A story that takes place in

Xanth

By Winter Rose

Chapter One

It was the last thing Jennie wanted for her 14th birthday , a trip with her parents to Florida.  She had absolutely nothing against Florida,  it was the fact that she didn’t like her parents all that much and the drive was loooong. It was sweltering hot in the car so she opened the window all the way down to let in some air.   The cool air smelled sweet and crisp like the first day of spring and it caught her chestnut hair and whirled it around her face.  Her blue eyes scanned the sky for some strange bird.  With no luck she turned on her radio and put in the earphones to pass the time.  Soon though,  she was lost in sleep.

When she woke up she was in the car but her parents were nowhere to be seen.  Panicked,  she hopped out of the car into the moonlit night.  It was dark,  that frightened her,  which was strange because she was a person of the night,  she preferred the soft moonbeams to the harsh rays of the sun.  She had always dreamed of a fairy named MoonBeam,  who would give her moonbeams whenever she was sad and that had always made her feel better.  But this was different, the dark woods in front of her seemed to hide terrible secretes, daring her to come in and discover the horrors.  Suddenly,  a sharp pain in her foot made her leap backwards. She looked down and saw a small sand-crab scuttle away from her foot.  There was another pinch and another.  Until she was forced to jump onto a tall rock to keep the crabs away. Finally,  when the crabs decided to scuttle away and leave her alone,  she drifted off to sleep wondering where all the crabs had come from. In her nightmare she saw a black horse with red eyes and flaring nostrils. It pawed at the ground with one hoof and snorted.  She woke up sweating and shivering.   When she looked around,   she saw a small flicker in the distance.  As she watched it, it became larger until she could make out a small round human-like being with a lamp in one hand and a basket in the other.

"Hello" she called to the small person.

"Ho there, what do we have here?" came the reply.  The short person came closer and held the lamp up to Jennie's face.

"It's a small woman!" thought Jennie,  surprised at just how short and round the woman was.

" Well, well, well, what’s your name dearie?" asked the woman.

" J-J-Jennie" was all she could muster out of her fright and confusion.      

"It’s dangerous to be out in these parts,  you know?"   The woman mentioned. "The crab grass will eat a weary traveler,  if you don’t get it first."  She finished holding up her basket, which, Jennie realized was full of scuttling crabs.

"Where am I? Who are you?" asked Jennie.

"Why my dear you are on the outskirts of the Isthmus Village. And my name is Leanie." Said the woman,  then as if a realization had just dawned on her, she added " come to my home and we can chat in warmth and peace."  The woman reached a stubby arm towards Jennie, and, not  thinking she took the offer and slid down off the rock and walked carefully beside her savior.

After a while,  they came to a small round door in a knoll.   Leanie waddled up, set down her lantern and opened the door. Then turned back to Jennie and motioned for her to follow.  Jennie had to squirm on her stomach to get through the door but once inside she could crawl on hands and knees and sit up comfortably.

"Where do you live, Jennie?" asked Leanie,  while cracking the shell of a cooked crab.

" I live in Canada, why?" she answered.

"Have you ever heard of Xanth?" continued Leanie, as if Jennie had never asked the question.

"No" said Jennie simply.

"Do you believe in magic?"

"No" Jennie answered.

"Oh, dear, oh dearie me", sighed Leanie shaking her head, "well to make a long story short you are in Xanth, where Magic exists and every person has a magic talent." said Leanie quickly.  But Jennie hadn’t heard,   she was already fast asleep, still holding on to the warm tea mug Leanie had given her. Leanie sighed and  lifted the mug from Jennie’s hands to make sure it didn’t spill.  Then tucked the strange mundane into a warm blanket and waited till morning,  when she would have to explain magic to the ignorant girl.

"Let me get this straight, this is Xanth…. you are a hobbit … and
everything is magic?"  repeated Jennie.
" Well… yes,  that about sums it up" said Leanie,  washing the dishes in
the small basin she used as a sink.
"Okay lets just assume that this is all real.  Then how did I get here ?"   asked Jennie skeptically.

"I have absolutely no idea, Jennie, really I don’t" said Leanie stopping
the dish washing to look her young friend in the face.

"Well,  I’d rather live with you then live the way I was before."

So that is how it was until three weeks later,  when Jennie was out in the
garden pulling up some dandelions that were happily chomping away at her fingers and legs.   A huge bird passed by momentarily,  blocking out the
sun, she looked up and shaded her eyes to get a better look,  when she
looked in Leanie's direction  to see if she knew what the bird was.  It
swooped down and carried her friend away.  The last thing she heard was
Leanie screaming….

Chapter 2

She had no idea what to do. Jennie was in a strange land and knew no one but Leanie,   who was gone!  After thinking about the problem,  she decided to search for Leanie . So she set out, with only a sandwich (she hated the sand,  but the bread was okay) , some butter,  harvested from a bread-and-butter-fly  and a map of Xanth she found in Leanie's coffee table.

When she got outside she was met by the familiar growling of the
dandelions in Leanie's garden and the wonderful smell of fresh pie from
the resident pie tree.  Just for a snack,  Jennie plucked a  pizza pie and
bit into it’s crust. Besides the disappearance, of her friend the day was
turning out to be a nice sunny day…

A little farther down the path,  Jennie heard a rustling in the branches of a nearby bush.  Realizing she had nothing to defend herself, she jumped back and grabbed a branch that was near her landing spot.
After a while,  a strange creature appeared from the bush smelling of mint
and he was having little sneezing fits.  He looked up at Jennie and smiled.   He seemed to be a cross of a bird, horse and man.

