one had bothered to take it down. Smash and Tandy made excellent progress.
Now they passed a region of hanging vines. They were twined, almost braided, like queues, and seemed to have eyes looking out from their recesses. Smash distrusted unfamiliar things in general and dangling vines in particular, so he avoided the Eye Queues. They could be harmless, or they could be bloodsuckers. This was beyond the region of his cubhood familiarity, and anyway, things could have changed in the interim. One could never take magic for granted.
He also kept an eye on Tandy, above, to make sure she did not brush against any vines. As a result, he didn't pay close enough attention to his big feet--and stumbled over a minor boulder that was damming a streamlet, much to the streamlet's annoyance.
The boulder dam shattered, of course; it was only stone. The streamlet gladly flowed through, with a burble of thanks to its deliverer. But Smash suffered a momentary loss of balance, his feet sinking into the sodden riverbed, and he lurched headlong into a hanging vine.
The thing wrapped disgustingly around his head. He snatched at it, but already it was sinking into his fur and his flesh and hurting terribly when he tried to scrape it loose. Since an ogre's course was generally that of most resistance. Smash put both hands to his scalp and scraped--and the burgeoning agony made him reel.
"Stop, Smash, stop!" Tandy screamed from above. "You'll rip off your head!"
Smash stopped. "I concur. There is no sense in that."
Tandy stared down at him. "What did you say?"
"I said there is no sense in mortifying my flesh, since the queue does not appear to have seriously incapacitated me."
"Smash-- you're not rhyming !"
"Why--so I am not!" he agreed, startled. "That must be the curse of the Eye Queue; it has disrupted my natural mechanism of communication."
"It's done more than that!" Tandy exclaimed. "Smash, you sound smart!"
"That must be a fallacious impression. No ogre is unduly intelligent."
"Well, you sure sound smart!" she insisted. "That Eye Queue, as you call it, must have added some brains to your head."
"That seems reasonable," he agreed, after cogitating momentarily without effort. "The effect manifested concurrently with my contact with that object. Probability suggests a causal connection. This, of course, is much worse than any purely physical attack would have been; it has temporarily un-ogred me. I must expunge it from my system!"
"Oh, no, don't do that," she protested. "It's sort of interesting, really. I don't mind you being smart. Smash. It's much easier to talk with you."
"In any event, I seem unable for the moment to deactivate it," Smash said. "It seems I must tolerate this curse for the time being. But I assure you I shall be alert for an antidote."
"Okay," she said. "If that's the way you feel."
"Indubitably."
They went on--and now Smash noted things that hadn't interested him before. He saw how erosion had caused rifts in the land, and how the forest stratified itself, with light indifferent vegetation and fungi at the nether levels and bright, broad leaves above to catch the descending light of the sun. The entire jungle was a cohesive unit, functioning compatibly with its environment. All over Xanth, things were integrating--in his new awareness. How blind he had been to the wonders of magic, all his life!
As dusk closed, the aerial path descended to the ground, and they arrived at the Magic Dust Village . A troll came forth to meet them. "Ogre, do you come in peace or mayhem?" the creature inquired, standing poised for flight while other villagers hastily manned the fortifications and cleared children and the aged from the region.
"In peace!" Tandy said quickly. "I am Tandy; this is Smash, who is protecting me from monsters."
The troll's eyes gaped. This was an unusual expression, even for this type of creature. "Protecting you from--?"
"Yes."
"Now, we have no prejudice against monsters here," the troll said,
Now they passed a region of hanging vines. They were twined, almost braided, like queues, and seemed to have eyes looking out from their recesses. Smash distrusted unfamiliar things in general and dangling vines in particular, so he avoided the Eye Queues. They could be harmless, or they could be bloodsuckers. This was beyond the region of his cubhood familiarity, and anyway, things could have changed in the interim. One could never take magic for granted.
He also kept an eye on Tandy, above, to make sure she did not brush against any vines. As a result, he didn't pay close enough attention to his big feet--and stumbled over a minor boulder that was damming a streamlet, much to the streamlet's annoyance.
The boulder dam shattered, of course; it was only stone. The streamlet gladly flowed through, with a burble of thanks to its deliverer. But Smash suffered a momentary loss of balance, his feet sinking into the sodden riverbed, and he lurched headlong into a hanging vine.
The thing wrapped disgustingly around his head. He snatched at it, but already it was sinking into his fur and his flesh and hurting terribly when he tried to scrape it loose. Since an ogre's course was generally that of most resistance. Smash put both hands to his scalp and scraped--and the burgeoning agony made him reel.
"Stop, Smash, stop!" Tandy screamed from above. "You'll rip off your head!"
Smash stopped. "I concur. There is no sense in that."
Tandy stared down at him. "What did you say?"
"I said there is no sense in mortifying my flesh, since the queue does not appear to have seriously incapacitated me."
"Smash-- you're not rhyming !"
"Why--so I am not!" he agreed, startled. "That must be the curse of the Eye Queue; it has disrupted my natural mechanism of communication."
"It's done more than that!" Tandy exclaimed. "Smash, you sound smart!"
"That must be a fallacious impression. No ogre is unduly intelligent."
"Well, you sure sound smart!" she insisted. "That Eye Queue, as you call it, must have added some brains to your head."
"That seems reasonable," he agreed, after cogitating momentarily without effort. "The effect manifested concurrently with my contact with that object. Probability suggests a causal connection. This, of course, is much worse than any purely physical attack would have been; it has temporarily un-ogred me. I must expunge it from my system!"
"Oh, no, don't do that," she protested. "It's sort of interesting, really. I don't mind you being smart. Smash. It's much easier to talk with you."
"In any event, I seem unable for the moment to deactivate it," Smash said. "It seems I must tolerate this curse for the time being. But I assure you I shall be alert for an antidote."
"Okay," she said. "If that's the way you feel."
"Indubitably."
They went on--and now Smash noted things that hadn't interested him before. He saw how erosion had caused rifts in the land, and how the forest stratified itself, with light indifferent vegetation and fungi at the nether levels and bright, broad leaves above to catch the descending light of the sun. The entire jungle was a cohesive unit, functioning compatibly with its environment. All over Xanth, things were integrating--in his new awareness. How blind he had been to the wonders of magic, all his life!
As dusk closed, the aerial path descended to the ground, and they arrived at the Magic Dust Village . A troll came forth to meet them. "Ogre, do you come in peace or mayhem?" the creature inquired, standing poised for flight while other villagers hastily manned the fortifications and cleared children and the aged from the region.
"In peace!" Tandy said quickly. "I am Tandy; this is Smash, who is protecting me from monsters."
The troll's eyes gaped. This was an unusual expression, even for this type of creature. "Protecting you from--?"
"Yes."
"Now, we have no prejudice against monsters here," the troll said,
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