Man From Mundania (29 page)

This was getting desperate! Ivy knew she would not

really get boiled, because of her guarantee of a safe return,

but as usual she feared for Grey, who had no such assur-

ance. How could she get him free of this Golden Horde?

"And who're you—the king of the centaurs?" Grotesk

demanded of Grey.

"Don't answer him!" Ivy warned. But once again she

was too late.

"I am Grey, from Mundania," Grey said.

"A Mundane!" the goblin exclaimed. "We've never

cooked a Mundane before. Do you believe in magic?"

"No."

"Well, now! Maybe we can have some sport with this

one!" The chief turned his head again. "What shall we

do with the Mundane?"

There was a horrible clamor of violent and obscene sug-

gestions. Unsatisfied, Grotesk turned again to Grey.

"You're with the ha-ha princess here. What do you think

of her?"

"Don't answer!" Ivy cried.

"Shut up, trollop," the chief said, swinging at her head.

Grey reached out and intercepted Grotesk's arm. "Leave

her alone!"

Immediately several goblins surged in and bore him

back, but the chief was not annoyed. "I think we have our

answer," he said. "He likes her—and surely she likes him.

There's the key. Before we cook them, let's play with them.

Take them to the hate spring."

There was a roar of approval. Ivy and Grey were hustled

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on along the goblin path. Ivy was dismayed anew; she

knew what mischief a hate spring would be!

They passed the goblin village. There was a bedraggled

small centaur, haltered and tied to a stake. These goblins

knew no limits! Nobody tied a centaur, lest it bring ter-

rible retribution by centaur archers from Centaur Isle. Yet

here was a young male, evidently bound magically, for no

halter could hold such a creature otherwise.

They reached the spring a short distance beyond. It was

dismal as springs went, shallow and muddy, with a tiny

island in the center. The goblins hauled over a boat and

put her in it. One got in front, and one in back, with

paddles; both were extremely careful not to splash.

"You're afraid even to touch it?" Ivy asked. "Such wa-

ter doesn't work unless you drink it."

"That's all you know, slattern," Grotesk called from

land. "One touch of this anywhere on your body, and you

hate the next creature you see to pieces, and will try to

kill him any way you can. Go ahead, dip your finger; you

already hate us, so it won't matter."

Ivy shivered, not dipping her finger; this was hideously

potent stuff! No wonder the goblins had camped near it;

they loved to hate.

They deposited her on the tiny isle, then paddled back,

leaving her stranded there. Then they hauled away the boat

and brought Grey up to the edge. "Very well. Mundane,"

Grotesk said. "You don't believe in magic? Then you don't

think this hate spring will affect you. Go rescue her!"

"Don't touch that water!" Ivy called. "It will make you

hate me!"

' 'Why couldn't I touch it and hate you ?'' Grey asked

the chief. "Then I wouldn't hate her."

"Go ahead!" the goblin agreed as the horde laughed.

"One touch, one hate; we don't care how much you hate

us as we cook you. Maybe you'll even utter some nice

Mundane curses to entertain us. But you can't reach your

girlfriend without crossing that spring, and when you see

her or touch her you'll hate her. So you might as well get

on with it."

"What good is it to go to her, if you're going to cook

Man from Mundania
       
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us anyway?" Grey asked. "I might as well just stay here

and not cooperate with you at all."

There was a groan from the throng. They didn't like

that threat because it ruined their sport.

"Very well, Mundane—if you cross to her, I'll let you

go. We'll only eat her."

"Don't deal with him!" Ivy cried. "Goblins can't be

trusted!"

"No, I want to rescue her," Grey said, in that infuri-

atingly reasonable way he had. "You have to let us both

go, or I won't cooperate."

Grotesk pondered a moment. Then his eyes lighted cun-

ningly. "Suppose I let you decide her fate, when you get

there? You go free and you take her with you if you want."

"Yes, that seems fair," Grey agreed.

"Don't do it!" Ivy screamed. "He'll break his word

the moment you're across! And you'll hate me!"

