Man From Mundania (11 page)

person usually ate and slept. Xanth was indeed home for

Ivy!

The matron nodded. Who is man?

She meant Grey. That was easy. Friend. The sign con-

48
        
Man from Mundania

sisted of hooking her right index finger over her left index

finger, then the left over the right, making a double link-

age.

The rest was relatively easy. It seemed that not only

were the Flatfoots worried that Ivy was crazy, they thought

that Grey might be mistreating her or that both of them

were running away from their homes. Ivy had already re-

assured the matron that there was nothing wrong with her

mind, only her language, and now reassured her that Grey

was helping her return home, not run from it. She also

realized that they would have questioned Grey similarly,

not having to use the hand signs, and that he would have

been smart enough to avoid any detail on Xanth. The de-

mons were only trying to help, in their fashion.

Satisfied, the matron brought Ivy back to the main

chamber, and spoke a torrent of gibberish to the demon

in charge. The demon made an "I surrender" gesture and

waved to the back of the room.

Grey appeared. Ivy ran to him and flung herself into his

arms and hugged him closely. What a relief to be with him

again after being captive by the demons!

The demons allowed them to go. In fact, they even ar-

ranged for Ivy and Grey to get a ride in a big car, one that

held about fifty people in twin rows of chairs. But Ivy,

catching on to a good thing, turned back to the matron

and made signs to ask for the picture book of signs. This

was a way she could talk to Grey in Mundania, too! The

matron, who was remarkably nice for a demoness, gave

her the book and a smile.

The big car came and they climbed in and found two

seats together near the rear. Then Ivy opened the picture

book and started teaching Grey the signs.

The "bus," as it turned out to be called, did not go

directly to No Name Key; in the confused Mundane man-

ner it went instead to a huge village, where they had to

get off and go find another bus. But the other bus wasn't

there yet, so they had to wait in the big, crowded building

for several hours. That was really no problem; there were

toilet facilities of the Mundane kind—separate ones for the

Man from Mundania
         
49

males and females—and places where Grey could buy them

more sandwiches. They used the extra time practicing

signs. Grey was almost as quick as she had been to realize

their usefulness; if they learned all of these signs, they

would not need Com-Pewter to make the Mundane gib-

berish intelligible.

A Mundane man saw them practicing, and approached.

Embarrassed, Grey desisted, but the man surprised them

by using the signs himself. You deaf? he inquired, touch-

ing his ear and then his mouth.

No Ivy signed. Then she did a double take. This man

knew sign language!

It turned out that the man was deaf and had long ex-

perience in using the signs and in something termed "lip

reading" that enabled him to understand the words spoken

by others. He was waiting for the same bus they were, and

had thought they were deaf like him. His name was Henry.

He was glad to give them practice in the signs, for he

could make them with marvelous finesse, so rapidly that

it was impossible for them to follow. But with practice,

he assured them, they too would be able to communicate

like this, so that it was almost as good as regular speech.

Their bus was late, but they hardly noticed. They went

right on practicing, their dialogue becoming increasingly

proficient, though nowhere close to Henry's proficiency.

When the bus came, they took seats beside Henry so they

could keep practicing.

Then their bus broke down. They had to wait for three

more hours for a "relief bus" to resume their journey. It

didn't matter. The other passengers, bored with the delay,

gradually joined in, and Henry became the teacher of a

class. It was evidently a game for some, using signs in-

stead of gibberish, but it was a game that several children

took up with great enthusiasm and aptitude.

The new bus came, and they all transferred to it, and

their journey resumed. Most of the Mundanes lost interest

in the class, but a number stayed with it. For the first time

Ivy was able to talk, in a limited way, directly with Mun-

danes! They turned out to be folk very like herself and

50
        
Man from Mundania

Grey, traveling to visit friends or family or to new types

of work or just for the fun of it.

