“That seems reasonable to me,” Ion agreed.

  “So I will loop around and try to zero in on her from the far side.” Benny sent the carpet into a wide turn. “Let me know where she is.”

  Vinia focused on the ring. “Location, Apoca,” she murmured. A glint showed on one side. “To our left, a moderate distance.”

  They continued the slow turn, keeping the glint on the left. When they were halfway around the loop, meaning they had gotten beyond the queen, they turned back and headed directly in, keeping low, almost scraping the ground, to be, as Ion put it, below the radar.

  And got caught in something. The carpet stalled, and the four of them were frozen in place. “Children!” a man’s voice came, sounding disappointed. “No buxom babes.”

  “Dam,” another said. Vinia wasn’t sure how a barrier to hold back the water in a river related to children on a carpet.

  “Well, we can change them, once we get the junk. Haul them off that floating rug. We don’t need that.”

  Then four ugly men threw lassos over them, caught them, and yanked them off the carpet. They were quickly trussed up and carried into a building and into a cell, where they were unceremoniously dumped on the stone floor. A metal door was slammed shut as the men departed, and a plank dropped into place to bar it shut.

  They were abruptly captive. By the enemy, by the look of it. Maybe it was a trap set to catch anyone who approached Queen Apoca’s residence. How long would the four of them be left here before someone in authority arrived and the real mischief commenced?

  “What did they mean by junk?” Hilda asked nervously.

  “It’s adult slang for magic drinks that change people,” Benny said. “I think they mean to use them on us. We’d better get out of here before they do.”

  They were not completely helpless. Ion managed to get a hand into his bag of vials. He brought one out and worked it open with his thumb. Vapor emerged, surrounded him, and the ropes around him dissolved. Hilda got a sewing needle in her hand and used it to magically pry open a knot. Benny changed to goat form and stepped out of bindings that no longer snugly fit him.

  Vinia made a mental note: their Volent captors evidently did not realize that they had caught a Magician, a Sorceress, and a crossbreed. Meanwhile Vinia used her telekinesis to carefully untie her own ropes, so that she was free about the same time as the others.

  But they remained confined in a cell with a stout metal door. That might be more of a challenge.

  But not a sufficient one. Vinia went to the door and used her telekinesis to lift the plank clear on the far side, then pushed it open. There was a hall, with another door at the far end.

  “Let me check for a route,” Benny said. He changed to buck form and charged down the hall. He reached the far door, changed back to human form, opened it, reverted to goat, and ran on, his hooves clicking on the stone.

  “He’s such a dear,” Hilda said fondly.

  “He’s a goat, not a deer,” Ion said, teasing her. She ignored that.

  Vinia returned to Ion, and they stood and walked in the direction Benny had gone. Hilda walked beside them, looking around. There was nothing special to see: it was just a garden-variety dungeon passage.

  There was the sound of an Ooof! farther ahead.

  Benny returned and resumed man form. “There’s a way out, I think. But the bad men are returning. I butted one in the gut, but the others avoided me. They’re coming this way. Now they’re on guard, knowing we’re loose. I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault, dear,” Hilda said, kissing his cheek. “We’ll handle them.” She brought out needle and cloth and started sewing.

  “We will,” Ion agreed. He brought out a vial and held it unopened.

  The men came toward them, clubs at the ready. “Now you tykes turn about and go back into your cell and you won’t get hurt,” one said.

  “How the bleep did you get loose?” another demanded.

  Hilda put on her best innocent-girl expression as she walked directly toward him, Vinia and Ion following closely. “Oh, sir, how glad we are to see you! Some mean men put us in a cell, but we managed to escape. Please help us get out of here before they return.”

  The men were taken aback. The children thought they were their rescuers? “Uh, well—”

  Then they were close enough. Ion opened his vial. “Hold your breath,” he whispered.

  The other three obliged, knowing what was coming. Mist spread out from the vial, forming a cloud surrounding them and the men.

  The men inhaled, not realizing. And sank to the floor, unconscious.

