tree.
'In my land,' Dor remarked, 'the King is a transformer. He changes living things into other living things. He can change a man into a tree, or a dragon into a toad. How does this differ from your own talent, Your Majesty?'
'A transformer,' King Roogna murmured. 'That's a potent talent! I can not change a man into a tree! I only adapt forms of magic to other purposes-a sleep spell to a truth spell, a chocolate cherry to a cherry bomb. So I would say your King is a more powerful Magician than I am.'
Dor was abashed. 'I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I didn't mean to imply-'
'You didn't, Dor. I am not competing with your King for status. Nor am I competing with you. We Magicians have a certain camaraderie, as I mentioned; we respect each other's talents. I'd like to meet your King sometime. After I have completed the Castle.'
'Which may be never,' Murphy said.
'Now with him I am competing,' the King said good-naturedly, and bit into another piece of pie. Dor said nothing, still having trouble accepting this friendly-rivalry facade.
In the morning Jumper reported to the Castle construction crew. Dor went along to help translate, since no one else could understand the spider's chittering-and because he was privately concerned about Jumper's possible influence on history. Or lack of it. If anything Dor or Jumper did could affect King Roogna's success-
Dor shook his head uneasily. King Roogna was busy today, adapting new spells to preserve the roof of the Castle-once the construction reached that stage. The magic, it seemed, had to be built right into the Castle; otherwise it would not endure. This business of adapting spells, such as the one a water dragon used to prevent the water from dousing its flame-converting that to make an unleakable roof-well, that was certainly something a transformer couldn't do! So King Roogna had no reason to be modest. It was very difficult to compare the strength of talents. But if Jumper's offer of help were only to hurt-
They approached the same centaur supervisor who had brushed them off before. It seemed he had charge of the north wall, the one still under construction. The creature was pacing and fretting about the arrival of additional blocks of stone; it seemed the quarriers had fouled up a spell or two and were running behind schedule.
'King Roogna would like to have my friend help,' Dor said. 'He can lift stones into place with his silken lines, or climb sheer walls to-'
'A giant bug?' the centaur demanded, swishing his tail rapidly back and forth. 'We don't want his kind among us!'
'But he's here to help!'
Now the other centaur workers were dismounting from the wall and crowding in close. They loomed uncomfortably large. A centaur standing the height of a man actually had about six times the mass of a man, and these stood somewhat taller than Dor-whose present body was a giant among men. 'We don't associate with no bugs!' one cried. 'Get that weirdo out of here!'
Nonplused, Dor turned to Jumper. 'I-they don't-'
'I understand,' Jumper chittered. 'I am not their kind.'
Dor eyed the massed centaurs, who seemed eager for any pretext to take time off from their labors. 'I don't understand! You can do so much-'
'We don't care if he can throw droppings at the big green moon!' one yelled. 'Get him out of here before we fetch a fly swatter!'
Dor got angry. 'You shouldn't talk to him like that! Jumper's not a fly; he eats flies! He can keep all the horseflies away-'
'Bug-lover!' the supervisor snapped. 'You're as bad as he is! Now watch I don't pound you both into the ground!'
'Yeah! Yeah!' the other centaurs agreed, stomping their hooves.
Jumper chittered. 'These creatures are hostile. We shall depart.' He started off.
Dor followed him, but not with docility. With each step he took his anger grew. 'They had no right to do that! The King needs help!' Yet at the same time he wondered whether this were not for the best. If Jumper were not allowed to participate, Murphy's curse couldn't operate, could it? They would not change history.
Soon they were back at the royal tent. The King was outdoors beside a pond, where a small water dragon was captive. The thing was snorting smoke angrily and lashing up a froth with its tail, but Roogna seemed not to be concerned. 'Now climb up on this roofing material,' he was telling the dragon. 'Propinquity facilitates adaptation.' Then he looked up and spied Dor and Jumper. 'Some problem at the construction site?'
Dor tried to be civilized, but it burst out of him. 'The centaurs won't let Jumper work! They say he's? different!'
'So I am,' Jumper chittered.
King Roogna had seemed like an even-tempered, harmless sort of man. Now that changed. He stood up straight and his jaw hardened. 'I will not have this attitude in my kingdom!' He snapped his fingers, and in a moment a flying dragon arrived: a beautiful creature armored in stainless steel, with burnished talons and a long snout suitable for aiming a jet of fire accurately from a distance. 'Dragon, it seems my work crew is getting balky. Fetch your contingent and-'
Jumper chittered violently. 'No, Your Majesty!' the web translated, almost shredding itself in its effort to transmit the force of the spider's conviction. 'Do not chastise your workers. They are no more ignorant than my own kind, and they are doing necessary work. I regret I caused disruption.'
'Disruption? By offering to help?' The King's brow remained stormy. 'At least I must chastise them with my magic. Centaurs do not have to have such pretty tails, so useful for swishing away flies. I can adapt them to lizards' tails, useful for slinking along between rocks. That will dampen their overweening arrogance!'
'No!' Jumper still protested. 'Do not allow the curse to distort your judgment.'
