Xanth 37 - Esrever Doom by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony [Anthony, Piers]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2013-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

9

DEMO DERBY

In the morning Kody pried himself out from between the two women, whose body warmth had indeed lent comfort when the chill came. He saw that Naomi and Ivan had slept similarly wrapped beside Zap, whose larger mass had kept them warm. Zap foraged for food and found a nearby pie plant, so they didn’t have to eat sandwiches for breakfast. And of course they washed up, Kody trying to tactfully avoid having the girls wash him.

Averting his gaze from the bare girls, Kody spied something he might not otherwise have noticed in the adjacent brush: it looked like an eyeball in a green globe on a stem. A plant of some sort. The eye seemed to be focusing on the girls. Could a plant have an urge to peep?

Zap saw him looking. “Squawk.” On her side were the words EYE POD. Then: GOURD SEEDLING

Kody didn’t get it, so let it be.

And he continued to wonder: was he being a fool? It seemed the girls had decided to cooperate with each other in encouraging him to select one of them for something more intimate than dialogue. Maybe after he was with one, it would be the turn of another, and finally the third. He was pretty sure he would enjoy being with any and all of them, in whatever manner they chose. So why did he still hesitate? Yet he did.

Then, clean and fed, they brought out the chessboard. Some of the little pictures had changed, but they could not identify any that showed the region of Xanth they wanted to go to. Several might be what they wanted, but there was no positive marker.

Then Kody spied one that interested him for another reason: it had cars. They looked like actual, genuine, Mundane vintage cars, the very kind he liked. It was only a hobby, but the prospect of checking out such vehicles in Xanth attracted him magnetically.

“I’d like to go there,” he said, pointing.

Yukay wrinkled her nose. “It looks like Mundania!”

“Yes. Mundane cars. I like them.”

“Let’s vote on it.” Yukay looked at Ivan. “Are you ready to go there?”

Ivan shrugged. “I’ve never seen a car. I’d like to see one.”

She looked at Zap. “You, birdbrain?”

“Squawk,” the griffin agreed. Zap was generally ready to go along with whatever the others wanted; it was part of her accommodation with her soul.

“Two votes for,” Yukay said. “The remaining three will have to be earned.”

“Earned?” Kody asked.

“One kiss buys one vote.” The others nodded.

“Does this make sense to you?” Kody asked Ivan.

“Sure, if you can stand it. Why would you ever kiss them otherwise?” Ivan knew of Kody’s immunity to the Curse, but had trouble relating to it in practice. To him the girls were hideous.

“Zap?”

“Squawk.” On her side appeared the word SEDUCTION.

So the girls were really determined. Maybe they knew how the dragon’s cynical appraisal had shaken him, and were capitalizing on it.

“One kiss,” he agreed.

Yukay stepped up. She put her arms about him, drew him in close, and lifted her face.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.