"So where is the guard that did it?" Breanna asked.

Che focused on that, and soon found the traces. The guard was hiding under another flush stone in the floor. They hauled up the stone and tagged him before he could get out. Another enemy down.

They quickly explained their new strategy to Sim: to eliminate the guards, then go after Fornax, expecting to find Justin/Earth in her vicinity. To take control of the situation, rather than reacting to false trails.

But as they made their way back through the dungeons, the enemy surprised them. Supposedly locked and empty cells burst open and five guards charged out, converging. "It's the blitz!" Breanna cried. "Watch your tails!"

Che tried to, but three guards were coming at him. He tagged one, and blocked the hand of another, but the third one caught him on the flank. He lost volition. He could still see and hear and think, but could not act; he had been nulled. Beside him, Sim tagged a guard, but fell to a second. Behind him Breanna managed to tag the third guard with her foot. But now the two remaining guards were advancing on her. She might get one, but the other would get her. Then all of them would have been nulled, with no one to rescue Earth.

Breanna realized as much herself. "I gotta get out of here!" she cried, fleeing. "Sorry, fellows!"

The guards pursued her. Che could not turn his head to look, but knew she was agile on her feet. Then the torches started getting doused. She was making the dungeon dark, so she would have the advantage. She could see the guards, but they could not see her.

Sure enough, she soon nulled them both. Then she returned to Che and Sim. "I guess I'm it," she said. "Just the luck of the draw I didn't get tagged." She hugged Sim where he stood. "Don't get into any trouble, Birdbrain." Then she hugged Che again. "Same to you, hoofer. I'll be ba-a-ack." And she was gone.

"Luck of the draw," Mars repeated angrily. "We should have been the ones to survive."

"I know she'll do her best," Che replied. "She has a fighting spirit."

"Venus is a cunning thing."

"But she's in love with love."

Overall, the prospects seemed chancy at best.

CHAPTER 14: DESIRE.

Fornax paced with Jaylin's body. "Where is that courier guard? It's time for his hourly report."

Jaylin tried to conceal her private glee, but of course that was impossible. Fornax's mind was right with hers, and knew her thoughts. So she had to speak. "You know you lost five guards. The rest must have gotten nulled too."

"Charging three enemies together? That is unlikely." But the Demoness's desire was strongly tinged by doubt. The Swell Foop had given her one emotion, but she was picking up others from Jaylin. The mortal filter not only softened the prime emotion, it relayed a minor symphony of lesser emotions.

Again Jaylin tried to hide her thought, but could not. "Breanna of the Black Wave can see in darkness. That gives her an advantage in the dungeon."

Fornax made a mental picture of two huge black holes colliding and transforming into a single super-quasar that blew out a quarter of the universe in a shower of ferocious implosions. Jaylin wondered what the image would have been had her Fooped emotion been rage instead of desire.

"Then we shall have to act," Fornax said. She got Jaylin's body up and marched into Justin's cell.

This did not look good.

"Earth, do you not find me interesting?" Fornax demanded as Justin stood before her.

"I hope you have decided to release me," he said. That would be Demon Earth, rather than mortal Justin.

"I desire to keep you with me. We can do much together."

"I hope only to go home."

Fornax opened her robe enough to show a bit of unharnessed breast. "Perhaps, after this."

He averted his eyes. "That is not your body."

"It will do." Fornax stepped toward him. "Look."

"Unhand that man!"

Both Fornax and Jaylin were startled. They turned. There was Breanna of the Black Wave, or maybe Demoness Venus. She had won through!

"Breanna!" Justin cried gladly.

"Justin-Demon Earth-come with me. We're leaving this castle." Breanna stepped toward him.

Fornax moved to intercept her. "No. He remains with me."

"Don't let her tag you!" Justin cried.

"Be quiet, or I'll freak you," Fornax snapped, flipping her hem up partway.

"That's right," Breanna said. "You can tag me, but I can't tag you, because you're a king."

"A king?" Fornax asked, perplexed.

"The lead piece in a chess game," Jaylin explained. She spoke aloud, because in the distraction of blocking off Breanna, Fornax had left the voice connected. "The pieces can be taken and removed from play, but the king can't. He must be checked-threatened-and warned. Only when he is cornered and unable to escape check does the game end."

