Read Online Castle Roogna by Piers Anthony - Free Book Online

happened to all those men your sister the siren lured to your island."
           "And you also saw how the Good Magician nullified me. There is no threat now."
           "That's right! He-but how do I know the spell's still on? It's been a long time since-"
           "Take this mirror and look at me through the reflection first," she said. "Then you will know."
           "I can't handle a big mirror! I'm only inches tall, only a-oh, what's the use! Dor, I'm going to look at her. If I turn to stone, you'll know she can't be trusted."
           "Grundy, don't-"
           "I already have," the golem said, relieved. "It's all right, Dor, you can look."
           Grundy had never deceived him. Dor clenched his teeth and cracked open an eye, seeing the lighted room and the gorgon's nearest foot. It was a very pretty foot, with fluorescently tinted toenails, topped by a shapely ankle. Funny how he had never noticed ankles before! He got to his hands and knees, his eyes traveling cautiously up her marvelously molded legs until the view was cut off by the hem of her gown. It was a shapely gown, too, slightly translucent so that the suggestion of her legs continued on up to-but enough of this stalling. He forced his reluctant eyes to travel all the way up past her contours until they approached her head.
           Her hair, now unbound, consisted of a mass of writhing little snakes. They were appealingly horrible. But the face was nothing. Just a vacuum, as if the head were a hollow ball with the front panel removed.
           "But-but I saw your face before, all except the eyes-"
           "You saw this mask of my face," she said, holding it up. "And the dark glasses. There was never any chance for you to look into my true face."
           So it seemed. "Then why-?"
           "To scare you off-if you lacked the courage to do what is necessary in order to reach the Good Magician."
           "I just closed my eyes and ran," Dor said.
           "But you ran forward, not back."
           So he had. Even in his terror, he had not given up his quest. Or had he merely run whichever way he happened to be facing? Dor wasn't sure. He considered the gorgon again. Once he got used to the anomaly of her missing face, he found her quite attractive. "But you-what is a gorgon doing here?"
           "I am serving my year's fee, awaiting my Answer." Dor shook his head, trying to get this straight. "You?-if I may ask-what was your Question?"
           "I asked the Good Magician if he would marry me."
           Dor choked. "He-he made you-serve a fee, for that?"
           "Oh, yes. He always charges a year's service, or the equivalent. That's why he has so much magic around the castle. He's been in this business for a century or so."
           "I know all that! But yours was a different kind of-"
           She seemed to smile, behind her invisibility. "No exceptions, except maybe on direct order from the King. I don't mind. I knew what to expect when I came here. Soon my year will be finished, and I will have my Answer."
           Grundy shook his little head. "I thought the old gnome was nuts. But this-he's crazy!"
           "By no means," the gorgon said. "I could make him a pretty good wife, once I learn the ropes. He may be old, but he's not dead, and he needs-"
           "I meant, to make you work a year-why doesn't he just marry you, and have your service for life?"
           "You want me to ask him a second Question, and serve another year for the Answer?" she demanded.
           "Uh, no. I was just curious. I don't really understand the Good Magician."
           "You and everyone else!" she agreed wryly, and Dor began to feel an affinity for this shapely, faceless female. "But slowly I'm learning his ways. It is a good question you raise; I shall have to think about it, and maybe I can figure out that answer for