Man From Mundania (31 page)

"You did indeed! I have never done so well before, even

without a double load. I thought I was just scared! I am

called Donkey."

"What?" Grey asked.

"Because I'm small and gray, and have big ears," he

explained. "The others always teased me, so I preferred

to go out on my own. But then the goblins caught me, and

I had no friends to realize I was missing. Thank you so

much for rescuing me!"

"I'm Grey," Grey said. "Not the color, just the name.

I'm from Mundania."

"But then how can you do magic?"

"I can't. It was all a bluff. That's why I knew the water

wouldn't hurt you."

Donkey considered. "All the same, I'd prefer to wash

it all off. Just to be quite sure. Centaurs don't like to take

avoidable chances."

So they went to the stream. Donkey walked carefully to

the center, then slowly settled down. "Wash it all off be-

fore we separate," the centaur said. "We wouldn't want

to hate each other."

Ivy giggled. "I never took a bath with my clothes on

before!"

"Me neither," Grey agreed.

They splashed water on themselves, remaining in con-

tact with Donkey, letting the current carry away the bad

medicine.

There was a stir in the water downstream. "See, the

fish are fighting," Donkey said. "It's still potent!"

"Coincidence," Grey said. But he wondered. There had

been a number of funny events recently, and not all were

easy to accept.

For one thing, the way those goblins had fought—when

the subchief had expressed his disbelief in the power of

the water. Why, then, had it affected him? Had his dis-

belief been a bluff? Or had he decided to support the sup-

posed power of the water, the way Grotesk did? Or had

he wanted the captives to escape? None of that seemed to

make much sense.

Man from Mundania

142

And the centaur: now that they were relaxing. Grey was

studying the creature. He found no artificial connection

between the man and horse aspects. Donkey seemed to be

exactly what he claimed to be: a living centaur. The river

was not shorting out his circuits. His body was warm. Part

of him was definitely human and part definitely animal.

How could this be, without magic?

"We'd better get undressed so we can rinse out our

clothing thoroughly, then hang it up to dry," Ivy said. "It

is overdue for a washing anyway."

"But—" Grey protested.

"It's all right," she said. "We're betrothed."

"But—"

"And centaurs never wear any clothing anyway," she

continued. "They don't have any concerns about people."

She unbuttoned her blouse and drew it off.

Grey didn't argue further. She was right: they did have

to get washed and hang up their clothing to dry. They were

engaged to be married. It had happened so suddenly that

he still could hardly believe it, but he was not going to

deny it! He didn't care what kind of setting this was or

whether magic was real, it was wonderful being with her.

Soon they were bathing separately. Ivy and Donkey at

last satisfied that the hate water had been washed clear by

the pure stream water. The day was late, now, but they

hung up their clothing to catch the declining rays of sun-

shine. Then he and Ivy sat on a clean patch of grass and

let the sun dry them, too. Donkey didn't need to sit; he

stood in a separate sunbeam, after shaking his body vio-

lently.

Grey tried not to look at Ivy's bare body, but didn't want

to be too obvious about not looking, lest she think she was

ugly. She wasn't; in fact she was his very model of a

teenaged girl.

"Are you sorry?" she inquired.

"Huh?"

"About being betrothed to me?"

"Oh no!" he exclaimed. "I—it's more than I ever hoped

for! I—when you—when I woke before you under the

tangle tree and saw you sleeping, I just had to keep look-

Man from Mundania
        
143

ing at you, because as wonderful as all this crazy land

may be, you are the craziest and most wonderful thing

that ever happened to me, and I wish it would never end.

I mean—I don't know what I mean, but—"

"You know there is trouble ahead," she reminded him.

"I was resolved to let you go, no matter how much I liked

you, because I knew we couldn't marry. But when you

came for me through that water and didn't hate me, sud-

denly I didn't care anymore what my folks think. My little

brother's got two betrotheds; I'm entitled to one, I think.

But you have to be willing.''

"I'm willing! I just never thought that you'd—I mean

that you were serious—I mean—"

"You don't know what you mean," she repeated for

him. "Are you beginning to believe in magic, a little?"

He looked at the centaur, and still could not explain

him away. "If loving you is believing in magic, then I

believe," he said.

She smiled. "I think I have never had a better compli-

ment!"

"I am amazed that you profess to disbelieve in magic,"

Donkey said. "We centaurs try to maintain a certain dif-

fidence about it, but there is absolutely no doubt of its

validity. Haven't you felt Ivy's Enhancement yourself?"

Grey considered. "I suppose I have, but—"

"You are too full of buts," Ivy said. "Shut up, or I'll

kiss you."

"But—"

She leaned over and kissed him.

Grey shut up.

In the morning they discussed the matter, and decided

to travel together down the river to the Gap Chasm. Don-

key knew the way, and the location of the best trees along

it, while Ivy knew the Gap Dragon, so that they could

enter the chasm safely. None of them cared to remain in

the vicinity of the Goblinate of the Golden Horde, for the

goblins were surely out looking for them and would not

treat them kindly. They agreed that it was best to get on

the other side of the Gap with reasonable dispatch.

144

Man from Mundania

Man from Mundania

145

Grey had read of the Gap and the Gap Dragon, but

reserved his belief in such things until he actually saw

them. A trench across the state of Florida a mile or so

deep? As he understood it, there wasn't any part of that

state anywhere near that elevation above sea level, so such

a chasm would be impossible even if it were possible!

With a great whomping, steaming, ferocious dragon run-

ning along the bottom? More likely it was a railroad cut

with an old-fashioned steam engine chugging along on its

track.

Some chocolate milkweed pods grew along the river,

and some mushrooms, which turned out to be little rooms

full of mush. Some were commeal mush, and some were

oat mush or wheat mush. They didn't taste like much, but

the chocolate milk provided a bit of flavor. At least they

were filling.

"How do you like it?" Ivy asked.

He could tell by the sparkle in her eyes that she was up

to some mischief, so he answered cautiously. "Mushy stuff

was never my favorite."

"That's what my little brother always said—until he met

Nada."

"Nada?"

"Nada Naga, his betrothed—I told you. But she cured

him in a hurry, and now he loves mush."

"I could use that cure myself," he muttered, still not

seeing her point. "How did she—?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" She stepped to him,

wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him so em-

phatically that his head seemed to float.

"But—" he said when she gave him a chance to breathe.

"Mushy stuff," she explained.

Oh. Grey felt completely stupid; he had walked right

into that one! Yet somehow he wasn't bothered; it was

about as nice an experience as he could imagine.

"Did I embarrass you?" she asked.

"Uh, no, of course not!" he protested immediately.

She glanced at Donkey. "I'm not sure. What do you

think?"

"He's flushing and perhaps stammering," the centaur

said. "I believe it is likely that you did embarrass him,

though he is attempting to deny it."

"That's what I thought." Ivy faced Grey again. "The

brassies know how to handle that."

"The brassies?" Grey tried to remember what the brass

folk had done in the books he had read.

"They apologize," she said. "Do you know how they

apologize?"

"Uh, no, I—"

She hauled him in again and kissed him with even more

authority than before. This time his head seemed not only

to rise, but also to swell to the size of a helium weather

balloon and float across the landscape, buffeted by stray

playful breezes.

From somewhere far away her voice came: "Do you

accept my apology?"

He tried to get back to earth. "Uh—"

Then Donkey's voice: "Evidently the apology was not

sufficient. He seems frozen in place."

Ivy's voice, again: "True. I will simply have to make a

better apology."