"Then what is Earth?"

"He is the other king. Kings can't tag each other."

"But I will prevent his escape, and win the game," Fornax said. "Then I will be able to use him in the manner I desire." She flipped the hem again. She was really intrigued. She had some embarra.s.sing ideas about what to do with their mortal bodies, before proceeding with the next stage of her nullification of the universe. Jaylin would have blushed, had she had sufficient control of her body.

"The bleep you will!" Breanna said. "I'm taking him out of here, and you can go soak your steaming b.u.t.t in a watery nebula."

"Not if I tag you first." Fornax lifted Jaylin's hand. It was an uneven contest, because Breanna could not tag back; all she could do was block.

Breanna tried to get around her, but Fornax maneuvered to stay between her and Justin. "Have it your way, then, canine," Breanna said, and grabbed Jaylin's hands, preventing a tag. She tried to heave her to the side, but Fornax countered, trying to throw Breanna to the side instead.

They struggled, each shoving the other forth and back. Their bodies came together, hands still locked. They were in a kind of dance, but it wasn't friendly.

Then it changed. Demoness Venus was with Breanna, and she was suffused with love. That love transferred, making Fornax feel it too. She loved Venus.

"Feel that desire!" Venus breathed. She kissed Fornax on Jaylin's mouth.

Fornax kissed back. "I love you," she whispered.

Then Breanna pushed her violently away. "The bleep you do!" She retreated, breathing hard.

Jaylin remembered that the mortals controlled the bodies of the lesser pieces. Breanna had a.s.serted herself and broken up the clinch. "Thanks," Jaylin said.

Breanna's lips quirked. "It's Justin I want to do that to, no offense."

Fornax, having tasted the interaction of their emotions, was now reconsidering. "Yes, it is Demon Earth I desire, not another female."

"Go desire some other man," Breanna snapped. "This one's mine!"

"Not while the game continues." Without warning, Fornax spun about and threw herself on Justin. She wrapped Jaylin's arms around him, bearing him back against the wall, pressed Jaylin's front to his, and kissed him fiercely. Unable to retreat, Justin sank to the floor, but she stayed with him, wrapping Jaylin's legs around his and tearing at his b.u.t.tonless shirt.

Breanna made a sound like that of a tiger whose tail had been trodden on. She pounced on the pair, taking handfuls of whatever was there. That happened to be Fornax's robe, which was coming apart. She brought her face down, baring her teeth for a vicious bite of whatever else.

Again, the Demon emotions took hold. Now there was a melding of extreme desire, love, and hope. It was clear by the Demon thoughts that all of them felt all three. Instead of biting off someone's nose, Breanna kissed someone's mouth. It wasn't clear whose. Instead of trying to push away a torso, Justin's hand stroked an anonymous breast. Meanwhile clothing was getting shredded.

And again, Breanna fought back. "Break it up!" she cried, shoving away someone's face and someone else's chest. "This isn't what any of us want!" She got a knee in between several legs and wedged them apart.

Fornax rolled on the floor, ejected from the cl.u.s.ter. She jumped up. Breanna and Justin climbed back to their feet, panting. The three of them stared at each other at close range, then backed away, giving themselves more room. Justin's shirt was half off, Breanna's skirt was rolled up around her waist so that her black panties were exposed, and Jaylin's robe was open to the floor.

Justin shrugged. "You ladies are showing more than you ought," he said, as he tucked his shirt back into his waistband.

Breanna started to untangle her skirt, but paused. "Justin, why aren't you freaked out?"

He smiled. "This is not Xanth. The magic is limited. I think what you are both showing is most interesting indeed, but hardly sufficient to make me forfeit my consciousness." That realization had evidently made him largely immune to the effect that had mesmerized him before.

Jaylin and Breanna exchanged a glance, then completed their rea.s.sembly. A significant weapon had been nullified. "So we have a standoff," Breanna said. "n.o.body can score."

"I think not," Fornax said. "The object for me is to prevent Demon Earth from departing this castle today. I can do that by clasping him-"

"If you do, I'll clasp you," Breanna said. "The way I just did, making it a threesome."

