Read Online Vale of the Vole by Piers Anthony - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Piers Anthony
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together that there wasn't time to set up complete alternates. It is making sense!"
"The lake!" Volney said. "I could not crow the water! That wav my challenge! And the chavm too, becauve there was more water below it, ekvending down and down."
"Yes. Because we were with you, we got you across, just as you got us through the mountain. We helped each other past each other's challenges! I doubt we were supposed to."
"But what about the little smokers?" Esk asked. "We did not release them."
She contemplated the open cage. "I think that collection of dragons would have been a formidable challenge for any of us. How could we have gotten by that?"
"I might have," Esk said. "I could have climbed over the cage, and said no to any that tried to grab me through the bars."
"True. So that wasn't your challenge after all. But it would have been much more difficult for me or for Volney, because we don't climb. Just
hanging onto our staffs across the chasm was all he could do. I suppose I might have tied a line to the cage and hauled it out of the way, but he—"
"I fear I would have had to turn back," the vole said. "Unlew I had thought of your idea to uve a raft, then uved the branchev to fill hi the chavm vo I could crow that too."
"But as it happened, someone released those dragons, and we encountered several along the paths," she said. "We really must fathom that mystery before we can make sense of the larger picture."
"Obviously, something is wrong," Esk said. "Those smokers weren't meant to be loose, they were meant to be caged, and only get loose if the challengee messed up. Someone cut off the challenge before it started."
"So it seems," she agreed. "Would the Good Magician himself have done it?"
"I don't see why. If he didn't want the dragons here, he would not have brought them."
"The Gorgon, then?"
"She wouldn't mess up what he set up!"
"I agree," she said. "Could someone else have done it?"
"It doesn't seem likely."
"So we are left with the inexplicable," she concluded. "Perhaps now it is time to enter the castle, expecting the unexpected."
Esk nodded consent, nervously. Volney did not look any more comfortable.
They stepped on the drawbridge. They hauled the empty cage off, then crossed on over.
Suddenly an ogre loomed up before them. The thing was monstrous and hairy and ugly, and both Chex and Volney retreated in alarm.
But Esk's reaction was opposite! "Grandpa!" he exclaimed.
But it was not Crunch Ogre. It was some other male, not quite as ugly, but still quite formidable. It blocked their way.
"We're only coming to talk to the Good Magician," Esk said, strongly suspecting that this would not provoke any reasonable response. "Will you let us by?"
He was correct. The ogre ope'd his ponderous and marbled maw and made a bellow of rage that shook the castle.
How was he to get past with his companions? Esk realized that this was a challenge, and it was his to meet and solve. But almost nothing could make an ogre stand aside; he was in a position to know that. Nothing except—
Except another ogre. There was the key!
But Esk could not invoke his ogre self just because he wanted to. It came of its own accord, when triggered by erratic circumstances.
Still, sometimes it was possible to arrange the trigger. It was risky— but so was standing before an ogre as if ready to be eaten.
"Wish me luck," Esk muttered back to the others. Then he strode forward, directly into the ogre.
For a moment the ogre was startled by this temerity. Then it grabbed for him with a ham hand.
Esk saw that meat hook coming, and his ogre nature reacted. Suddenly he roared, his ogre strength surging. "Go 'way, me say!" he bellowed, and bit at the other's paw.
The other reacted astonishingly. It shrank away, literally; as it retreated, it became smaller, until it looked very much like a man, and Esk towered over it. But Esk, his ogre dander up, wasn't satisfied; he smashed at it with his own ham fist.
Something shattered.
"The lake!" Volney said. "I could not crow the water! That wav my challenge! And the chavm too, becauve there was more water below it, ekvending down and down."
"Yes. Because we were with you, we got you across, just as you got us through the mountain. We helped each other past each other's challenges! I doubt we were supposed to."
"But what about the little smokers?" Esk asked. "We did not release them."
She contemplated the open cage. "I think that collection of dragons would have been a formidable challenge for any of us. How could we have gotten by that?"
"I might have," Esk said. "I could have climbed over the cage, and said no to any that tried to grab me through the bars."
"True. So that wasn't your challenge after all. But it would have been much more difficult for me or for Volney, because we don't climb. Just
hanging onto our staffs across the chasm was all he could do. I suppose I might have tied a line to the cage and hauled it out of the way, but he—"
"I fear I would have had to turn back," the vole said. "Unlew I had thought of your idea to uve a raft, then uved the branchev to fill hi the chavm vo I could crow that too."
"But as it happened, someone released those dragons, and we encountered several along the paths," she said. "We really must fathom that mystery before we can make sense of the larger picture."
"Obviously, something is wrong," Esk said. "Those smokers weren't meant to be loose, they were meant to be caged, and only get loose if the challengee messed up. Someone cut off the challenge before it started."
"So it seems," she agreed. "Would the Good Magician himself have done it?"
"I don't see why. If he didn't want the dragons here, he would not have brought them."
"The Gorgon, then?"
"She wouldn't mess up what he set up!"
"I agree," she said. "Could someone else have done it?"
"It doesn't seem likely."
"So we are left with the inexplicable," she concluded. "Perhaps now it is time to enter the castle, expecting the unexpected."
Esk nodded consent, nervously. Volney did not look any more comfortable.
They stepped on the drawbridge. They hauled the empty cage off, then crossed on over.
Suddenly an ogre loomed up before them. The thing was monstrous and hairy and ugly, and both Chex and Volney retreated in alarm.
But Esk's reaction was opposite! "Grandpa!" he exclaimed.
But it was not Crunch Ogre. It was some other male, not quite as ugly, but still quite formidable. It blocked their way.
"We're only coming to talk to the Good Magician," Esk said, strongly suspecting that this would not provoke any reasonable response. "Will you let us by?"
He was correct. The ogre ope'd his ponderous and marbled maw and made a bellow of rage that shook the castle.
How was he to get past with his companions? Esk realized that this was a challenge, and it was his to meet and solve. But almost nothing could make an ogre stand aside; he was in a position to know that. Nothing except—
Except another ogre. There was the key!
But Esk could not invoke his ogre self just because he wanted to. It came of its own accord, when triggered by erratic circumstances.
Still, sometimes it was possible to arrange the trigger. It was risky— but so was standing before an ogre as if ready to be eaten.
"Wish me luck," Esk muttered back to the others. Then he strode forward, directly into the ogre.
For a moment the ogre was startled by this temerity. Then it grabbed for him with a ham hand.
Esk saw that meat hook coming, and his ogre nature reacted. Suddenly he roared, his ogre strength surging. "Go 'way, me say!" he bellowed, and bit at the other's paw.
The other reacted astonishingly. It shrank away, literally; as it retreated, it became smaller, until it looked very much like a man, and Esk towered over it. But Esk, his ogre dander up, wasn't satisfied; he smashed at it with his own ham fist.
Something shattered.
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