I looked at MareAnn. She nodded. "Done."
The children squealed with delight as the horses took them up over the trees and around. But I saw tears in MareAnn"s eyes.
When we were alone in the bed I asked her about that, for she was normally cheerful. "I would like to have children like that," she said. "I never realized how appealing they are when they"re having fun."
"But you can have children," I said. "All you have to do is-"
"Summon the stork," she finished bleakly. "And lose my unicorns."
We weren"t using the unicorns now, but I appreciated her point. She faced a most expensive trade-off. I knew how painful that could be, now.
I put my free arm around her. "I"m sorry, MareAnn."
She wept into my shoulder, and I felt very protective. The price of innocence was becoming apparent.
Chapter 5: Dana.
A shape loomed. "Excuse me, please."
"I think you have the wrong room," I said, annoyed by the interruption. "This bed is occupied." I had never really liked cold nights before, but now I delighted in them, for they brought MareAnn innocently close for warmth. A third person in the bed would have been too much warmth, however.
"You are the one who went to the oracle today?" It was a girl; I could tell by the dulcet voice. My irritation, surprisingly, began to fade. Perhaps more warmth would be satisfactory.
Still, I kept my voice reasonably sharp. "Yes. But right now we prefer not to converse with others."
"And they told you something about demons?"
Mare Ann tuned in to the proceedings. "Who are you?"
"I am Dana. I may be able to help you interpret that Answer."
Suddenly both of us were interested. We sat up in the bed, making room for another. "How so?" I asked.
She sat beside me. It was mostly dark, but I could tell by the way she shifted her weight and the touch of her thigh against mine and her musky perfume that she was an attractive woman. If only I had a better notion what a grown man might do with such a creature! "I know something about demons."
"You know what "demon conquest" means?" MareAnn asked eagerly.
"No, but I can inquire if you wish."
"How can you do that?"
"I know the demons. They will tell me if they plan to conquer anything soon."
"You know demons?" I asked. "Aren"t they mean folk?"
"They can be," Dana agreed. "But they can"t hurt me."
"Why not?" I asked, becoming quite curious about this strange woman.
"Because I am a demoness myself."
MareAnn and I jumped. "You?" I asked, now trying to edge away from her. A demon or demoness could a.s.sume any form, including that of a person, but that did not mean that there was any other resemblance to a person. Demons were completely callous to the welfare of living folk. "We don"t seek any quarrel with you!"
"Nor I with you," Dana said. "You see, I have a problem, and I thought we might be able to help each other."
"How can a demoness have a problem?" I asked, marveling at how much like a living person she seemed. Her body was warm, not cold, and solid rather than vaporous. This was my first direct contact with this species, and it was surprising me in unexpected ways. "You can a.s.sume any shape you desire, and you don"t have to eat or sleep unless you want to."
"My problem is that I have a conscience."
"But demons don"t have souls, so they can"t have consciences," I protested. "I mean, they are made of soul material, so maybe it"s bodies they lack, but the effect-" I broke off, because it was pointless to babble about the nature of demons to a demoness. She would quickly discover how little I knew about her kind.
"I have a soul."
"But-"
"I don"t know how it happened. Maybe a soul got loose from a mortal, and I got caught in it or it got caught in me. I was a normal carefree female demon, and then suddenly I wasn"t, because I was concerned about right and wrong. I could no longer play the demon games, because many of them aren"t nice. So I went to the oracle to ask how to get rid of the soul, and the priest made me bring a basket of precious stones from the earth in payment, and then they told me that I would have to marry the King of Xanth."
"Marry the King!" I exclaimed. "Ebnez would never marry a demoness! Demons have been banned from a.s.sociation with kings ever since one messed up King Gromden in the seventh century."
"Yes, the Answer does not seem to be of much use to me," Dana said sadly. "I thought if I helped you, you might tell the King I"m not such a bad sort, and maybe he would change the rule and-"
I shook my head. "King Ebnez is a very righteous man. I could tell him, but there"s really no hope of-"
"That is all I can ask of you: to tell him," she said. "In return I will do anything you want, provided it does not violate my conscience."
"How do we know you really have a soul?" MareAnn demanded. "I mean, demons can"t be trusted about anything."
"Maybe a unicorn could tell if she"s innocent," I said.
Dana laughed. "I"m not innocent! I was a normal demoness for centuries before I got souled. I couldn"t get near a unicorn."
"Well, we can"t afford to trust you without proof," MareAnn said.
"There"s a soul sniffer in the North Village," Dana said. "I will fly there with you, if you wish."
"Exactly how can you help us?" I asked. The North Village was a long way away, and this might just be a demon ruse to make us waste our time with a long trip or to lure us into some trap. "It will have to be more than just asking the demons whether they plan to attack."