"And suffer the consequences of unfettered desire, love, and hope?"

"If that's the way it's gotta be, to stop you from molesting him."

"I think you have not thought this through," Fornax said smugly.

"Yeah? How not?"

"First, your contact will not prevent what you quaintly call molestation, but augment it as you yourself partic.i.p.ate in it. The a.s.signed emotions will merge and govern."

"Bleep," Breanna swore, conceding the point.

"Second, if we indulge in reckless pa.s.sions indefinitely, as seems likely given the power of the emotions and the Demons involved, the time will expire without Earth's escape, and the victory in the game will be mine."

"Double bleep!"

"So why don't you save yourselves embarra.s.sment and concede the game? Then, Venus, you may join in, if you wish, indulging your love without distraction. And you, Breanna, may in due course take Justin back to your homeland, because he is merely the carrier, not the object of the game. I have no designs on him personally. There is no need for us to quarrel further."

Breanna hesitated.

"Don't do it," Justin said. "Fornax represents contra-terrene matter. If she a.s.sumes power in our realm, all of it will be destroyed. There will be no love for us, no marriage, because we will cease to exist."

"Triple bleep! That's worse yet. We can't let her win."

"I will not let him go," Fornax said. "If you attempt to join him, I will join you, and we will have the threesome, which will be my eventual victory. I think you would prefer not to indulge in that scenario."

Breanna paused, evidently consulting with Venus. Jaylin quailed; she saw no way to balk Fornax's victory. Certainly she didn't want to be part of any group pa.s.sion scene.

Then Breanna nodded. "There is another option. Justin can just walk out the front gate." She faced him. "Here's the key. Go." She tossed it, and he caught it.

"I will not allow that, either," Fornax said evenly. "I will clasp him the moment he moves toward that exit, and thoroughly seduce him. He will not be able to leave, even if he should want to."

"We've been through that already," Breanna said. "I won't just stand by and let you mess with him."

Fornax shrugged. "A twosome or a threesome; both are intriguing, and both will bring me victory. We shall have to play it out." She took a step toward Justin.

Breanna leaped, tackling her before she got there. The two of them crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs and flying hair. "Get out of here, Justin!" she cried as she wrestled with Jaylin's body.

But Fornax refused to yield. "Remain with me, Earth! We shall satisfy both hope and desire together."

Justin, evidently prompted by Demon Earth, hesitated. Jaylin wasn't sure which one governed that body. If it was Earth, Fornax might influence him. If it was Justin, Fornax's control of Jaylin's body might influence him. What would he do?

"Leave the castle!" Breanna screamed as she captured Jaylin's hands and held them tightly, preventing any tag. "The moment you're out, we win. Then we can go home and get married, and I'll give you everything you ever thought about dreaming of, and some you wouldn't even have the nerve to imagine. And the Demon Earth can watch, for all I care. I came from Mundania, after all. Just start walking!"

Justin nodded, and started walking.

"Stay!" Fornax called. "Then you can enjoy everything she has now, and everything I have too, all together." She managed to shift about so that the robe was open again, and Jaylin's panties were showing. "Everything! In one swell foop, as it were."

Justin paused. That was one potent offer, unfortunately. And Fornax wasn't bluffing. She wanted to keep Justin/Earth thoroughly occupied for the rest of the day and night. Jaylin quailed.

"It's the Swell Foop that got us into this," Breanna cried. "It's time to wrap this up and retire it. Walk!"

Justin hesitated, then resumed walking.

Fornax could not free her hands, but she was able to stretch Breanna and herself into a rather naughty position, in the manner of female wrestlers. "Look at this!" she cried. "You will never have another chance! In duplicate, yet. You will love it, I guarantee. Stay and be wickedly delighted."

Justin paused, looking. He was, after all, a man. He couldn't help it. He seemed to be on the verge of freaking out despite the lack of freakout magic.

"If you love me, leave me!" Breanna cried, struggling to get something halfway out of sight.

And that did it. Justin wrenched his gaze away and walked on out of the room. They heard his footsteps moving toward the front gate.

"Don't goooo!" Fornax wailed despairingly.

The footsteps stopped. "Justin was always a sucker for a maiden in distress," Breanna muttered ferociously.