"I have looked into my sister's face many times! There is no harm in her!"
Humfrey lifted his mirror again. "It affects men only?" he asked, and the smiling baby agreed.
It seemed the siren really did not know the devastating effect her sister's face had on men. So for years she had innocently lured in males-for the gorgon to turn to stone.
"We shall have to talk with your sister," Humfrey said.
"The path continues to her island," the siren informed him. "What will I do, without my dulcimer?"
"Your voice is pretty enough without any accompaniment, and so are you," Bink said diplomatically. It was true as far as it went; had she a lower portion to match her upper portion, it would have been true all the way. "You can sing acapella, without accompaniment."
"I can?" she inquired, brightening. "Will it bring nice men like you?"
"No. But perhaps a nice man will find you, regardless." Bink turned to the Magician. "How can we approach the gorgon? One glance-"
"We shall have to deal with her in the morning," Humfrey decided. Bink had lost track of time. The stars had been emerging at the village, then they had charged into the night of the jungle to battle the tangle tree, thence to this island-where it seemed dusk was only now falling. Did that make sense? Bink had somehow assumed that the sun set all over Xanth at the same instant, but realized that this was not necessarily so. But he had other things to worry about at the moment, and listened to the rest of Humfrey's speech: "Siren, if you have food and bed-"
"I'm not really that kind of female," she demurred.
Bink looked at her sleek fishtail. "Obviously not. We only want a place to sleep."
"Oh." She sounded disappointed. "Actually, I could become that kind, if-" She shimmered, and her tail transposed into two fetching legs.
"Just sleep," Chester said. It seemed his hearing was returning naturally. "And food."
But her indignation had not yet run its course. "After you impaled me with your old messy arrow, and broke my dulcimer?"
"I'm sorry," Chester said shortly. "I have a headache."
As well he might, Bink thought. Why hadn't the ornery creature accepted a drop of elixir for his head as well as for his tail?
"If you were really sorry, you'd show it," she said. Crombie squawked. "She's setting her hooks into you already, ass," the golem said.
Doubly annoyed, Chester glowered at the siren. "How?"
"By giving me a ride on your back."
Bink almost laughed. Nymphs of any type loved to ride!
"Ride, then," Chester said, disconcerted. She walked to his side, but was unable to mount "You're too tall," she complained.
Chester turned his front portion, wrapped one arm about her slender waist, and hauled her up easily. "Eeek!" she screamed, delighted, as her feet swished through the air. "You're so strong!"
Crombie squawked again, and his remark needed no interpretation. She was, indeed, working her wiles on the centaur, needing no siren song.
Chester, not in the best of moods after his encounter with the pineapple, was visibly mollified. "All centaurs are strong." He set her neatly on his back, and walked forward.
The siren grabbed two handfuls of his mane. "My, your shoulders are so broad! And what sleek fur you have. You must be the handsomest centaur of all!"
"From the rear, maybe," he agreed. He began to trot.
"Oooh, that's fun!" she cried, letting go just long enough to clap her hands together girlishly. "You must be the smartest centaur, and the fastest-" She paused. "Could you, maybe, make a little jump?"
Chester, now quite puffed up by her praise, made a tremendous leap. The siren screamed and flew off his back. They were at the edge of the water, since this was a small island, and she plunked into the lake. "Uh, sorry," Chester said, mortified. "Guess I overdid it." He reached down to fish her out.
Fish her out he did: her legs had changed back into a tail. "No harm done," the mermaid said. "I am quite at home in the water." And she wriggled within his grasp, bringing her face to his and planting a wet kiss on him.
Crombie squawked. "There's no fool like a horse-reared fool," the golem said.
"That's for sure," Chester agreed, now in a good mood. "Just don't tell Cherie."
"Cherie?" the siren asked, frowning.
"My filly. The prettiest thing in Xanth. She's back home, tending our foal. His name is Chet."
She assimilated that. "How nice," she said, disgruntled. "I'd better see to your fodder now, and stall space."
Bink smiled privately. Chester wasn't such a fool after all!
They had a modest repast of fish and sea cucumber, and bedded down in a pile of soft dry sponges. Bink stretched out his feet-and banged into another pile of dirt. This time he was too tired to stomp it flat, so he ignored it.
The siren, having given up on the centaur, nestled down in the dark beside Bink. "Say," he said, remembering. "We have to give service for hospitality!"
Crombie squawked. "You give service, noodle-brain," Grundy said. "You're closest to her."
"Service?" the siren inquired, nudging him.
Bink found himself blushing furiously in the dark. Damn Crombie's innuendo! "Uh, nothing," he said, and pretended to fall suddenly asleep. Very soon it was no pretense.
In the morning they bade farewell to the siren after taking the time to break up some wood for her cooking fire-a service she appreciated, as she was not much for that sort of thing. They set about braving her sister. "The rest of you must be blindfolded," Humfrey decided. "I will use the mirror."
So he could view the gorgon indirectly, of course. That was the only way to look at such creatures; everyone knew that. Yet why did a mirror work? The image in the glass should be as horrendous as the original.
"Polarization," the Magician explained without being asked. "The magic of partial images."
That didn't clarify things much. But a more important question remained. "What do we do, to stop the-" Bink did not want to use the word "kill" in the presence of the innocent siren. Getting close to the gorgon was one thing; dispatching her while blindfolded was another.
"We shall see," Humfrey said. They submitted to blindfolding, including the golem. Then they formed a chain to follow the Good Magician, who walked backward on the path between the islands, using the mirror to see ahead. In this case he was not utilizing its magic, but merely the ordinary reflection: the natural magic all mirrors possessed.
It was strange and uncomfortable, crossing the water sightlessly. How awful it would be, to lose forever the power of seeing! What magic was better than the natural senses of life?
Bink's feet felt hard land. "You stand here, facing out," Humfrey told them. "Just in case. I will deal with the gorgon."
Still nervous, Bink obeyed. He felt tempted to rip off the blindfold, turn about, and look at the gorgon-but not strongly tempted. Once he had stood atop a tall mountain and suffered an urge to throw himself off it, similarly; it was as if there were a death urge in him along with the life urge. Perhaps the urge to adventure was drawn from the same wellspring. "Gorgon," Humfrey said.
Right behind Bink, she answered. "I am she. Welcome to my isle." Her voice was dulcet; she sounded even more attractive than her sister. "Why do you not look at me?"