“That would be nice,” Hapless agreed. He had really come to depend on the box, which he realized might not be best. But he wanted to get along with the box remaining as an option, so he could think outside or inside it.
Nya turned dragon and launched into the air. In two thirds of a moment she was flying below the nest.
“We functioned as a team,” Feline said. “But I hope we don’t have to do anything like that again soon.”
“I’ll try to take better care of the box,” Hapless promised. “I don’t know what shape the path is in.”
“It should still be there,” Zed said. “If the path ends at the box, which our experience indicates, we remain on it, and it terminates below us.”
They peered down into the gloom. Now Hapless saw the faint outline of the path dropping down. The centaur was correct.
“But if the path hasn’t terminated, why were we vulnerable to the roc?” Hapless asked, confused.
“You did not actually touch Nya,” Zed said. “So a bit of the path remained. But we stepped off it, going to the sides of the nest. So we weren’t safe.”
“That makes sense,” Feline agreed.
In another moment and a third Nya was back with the box held delicately in her mouth. She dropped it into the nest then changed. “I think I can wait until morning to see into that box,” she said. “I have had enough adventure for today.”
Hapless picked up the box, immensely relieved. “Yes.”
The others were glad to agree. The nest seemed safe enough, now that the roc was gone. Nya dug out a blanket from an alcove, and Hapless shared it with Feline in human form. Zed remained standing, as usual, while Nya curled up in dragon form to sleep.
Hapless remained disturbed by his slip with the box. “I got us all in trouble,” he murmured.
“And helped get us out of it,” she replied. “That was lovely dissonance with the organ. Rather, a loathsome sound. I almost puked.”
“Still, I should have—”
She shut him up with a kiss. “Now go to sleep.”
What choice did he have? If he argued further she might assume cat form and ignore him. He much preferred her human form, especially when it was right up against him. He slept.
He woke in the night. “You’re dreaming of me,” Feline said accusingly. “I can tell.”
He didn’t dare ask how she could tell. “Uh, yes. Sorry.”
She laughed. “That’s okay. It’s natural, since you’re wedged against me. See that you don’t dream of any other woman.”
Was she teasing him? “I’ll try.”
They returned to sleep. He absolutely loved the way she nestled against him. If only they didn’t both know that he was destined to have one or two more girlfriends. Until that situation was resolved, he couldn’t commit to her.
Hapless woke as the first beam of dawn splashed across the nest. Feline remained asleep, lovely in her dishevelment, including her striped hair. “I wish you were my girlfriend for real, you lovely creature,” he whispered.
Her eyes popped open. “I heard that.”
Bleep. “I should have kept my mouth shut,” he said, embarrassed.
“You’re still enamored of my curves.”
He could not deny it. Her curves fascinated him. “Yes.”
“You’re not even bothering to lie about it,” she said accusingly.
That was somehow worse. “Sorry about that.”
“Not even to get what you want of me, in your dreams.”
“Yes,” he repeated, ashamed.
“I’m not sure you can lie, about anything.”
She was nailing him. “That’s true.”
“So when, if ever, you tell me you love me for something else, I’ll know it’s the truth.”
“Yes.” He already liked her a lot, but he couldn’t swear it was exclusive of her curves.
She gazed at him a moment longer. “You’re hopeless.”
Now at last he could disagree, albeit with a smile. “No, I’m Hapless.”
“You are. You think I’m mad at you.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m not.” She kissed him. “Now let’s get on with the day.”
Not? How he wished he could be sure of that!
“That was an interesting sequence,” Nya remarked.
“Extremely,” Zed agreed.
Hapless blushed, remembering that there really was no privacy in the togetherness of the nest. Then he saw that Feline was blushing too. That made up for a lot.
Chapter 6:
Quin
They washed, breakfasted, and made ready to go. “I think I’m through with this nest,” Nya said. “I doubt we’ll be returning this way.”
“Not if we achieve our wishes,” Zed said.
“So I’ll shut it down and donate it to Rocky Roc. He can use it to safely store incidentals.”
“But you just had a fight with him,” Hapless protested.
“He yielded graciously. He’s not a bad bird.” She shifted to dragon form and emitted a loud hiss.
There was an answering squawk from far away.
The naga returned. “He appreciates the gesture,” she said.
Hapless made a mental note: Nya did not hold grudges. He liked that.
She turned to him. “You were about to show me the box last night when we were rudely interrupted. Shall we try again?”
She wasn’t blaming him for the mishap, either. He liked that too.
“Let’s,” Feline said a bit tightly. She evidently misconstrued the nature of his gaze. He hastily removed it from Nya’s front.
Now Hapless carefully brought out the box and opened it. As he did so, the faint outline that connected the box to Nya disappeared; that path was gone. There was a picture of a dragon with a human head and bird’s wings on the forepart. The word was QUIN. “What’s that?” he asked.
“Another crossbreed,” Nya said. “It looks like Dragon/harpy.”
“You should find him interesting,” Feline said.
“I do. We evidently share dragon ancestry. But what counts more is his personality.”
“Always,” Feline agreed.
“Look at that path!” Zed exclaimed.
