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FAUN AND GAMESBY PIERS ANTHONYSynopsis:The latest Xanth adventure by the author of more than 20 successive NewYork Times bestsellers. For Forrest Faun, a young tree faun searchingfor a suitable spirit to save a magical tree, the astonishingworld-within-a-world of the tiny planet Ptero may be the place where hewill find the answer to his quest. Piers Anthony puns his way intoquantum physics in this delightful journey.This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed inthis novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiouslyFAUN & GAMESCopyright (D 1997 by Piers AnthonyAll rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, orportions thereof, in any form.This book is printed on acid-free paper.A Tor Book Published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. 175 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY 10010Tor Books on the World Wide Web: littp://w.tor.cornTorQ is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.Library of Congress Cataloging -. ,- Publication Data Anthony, Piers.Faun and gaines / Piers Anthony.-1st ed.P. cm."A Tom Doherty Associates book."ISBN 0-312-86162-I acid-free)I. Title.PS355l,v3F38 1997 97-19362 813'.54-de2l CIPFirst Edition: October 1997 Printed in the United States of America0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Hey, Faun, how about some fun?"Forrest Faun rubbed what remained of his night's sleep out of his eyesand looked down to the base of his tree. There stood a fetching nymphwith all the usual nymphly features: pretty face, flowing hair, perfectfigure, and no clothing. But there was something amiss."What do you mean'?" he asked as he sat up in a fork, still getting hisbearings.,.What do you think I mean, Faun? Come down and chase me, the way faunsalways do to nymphs."Then he had it. "You're no nymph.""Oh, pooh!" she swore, pouting. She dissolved into smoke and reformedas a luscious clothed demoness. "I am D. Mentia, out seeking routineentertainment or mischief while my better half waxes disgustinglymotherly. What gave me away?""If I tell you, will you go somewhere else?" It was usually possible toget rid of demons if one made a suitable deal with them."Yes, if you want me to." Her bright yellow dress fuzzed, showing thevague outline of her body beneath, with almost a suggestion of aforbidden panty line.So there was a catch. "Why wouldn't I want you to?""Because I have dreadful information that will puzzle and alarm you andperhaps change your whole outlook."That seemed like adequate reason. Forrest, now fully awake, jumped downto the ground, landing neatly on his hoofs. "What gave you away wasyour manner. You were not acting like a nymph. You were way tooforward and intelligent. Much of a nymph's appeal is in her seemingreticence and lack of intellect. Now what's this dreadful information?""Follow me." Mentia whirled in place, so that her body twisted into atight spiral before untwisting facing the opposite direction, and walkedaway. Her skirt shrank so as to show her legs as far up as was feasiblewithout running out of limb. But of course Forrest didn't notice,because nothing a demoness showed was very real.She led him across the glade to a tree on the far side. "See."Forrest stared with dismay at the clog tree. It was wilting, and itsclogs were falling to the ground. That could mean only one thing: ithad lost its spirit.As it happened, the clog tree's spirit was Forrest's friend: BranchFaun. They had known each other for almost two centuries, because theirtwo trees were in sight of each other. Almost every day Forrest woulddrop out of his sandalwood tree, and join Branch in the glade betweenthem to dance a J'lg or two. With luck, their 'igging would attract thefleeting attention of a nymph or three, who would join ill, jiggling.With further luck, jig and Jiggle would lead to a pleasant chase andcelebration.But this morning Branch's tree was in a sad state. It wouldn't fade sosoon if its faun were merely absent; fauns and nymphs shared anawareness with their trees that alerted them instantly if harm came toeither. Let a human forester even come near such a tree with an axe,and its faun would have a fit. Let a faun split a hoof, and his treewould shudder. Such reactions were independent of distance; a fauncould run far away from his tree, and still be closely attuned to it.They felt each other's pain."Are you trying to ignore me?" Mentia asked warningly. Demollessescould handle almost anything except that."No. You're right. I am puzzled and alarmed by this dreadful scene. Doyou know anythin, about it?""No. I just happened to note it in passing, so I looked for the closestcreature who might be tormented by it."He glanced at her. "You're one crazy organism.""Thank you," she said, flushing