Authors: Piers Anthony
Tags: #Fiction, #Fantasy, #General, #Princesses, #Magic, #Epic, #Fantasy fiction; American, #Xanth (Imaginary place)
Ivy was startled. She was speaking intelligibly! "Yes, I
am. But how can you—?"
Vadne smiled. "I came from Xanth too," she reminded
her, still piecing out the long-unused words. "For almost
twenty years I have not dared to speak—we had to learn
Mundanish—"
"Oh, of course! It must have been horrible!"
"Horrible," Vadne agreed. "Except for Grey. He was
our joy, even here."
Grey was looking at them, puzzled. "Oh—he hears us
talking in Xanthian!" Ivy said. "He can't speak it, with-
out magic!"
"We never taught him," Vadne agreed. "We eschewed
Xanth, so that he would never learn. But now—"
"Tell him I'll tell the rest," Ivy said.
"There is more?" Vadne asked, surprised.
"Much more."
Vadne turned to Grey. "Qsjodftt Jwz xjmm ufmm vt
uif sftu, efbs," she said pleasantly. He looked disgrun-
tled, but did not object. Probably he was dismayed to dis-
cover that Ivy could converse with his parents in a language
he could not, but he realized the sense of it.
"You see. Grey helped me get back to Xanth," Ivy
explained brightly. "He didn't believe in it, but he liked
me, so he helped me. Then I took him in, and by the time
he came to believe in magic, we, well, we were betrothed.
Then we discovered he had magic himself, in fact he was
a Magician—"
"Xibu?" Murphy demanded, astonished.
"A Magician," Ivy repeated. "You see, you, well, yoa
summoned the stork for him in Xanth, so he was Xan-
thian, and we think maybe your going to Mundania before
the stork delivered him affected his talent, so now he can
null magic, even mine, so he's a Magician of Null Magic.
Anyway, my folks said I couldn't marry him unless he had
a talent, and so now we can marry. But we wondered how
a Mundane could have a talent, and when we found out,
we learned about Com-Pewter and the deal you made to
get out of Xanth. But we think maybe there's a way around
it."
"Wait—wait," Vadne said, seeming dizzy. "We thought
he might have magic, but this—this is all so sudden!"
"So what we want to do is bring you back to Xanth,"
Ivy continued blithely. "Because Magician Murphy's tal-
ent—well, if he would promise to serve the existing order
and foul up Pewter instead of my father—1 mean, I know
he wanted to be king, but that was a long time ago."
Murphy and Vadne were staring at her. "But we are
banned!" Murphy said. "We would be put back in the
Brain Coral's pool!"
"You weren't really banned," Ivy said. "You just
thought the current folk would be mad at you, and I guess
they are, because your curse really messed up my little
brother, but if you promised not to do it anymore—"
"You don't understand," Vadne said. "In a fit of jeal-
ousy I turned a girl into a book, and wouldn't turn her
back. That's why I'm banned."
"Oh—Millie the Ghost," Ivy said, remembering. "But
she's alive now, and so is the Zombie Master, and they
have twin children. I think they would forgive you, if you
asked. Anyway, if Magician Murphy used his talent to
make things go wrong for Com-Pewter, maybe Grey could
somehow get out of that deal and then we could marry
and stay in Xanth. I'm sure my father would say it's all
right, because he doesn't want me to have to leave Xanth
or anything. So if you will agree to come, and renounce
your claim to the throne—"
"I renounced it when I fled Xanth," Murphy said fer-
vently. "I would give anything to return!"
"And so would I!" Vadne agreed as fervently. "We
have dreamed of Xanth constantly, but never spoken of
it."
"But we have to go right away," Ivy said. "Because
Electra here is aging and we have to get 'her back. She's
actually fifteen years old, in Xanth."
Both turned to stare at Electra. "It is true," Electra
said. "Your curse. Magician Murphy, caused me to sleep
for nine hundred years or so—I never was sure about the
exact count—and wake at the age I went to sleep. But now
260
Man from Mundania
Man from Mundania
261
I am out of the magic, and those nine hundred years are
taking effect."
"My curse?" Murphy asked. "I did not curse any chil-
dren!"