Now the others looked. The path led from the nest straight out into air, faintly glowing. It resembled a long narrow bridge, but it had no supports below or cables above. It just proceeded, going into the distance in a straight line, far above the ground.
“Can it support our weight?” Zed asked. He meant his weight; he was the heaviest of the Companions.
“We’ll just have to see,” Hapless said. Assuming an air (awkward word in this context) of greater confidence than he felt, he stepped out on the aerial way.
“Wait!” Feline said. “You can’t go first.”
He paused. “I can’t?”
“You carry the box, and the path ends at the box, remember? You have to go last, or you’ll strand the rest of us here.”
She was right. “Sorry.” He stepped back.
Feline tried it, looking as if she were ready to switch to cat form the moment the path let her down. But it remained firm; it supported her. The footing was invisible yet solid.
Nya was next, in her naga form. She slithered gracefully along it, and it supported her too.
Then Zed set hoof on it. It held. He tried another, and it remained firm. Then the rear hooves. It held his full weight. “I can’t say I’m completely easy with this,” he said. “But neither can I fault it. It does the job.”
Finally Hapless got on it. He glanced back, and regretted it, because the path no longer existed behind him. There was just a gap of air separating him from the nest. Could he fall into it? He decided to face resolutely forward, avoiding the issue.
They walked on in single file, though the path was broad enough for two. Where was it going? Regardless, they were committed.
Rocky Roc returned. He did a double-take.
Nya shifted to dragon form and hissed. The roc nodded. Then, evidently curiou
s, he flew to the path ahead of them—and sheared off, unable to cross it. The enchantment prevented any overlap.
Nya hissed again. Rocky nodded again, and flew on to inspect the nest he had inherited. It was too small for him to perch on, but certainly could be useful to cache items. He was clearly pleased.
They picked up speed, preferring to get through this stage of the journey efficiently. The scenery spread out beneath them. At one point they passed over a moderate mountain with a goblin mound at its top, only a short distance below them. The goblins spied them and looked up in wonder as they passed. The males froze in place until the females bopped them on their heads, making them stir. One female shook her fist at them.
“Well, they shouldn’t look,” Feline snapped.
Oh. The males had peeked up under her skirt and gotten smitten by the sight of her panties. It did serve them right. Feline could have avoided the issue by assuming cat form, but evidently preferred to assert her power to walk where and how she chose.
The path moved on, crossing a lake. Water birds looked up, surprised. Probably they could not see the path, only the file of creatures on it, seemingly crossing in mid air.
In due course they came to another high nest. There was the harpy dragon watching them approach. He had evidently figured out their purpose.
Feline stopped just short of completion. “Let me introduce us,” she said. “You are Quin, clearly expecting us. We are members of a Quest, hoping to win the fulfillment of our wishes. I am Feline, a human/cat crossbreed.” She switched briefly to her cat form. “This is Nya, a naga/dragon crossbreed.” Nya switched briefly to dragon form, and back. “Next is Zed, a centaur/zebra crossbreed.” Zed nodded. “Last and least is Hapless, who runs the Quest. He can conjure musical instruments, but can’t play any himself. Do you play any?”
“Actually I do,” Quin said. “My original harpy form has wings and legs, but when I change I can reshape myself somewhat and form those legs into human arms. I can be dragon, harpy, or in between. It’s awkward, but it works. I favor the accordion, but I don’t have an accordion to play, so it’s academic.”
“Not any more.” She looked back. “Hapless?”
Hapless conjured a fine accordion and presented it to Quin as he stepped into the nest. Now all of them were there, and it was crowded, but they fit.
“Oh, my,” Quin breathed. “This is absolutely beautiful.” He fitted his hands into the straps and played a scale. “Oh, yes!”
“We will play music together,” Feline said.
Hapless obligingly conjured instruments for the others. They played an impromptu melody, harmonizing perfectly. Every sound complemented the others.
“Wait,” Quin said, stopping. “Where is your instrument, Hapless? Why are you not playing? You are surely the best of all, considering your talent. Why are you not allowed to participate?”
Hapless spread his hands. “I’m not forbidden. I am unable. No instrument works for me. It’s frustrating.”
“What, even a magic one like this? I can tell it is enhancing my own ability, because I never played this well before. Why can’t it do the same for you?”
“That is my curse,” Hapless said. “The magic seems to be reversed for me.”
“I am reluctant to believe that,” Quin said. “Show me.” He passed the accordion back to Hapless.
Hapless took it and played an awful riff.
Quin winced. “Point made,” he said, taking back the accordion. “You are cursed.”
“We’re all here because we have wishes to fulfill,” Feline said. “What is yours?”
“I want to find out how to become human, instead of a part human mishmash. I have been trying to shape my dragon heritage into a human body to go with the human portion of my harpy body, but it doesn’t work; I have too much tail and no human legs.”
“Why not just settle for one or the other, then?” Nya asked.
“I would if I could, but I can’t.”
“Can’t decide which one?”
“Can’t settle for either, or for a grotesque combination.”
“You definitely belong on this Quest,” Feline said. “None of us want to settle for what we’ve got.”
