Air Apparent by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online Page B

approached. “Hello,” she said shyly. “I never met a winged centaur before.”
    “I’m not a real one,” Debra said. “I’ve been transformed so I can do my Service. I’m really a human girl.” She did not clarify what her Service was, as she knew that Wira and the Gorgon did not want the situation with the murder mystery and the fouled up Book of Answers to be generally known. “I’m still learning how to be a centaur.”
    “Fascinating,” the girl said. “I’m Psyche. My talent is role reversal. I never understood it until the Good Magician told me.”
    “Role reversal?”
    “I can reverse the roles of others, like changing a predator to prey, or a minor character to a major character for a quest. I understand it’s a pretty strong talent.”
    “It is,” Timothy said.
    That made Debra wonder. She had thought of herself as a distinctly minor character, but the quest she was about to go on seemed more like a major one. Had Psyche’s talent been used on her? She didn’t care to inquire.
    They chatted a while longer. Then Timothy and Psyche went for a walk together, evidently having more in mind than mere dialogue with stray centaurs, and Debra headed for the castle interior.
    “There’s another thing,” Wira said when she returned. “Many centaurs consider magic talents to be obscene.”
    “But if the winged ones use magic to help themselves fly—”
    “Yes, so it’s muted in winged centaurs. But you have to be wary of it in land-bound ones. It’s probably best not to mention magic at all, as it may relate to centaurs, lest someone’s sensitivities be disturbed.”
    “Centaurs will pee in public, but object to talk of magic?”
    “To them, it’s human conventions that are backward. They don’t even like to admit that they have human ancestry.”
    “I will keep it in mind,” Debra agreed. She found it interesting that centaurs seemed to have their own hang-ups.
    They spent the day practicing flying, landing, and handling the bow. Debra might not be able to score on anything smaller than the sky, but she had to be ready to look as if she could. She hoped she never had to perform that bluff, though. For one thing, the bow was too stiff for her to draw, let alone use effectively.
    “Now understand,” the Gorgon said. “We can’t just let everyone know what we’re doing, because the murderer might hear, and take it out on Hugo. So as far as others are concerned, the mission is for Wira to locate her lost sight, so she can see again.”
    “I was never able to see,” Wira protested.
    “That makes no nevermind, dear. It’s a necessary cover story.”
    “Wasn’t it hard, growing up without vision?” Debra asked, realizing how well off she was in comparison.
    “I didn’t mind, but my family did,” Wira said. “They had me put to sleep at age sixteen.”
    “But you’re alive!” Debra said.
    “I believe its a euphemism for death in Mundania,” the Gorgon said. “In Xanth it is literal: she joined the realm of dreams, until Hugo met her there. Then one thing led to another, and we brought her out and youthened her body so she could be as young physically as she had seemed to him in the dream realm. She has been here ever since.”
    “I see,” Debra said, chastened. Wira had a darker history than she had realized.
    The following day they were ready to go. That was to say, Debra doubted she would ever be really ready, but Wira was anxious to search for her lost husband, and couldn’t wait anymore. The Gorgon packed several excellent meals in saddlebags, Wira mounted her back, and Debra spread her wings and took off.
    And landed half a hoofprint away. In her distraction she had forgotten to flick them light.
    She flicked them carefully and tried again. This time she sailed into the sky. They were on their way.
    “Oh, I feel the height,” Wira exclaimed, hanging on tightly to Debra’s mane as she winged upward in great spirals.
    “You feel it? How?” She realized now that