Cube Route Part 41

"I think so," Cube agreed.

They walked down the steps to the lower hall. There was Millie, holding a swaddled baby.

"There seems to have been another misunderstanding, dear," the Zombie Master said. "This young woman is not here for the baby."

"Oh," Millie said faintly. "Then what are we to do with her?" She held up the baby.

"You see, the stork got confused," the Zombie Master explained. "It delivered the baby to the wrong Castle Zombie. This one was obviously intended for Breanna of the Black Wave, and Justin Tree. But by the time we realized the error, the stork was gone; it did not seem to like the environment."

Cube looked at the baby. She was the color of amber, with a full head of hair that resembled waves of grain. She was the loveliest baby Cube had ever seen.

"She has to be delivered to the right castle," Millie said. "I a.s.sumed--we don't get many visitors from Xanth--that you were here to do that."

Now Cube saw that the thread went to the baby. "I--maybe that's the case. I--I didn't know what I was here for. I just never thought of a baby." And it seemed that the pacifier was still having some serendipitous effect.

"That must be it," Millie said, relieved. "We are really too old for that now, and this is not the ideal world for new life." She handed the baby to Cube. "She has a nice talent." She went on to describe it.

"But I don't know anything about caring for a baby," Cube protested belatedly. "It was a long way, coming here, and will be a long way back. I don't have the right kind of food or clothing or anything."

"That should be no problem," Millie said. "You can return to Xanth must faster than you came, simply by expanding back to normal size; your soul remnants will find you as you do."

"But I'll be in Castle Roogna! I'll have to travel to Castle Zombie. That will take at least a day."

"You can put the baby into that magic pouch," the Zombie Master said. "No time will pa.s.s for her, and she won't need to be fed or clothed or changed." It seemed he had seen that kind of item before.

"So I can," Cube said. "What's her name? I need that to bring her out."

"We don't know," Millie said.

"She has a point," the Zombie Master said. "We shall have to give the baby a name, so she isn't lost in the pouch."

"She has such lovely amber skin," Millie said.

"And she was delivered at dawn," the Zombie Master said.

"Then let's call her Amber Dawn," Cube said. She didn't mention her confusion about how there could be dawn here on a world that derived from an endless chain of worlds...o...b..ting Princess Ida's head in Castle Roogna on Xanth, so saw no sunlight.

They nodded. "It's a nice name," Millie said.

Cube spoke to the baby. "We hereby name you Amber Dawn," she said. "Do you understand?"

There was no response. "She's too young to understand," the Zombie Master said.

"Besides, she's asleep," Millie said.

So she was. "I will bring you out soon, Amber Dawn," Cube said. Then she slid the baby into the pouch.

"Oh, my, I just remembered," Millie said. "Now that the baby has been named, she has to rejoin her body within a day, or her soul will perish. Normally the storks keep their schedule, and soul and body don't get separated."

"Separated?" Cube asked.

"This is Amber Dawn's soul, of course. Her body remains in Xanth proper."

"Of course," Cube said faintly. So she had a deadline, regardless of how time seemed to the baby in the pouch.

"So that means dawn at Castle Zombie," Millie said.

Cube realized that she had better get moving. "Now I'll just--you say I can expand my way back?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" the Zombie Master inquired gravely.

"Forgetting?" Cube repeated blankly. Then she remembered. "Drek! Drek Dragon! I can't leave him here."

"Of course you can't," Millie agreed.

Cube bid them both farewell and went outside. "Drek!" she called. "Where are you?"

There was a honk. Cube looked across the moat to a nearby pond that looked reasonably clean. Drek had found it and washed himself. He came sliding to meet her as she crossed the drawbridge. He no longer smelled of moat or stench. Cube hugged his neck, relieved that she hadn't left him behind. Soon he was back in the pouch.

Now what about the dogsled? "Can you find your own way back if I leave you now?" she asked it.

The dogsled wagged its tail. She hadn't known it had a tail. "Okay, go home now, with my thanks."

The dogsled puffed into smoke and disappeared. Actually it was returning the same way as she was about to, just not as far. It would be hard to get lost, since everything was circling Ida's head. But would that have worked for Drek, who had come here in the pouch?

Cube checked for the thread. It led ahead, but not the usual way. It was growing larger, thicker, and higher. In fact it was a huge cone, its apex just before her. It was expanding into infinity. Which was exactly what she should do.

"On my way," she said, and concentrated on expansion. Immediately she felt herself growing larger, puffing out, becoming as big as the castle, and as big as the world. As big as the universe! She saw Ida's head, as Zombie World orbited it, but she was still growing, expanding to the next stage, to the next Ida, and the next and the next, too rapidly for her to count.

Suddenly she was lying on a bed in a small chamber. What had happened? Why had the expansion been interrupted?

