99.28 Currant Events by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fantasy - Epic, Xanth (Imaginary place), Fantasy - General, Fantasy, Fantasy fiction, Dragons, Space Opera, Fiction - Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, General, Historiography, Historians, Endangered species, Humorous fiction, Epic, Science Fiction And Fantasy
ISBN: 076534310X
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Published: 2008-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11. Bad Dreams

There was no suitable campsite, but day was ending, so they stopped by a river and Sherlock conjured a number of reverse wood chips to make a protective ring around them. Then he foraged for blankets and pies, while Clio consulted with the dragons. There were dangerous creatures in the vicinity, but none that wouldn't be stopped by the reverse wood.

She got busy with brush and a fragment of firewood she found, and it made a fire to heat the pies. They ate and settled down for the night, guarded by the dragons' extended awareness.

"This is our first night together alone in the open," she said. "I find it awkward."

"I will sleep elsewhere, if you wish. I do not wish to embarrass you."

"Please. I think I need to speak with a certain candor. The compass led me to you, and keeps me with you. I am beginning to wonder whether we are intended to associate longer."

"Perhaps as long as it takes to complete your mission, so you can return to Mount Parnassus."

This was twice as difficult as she had imagined. "Would it bother you if it turned out to be longer than that?"

He paused before answering. "No."

"I don't mean to presume. But you are a nice man, and I like your company."

"Thank you."

"Would you by any chance be amenable to residing on Mount Parnassus?"

"You mean to stay with you?"

"Yes."

He thought about it. "I would want to be useful. I'm not sure that there is much use for reverse wood there."

"Surely uses could be found."

"You, as I understand it, are eternal. I am already middle-aged, and would fade out before too long on your scale."

"Not if you ate a leaf from the Tree of Life. You would become eternal too."

He gazed at her in the gloom. "I fear a misunderstanding. May I be blunt?"

"By all means."

"I thought your interest in me was as a person who can be useful as a traveling companion. Is it more?"

"Yes."

"I have liabilities that make me doubt. I am unprepossessing."

"As I come to know you, I find qualities that impress me."

"I am middle-aged."

"I am older."

"I am black."

"I don't understand."

"That is perhaps an appealing thing about you. Neither did you understand my remark about the disciplinary board enjoying spanking the princess."

"That's true. Do you care to explain?"

"The princess was a buxom lass. There are men who might like to touch her bottom under the pretext of discipline. Spanking has a special reputation when it applies to big girls."

"I still don't understand."

"Because you have never been exposed to the baser human instincts. That's an engaging quality."

Clio was frustrated by her inability to decipher this. She shifted to the other confusion. "What is this about your being black? All members of the Black Wave are."

"I was an adult when we migrated from Mundania to Xanth. My appreciation of particular aspects of human nature was fairly well set. You might say I remain Mundane in a certain fundamental manner, despite my recent development of a magic talent. It affects my outlook.

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