Part VIII – Phillipa
It took a great deal of persuasion – and the promise of another kiss from Luke – to convince Mentia to assume the form of a plesiosaur and carry the group against the aqua-fur's current to the staircase. On the way, they discussed what Fett had learned from the Good Magician. Luke had been concerned that it would be another bizarre riddle like last time, but he found he needn't have worried.
"The prize is in the catacombs," Leia mused. "Where are the catacombs?"
"Oh, that's easy," Jenny replied casually. "Beneath Castle Zombie."
"Castle Zombie?" Leia repeated, making a distasteful face.
"That's where the Zombie Master and his family live," Jenny went on, as if talking about zombies was as completely natural as discussing what restaurant to visit for lunch. "As you can probably guess, the Zombie Master's talent lets him reanimate dead bodies. The catacombs is where he used to keep bodies that were waiting to be reanimated, but not many people bring bodies by anymore, so the catacombs sit empty most of the time. I think he rents them out now."
Anakin's mouth quirked in a grim smile. "Pleasant place to lease. I wonder how much the security deposit is."
Leia gave him the strangest of looks.
"I was only joking, Princess," Anakin assured her.
Luke remained silent during the discussion. Truth be told, he didn't trust himself to open his mouth – not because he feared he might make an inappropriate comment, but because ever since they'd begun the challenges he'd felt sick to his stomach. Right now his guts were rebelling to the point that, if he even attempted to join in the conversation, he'd only end up polluting the aqua-fur again. And to make matters worse, his head had just started pounding horribly.
Mentia reached the staircase, mercifully staying in human form until everyone could disembark. Maybe she was finally taking her responsibility as a member of the group seriously. But she unexpectedly shifted to scratch her side on the stone staircase, and Luke lost his balance and fell onto the stairs. The jolt of the fall sent fresh waves of pain through his skull and abdomen.
Anakin grasped his son's arms and pulled him upright. "Luke, are you all right?"
"Yeah," he assured his father, fighting the urge to be sick all over the man's robes. "Just a little dizzy, that's all."
Anakin gave him a penetrating look. As Luke looked into his father's eyes, he saw something startling – an unfathomable sadness laced with concern… and fear? Fear for Luke's health? Or that Leia, in her unreasonable anger toward him, might do something rash? Or something else?
Anakin held his wrist against Luke's forehead. "You're too warm, Luke. And your face is pale. I suggest you quit the game and see a doctor."
"Don't worry about me," Luke assured him. "What happens in Xanth stays in Xanth, remember? It can't affect me in the Galaxy Far, Far Away."
"I just want you to be safe," Anakin said gravely.
"I'll be fine. I can handle it. Besides, I have Xanth's best Companion on my side, don't I?"
The fear in his father's eyes flared brighter. Did Anakin not trust himself as a Companion? Or could he possibly be… but no, he couldn't be False. A False Companion wouldn't have cared if he were ill. It had to be that he was just having problems trusting himself with his son's welfare… which made sense, considering past events.
"Father," Luke told him, "you're doing just fine. I know you're out of practice concerning this whole fatherhood thing, but just give it your best shot."
Anakin smiled a little. "You have a gift for bringing out the positive in the negative, son."
"Are you two just gonna stand there all day?" demanded Mentia.
Anakin gave her a tolerant look. "At least Mentia had some redeeming qualities. Mentia's simply insufferable."
"Oh yeah? Well, you're a…"
"Don't start that, you two," Luke moaned. His headache, which had subsided a little during their talk, was throbbing to life again.
They continued to climb the stairs, reaching the open door and stepping into the afternoon sunlight at last. A short distance away, a creature was grazing in a patch of beefsteak tomatoes, apparently oblivious to their presence.
"Is that Phillipa?" asked Leia.
"There's only one way to find out," Jenny replied, setting Sammy down on the ground. "Sammy, find Phillipa!"
The cat trotted over to the tomato patch and sat down next to the creature's right front foot, pawing the leg gently to get its attention. The beast raised its head with a puzzled expression, and Sammy gagged violently and bolted for his mistress.
Luke had never seen a creature like this, either in Xanth or out of it. Her body was generally horse-like, with four long, strong legs terminating in metallic iron hooves, a long wide-eyed face, and pointed ears. But instead of the smooth hide typical of a horse, she was covered in deep blue-green scales edged in silver. Where a tail of swishing hair should have been was a reptilian tail tipped in a metallic blue spade, and where a mane should have been rose a row of wicked iron spikes like a punk teenager's hairstyle. Two sweeping horns of metallic blue arced out from her brow just before her ears, and when she opened her mouth rows of wicked pointed teeth and a gray forked tongue were visible. Blue-webbed wings furled from her shoulders, and her eyes…
The instant those cat-like eyes, glowing as green and bright as Luke's lightsaber, made contact with his own, Luke's stomach gave an agonizing lurch, and he and breakfast had to part company then and there on the grass.
