xanth 40 - isis orb Read Free Page B

that was the way of it.
    In the morning they took turns washing up in the pond. Then Hapless remembered something. “Are you seeing double today?”
    “I am,” Eli agreed. “It’s awkward, but I’m used to it.”
    “You see two of me?”
    “Yes. You’re like twins.”
    Then Hapless got an idea. “Try the glasses!”
    Surprised, Eli fished them out of his pocket. He put them on. “Well, I’ll be darned and hemmed! They work!”
    “They do?”
    “Now I’m seeing single. These are just what I need for Two’s Day.”
    “Make that three misses,” Cylla said. “That is, three times they weren’t the wrong thing. The only time the thing was wrong was the lipstick.” She paused, considering. “And if a man tried to get fresh with me, that lipstick might be just what I needed to turn him off. So I’m not sure the things have ever been wrong.”
    “Maybe I misunderstood,” Hapless said. “I assumed that thinking outside the box meant that what was in it was wrong. Maybe what’s in it is right, but it’s still better to think for myself.”
    Cylla nodded. “That could be. The Good Magician is usually cryptic.”
    “These glasses certainly work for me,” Eli said. “I wonder if on other days the box will have other things to counter my curses?” But he reconsidered immediately. “But then it might cancel the glasses. I’d better wait until tomorrow to try it again.”
    They had a breakfast of apple pie with cream from a rare creamweed. Then they set off together.
    Soon Cylla slowed. “I’m not used to so much walking,” she confessed. “Maybe you two should go on ahead without me.”
    “Now that would not be nice,” Eli said. He looked around. “Is that a wagon?”
    Hapless saw it: an old blue wagon, the kind that children used.
    “What use is a wagon?” Cylla demanded. “Someone would have to pull it.”
    “Precisely,” Eli said. “Get in, the two of you.”
    Perplexed, they did so. Cylla sat in front, her knees raised, and Hapless sat behind, his legs on either side of her. It was a tight fit, but actually rather pleasant for him, having her so close and snug.
    “Ready?” Eli asked, taking the long handle. Hapless realized that the man could see under Cylla’s skirt from that angle. Then he remembered that he was immune to panties.
    “Ready,” Cylla said a bit grimly. Was she annoyed that her panties might be visible, or that they had no effect?
    Eli turned and pulled, and suddenly they were fairly zooming along the path. Then Hapless remembered: Eli was twice as efficient today. They were moving at twice the rate they would have on their own, and Cylla wasn’t getting tired.
    “He’s a real help,” Hapless murmured.
    “I still don’t like him,” Cylla murmured back. “There’s something about him that turns me off.”
    “Maybe that you can’t freak him out by flashing.”
    “Maybe.”
    They made good progress, thanks to the doubled speed, and by noon came to a camping site they would normally have reached by dusk. So they paused only briefly, and went on to the next, accomplishing two days travel in one.
    “You really helped,” Hapless told Eli.
    “Glad to. But tomorrow will be different.”
    “Tomorrow we’ll reach the Good Magician’s Castle, so it won’t matter.”
    They made a little campfire so they could have a hot meal.
    They took turns again washing up, first Cylla, then the two men. There was a problem when she returned to the shelter: she had forgotten to put her clothing back on. “Uh, Cylla-” Hapless said, half stunned.
    She glanced down at herself as if just now realizing. “Oh. I washed my clothing. It’s not dry yet. I’ll hang it up by the fire.”
    “Put something else on meanwhile,” Hapless said.
    She walked to a bush and harvested a small sheet. She wrapped it around her torso. “How’s that?”
    “That’s fine. It’s a good thing you didn’t have your panties on, because …” He shrugged. Even without the panties, she had had