Read Online Luck of the Draw (Xanth) by Piers Anthony - Free Book Online Page A

I get is sad letters. It’s depressing.”
    There had to be a pun here. What was it? “May I see one of the letters?”
    “Here.” The stag lifted a forefoot, and in the split of his hoof was a letter. Bryce took it, opened it, and read the first line. DEER JOHN.
    Bryce groaned again. “It’s a Dear John letter!”
    The stag dissolved into vapor and entered the pun bag.
    They came to a small cave. Rachel pointed, so they entered it. It seemed to be an animal’s lair, with straw on the floor and blocks of metal stacked at the back. What was odd was that everything was yellow.
    “A gold den!” Mindy exclaimed. “Golden.”
    The cave dissolved into her bag.
    So it continued. When they got hungry they paused by a pie tree and ate fresh hot pies and drank milk from milkweed pods. By day’s end they had full bags. “Do you know,” Bryce said as they walked back toward the castle. “This may be an arranged tour, and the puns are egregious, but I find I am rather enjoying the scenery and the challenge. And your company. You are answering my questions without becoming impatient or superior.”
    “Thank you,” she said, coloring. “I wanted to get away from the castle. I like adventure.”
    “This must be rather tame adventure for you, with the only challenge being the unriddling of puns.”
    “I like your company too,” she confessed.
    “You told me you committed suicide. Forgive me if this is not a question you wish to answer. Did you have a reason?”
    “Not really. One of my friends did it, and then another, and I was depressed, and I just did it. Looking back now, I wish I had had more patience. Things weren’t as bad as they seemed at the time, and if I had thought about the likely effect on others, such as my family and friends, I wouldn’t have done it. I just wasn’t thinking straight.”
    “Your situation differed from mine,” Bryce said. “I didn’t have many real family or friends left, so there weren’t many to hurt. All I faced was increasing discomfort, pain, and certain death anyway. But it wasn’t something I wanted to do.”
    “And here we both are in Xanth,” she said. “It’s better for me, and maybe for you too.”
    “Definitely better for me,” he agreed. “Despite this foolishness with the princess.”
    They reached the castle, got their bags of puns processed in, and relaxed. Another day was done. Bryce hadn’t gotten nauseous. He was adapting.
    *   *   *
    The next day there was an elegant castle in sight, with many turrets and flags. “That’s Castle Maidragon, that the triplets made,” Mindy said. “I understand King Trent and Queen Iris are visiting there now. They are the other great-grandparents.”
    “What’s their magic?”
    “He is a transformer. He can change any living thing into some other living thing. She’s the mistress of Illusion. They ruled Xanth for a long time before retiring.”
    “They want to check me out, just in case?”
    “Just in case,” she agreed. “I think the way the other princesses found their partners was unsettling, so they are watching the last one more carefully.” She looked around. “Where are the dogs?”
    The dogs appeared. “We stay home,” Rachel said. “If okay.”
    “Woof,” Woofer agreed.
    This was unusual. “You sure?” Bryce asked Rachel.
    “No. But Dawn says.”
    “She wants me to get more experience on my own?”
    “Yes.” Rachel was obviously uneasy about this, but Princess Dawn’s word was evidently law, here in Caprice.
    Bryce shrugged. “So be it.”
    He and Mindy went out with their pun bags. “What’s this experience I am supposed to get today?”
    “I think you are supposed to learn to use your talent effectively.”
    “Oh, that. Then I’d better turn it on.” He focused, as it were, on his left eye. “Second Sight, Tune In.”
    Immediately he saw a tree about twenty paces closer than it was. That was where he would be in ten seconds. He closed his left eye, then reopened it