red with candy stripes. The colorextended to her clothing and hair, and traces of it radiated into theair around her.The clog tree's distress meant that Branch was in serious trouble, ifnot dead. What could have happened? Branch had been fine yesterday. Infact he had encountered a nymph from a lady slipper tree whose slippersgave her special fleetness, just as the sandals from Forrest'ssandalwood tree gave him excellent footing, and the clogs from Branch'stree protected his hoofs. They had had quite a merry chase. Becausethat was what fauns and nymphs did; they chased each other until theycame together, and then they celebrated in a manner that children werenot supposed to see. Because it did tend to get dull just sitting inone's tree all the time.In fact, Forrest now remembered, the nymph, clad only in her slippers,had led Branch a chase right out of sight. Meanwhile her friend from anoak tree, named Kara 0ke, had done some very nice singing to backgroundmusic of wind through trees, so Forrest had had his own distraction.Naturally he had chased her, and naturally she had fled, but not tooswiftly, because she was still singing her oak song. So he had caughther, and they had celebrated in the usual fashion, while she continuedsinging. That had been interesting, because she had sung of everydetail of the experience they were sharing, making it a work of musicalart. Then she had returned to her tree, satisfied that her song worked.There weren't any other nymphs around at the moment, so Forrest hadreturned to his own tree and settled down for the night. And now hisfriend was gone."So what are you going to do about it?" Mentia inquired.Do? She was right; he probably should be doing something. But what?"What do you think?""I think you will follow their footprints, so you can find out whathappened to them.""Now that's really sensible," he agreed.The demoness turned smoky black. "Darn!"He set off in search of them. He had no trouble following their tracks:her slipper prints, which were hourglass shaped, in the manner of thenymph herself, and his clog prints, which were forceful and furred. Theylooped around other trees, as she made cute dodges and diversions. Itwas the chase that counted; fauns and nymphs loved lo run almost as muchas they loved to dance. The better the chase, the better thecelebration at the end. Forrest remembered a nymph once who had been ina bad mood, because her tree was suffering a fungus infestation, and hadsimply stood there. This was of course a complete turn-off, and no faunhad touched her. Any nymph who wanted nothing to do with any particularfaun had only to refuse to move, and he would leave her alone. Sometimesa nymph teased a faun, pretending disinterest, then leaping into pursuitthe moment he turned his back. If she caught him, it was her advantage,and he had to do whatever she wanted. Of course that was exactly thesame as what he wanted, but other fauns would taunt him unmercifully forgetting caught.Mentia, floating along beside him, was getting bored. "Are you readyfor me to depart?""Yes," he agreed absently."Good." She remained where she was. He realized that he should haveurged her to stay-, then she would have been sure that he was up tonothing interesting.The tracks veered toward the Void. That was the nearby reion of noreturn. Of course every faun and nymph knew better than to enter it,because there was no way out of it. Anything that crossed the boundarywas doomed. Only special creatures, like the night mares, could escapeit, because they weren't real in the way ordinary folk were. They hadvery little substance."Don't float too near the Void," Forrest warned the demoness.She changed course to approach the boundary, then paused. "Say, you area cunning one!" she said with admiration. "You knew I'd automaticallydo the opposite. It almost worked, too. But I'm only a little crazy.You have to be a lot crazy to venture into the Void.""Maybe next time," he muttered.The nymph was clearly teasing Branch, by passing flirtingly close to thefringe of the Void. Her prints almost touched the boundary, then movedaway, then came close again. The menace of that drelid region added tothe thrill of the chase. Forrest had done it too, and knew exactly thesteps to take to be sure of never straying across the line.Then his sandals balked. He stopped, perplexed; what was the matter?His sandals were magic, and protected his hoofs from harm, and if hewere about to step somewhere harmful, they stopped him. Yet he sawnothing ahead to be concerned about."So what's with you?" Mentia asked. "Tired of walking?""I didn't stop," he explained. "My sandals did.""Say, I'm getting to like you. You're almost as weird as I am.""That's impossible.""Thank you." This time her flus...
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