"I don't think so," Grey said. He stepped toward the

pool.

"No!" Ivy cried despairingly. "No, no, no!" It was

crazy, if Grey was going to die anyway, but she didn't

want him to die hating her.

Grey waded into the water. A jubilant cheer rose from

the Golden Horde. His eyes were fixed on Ivy as he pro-

ceeded, the water rising gradually to his waist as he

crossed.

Ivy stood, transfixed by horror. A man who hated her

was coming for her, and she could not get away without

touching the water herself. She discovered that there was

one thing worse than having him hate her: for her to hate

him back. She had to try to salvage her own emotion, so

as to remember him with pleasure instead of displeasure.

He strode out of the water, his trousers clinging to his

legs. He came to stand before her, his eyes still fixed on

hers. Ivy knew her tears were flowing. She had seen the

need to break up their association—but not this way, oh

not with hatred!

"I want you to know, Grey," she said falteringly, "that,

that whatever you feel for me now, I still think you're

wonderful. Do you hate me very much?"

134 Man from Mundania

"Hate you?" he said, bewildered. "Ivy, I love you!"

She stared at him. "You—you're not cruelly teasing

me?"

For answer he swept her into his arms and kissed her,

hard. Suddenly she could not doubt: this was the passion

of love,

Then she realized that the cruelty was that of the gob-

lins. This wasn't a hate spring at all, it was just a muddy

pond! The Golden Horde was trying to make complete

fools of them both!

And that meant that she was not stranded here. She

could cross the pond just as Grey had. She could escape—

and take Grey with her, protecting him with her security.

"Oh, Grey," she said. "I'm so glad! Hold my hand

tight; we're getting out of here!"

"Of course," he agreed.

But it wasn't enough. Her emotion was overflowing and

demanded a more significant expression.

"Grey, will you marry me?" she asked.

He paused, amazed. Then he recovered. "Yes, cer-

tainly, Ivy. But—"

She cut off his protest with another kiss.

Chapter 8. Gap

•hen he released her. Even though the water

wasn't poisonous, those goblins were mean characters, and

the two of them still had a problem about winning free.

He was not at all sure the goblin chief would honor his

promise to release them, but he hoped to shame the little

man into it.

But it was hard to concentrate on such things in the face

of what had just happened. Ivy had asked him to marry

her—and he had agreed! What an incongruous occasion

for such an engagement!

"We're not out of this yet," Ivy said. "I've got to get

my mirror back. Then I can call for help. If you can think

of a way to get it for me—"

"Maybe I can," he said, his mind spinning. It was as

if what had just happened between them had revved up

his brain so that he was thinking with uncommon clarity

and power. "The hate water isn't real, but it occurs to me

that most of the goblins may believe it is. The chief would

know the truth, but keep the unruly minions cowed by

threats to use the water on them. That means we can bluff

them."

"But in a moment they will see that you don't hate

me!" Ivy said worriedly. "Then they'll all know."

"I don't think so. If I claim to have powerful magic that

makes me immune—"

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Man from Mundania

137

"But Grotesk will know that's not true!"

"But he won't dare say so, because then his hold on the

others will be weakened. He will have to support me,

though he hates it. So I can force him to honor his deal,

because he'd rather let us go than lose his position and

maybe get thrown in the pot himself by the angry dupes."

Ivy's face clouded, then brightened as she understood.

"Grey, that's brilliant!" she exclaimed.

"Something about you that brings out the best in me,"

he said wryly. Indeed, that seemed to be true. He had

never been in love before; this episode had brought it out,

and he seemed almost to be floating. Suddenly he had

confidence in himself such as he had never had before.

"While we're at it, we'd better rescue that poor centaur,

too; it will be bad if they take out their wrath on him."

"You care so much about others who are in trouble,

like Girard Giant," Ivy said. "I think that's why I love

you."

He hadn't thought of it that way. He had just done what

he felt ought to be done, without thought about whether it