"X(A/N)TH Almighty!" the creature exclaimed in a slightly raspy but strangely pretty voice. "I'm not that bad-looking, am I?"
"It talks," Fett said disbelievingly.
"Really," she replied acidly. "I could say the same about you, scrap-pile."
Fett gave a funny grunt when the creature's eyes rested on him, and he clutched his stomach. Unlike Luke, however, whatever he had eaten previously remained where it was.
Luke continued to retch. Two pairs of hands were on his shoulders now as both Leia and Anakin tried to help him.
"I'm fine," he assured them, coughing.
"I apologize," the creature told them. "It's my fault. You see, I'm part basilisk."
"Part basilisk?" repeated Anakin.
"Quarter basilisk, to be exact," she replied. "My maternal grandfather was a basilisk, which made my mother half-basilisk. I can't kill you by looking at you, don't worry, but if you make eye contact with me you will feel sick for a few minutes afterward."
"So if you're quarter-basilisk, what else are you?" asked Leia, an expression of amusement on her face.
"My grandparents were a centaur, a unicorn, a dragon, and a basilisk," she replied proudly. "I may be the only one of my kind in Xanth."
"Please don't tell me this thing's the Phillipa we're supposed to take with us," Fett groaned.
"Oh, don't sound so excited, iron-britches," she snapped. "And yes, I'm the Phillipa that's supposed to accompany you. I asked the Good Magician a question, and to repay the question I must help you in any capacity you require for the next year, or until he says otherwise." She bent her lower body in a bow, one foreleg fully extended and the other curled under her. "Phillipa Crossbreed, pleased to meet you all."
"Pleased to meet you," Luke replied. "I'm Luke Skywalker. This is my father and game Companion Anakin Skywalker, my sister Leia, her game Companion Jenny Elf, Jenny's cat Sammy, and our traveling companions Boba Fett and Demoness Mentia."
Phillipa smiled, though Luke found the sight of so many sharp teeth unsettling. "So where are we headed? What is your quest?"
"We're on our way to Castle Zombie," Jenny replied. "We're playing a game, and the prize is supposed to be in the catacombs."
"Castle Zombie," repeated Phillipa. "That's not far from here, is it?"
Luke frowned a little. This seemed way too easy…
"Then let's head for Castle Zombie," Leia ordered. "The sooner we make it there, the better."
"Castle Zombie should be this way," Jenny said, pointing roughly east.
As their unlikely group set off, Luke had some time to think. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to bring Leia to Xanth. He had thought that, just as the bizarre puzzles of Xanth had helped him deal with the aftermath of Bespin, they might help her deal with her own anger. And she would have seen Mother again… but he hadn't counted on Anakin being here! Nor had he realized she would so stubbornly cling to her anger.
/Maybe it's a Skywalker thing. I can't claim that Father and I are no less headstrong…/
His stomach turned again, and he had to sit down on the nearest rock, stricken with dizziness.
"Luke?" Anakin's hands clamped onto his shoulders. "What's going on?"
"I feel a little…" he moaned, but didn't dare continue. He placed a palm to his forehead and was startled at how hot and damp it felt. Whatever he had contracted, it was getting worse fast.
"You didn't look at him again, did you?" demanded Leia, turning to Phillipa.
"I can't sicken him just by looking at him," she countered. "He has to make eye contact with me, and he only did that once. Besides, it never lasts this long, not unless he was sick before…"
"The Germ of an Idea!" Leia exclaimed. "That must have made him sick!"
"Not only that," Anakin added. "Remember, he swallowed a bug while we were searching for the Good Magician's castle. I'm willing to wager that it was a flu bug."
"Geez, going for a triple, is he?" remarked Mentia, sounding amused rather than concerned. "Flu bug, Germ, and part-basilisk-stare all in one day. Trying to kill himself, is he?"
"I can send Sammy to find a healing spring…" began Jenny.
"No need," Phillipa replied. "I can help you."
Luke looked up to see Phillipa bow her head and plunge the tips of her horns into the earth. Water gushed and bubbled around her horns, pooling at her feet like liquid crystal.
"Let him drink," she ordered, lifting her head. "Quickly. It will help him."