  Benny hauled them by limp hands and feet, making a pile of them.

  Hilda did some magically fast sewing, and soon had a thin cord that she wrapped around the fallen men. Vinia knew that when they woke, they would find themselves securely restrained, unable even to call for help. The pacification cord was like that. Like the submission virus, only inanimate.

  They resumed breathing and walked on. They came to a closed door, but this one did not seem to have a bar in place. It had a lock, and they didn’t have the key. Maybe one of the men had the key, but maybe they had been let in by someone else. Vinia’s telekinesis was too crude to pick a lock.

  “Let me try,” Benny said. He changed back to buck form, drew away from the door, then charged it with his head down. He crashed into it at full force.

  The door budged on its hinges but did not give way. Benny butted it again, and it budged a little more. The third time, the door crashed off the hinges and fell on the floor. “You did it!” Hilda said, patting his back.

  They resumed travel and soon emerged from the building. It was late afternoon; their capture and escape had taken time.

  “We need to get to the carpet before the Volents discover our escape,” Ion said. “Do we even know where it is?”

  Hilda smiled. “We can find it.” She turned to Vinia. “Your map, if you please.”

  The map? Vinia dug it out of her pocket. She had quite forgotten it, once the physical invasion of Thanx had been repelled. But how would the map of Thanx help here? She offered it to Hilda.

  “No, keep it. Just find the carpet on it.”

  The carpet? She looked. The map had changed. Now it showed their present environment, with the Lips territory marked, and the Volent territory halfway surrounding it. It looked bad for the Lips. Apoca was of course in the middle of the Lips.

  There was a mountain range to the north, and a lake or sea to the south. Vinia looked up and spied the jagged peaks of the mountains. Now she knew where they were, roughly, in relation to the map.

  And there was a spot marked CARPET, about halfway between warring sides, in contested territory. “That way,” she said, pointing.

  “Thank you,” Hilda said, just as if she hadn’t made another impressive demonstration of her Sorceress power. What a map! And it was only a tiny fraction of what Hilda could do.

  But getting there was not straightforward. The terrain was rough, with sharp hills and vales, and bits of forest marked DANGER. They were no longer with the friendly tribes of nickelpedes, salamanders, ghosts, and whatnot. The ones here were strangers and would be deadly to the children.

  But there was a protected path. Vinia knew, because it was marked on the map: PROTECTED PATH. Those paths traversed all Xanth and enabled people and creatures to travel freely to different parts of it without fear of being molested or eaten. They were commonly used to get to the Good Magician’s Castle, or to Castle Roogna, or other key locations, but obviously they weren’t limited to those. The path wound through the area and passed reasonably close to the carpet. Luck was with them. Maybe that was the continuing influence of the ring. But then why hadn’t it enabled them to avoid the trap they had fallen into? Better not to depend on luck.

  They made their way carefully to the path, got on it, and hiked with greater confidence. What a relief to be safe, at least for a while. Once they were back on the carpet, they would add a spell to repel the Volents and be back on their way to meet with Queen Apoca. Though persuading her to help might be another challenge. Still, their cause was just, and Apoca should appreciate it once she was more fully acquainted with it.

  But Vinia had a nagging doubt. It seemed too easy. It wasn’t easy at all, but somehow it didn’t feel difficult enough. Was she missing something, yet again?

  Ion reached into his bag and drew out a vial. She glanced at him inquiringly. “You’re worrying,” he murmured. “When you do that, there’s apt to be trouble.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to complicate things.”

  “Not trouble of your making. You have a special sense for it, and special ways of handling it. There may be hidden magic involved. You’re not the naïf you think you are.”

  “Naïf?”

  “A naïve or inexperienced person,” Hilda said. She was holding her needle as if ready to sew.

  Vinia hadn’t realized that Hilda was listening. She was embarrassed. “I’m certainly not very knowledgeable or experienced. You know that.”

