drew his sword and strode toward him.
Bink grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at the Magician, but it was ineffective. Then Trent's sword slashed down-and severed the tentacle. 'You are in no danger from me, Bink,' the Magician said. 'Swim, if you wish.'
Bink scrambled up and dived into the water, taking a deep breath. He saw Fanchon's feet kicking ahead of him as she swam down, and saw the dark tube of the nether exit. It terrified him, and he balked.
His head popped through the surface. There was Trent, standing on the beach, parrying the converging tentacles with his sword. Fighting off the coils of the monster the man was the very picture of heroism. Yet the moment the combat was over, Trent would be a more dangerous monster than the kraken.
Bink decided. He took a new breath and dived again. This time he stroked right into the somber eye, and felt the current take him. Now there was no turning back.
The tunnel opened out almost immediately-into another glowing cavern. Bink had gained on Fanchon, and their heads broke the surface almost together. Probably she had been more cautious about navigating the exit.
Heads turned their way. Human heads, on human torsos-very nice feminine ones. Their faces were elfin, their tresses flowing in magical iridescence over slender bare shoulders and perfectly erect breasts. But the lower quarters merged into fish's tails. These were mermaids.
'What are you doing in our cave?' one of the maids cried indignantly.
'Just passing through,' Bink said. Naturally, mermaids spoke the common language of Xanth. He would not have thought anything of it, had Trent not remarked on how Xanth language merged with all Mundane languages. Magic operated in so many ways. 'Tell us the shortest way to the surface.'
'That way,' one said, pointing left. 'That way,' another said, pointing right. 'No, that way!' a third cried, pointing straight up. There was a burst of girlish laughter.
Several mermaids plunged into the water, tails flashing, and swam toward Bink In a moment he was surrounded. Up close,.the creatures were even prettier than from afar. Each one had a perfect complexion, resulting from the natural action of the water, and their breasts floated somewhat, making them seem fuller. Maybe he had been exposed to Fanchon too long; the sight of all this loveliness gave him strange sensations of excitement and nostalgia. If he could grab them all at once-but no, they were mermaids, not his type at all.
They paid no attention to Fanchon. 'He's a man!' one cried, meaning Bink was human, not merman. 'Look at his split legs. No tail at all.'
Suddenly they were diving under to view his legs. Bink, naked, found this distinctly awkward. They began to put their hands on him, kneading the unfamiliar musculature of his legs, a great curiosity to them. Yet why weren't they looking at Fanchon's legs too? There seemed to be more mischief than curiosity here.
Trent's head broke the water behind them. 'Mermaids,' he commented. 'We'll get nothing from them.'
So it seemed. It also seemed that the Magician could not be avoided. 'I think we'd better make the truce,' Bink said to Fanchon. 'We have to extend some trust sometime.'
She looked at the mermaids, then at Trent. 'Very well,' she said ungraciously. 'For what it's worth-which isn't much.'
'A sensible decision,' Trent said. 'Our long-range objectives may differ, but our short-range one matches: survival. See, here come the tritons.'
As he spoke, a group of mermen appeared, swimming in from another passage. This seemed to be a labyrinth of caves and water-filled apertures.
'Ho!' a triton cried, brandishing his trident. 'Skewer!'
The mermaids screamed playfully and dived out of sight. Bink avoided Fanchon's gaze; the ladies had been having entirely too much fun with him, and obviously not because of his split legs.
'Too many to fight,' Trent said. 'The elixir is gone. With your acquiescence, under out truce, I will change you both into fish, or perhaps reptiles, so that you can escape. However-'
'How will we change back?' Fanchon demanded.
'That is the key. I can not change myself. Therefore you will have to rescue me-or remain transformed. So we shall survive together, or suffer apart. Fair enough?'
She looked at the tritons, who were swimming determinedly toward the three, surrounding them, tridents raised. They did not look at all playful. This was obviously a gang of bullies, showing off for the applauding spectators-the mermaids, who had now reappeared on shore-taking time to put on a flashy show. 'Why not change them into fish?'
'That would abate the immediate threat, could I get them all in time,' Trent agreed. 'But it still would not free us from the cave. I suspect we shall have to resort to magic on ourselves at some point, regardless. And we are intruders in their cave; there is a certain proprietary ethic-'
'All right!' she cried, as a triton heaved his three-pointed fork. 'Do it your way.'
Suddenly she was a monster-one of the worst Bink had seen. She had a huge greenish sheath around her torso, from which arms, legs, head, and tail projected. Her feet were webbed, and her head was like that of a serpent.
The triton's fork struck the Fanchon-monster's shell-and bounced off. Suddenly Bink saw the sense of this transformation. This monster was invulnerable.
'Sea turtle,' Trent murmured. 'Mundane. Harmless, normally-but the merfolk don't know that. I've made a study of nonmagical creatures, and have developed much respect for them. Oops!' Another trident was flying.
Then Bink was also a sea turtle. Suddenly he was completely comfortable in the water, and he had no fear of the pronged spears. If one came at his face, he would simply pull in his head. It would not retract all the way, but the armor of the shell around it would intercept almost anything.
