and wondering what the world above was like. I was supposed to be planting gems?' Her nymphly confession trailed off. 'You certainly are observant.'
'You certainly are complimentary. Don't worry; you will get to see the surface world this time. I won't leave you until you're safe on the surface and in good hands. Maybe at the magic-dust village.'
She looked away, not answering. He glanced at her, peering through the smoke of the smoldering weed rope she held, concerned. 'Did I say something wrong?'
She looked back at him with sudden decision. 'Bink, you remember when we first met?'
He laughed. 'How could I forget! You were so beautiful, and I was so grimy-almost as grimy as we both are now! And I had just taken the-' He shrugged, not wanting to get into the embarrassing matter of the love potion again. 'You know, I'm almost sad that's over. You're an awfully nice nymph, and without your help-'
'You loved me then, and I didn't love you,' she said. 'You were devious, and I was simple. You lured me in close, then grabbed me and kissed me.'
Bink fidgeted. 'I'm sorry, Jewel. I-it won't happen again.'
'That's what you think,' she said, and flung her arms about him and planted a passionate kiss on his half-open mouth. Dirty as she was, it was still a remarkable experience; almost he felt the tug of the love potion again. He had loved her before without knowing her; now he knew her and understood her nymphly limitations and respected her for trying so hard to overcome them, and he liked her more than was entirely proper. A genuine affection had been developing beneath the artificial love, and that affection remained. What would Chameleon think, if she saw this embrace?
Jewel released him. 'Turnabout's fair play,' she said. 'I am more complex than I was a few hours ago, and you are simpler. Now get on up your rope.'
What did she mean by that? Bemused, Bink weighted the rope with a solid rock and lofted it up toward the root-trunk. It fell short, because of the weight of the rope. He tried again, harder, but the rope was still too heavy. It dragged steadily, its weight becoming greater as the rock got higher. Finally he made a wad out of the rope and hurled the mass of it up; this time it got there-and fell back, having failed to pass over the root. But he was making progress, and after several more tries he got it over. The rock fell down, hauling the rope after it. It snagged before the rock came down within reach, but several jerks on the other end of the rope freed it. Bink knotted the ends together, forming a complete loop of rope that could not come loose.
'I can climb this first, then you can sit in the loop and I'll haul you up,' he said. He knew there was no chance of her climbing by herself; her arms were too delicate. 'Blow the torch up high, so the goblins won't come too close.'
She nodded. Bink took a few deep breaths, feeling his worn system revving up in anticipation of this final effort. Then he took hold and began to climb the rope.
It started out better than he had feared, but soon got worse. His arms tired quickly, since they had been none too fresh to begin with. He clamped his legs about the rope, hanging on, to give his arms a rest, but they recovered reluctantly. Oh for some healing elixir! Still, Jewel was waiting, and so were the rats and goblins; he could not afford to delay too long. Excruciatingly he dragged himself up with smaller and smaller wrenches. His breath rasped, his head felt light, and his arms seemed to turn into waterlogged wood just beyond the elbows, but he kept moving.
So suddenly it seemed a miracle, he was at the top. Maybe his mind had simply gone a bit dead too, cutting out the agony of the continuing effort, and revived when he arrived. He clung to the big root, which was somewhat furry: the better to grip its prey, perhaps, He had never, before this adventure, anticipated gladly embracing a tangle tree!
He swung a leg over, missed, and felt himself falling. It was almost a relief, this relaxation! But the rope was still there, and he wrapped himself about it and hung, panting. So little to go, so hard to do!
There was a knot up near the apex. Bink braced his feet against it and used his relatively fresh leg muscles to push him up, and somehow scrambled around the root. Now he perceived that rough bark underlay the fur on top, making it good for clinging to, good for scrambling. He clung and scrambled, and finally inched over to the top of it and lay there, panting weakly, too worn out even to feel proper relief.
'Bink!' Jewel cried from below. 'Are you all right?'
That roused him. His labor was far from over! 'I should be asking you that! Are the rats staying back? Can you get in the seat, to come up?' He didn't know how he would pull up her weight in his present state, but he couldn't tell her that.
'I'm not all right. I'm not coming up.'
'Jewel! Get up the rope! The rats can't reach you there, if you pull the end up after you!'
'It's not the rats, Bink. I've lived down here all my life; I can handle the rats and even the goblins, as long as I have my light It's you. You are a handsome man.'
'Me? I don't understand!' But he was beginning to. She was not referring to his present appearance, which was homelier than Chester's face. (Oh, noble centaur-in what state was be now?) The signs had been there; he had merely refused to interpret them.
'When you took the potion, you remained an honest person,' Jewel called. 'You were strong, stronger than any nymph could be. You never used the potion as an excuse to betray your quest or your friends. I respected and envied that quality in you, and tried to use it as a model. The only exception was that one kiss you stole, so I stole it back. I love you, Bink, and now-'
'But you never drank that potion!' he protested. 'And even if you had, now that the magic is gone-'
'I never drank that potion,' she agreed. 'Therefore the loss of magic could not take my love away. Growth was forced upon me, driving out my nymphly innocence. Now I can perceive reality, and I know there can be no antidote but time, for me. I can not go with you.'
'But you have no life down there!' Bink cried, appalled. His love for her had been magic; hers for him was real. She loved better than he had. Her nymph-hood was, indeed, behind her. 'There must be some way to work it out-'
'There is, and I am utilizing it. When I saw how you sacrificed me when the spell was on you, I
