Sofia met them at the foot of the stairs. "You will need this," she said, presenting a small bag or pouch.
"This?" Cube asked blankly.
"He did not explain?"
"Not sufficiently."
The woman nodded. "That is why he needs wives. Someone has to clean up after his confusions."
"Wives?"
"Each month there is a new designated wife," Wira explained. "In the course of Magician Humfrey"s generous century of life and adventure, he met and loved six women, and married five and a half of them. Then the Demon Xanth gave them all back to him at once, so he alternates."
"Five and a half?"
"He didn"t marry his first love until after she returned. It was a small ceremony a baker"s dozen years ago. So he has a half wife of thirteen years."
"Oh." That probably made all the sense it was going to.
"Your mission is secret until it is successful," Sofia said. "Therefore a group of people must not be seen to search it out, lest hostile forces take note. One person must do it--someone with gumption, that no one will notice."
A black bulb flashed over Cube"s head, for an unwelcome realization. "No one ever notices me if they can avoid it."
"Precisely. You are ideal."
"But the Good Magician said I should have a.s.sistants. How can I travel alone if I have companions?"
"You must limit the size of your party to nine, because secrets become difficult to maintain beyond that. You will carry the others in the magic pouch I converted from one of Himself"s socks."
"Himself?"
"His wives call him that," Wira murmured. "Not to his face. Because he is full of--"
"Himself," Sofia finished.
Cube was coming to appreciate that. Then she picked up on something else. "You made this purse from a sock?"
"I am not called Sofia Socksorter for nothing. I have a certain way with socks. That"s why he married me; he can"t keep track of them. He wore this sock for fifteen years before I joined him and made him put on a fresh one. As a result it absorbed some of his magic."
"Fifteen years?"
"It stank," Wira said. "Sofia washed it for ten days, and couldn"t get the magic out, but at least the smell was reduced."
Cube looked at the pouch. "I don"t think anyone would fit in this. Not more than one foot."
"They will all fit," Sofia a.s.sured her. "Each person must put a foot in, and the rest will follow. When you need to take one out, reach in with your hand and haul him out."
"This is weird! I can"t believe--"
"Show her, Wira."
Sofia held the sock down, and Wira found it with her dainty foot. She pushed the foot in, then abruptly the rest of her slid into the sock, and she disappeared.
"Oh!" Cube exclaimed, amazed.
"Now fetch her out," Sofia said, handing her the sock.
Cube took the sock, and with her free hand reached into it. It looked as though there were room only for her hand to the wrist, but it turned out to have no bottom; she reached in to her elbow and still was not at the end. Her hand was floundering in emptiness. "There"s nothing there."
"You must say her name."
Oh, again. "Wira."
A hand caught hers. Cube pulled, and in a quarter of a moment Wira was out. "I"m glad you didn"t leave me there."
"Oh, I wouldn"t--"
But the young woman was smiling. It was humor. Cube had m.u.f.fed it again. She would gladly have traded some of her useless gumption for a bit more social sensitivity.
"Remember," Sofia said. "Once you have recruited an a.s.sistant, put him in the pouch, and bring him out only at need. It is attuned to you, and will work only in your presence. No one else must know that you are not traveling alone."
"I--I"ll remember," Cube agreed weakly. She tucked the empty pouch into a pocket. "Um, suppose I should at some point need to enter the pouch myself. Could I do that?"
"Yes, though this is not recommended for casual use. For you, time will not be suspended, and no one else can bring you out. You will bring yourself out when you decide. The pouch will effectively shelter you from extreme conditions. But while you are in it, someone else would be able to carry it or throw it away; you would no longer have control."
"I think I would prefer to retain control."
"I have some travel supplies for you," Sofia continued, producing a huge package. "Box lunches, changes of clothing, tools, bedding, potable water--"
"What kind of water?"
"Good to drink," Wira clarified. She was not the demoness Metria, so did not have to hunt for words.
Cube eyed the package, which was almost as big as she was. "But how can I ever carry all that?"
"In the pouch, of course. Bring it out."
Cube brought it out. Sofia put the end of the package at the mouth of the sock, and the whole thing slid smoothly in and disappeared. "You won"t need to take it all out together," the woman said. "Just say what item you want, as you put your hand in, and it will be there."