Then she saw Princess Ida, with the little globe of Ptero orbiting her head. She was back to Xanth proper! "I'm back," she said, half in wonder.

"That's nice," Ida said. "Did you accomplish your mission?"

"Some of it, I think." She sat up, feeling rather ma.s.sive in her original body. "I have a baby to deliver to Castle Zombie."

"A baby!" Ida said, as surprised as Cube had been.

Quickly Cube explained what had happened. "So I'll need to hurry there, but I don't know the way."

"Perhaps one of your Companions does."

"Karia! She can take me there."

"Unfortunately it is now night," Ida said. "Flying is not safe at this time."

"But I need to get there by dawn!"

"Perhaps your centaur can take you on the ground. The enchanted path should be safe even at night."

"Yes, that will have to do," Cube said. "Uh, thank you, Princess Ida. There turned out to be a lot for me to do on the moons."

"When you are done with your Quest, you must return and tell me about it."

"I will!" Cube hurried out of the chamber, and out of the castle.

When she was beyond the moat, she put her hand to the pouch. "Centaur."

Karia grasped her hand and slid out. "I see we are back at Castle Roogna, at night."

"Yes, and we need to get to Castle Zombie by dawn. Do you know the way? I understand that you won't fly at night, but if you know the enchanted paths--"

"I do. Will you tell me why the sudden urgency?"

"Yes. As we travel." And while they traveled rapidly along the dark path, Cube told the centaur about Zombie Planet and the h.e.l.l Toupee and the baby girl with her deadline for delivery.

"That is remarkable," Karia agreed. "I wasn't aware that the storks made errors like that."

"They must have had an address, Castle Zombie, and not realized there were two of them."

"Perhaps. Yet I remember that Breanna of the Black Wave was active in the notorious case of the Swell Foop that won Counter Xanth from Demoness Fornax."

"Another trick by Fornax?" Cube asked. "But how would that interfere with my Quest?"

"Perhaps you were not the target, this time. She might have been trying to punish Breanna."

"But hurting a little baby? I can't believe that."

"It may be that you lack the necessary evil mind."

That gave Cube an idea. "I can consider it with an evil mind." She explained about the h.e.l.l Toupee. "Make sure I take it off again, just in case."

"I will."

Cube brought out the toupee and put it on her head. The nicety of the ploy was immediately apparent. "Oh, yes, that is the most effective punishment," she said. "To deny Breanna what she most wants: a wonderful baby. Naturally I won't deliver Amber Dawn to her."

Karia's arm swung back and knocked the toupee off her head. It fell on the ground. "Leave it there," the centaur said. "You're right: it is evil."

Cube shuddered. "Thanks--I needed that. But I'd better recover it. The thread led me to it, so there must be a reason for me to have it."

"That must be true," Karia agreed reluctantly. She turned and trotted back. Cube dismounted, picked up the fallen toupee, put it in the pouch, and remounted.

"When will we reach Castle Zombie?" Cube asked.

"Two hours after midnight. You should get some sleep."

"I should," Cube agreed. "But wake me if there is any trouble."

"I will do that."

Cube relaxed, lulled by the steady beat of the centaur's hooves. Soon she slept.

Then Karia woke her. "Cube. Wake quietly."

Cube looked around. The centaur had stopped moving. Darkness was all around. "What's the problem?" she murmured low.

"I seem to have lost the path. I don't know how it happened."

There was a burst of demonic laughter. "Ho ho ho! I did it, centaur! I tricked you from the enchanted path."

"Who are you?" Karia demanded.

"I am Demon Viate."

"Ugh!"

Cube realized there was a pun, as there often was in demons' names. D. Viate--deviate. Demons did not exactly have talents, but they did have specialties, and evidently this one's specialty was to cause travelers to lose their way.

"Maybe we need a demon on our side," Cube murmured. She put her hand to the pouch. "Metria."

The demoness emerged. She caught on instantly. "Viate, get your obscure posterior out of here!"

"What are you doing here, Metria? Go make your own mischief."

"This is my mischief. Now put us back on the right path before I get annoyed."

"And what if I don't?"

"I'll smack you on the kisser."

"How could you do that?" he demanded contemptuously, raising his fists.

"Like this." Metria popped across and caught the demon with a loud smack.

"Ooooo!" Viate wailed, and vanished.

"Darn!" Metria swore. "Maybe I kissed him too hard."

"We need to get back to the enchanted path," Cube said, trying to stifle a smirk. "Can you find it?"

"Let me look," the demoness said, and popped off again.

"You'll never find it," another voice said.

Cube couldn't see who spoke, but it sounded like a demon. Her nickelpedes wouldn't have any effect against a demon. So she tackled it forth-rightly. "Who are you?"

A glowing manlike shape appeared. "Demon Vious, not at your service."