Free Roc And A Hard Place by Piers Anthony Page A

did earn it,” he re-plied.  “In your slightly crazy way.”
    “I will re-frain from further demands,” Mentia said, and gave the body back to Metria.  She had been teasing him, but his magic had more than nullified her effort, and she needed to re-cover.
    Grey turned back to Re.  “What happened to you?”
    “I was trying to re-build my house, and I paused to reflect,” she re-lated.  “Something distracted me, and I accidentally re-pealed myself.  The last thing I was able to do was re-lease a plea to the Good Magician to help me; I wasn't sure he would re-ceive it, but it was too late to revise it.  Then you came and re-pulsed my own magic that remained re-pressing me, and re-juvenated me.  Thank you so much, from the re-cesses of my heart!  Normally I am more re-served, but—”
    “Well, you know you will have to give the Good Magician a year's service before this is re-solved,” Grey reminded her.  “He sent me to re-animate you.”
    “Yes, I am re-conciled to that,” she said.  “But I feel revitalized, and I really do re-spect the Good Magician.”
    “There is a magic path near here that will lead you safely to his re-constructed castle,” Grey said.
    “Thank you.” Re organized herself and set off down the path.  She had a long way to go, but her re-cent experience evidently gave her courage.
    Grey turned to Metria.  “Now I can go to the Nameless Castle.  Where is-it?”
    “In the sky.  Can you enlist the help of a roc bird to carry you there?  You're too heavy for me to carry, much as I'd like to try.”
    “Yes, there is a roc who owes Humfrey,” he said.  He paused.  “You know, you—or your worser half—have been so helpful that I no longer re-sent your presence.  Your acquisition of a soul does seem to have made you a better creature.”
    Metria found herself blushing, something she never used to do in the old days.  “Thank you.  But I'm just trying to complete my own service to the Good Magician so I can reproduce.”
    “Oh?” I thought demonesses could do that when they chose to.”
    “Yes.  But apparently it's much harder the second time. So now I need help to get the stork's re-vision.”
    He didn't challenge her miscue.  “You summoned the stork before?”
    “Yes, about four hundred and forty years ago, give or take a couple, but who's counting?  It was a bad business, I now realize.”
    “There is surely an interesting story there,” he said.  “But I'd better call that roc.”
    “Bye,” she agreed, and popped off.
    She arrived at Castle Roogna. There at the two prominent corners of the roof were Gary Gar and Gayle Goyle, spouting water into the moat.  It wasn't raining, so Metria wasn't certain where the water was coming from, but it was a nice effect.  The moat looked quite clean, which wasn't surprising, because the gargoyles' job was to purify the water they spouted.
    'I'll handle this,' Mentia said.  'I know them.' She moved up to take over the body, then addressed the two winged monsters.  “Hello, you ugly brutes!  Remember me?”
    Both gargoyles swallowed their water so they could talk.
    “Demoness Mentia!” Gary cried.  “We haven't seen you in a year.”
    “True.  I've been with my better half, trying to figure out what her strange new life is all about.  But now I have two summonses for you.  You are to be Jurors at the trial of Roxanne Roc.”
    “Who?” Gayle asked.
    “A big bird who is hatching something for the Simurgh.”
    “All right,” Gary said.  “We'll be there.”
    Mentia tossed a token up to each of them.  They caught them in their mouths.  Two more served.
    She went on inside the castle, returning the body to her better self.  Princess Ida came to meet her.  “How nice to see you, Metria,” she said, in very much the way Rapunzel had.
    But Ida never said anything she didn't believe, because she believed what she said.
    Then Metria stared.  There was something floating past the Princess' head.