Authors: Piers Anthony
Tags: #Fiction, #Fantasy, #General, #Princesses, #Magic, #Epic, #Fantasy fiction; American, #Xanth (Imaginary place)
more centrally located?
The river coursed interminably, forcing them to climb
over ridges and through thickets. At one point there was
a red waterfall of it, and they had to find a way up the
precipitous slope before they could rejoin it. This was cer-
tainly farther than it needed to be for a dream prop!
Then they reached what might be the source: a hole in
a bank. They piled stones and brush against the bank so
as to make a ramp to the top, expecting to find a lake of
blood beyond. But there was none; it was just a low hill.
Ivy was relieved; there was no animal after all.
The hill moved. Ivy screamed and looked for something
to grab onto, but all that offered was Grey.
They stood, frightened, as the center of the hill swelled
upward. Then it paused, and slowly subsided. And swelled
again. There was an odd wailing sound.
"This hill is breathing!" Grey exclaimed.
Now Ivy caught on. "This is a—a giant! With a hole in
his side!"
"Impossible!" Grey said. But he looked doubtful.
They walked along the length of the hill. Soon they
verified it: there was a monstrous head, its face turned to
the side, breath howling in and out of its mouth. This
really was a living, breathing giant!
"And he's tied down," Ivy said, pointing out cords that
stretched across the outflung arms. "He can't help him-
self!"
"While he bleeds to death!" Grey said, appalled. He
might not believe in magic, but he obviously accepted this
giant. "We must help him!"
90 Man from Mundania Man from Mundania 91
"Yes, we must," Ivy agreed. "But how? He's so big,
and we have no tools or anything."
"Maybe we can ask him," Grey said.
"Ask him!" she exclaimed. "But he can't be con-
scious!"
"I think he is," Grey said. He approached the huge
head. "Giant, can you hear me?"
The eyes blinked. The mouth pursed. "Hyesss!" the
wind howled.
"How may we help you?"
The giant's mouth pursed again. This time the words
were clearer. "Magic bandage in pocket."
Ivy looked. Sure enough, there on the chest was a bulge,
and it was a pocket. She knew that a magic bandage would
stop the flow of blood from the giant's wound, because
that was the way magic worked. "It's here," she called to
Grey.
The giant spoke again. "But first—name your reward."
Grey was taken aback. "I don't want any reward! Here
you lie bleeding to death—1 just want to help you!"
The giant was silent. Grey came across to join Ivy, and
together they hauled the huge bandage out of the pocket.
"What an irony!" Grey exclaimed. "The bandage right
here, and he can't reach it himself!"
"Not irony," Ivy said. "Torture."
Grey's mouth opened and closed again. He nodded.
The bandage was as big as the mattress of a bed, but
not as heavy. They pulled it across the giant's heaving
chest and to his side. They let it fall to the ground beyond,
then took turns dropping onto it, as it cushioned their
landings nicely.
They dragged it to the spouting wound. Now Ivy saw
that the blood jetted at high velocity from a relatively small
hole no more than the size of a human head. The bandage
was certainly big enough to cover it—if they could just get
it on.
"I hate to think of the hydraulic force of that flow,"
Grey said. "Maybe that's the wrong term, but certainly it
will blow away the bandage before we can get it placed."
"It is a magic bandage," Ivy reminded him. "I think
we'll just have to try placing it, and see what happens."
"I don't want to depend on magic!" Grey said.
Ivy sighed inwardly. She could postpone this issue no
longer. "I think you'll have to, this one time. You know
we don't have a chance without it."
Grey looked at the wound, then at the bandage, then at
the wound again. "I suppose the technology that can make
a setting like this can make a way to deal with it," he
said. "A force field or something, or maybe the hydrant
gets turned off when the bandage comes near. So we'll
just have to try it."
Ivy wasn't completely satisfied with that rationale, but
at least it meant that Grey was ready to try the bandage.
They brought it up close to the wound.
"Maybe if I shove it across from this side, and you go
across and catch it from that side," Grey said uncertainly.