"H-h-h-choo" tried the man creature. "H-h-hellochoo!"

"Hi" said Jennie,  still trying to get her breath back from the scare of
being in danger,  "What’s your name?" she asked.

"C-C-Circola!"  he was getting over the sneezes,  but still stuttered a
little.

"I’m Jennie" said Jennie,  holding out her hand to Circola.   Circola took her hand and  looked at it quizzically "what’s this for?" he asked.

"Forget it" said Jennie, taking her hand back. "What kind of bush is that?" asked Jennie.

"It’s a pepper-mint bush."  said Circola sniffing his bare arm.

" What were you doing in there ?" asked Jennie curiously.

"Well,  it smells nice,  see?" He leaned over and let Jennie smell his arm.
Jennie sniffed and nodded,  suppressing a sneeze of her own.   "and I was
leaning over to smell the mint when I fell in!"
  

"Not to be rude or anything but, what are you?" asked Jennie, curiously.

"I am an alicentaur, and you are Mundane.  No?"  he replied in an
extraordinary show of intelligence.

 
"I guess that’s what you call us Canadians here." Said Jennie hesitantly.

"Where are you off to?" asked  Circola.

"Well my friend,  Leanie,  got taken away by a huge bird and I have to find
her.." said Jennie,  continuing her walk

"Can I come?" asked Circola innocently 

"I… well sure if you want to.  I wouldn’t mind some company."

"Oh! I can be good company! I can tell stories! and  be a really
good guide!" said Circola enthusiastically.

After that,  they walked in silence. It was hot out and Jennie was
becoming thirsty and tired.  So they sank down to rest near a small pool.
It was very shady because of all the thick lush trees around the pool.
Everything seemed clean,  even the dirt was spotless. Jennie leaned over
and dipped her hand in the water and then fell in! Laughter sounded
from the tree tops.
 
"Your supposed to drink it not swim in it, Dummy" screeched a raspy
voice.  Jennie turned to look at Circola but he was looking around too.

"Who is there?" called Jennie. A dirty shape flew down from the tree.  It was a ugly bird with the head and breasts of a woman,  and the rest was a vulture covered in greasy
feathers.

"eeeeeeeewwwwwwww a harpy!" said Circola plugging his nose.

Unthinking of the consequence "uh oh" said Jennie,  still sitting in the pool.          
Circola glanced at Jennies dirty clothes and they were clean! "You're all clean now!!" he yelped in surprise!

"That’s because its a cleaning spring you  #$&*%!" said the harpy,  "But
even it won't be able to help you,  after I’ve eaten you!" she screeched.
She swooped down and knocked Circola into the pool with Jennie.  He
spread his wings with surprise,  they got all tangled up in wings, arms and
hoofs.
The Harpy sat on a tree nearby. "Come out,  you little squealers!" she yelled at them.

 
"Look! she can’t get in the water!" realized Jennie.

"Yes I can!" the harpy wailed! "I just don’t want to get wet!"

"No you can’t!" countered Jennie.

"Yes I can!" defended the harpy.

"Prove it!" challenged Jennie.

" Jennie this isn’t a good idea!" moaned Circola,  as the harpy moved toward them.  It dipped a toe in the water and the dirt and grime that was caked on,   dissolved into the water.  She made a horrified screech and flew away.

"You really shouldn’t have taunted her you know." said  Circola.

"I know but it was fun!?" said Jennie.

They got out of the pool and set up camp. Circola brought a bunch of
pillows from a nearby pillow bush and Jennie found a couple pies from a
pie tree. As they ate the talked…
"What’s your talent Circola?" asked Jennie curiously.

"I can turn anyone,  including myself,  into an inanimate object and back
unharmed" said Circola with pride.

"Cool,  can I see?" said Jennie enthusiastically.

"Okay, take a deep breath and let it out. Ready?" Jennie nodded
and took a deep breath.  As she let it out,  it stopped mid breath.
Suddenly the world jumped,  then went blank.  She didn’t think or panic.   She just wasn’t!   Suddenly she was Jennie again.

"OH!" she moaned, "that was weird!"

"I know, cool eh?" said Circola.

Soon enough the two friends were fast asleep.  Jennie snuggled closely to his furry horse-body to keep warm. His gray wings served as a blanket for them both.


When they woke up, they began their trek east towards Ogre-fen-Ogre-fen.
Along the way,  they encountered all kinds of odditie.  Jennie continued to
ask many questions about their surroundings and about the flora and fauna that they saw along the way, and Circola would dutifully answer all her questions.
Like when the magic sniffer followed at Jennies heels for almost an hour. Or when they both got horribly startled by a jump-a-body that leapt into their path then ran away looking for its next victim.  They also saw J’s of all colors. They stopped mid afternoon to eat and rest.
They were already halfway to Ogre-fen-Ogre-fen but Circola said that
they should swerve south to pass it by. Jennie was a little disappointed
because she wanted to see one of the famous ogres that were said to be
so ugly.  But she reluctantly agreed and they continued on down the path.
They day was wearing on and the two young  travelers were getting tired of walking so they stopped in a clearing and set up for the night and immediately went to sleep.

They were awoken  in the middle of the night by footsteps.  A buxom young woman stepped into the clearing and looked at them.  They woke up with a start, freaked out at the sudden entrance of the young woman.  But their fear soon turned to curiosity for some strange reason…...  

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