Night Mare by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online Page B

thoughts.”
    “Yes. Not a nymph,” she agreed, projecting a spot dreamlet.
    “And you do not fade in my waking presence. Interesting.”
    “I am spelled to perform day duty,” she explained. “To bring my message.”
    “Which is to beware the Horseman.” The King stroked his beard. “I don’t believe I know of him. Is he by chance a new Magician?”
    “No, sir. I think he is a Mundane. But he is clever and ruthless. He hurt me.” She nodded at the scrapes on her flanks.
    “You could not phase away from him, mare?”
    “Not by day. I am now mortal by day.”
    “Would this relate to the invasion the Mundanes are supposed to be mounting?”
    “I think so, sir. The Horseman has two Mundane henchmen and a Mundane horse.”
    “Where did you encounter this cruel man?”
    “Two hours’ trot west of here.”
    “South of the Gap Chasm?”
    “Yes, your Majesty. At Faux Pass.”
    “That’s odd. My scouts should have spotted any crossing of the Chasm, or any sea approach. You are sure of the location?”
    “Quite sure. I made a bad misstep there.”
    “That happens at Faux Pass.”
    “Yes.” Imbri was embarrassed again.
    “Then they must have found a way to sneak in.” The King pondered a moment. “Ah—I have it. A quarter century ago, Bink and Chameleon and I entered Xanth below the Gap when we departed from the region of the isthmus, far northwest of here. We somehow traversed in perhaps an hour a distance that should have required a day’s gallop by your kind. Obviously there is a magic channel under water. The Horseman must have found it and somehow gotten by the kraken weed that guards it. We shall have to close that off, devious though it may be. There are merfolk in that vicinity; I shall notify them to investigate.” He smiled. “Meanwhile, a lone man and two henchmen and a Mundane horse should not present too much of a threat to Xanth.”
    “The horse is not with them any more, your Majesty. He is the day horse who fled his master and helped me escape.”
    “Then we must reward that horse. Where is he now?”
    “He does not want to meet with human folk,” she explained. “He is wary of being caught and ridden again.”
    Again the King smiled. “Then we shall ignore him. True horses are very rare in Xanth, for there is no resident population. He might be regarded as a protected species. That will help him survive in what might otherwise be a hostile land.”
    King Trent had a marvelous way of solving problems! Imbri was grateful. “I am also to serve as liaison to the gourd—the realm of the Powers of the Night and to the folk of Xanth,” Imbri said in another dreamlet, maintaining her nymph image for the purpose. “And I am to be the steed of Chameleon. But I don’t know why; she seems not very smart.”
    “An excellent assignment!” King Trent said. “Evidently you do not properly comprehend Chameleon’s nature. She changes day by day, becoming beautiful but stupid, as she is at the moment, then reversing and turning ugly but intelligent. She is alone because of the exigencies of this presently developing crisis, and that is unfortunate, because someone really should be with her at her nadir of intellect. You can be with her and nudge her from danger. In a few days she will become smarter, and in two weeks she will be so smart and ugly you can’t stand her. But she is a good woman, overall, and needs a companion in both phases.”
    “Oh.” Now the Night Stallion’s assignment made more sense. It also explained his seeming error: he had shown an image of ugly Chameleon, but meanwhile her aspect had changed.
    “Return to her now,” King Trent said. “I will have a new assignment for you both by morning.”
    How thoroughly the King took over, once he tackled something! Imbri trotted through the wall and jumped down to the ground outside. Actually, she landed in the moat, but it didn’t matter because she was immaterial; she didn’t even disturb the moat monsters. Soon she