xanth 40 - isis orb Read Online Free PDF Page B

Good Magician was not known as a person who liked to waste his own time. He had told Hapless to think outside the box, and even given him the box, not that it was doing him any good here. But the box wasn’t supposed to help him; he was supposed to think outside it. Did that mean he should reject this entire situation?
    The glow finally brightened into a flash. He had it. He hoped.
    “Yes, Void, I am sure,” he called.
    Void gestured. Then Hapless was standing back in the hall, facing the brothers and their doors. Now he knew that it didn’t matter which door he chose; it was all part of the same box.
    “Thank you, both,” he said shortly. Then he turned and walked back the way he had come.
    There was Smart Alec, the wise-ass donkey. “What, you’re giving up?” the animal asked cynically. “I knew you didn’t have the gumption.”
    “Not exactly.”
    “Oh? Then what, exactly?”
    “I am departing the box.”
    “Isn’t that the same thing?”
    “No.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Of course you don’t. You’re part of the box.” Hapless walked back to the service nook, and reentered the alley cat’s bowling alley.
    The cats were surprised. They paused in their game. “What are you doing here?” one asked.
    “Stepping out of the box.”
    “The box?”
    “Give me that ball.” Hapless took it from him, turned, and rolled it down the alley. It was another perfect gutter ball. “This is not my game.” He walked on, leaving the cats perplexed.
    Now he was back in the forest surrounding the castle. He paused to take out the box. He opened it. It remained empty. He held it up like a magic mike and spoke into it. “Good Magician: are you there in the box?”
    “Never,” Humfrey’s grumpy voice replied. “But I can hear you through it.”
    “Well, neither am I in it. I’m done with this foolishness. This entire setup is a box, and I’m through with it. I am no longer playing by other folks’ rules. I am following my own rules. If you want me for your Quest, come and get me. I’ll tackle that Quest my way, or not at all. Otherwise I’m going home.”
    There was a pause. Was the Good Magician going to let him go?
    “Then come on in,” Humfrey’s voice came. The illusion lifted like dissipating mist, and the path to the drawbridge lay before him.
    “Thank you.” So he had won. He had bluffed out the Magician. He was relieved, because he had really gotten curious about the Quest.
    Hapless marched along the path, to the drawbridge, and across it. The castle portcullis was lifted, and he walked on in.
    A woman was there. “Welcome, Hapless,” she said. “I am Wira, the Good Magician’s daughter in law, and this is my daughter Liz.” She indicated a three year old child.
    “Hello,” Hapless said. He wasn’t good with children.
    “Do you like lizards?” Liz asked brightly.
    “I can take them or leave them,” Hapless said.
    “My talent is to summon and tame them.” Indeed, she had a lizard on her shoulder.
    “It’s a good talent. I can summon musical instruments, but I can’t play them.”
    “That must be very sad.”
    “It is. It’s part of why I’m here.”
    “This way, please,” Wira said, and led them on into the castle.
    They came to an inner chamber where a severe looking older woman stood. “Uh, hello,” Hapless said awkwardly.
    “Mother Sofia, this is Hapless,” Wira said. “Hapless, this is Sofia Socksortor, Designated Wife of the Month. She’s Mundane.”
    “I keep himself’s socks in order,” Sofia said. “That’s why he married me.”
    “That is surely a worthy chore,” Hapless agreed. He had heard of the Good Magician’s notorious socks.
    “Let me say, we admire your decision,” Sofia said.
    “To take a Quest?”
    “To think outside the box. Hardly anyone does that today.”
    “They sure don’t,” Liz said brightly. “I’m going to grow up outside the box.”
    Oh. “Thank you.” Hapless still felt awkward.
    “Last week there was someone