed, appalled.
"Well, perhaps wrestling—" Vida said.
But Dolph demurred. He did not trust her not to throw in a kiss. He was glad Marrow had warned him. Adults simply were not to be trusted.
Vida sighed. "Well, when you do get interested in mush, Prince, you will know where to find me. I will be glad to show you varieties of mush you never dreamed of, and that's a promise."
Promise? Dolph was onto that kind of language. It meant a threat. He would never fall for it!
In the morning she made him eat a big bowl of mush, getting even with him for being young (or whatever), and resumed horse form to carry him to the coast. Dolph kicked Marrow, who became a bone blanket that Dolph wrapped around his body for warmth.
First they went back to the river to recover the lost bag. They were lucky; the harpies had not thought to look for that, and it was still sitting by the bank. Dolph became a buzzard, found that his wing soreness had eased, and flew across to fetch the bag back. Then he reverted to boy form, dressed, and the horse carried them back over the mountain and on to the east. It was indeed a nice way to travel!
Dusk was looming as they reached the shore. "I really would like to stay the night with you,” the horse said. "But I fear for my tree. Unless you would like to—"
"In a few years," Dolph said. It wasn't right to fib, he knew, but he didn't think it was
wise to tell her the truth: that he would never be interested in mush no matter how fancy she made it. With luck, he would not encounter her again.
"Just so." The horse became a hawk, which flew swiftly back west.
"How can she change forms, the way I can, but she's not a Magician?" Dolph asked. "Also, how can she do different kinds of magic? I thought each person could have only one magic talent."
"She is not a person, she is a vila," Marrow explained, "a magical creature whose natural form only happens to be human. You have noted that I can do a number of magical things related to my body; similarly she can do a number of things related to her nature. These are not multiple talents but aspects of her single talent: to protect her tree. She protects it, and it sustains her, giving her life as long as it lives."
"I guess so," Dolph said, though he found this explanation confusing. "But that tree looks a lot older man she does." In fact, now that she was safely gone, it occurred to him that her body had been sort of interesting. Like a nymph's, only more so. He regretted that he hadn't wrestled with her.
"They are the same age," Marrow assured him. "Perhaps two hundred years."
"Two hundred years! What did she want with me, then?"
"Only a human man can give her children; she can not reproduce with her own kind, for there are no male vily. She hoped you would reproduce with her; not only would her offspring be vily like herself, they would be related to the royalty of Xanth, and have special prestige. She is most eager for that."
"I guess so," Dolph agreed. "But how did she expect to get children from me? I mean, what is the exact process of summoning the stork?"
"That is part of the Adult Conspiracy," Marrow said. “I am not permitted to inform you of that. It is something you will have to discover for yourself, or with a knowledgeable partner, when you are of age."
And with that frustrating answer Dolph had to be satisfied. He had hoped that Marrow would not remember the Adult Conspiracy against Children. He knew, of course, that babies were brought by storks; the secret was how adults managed to signal the storks so as to order the babies. Storks answered only to very particular directives, and absolutely refused to deliver babies otherwise. No child had ever figured out the secret; if children ever did, they would be able to order babies for themselves and bypass the adults entirely. What a dream that was!
Now that it was too late, he also realized that Vida Vila might have told him the secret, if he had thought to ask, because she was so eager to please him. Well, maybe he would return this way after all, after his Quest was done, and ask her. The trick would be to get the answer and get away before she could set up for any more mush.
But meanwhile the Isle of Illusion was there across the water; soon they would find the Heaven Cent!
Chapter 4
Grace’l
In the morning they gazed at the isle. "I'll become a roc and carry you across," Dolph said.
"Perhaps—"
Dolph was coming to dread that opening! But he knew he'd better hear it. "What?"
"—it would be better to cross by boat."
"We don't have a boat!"
"I can assume that configuration, if you can find a paddle."
"You can be a boat? Why didn't you tell me that back at the river?''
"You didn't ask."
There were times when adults could be very trying! "All right, we can do it by boat. But what's wrong with flying across?"
"We do not know precisely what we will encounter there and may not wish to advertise our approach. An air approach could lead to complications about landing, and if harpies happen to be nesting there—"
"Good point." Dolph wanted no further business with harpies! He searched around the shore until he found a flat branch that would do for a paddle.
He kicked the skeleton. The bones flew out, and splashed on the water in the form of a small boat. Dolph climbed in, finding that there was just room for him. It was amazing how many shapes Marrow could assume! The bones were set slightly apart, but seemed to keep the water out anyway, so that the boat floated without difficulty.
"What keeps the water from leaking in?" he inquired as he paddled.
"Connective magic," the skull he was using as a seat replied. "I consist of bones and cartilage; the bones are visible, but the cartilage can become very fine, and its webbing holds the water at bay. A similar effect enables me to speak to you; that invisible webbing captures air and pushes it past my mouth bones in such a way as to make sound.”
