"That's a tunnel dragon-I think," Jewel said. "But something's missing."
"The magic," Bink said. "It's changing into a mundane creature-and it doesn't understand."
"You mean I'll change into a mundane woman?" she inquired, not entirely displeased.
"I believe so. There really is not much difference between a nymph and a-"
"They usually don't bother people," she continued uneasily. Before Bink could react, she added: "They're very shy dragons."
Oh. A nymphly nonsequitur. Bink kept his hand near his sword. "This is an unusual occasion."
Sure enough, the legged serpent charged, jaws gaping wide. Though it was small for a land dragon, since it was adapted to squeeze through narrow passages, it was still a formidable creature. Its head was larger than Bink's, and its body sinuously powerful. In the conditions of this cavern, Bink could not swing his sword freely, so he held it out ahead of him.
The serpent snapped at the blade-a foolish thing to do, since the charmed blade would likely cut its jaw in two. The teeth closed on it-and the blade was yanked out of Bink's hand.
Then he remembered: without magic, the sword's charm was gone. He had to make it work by himself-completely.
The serpent flung the sword aside and opened its jaws again. There was blood on its lower lip; the blade had done some minor damage. But now Bink faced the monster barehanded.
The head struck forward. Bink danced backward. But as the strike missed, and the head dropped low, Bink struck the serpent on the top of the head with his fist. The thing hissed in furious amazement as its chin-less chin bashed into the floor. But Bink's foot was already on its neck, crushing it down. The serpent's legs scraped across the stone as it tried to free itself. But Bink had it pinned.
"My sword!" he cried. Jewel hastily picked it up and extended it point-first toward him. Bink was already grabbing for it before he noticed, and then almost lost his balance and his captive as he aborted his grab. "Other way!" he snapped.
"Oh." It had not occurred to her that he would need to take hold of the handle. She was a complete innocent about weapons. She took it gingerly by the blade and poked the hilt in his direction.
But as he took it, the serpent wrenched free. Bink jumped back, his sword ready.
The thing had had enough. It backed away-an awkward maneuver when slithering-then dived into a side-hole. "You're so brave!" Jewel said.
"I was stupid to let it disarm me," he said gruffly. He was not at all proud of the encounter; it had been fraught with clumsiness, not at all elegant. Just a stupid, indecisive brawl. "Let's get on before I make a worse mistake. I brought you out of your home, and I'll get you back there safely before I leave you. It's only right."
"Only right," she repeated faintly. "Something wrong?"
"What am I going to do without magic?" she flared. "Nothing will work!"
Bink considered. "You're right. I have wrecked your livelihood. I'd better take you to the surface with me." She brightened, then dulled. "No, that wouldn't work."
"It's all right. I told you the potion has no effect now. I don't love you; I won't be bothering you. You can settle in one of the villages, or maybe work in the King's palace. It won't be much without magic, but it has to be better than this." He made a gesture, indicating the dismal caverns.
"I wonder," she murmured.
They continued. Jewel did know the labyrinth of the caverns fairly well, once they were out of the Demon's depths, and brought them steadily if circuitously upward. Beyond the immediate region of the Demon's vacancy there had not been much damage. But everywhere the magic was gone, and the creatures were crazed. Rats tried to zap him with their rodent magic, and failed, and resorted to teeth. They were no more used to naked teeth as weapons than Bink was to using an uncharmed sword, so the sides were fair. He drove them back with slashing sweeps of his sword. There might be no magic in the blade, but the edge remained sharp and it could hurt and kill.
Still, it took a lot of energy to swing that sword, and his arm grew tired. There had been another charm to make the sword lighter and more responsive to direction, without making it self-willed like the one that had attacked Bink in the gardens of Castle Roogna. The rats crowded closer, staying just out of range and coming in to nip at his heels when he climbed. Jewel was no better off; she lacked even a knife of her own. and had to borrow Bink's knife to defend herself. A monster could be killed but these smaller creatures seemed inexhaustible. They weren't nickelpedes, fortunately, but they were reminiscent of them.
"The way-it'll will be dark in places," Jewel said. "I hadn't thought-without magic there's no glow, no magic light. I'm afraid of the dark."
There had been some residual glow, but it was fading. Bink looked at the rats, so close. "With reason," he said. "We have to see what we're fighting." He felt naked without his talent, though it only protected him against magic-a protection that was irrelevant now. For practical purposes his situation was unchanged, since no magic threatened him. Not now or ever again. "Fire-we need fire for light. Torches-if we can make torches-"
"I know where some fire stones are!" Jewel said. But she reconsidered immediately. "Only I don't think they are working, without magic."
"Do you know where there's dry grass-I mean straw-something we could twist up tight and burn? And-but I don't know how the Mundanes make fire, so-"
"I know where there's magic fire-" She broke off. Oh, this is awful! No magic-" She looked as if about to cry. As Bink knew, real sternness of character was not to be found in nymphs. They seemed to have been fashioned by magic to accommodate man's casual dreams, not his serious ones.
Yet he had cried, too, when he first grasped the immensity of what he had done. How much of his perception of the nature of nymphs was human-chauvinistic?
"I know," Bink cried, surprising himself. "There was something burning-I smelled it before. If we went there-picked up some of whatever's burning-"
"Great!" she agreed, with a flash of nymph-enthusiasm. Or female enthusiasm, he corrected his impression mentally.
They soon found it by following their noses: the remains of a magic garden the goblins must have tended, now sere and brown. The dead foliage was smoldering, and the smoke formed layers in the upper reaches of the garden cave. The goblins, of course, were far removed from this region; they had been so afraid of the fire that they had not even tried to put it out.
Bink and Jewel gathered what seemed like the best material, forming it into an irregular rope, and lit the end. The thing guttered and flared and went out in a cloud of awful-smelling smoke. But after several tries they got it working better; it was enough to have it smolder until they needed an open flame, which they could blow up anytime. Jewel carried it; it gave her a feeling of security she sorely needed, and Bink had to have his hands free for fighting.
Now the worst of the enemies were the goblins, who evidently resented the intrusion into their garden. There had been no direct evidence of them before-but of course they had been on the diggle, with protective magic and much light. In the absence of light the goblins grew bolder. They seemed to have been bred from men and rats. Now that the magic was gone, the man-aspect was diminishing and the rat-aspect was becoming more pronounced. Bink realized that this was evident mostly in their habits; physically they still resembled brutish little men, with big soft feet and small hard heads.