Man From Mundania (52 page)

YOND THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS SO THAT HE WOULD

BE RIGHT FOR THE PRINCESS. THEN I SENT THE PRINCESS

TO HIM.

"The Heaven Cent sent me!" Ivy flared.

Man from Mundania
       
239

THE HEAVEN CENT SENT YOU TO WHERE YOU WERE MOST

NEEDED, WHICH I PREDEFINED AS THE LOCATION OF MA-

GICIAN MURPHY'S SON. IT WAS INTENDED THAT YOU MARRY

HIM.

"Our romance—arranged by the evil machine?" Ivy

asked, appalled.

LIVING FOLK ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN PATTERNS. I IN-

STITUTED ONE OF THOSE PATTERNS. NOW MURPHY'S SON

IS HERE, AND BOUND TO SERVE ME.

"I made no such deal!" Grey protested.

YOUR PARENTS DID. THEY NEVER INTENDED TO HONOR

IT, AND SO KEPT ALL KNOWLEDGE OF XANTH FROM YOU

SO YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO COME HERE. BUT I SENT MY

ESSENCE AND THEN SENT PRINCESS IVY TO BRING YOU

HERE, AND NOW YOU ARE BOUND, BECAUSE YOU HAVE

HONOR YOUR PARENTS LACK.

"They have honor!" Grey said. "They were trying to

save Xanth, even though they were exiled from it!"

"How do we know you're telling the truth, dim-bulb?"

Grundy demanded. "Maybe they never made that deal,

and you're just making it up in your pictures!"

I EXPECT GREY MURPHY TO RETURN TO MUNDANIA TO

VERIFY THIS. THEN HE WILL EITHER REMAIN THERE OR

RETURN TO XANTH AND HONOR THE DEAL.

Grey had the sick feeling that this was the truth. But

there was still much to be clarified. "So maybe I was

supposed to come to Xanth," he said. "Why was it so

important that I marry Ivy? I mean, I care about her, but

you don't care about either of us or about romance."

YES. YOU ARE ONLY TOOLS FOR MY AMBITION. YOU MUST

MARRY IVY AND BE QUEEN OF XANTH, OR EVEN KING,

SINCE YOUR MAGIC IS MAGICIAN CALIBER. EITHER WAY YOU

WILL HAVE GREAT INFLUENCE ON THE THRONE OR CON-

TROL IT ENTIRELY. SINCE YOU WILL BE SERVING ME, I WILL

BE THE TRUE RULER OF XANTH. THAT IS THE CULMINATION

OF MY PLOT.

Grey stared at Ivy, who looked back with the same hor-

ror he felt. The situation was clear at last: they could go

to Mundania together, or they could break their betrothal

240 Man from Mundania

and both remain in Xanth, or they could marry and do the

evil machine's will. None of those choices was acceptable.

"Oh, I wish the Good Magician was still here!" Ivy

exclaimed. "He would know what to do about this!"

HO HO HO! I GOT RID OF THE GOOD MAGICIAN AS PART

OF THIS PLOT! YOU CAN'T GET HIS ADVICE BECAUSE YOU

CAN'T FIND HIM, AND I WILL NEVER TELL WHERE HE is!

"You did that?" Ivy cried, enraged. "All that mischief,

all those un-Answered Questions, just to further your foul

plot?"

"I think you should put your hand on this collection of

junk and null it, Grey," Grundy said. "You won't have to

serve it if it doesn't operate any more."

THAT WOULD BE UNETHICAL, THEREFORE GREY MURPHY

WILL NOT DO IT.

Grey gritted his teeth. It was the truth.

"Oh, Grey," Ivy exclaimed, tears in her eyes. "What

are we going to do?"

YOU ARE GOING TO AGONIZE FOR A TIME, THEN VERIFY

THE ACCURACY OF MY STATEMENT, AND FINALLY CON-

FORM. YOU HAVE ONE MONTH FROM THIS MOMENT TO CON-

CLUDE YOUR BUSINESS AND RETURN TO ME. THEN I WILL

RULE XANTH. HO HO HO;

Grey was very much afraid that the evil machine was

correct.

Chapter 13. Murphy

^S

^yo that's the situation," Ivy concluded.

"Grey's a Magician, so I can marry him, but he is bound

to serve Com-Pewter, so I don't dare let him close to the

throne. And even if I don't marry him, he could later

become King of Xanth in his own right, and Pewter would

have power. The only way we can see to stop that is for

Grey to return to Mundania and stay there. Then Pewter's

deal would have no force."

