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scenery again, and waved as Nimby
    started off into the jungle.   He didn't seem to need a path. Forrest
    turned and followed the magic path.
     
    In a moment he thought of something else, and turned back.   A moment
    wasn't long, so he had plenty of time to catch them and ask his
    question.   But when he returned to the brink of the Gap Chasm, there was
    no sign of damsel or dragon.   He followed Nimby's tracks to the jungle's
    edge-and there they stopped.   It was as if the creature had simply
    vanished without walking farther.   Could he have flown?
     
    No, there was nothing in the sky.   They were simply gone.
     
    That was one curious pair of creatures!   How could he query a vanishing
    donkey-headed dragon?   Oh, well, he had forgotten his question anyway.
     
    "Yes, they are really gone," D.   Sire said, fading in.
     
    "What happened to you?"
     
    "I had a sudden urge to busy myself elsewhere.   It didn't fade until you
    got free of Miss Poison.   So I never got to see whether any bumps in the
    terrain caused your hands to bump up to her bumps."
     
    Yet another evidence of the odd woman's power.   She had banished a
    demoness!   "Well, I no longer need your guidance, so you can continue
    your business elsewhere."
     
    She shook her finger at him, and the shaking progressed down her arm and
    through her body.   "Nuh-uh, faun.   I have half a favor to complete."
     
    "You have done so.   I am now on a magic path leading straight to the
    Good Magician's castle."
     
    She nodded, and the nodding spread down too.   "So you are.   But there is
    a further complication."
     
    "I don't want to hear it."
     
    "Good.   The Good Magician always has three preposterous Challenges
    preventing a querent from entering his castle."
     
    "Preventing a what?"
     
    "A querent.   A person who comes to make a query.   That's you."
     
    "So how do I handle those Challenges?"
     
    "Sorry, that information is beyond my obligation."
     
    He looked at her, annoyed.   Then he realized that that was what she
    wanted.   "Thank you.   I appreciate the information.   Now I am better
    prepared to handle the Challenges."
     
    "Curses," she muttered.   "Foiled again." She faded out.
     
    He ran along the path, making excellent time.   By some process he did
    not understand, it seemed to be earlier in the day than it had been when
    he first reached the Gap Chasm, so that he wouldn't need to spend a
    night halfway there.   He wasn't hungry; the dough nut seemed to have fed
    him for a long time.
     
    Indeed, in the afternoon he reached the Good Magician's castle. This was
    an appealing edifice, for those who- night like that type, with red
    brick walls, green tiled roofs, and a bright blue moat.   In the moat was
    a peculiar monster.   It had the top of a man, and the body of a winged
    serpent, and it was huge.
     
    There was a drawbridge, and the bridge was in the lowered position,
    crossing the moat.   Somewhat hesitantly, Forrest approached the bridge.
     
    " You'll be sorry," D.   Sire murmured behind him.
     
    "Then go away before you enjoy it too much," he said shortly,
    lengthening his stride.
     
    Immediately the moat monster swam toward the bridge.   "Come into my
    grasp, faun face," he said.   "I haven't eaten in days."
     
    Forrest stopped.   The human portion looked fully strong enough to grab
    him and dispatch him, and the serpent portion looked capable of
    digesting him.   There was no way he could avoid those arms.   on the
    narrow bridge.   So this must be a Challenge.
     
    He looked around, but the moat seemed to circle the entire castle. He
    couldn't try to swim, because the monster would catch him that much
    easier.   How was he going to get past?
     
    A nonchalant man of indifferent persuasion came walking around the moat.
    "Do I perceive a problem?" he inquired.
     
    "I am trying to cross the moat without getting grabbed and gobbled by
    the monster."
     
    "Now that is a very interesting