Chapter Five
In Which Wax Wings Do Double Duty

It was a pleasantly uneventful flight. The Glitch-chariot was a very smooth ride; Bob leaned his elbows on the front of the chariot and watched indulgently as the children played tag and tried to imitate the cries of the occasional hawks they passed. As they neared the other side of the sea, the land ahead resolved itself into low cliffs. Closer still, they could see a pass through the cliffs: the continuation of the path.

"Is that the other path over there?" asked Val, squinting off to the right.

Bob followed her gaze. "I think you're right. And they meet... there. Any sign of the User?" he added, but without much hope, since from this distance the path was little more than a faint line.

Matrix, however, nodded. "I see him. Looks like we're ahead of him, but just barely. I think we'd better pick up the pace." He flapped his arms furiously. Val and Enzo streaked after him. The horses began to gallop.

"You know, this is pretty fast," said Val. "Maybe we should just fly the rest of the way."

Bob shook his head. "Nice idea, but I doubt the Game will let us."

Sure enough, the nearer they got to the shore, the lower Matrix and Val found themselves flying. They would have to land. They did so. The wings were left to lie on the beach, Glitch resumed its station around Bob's neck, and the quartet proceeded down the dusty path between the cliffs. They moved at a rather better pace than before, for the restful chariot ride, together with the slight adrenal effect of being in a Game, had relieved Bob's fatigue considerably.

"There's a rock in my sandal," complained Val.

"So?" said Bob. "They're sandals. Just shake it out."

"Yeah, but they keep getting in. Dust, too. I definitely prefer boots. Stuff doesn't get - "

"Everyone stop and turn around right now," said Matrix in a soft but urgent voice. Startled, they complied. Matrix had already suited deed to word. "What's up?" Val asked his back.

"Take a look at some of these rocks," he replied grimly. They took a look. Bob had a sudden feeling of déjà vu.

"Statues of animals?" said Enzo. "Random!"

"Well, whoever made them certainly did a good job," Val remarked, picking up a granite squirrel.

"A little too good," agreed Matrix. He was holding his shield up by the edges and tilting it this way and that, peering at it intently.

"What are you doing?" Val enquired.

"You've got your patterns, I've got mine," he answered, not taking his eyes off the shield. "And this pattern means we've got either a basilisk or… ah. There she is," he said with grim satisfaction. "A gorgon. Just what we needed," he added sourly. "Least this one doesn't have wings."

"What's a gorgon?" asked Enzo.

"That." His golden eye swivelled into position and projected a dim red (\/) onto the inner surface of the shield. It traced a circle around a distant figure reflected in the polished bronze. "Don't look at her, just the reflection."

At that distance, using a concave bronze mirror, it was hard to see clearly, but Bob could make out the shape of a woman sitting on a boulder by the mouth of a cave.

"Gorgons have brass claws and scales," explained Matrix, "but they don't usually need 'em, because anyone or anything who looks at a gorgon gets turned into stone." He sighed. "This is really gonna set us back."

"But you can beat her, right?" said Val.

"Yeah, I can beat her, but it'll take a while," he said in tones of extreme irritation. "Have you ever tried to fight over your shoulder? Or aim in a curved mirror?"

"Oh. I see what you mean." She peered at the reflection. "Why is her hair moving like that?"

"Snakes."

"Snakes?"

"Yeah. Gorgons have snakes for hair. Go figure."

"Users are weird," said Enzo.

Bob smirked. "No argument there."

"These snakes…" said Val slowly. "Anything special about them, or are they just normal, everysecond snakes? Apart from being attached to a Game sprite's head."

"They're just snakes," said Matrix.

"Hmm," said Val, and fell silent.

"My arms are still tired from flying, too," muttered Matrix. "Great." He propped his shield against a boulder, adjusted its angle so it continued to reflect the gorgon, and began a series of upper-body stretches.

"Hang on," said Val. "How intelligent are gorgons, would you say? Sapient?"

"Yeah, or nearly," said Matrix, straightening up and bending the other way. "They're no AIs, but…"

"Good enough," interrupted Val. "Spriteling, think you could fly as well if you were carrying some extra weight?"

"Sure, why?"

Val smiled. "I've got a job for you. Follow me; I'll explain on the way. Bobby, when we come back, stop us before we crash into you." She ran back the way they had come, with Enzo in tow.

