You would be undermining the very thing you seek.'
'Oh, phooey!' Tandy exclaimed. 'You're right, centaur, I know you're right, centaurs are always right-but oh, it hurts!' A couple of hot raindrops fell on Smash's nose, burning him with an acid other than physical. She was crying, and he found that even more confusing than the kiss. 'Ever since he rescued me from the gourd and got me back my soul-'
'I'm not denying he's a good creature,' Chem said. 'I'm just saying, realistically-'
Tandy turned ferociously on Smash. 'You monster! Why couldn't you have been a man?'
'Because I'm an ogre,' he said.
She wrenched one arm clear of him and made as if to strike his face. But her hand did not touch him.
The Void spun about him, dimming. Smash realized she had hit him with another tantrum. That,
ironically, was more like ogre love. Why couldn't she have been an ogress?
An ogress. Now, his mind shaken by the double whammy of kiss and tantrum. Smash floated, half
conscious, and realized what he had been missing. An ogress! He, like every member of his party, could not exist alone. He needed a mate. That was what had brought bun to Good Magician Humfrey's castle.
That had been his unasked Question. How could he find his ideal mate? Humfrey had known.
And of course there would be ogresses at the Ogre-fen-Ogre Fen. That was why the Good Magician had sent him to seek the Ancestral Ogres. He would be able to select one who was right for him, knock her about in ogre fashion, and live in brutal happiness ever after, exactly as his parents had. It all did make sense.
He drifted slowly to earth as the horrendous impact of the tantrum eased. 'Now I understand-' he began.
'I warned you, oaf,' Tandy said. She leaned over and plastered another big kiss on him.
Smash was so dazed that he almost grasped the nature of the kiss, this time. Perhaps it was the effect of the Void, making things seem other than they were. It was as if she were punching him in the snoot-and with that perception she became much more alluring.
Then she broke, and the odd perspective ended. She became a girl again, all soft and pretty and nice and wholly inappropriate for romance. It was too bad.
'Oh, what's the use,' Tandy said. 'I'm a fool and I know it. Come on, people; we have to get out of this place.'
'That may not be readily accomplished,' Chem said. 'We can travel in deeper, or edge sideways, but we can't back out. I'm sure it's like a whirlpool, drawing us ever inward. What we shall find in the center, I hesitate to conjecture.'
'Oblivion,' Tandy said tightly. She, too, had caught on.
'A maw,' Smash said, climbing unsteadily to his feet.
'This land is carnivorous. It gives us respite only because it doesn't need to consume us instantly. It has herds of grazing creatures to eat first. When it gets hungry, it will take us.'
'I fear that is so,' the centaur agreed. 'Yet there must be some way for smart or creative people to escape it. There is so much illusion here, maybe we could fool it.'
'So far, ifs been fooling us, not we it,' Tandy said. 'Unless we can wish away that wall-'
But Smash's Eye Queue had been cogitating on this problem, and now it regurgitated a notion-the one he had flirted with before. 'If we could escape into another world, one with different rules-'
'Such as what?' Chem asked, interested. 'Have you got something on your hairy mind?'
'The hypnogourd.'
'I don't like the gourd!' Tandy said instantly.
'And the fact is, even if we all entered the gourd, our bodies would remain right here,' the centaur pointed out. 'The gourd is a trap itself-but if we did get out of it, we'd still be in the Void. A trap within a trap.'
'But the nightmares can go anywhere,' Smash said. 'Even to Mundania-and back.'
'That's true,' Tandy agreed. 'They can go right through walls, and I think some can run on water. So I suppose they could run through the Void, and out again. They're not ordinary mares. But they're very hard to catch and hard to ride, and the cost-' She smiled ruefully. 'I happen to know.'
'They would help us if the Night Stallion told them to,' Smash said.
'Oh, I forgot!' Tandy exclaimed. 'You still have to fight the Night Stallion! You sacrificed your soul for me-' She clouded up. 'Oh, Smash, I owe you so much!'
The centaur nodded thoughtfully. 'Smash placed his soul in jeopardy for you, Tandy. I can appreciate how that would affect you. But I'm not sure you interpret your debt correctly.'
'I was locked into that horror, deprived of my soul!' Tandy said. 'I had no hope at all. The lights had gone out on my horizon. Then he came and fought the bones and smashed things about and brought out my soul, and I lived again. I owe my everything to him. I should give back my soul-'
'No!' Smash cried, knowing that she could endure no worse horror than the loss of her soul again. 'I promised to protect you, and I should have protected you from the gourd, instead of splashing in the lake. I'll fight this through myself.'
Chem shook her head. 'I do see the problem-for each of you. I wish I perceived the answers as clearly.'
'I have to meet the Stallion anyway,' Smash said. 'So when I have conquered him, I'll ask him for some mares.'
'That's so crazy it just might work!' Chem said. 'But there's one detail you may have overlooked. We have no hypnogourds here.'
'We'll use your map again,' he said.
The centaur considered. 'I must admit it worked for your Eye Queue replacement vine, and our situation is desperate enough so that anything's worth trying. But-'
'Replacement?' Tandy demanded.
'Chem will explain it to you while I'm in the gourd,' Smash said. 'Right now, let's use the map to locate a gourd patch.'
The centaur projected her map and settled on a likely place for gourds while Tandy watched skeptically.
Then the party went there, though the way took them deeper into the Void.
And there they were-several nice fat hypnogourds with ripe peepholes. Smash settled himself by the largest. 'You girls get some rest,' he advised. 'This may take a while. Remember, I have to locate the Stallion first, then fight him, then round up the mares.'
Tandy grabbed his hamhand in her two delicate little hands. 'Oh, Smash-I wish I could help you, but I'm terrified to go into a gourd-'
'Don't go in a gourd!' Smash exclaimed. 'Just stay close so you don't get walled off from me and can't bring me out in an emergency,' he said gruffly.
'I will! I will!' Tandy's eyes were tear-bright. 'Oh, Smash, are you strong enough? I shouldn't have hit you with that tantrum-'
'I like your tantrums. You just rest, and wait for the nightmares, by whatever route they come.'
'I know I'll see nightmares,' she said wanly.
Smash glanced at Chem. 'Keep an eye on her,' he said, disengaging his hand from Tandy's.
'I will,' the centaur agreed.
Then Smash put his eye to the peephole.
Chapter 13. Souls Alive
He found himself emerging from the cakewalk onto a vast empty stage. He landed gently. There was no vomit. There was a new scene.
The floor was metal-hard and highly polished; his feet left smudge marks where they touched. The air was half lit by a glow that seemed inherent. There was nothing else.
Smash peered about. It occurred to him that if the Night Stallion were here, he could spend a long time looking, as this place seemed infinitely extensive. He had to narrow its compass, somehow.
Well, he knew how to do that. He started tromping, unreeling his string behind him. He would crisscross this region for as long and as far as it took him.
Smash advanced. The string became a long line, disappearing in the distance behind. It divided the plain into two sections.
