The Source of Magic by Piers Anthony Page B

them. “We don’t want to make a bad impression!”
    “Hell, I wanted to make a good impression—on his feathery face,” Chester grumbled.
    Bink knew he had to separate the two combative creatures. “Go around to the other side of the castle and get another fix on the Magician,” he told Crombie.
    “Triangulate,” Chester said.
    Triangulate? Bink, accustomed to his friend’s surly manner, had forgotten how educated centaurs were. Triangulation was a magical means of locating something without going there directly. Chester had a good mind and a lot of background information, when he cared to let it show.
    The griffin decided that the word was not, after all, ascatological insult, and flew to one side of the castle and pointed again. Toward the castle. No question about it: the Magician was home.
    “Better fly in and notify him we’re here,” Bink said. “We don’t want to mess with those moat-monsters.”
    Crombie took off again. There was a small landing area between the moat and the castle, but no opening in the wall, so the griffin mounted to the high turrets. But there seemed to be no entry there for a creature of that size, so after circling the tower twice the griffin flew back.
    “I remember now,” Bink said. “The windows are barred. A small bird can get through, but not a griffin. We’ll just have to brave the moat after all.”
    “We’re here on the King’s business!” Chester exclaimed angrily. His unhandsome face was excellent for scowling. “We don’t have to run the gauntlet!”
    Bink was piqued himself. But he knew he could make it through, because of his talent. “It is my responsibility. I’ll see if I can navigate the castle obstacles and get his attention, then he’ll let you in.”
    “We won’t let you brave that moat alone!” Chester protested, and Crombie squawked agreement. These two might have their rivalry, but they knew their ultimate loyalty.
    This was awkward. They had no magical protection. “I’d really rather do it alone,” Bink said. “I am smaller than you, and more likely to slip through. If I fall in the moat, you can lasso me and haul me out, quickly. But I could never haul
you
out, if—”
    “Got a point,” Chester admitted grudgingly. “Crombie can fly across the water, but we already know he can’t get in. Too bad he’s not strong enough to fly with you.”
    Crombie started to bridle again, but Bink cut in quickly. “He could carry your rope to me, in an emergency. I really think it is best this way. You can help me most by figuring out what type of monsters are in that moat. Is there anything in the centaur’s lexicon about headless serpents?”
    “Some—but the coils don’t match the pattern. They look more like pieces of a—” Chester broke off, staring. “It
is
! It’s an ouroboros!”
    “An ouroboros?” Bink repeated blankly. “What’s that—a fleet of sea monsters?”
    “It is all one monster, a water dragon, clutching its own tail between its teeth. Half of it white, half black. The symbolism is—”
    “But there are a score or more segments, all over the moat! Some are in toward the castle, and some out near the edge. Look—there’s three lined up parallel. They can’t be pieces of the same monster!”
    “Yes they can,” Chester said wisely. “The ouroboros loops entirely around the castle—”
    “But that would account for only a single-file line of—”
    “Loops several times, and its head plunges below its own coils to catch the tail. A little like a mobius strip. So—”
    “A what?”
    “Never mind. That’s specialized magic. Take my word: that thing in the moat is all one monster—and it can’t bite because it won’t let go of its tail. So if you’re good at balancing, you can walk along it to the castle.”
    “But no segment shows above the water more than five feet! I’d fall in, if I tried to jump from segment to segment!”
    “Don’t jump,” Chester said with unusual patience, for him.