"Yes." Ivy ducked down and scooted forward. There
was a clear spot of ground right next to the giant's side,
below the jet, because the blood was shooting out so fast
it didn't touch ground for some distance. She passed right
under it, feeling its close heat, and straightened up on the
other side. "Ready!" she cried over the roar of it.
Grey wrestled the bandage up so it leaned against the
giant's side. He unfolded the cute little knife he carried
and used it to slice away the wrapping, exposing the clean
surface. When he had the bandage clear, he put away his
knife, took careful hold, and nudged the bandage forward,
edgewise.
It touched the rushing blood. Despite her confidence in
its magic. Ivy almost expected the bandage to be caught
and flung violently out to float in the red river below. But
the edge of the bandage cut into the stream as if the blood
were no more than a beam of light; there wasn't even any
splash.
Grey gaped, but kept shoving. The bandage lurched
across, cutting off more of the flow. Soon it was all the
way across, and Ivy grabbed hold of it. She hauled it far
enough to be centered across the wound, then pressed it
onto the giant's skin by leaning against it. "Tamp it on!"
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Man from Mundania
Man from Mundania
93
she called to Grey—and discovered that she didn't need to
call at all, for the roar of the jet had stopped. She was
right beside Grey, close enough to touch.
They pressed it tight all around the wound. Where the
bandage touched skin, it adhered so firmly that there was
no leakage at all. In the center, over the wound, it merely
thrummed faintly with the pressure of the blood behind it.
The job was done.
Ivy looked down the slope. The river of blood was still
there, but dwindling because its source was gone. It would
probably take days for all of it to clear, if it ever did; some
of it might simply clot in place.
Grey shook his head. "There must have been a lot of
pain there," he said. "Just sort of lying here while his life
ebbed. I have a notion how he must feel."
Ivy thought of his life in Mundania. Indeed, he might
have a notion!
"Now let's see if we can free him," Grey said. "It
would take forever for me to saw through all those bonds
with my penknife, but maybe he knows of a better way."
He walked toward the ramp they had fashioned before.
"Maybe he'll be able to break free, when his strength
recovers," Ivy said, following. "Now that he's not losing
his blood—"
"I don't think so. Enchantments usually come in
threes.''
"What?" she asked, astonished.
"Threes. They set it up that way in fairy tales, so they
probably do the same in fairy-tale settings. We have to
play the game their way or it won't work."
"You believe in magic now?"
"No, just in the way promoters operate."
She was silent. There seemed to be no convincing him!
They came again to the head. "Giant, we have patched
your wound," Grey said. "How may we free you from
bondage?"
The huge mouth pursed. "Magic sword in scabbard."
"We'll try that," Grey said.
"Name your reward."
"I told you: no reward. I just don't like you being stuck
here like this." Grey headed down the giant's chest, look-
ing for the scabbard.
Ivy ran after him. "For a man who doesn't believe in
magic, you're doing very well!"
"Magic has nothing to do with it!" he exclaimed. "This
giant has been treated rotten, and I don't like it. I don't
care if it is just a setting, I can't just let it be."
He didn't believe, but he wanted to do what he thought
was right. Ivy didn't know whether to be mad at him or
proud of him.
The scabbard lay along the giant's right side, below the
bandaged wound. It was huge—and so was the sword it
sheathed. "I can't use that!" Grey exclaimed.
"I think you can," Ivy said. "You may not believe in
magic, but it is obviously working. Put your hand on the
hilt."
"This is crazy!" Grey protested. But he slid down, used
his feet to unsnap the containing strap, and worked his
way up to the hilt. The thickness of the thing was greater
than the length of his body!
But he put his hand on it—and the sword reduced in
size to fit his own proportions, the hilt fitting comfortably
in his hand. He drew it out and held it aloft, amazed.
"This-"
"Is a magic sword," Ivy said, somewhat smugly. "Now
you can use it to cut his bonds."
"Uh, yes," he agreed, disgruntled. "I'd sure like to
know how they managed this effect!''
He jumped the rest of the way down, then walked up
along the giant's side. Wherever he saw a cord, he sliced
carefully at it with the sword, and it parted. He walked