"What's she up to now?" asked Matrix.

"I dunno, but it'll be no use asking her until she's done. She likes to show off."

"I'd noticed."

Barely a nanosecond later, Val and Enzo returned. Each was carrying one of the discarded pairs of wings. They were holding them in front of their faces so that they could see nothing but the path just ahead. "That's close enough," said Bob when they were a couple of metres away.

"Hey," said Val. She and Enzo turned around and dropped their burdens. "Okay, spriteling, let's get you into costume." Enzo obligingly removed his cape.

"Costume?" said Matrix. "What are you doing?"

"Saving time." She smiled winsomely at Matrix, then helped the scowling sprite's counterpart into one set of wings. While Enzo flapped his arms curiously, she crouched down and peeled the wax and feathers away from the other set's framework. Dividing the wax into several sections, she affixed the largest onto Enzo's cape, which she then tucked into the back of his belt. Another section was moulded to fit over his cap and come down in front in a sort of beak-shape, effectively obstructing his vision. The remainder of the feathers she stuck haphazardly all over his tunic.

Val stepped back to survey her handiwork. Winged, tailed, and feathered, Enzo now looked like… well, frankly, like a small sprite attempting to look like a very large bird and not succeeding particularly well.

"Perfect," Val proclaimed. She crossed to where Matrix had propped his shield and picked it up. "User, this thing's heavy. All right, birdbrain, up you go."

"Yes ma'am!" With a deafening screech, he shot into the air and flew in the general direction of the gorgon.

Bob was horrified. "Val, what in the Web are you playing at?" he demanded.

"Not now, Bobby." She tilted the shield to get a clear view of both Enzo and the Game sprite. "Bear left!" she shouted. "Up a bit… wide circle… now screech and dive! More… more… pull up! Circle again… more right…"

"What do you think you're doing?" hissed Matrix angrily. "You'll give away our position!"

Val grinned. "Oh, I'm counting on it." While the men gaped at her, she continued calling out directions to Enzo, keeping him above the gorgon as he swooped, circled, and screeched in his very best hawk impression. The gorgon swiped at him with her brass claws, but Val made sure he never got quite within reach.

As Matrix had surmised, the gorgon had risen from her rock and was approaching the source of the shouting. Bob couldn't help feeling that the whole exercise was worse than pointless; even if Enzo had made a remotely realistic bird, Val's shouted instructions gave away the game as well as their location. And he still couldn't see what this charade was meant to accomplish…

The gorgon was quite near now. Even in the curved shield, Bob could see her face clearly; she was actually rather good-looking, in a sharp-featured sort of way, and he had seen far stranger things in the Web than scales and snakes. The snakes, he noticed, were thrashing around madly and snapping at each other.

"That's enough, Enzo! Pull up and stay up!"

With that, Val fell silent, but the gorgon must have seen them long ago. She continued to march toward them, apparently in a foul temper. In all fairness, Bob couldn't blame her.

Val was staring at the Game sprite's reflection with great intensity and nodding slightly in time with her footfalls. She stayed like this until the gorgon was only two paces away. Then she whispered, "Get ready to run if this doesn't work," and, before they could react, hoisted the shield, closed her eyes, and spun around.

It took all Bob's strength of will to keep from doing likewise; that would help nobody! Before he could come up with anything else, though, he heard a gasp, a wail of anguish, and the patter of running feet receding into the distance. Then there was a grinding noise, as of stone scraping against stone. Then, silence.

Val turned back around and checked the shield.

"All clear, Enzo!" She handed the shield back to Matrix and turned once more, flexing her fingers and shaking her arms.

Bob whirled to face her. The gorgon was nowhere in sight, but the boulder on which she had been sitting was now blocking the mouth of the cave.

"All right, Val! You've had your fun. Now what was all that about?"

"Well, Matrix said it would take too long to fight her," Val said innocently. "So I got rid of her."

"But how?" howled Bob. "How does Enzo pretending to be a bird get rid of a gorgon?"

Val leaned against the rock wall to the left of the path. "Three simple principles. One," she said, ticking the simple principles off on her fingers, "hawks are predators. Two, gorgons may be smart, but snakes are pretty basic. And three…" She grinned. "No one likes to have a bad hair day."

And she sauntered over to help Enzo out of his costume, leaving the two older males to puzzle this out.

Chapter Six

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