"Are you sure?" asked Leia.
"She's here to help us, Leia," Anakin told her, and he picked Luke up and carried him to the pool. Laying him down at the bank, he scooped some water into his cupped hands and offered it to Luke.
The instant Luke sipped the liquid, his stomach calmed. Strength returned to his limbs, and he pushed away Anakin's hands and took another drink on his own. Once he'd drunk enough to eliminate his headache and fever for good, he stood.
"Thank you, Phillipa," he told her gratefully.
"My pleasure," she replied with a nod, careful to avoid meeting his gaze.
"So your magic talent is making healing springs," Jenny marveled.
"Not quite," Phillipa replied. "My talent is making magic springs of any kind. Love springs, hate springs, bed springs, healing springs, poison springs, Fountains of Youth, pools of wisdom… if you can imagine it, I can create it."
Luke whistled. "Pretty strong talent."
"On our way to Castle Zombie, maybe you can tell us a little about yourself, Phillipa," Jenny suggested.
Phillipa's body structure wouldn't allow her to shrug, but something about the movement of her wings indicated a similar gesture. "Not much to tell. Born to crossbreed parents, moved out on my own once I came of age, asked the Good Magician where I could find a suitable husband, was assigned to help you fellows, and here I am."
"Did he give you an answer?" asked Anakin.
"Yes. He said I would find my future husband when I faced the Crypt Keeper."
"Who the bleep's the Crypt Keeper?" demanded Mentia.
"I don't know," Phillipa confessed. "But once I'm done with my service, I'm off to find him, wherever he is."
"We wish you luck…" began Leia.
There was a noisy clatter as Fett accidentally kicked a half-buried metal object. It skittered a few meters and came to rest, caked in dirt and grime.
"What's that?" asked Luke.
"I'm not sure," Anakin replied. "But if it's this close to the Good Magician's castle, it's probably important."
"Maybe he sent us something to help us in our quest," Jenny suggested.
Fett picked it up. "I've seen things like this before. They're used to chart or plot your direction when you have no compass or locater handy."
"Perhaps the Good Magician left it here to help us plot out a shorter or safer route to Castle Zombie," Leia theorized.
"We won't know until we try it out, will we?" asked Mentia, an adventurous gleam in her eye.
"If Mentia's eager to try it, I'd be concerned," Anakin remarked.
"Oh, what harm can it do?" Luke said casually. "How do you activate it?"
"Try telling it where you want it to lead you," proposed Phillipa.
Fett held the object in the palm of his hand. "We need a safe, short route to Castle Zombie and the end of our quest."
The object shuddered, then a beam of rusty-red light streaked upward, drawing a path through the sky and toward a just-discernable speck in the distance. Apparently they were to take the air route to Castle Zombie.
"Well, there's our path," Leia said reluctantly, obviously not pleased to have to rely on Anakin again. "Let's take it."
"Father, will you do us the honors?" asked Luke.
Anakin spread his arms, arms that lengthened into wings as he resumed dragon form. Luke hopped easily onto his back, wondering at how quickly he was growing accustomed to his father's shape-shifting ability. Even two years ago, when his father had first acquired this talent, it had seemed almost perfectly natural to Luke, even expected. After all, he was a Skywalker, and they belonged in the sky.
"Phillipa, coming?" asked Jenny.
"I'm not exactly built for riding," the dragon-horse replied. "Besides, what are these for?" She spread her wings like blue fans. "Fashion statement?"
Luke laughed. He liked Phillipa's sense of humor.
With a thrust of his hind legs, Anakin took to the skies. Phillipa took longer to get airborne, requiring a running start before she could achieve liftoff. Once they reached a suitable cruising altitude, they began following the trail marked out by their unlikely guide.
"Let me see that doohickey," Mentia demanded, reaching for it.
Fett held it out of her reach. "Knowing you, you'll botch it beyond repair."
"I just wanna look," she pouted.
"Fett, let her have it," Luke told her. "It's not worth it, trust me."
Very reluctantly, Fett relinquished the item. Mentia turned it over and over in her hands, muttering to herself.
Luke turned to Leia with a slight smile. "How are you, Leia?"
She gave him a relieved look. "I'm glad this is almost over. I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"You're doing just fine, Leia."
"You don't know how hard it is, Luke, to be traveling in the company of the man you've hated for so long, knowing you're at least somewhat dependent on him…"
"Sure I do. I did it two years ago."
