"It sure was!" Dug called back. "You're lucky yours were right"

"Ours weren't We ignored them. Sammy knew the way."

"That's some cat," he said. Then Dug and Sherlock and Nada made their way down the slope to the ledge. Their sled was hopelessly jammed and unusable. Sherlock paused to look carefully at the signs, and then went to check the signs on Kim's trail.

They consulted. With only one sled, only one party could continue. In fact, there was only one trail leading down from the ledge. "I think this challenge can have only one winner," Dug said ruefully.

"Well, you can have it," Kim said. "This sledding scares me, and so does the dragon below. I'd rather find some other way."

"It is possible to go around the Gap Chasm," Nada said. "But it's a long way, and there are dangers."

"I don't care! I've had all of the Gap I care to."

Dug pondered. "I'd as soon go on down and get it over with. But not with wrong signs. You could make it, with your cat, but we'd probably get skunked again."

"Say, I think I have it figured," Sherlock said, returning. "It's not what they say, it's where they are. When you have to go right, the sign's on the right When you have to go left, it's on the left"

Kim looked. "You're right! It's like the game of Scissors!"

"Scissors?" Sherlock asked, and the others looked similarly blank.

"It's a game. Most of the players have played it before, so they know the rules, but there are a few newcomers who don't. They sit in chairs in a circle and pa.s.s a pair of scissors around. Each one says, "I receive these scissors crossed," and pa.s.ses them on uncrossed, or whatever, and changes the scissors to match. It's different for each one, depending on the scissors. But when a newcomer does it, chances are he's wrong, and everybody knows it. They keep playing until he catches on: it's not the scissors, it's the legs. So maybe someone has his legs crossed, and he pa.s.ses the scissors on uncrossed, saying they're crossed, and everyone agrees but the poor innocent who's looking at the scissors."

"The signs!" Dug said. "They're the scissors-and you have to look at where they are instead of what they are. That's the challenge-to figure out the key before you get creamed."

"And this was just the practice run, to give us a chance before we blow it for real," Kim agreed. "Though one of those wrong paths sure looked final to me."

"It isn't," Sherlock said. "I saw where it has a leveling slope after the drop, tike a ski jump. Then it dead-ends. It looks worse than it is."

"So now we know," Cyrus said. "But we have only one sled. I for one would rather not use it"

"So let's go find some other way," Kim said gratefully. "Let them have our sled, if they want it."

"I'm not eager to ride down," Nada protested.

Dug pursed his lips. "How do you feel about it, Jenny?"

"I don't mind which way, as long as I have Sammy to guide me."

Dug looked at Kim. "Want to exchange Companions?"

Kim was astonished. "Can we do that?" She had thought Nada's suggestion to that effect was sarcastic.

"We can try it and see what happens. I never saw any rule saying no."

Kim considered this amazing proposal. Jenny was good, and Sammy was useful, but Nada could become a serpent and a formidable bodyguard. Dug would need the cat's ability to sneak through the chasm valley without blundering into the dragon. It seemed a fair exchange. "Let's do it," she decided.

So Nada Naga joined Kim and Cyrus, while Jenny joined Dug and Sherlock. Sammy Cat remained with Jenny, and Bubbles Dog remained with Kim. It all seemed even.

Then Nada a.s.sumed large serpent form and slithered up the snowy slope. She could handle it better in that form man in the human form; the snow gave her sinuous body purchase. She reached a small tree, clamped her teeth on it, and let Cyrus and Kim use her body like a rope to climb up more readily. When they reached the sapling, Nada went on up again. After several such stages they reached the top, cold but safe. Then Kim held out Nada's jacket, while Cyrus faced away, so Nada could return to human form and get quickly dressed.

"We're up," Kim called down to the others, who were now out of sight on the ledge.

"Okay," Dug called back from below. "Been nice knowing you! We're going down." There was the sound of the sled moving.

"And now we have to start our long walk around the Gap Chasm," Kim said. "But I'm relieved not to have to ride down any farther."

