Piers Anthony - Unicorn Point

“Take a moment to rehearse in your mind what you will say and do,” Mach told him. “I do not know precisely where you will land, but it must be in your human form, and you must waste no time deciding. Let me know when you are ready.”

“Wait, rovot!” Forel cried. “I can not guide Barel out if I know not where we be! Where be this isle?”

“Near the West Pole, under the sea.”

“But Barel’s dam—he said she has but one foreign form, and that be a little bird. How can she run or fly under the sea?”

“Excellent question. The Adepts will not expect her to flee without using their spell to make the water like air. But these amulets provide for that; the vicinity of those invoking them will be all right. This is one reason why Tania and Fleta must travel together, and you and Flach. Together you can make it; apart you will be in trouble.”

“This be great magic!” he exclaimed.

“Thank you.”

He realized that the rovot was mocking him, lightly. Of course this was the greatest of the Adepts, able to do such things as others could only dream of.

“I be ready,” he said.

The rovot gestured—and there was the wrench. Forel was standing on a strange isle girt about by shimmering light, and beyond it the dark water in which strange creatures crawled or swam.

But he had no time to gawk. The wicked Adept Tania was sitting against a tree, nearest to him, her eyes widening in surprise. “Eye me not. Tan!” he cried. “I bring this amulet from the rovot! Use it to change forms with the mare, and stay with her that ye two may breathe. Flee to the cloud above the Animal-Head Demesnes!” He almost hurled the amulet at her, and ran on past her to find Barel. The boy was playing with a wickerwork basket on the little beach. “Forel!” he exclaimed.

“I come from thy sire. Wait for the others to change, then assume a form for escape, and I will match thee; I have magic. Fast, fast; needs must we go before the Adepts act!” Meanwhile Tania was running to Fleta, who turned toward the boys in surprise. She was in her natural form, grazing on the verdant patch of grass nearby; a forgotten mouthful of grass hung unchewed.

“Aye, dam!” Barel cried. “Do it! There be danger thou knowest not of!”

Fleta did not question her son. She became a humming bird. Right after her, so did Tania.

“I shall be a fish,” Flach cried, running toward the shim mering margin of the isle. “Follow me!” He dived through the curtain, and on the other side a catfish appeared. Forel paused only to use the decoy spell. “Amulet, I invoke thee!” he cried, holding it up.

The amulet exploded. From it flew perhaps a thousand specks of dust, but each expanded as it moved, becoming larger. Those that went up formed into tiny birds that quickly grew into hummingbirds just like the two on the isle. Those that went down formed into tiny fish that grew into catfish. Some passed through the curtain and swam in the water; others landed on the sand and flopped their way toward the water, still growing.

Forel gaped. He had never seen such magic! This amulet had somehow tuned in to the forms the others assumed, and reproduced them by the hundreds, and every one of them seemed alive! Decoys indeed! How would the Adepts ever tell them from the originals?

Then a shadow loomed over the isle. Something awful was coming! Forel leaped for the water. “And thee!” he cried to the remaining amulet.

He passed through the curtain—and felt the water against his whiskers. He flexed his tail, and moved forward. He was a catfish!

He looked for Barel—but saw a dozen similar catfish, and more crawling on their fins from the beach. Which one was his friend?

Then one swam close. “Come, wolf,” it said in fish-talk. “We must away!”

All too true! The shadow over the isle was intensifying, and he felt the tingle of terrible magic. He flexed his tail and used his fins vigorously, zooming away from the curtain. Barel-fish paced him. Swimming was easy, once he caught on to its mechanism. Maybe the amulet was helping, because he had no prior experience.

“Where be we going?” Barel asked as they plunged through seaweed. The other catfish were plunging similarly. “A cloud o’er Animal Demesnes!” Forel replied. His expression in fish-talk was not apt, but Barel seemed to under stand. Evidently Barel had had more practice in the form, though Forel had never seen him assume it before, and in deed, had not known that he knew any forms beyond man, ‘corn, bat and wolf. Maybe he had worked it out after being captured.

As they progressed south, away from the isle, the decoy catfish thinned. Some had probably been caught by the strange predators, such as the tentacled creatures with great long pointed shells. But most of the thinning was merely because they were getting farther from the isle; the catfish were spreading out into wider territory.

Then there came a predator Forel recognized by description: a shark! Wolves stayed clear of deep water when they could, but they did know how to swim, so were versed in the dangers of the sea. The rule for sharks was simple: get out of the water!

But as fish, they could not get out. Could they hide from this monster?

Barel swam close. “Fear naught. We be electric catfish. An the shark be fool enough to bite, he’ll get a shock.” The shark loomed near, then evidently recognized them and veered away. So it was true; Barel had chosen a form that could defend itself by the magic of electricity! They swam on, until no other catfish were in sight. They had made it safely away! Barel angled upward, approaching the surface. Then he accelerated and leaped from the water, becoming a bat.

Forel followed, but feared this would not work for him. He would have to swim to shore instead, and resume wolf form, and pace Barel on the ground. But as he leaped, he changed—and suddenly he had wings! He too was a bat! Flying was another new experience, and he hardly had time to wonder at the continuing potency of the amulet he had invoked; he had to concentrate on keeping his balance in the air. He wobbled, pumping his leathery wings as hard as he could, and barely managed to stay clear of the waves. Then he got a better grasp of the mechanism, and began to rise. There was a globe above him. It looked like a ball of water, but there was a man inside it, looking out. Forel tried to veer away, but something held him; he could no longer move. “So we have caught the errant fish,” the man said. “And which of ye be ‘corn?”

Then something hauled Forel into the floating ball. His magic was canceled, and he reverted to the form he had as sumed before invoking the amulet. As a boy he stood within the globe, realizing that he faced the Translucent Adept. Barel was beside him, also in boy form.

“Damn thee!” Barel cried angrily at the Adept. “Methought us free!”

“Almost, you were,” the Adept agreed. “But I had the wit to search out pairs o’ fish, for they travel not normally that way, and when this pair turned bat, I knew. Now tell me: why and how didst thou make this break? I know there be more to it than simply pique.”

“I have to answer not!” Barel said defiantly.

“I have treated thee well, and mean to continue so,” the Adept said. “But I will have mine answer.” He turned to Forel. “I ask it thee: answer!”

Forel felt magic impinging on him. He tried to resist, but could not. His mouth opened, and he spewed out all that he knew of this event.

The Adept sighed. “It be as I feared. I sponsored this aspect not, but the seeming failure to recover the lad for so long vitiated mine authority, and the others acceded to Purple’s urgings and used the ploy o’ threatening the mare. Now has that ploy borne its bitter fruit by alienating the rovot and setting us back. At least have I salvaged this bit o’ it.” The magic compulsion eased, and Forel was able to control his speech again.