"What do you…" A look of understanding crossed her face. "Of course. After Bespin…"
"Yes, and it was the best thing I could have done. I faced him down. I was able to confront the source of my hatred and get answers to a lot of questions. Once I could do that, I no longer had reason to hate." He placed a hand on hers. "Talk to him sometime. It will help you heal. Trust me."
"Luke, I don't know…"
"What in chaos' name is THAT?" demanded Fett.
"That" was an expanding ring of rusty-red light just ahead, its interior blazing and swirling with fiery color. Their marked path swerved to the right of the dark red halo, leading on to the castle. Inexplicably, Anakin was veering off the path, toward the great disc of light.
"Father, turn!" urged Luke. "Go around it!"
/I can't/ Anakin replied. /It's drawing me in/
"Why are we still moving toward it!" demanded Leia.
"He says it's pulling him in!" Luke cried.
Mentia screeched a curse that turned the air black for a moment. "The Interface! There's a hole in the Interface leading who-knows-where, and we're headed right for it!"
Anakin screamed as a cruel force wrenched his wings forward. Luke gritted his teeth as the same hideous power seized his body, like a powerful magnet dragging him toward some mysterious doom. He could hear Phillipa's startled shriek and Fett's cursing, feel Leia's fingers digging into his arms…
Then he blacked out.
Break…
Fett had always had a gift for awakening in full command of his senses. Moments after opening his eyes, he had a blaster in his hand and was on his feet, scanning his surroundings. Memories of recent events came rushing back, though part of him desperately hoped it had been some insane dream…
No such luck. The bodies of his traveling companions lay all around him. The hole in the Interface – whatever that meant – had dumped them in the middle of an overgrown, weed-choked pasture dotted with skinny trees, with old-fashioned barbed wire fences at the perimeters and a black night sky overhead. Light from a full moon gave him enough illumination to pick out the unconscious forms of the others. Some distance away he could see a house, a few of its windows illuminated to indicate at least one of its inhabitants was home and awake.
Luke, Leia, and Jenny were sprawled in awkward positions in the weeds, unharmed but unresponsive. Phillipa and Anakin, the latter still in dragon form, lay with their legs and wings at bizarre angles, neither reacting to the firm kicks Fett applied in an attempt to awaken them. Mentia's material body was nowhere to be seen, though he figured he could safely assume that the snoring patch of mist a few paces off was the demoness' unconscious form. Only Sammy Cat was awake, pawing his mistress' body anxiously and howling his distress.
"Shut up," Fett snarled. "We need to find a way out of here…"
Sammy meowed cheerfully, happy to be able to help, and trotted off.
"Come back, you stupid…" snarled Fett. "Great."
He tried everything he could think of to wake up the others, shaking, slapping, kicking, shouting, even firing a few blaster bolts into Mentia's hazy form. Nothing worked. It seemed they had all fallen into some sort of coma.
The weeds behind him rustled, and he whirled, blaster ready. Someone was approaching. It might be a friend or a foe, but for now he'd assume the worst…
Sammy purred in a self-satisfied manner and twined around Fett's legs. The approaching woman, meanwhile, stopped a few meters from him, a flashlight in one hand, the other hand clutching a denim jacket closed around powder-blue pajamas. Nothing about her indicated malice or trickery… or even magic. She was just an ordinary woman, about twentyish with gray-brown hair and blue-gray eyes.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
The woman almost smiled. "I'm gonna kill you, Magician Humphrey," she muttered to no one in particular.
"What?"
"Never mind." The beam of her flashlight rested a moment on the others. "You're gonna have to help me get them to the house."
"You haven't answered my question. Who are you?"
"Someone who can help. Now let's get these guys in the house."
"How do I know I can trust you?" He jammed the blaster into her breastbone.
"Just give me a hand, okay?" she replied, unfazed. "They've all been knocked out by the shock of passing through the Interface. You were too; you just recovered sooner because you don't have magic like they do. They'll recover, but I'd rather they did it in the house."
Somehow, her rational explanation convinced him. He holstered the blaster and bent down to pick up Jenny's feet.
Together they managed to haul Luke, Leia, and Jenny into the house, leaving Luke and Leia on a bed in the master bedroom and Jenny on a smaller bed in what appeared to be a child's bedroom. Even their combined efforts couldn't budge Phillipa, however, and they didn't even bother trying to shift Anakin's bulk. As for Mentia…
"We'll just hope they wake up before the sun rises and the neighbors see them," she said at last, shaking her head. "By the way, welcome to Mundania. I'm Kenya Starflight."
"Boba Fett." He nodded to her. "I think I deserve some sort of explanation."
"You'll get it. Follow me."