on the ground, disheveled, shaken, but intact. 'So-go,' Smash said, catching other questing tentacles to clear her escape.
The girl scooted out. She might be small and ignorant, but she didn't freeze long in a crisis! Now Smash retreated cautiously, glaring at hovering tentacles to discourage renewed attack. But the tree had had enough; the ogre had defeated it. There was no further aggression.
Smash stepped out, privately surprised. How was it he had been able to foil a tangler this size? He concentrated, with effort, and managed to come to a conclusion; he had grown since the last time he had tangled with a tangler. Before, he would not have been strong enough to handle it; now, with his larger mass and the gauntlets, he had the advantage. His self-image had not kept pace with his physical condition. He knew his father Crunch could have handled this tree; he, Smash, was now as powerful as that.
Tandy was waiting for him down the path. She was sadly bedraggled, her dress in tatters, and bruises on her body, but her spirit remained spunky. 'I guess I have to apologize to you. Smash,' she said. 'I thought-never mind what I thought. You risked your life to save me from my folly. I was being childish; you were mature.'
'Sure-mature,' Smash agreed, uncertain what she was getting at. People did not apologize to ogres, so he had no basis for comprehension.
'Well, next time you tell me 'no go,' I'll pay better attention,' she concluded.
He shrugged amenably. That would make things easier.
The day was getting on, and they were tired. Battling tangle trees tended to have that effect. Smash -
located a muffin bush with a number of fresh ripe muffins, and used his finger to punch a hole in a lime-soda tree so they could drink. Then he found a deserted harpy nest in a tree, long since weathered out, so that the filth and smell were gone. He harvested a blanket from a blanket bush and used it to line the nest. This was for Tandy to sleep in. It took her some time to catch on, but as darkness loomed across the land in the grim way it had in the wilderness, and the nocturnal noises began, she was glad enough to clamber to it scad curl up in it. He noted that she was good at climbing, though she hardly seemed to know what a tree was. He settled down below, on guard.
Tandy did not sleep immediately. Curled in her nest, she talked. Apparently this was a human trait. 'You know, Smash, I've never been out on the surface of Xanth on foot before. I was raised in the caverns, and then I rode a nightmare to the Good Magician's castle. That was an accident;
I really wanted to go to Castle Roogna to see my father, Crombie. But dawn came too soon, and I was out of sleeping pills, and-well, I sort of had to ask a Question so as to have a nice place to stay until I figured out what to do. I spent a whole year working inside the castle; I never even set foot beyond the moat, because I was afraid a certain party would be lurking for me. So it's not surprising I don't know about things like rolling hills and tangle trees.'
That explained a lot. Smash realized he would have to watch her more closely, to be sure she did not walk into a lethal trap. The Magician's rationale for having her travel with him was making more sense.
She certainly could not safely travel alone.
'I'm sorry I distrusted you. Smash,' she continued in her talkative way. 'You see, I was raised near demons, and in some ways you resemble a demon. Big and strong and dusky. I was prejudiced.'
Smash grunted noncommittally. He had not met many demons, but doubted they could powder rock in the manner of ogres.
'I certainly have a lot to learn, don't I?' she continued ruefully. 'I thought trees were sweet plants and ogres were bad brutes, and now I know they aren't.'
Oops. 'Ogre. No-grrr!' Smash exclaimed emphatically.
Tandy was quick to catch on; she had the ready intelligence of her kind. 'You mean I shouldn't trust all ogres? That they really do gobble people?'
'Ogres prone to crunch bone,' Smash agreed.
'But you didn't-I- mean-' she grew doubtful.
'Smash work hard, girl to guard.'
'Oh, you mean because the Good Magician charged you with my protection,' she said, relieved. 'Your service for your Answer. So ogres do gobble people and crunch bones, but they also honor their obligations.'
Smash didn't follow all of the vocabulary, but it sounded about right, so he grunted assent.
'Very well. Smash,' she concluded. 'I'll trust you, but will be wary of all other ogres. And all other things of Xanth, too, especially if they seem too nice to be true.'
That was indeed best. They lapsed into sleep.
No one bothered them in the night. After all, the nightmares had to be wary of Tandy, after she had ridden one of them, and he wasn't sure whether the mares knew how to climb trees. As for himself-it was always the best policy to let a sleeping ogre lie.
They breakfasted on sugar sand and cocoa-nut milk. Tandy had never before- drunk cocoa and was intrigued by the novelty. She was also amazed by the way Smash literally shoveled the sugar into his mouth, hardly pausing to chew, and crunched up whole cocoa-nuts, husks and all. 'You really are a monster,' she said, half admiringly, and Smash grunted agreement, pleased.
Then they resumed their trek south, encountering only routine creatures. A toady was hopping north, looking for some important person to advise; when told that Castle Roogna was many days of hopping distant, it contorted its broad and warty mouth into a scowl. 'I hope I don't croak before I get there,' it said, and moved on. Croaking, it seemed, was bad form for toadies.
Then there was the quack, with a wide bill and webbed feet and a bag of special magic medicines. He skin, the kind that was made to be tormented by thorns.
There were neatly cleared paths through the brambles that Tandy was inclined to use, but Smash cautioned her against this. 'Lion, ant, between plant.'
Her small brow wrinkled. 'I don't see anything.'
Then an ant-lion appeared. It had the head of a lion and the body of an ant, and massed about as much as the girl did; it was, of course, ten times as ferocious as anything a nice girl could imagine. It roared when it spied her, striding forward aggressively.
Smash roared back. The ant-lion hastily reversed course; it had been so distracted by the luscious prey that it had not before seen the unluscious guardian. But Smash knew that soon many more would arrive and would swarm over the intruders. This was no safe place, even for the likes of himself.
'Now I understand,' Tandy said, turning pale. 'Smash, let's get out of here!'
But already there were rustlings behind them. The antlions had surrounded them. There would be no easy escape.
'Me know path, avoid ant wrath,' Smash said, looking upward. How fortunate that he had been raised in this vicinity, so that useful details of geography were coming back to his slow memory!
'Oh, I couldn't swing from branch to branch through the trees the way I'm sure you can,' Tandy said,
'I'm agile, but not that agile. I'd be sure to fall.'
But the ant-lions were closing in, a full pride of them. Smash had to pick Tandy up to get her out of their reach. Thus burdened, he was unable to fight effectively. Realizing this, the ants grew bolder, closing in, growling and snapping. The situation was getting awkward.
Then Smash spied what he was looking for-the aereal path. 'Take care. Go there,' he said, boosting the girl up by her pert bottom.
'But it's sidewise!' she protested, peering at the path with dismay. 'I'd fall off!'
'Stand tall. No fall,' he insisted.
Tandy obviously didn't believe him. But an ant-lion leaped for her, jaws gaping, large front pincers snapping, so she reached up to grab for the high path.
Suddenly she landed on it-sidewise. 'I'm level!' she cried, amazed. 'The world has turned!' She stood up, or rather sidewise, her body parallel to the ground.
Smash didn't worry about it. He knew the properties of the path, having played on it as a cub. It was always level-to the person on it. He was now far too massive to use it himself, since the aereal path was getting old and brittle, but he didn't need to. He was now unencumbered, free to deal with the lions his own way.
The lions, angered at the escape of the lesser prey, pounced on the greater prey. That was foolish of them. Smash emitted a battle bellow that tore their whiskers back and clogged then- pincers with debris, then began