"I understand you are doing a survey."
"Yes."
"And that you expect trouble trying to talk with the Maenads."
"Yes. That"s why we went to the oracle."
"I could a.s.sume your likeness and question the Maenads, or anyone else you wish. They can not hurt me."
Suddenly she was making sense! "Let"s go to that magic sniffer, tomorrow," MareAnn said. "If Dana proves out, she can be a big help."
So it was decided. The demoness faded out, and we slept, warmly. Next morning we mounted the horses and flew swiftly north, and Dana paced us in the form of an extinct reptilian bird, needing no steed. She resumed human form when we landed, so that no one would know her for what she was.
There was indeed a soul sniffer at the North Village, which was in other respects a thoroughly unremarkable hamlet. But it wasn"t a person or animal, as I had expected; it was a place. "Go down the path to the west to the Key Stone Copse," the village elder told us. "There is a key there which only a person with a soul can use to open the door.""
"That"s all?" I asked. "Just a door?"
"Just a door," the man agreed.
"What"s beyond it?"
"We"re not sure."
"You"re not sure?" I found this hard to believe. "Haven"t you gone there to see?"
"There used to be a nice valley with wonderful orangeberry patches; our women and children went often to pick them. But the last three who went, two months ago, did not return. We fear that the door has become one-way, so we are now staying clear of it."
"But maybe those folk are in trouble!" I said. "Someone should go and see!"
He merely shrugged and turned away. So much for community spirit.
"Sometimes I wonder whether souls are as positive as they are supposed to be," MareAnn muttered. "Maybe his has gotten old and worn."
We rode the horses along the path to the west. Soon we came to a dense thicket whose trees and th.o.r.n.y branches were so tangled that we could not see through, and certainly could not pa.s.s. The only possible way through was a stone door- set in it. On a hook on the door hung a large wooden key.
I lifted the key from its hook, and paused. "Suppose they only think this is limited to folk with souls? Maybe anyone can use it, and it"s no real test."
"Oh, it"s valid," Dana said. "All the demons know of it."
"But you"re a demon, and you could be lying-no offense," I said.
"No offense," she agreed. "I could bring a friend to test it-another demoness."
I wasn"t sure about this, but had nothing better to offer. I replaced the key. "Do it."
She disappeared. In a moment she reappeared. Beside her was another demoness, who was just as shapely in her human form. Male demons, I understood, delighted in horrendous fearsome forms, while female demons preferred voluptuous partly clothed forms. My experience was confirming the latter case. "This is my friend Metria," Dana said.
"I"m not your friend!" Metria protested. "Demons don"t have friends!"
"Demons without souls don"t have friends," Dana said. "Perhaps I should say that I am your friend, because I will not betray you, but you are not my friend, because you will betray me in the normal demon fashion."
"That"s right," Metria agreed. "How can you look at your cat in the mirror, talking like that?"
"Look at my what?"
"Your feline, tiger, torn, kitty-"
"My puss?"
"Whatever. You aren"t talking like a demon at all!"
"Yes. But I"m trying to get rid of my soul by helping these good human folk. I appreciate your coming here to-"
"I came only because there"s a chance to make fools of you and these mortal idiots. I love a good laugh at someone else"s expense."
Dana turned to me. "I chose D. Metria because she always tells the truth, as you can see."
"But how can she be truthful, when she has no soul?" Tasked.
"A soul does not necessarily make one truthful," Dana said. "Many human folk are liars. It merely gives them a conscience, so that they suffer when they do wrong."
"Yes, I find that the truth is the sharpest knife with which to cut people," Metria said. "Nothing shakes folks" values like the truth!"
I looked at MareAnn. She spread her hands. It was evident that our values were being shaken.
"Well, let"s get on with it," I said. I reached for the key again.
"Wait, we should have the demons try it first," MareAnn said. "It"s Dana who is being tested, not us."
Dana reached for the key. "No, Metria should try it first," I said.
"Fine with me," Metria said. She reached for the key. Her fingers closed on it, but pa.s.sed right through it. "I can"t seem to get a tentacle on this thing," she said, disconcerted.
"A what?" I asked.
"Appendage, extremity, limb, mitt, paw-"
"Oh, a hand," I said.
"Whatever. This key is an illusion; I can"t touch it at all."
"That"s the way it works," Dana said. "I thought you understood."
Metria glared at her. "You may be an old bag of a century or two, but I appeared only a decade or two ago. I never heard of a phantom key."
Dana glanced at us. "She tells the truth about everything except her age. That"s not considered lying, in females."
"Of course it isn"t!" Metria agreed. "Women have a right to be any age they want."
"That"s true," MareAnn said.
I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to admit to having been ignorant about this female privilege.
"Well, you try it," Metria said, glaring at Dana.