Free Faun and Games by Piers Anthony Page A

afternoon
    then.   The second morning started when you got off the dragon ass.
    That's a strange creature; I have no entry into its I ch is funny,
    because she used to be an ormind, or Ch orine's.   Whi dinary girl,
    rather plain and ill tempered, actually, with dreams as foolish as
    anyone's.   Now, suddenly, she is phenomenally lovely and intelligent and
    nice, and lives in the Nameless Castle with that dragon, and her- mind
    is completely opaque.   It's as if she's a different person.
     
    "You mean Chlorine really does live in that castle'?   I thought she was
    just pretending."
     
    "She really does live there.   The castle sits on a cloud that floats
    across Xanth, so no one can see that it supports the castle.   She lives
    like a princess, and that dragon assumes the form of a prince, and what
    they do at night, on those air mattresses that the floating castle has,
    is beyond any dream I could bring."
     
    "Do you mean, like fauns and nymphs?"
     
    She made an equine snort.   "Like fauns and nymphs in much the way Castle
    Roogna is like a wood cutter's hut.   I'm surprised that there hasn't
    been a flight of storks so big as to darken the sky.   They are surely in
    love.   I wish I had been watching when they changed; I'm femalishly
    curious about what happened.   They must have stumbled on fantastic
    magic.   The oddest thing is that they don't make anything much of it.
    That is, they just trundle around Xanth as a damsel and dragon, doing
    favors for folk, asking nothing in return.   It is very strange."
     
    "Yes.   I thought so too.   But how could they have made my afternoon
    become morning?"
     
    "That would require good illusion, or very good magic.   Maybe they have
    a sprig of thyme.   At any rate, it does seem to have happened: they gave
    you more day to do your business.   And more day again, when you left the
    Good Magician's castle.   Because the Good Magician would hardly bother
    to waste such magic so irrelevantly."
     
    "Well, whatever the reason, I appreciate it.   It does help me save time,
    so that maybe I can return to my tree within the month."
     
    By evening they were approaching Castle Roogna.   Forrest paused to brush
    out his hair and make himself presentable.   After all, this was the
    royal human castle, and it deserved some respect.
     
    When he started walking toward it again, Imbri spoke.   "This time I
    caught it!   It's morning again."
     
    Startled, Forrest looked around.   She was right: the sun was at
    midmorning level.   He also felt fresh and vigorous, as if he had had a
    good night's rest.   "This is nice magic."
     
    "This is very strong magic," Imbri said.   "The rest of Xanth doesn't
    seem to be changing.   Just us.   We just seem to have more time, without
    losing what we have done.   It is as if we weren't supposed to notice the
    favor."
     
    "Well, if it's from the damsel and dragon., I will thank them when I see
    them again.   But now I need to find Ptero."
     
    "I will guide you there.   Go in and ask to see Princess Ida."
     
    Forrest approached the castle.   The moat monster reared up
    threaten'ngly.
     
    This one I can take care of," Imbri said.   "Souffld, it's all right.
     
    This is Forrest Faun, and he is with me."
     
    The monster nodded, and sank back under the water.
     
    "I thought you said no one else could see you."
     
    "Only those I know well, and show myself to.   Souffld has been around a
    long time.   He baby-sits the royal triplets."
     
    "A moat monster takes care of children?"
     
    "There is no other place like Castle Roogna."
     
    So it seemed.   They walked on into the castle.
     
    Two girls, about six years old, ran up to them, colliding before they
    managed to stop.   They wore matching little crowns.   "Oh, goody!"
     
    the red haired one cried.   "Visitors from afar!   A faun from north of
    the Gap!
     
    "And a day mare," the dark one added.
     
    "Meet the children of Prince Dolph and Princess Electra,"