Two of the individuals coming toward them were, indeed, human. The third was an ox, pulling a tall two-wheeled cart. When close enough, they hailed the party in a tongue neither Na nor Im understood.

  “They are very light,” Im whispered to the sorceress. “But not their hair.” The pair, woman and man, and seemingly rather young, were compact, with bck hair. No, the one was a dark brown, the boy noted. Their golden-brown skin, certainly somewhat lighter than the Hirstelites, reminded Im of the sun on the desert sands. That is, where they were not covered by unadorned kilt and tunic, or shaded by their wide-brimmed straw hats.

  The two wondered more, perhaps, at the beast of burden. Large animals did not live in Hirstel. They had become the stuff of legend — legend that sometimes made them out to be both voracious and dangerous.

  Xido conversed with the couple for some time. Occasionally they gnced toward the two Hirstelites and Im was sure he heard the word Tesratapa repeated more than once. That was what it sounded like, anyway.

  Then a parting with smiles and bows and more gnces toward Im and Na. As they rolled away, it could be seen their oxcart was half-filled with some sort of globur white-and-purple objects.

  Yes, of course they were turnips. You and I would know this but Na and Im had never seen such things before. And no, I don’t much like turnips either.

  “They assumed you were Tesrans,” Xido told them. “Their ships do visit the coasts south of here, but not very frequently.” He gazed that direction, appearing to be in thought for a moment. “That’s some days’ journey yet but there is a vilge near us.”

  “Tesrans. Those are our retives of whom you told us, are they not?” asked Na.

  Added Im, “The ones across the sea?”

  “They are. Tesrans still look somewhat like their ancestors but not nearly so much as you two. There has been mixing with other peoples over the centuries.” He stopped and turned to his companions. “I told them you had been on a long journey of exploration and hoped to return to your people. We’d best stick to that tale.”

  “Safe?” asked Qu’orthseth, who slipped out from among the concealing trees.

  “For now,” replied Xido. “You’ll have to hide quite frequently, I fear. These people do not have dealings with demons. I don’t know what we’ll do if we board a ship!”

  “There are methods,” replied the red beast. “For example.” It stood quite still and began to reduce in height, slowly, and its color began to slip from crimson to a ruddy gold. When it finished, what could pass for a golden statue stood before them, a little more than waist height on Im, who was tallest of the trio.

  “Qu’orthseth?” No reply came. Then the form began to expand, taking two or three minutes to return to its normal monstrous self.

  “I can’t speak when I do that,” it expined. “Nor move nor pretty much anything else. But I can pass for a statue.” A cavernous chuckle. “And I weigh as much as ever so don’t think to be carrying me about!”

  Xido considered this. “So we could stow you in a hold for a sea journey?”

  “I’d rather be a figurehead or the like. I can still sense everything in that form.”

  Im recalled something the demon had mentioned. “That is your shape as a bud, isn’t it? You unfold into the other form.”

  A deafening cacophony of a ugh welled from the creature. “It is so! I am a flower now!” A tad more subdued, it continued, “In a manner of speaking. You are astute to have recognized this, Master Im.”

  The boy shrugged. “It made sense.”

  “So it does,” agreed Xido. “But I would probably have never thought of it.” The god chuckled. “Nor would I have been inclined to care.”

  “That’s a god for you,” said Qu’orthseth.

  “Have you other forms?” Na asked.

  “None useful to you, nor in this world. They are for, ah, reproduction.”

  “That sounds interesting. But indeed not useful,” replied the wizardess.

  “Not unless you were another demon of its realm,” said Xido. “Then one of you could shake your spores on the other.”

  “Hmmm, yes,” rumbled the demon. It seemed ill at ease with the topic.

  Consider that a warning, should you ever bump into a demon, to avoid those sort of personal matters. Oh, you don’t think that’s likely to happen? So have others, my friend, so have others.

  Im called out a warning. “More people ahead.” Qu’orthseth immediately slipped into the underbrush, disappearing surprisingly quickly for a creature its size and leaving barely a quaver of a branch or stem of grass to mark its passage.

  “Will they have food?” asked Im. “I want to try food from this world.”

  “It might make you sick at first,” warned Xido. “Eat sparingly and wean yourself from the food of Hirstel. Also —” He frowned at his thought before sharing it. “There are almost certainly diseases here to which you have no natural immunity. I see many sick days for the both of you.”

  “As long as they don’t kill us. That would upset Qu’orthseth considerably.”

  “Not likely,” Xido answered and raised an arm in greeting to the folk ahead. Again, he used the Ildin speech, leaving Na and Im quite in the dark.

  As they strolled on into a vilge of a dozen or so round thatch-roofed houses — some might have been storage sheds — Xido informed them, “They offer their hospitality. They are good people, these Ildin, but we would do well not to take advantage of them. A night in one of their houses, a meal or two, but no more without payment of some sort.”

  “We have nothing,” stated Na.

  Xido nodded an agreement. “We could pay them with gold or silver pulled from another world. It would disappear eventually and that is a dirty trick to py on good people like these.” He chuckled. “Especially should we have need to pass through here again.”

  “Perhaps an entertainment,” suggested Im. He reached out and pulled a dove out of the air. The boy frowned when it popped out of existence almost immediately.

  “You learn quickly,” observed Xido. “Living creatures are the most difficult.”

  Na muttered what was surely a curse.

  “You are unhappy, my Lady Na?” asked Xido.

  “Am I to again be the second-best magician?” A bark of a ugh. “Third, if I count you!”

  The deity regarded her, calmly, for a moment before speaking. “Na, this is an extremely rge world compared to the one within the walls of Hirstel. You and Im could live on opposite sides, if you wish.”

  “I don’t know if I even want to go to this Tesra,” stated Im. “Is it any better than right here?” He spoke no more for they were now surrounded by vilgers and Xido again conversed with them. They looked much like the pair they had passed earlier, not rge people, attired in long kilts or tunics, both men and women covering up their torsos but generally bare of foot.

  That there were young women among them, Im did not fail to notice. Another pce might indeed be no better than right here!

  Na whispered to him. “You are going to be vulnerable without the demon near to protect you.”

  Im knew this was true. “We have Xido.” His eyes turned to the god. He didn’t look like much, a small, lean man. Oh, there was a vitality to him, to be sure.

  “Yes, Xido,” murmured Na. “For how long?” Were there other, unvoiced questions? Im suspected so.

  The god returned to them. “We can shelter in that one for the night.” He gestured toward a nearby hut. “There will be a meal ter. And then we can start on the lessons you two must learn!”