It was a lake, hardly on the scale of Ogre-Chobee but impressive enough, brimful with sparkling water.
'This must be an old volcano,' John said. 'I have flown over similar ones, though not this big. We must beware; water dragons like such lakes, especially if they are hot on the bottom.'
Smash grimaced. He didn't like water dragons, because they tended to be too much for an honest ogre to handle.
But he saw no sign of such a creature here. No droppings, no piles of bones, no discarded old scales or teeth.
'What are those?' Tandy inquired, pointing.
There were marks on the surface of the water. They were roughly circular indentations, with smaller indentations on one side of each large one. 'They look like prints,' the Siren said. 'As if some creature walked on the water. Is that possible?'
Smash put one foot on the water. It sank through. The ripples moved across the prints, erasing them.
'Not possible,' he decided.
Still, they decided to stay clear of the water until they knew more about it. Seemingly minor mysteries could be hazardous to their health in Xanth. They walked around the west side of the lake, following one of those suspiciously convenient paths because there was no other route between the deep water and the climike outer face of the mountain.
But as they bore north, following the curve of the cone, they encountered an outcropping of spongy rock. 'Magma,' Smash conjectured, forcing another subterranean memory to the surface, slightly heated.
'I don't care who it is, it's in our way,' Tandy complained. Indeed, the rock blotted out the path, forcing them to attempt a hazardous scramble.
'I shall remove it,' Smash decided. He readied his hamfist and pounded one good pound on the magma.
The rock responded with a deafening reverberation. They all clapped their hands over their ears while the mountain shook and the lake made waves. Finally the awful noise died away. 'That magma comes loud!' the Siren said. 'Magma cum laude,' the ogre agreed, not hearing well yet.
'It sure is some sound,' Tandy said, looking dizzy. The fairy agreed.
They decided they didn't like the sound of it, and would try the other side of the lake, where the way might be quieter. As they walked the path back, an awful moan slid across the water. 'What is that?'
Tandy demanded anxiously.
'The wailing of whatever made the prints,' the Siren conjectured.
'Oh. So these are the prints of wails.'
'Close enough.' The Siren grimaced. 'I hope we don't meet the wail, though. I've had some experience with music on water, and this makes me nervous.'
'Yes, you ought to know,' Tandy agreed. 'My father said you could bring any man to you from afar, if he heard you.'
'Yes, when I had my magic,' she said sadly. 'Those days are gone, and perhaps it is just as well, but I do get lonely.'
They approached the east side of the lake. But here they encountered more trouble. An ugly head lifted on a serpentine neck. It was not exactly a dragon's head, and not exactly a sea monster's head, but it had affinities with both. It was not large as monster heads went, but it hissed viciously enough.
Smash was tired of being balked. He did not mess with this minor monster; he reached out with one hand and caught the neck between gauntleted thumb and forefinger.
Immediately another head appeared, similar to the first and just as aggressive. Smash caught this one in his other glove.
Then a third came. This was getting awkward! Had he stumbled onto a whole nest of serpents? Hastily Smash smashed the first two heads together, crushing both, and reached for the third.
'They all connect!' the Siren exclaimed. 'It's a many-headed serpent!'
Indeed it was! Four more heads rose up, making seven in all. Smash crushed two more, but had to move quickly to prevent the remaining three from burying their fangs in his limbs. He rose to the need, however, by catching one under his feet and the last two in his hands. In a moment all had been crushed, and he relaxed.
'Smash, look out!' Tandy cried. 'More heads!'
Apparently a couple of the ones he had dealt with had not been completely destroyed, and had revived.
This was unusual; things seldom recovered from the impact of ogre force. He grabbed these-and
discovered they sprouted from the same neck. Their junction formed a neat Y. He was sure he hadn't encountered this configuration before.
'More heads!' Tandy screamed.
'Now there were six more, in three pairs. New heads were growing from the old ones!
'It's a hydra!' the Siren cried. 'Each lost head generates two more! You can never get ahead of it!'
'I've got too many heads of it!' Smash muttered, stepping back. The hydra was generating a small forest of hissing heads, each lunging and snapping at anything in range. Two were squaring off at each other.
'You can't kill a hydra,' the Siren continued. 'Its essence is immortal. It draws its strength from the water.'
'Then I shall remove the water,' Smash said. 'It will be easy to bash a hole in this rim and let the lake out.'
'Oh, please don't do that!' the Siren protested. 'I'm a creature of water, and I hate to see it mistreated.
You would ruin a perfectly lovely lake, and drown many innocent creatures below, and kill many innocent lake denizens. There is an entire ecology in any such body-'
Was the mermaid becoming the conscience of the group? Smash hesitated.
'That's true,' John admitted. 'Pretty lakes should be left alone. Most of them have much more good than evil in them.'
Smash looked at Tandy. 'I agree,' she said. 'We don't want to harm others, and this water is nice.'
The ogre shrugged. He didn't want trouble with his friends. As he thought about it, with his amplified Eye Queue intelligence-which remained a nuisance-he realized they were right. Wanton destruction could only beget a deterioration of the environment of Xanth, and that would, in the long run, damage the prospects of ogres. 'No harm to others,' he agreed gruffly. If any other ogres ever heard of this, he would be in trouble! Imagine not destroying something!
'Oh, I could kiss you,' Tandy said. 'But I can't reach you.'
Smash chuckled. 'Good thing. Now we'll have to swim across the lake. Do all of you know how to swim?'
'Oh, I couldn't swim,' John said. 'My wings would break.'
'Maybe you can fly now,' the Siren suggested.
'Maybe.' The fairy tried, buzzing her pretty wings, making the flower-pattern blossoms again. She seemed to lighten as the downdraft of air dusted dirt out from the ridge, but she did not quite take off.
Then she jumped. A gust of wind passed at that moment, carrying her out over the rim. She agitated her wings furiously, but could not sustain elevation and began to fall.
Smash reached out and caught her before she crashed into the rocky slope. She screamed, then realized he was helping her, not attacking her. He set her carefully back on the ledge, where she stood panting prettily and quivering with reaction.
'Not yet, it seems,' the Siren said. 'But you might sit on Smash's back while he swims.'
'I suppose,' the fairy agreed faintly. Her little bare bosom was heaving. It occurred to Smash that the loss of the ability to fly might be quite disturbing to a creature whose natural mode of travel was flight.
He might react similarly if he lost his ogre strength.
They entered the water. Tandy could swim well enough, and, of course, the Siren converted to mermaid form and was completely at home. John perched nervously on Smash's head and was so light he hardly felt her weight. He began stroking across the lake, careful not to splash enough to cause trouble, despite his pleasure in splashing. Some sacrifices were necessary when one traveled in company.
The Siren led the way, easily outdistancing the others. That creature certainly could swim; she was in her element.
Then something loomed from the north. It was huge and dark, like a low-flying thundercloud, scooting across the water. Simultaneously the awful wailing came again, and now Smash realized it came from the cloud-thing.