  “But you are modest and sweet natured,” Ion said. “That’s part of why I love you, but I think that’s also why you’re the protagonist, because you’re likely to be in the center of things, through no fault of your own.”

  “I didn’t ask to be the protagonist,” Vinia protested.

  “It is not a role anyone gets to choose for herself.” He laughed uneasily. “I’m glad it’s you and not me.”

  “And he’s right,” Hilda said. “When you worry, it’s a signal of impending fate. We are likely headed into more trouble.”

  “Bleep,” Vinia muttered, fearing they were right. She did seem to be a magnet for mischief. Maybe that came with the territory of protagonism.

  They continued along the path, drawing closer to the carpet. There were four little dots marking their own positions on the map, moving as they moved.

  Finally, they were as close as the path came to the downed carpet. They had to leave the enchanted way. That made Vinia nervous all over again. But what choice did they have? They needed that carpet.

  They left the path and cut through the brush toward the carpet. Before long, it came into sight. It seemed to be in good order.

  Ion opened his vial. “Anti-stasis elixir,” he explained. “That spell may still be on it.”

  Oh. Of course. Now Vinia wondered: Why had the Volents left the carpet alone? Surely, they could have enjoyed playing with it, joyriding, or simply robbing it of its goodies. It was their stasis spell: they could have turned that off at any time. Why hadn’t they? That didn’t seem to make much sense.

  They came close—and the trap sprang. Cages dropped over each of them as men closed in from hiding and grabbed their assets, such as Ion’s bag and Hilda’s needle, which were both dropped on the ground. The enemy had finally caught on to their nature. Maybe their escape from the cell and building had been its own kind of trap, to cause them to reveal their powers. Maybe they had underestimated the enemy.

  Now they were caught without their main assets. Benny could change form, but it wouldn’t help him in the cage. Hilda’s needle and Ion’s bag of vials were in plain sight but teasingly out of reach. Was that accidental, or intentional?

  But there seemed to be one thing their captors had missed. They did not know about Vinea’s telekinesis. She could reach the needle and bag. She couldn’t open the cage doors, because they were padlocked, and locks were beyond her power to pick. But those tools of the trades she could recover.

  She looked around. Hilda caught her eye and made a tiny no shake of her head. Hilda knew what Vinia could do; why was she against it? The twins were both smarter than Vinia; there had to be reason.

  Vinia closed her eyes as if afraid to recognize her captivity and focused on that reason. And it came to her in the form of a question. Did the Volents know about her and were cruelly teasing her, too? Daring her to reach out telekinetically so they could grab the objects away and dump them just beyond her reach? Maybe they were testing her range, so they would know her limit. So she could not surprise them. They did seem to be waiting. Which meant that she didn’t dare use her talent, at least not while they were watching.

  Vinia opened her eyes. She left the needle and bag alone. Hilda now wore the trace of a smile. They were already fighting back, in their fashion. They were children; that did not mean they were stupid.

  Vinia quietly examined her cage. It was round in cross section, rising to a closed peak above, with a stout ring that connected to a rope that rose up to a derrick boom. The three other cages were similar. Their operators had caught their victims, then jumped out to snatch away key items by reaching into the cages during the children’s distraction with the capture. It had been a practiced operation, deftly performed.

  The four of them had been alert for the wrong thing and thus been caught. The Volents had outsmarted them. This time.

  “You’ve caught us,” Ion said. “Again. What are you going to do with us?”

  “Supe will answer,” a Volent said, sounding a bit disappointed. Their waiting ploy hadn’t worked; the children had not tried to escape. Score one for the home team, maybe.

  “Soup?” Ion asked, playing stupid. “You’re going to feed us?”

  The Volent didn’t answer. Instead he raised one hand in a signal.

  Meanwhile Vinia continued to explore her cage. There was a large ring at ground level, with five stout spikes buried in the ground, securing it. The weight of the cage must have caused the points to strike deep. But this meant that it should be possible to dig out below, if they were left alone long enough. These were temporary, not permanent, prisons.

