Roc And A Hard Place by Piers Anthony Page B

human feelings, but a few of them had rubbed off on her during her association with the King, and so it would be fair to say she emulated a feeling or two in that time.  She would have liked to continue with the King, and did visit her daughter a number of times, taking care never to make her presence known.  Thus she was aware of what was going on in Castle Roogna, though she did not interfere.
    Gromden named his daughter Threnody, because soon her talent of sad singing showed.  He provided every possible thing for her, including tutoring, playmates, and every kind of pastry and pie.  She had a nursemaid to look after her.  But he could not provide her with a mother, the Queen took an interest.  She was, of course, resentful of the presence of the child, because the child was evidence of the King's infidelity.  The Queen had no interest in that I sort of relationship with the King, but it was embarrassing to have it generally known that he had found a relationship elsewhere.  But for a time she masked her enmity, and Gromden, assuming that others had the same generosity of spirit that he did, did not realize how bitter she was. The Queen took a hand in educating the child.  “The first thing you must understand,” she told little Threnody, “is the foulness of your origin.  Your father was cruelly seduced by a hideous demoness who somehow made him think she was beautiful.  Then she embarrassed him in public by bringing you, so that everyone would know his folly.” And the child believed it.  “But don't speak of this to your father,” the Queen continued, “for he has already suffered more than enough, and it would hurt him to be reminded of it.” So the child was careful never to reveal what she had learned to Gromden.
    But as the years passed.  Threnody showed distinct signs of becoming beautiful.  Indeed, she was the juvenile image of the form her mother had assumed to seduce the King.
    Gromden, of course, treated her exactly the way a father should treat a daughter, not quite realizing the significance of her image.  But the Queen couldn't stand it.  So finally she acted.  She put a terrible curse on the child, forcing her to depart the castle forever.  When the King discovered this, he banished the Queen also.  But the damage was done.
    The vision ended.  Gromden reverted to Jordan, the Queen reverted to Threnody, and the beautiful child reverted to little Woe Betide, who then became Mentia.
    Threnody seemed shaken.  “I remember now.  The Queen did tell me that!  And I never questioned it.  Of course, she had a bad motive.  Still, it was wrong of you to seduce the King.  My presence did weaken his image.  I was his curse.”
    “No you weren't,” Jordan protested.  “You were the delight of his later life.  His life was empty, until you filled it.” He, having just emulated the role of King Gromden, was in a position to know.  “The demoness did him a real favor. It was the jealous Queen who made the mischief.”
    Threnody, having emulated the Queen, now understood that.  But the belief of four centuries did not dissipate readily.
    “I'll have to think about this.”
    “Now I will show you out of the madness, and depart,” Mentia said.
    'But she hasn't taken the token!' Metria protested.
    'Stifle it, better half.  Soft sell does it.’ The demoness led the way out of the madness.  During her pauses in the vision, mainly while the Queen was poisoning the mind of the child, she had scouted around and found the best route.  “The only obstacle here is the peer pressure,” she said.  “You simply have to resist it.”
    Jordan looked around.  “A pier?  But there's no water.”
    Then the pressure began.  They were squeezed from either side by invisible ramps.  “Not pier.  Peer,” Mentia clarified.
    “The things of madness are peering at us, trying to make us go their way.  They want us to be as mad as they are.  They can't touch us physically, but they can