"To what?" I asked as I swung to the ground.
"I've a lizard form would face this desert best."
"By all means, Shask, be comfortable, be efficient. Be a lizard."
I set about unburdening him. It was good to be free again.
Shask as blue lizard was enormously fast and virtually tireless. He gotus across the sands with daylight to spare, and as I stood beside himcontemplating the trail that led upward through the foothills, he spoke in asibilant tone: "As I said, the shadows can catch us anywhere around here,and I still have strength to take us up for an hour or so before we camp,rest, and feed. What is your choice?"
"Go," I told him.
Trees changed their foliage even as I watched. The trail wasmaddeningly irregular, shifting its course, changing its character beneathus. Seasons came and went--a flurrying of snow followed by a blast of hotair, then springtime and blooming flowers. There were glimpses of towers andmetal people, highways, bridges, tunnels gone in moments. Then the entiredance would shift away and we would simply be mounting a trail again.
At last, we made camp in a sheltered area near to a summit. Cloudscollected as we ate, and a few rumbles under rolled in the distance. I mademyself a low lean-to. Shask transformed himself into a great dragonheaded,winged, feathered serpent, and coiled nearby.
"A good night to you, Shask," I called out, as the first drops fell.
"And-to-you-Corwin," he said softly.
I lay back, closed my eyes, and was asleep almost immediately. How longI slept, I do not know. I was jarred out of it, however, by a terrific clap