Piers Anthony - The Source of Magic

"I think the vortex is ahead," Chester said. "Hang on-I'm going in!"

He leaped-directly at a blank wooden panel. The wood shattered under the impact of his forehooves, and the two of them crashed directly into the vortex.

Bink's last thought as the awful swirl engulfed him, hauling him brutally around and around and down and down, providing one terrifying glimpse of its dark center shaft, was: what would happen to the curse that followed them? Then he spiraled into oblivion.

Chapter 10

Precious Nymph

Bink woke naked and battered, but not cold. He lay strewn on the edge of a warm, glowing lake. Hastily he dragged his feet out of the water, fearful of predators.

He heard a groan. A little farther along lay the centaur, limbs projecting in six directions. It had been an extremely violent descent; had they not had that water-breathing magic, they would surely have drowned. Bink scrambled to his feet and lumbered toward his friend "Chester! Are you-"

He paused. Midway between them he spied the sparkle of a star or jewel. Foolishly he paused to pick it up; he had no use for such a bauble. But it turned out to be only a shard of glass.

Chester groaned again, and lifted his head. Takes more than a mere vortex to put away a centaur," he said. "But maybe not much more…"

Bink completed the distance between them, and tried to help his friend rise. "Hey, are you trying to cut me?" Chester demanded.

"Oops, sorry. I picked up this fragment of-" Bink paused again, looking at it "There's something in it! That is-"

Chester got to his feet. "Let me see that." He reached down to take the fragment His eyes rounded in surprise. "That's Humfrey!"

"What?" Bink thought he had misheard.

"It's hard to see in this dim glow, but it's him, all light. This must be a piece of the magic mirror, thrown ashore by coincidence. What happened to the Good Magician?"

"I lost the bottle!" Bink exclaimed with horror. "It was in my pocket-" His hand slapped his flesh where his pocket had been.

"He had the mirror with him. How did even one fragment of it get out of the bottle, unless-"

"Unless the bottle was smashed," Bink finished. "In which case-"

"In which case they were released. But where-and in what condition? They didn't have the water-breathing pills."

"If they got out just when that curse caught up-"

Chester looked closely at the fragment of glass. "Humfrey seems to be well-and I see the griffin behind him. I think they're still inside the bottle, though."

Bink looked. "They are! I see the curving glass walls, and the upholstery. It has been shaken up some, but the bottle never broke." He was relieved. A broken bottle might well have meant the end of his friends. "And they have another fragment of glass!" He raised his hand in a wave. "Hi, folks!"

Silently, Humfrey waved back. "He sees us in his fragment!" Chester exclaimed. "But that's impossible, because the broken mirror is out here."

"Anything is possible, with magic," Bink said. It was a cliché, a truism, but right now he had his doubts.

"Look at the shambles in there," Chester said. "That bottle must have been bounced against a wall."

"And the mirror broke, and a piece of it flew out here," Bink said uncertainly. "Right where we could find it. That's quite a coincidence, even if we can believe the possibility."

"What else can we believe?" Chester demanded.

Bink could not argue. His talent operated through seeming coincidence; it must have had a part in this. But wouldn't it have been easier to have the Magician's bottle itself float to shore here, instead of one piece of glass? "We can see them, but not hear them. Maybe if we print a message-" But they had nothing to do that with.

"If we can find the bottle, we can let them out," Chester pointed out He seemed to be feeling better, physically.

"Yes." Bink held the fragment close to his face and mouthed elaborately "Where are you?"

Humfrey spread his hands. He pointed to the bottle wall Outside it, turbulent water swirled, its phosphorescence making streaky line-patterns. The bottle was somewhere in a river, being carried along by the current-where?

"I guess that mirror isn't much use," Chester said. "Crombie could locate us-but can't get to us. We might get to the bottle-but can't find it."

"We'll have to follow the river down," Bink said. "It must start at the vortex pool here in this lake, and dribble on to wherever it goes. Yet if we follow it-"

"We delay our quest for the source of magic," Chester finished.

That made Bink pause. "The quest will have to wait," he decided. "We have to save our friends."

"I suppose so," the centaur agreed. "Even that arrogant griffin"

"Do you really dislike Crombie?"

"Well…he's a scrapper, like me. Can't blame him for that, I suppose. But I'd like to try his strength, once, just for the record."

Male competition. Well, Bink understood that, for he experienced it himself at times.

But there were more important matters now. "I'm thirsty," Bink said. He walked back to the lake shore.

"Have you noticed," Chester remarked, "that there is no life in this lake? No fish, no monsters, no plants, no beach creatures…"

"No life," Bink repeated. "But we're all right, so-"

"We haven't drunk from it yet. Or if we did, it was from the fresh water of the vortex, when we were on the pill."

"That's true," Bink said uncomfortably.

"I wonder whether the cork loosened in Humfrey's bottle, and he got a sample of this water, and hauled the cork back in place right after the mirror broke."

"Could be," Bink agreed. "We'd best not gamble. Well need food soon, too. We'd better check around. We can't rescue the Magician if we don't take care of ourselves."

"Right," Chester agreed. "And the first thing to do is-"

"Is to find my clothes," Bink finished.

They were farther along the shore, complete with Bink's sword, as luck would have it. But as luck would also have it, the bottle was not with them. Chester had retained his weapons and rope, so was in good shape.

They moved on through the cavern passages, leaving the suspicious river behind, their eyes acclimatizing to the dimming subterranean reaches. Bink hoped they would not encounter nickelpedes here, but was careful not to voice this wish. No sense alarming Chester. They tried to mark their way by scratching X's in the floor every so often, but Bink wasn't sure how effective this would be. Time passed, and the way was interminable-especially since they did not know where they were going.

Bink's thirst had been casual, at first, but now that he knew there was no water it became more pressing. How long could they go on, before-?

Abruptly they saw light-real light, not the mere passage glow. They hurried cautiously up to it-and discovered a magic lantern suspended from a jag of stone. Its soft effulgence was a welcome sight-but there was nothing else.

"People-or goblins?" Bink asked, nervous and hopeful.

Chester took it down and studied it. "Looks like fairy-work to me," he said. "Goblins don't really need light, and in any event this is too delicately wrought."

"Even fairies aren't necessarily friendly," Bink said, "Still, it seems a better risk than starving here alone."

They took the lamp and went on with slightly improved prospects. But nothing further developed. Apparently someone or something had lit a lamp, left it, and departed. Strange. Weary, dirty, hungry, and unpleasantly thirsty, they paused at last on a boulder. "We have to find food, or at least water," Bink said, trying to make it seem casual. "There doesn't seem to be any on this main passage, but-" He paused, listening. "Is that-?"

Chester cocked his head. "Yes, I think it is. Water dripping. You know, I haven't wanted to say anything, but my tongue has been drying up in my mouth. If we could-"