Authors: Piers Anthony
Tags: #Fiction, #Fantasy, #General, #Princesses, #Magic, #Epic, #Fantasy fiction; American, #Xanth (Imaginary place)
seem to solve my problem, wouldn't it? Of course I would
not require the child to marry a harridan."
HAVE NO CONCERN, the screen printed. IN THE RE-
NEWED AMBIENCE OF MAGIC SHE WILL REVERT AT THE
SAME RATE SHE AGED, UNTIL SHE RESUMES HER POINT OF
EQUILIBRIUM FOR THAT ENVIRONMENT.
"Oh, 'Lectra!" Ivy exclaimed, much relieved. She
opened her arms to hug her friend, then saw how strange
the older woman looked, and fell back. This might be the
same person as her friend, but it was hard to accept emo-
tionally.
"Your reaction is perfectly understandable," Electra
said tolerantly. If she was hurt, she masked it with the
competence for which adults were notorious. Ivy felt very
small and grubby, inside.
"We'd better, uh, go see my folks," Grey said. "They
live in Squeedunk, about sixty miles from here. I went to
City College because it was the closest one that gave a
tuition break for state residents, but it was too far to com-
mute. There's a daily bus, but its schedule is calculated to
make it useless, and it always runs late anyway."
"But we have to do this in one day!" Ivy said.
"We could take a taxi, if I had the money, but—"
254 Man from Mundania
THERE IS AN EMERGENCY RESERVE FUND THAT WILL
COVER THIS.
Ivy looked at the screen suspiciously. ' 'Why are you
being so helpful. Pewter? You know we don't like you!"
I AM NOT PEWTER. I AM MERELY A SENDING SENT TO
DO PEWTER'S BIDDING. IT IS MY TASK TO FACILITATE THE
LIAISON BETWEEN GREY MURPHY AND PRINCESS IVY, AND
YOUR CONSULTATION WITH MAGICIAN MURPHY WILL ES-
TABLISH YOUR SITUATION. THE MONEY IS IN THE DISK
MAILER UNDER MY MONITOR.
Grey looked under the screen. He found the mailer
there. Behind the floppy disk was a packet of money he
hadn't noticed before, hidden until he looked for it. He
nodded. "This will do it."
But Ivy wasn't quite satisfied. "So, Sending, you're not
the same as Pewter? What do you get out of this?"
DATA INSUFFICIENT.
"Don't give me that!" she snapped. "You know exactly
what I mean! Bad folk never do things just because they're
supposed to; they always have something to gain."
DATA INSUFFICIENT.
Electra stepped in. "What she means to say, Sending,
is that it would facilitate her liaison with Grey Murphy if
she had just a bit more information. She is so constituted
that she tends to distrust what she does not understand,
and that may prejudice her relationship with her fiance's
parents and therefore with Grey as well. Since your par-
ticipation is integral, your separate input is necessary so
that the mission will not be compromised."
CLARIFICATION ACCEPTED.
Ivy kept her mouth shut. Electra's new maturity was
coming in handy!
"Normally each party to an agreement receives an
emolument appropriate to his participation," Electra con-
tinued incomprehensibly. "What is your reward in the
event the mission is successful?"
RETURN TO XANTH.
"And what is your penalty in the event the mission is
unsuccessful?"
CONFINEMENT TO MUNDANIA.
Mon from Mundanio
255
Electra looked benignly crafty in the way that only an
adult could. "As it happens, we are shortly to return to
Xanth. We might take you with us, so that you would have
no further need to gamble on the outcome of the mission
for your own resolution, if you were to cooperate with
us."
The screen flickered. ARE YOU ATTEMPTING TO BRIBE
ME?
Again that crafty adult smile. "Parties of conscience
neither proffer nor accept unwarranted remuneration. They
merely come to reasonable understandings."
WHAT DO YOU REQUIRE?
"Information on how Ivy may marry Grey without be-
ing required either to support his commitment of servitude
to Com-Pewter or to exile herself with him in Mundania.''
I DO NOT KNOW HOW THE DEAL WITH COM-PEWTER CAN
BE ABROGATED, BUT THERE IS A STRATEGY THAT WILL AC-
COMPLISH THIS IF IT IS POSSIBLE. WILL INFORMATION ON
THAT STRATEGY SATISFY YOUR REQUIREMENT?
Electra looked at Ivy. "The Sending is ready to deal. I
think this is the best it can offer. How do you feel?"
Ivy had hardly followed the preceding dialogue. It
seemed to her that neither Electra nor Sending had said
anything intelligible, yet somehow they seemed to under-
stand each other. "It will help us if we help it?"