"You're quite a creature!" Dolph said admiringly.
"Thank you."
Dolph was not the best paddler, but the craft was well designed and the distance was short, and a gentle wind from behind helped. He made decent progress.
As they neared the isle, its outline became stranger. It was not the wilderness Dolph had anticipated; instead it seemed to be an elaborate city. He saw golden domes and silver turrets and flying buttresses and waving banners. The morning sunlight glinted from its shiny surfaces, and an intriguing network of avenues showed below. Where had this come from?
"I thought the Isle of Illusion was empty!" Dolph panted as he paddled. "Where did that city come from?"
"The isle has been uninhabited by man since your grandmother Iris left it, generations ago," the skull said. "Perhaps you see a mirage."
"What's a mirage?"
"Something that is not really there. When you get close to it, it is gone."
"It sure is pretty!" Dolph continued paddling, drawing slowly closer. "I hope it doesn't go soon!"
The closer he got to the isle, the larger and clearer the fabulous city looked. The elegant buildings cast shadows, and the exotic plants growing around them waved in the breeze.
"It sure looks real," Dolph said.
"It should be fading out very soon.”
But it didn't fade. Finally Dolph squatted in the boat and lifted the skull, drawing it up with its trailing neck bones, so that Marrow could look. "Amazing!" the skull agreed.
Finally they landed. The city loomed over them, looking realer than ever. It was huge and clean and bright, every part of it clean and polished.
Dolph kicked the boat, and it reformed into the skeleton. "I am beginning to suspect this is something other than a mirage," Marrow remarked. "But it was certainly my understanding that the isle was deserted.”
"Do you think there is any danger?" After the business with the harpies, Dolph was more alert for danger. Back at Castle Roogna things had always been safe. He had seen much danger in the Tapestry, but that wasn't real. Rather, it was real, but it was somewhere else, so didn't threaten him. To have things actually come after him—that was unnerving.
"There should not be any we can not handle. But perhaps—"
Dolph waited patiently. Apparently, skeletons could be disconnected in their speech as well as in their bodies.
"—we should contact Castle Roogna, just in case."
"Contact Castle Roogna?"
"With your magic mirror."
"Oh." For a moment Dolph had feared this was a pretext to go back to Castle Roogna, from which he might never again escape. He dug in his pack for the mirror.
He held it up. "Castle Roogna," he said.
The reflection of the isle disappeared. Momentary static played across the glass. Then a new reflection appeared: Dolph and Marrow standing before the strange city.
"What's this?" Dolph asked. "I said 'Castle Roogna' not 'Isle of Illusion'! Why are you back here?"
"Try turning around," Marrow suggested.
Dolph saw no point in this, but didn't argue. He turned slowly, until he was facing the opposite way.
"It's no good; the picture hasn't changed."
"Precisely," Marrow said. "It is not a local reflection."
"Sure it is! There's the two of us and the city!"
"But you are not facing the city. The local reflection would show the ocean behind you."
Dolph glanced back. There was the ocean behind him. He
peered again into the mirror. There was the bright city.
He turned again, so that now he held the mirror between him and Marrow. The reflection remained: the two of them standing before the city. Now as he peered more closely he saw that the Dolph figure was holding something between the two of them. The mirror! How could the mirror show a reflection of itself?
"Enlarge the scene," Marrow suggested.
Dolph had the mirror do that. The image contracted as the scope of it expanded. A border appeared. "It's the Tapestry!" Dolph exclaimed.
"Which is oriented on us," Marrow said. "It would thus appear that they are already aware of our situation."
"They're spying on me!" Dolph said angrily.
"Perhaps it is just your sister," the skeleton said.
"Urn, yes. Maybe she's jealous of my adventure!" Suddenly Dolph felt much better.
"So if there is danger here, your parents will know of it, and take what action is required. We may rest easier now."
Dolph put away the mirror with mixed emotions. He was glad that there might not be real danger, but he didn't like being spied on. He wished there were some way he could stop it. But the Tapestry could be tuned to just about anything in Xanth. At least it meant that they knew he was solving the mystery of the Good Magician's disappearance. He was a genuine adventurer, instead of a dumb boy. That was a big consolation!
They walked into the city. The domed buildings were huge, and just as pretty up close as from afar. The streets between them were narrow but sparkling with bright multicolored tiles and polished copper borders. Now it was evident that the plants and flowers growing around the buildings were not real, but cunningly crafted to look genuine.
"This reminds me somewhat of a setting within the gourd," Marrow remarked. "The City of Brass, for example."
"A city in the gourd? Are we in the gourd?"
"No, we seem to be in your world still, and this is not identical; it merely reminds me of the way the gourd is set up. That is where the substance of dreams is fashioned; there are many settings that are used as models for the dreams. This could be such a setting."