King Dor nodded. "Is Grey willing to do that?"

"Yes. He doesn't want to hurt me or Xanth, and he has

the strength of his convictions."

Queen Irene leaned forward. "Then what of you. Ivy?"

Ivy had pondered this on the way home to Castle

Roogna, and seen the stark alternatives. Either she could

go with Grey and live in Mundania, or she could remain

in Xanth and not marry Grey. Neither choice was bear-

able.

Ivy burst into tears.

But later her parents had further thoughts. "We do not

know that what Pewter claims is the truth," Dor said.

"We should find out."

"But how?" Ivy asked, without more than half a glim-

mer of hope. "If it's not the truth, Pewter will never con-

fess it."

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243

"Magician Murphy might, though."

"But he's in Mundania!"

"You could visit there again and ask him."

Ivy's eyes widened. The notion of living in drear Mun-

dania was intolerable, but she could probably survive an-

other visit there.

But still it wasn't good enough. "Why should he tell

the truth? He opposes the existing order. That's why he's

exiled."

"No, actually," Dor said. "He stepped out of the pic-

ture because he had lost to King Roogna. He hoped to

return at some time when chances were better for him—

such as when there were no Magicians available to be

king. Then he could take over. But when he escaped from

the Brain Coral's storage pool, there were several Magi-

cians, so Xanth was still no place for him. Rather than

remain in storage indefinitely, he fled Xanth. If he for-

swore his ambition to become King of Xanth, he would

have no trouble here."

"But why should he forswear?"

Her father looked her in the eye. "If you were exiled

from Xanth for life and were offered the chance to return

if you agreed to forswear ever becoming king, would you

do it?"

Ivy thought about that. "Maybe so. But it's Grey who

is bound by the deal, not Magician Murphy, and it would

be no good having a Magician serving Pewter, even if he

never was king."

"Your mother and I have discussed this matter, and we

conclude that you have three options you may not have

considered. You can verify whether what Pewter says is

true; and if it is not, you are all right. Or you can bring

Magician Murphy back here to Xanth on condition that he

serve the existing order. Or—"

"Bring him here?" Ivy demanded incredulously. "The

man who tried to overthrow King Roogna, way back

when?"

"Or you can resume the search for Good Magician

Humfrey, and ask him how to deal with Pewter," Dor

concluded.

"How can you speak of bringing that Evil Magician

back? That would just make even more mischief here and

wouldn't solve any problems for me and Grey.''

Her father explained. Ivy stared. "Do you really think

that would work?"

' 'If it does not, then it may be safe to say that nothing

else will."

She had to concede his point. It was a faint and devious

hope, but it was the best thing available.

She would visit Mundania, and talk with Magician Mur-

phy, and perhaps invite him back to Xanth.

They set out at dawn: Ivy, Grey, and designated chap-

erone Electra. The title thrilled her, and she promised to

spy on anything the betrotheds might try to do together.

They rode on three fine steeds: Electra was on Donkey,

who was now nicely recovered from his captivity with the

goblins. Grey rode Pook, the ghost horse. Ivy rode Peek,

Pook's ghost mare. The ghost colt. Puck, trotted cheer-

fully along beside. All three animals had chains wrapped

around their barrels, for that was their nature. They had

been befriended by Jordan the Barbarian some four hun-

dred plus years before, and though they remained wild,

Ivy had enhanced their lameness and they were glad to

serve in this temporary capacity.

They made excellent time, trotting most of the way, but

the length of Xanth was not traveled in a day and they had

to camp along the north coast. The ghost horses wandered

into the night to graze; they ate ghost grass, which was

invisible to normally living folk, but Ivy could hear the

tiny clinks as the little chains on it rattled.

They walked down to the beach and saw the heaving

sea. This was a designated camping place, so the safety

enchantment was on it; no monsters or evil plants could

intrude here. But Grey started to walk down a path that

crossed the magic line.

"Grey! Where are you going?" Ivy called, alarmed.

"I, uh, have to, you know," he said, embarrassed.

"But you're walking down a tangle tree path! If you

cross the line and walk into the clutches of the tree—"

244 Man from Mundania Man from Mundania 245

He smiled. "I, uh, maybe you forgot my talent."

"Ooopsy! I did forget!" she said, embarrassed in her

turn. "You have nothing to fear from tanglers!"

"Uh, right," he agreed. He walked on down the path.

Curious, she watched. Sure enough, the tangler was

quiescent until Grey came within reach. Then it grabbed.

Its hanging green tentacles whipped around Grey's body—

and abruptly fell away, limp. He brushed on through. After