The others nodded agreement. So, it almost seemed, did Bubbles.

Chapter 11: DRAGON.

Dug watched the other party scale the slope, leaving the Gap Chasm. His feelings were mixed. He was sorry to see Nada Naga go, because she was the most luscious female creature he could imagine. But she had also been a distraction. He had been more or less blundering through the challenges, and that was no good; he needed to focus clearly on what he was doing. He wasn't interested in winning the prize, just in extending his time in the game. But he realized that he had to keep winning challenges, and following the general course of the game, or he would soon enough be dumped out of it. So Nada had probably been a net liability, not because of her, but because of him.

Jenny Elf, in contrast, was not a romantic figure. He had no hankering to see her panties or body. And her cat was one supremely useful creature. The way he had found the bobsleds, and the correct path down the slope-that was a tremendous a.s.set in this game. So Jenny made all the sense Nada didn't, for him. He should be able to do much better now.

But why had Kim agreed to the exchange? She hadn't wanted to sled down into the depths and meet the dragon. He could appreciate why. But Jenny would have gone out of the chasm with her. Nada hadn't wanted to sled on down, but would have, because she had to follow the route her Player decided on. So they hadn't had to switch for that reason. What did Nada offer that Kim wanted?

Well, protection, of course. n.o.body much messed with Nada in her huge serpent form. n.o.body, it seemed, except the Gap Dragon. She had been quick to point out that she couldn't back off that particular monster, and he had been quick to pick up on that fact. So despite what he had said, he was worried; there was a real threat down there, and he had better have a notion how to handle it before he got there. So now Kim had that serpent protection. Was that what she wanted?

He turned to look down into the chasm. Cold fog shrouded the depths, so he could not see more than the beginning of the trail. They should be able to navigate it successfully, now that they had the key to the signs. If that went wrong, Sammy Cat would let them know. So the trip down shouldn't be a problem. But the dragon would be more than enough to make up for it.

"What are we going to do about that dragon?" he asked the others.

"That's bothering you?" Sherlock asked in mock surprise. "Me, too. If it eats me, I'm gone. If it eats you, I'm stuck down there with no game Player to lead the way. The Companion doesn't have to help me, you know."

"If Dug gets eaten, he'll disappear from Xanth," Jenny said. "Then I'll call Professor Grossclout, and he'll take me out I'll ask him to take you too."

"Why should he bother?"

"Because the game isn't supposed to interfere with regular people of Xanth. You're a regular person. So the Professor will have to put you back where we found you." She hesitated. "If I may ask, why did you come with Dug and Nada?"

"I am a member of the Black Wave. I'm trying to find a place for us to stay where folk will be glad to have us, or where there are no other folk to be concerned."

"Oh, like the Curse Fiends!" she said.

"The what?"

"They were folk of the Seventh Wave who settled in Lake Ogre-Chobee and became the Curse Friends, only others call diem the Curse Fiends. They remained sort of isolated, and never really mixed with the other folk of Xanth. So I guess you're the Fifteenth Wave. You want to be separate like them?"

"No, not really. But we're prepared to be, if that's the way of it. These Curse Friends-they're not really fiends, then?"

"No, they're just people. They act in plays, and go on tours, entertaining others. I think maybe they would have mixed, but n.o.body invited them to."

"Exactly. Maybe I should talk with the Curse Fiends."

"After we get by the dragon," Dug said firmly. "n.o.body's talking with anybody, if he gets eaten first."

Sherlock and Jenny exchanged half a glance. "Man's got a point," Sherlock said.

"I can ask Sammy how to get away from the dragon," Jenny said. "But I don't think-"

Sure enough, the cat started running up the slope, in the same direction Kim's party had gone. Jenny had to chase after him, canceling her statement, so he wouldn't keep looking for the way away from the dragon.

Then Dug had a notion. "That evil cloud, what's-his-name, Fractal-he still around?"

There was a warning rumble from the depths. The mist was part of the cloud, and he was still there.

"Maybe better not to aggravate him by misp.r.o.nouncing his name," Sherlock murmured. "Fracto."