"It will tell us what to do to get around Pewter's plot,
if it is possible to get around it."
"Then make the deal!" Ivy exclaimed gladly.
Electra returned to the screen. "That information will
satisfy our requirement. How may we most expeditiously
facilitate your transport to Xanth?"
TAKE MY OISK.
Grey went to a small box. "The original Vaporware
Limited disk is here. We can carry it with us with no
trouble at all."
"But in Xanth, how will the Sending animate?" Ivy
asked. "Doesn't it need a screen or something?"
THERE ARE MAGIC SCREENS IN XANTH. YOU MAY DE-
POSIT ME WITH ANY ONE OF THOSE. ONE IS IN THE ISTH-
MUS.
256
Man from Mundania
"We'll do it," Ivy agreed, pleased. "Now, what's your
strategy?"
RETURN MAGICIAN MURPHY TO XANTH, AFTER OBTAIN-
ING HIS AGREEMENT TO EXERT HIS TALENT ON YOUR
BEHALF.
"But his talent is to make things foul up!" Ivy pro-
tested.
Now Grey caught on. "But he controls it, doesn't he?
He makes the side he's against foul up! And if he's against
Com-Pewter's plot—"
"It might foul up!" Ivy concluded. "And then we'd be
all right!"
Grey tucked the disk box into a small suitcase, and Ivy
added some Mundane clothing. Electra ate some more
from the food on the shelves. Then they set out for Squee-
dunk.
The Murphy's house was typical of Mundane resi-
dences: neat, clean, and drear. Ivy wondered how they
had been able to stand it all these years. But of course they
had had no choice; no one in Mundania did. If Mundanes
could escape Mundania, they would all move to Xanth!
The taxi let them off, after Grey paid the cabbie. The
dour driver looked almost satisfied as he drove away. "I
gave him a twenty-five percent tip," Grey explained,
touching her hand. Ivy smiled just as if she understood
what this was. In fact, she was surprised that she could
understand any of his words, now that they were away
from Sending's screen. Then she realized that they had
Sending along, in the disk. The machine's power was di-
minished, but when Ivy touched Grey she could under-
stand him.
They walked up the walk, and Grey knocked on the
door. A pudgy woman opened it. "Npuifs!" Grey ex-
claimed, hugging her.
"Hsfz—xibu bsfzpv epjoh ifsf?" she asked, surprised.
"Eje zpv gbjm Gsftinbo Fohmjti?"
"Opu fybdumz," he responded. "Mppi, Nb, uijt jt
dpnqmjdbufe. J'mm fyqmbjm fwfszuijoh."
They were ushered inside, and introduced as "Jwz"
Man from Mundania
257
and "Pmfdusb." Then they sat on the worn, comfortable
couch, and Ivy made sure to sit right next to Grey and put
her hand on his suitcase, so that she could understand what
he was saying.
Grey's father was old. Ivy remembered from Pewter's
pictures that Magician Murphy had been of middle age
when he and Vadne escaped from Xanth, and this was
nineteen years later, so his age wasn't surprising. Grey's
mother was of middle age, no longer young, and had
gained a fair amount of weight. It really would have been
hard to distinguish this couple from any other Mundanes,
but increasingly she was able to see the remnants of the
folk they once had been. It was really too bad what two
decades of Mundane life could do to folk!
"First," Grey said, "I have to tell you that I now know
about Xanth." Both his parents stiffened, remaining ex-
pressionless; this was evidently a secret they had pre-
served throughout. "I know about the deal you made with
Com-Pewter, and why you never told me about it. It was
because you didn't want me to go there and have to serve
the machine.''
The parents exchanged a Mundanish glance. "Zft," the
Magician said. Ivy needed no translation; he had just con-
firmed the thing they had come to confirm.
"But Com-Pewter didn't leave it to chance," Grey said.
"It sent a Sending, who brought me Ivy, here, from Xanth.
She is the daughter of King Dor and Queen Irene, and is
a Sorceress in her own right." He paused. "And—she is
my fiancee.''
They stared at Ivy incredulously. Ivy nodded, feeling
abruptly choked.
After a long moment, Vadne fumbled for a handkerchief
and dabbed at her eyes. Then she stood and opened her
arms to Ivy.
Ivy got up and went to her and embraced her. There
was a thing about betrothals that women understood on a
level men did not. The language didn't matter.
Then the language did. "Zpv—You are really of
Xanth?" Vadne asked slowly.
258
Man from Mundania
Man from Mundania
259