"Uh, thank you," Cube said, somewhat numbly.
Sofia smiled for the first time. "That"s quite all right. We homely women have to stick together."
Cube tried to formulate a suitable response, but her tongue would not cooperate.
"You both look beautiful to me," Wira said diplomatically. But of course she was blind.
Chapter 3: Recruiting.
Before she knew it, Cube was out of the Good Magician"s Castle, thoroughly confused. What was she supposed to do?
Well, what did she know? That there was a new territory to be explored, and n.o.body knew the way there. She had to find it. She could choose others to help her do that. And if she succeeded, she would be beautiful.
This was not at all the kind of a.s.signment she had expected, but she had to do it. Because she truly wanted to be beautiful.
Maybe if she got the right people, they would have good ideas on how to locate the territory. So her first job was to find those people. Who might they be? It was hard to think of one, let alone nine.
She would simply have to ask people, and accept any who agreed to help. Maybe this mission was fated to succeed, and the right people would appear along her route.
And maybe she was dreaming. She would have to help herself. She would have to seek people.
What about those she had already met on the way to the Good Magician"s Castle? Ryver and Karia? She liked the winged centaur, and Karia could really help get across rough terrain. And Ryver--she would just like to be close to him, even if she wasn"t beautiful, and he paid no attention to her. She knew she was foolish, but that was the way it was.
But both those folk had gone the other way, and were nowhere close now. She didn"t know exactly where they had gone. How could she find them, without taking endless time?
A bulb flashed over her head. "Demoness Metria!" she whispered.
"Yes?" a puff of smoke answered.
Cube jumped. "I didn"t know you were so close!"
The smoke expanded into the lovely semi-clad form of the demoness. "I wasn"t. But you spoke my name. That alerted me. What is on your homely mortal mind?"
Cube realized that the demoness would not help her out of the goodness of her heart. She didn"t have either goodness or a heart. What would persuade her? The question brought the answer: "I have something interesting for you."
"You have gotten your Answer!"
"Yes. But it is secret."
"I love secrets! What is it?"
"If I told you, it wouldn"t be secret."
"Oh, come on, you"re going to have to share it with your Companions anyway."
"How do you know that?"
"Because you are obviously on a Quest, and all Quests have Companions. It"s in the Big Book of Rules."
So it seemed. "But you"re not a Companion."
The demoness put on a canny look: she became a huge floating can. "Suppose I were, what would you tell me?"
Cube realized that she would have to feed Metria"s interest to some degree in order to win her cooperation. "Suppose I had to go to a new territory and mark a safe route there. But first I needed nine Companions. Suppose you helped me find them, you could be the first demon to see this territory."
"Suppose I went to see it on my own?"
"Suppose you didn"t know the way?"
That stymied the demoness. "So where is it?"
"I don"t know. I have to find it--with the help of others. I could tell you about it if you became a Companion. The Good Magician said those who partic.i.p.ated would be appropriately rewarded. Do you want to be part of this effort?"
Metria considered. "What is the nature of this dependency?"
"This what?"
"Province, colony, demesne, possession--"
"Territory?"
"Whatever," she agreed crossly.
Cube was pretty sure now that Metria was going to sign up, so she answered. "The Good Magician described it as "contra-terrene.""
"Oh,that territory! Our side won it from the Demoness Fornax one year ago. Counter Xanth."
"You know of it?" But obviously she did.
"Sure. But not where it is. It"s the opposite of Xanth, inverted, or something. If someone touched it and Xanth at the same time, he"d detonate."
"He"d what?"
"Fire, burst, blow up, blast, explode--"
"I think you had it right the first time, after all."
"Whatever," the demoness agreed crossly. "So there has to be a way to get there without touching any part of Xanth. You don"t want to grab both ends of the charge together."
Cube was coming to appreciate the problem. There would have to be a very special route there. "So do you want to help?"
"Of course not. Demons don"t help mortals, they torment them."
"Even if they lose the reward?"
"What is the reward?"
"He didn"t say. Just that there would be one. Is there anything you are in need of?"
"No." But Metria hovered thoughtfully. "I wonder what it could be?"
"You can find out by earning and receiving it."