"Fracto," Dug said contritely. "Sorry about that. Of course we don't want to aggravate him. He could blow up a storm again, and bury us."

Sherlock looked at him as if suspecting Dug of some devious purpose, but did not comment. Sherlock was right: Dug now knew how to get by the dragon.

Kim called down from above: they had made it out of the chasm. "Okay!" Dug called.

They were ready to get into the Roberta sled, but Sherlock hesitated. "What's the matter?" Dug asked.

"I've got long legs. There's not enough foot room in this sled for me."

"Isn't it the same as the other sled?"

"No. Take a look." Sherlock climbed in-and his rear came back into the second person's place. It looked uncomfortable for him, and it would push the other two back, so that there wouldn't be enough room for the third person at the end.

"We'll have to change the order," Dug said. "Jenny, you try it."

Jenny got in, but her legs were much shorter, not reaching far into the front Dug and Sherlock's longer legs couldn't fit in the remaining s.p.a.ce, so again there wasn't room for the third man.

"Then I'll have to do it," Dug said. He got in, and Jenny took the middle, with Sammy Cat in her lap, and Sherlock took the end. Now they fit perfectly.

Sherlock showed him how to steer. It was not hard, the man a.s.sured him; the other sled had been magically responsive, so that it seemed that even a thought directed it. All Dug really had to do was hold the handles and focus on where he wanted to go, and it would go there.

Belatedly he wondered: had the game arranged it this way? Because he was the Player, who should handle his challenges himself. The prior run had been for practice, so it didn't matter who steered the sled, but this one was for the money. How could the demon proprietors have known that Dug's sled would be lost, and that he would change to the other one? They must have had magical information.

They got settled in the Roberta sled and started down. Dug knew this was going to be one harrowing ride, but he reminded himself that it was after all only a game. There was always a way through, and they had found the way through for the sled. He hoped.

The sled started with a frightening plunge. It gathered such velocity that Dug abruptly doubted that he had a true path down. This could only end in a splat! He felt Jenny tense; a glance back showed her frozen with half a scream in her mouth, and the cat was hiding his head under her knees.

Then the ground curved up and the sled's runners took a better grip on reality. But before Jenny could get her scream the rest of the way out, the trail made a savage turn and ended in a square drop-off. There was s.p.a.ce at either side, so that he could steer off the trail, avoiding the disaster. But the trail was clear, and mere was no sign. So it should be right, despite the appearance. What should he do?

Dug had only seconds to decide. He froze. That meant mat he did nothing. The sled rushed on down the trail. And off the drop-off. Dug heard a muttered "Sheesh!" from the rear.

Then out of the fog loomed a wall, and in the wall was a crevice, and the sled slammed into that crevice and zoomed on. The trail had jumped a gap in the slope; had the sled been moving slower, it would have crashed into the wall beneath the gap, flattening them and dropping them into whatever lay below. Had he steered it off the trail, he might have brought it to a stop, but they would have been stuck partway down the wall of the chasm. So he had made the right decision, by default.

They came to a fork. The sign said RIGHT, and it was on the right side, so Dug steered it that way. This path dropped, so that they sped up again, and again there was a bit of nervous choice. There seemed to be several tracks, all converging farther down, so it made no difference which one he followed. But some were more ragged than others. The sled struck a b.u.mp, and sailed into the air, and he almost lost control. It did make a difference, because they could capsize-or whatever it was that a bobsled did-if he managed it wrong. So he steered for the smoothest path, and corrected course as they bounced around, gaining proficiency. He managed to keep them upright and pointed forward.

The tracks converged. Then the main track suddenly curved up so sharply that it looped. "What is this, a roller-coaster ride?" Dug demanded rhetorically.