"I was with the Sorceress Tapis, who opposed you on
the Isle of View."
"Oh, now I remember! There were two or three girls
with her, one very pretty—"
"That was Millie the Maid or the Princess; both were
beautiful. I was the nothing girl."
Murphy's brow furrowed. "And you come to ask me to
return to Xanth? I would think you would hate me."
"Not exactly. Your curse caused me to become be-
trothed to a handsome young Prince. Of course I will die
if he doesn't marry me, but it has been very nice knowing
him and Ivy. So I believe you did as much good for me,
in your devious fashion, as evil. I really hold no grudge,
though I would not want to suffer your curse again.''
Murphy considered. "Would you accept my apology for
the evil I did you?"
"Of course. But I am at present in a mature state; I
might feel otherwise in my normal childish state."
"Then I will wait to proffer my apology until you return
to that childish state, and shall meditate on ways to ame-
liorate the predicament you are in. Perhaps my talent can
be turned to the benefit of others beside my son."
"Then you'll come?" Ivy asked, excited.
"We will both come, and ask your father for permission
to stay, and suffer what consequences there may be,"
Murphy said. "I am sure I speak for my wife too when I
say that we shall do all in our power to make amends for
the mischief we have done, if only we are permitted to
return and remain in Xanth."
"Then it's decided!" Ivy said. "But we must hurry,
because we have only two days to get Electra back."
"We can do it in one," Murphy said. "I have a car."
"But the house, the arrangements—we can't just leave!"
Vadne protested.
"Phone your friend next door and tell her the house is
hers until we return. If we are accepted in Xanth, we will
never return."
Vadne nodded. She hurried to the strange Mundane in-
strument called the telephone.
Within an hour they were on their way, the five of them
piled into the Murphy's car, with some sandwiches and
milk that Vadne had packed for the trip. The car zoomed
along the road at a dizzying speed, in much the way the
taxi had, somehow avoiding collisions with all the other
cars that zoomed by in the opposite direction, almost close
enough to touch.
They drove the rest of the day and didn't stop at night.
Now the bright lights of the other cars flashed in the dark-
ness, making Ivy even more nervous. But when she
glanced at Electra and saw her visibly older, she knew
that speed was best.
Ivy did not realize she had fallen asleep until she was
awakened by a bumping jolt. "We have run out of road,"
Magician Murphy said. "We shall have to continue on
foot."
They piled out and started walking. Magician Murphy
had a flashlight, which in Mundania had the odd property
of sending out a conical beam of light. They marched on
into the region that was the Isthmus of Xanth, Ivy leading,
because she was the one who was native to the time of
Xanth they had left. That meant she could lead them back
to it. If someone from another time of Xanth led, they
would return to his or her time, which could be another
matter.
Then Ivy heard a voice calling in the distance. "Who
is there?"
That was Donkey! "Ivy is here!" she called back.
They oriented on the centaur, and soon joined forces.
They were back in Xanth. Ivy felt an enormous relief; she
had not realized how nervous she had been about this until
they were clear of drear Mundania. How could she ever
hope to survive there for a lifetime?
"But why did you bring three Mundanes?" Donkey
asked. "And where is Electra?"
The middle-aged woman who was Electra stepped up to
262 Man from Mundania
him. "I have put on some years, but I will lose them
again, if you have patience."
"It is you!" he exclaimed, dismayed. "What hap-
pened?"
"I forgot I was nine hundred years old, in Mundane
terms," she said with a wry smile. "It has been an inter-
esting experience that I hope will soon be over."
Then Ivy introduced Magician Murphy and Vadne. "We
shall have a problem, as we do not have steeds for all,"
she said. "We may have to break into two parties, one
fast, one slow."
"My wife arid I will be happy to take our time," Mur-
phy said. "It has been so long, it will take us time to
acclimatize."
"And I would prefer to wait until I am back to my
normal state," Electra said.
"I will be happy to remain until you do," Donkey of-
fered.
"Then suppose Grey and I ride ahead on the ghost
horses, and the rest of you proceed more slowly down the
enchanted path," Ivy said. "By the time you arrive, ev-
erything should be normal, and Castle Roogna will be
prepared to receive you."