Night closed, and finally they returned to their padded

chairs and rested, and Ivy slept. It had been a long day-

but a good one. She was glad, now, that the Flatfoots had

picked them up; she had gained far more than she had

lost, if she had lost anything at all. This sign talk—it was

making Mundania far less frightening, and she was no

longer in as big a hurry to leave it. Of course she realized

that only a few Mundanes used the sign talk. Still, it was

a great discovery.

They came at last to the nearest large village to No

Name Key. Here they had to change buses again. They bid

farewell to their newfound friends and went to the waiting

room, where they slept on benches until morning. This

was like trekking through the jungle in Xanth: it had its

inconveniences, but really wasn't bad when one got ac-

customed to it.

In the morning they rode a smaller bus down toward

what in Xanth would be Centaur Isle, but here was a group

of a squintillion or so islets. They got off at No Name Key

and walked to the region which Dolph had described.

Though the key was small, it turned out to be a fair walk.

At length they came to an ornate gate. This is it! Ivy

signed. Where my brother was!

Grey's face was studiedly neutral. She knew he still

didn't believe in the reality of Xanth, and was wary of

what they might encounter here. But he had agreed to

bring her here, and he intended to see it through. She

understood that determination in him and liked it; Grey

wasn't much of a believer, but he was a decent person

who kept rumbling along on whatever course seemed most

nearly right to him.

We must go in, she signed. Turn key is there.

Grey walked to a box mounted beside the gate and

pressed a button. Evidently this was a magic bell to signal

those inside. Sure enough, a voice sounded from nowhere,

speaking in gibberish. Grey responded.

Tell him who I am. Ivy signed.

Grey paused. Sure? he signed back. Actually he used

Man from Mundania
        
51

the sign for "agree," touching his forehead and then

aligning his two forefingers together, because they didn't

know the proper one, but she understood well enough.

Yes. Princess Ivy of Xanth. There was no sign for Xanth,

so she used "home." She actually signed "Prince Me

Join Home." Some adaptation was necessary until their

vocabulary of signs expanded.

Grey grimaced, but evidently said it.

There was an abrupt silence from the box. They waited

nervously, knowing that Grey's last statement had had an

effect—but what kind?

Then the words came again. "If you are of Xanth, speak

now."

Ivy jumped. She understood! Com-Pewter must be here!

"I am Princess Ivy of Xanth," she said clearly. "My

brother, Dolph, was here three years ago. He was nine

years old. You helped him; now you must help me."

There was a pause. "With whom was Prince Dolph?"

"He was with Nada Naga, his betrothed. She is my

age."

There was another pause. "Describe Nada."

Ivy remembered. "Oh—she was in the form of a snake,

because she couldn't keep her natural form here."

Then the gate swung inward. "Enter, Princess Ivy."

They stepped in. Grey gaping. It was obvious that he

had never expected this to work.

Turn Key came down the path to meet them, holding

something in one hand. He was a big fat older man, just

as Dolph had described him, only more so. He spoke gib-

berish; then from his hand came words for Ivy: "What

are you doing here in Mundania, Princess Ivy?" Appar-

ently he had a box that could speak both languages.

"The Heaven Cent sent me, but it was a mistake."

"Ah, so Prince Dolph found the Heaven Cent!" the box

exclaimed, after a pause for gibberish that Grey evidently

understood. This did not seem to be the same as Com-

Pewter after all; the box was a golem that translated the

man's Mundane speech. That was a relief; Ivy did not

trust Com-Pewter. "But why didn't he use it himself?"

"He's grounded until he decides which girl to marry,"

52
        
Man from Mundania

Ivy said. "So I used it instead, only Magician Murphy's

curse must have interfered, because I got sent to Grey

Murphy in Mundania."

They entered Turn's house, which was very nice, with

carpets on the floors and windows looking out on the Key.

"My understanding of such magic is limited," Turn said.

"But I doubt that an eight-hundred-year-old curse could

have such a far-reaching effect. Certainly it would not con-

fuse a Mundane Murphy for the Magician Murphy or cause

the Heaven Cent to go completely haywire. There must be