Man From Mundania (16 page)

cause that made him unpleasantly dizzy; there was nothing

down there except cruel stone, far below.

When the stone became too wide he leaned forward

until he lay on it, then lifted his legs, got to hands and

knees, and moved on. It wasn't fan on the downslope, but

it was a relief to be there.

At last he reached the solid mountain again, and turned.

There was Ivy, not far behind him. She was not as nervous

about falling as he, because of her belief in magic, but he

remained nervous about her.

"That was fan," she exclaimed as she caught up to

him. But some of the green of her hair seemed to be on

her face, and he knew she had felt almost as queasy as he.

This climb was certainly a challenge!

They walked on up the path. The mountain was com-

paratively slender here, but high, and the ledge was

smaller. They had to go single file. This time Ivy took the

Arlan front ArHJndanja
          
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lead, because he wanted to be in position to catch her if

she slipped and started to fall. The path was increasingly

steep, without steps, and still lacked any kind of guardrail;

he would have been happier crawling up it, but that would

have been too slow. Night was closing in.

Then out of the gloomy sky came figures in the air.

"Oopsy!" Ivy said, spying them. "Wyvems! Probably

they forage here, picking off helpless climbers."

"Such as us?" Grey asked, trying to suppress dread.

He knew what wyverns were: small winged, fire-breathing

dragons. Of course he didn't believe in them—but cer-

tainly there was something ugly in the air, and that was

apt to be just as bad for them as a fantasy creature.

"Yes. But don't worry; I'll use my talent to foil them."

"But your talent's Enhancement! Won't that just make

them even more formidable?" Again, he was trying to

make her see reason without actually expressing his dis-

belief in her magic. At some point they would have to

have this out—but not way up here on this treacherously

exposed path!

"Not necessarily. I'll show you."

The flying figures loomed close—and they did indeed

look like dragons. But of course such things could be

mocked up and even be made to fly. This was obviously

a most intricately fashioned setting, so such threats were

feasible. Certainly those creatures, whatever their true na-

ture, could be dangerous. He didn't see how enhancing

them could help foil them, assuming it could be done at

all.

Ivy stood facing the dragons. She seemed to be concen-

trating. The dragons approached even faster than before,

their beady eyes glinting, plumes of smoke trailing from

their nostrils.

The lead dragon oriented and accelerated, flying di-

rectly toward them. It jetted a column of fire. Grey started

to scramble away, not wanting to get fried—but Ivy didn't

move, and he couldn't leave her behind. So he forced him-

self to wait, hoping that she did know what she was doing.

The jet of fire missed. Then the dragon, looking sur-

prised, missed also; it shot right past them, so close that

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Man from Mundania

Man from Mundania

73

they were buffeted by the hot breeze of its passing. What

had happened?

The second dragon winged in toward them. It too missed

with both fire and teeth, seeming as amazed as Grey was

by this. Then the third one.

"What happened?" Grey asked.

"I told you. I Enhanced them."

"But—"

"I made them faster. So they flew faster than usual, and

whipped their heads around faster, and fired faster. So

their aim was off. They can't score on us until they get

adjusted to their new powers—and they won't have them

when they're not attacking us."

Grey worked it out. He had driven a car once that was

larger and more powerful than he was used to. Then he

had come to a turn in the road, and almost careened off

the road because his reflexes were wrong. He had made

hasty adjustments, knowing that he could quickly wreck

himself if he didn't. It could have been the same for the

dragons. It would require precise timing and coordination

of vectors to score with fire while on the wing, and if that

timing was off, there would be no score. So what Ivy said

made sense.

Assuming that she could really do what she claimed.

But that was magic.

"Let's get on before they recover," Ivy said.

Good suggestion! They walked up the path while the

dragons reoriented. When the dragons made their second

strafing runs, they misjudged the range again and gave up

in disgust. "See? I don't like to use my talent frivolously,

but for self-defense it's all right," Ivy said.

Grey was just glad that the creatures had been pro-

grammed to miss! The threat had seemed real enough, and

he could hardly wait to get off this mountain! He would

try to reason with Ivy about the matter of the dragons at

another time.

The path looped around the mountain again, but the

diameter of the mountain was now so small that the circuit

did not take much time. They walked up the last stretch

to the castle itself, crossing one final bridge. The castle

was, after all, full size, no longer looking like a dollhouse.

They paused at the great wooden door, and looked back.

From this height they could see far across the landscape. It

was definitely a riverscape; they were sailing (without sails)

upriver toward distant lofty peaks that reflected red in the

late sunlight.

Grey shook his head. He did not believe in magic, of

course, but certainly this was a marvelous setting! Prob-

ably only this mountain was genuine; the rest would be

formed from some kind of projection on a surrounding

screen. As amusement parks went, this was the best he

had encountered! It was too bad that it was too persuasive

for some. Ivy would be a terrific girl if she only could rid

herself of her belief in Xanth!

Ivy turned to him. "You've been great. Grey," she said,

and quickly kissed him.

How he wished he could believe in Xanth!

Man from Mundania
        
75

Chapter S. River

•hey had finally reached the door to the castle.

Ivy was much relieved; she had been afraid that Grey

would panic and fall when the wyvems attacked. She had

even hesitated to explain in too much detail how she could

nullify them, because she did not want him to have to

come to terms with the concept of magic while they were

dangerously exposed. Suppose he spooked and fell off the

ledge? It was better to wait until things were more secure.

So now she merely kissed him and told him that he had

been great. Indeed, he had been, considering that he did

not believe in magic; it must have taken real courage to

carry on in the face of that doubt! He should be a great

guy, once he got over his confusion and saw Xanth for

what it was.

She addressed the door: "Hey, door, don't you know

me?"

The door didn't answer. Oops—she had forgotten that

her father. King Dor, wasn't here. It was his talent to

speak to the inanimate and to have it answer in the human

language. He had resided so long in Castle Roogna that

his magic had infused those parts of the castle that he used

a lot. Thus she always talked to the castle door, and it

normally opened for her because it recognized her. But

this wasn't really Castle Roogna; this was an imitation

one, a setting in the realm of bad dreams. So her father

wasn't here, and his magic had not rubbed off.

"Uh, doors don't know people," Grey said delicately.

"You have to turn the knob."

Ivy was getting tired of his patronizing attitude about

magic. So she decided to make a small demonstration. She

concentrated on the door, enhancing its affinity to her fa-

ther. It was an emulation of the real front door of Castle

Roogna, so there was a basis for this; if she made it even

more like the real door, it would be able to respond in the

manner of the original.

Then she spoke to it again. "Door, if you don't open

this instant, I'll kick your shin panel!"

The door hastily swung open.

It was very satisfying to see Grey's gape.

Then he recovered. "Oh—it wasn't locked. Must have

been blown open."

"By what wind?" Ivy inquired sweetly. The air was

now quite still.

But Grey merely shrugged. The door might not be

locked, but his mind was. It was most annoying.

They stepped in. The entrance hall was empty, of

course. Ivy had seen many people and creatures she knew,

scattered around the Enchanted Mountain, but rather than

confuse things she had asked them to fade out. Since they

were all ghosts, they had obliged. That way she had seen

nothing that Grey hadn't seen, which made the climb eas-

ier. The same was true here in the castle, and it seemed

better to leave it that way.

"It's empty!" Grey said, as if surprised.

"It isn't the real castle," she reminded him. "This is

the dream realm, with settings for all the bad dreams. So

there aren't any folk here except when they come to make

up a dream concerning Castle Roogna, and then they aren't

real folk, just the gourd actors."

He looked at her as if about to Say Something for Her

Own Good, but managed to stifle it. "So where do we go