Well-Tempered Clavicle by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online

need the knot itself.”
    Dawn nodded. She reached for the knot and pulled on it. It came away in her hands, separating from the frayed rope.
    She tried again. This time when Jack popped up, she thrust the frayed knot at him. “’Fraid not!” she said.
    Jack recoiled. Some of his own wiring started fraying. The destruction was contagious!
    “Well, now,” Dawn said. She marched along the drawbridge, carrying the knot before her like a shield. The assorted Jacks shied away. They had found the solution to the second Challenge, thanks to Midrange and Tweeter.
    The others followed her. The team had scored again.
    Beyond the drawbridge stood an ugly tree. Its gnarly branches reached out like tentacles ready to grab a victim. It wasn’t a tangle tree, however; the wood could not move.
    “This is a bad idea,” Dawn said abruptly. “We’d better go back.”
    What? The others stared at her.
    “Let’s go.” Dawn started back across the drawbridge.
    “Dawn!” Joy’nt protested. “We can’t quit now!”
    “What’s the point?” Dawn asked. “There’s probably no good prince for me anyway.”
    “But—” Then Joy’nt’s attitude changed. “You’re right. Why serve a whole year’s Service for nothing?”
    Dawn looked confused. “I didn’t say that! I just—” Her features changed. “Yes, I did. I have better things to do with my life than waste it on drudgery for a year.”
    “This is ridiculous!” Picka protested. “How can either of you even think of quitting now?” But at that point he changed his mind. “Actually, it is a lot of trouble the Good Magician puts folk through, for obscure Answers. We shouldn’t play his game.”
    “No!” Dawn and Joy’nt said almost together.
    “That isn’t—” Joy’nt continued.
    “Yes, it is,” Dawn said.
    “This is crazy!” Picka said. “We’re saying things we don’t mean.” But then he changed his mind. “Unless…”
    “One at a time,” Dawn said. “Bad thoughts are coming to us singly. Something is affecting our thoughts.”
    “What could that be?” Picka asked.
    The three pets turned almost together to face the ugly tree.
    “The Devil Tree! Why didn’t I think of that?” Dawn asked. “I should have divined its nature immediately.”
    “Two reasons,” Picka said. “First, your talent of knowing all about any living thing is nullified for these Challenges. Second, if you happened to think of it independently, the Tree would have changed your thought so you lost it.”
    “True deviltry,” Joy’nt agreed.
    Dawn focused on Picka. “Have I remarked that there seems to be more in your empty head than shows?”
    “I believe you have,” Picka said. “My skull is not clogged with meat, so my thoughts are free to rattle around freely.”
    “You’re no meat head,” she agreed.
    “So why isn’t the Tree changing both of your thoughts now?” Joy’nt asked.
    “Because it’s focusing at the moment on the pets,” Picka said. “See, they are giving it a hard time.”
    Indeed, first one pet was turning away from the tree, then another, while the first one turned back toward it. The Tree was trying to turn all three away, but two were always focusing on it. The Tree’s foliage was rustling with annoyance; it couldn’t handle three simultaneously. That left Dawn and the skeletons to converse on their own.
    “I am getting to appreciate that trio,” Dawn said. “So now we know the Challenge: the Tree keeps changing our minds. How do we handle it?”
    “Maybe if all six of us focus on passing it, it won’t be able to balk us,” Picka suggested.
    “Let’s try it,” Dawn agreed.
    They got together and concentrated on a single thought: PASS THE TREE. They started walking.
    But Dawn broke ranks. “I can’t do it!” she said, pained.
    “Oh, fractures!” Joy’nt swore. “She’s the one who has to do it; the rest of us are only Companions who don’t matter.”
    “You matter,” Dawn said. “But it is true that for this