  A fifth man approached. He had the look of a leader, with a fancy blue hat. “Hello, guests,” he said. “I am Volney Volent, squad leader. My name means ‘Most popular.’ Do you care to identify yourselves?”

  That would surely be mischief. The four children were silent.

  “Then I will do it for you,” Volney said, unperturbed. He looked at Ion. “You are Prince Ion, age eleven, a Magician who is immune to all elixirs.”

  All four children froze in horror. He knew!

  “I know,” Volney agreed. “I did some spot research while you were escaping the cell. We do have a competent library, with a knowledgeable magic mirror. You evidently were coming to the aid of Queen Apoca of the enemy Lips tribe. Naturally we could not afford that. Our King Vladimir means to make Apoca his submissive queen, and it just wouldn’t do to have her escape our net when we are so close to success.” He glanced at the bag on the ground. “Your collection of elixirs could wreak havoc on our troops, especially in her capable hands.”

  “Bleep,” Ion muttered.

  So the Volents did not know the real thrust of their mission. They got background on Ion without picking up his more recent connection to the Queendom of Thanx. Ion’s childish curse implied that the Volent was completely correct. Maybe the man had hoped to provoke more significant information, but the twins were too smart for that. Vinia and Benny would of course follow their lead.

  Volney turned to Hilda. “You are Princess Hilda, Ion’s twin sister, and a Sorceress of sewing. I must say that your flying carpet is a most impressive indication of your skill.” He smiled, and he was a handsome man. Charm might be part of the danger he represented. “You are a pretty girl who will in due course become a lovely woman. You will make some lucky man a wonderful wife, quite apart from your formidable magic.”

  Hilda tittered, plainly flattered. Which was an act, because she was not a natural titterer. She was playing along, fooling him with her cynical smartness.

  “Maybe even mine,” Vladimir said.

  His wife? Hilda squeaked in horror. The man had punched right through her charade, making her react. He was no ignoramus himself. He might or might not have magic, but he knew how to handle people. That might be only part of the danger he represented.

  The Volent faced Benny. “You are Benny Buck, a human-Caprine crossbreed, able to switch forms instantly. Your age in human terms is six, so you are technically a child while in human form. You serve the princess.”

  “Yeah,” Benny agreed reluctantly, concealing his real role as Hilda’s boyfriend.

  And finally, Vinia. Volney’s direct focus was disconcerting. There was something about him that commanded her reluctant attention. “You are Vinia Human, age twelve. You serve the prince by enabling him to walk with you, via your contact telekinesis. I suspect he likes you more than casually, for you also are pretty and will in due course become a supremely comely and obliging woman.”

  He was too close to the reality for her to try to deny it. “Yes, about helping him walk.” But did he really think that her power was only via direct physical contact? If so, she too had part of a secret. Maybe the Volents were uncertain whether her ability could operate from a short distance, so had been trying to find out by leaving the needle and vial bag within tempting range. She hoped she had disappointed them.

  Volney sighed. “I fear you four are still keeping some secrets. So now on to stage two. We shall encourage you to become more cooperative.”

  Vinia did not like the sound of that and knew that neither did her friends. All of them remained grimly silent.

  “I am going to kiss you, Vinia,” Volney said. “Perhaps do more than that, for you are surely a most appealing consort when you want to be.” He paused, watching her.

  He was trying to make her react, as he had with Hilda. Vinia was determined not to give him that satisfaction. Yet what did he mean by “when she wanted to be”? She did not want any contact with him, let alone the kind of friendliness implied by the word consort. Still, a naughty part of her was intrigued.

  She needed to respond, without being helpful. “No.”

  “It depends on Prince Ion, who can stop my initiative at any time by agreeing to use his magic on our behalf. I should advise you that our Volent tribe does not practice what you may term the Adult Conspiracy. We have no secrets from children.” He smiled again, and Vinia felt herself wanting to please him, foolishly. Maybe his smile was his magic. “A number of children from more traditional cultures have run away and joined us for that reason. This might interest you also.”