"No, a flume ride," Sherlock said, as the loop exited into a bank of snow that shook loose and slid down the slope. They were carried along in the flowing current of white powder; the snow had given up being Technicolor and was now plain vanilla white. Again they were falling, part of an avalanche. But it was not an easy ride; Dug had to keep steering by focusing, lest they turn over or turn sideways. This was like one of those purely mechanical computer games, requiring constant finger dexterity and spot judgment to avoid being dumped. Fortunately he had played a number of such games before getting bored with then- intellectual simplicity, and had a fairly steady hand.

"If this is the right trail," Dug puffed through the enveloping snow, "I'd hate to see the wrong one!"

This, too, leveled out at last. They came to another sign saying RIGHT, but they couldn't see me fork; it had been hidden by the fall of snow. Where could they steer?

Dug solved the problem by going right at the sign. The sled hit it and crashed on. The others understood the logic, he hoped: they had to go along the path marked by the sign, which meant that the sign itself would be beside it They might not be on the path, but it would be close to them.

Sure enough, the sled b.u.mped, then dropped into a slight channel. It had found the path. Then the sides rose up, and they were cruising through a U-shaped valley. He had to steer with excruciating care, to keep them on course by banking on the turns. This was a really nervous workout! But was this the correct path? How could he be quite sure?

The valley curved, taking them around and around until they had completed a circle. But they were below the prior track. It was a corkscrew turn! The walls closed over the top, and they were plunging through darkness.

Dug heard water. Was there an underground river here? Then light came, and he saw that they had entered a cavern with a hole in the ceiling for a sunbeam. Ahead was a waterfall. The water came from the right side, and fell into the center of the cave, where it flowed on to the left. The sled bucked like a bronco as it traversed the slush by the river. They could still crash!

There was another sign. LEFT. But it was on the right side. "At least we're on the proper trail," Sherlock said, sounding relieved as Dug steered the sled directly toward the waterfall.

"How can you be sure!" Jenny demanded, seeing disaster looming.

"Because they wouldn't put another sign on a wrong trail; they'd just terminate it."

Then they plunged into the sheet of falling water. And through it there was s.p.a.ce behind it, descending. Sparks flashed as the runners sc.r.a.ped against bare rock. They skidded onto sand, and on down through a round hole just large enough to let them through. They sailed out into s.p.a.ce and bright light.

And landed with a plunk on a monster pillow bush. Pillows popped, sending fluff flying wide. But they had stopped, safely. They were at the base of the chasm.

They climbed out and looked around. Behind them was the steep slope of the chasm wall, with its tiny hole up just too high for a standing man to reach from the floor. Ahead of them was a flat, open expanse. Beyond it was the far wall of the chasm, rising vertically to a ledge, and thence to another ledge. To either side was the length of the great valley, curving out of sight It was actually a pleasant enough place. There was even a pie tree a short distance away.

Then they felt a shudder in the ground. It was followed by another. Whomp! Whomp!

"The Gap Dragon!" Jenny cried. "He's coming-and we can't escape him here!"

"If you have a plan," Sherlock said wryly, "It's about time to put it into effect"

"First I want to settle with that stupid cloud, what's-his-name, who couldn't put out enough snow to cover the slope," Dug said.

There was an angry rumble from above. Fracto was listening and reacting to the criticism.

"But it's the dragon we have to settle with first" Jenny said, alarmed. The whomping was getting louder.

"No, it's that wimpish cloud," Dug insisted "If Fractal had the gumption G.o.d gave a turnip, he'd have laid snow all the way down to the floor so we could coast down properly, instead of having to shunt into a watery cave. But I guess that's what happens when you depend on airheads."

There was a louder rumble, but it was matched by the closer whomping. In a moment the Gap Dragon would round the turn and spy them. "Dug-" Sherlock said, looking pale around the gills, which was a good trick.

"I'm sorry," Dug said stoutly, "but I just can't let inadequacy pa.s.s. That pip-squeak cloud didn't do his job right and we had to land in a bed of pillows instead of a bed of snow, the way it should have been. I don't know why the demons chose such a malingerer! They should have known Flacto would botch it."

"You keep getting the name wrong," Jenny shouted over the double noise of rumbling and whomping. "You're just going to make Fracto even madder!"