Man From Mundania (42 page)

192 Man from Mundania Man from Mundania 193

"Serpent form?" she asked, still trying to kiss him.

The Maenads came to the pool and circled it. Their eyes

glowed and their teeth glistened and their claws quivered

expectantly. Grey knew the two of them were done for. In

a moment the Wild Women would plunge in from all sides

and tear them apart.

Then he had another desperate notion. "Make it a big

snake! Your biggest and fiercest ever!"

"Big?"

"Huge, gigantic, fierce!" he cried. "To fight the Wild

Women!"

Finally she caught on. "Nasty women!"

"Terrible women! Do it!"

Nada changed. Suddenly he had his arms around a py-

thon that must weigh twice as much as he did. It was

Nada, but horrendous.

She hissed at the Wild Women. They stared, for the

moment startled from their madness. Then their blood lust

returned in force, and they charged into the pool.

And paused. A look of dismay spread across their sev-

eral faces. "Where's wine?" one asked, her words barely

distinguishable.

Several of them scooped up handfuls of the water, tast-

ing it. Their dismay intensified. "Wine gone!" one ex-

claimed in sheerest horror.

"Get out of here, Nada!" Grey said.

Nada undulated to the edge of the pool and out. The

Maenads, distracted, seemed hardly to notice. They were

busy sampling their pool, verifying that its magic was

gone.

Grey waded out, struck by the similarity of this scene

to that of the goblins with their hate spring. Something

strange had happened again, but he couldn't pause to an-

alyze it. He hurried after Nada.

She headed for the deepest forest, moving well despite

her intoxication. Of course it was impossible for her to

stagger or fall, in this form. He plowed into the foliage,

fighting through the branches and leaves. At any moment

the Maenads might recover from their shock and resume

the pursuit!

Nada drew up beside a huge chestnut tree. She stopped

under a large chest of nuts, and resumed human form.

"Now kish me," she invited, extending her arms to him

again.

Grey straight-armed her, gently. "You can't be drunk,"

he said. "That water has lost its potency."

Her eyes widened. "Suddenly I'm sober!" she said.

"How did you do that?"

"I didn't do it!" he protested. "You must have just

thought it was wine, so—"

"Grey, look at me," she said sharply.

He looked into her face. Her eyes were completely clear,

her mouth firm. "I am not drunk now, but believe me, I

was a moment ago. I had lost all perspective. All I thought

of was being with a handsome man. I had conveniently

forgotten that you and I are betrothed to others. I would

never do that, sober. That water intoxicated me instantly,

and that was no illusion. It didn't stop until just now. You

did it, Grey!"

"But I couldn't have! It would take magic, and I have

no magic. You know that."

She cocked her head. "Electra—what was she about to

say to us, there on the path, that was so urgent? She may

look like a child, but she's got a good mind."

"She was full of some news she had, but—"

"I think I know. This experience jogged my memory.

Grey, when Ivy asked the Muse about your talent, she said

that it would not be ethical to tell us about it in advance.

Wasn't that it?"

"Yes, something like that. But what relevance—"

"Think about it. How could she tell us about a nonex-

istent thing?"

Grey froze. "But that must mean—"

"That you do have a talent," she finished. "She

slipped, Grey, and Electra was the only one to catch it.

That's what she was so bursting to tell us! You do have

magic!''

Grey was stunned. "Oh, Nada, I could kiss you!"

"No you don't!" she said firmly. "Not when I'm so-

ber."

194 Man from Mundania

"Uh, I meant that as a figure of—"

She smiled. "I know. Just never forget that I am Ivy's

friend—a good one."

"I never did."

"You never did," she agreed ruefully. "/ did, when

drunk. But this has given us the key. What could your

talent be?"

"Sobering drunk women!" he quipped, laughing, still

not quite believing.

"More than that, I think. You denatured their whole

pool!"

' 'But if that really is a magic spring, I could no more

nullify it all than I could—"

"Nullify the goblins' hate spring," she concluded.

Grey thought about it. "Nullifying magic springs? That

couldn't be, because it did make you drunk."

"Before you got into it. It didn't make you drunk. Once

you applied your will to it—and just now to me—you

countered it, instantly. Magically."

He nodded. "When I set my will to it. But is it possible

that something else changed those springs? Maybe Ivy

dehanced that hate spring; I mean, if she can enhance,

maybe—"

"Ivy wasn't here for the wine spring," she reminded

him. "And don't accuse me of doing it! I have no talent;

my magic is in my nature, changing between my compo-

nent species. Maybe some day the nada will develop tal-

ents, as the centaurs did. No, you did it. Grey. Your talent

must be making magic springs harmless."

"But I'm Mundane! How could I have a,talent?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Grey. But consid-

ering what the Muse said and what happened here, I'm.

pretty sure you do. And that means—"

"I can marry Ivy!" he exclaimed jubilantly.

"Yes. If Queen Irene thought this was a good way of

denying you without actually saying no, she made a mis-

take, because now she can't say no!"

"All we have to do is escape the Wild Women and get

together with Ivy and Electra, and everything's okay," he

said, a trifle ruefully. He knew they weren't safe yet.

Man from Mundania
       
195

Indeed, a Maenad was coming toward them. The Wild

Women knew where they were but had been too dazed by

the loss of their wine to organize.

"I can change form and slide through the thicket," Nada

said. "But I wouldn't leave you here alone."

"That one coming here doesn't look wild anymore,"

he said. "Maybe they're tame when not drunk."

"Tame Maenads could cost you your marriage, too,"

she said, squinting at the woman's perfect proportions.

"Maybe I can climb a tree, and you can go for help."

"Wild Women can climb."

"Let's just see what she wants. Maybe it's not an ulti-

matum," he said without much confidence.

The Maenad came close. "Magician!" she called. Her

speech was clear, now that she was sober.

Grey was too surprised to speak, but Nada took over.

"What do you want with the Magician?"

"I'm no—" Grey started, but she elbowed him in the

belly.

"We did not know your nature when we pursued you,"

the Maenad said. "We apologize, and beg you to restore

our wine spring. We will do anything you desire.''

"The Magician has all he desires," Nada said, her el-

bow poised to jab him again if he protested. Grey kept his

mouth shut.

The Wild Woman looked at Nada's bare form apprais-

ingly. "Indeed we can see that, serpent-woman. But if

there is anything else he desires—food, an honor guard,

servants—"

Nada considered. "The Magician was only visiting Par-

nassus. He has no need of your services. I will try to

prevail on him to restore your wine spring, but I can not

guarantee success. The best I can promise is that if you

do not annoy him further, he will not do anything worse

to you. If he is so inclined, he may see to your pool."

The woman fell to her knees. "Oh, thank you, thank

you! We are but shadows without our wine! We would be

unable to fight the Python."

Nada nodded. "The Python. Is he near?"

' 'He was following us up the path before we caught your

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197

scent. He must have taken the other fork, for there was

the scent of live girls there."

Both Grey and Nada jumped. The dread Python—going

after Ivy and Electra?

"We must be on our way," Nada said. She turned her

face to Grey. "Magician, if you will at least consider their

wine spring—"

Grey was uneasy about this deception, but realized that

she was trying to get them out of this without having to

fight. "Very well, serpent-girl," he said gruffly.

They drew themselves out of the tangled brush and fol-

lowed the unwild woman back to the spring. "Under-

stand, if the Magician restores your wine, and you then

get drunk and wild and become troublesome to him, I can

not be responsible for his temper," Nada warned them.

"We will stay far away from him!" the women prom-

ised in chorus.

Grey stepped up to the spring. If he really had dena-