Roc And A Hard Place Read Online Free PDF

needed to get past this chain.  She didn't have anything against it, but it was in her way, and she had a mission to attend to.
    Could she go around it?  She looked to either side, but the chain extended as far as she could see.  That was because it went around the world three times.  Could she climb over it?
    Maybe so, but Eight Bits couldn't; Could she squeeze under it?  Again, she might, but the quarter horse would probably fragment with the effort.
    She shrugged.  She doubted that a chain belonged across the road anyway, whatever it might claim.  She also doubted that this was one of the Good Magician's challenges.  It was probably just routine mischief.  So she would break it.  She formed her little hands into big firm pincers and clamped them on half a link.  She concentrated her demon strength.
    The key was to use the magic of narrowness:  a really thin edge could cut through the most solid substance, if pushed hard enough.
    The letters on the links changed.  Now they said ooooowww!!  But she continued her pressure, until she crunched through her link.
    Then she went after the other half link.  It tried to wiggle away, but she cuffed it hard enough to stun it.  Cuff links.
    She remembered that advice from somewhere.  She set her pincers and started crunching.
    YOU'LL BE SORRY!  the letters spelled.  WHO BREAKS THE
    CHAIN IS DOOMED.  AAAAAAHH!!
    The half link snapped, and the chain fell apart.  The way was clear.
    “What's this?”
    Woe Betide jumped.  There was the cloud, with a horrendous head of hair on it.  “Nothing interesting,” she said.
    “What are you wearing?”
    “My Hell Toupee, of course.  I picked it up on one of my trips to—never mind.  I saw what you did:  you broke the chain.  You had better put on protective headgear too, before that chain gets organized to dump a century's worth of bad luck on you.”
    “What kind of toupee?” the child inquired, interested.
    The cloud did a hasty reconsideration.  “A Heck Toupee. That's what I said, I'm sure.”
    “Let's just get out of here,” Woe Betide said, knowing she had put Helen on the defensive.  As long as she remained in this child form, the other demoness was at a disadvantage.
    That was wonderful!
    She mounted Eight Bits and zoom!  they were off again.
    She glanced back and saw the chain writhing angrily, but it couldn't catch up with them.  She had broken the chain and gotten away with it.  That gave her demonly satisfaction.
    They passed a big fisin' plant by a river, surrounded by electrici trees.  The plant was busy hauling old-dim and nuclear fish from the river and using them to fertilize the trees.
    Some of the trees extended out across her route, so she slowed.  They hummed with power, and that made her a bit nervous; what were they up to?
    She saw a huge fat boxlike creature trundling along beneath the trees.  She sought to guide her mount past it, but it blocked her way.  “Child, you are too small to be riding a big horse like that,” it said from its monstrous peg-toothed mouth.  “You should go home.”
    “Why don't you go home?” Woe Betide asked boldly, because there was something about this creature she didn't much like.
    “Because I never follow my own advice.  I'm a hippocrate.  I tell others how to run their lives, but none of that applies to my own life.”
    That confirmed her dislike.  She wanted to get away from the creature, but it still balked her.  Then she saw a smaller animal hopping along.  It had long legs and was extremely furry.  She recognized it as a hare.  They were very popular with bald folk.  So she extended one arm infinitely long and grabbed it.  She plopped it on her head, so that it made her aspect entirely different.  In fact, it made her look like a hairy little troll.
    The hippocrate had been looking around.  Now it looked back at her, and did a double take.  “What happened to the innocent little girl I was lecturing?” it asked.
    “How