demon.”
“Then get out of here and stop distracting me,” Dolph gritted. What form would be best to tackle this thing? Maybe an ogre.
“I don't understand you,” Metria said. “Suddenly, without thinking at all, you're doing the right thing.”
“Of course you don't understand: you're not human. Are you going to help me deal with this thing?”
“Yes. Not because it's the right thing to do, but because I might learn more about the mysterious workings of the feeble human mind.” She became a grotesque horned demon with outsized claws and came at the monster from another side.
The monster swiveled one eye to orient on her, while the other two focused on Dolph. Metria froze in place, while Dolph felt a huge and awful chill. The monster was monstrous in mind as well as body and was mesmerizing them both!
Dolph couldn't move, but he could still change forms. He became a basilisk, whose very gaze was deadly to mortal creatures. That should set the monster back!
The two giant eyes blinked. Then a tentacle arm reached for Dolph. A toothy maw opened. The thing was going to eat the basilisk!
Metria, meanwhile, remained immobile. That third eye held her fixed where she was.
Dolph became a picklepuss, with pickly green puss and brine-moist eyes. Anything it touched would be pickled, and anything that tried to eat it would find it disgustingly bad tasting.
More tentacles came and wrapped around the picklepuss. The monster was going to eat it anyway! Maybe it even liked being pickled. Dolph was hauled in to the maw.
He became a sphinx, with the body of a lion and the head of a man. Sphinxes ordinarily were peaceful creatures, not much for combat, but they were very big. The monster's mouth closed on something that was many times its own size. The sphinx hide was too thick for the teeth to puncture; they got stuck, and the monster couldn't let go.
Dolph sat down. Since the monster's mouth was fastened to his backside, this meant that he sat on the monster's face. His bulk spread out to cover all three eyes.
“I'm free!” Metria exclaimed, moving at last. “You broke its eye contact!”
“Go fetch some tangle vines,” Dolph told her with his huge human mouth. “We'll tie it up and plug the hole with it.”
She vanished. Would she do it? She might decide that she had better folk to torment elsewhere. He could hold the monster as long as he sat on it, but he couldn't leave without freeing it. He didn't want to sit forever.
Then the demoness reappeared with a squirming mass of vines. She used them to wrap around the monster. Some she put over its eyes, their suckers fastening the eyes closed. Then she hammered the teeth that were embedded in Dolph’s posterior, so that he could get up.
He assumed ogre form, picked up the trussed monster, and jammed it into the hole. Then the two of them used more vines to anchor it there, so that it could neither enter nor exit Xanth. It had become the plug.
“That was very brave and smart of you, Prince,” Metria said. “I am amazed.”
“So am I,” he admitted.
“But how did you manage to be so manly, when you had been so boyly before?”
Dolph pondered. “I'm not sure. I guess I just did what had to be done.”
She shook her head. “You remain as much of a mystery as ever! Each time I think you are hopeless, you evince a modicum of amplitude.”
“Of what?”
“Dimension, magnitude, scope, largeness—” she said fretfully.
“Potential?”
“Whatever. I am disgusted.”
“You should be,” he said, obscurely satisfied.
“Now I suppose you feel free to go rescue your Betrothees and try to sneak a glimpse of someone's panties.”
“Right,” he said, and assumed the form of a swift hawk. He launched into the air and headed west, toward the With-a-Cookee River. He was pleased to see that the demoness did not follow.
Xanth 13 - Isle of View
Chapter 5: Chex's Checks.
Chex was about to resume her circuit, when a ghost appeared. “Oh, hello,
“Then get out of here and stop distracting me,” Dolph gritted. What form would be best to tackle this thing? Maybe an ogre.
“I don't understand you,” Metria said. “Suddenly, without thinking at all, you're doing the right thing.”
“Of course you don't understand: you're not human. Are you going to help me deal with this thing?”
“Yes. Not because it's the right thing to do, but because I might learn more about the mysterious workings of the feeble human mind.” She became a grotesque horned demon with outsized claws and came at the monster from another side.
The monster swiveled one eye to orient on her, while the other two focused on Dolph. Metria froze in place, while Dolph felt a huge and awful chill. The monster was monstrous in mind as well as body and was mesmerizing them both!
Dolph couldn't move, but he could still change forms. He became a basilisk, whose very gaze was deadly to mortal creatures. That should set the monster back!
The two giant eyes blinked. Then a tentacle arm reached for Dolph. A toothy maw opened. The thing was going to eat the basilisk!
Metria, meanwhile, remained immobile. That third eye held her fixed where she was.
Dolph became a picklepuss, with pickly green puss and brine-moist eyes. Anything it touched would be pickled, and anything that tried to eat it would find it disgustingly bad tasting.
More tentacles came and wrapped around the picklepuss. The monster was going to eat it anyway! Maybe it even liked being pickled. Dolph was hauled in to the maw.
He became a sphinx, with the body of a lion and the head of a man. Sphinxes ordinarily were peaceful creatures, not much for combat, but they were very big. The monster's mouth closed on something that was many times its own size. The sphinx hide was too thick for the teeth to puncture; they got stuck, and the monster couldn't let go.
Dolph sat down. Since the monster's mouth was fastened to his backside, this meant that he sat on the monster's face. His bulk spread out to cover all three eyes.
“I'm free!” Metria exclaimed, moving at last. “You broke its eye contact!”
“Go fetch some tangle vines,” Dolph told her with his huge human mouth. “We'll tie it up and plug the hole with it.”
She vanished. Would she do it? She might decide that she had better folk to torment elsewhere. He could hold the monster as long as he sat on it, but he couldn't leave without freeing it. He didn't want to sit forever.
Then the demoness reappeared with a squirming mass of vines. She used them to wrap around the monster. Some she put over its eyes, their suckers fastening the eyes closed. Then she hammered the teeth that were embedded in Dolph’s posterior, so that he could get up.
He assumed ogre form, picked up the trussed monster, and jammed it into the hole. Then the two of them used more vines to anchor it there, so that it could neither enter nor exit Xanth. It had become the plug.
“That was very brave and smart of you, Prince,” Metria said. “I am amazed.”
“So am I,” he admitted.
“But how did you manage to be so manly, when you had been so boyly before?”
Dolph pondered. “I'm not sure. I guess I just did what had to be done.”
She shook her head. “You remain as much of a mystery as ever! Each time I think you are hopeless, you evince a modicum of amplitude.”
“Of what?”
“Dimension, magnitude, scope, largeness—” she said fretfully.
“Potential?”
“Whatever. I am disgusted.”
“You should be,” he said, obscurely satisfied.
“Now I suppose you feel free to go rescue your Betrothees and try to sneak a glimpse of someone's panties.”
“Right,” he said, and assumed the form of a swift hawk. He launched into the air and headed west, toward the With-a-Cookee River. He was pleased to see that the demoness did not follow.
Xanth 13 - Isle of View
Chapter 5: Chex's Checks.
Chex was about to resume her circuit, when a ghost appeared. “Oh, hello,
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