More things were coming clear to Bink. 'Grundy, why did you bother to help us, instead of riding away on your fish? You went to extraordinary trouble-'
'The fish!' Grundy exclaimed. 'I have to pay him off!' He pried a sliver of wood from the massive stump and affixed it to the fish's dorsal fin with a bit of his own string. 'There you go, bubble-eye,' he said with something that sounded suspiciously like affection. 'As long as you carry that, you'll see everything as it is, in the madness region. So you can spot your lady fish. Once you have succeeded, ditch the wood; I understand it is not good to see a female too realistically.'
Crombie made an emphatic squawk of agreement that needed no translation.
The fish took off, zooming into the sky with a powerful thrust of bubbles, banking neatly around branches. Relieved of the golem's weight, and spurred by the hope of mad romance, it was a speedy creature.
'Why did you do that?' Bink asked the golem.
'You short of memory? You told me to, nitnoggin!'
'I mean, why did you do it with such grace? You showed genuine feeling for that fish.'
'I couldn't have,' Grundy snapped.
'And why did you guide us all around the hazards? If we had perished, your service to the Good Magician would have been finished.'
'What use would that have been to me?' Grundy demanded, kicking angrily at a tuft of grass with one motley foot.
'It would have freed you,' Bink said. 'Instead, you went to a great deal of trouble to herd us off that stair and to safety. You really didn't have to; your job is translation, not leadership.'
'Listen, washout-I don't have to take this crap from you!'
'Think about it,' Bink said evenly. 'Why help a washout?'
Grundy thought about it 'I must have been mad after all,' he admitted.
'How could you be mad-when you weren't affected by the madness?'
'What are you up to?' Chester demanded. 'Why hassle the golem? He did good work.'
'Because the golem is a hypocrite,' Bink said. 'There was only one reason he helped us.'
'Because I cared, you nitwit!' Grundy yelled. 'Why do I have to justify saving your life?'
Bink was silent. Crombie and Chester and the Good Magician turned mutely to face the golem.
'What did I say?' Grundy demanded angrily. 'Why are you freeloaders staring at me?'
Crombie squawked. 'Birdbeak says-' The golem paused. 'He says-I can't make out what he says! What's the matter with me?'
'The wood of this tree reverses spells,' Humfrey said. 'It has canceled out your talent.'
'I'm not touching that wood!'
'Neither are we,' Bink said. 'But we are all quite sane at the moment, because the ambience of the stump is stronger than that of a single chip. That is why we are now able to perceive you as you are. Do you realize what you said?'
'So the wood messes up my talent, same as it does yours. We knew that already!'
'Because it changes our magic without changing us,' Bink continued. 'Because what is us is real'
'But that would mean I'm halfway real!'
'And you halfway care,' Chester said.
'That was just a figure of speech! I have no emotion!'
'Move away from the tree,' Bink said. 'Get out of the range of the stump. Tell us what you see out there.'
Grundy paced away and looked about 'The jungle!' he cried! 'It's changed! It's mad!'
'Care,' Bink said. 'The Good Magician's Answer. In your effort to save us, you brought yourself halfway to your own destination. You have begun to assume the liabilities of being real. You feel compassion, you feel anger, you suffer pleasure and frustration and uncertainty. You did what you did because conscience extends beyond logic. Is it worth it?'
Grundy looked at the distortions beyond the stump. 'It's madness!' he exclaimed, and they all laughed.
Chapter 9
Vortex Fiends
At dawn they emerged from the madness region, each holding a piece of spell-reversal wood. They had traveled tediously, separating Crombie at intervals from his piece of wood, getting his indication of the best immediate route, then returning his chunk to him so that he could perceive threats accurately until the next orientation.
Once they were out, they located a reasonably secure roost in a stork-leg tree, setting their pieces