“I would love to join your Quest,” Quin said. “But I fear I can’t.”
“But the path brought us right to you,” Hapless protested.
“Maybe it made a mistake. I am not free to go.”
“What’s going to hold you back?” Nya demanded. “Your other half is a dragon!”
“My conscience.”
“That’s mischief,” Zed said knowingly.
“So you want to join, and have a wish to fulfill, and the path thinks you’re the one,” Nya said tightly. “But you think you shouldn’t do it?”
“Exactly.”
“Maybe we should hear your reason,” Zed said. “Perhaps we will have some input to help you decide.”
“If you wish.”
“Oh, we wish,” Nya said. “Talk.”
“As you request. I wouldn’t want to bore you with my personal problem.”
Hapless made a mental note: Quin was remarkably polite for a harpy or a dragon. That probably got in him in trouble with both factions.
“Bore us.” Feline said. “Your problem is our problem.” The others nodded agreement.
They settled down to listen.
“I am the unfortunate result of a love spring tryst. My father was a small flying dragon who happened to catch a harpy alone, so naturally he launched to catch her in his jaws. She dodged, evading him, but in the process they collided and both fell into the pool below. Then things changed, and instead of making war they made love, and I hatched from the first egg she laid thereafter.”
“We know how that is,” Nya said. “Most of us have similar origins.”
“Yes. My mother took care of me, reluctantly, but the other harpies barely tolerated me because I was a crossbreed. The same was true with the dragons; my father did not want to be seen with me, though I am a legitimate steamer.”
Hapless found that interesting. Nya was a fire breather. Dragons came in different types.
“We understand that too,” Feline said. “But that isn’t reason not to join the Quest. Rather the opposite.”
“He is getting there,” Zed said.
“Now a bit of background on the harpy culture,” Quin continued. “The great majority of them are female. Maybe only one in a hundred is male, and in some generations the ratio is leaner than that. That means that most harpies who want to breed must do so with members of their ancestral stock, vulture or human, alternating generations. That is a challenge, because the average harpy is a wretched creature, not at all attractive to others. They have to settle for corrupt male vultures or humans who will go for anything remotely female and who will not stick around long after trysting. They far prefer to have a male harpy, even if he has to be widely shared.
“Which is the other reason I was tolerated: they knew they might eventually need me. They were not eager to make it with a crossbreed, and neither was I to make it with a harpy, but we were up against difficult alternatives. I would far prefer to have a dragon girlfriend, but the dragon ladies spurn me. So I wish to find a way to morph into full human, as my mind is human.
“Fortunately, a male harpy came to their local flock, and of course they welcomed him and left me to my own devices. Hence this isolated nest. But then the goblins raided and captured him. Now he is prisoner in the bowels of the mountain. They are holding him for an impossible ransom, something like a mountain of gold. Probably the goblins just want to get permanently rid of the harpies. If the harpies attack the goblins in an effort to rescue him, the goblins will kill him. So it is an impasse. Meanwhile it seems that I am all that the harpies can be sure of, and I will have to serve if Hardly Harpy remains captive much longer. I owe it to them for their prior sufferance. So I can’t depart until that case is settled; it wouldn’t be ethical.”
“Hardly Harpy?” Feline a
sked.
“He doesn’t act like a harpy, hence his name. He’s actually a nice guy with an open mind. He can tolerate the wretched behavior of the females, but he doesn’t treat others that way. He’s smart and independent, making up his own mind about things. I like him.”
“We can’t fault you for your ethics,” Zed said.
“I would love to go with you, even if there is little hope of success. You understand about crossbreeds. But I can’t, as long as Hardly remains captive, and that could be a long time. You will do better going on without me.”
“What do you think, Hapless?” Feline asked him.
Hapless would have preferred not to be put on the spot. But he was the nominal leader of the Quest, and had to answer. To his surprise, he had an answer. “We need to rescue Hardly Harpy. Then Quin will be free. The box must have counted on that.”
“And how will we do that?” Feline asked.
Now it was time to think outside the box. “First we need information. Quin, is there any route to where Hardly is being held that we can use without getting ourselves caught and eaten by the goblins?”
Quin considered. “There may be, but there’s a caution. The mountain is honeycombed with cave passages throughout. The goblins occupy some, the harpies occupy some, and assorted other monsters use the rest. Those passages are not safe.”
“What about music? Would it soothe those savage beasts?”
“Some, perhaps, but not all.”
“Suppose Hapless plays?” Feline asked.
Quin considered, surprised. “They would not like that. It might drive them away.”
“So we could proceed with impunity?”
“I doubt it. The goblins have many devious traps like concealed pits and deadfalls that will operate regardless of the music. We would have to use safe routes, which would be guarded by goblins.”
“I know something of goblins,” Nya said. “The naga have dealings with them, generally hostile. There are places they don’t go.”
“They are wary of nickelpede infested sections,” Quin agreed. “And the haunts of large serpents. Also sizable subterranean rivers and flooded caverns, where sea monsters lurk. So there are fair regions free of goblins. But the same menaces would keep us clear of them too.”