Man From Mundania (64 page)

"Now we have to find Little Halingberry," Ivy an-

nounced, looking at the address as they resumed their

normal forms and positions at the far bank.

"I dread to think how foolish that will be," Grey mut-

tered.

They were at the edge of a field of assorted berries. The

storks were following a path that led underground; the

plants there seemed to put their fruit below. "What kind

is that?" Dolph asked.

"That's a bury plant," Ivy responded. "You have to be

careful about eating them, because of the pits. You don't

want to fall in."

Grey looked at her as if uncertain whether their be-

throthal was a good idea, but did not comment.

They passed many varieties of berries. Some seemed

edible, like the red and blue berries, and some were odd,

like the Londonberry. Then the heard something calling.

"That's it!" Ivy said confidently. "The plant haling us!"

Sure enough, it was the halingberry plant. But it was

way too large. It was the big halingberry. They looked

around until they found its offspring, the little halingberry,

whose voice was relatively faint. Beside that was a road,

marked MAIN LANE.

"Now for Silly Goose Lane," Ivy said. She led the way

down it. She was getting the hang of this region.

There were many offshoots: Hot Lane, Cold Lane, Plain

Lane, Lois Lane, Santa Claus Lane, Derby Lane, and oth-

ers in boring profusion. Some of them seemed to have

interesting activities at their ends, but Ivy didn't want to

waste time with bypaths. Then they got to the animal lanes,

and to the bird lanes. After Donald Duck Lane was Sober

Goose Lane and then Silly Goose Lane.

"We're getting close!" Ivy said, relieved. She stepped

onto the lane—and leaped. "Eeeeek!" she screamed, out-

raged.

"What happened?" Grey asked, alarmed. He hurried

after her—and made his own great leap. "Ooooff!"

It was Dolph who caught on! "A silly goose—like boot

rear!" he exclaimed, trying to stifle a laugh which threat-

ened to overwhelm him. "When you get on it, you get—"

"Now it's your turn, little brother!" Ivy said grimly.

"Sure." Dolph became a wacky-looking goose and

stepped forward. Naturally nothing happened to him, since

this lane was intended for this species. He had outwitted

it.

"Now we find Damescroft," Ivy said pretending not to

be disappointed. Grey was beginning to understand why

she and her brother did not always get along.

There were houses here. Soon they reached the ones

labeled croft: Eaglecroft, Handicroft, Welkincroft, Man-

scroft, Kidscroft, and finally Damescroft.

They had made it! There before them stood a pretty

cottage, with white walls and a thatched roof.

"This is the Good Magician's castle?" Grey asked.

"Nothing like it!" Dolph replied. "But you know, there

are always three challenges to get in, and you have to

surmount them or Humfrey won't talk to you. He's prob-

ably just as crotchety about that as he's been for the past

century."

"Maybe this is illusion," Ivy said. "The challenge is

to get in, when we can't see what we're getting into."

"Then let me see what I can do," Grey said. He took

a step forward and stretched out his hands, concentrating.

The cottage nickered, then disappeared. In its place was

a perfect replica of the Good Magician's castle as it was

in Xanth. It was of stone, with reasonably high turrets and

a moat. It looked deserted, too.

298 Man from Mundania

"That's more like it," Ivy said. "I don't see a moat

monster, but that's the way it is now, anyway. We can

cross over the—oops." For now she saw that there was no

drawbridge over the moat. It wasn't that the bridge had

been drawn; there was none at all.

They went to the edge of the moat. "It may be poi-

soned," Dolph said. "We don't want to risk it; Grey

couldn't null real poison."

Grey agreed. "Also, it might not be fair for me to use

my power more than once. We don't want the Magician

to be annoyed."

"I can get us across," Dolph said. He became the roc

again. They climbed onto his feet. He spread his wings

and flew across, landing on the inner ledge.

Ivy didn't say anything, but she was ill at ease. This

was too easy! The Good Magician's challenges were al-

ways challenging, while they seemed to have conquered

two of them without effort. She was suspicious of that.

They were on the ledge between the sheer castle wall

and the moat. They walked along it, seeking the entry.

Normally the main gate would be where the drawbridge

crossed the moat, but they had no bridge to orient on.

They kept walking until they had completed a circuit

around the castle. There was no gate at all!

"My turn," Ivy said. "I can get us in."

She concentrated on the impervious wall, enhancing its

state of perviousness. It became less substantial, so that

water might percolate through it, and air. It was a shadow

of its former self, looking solid but becoming illusion.

She took the hands of her companions. "We can pass

through this," she said, and led them into the wall and

out of it, inside the castle. Then she reversed the enhance-

ment, so that the walls returned to their normal state.

They were all the way in, now. Ivy heard footsteps. A

man turned the corner and stood in the lighted hall.

"Hugo!" Ivy exiaimed, walking toward him.

"Ivy!" he replied. "You are lovely!"

Ivy was unable to return the compliment, for Hugo was

best described as homely. "You haven't changed!" she

said instead, then hastily made introductions: "This is my

Man from Mundania

299

friend Hugo, the son of Humfrey and the Gorgon. This is

my betrothed. Grey Murphy. You know Dolph, of

course."

Hugo nodded. "Right this way," he said. "Mom has

cookies, the kind you like."

"Punwheel!" Ivy exclaimed as they followed him to the

kitchen. Indeed, the smell of freshly baked cookies was

drifting down the hall.

The Gorgon was there, exactly as Ivy remembered her:

tall, stately, with snakelets of hair framing her invisible

face. The Good Magician had made it invisible so that the

sight of it would not stone those who saw it. In the dark,

Ivy was sure, that face was just as solid and warm as any

other. The cookies were crisp and hot, with just that bit

of hardening that close proximity to the Gorgon's face

caused.

"My, how you've grown. Ivy!" the Gorgon exclaimed.

"You were, let me think, only ten or eleven years old the

last time I saw you!"

"I'm seventeen now," Ivy said proudly. She introduced

Grey, and of course the Gorgon exclaimed over the be-

trothal.

They ate cookies while they compared notes. The Gor-

gon was eager for news of Xanth, and rather missed the

old castle there.

"But why are you here?" Ivy asked. "The three of you

just disappeared, and we had no idea where you had gone

until now."

"The Magician is on a Quest," the Gorgon explained.

"The Question Quest!" Grey exclaimed.

"Why yes; however did you know?"

Ivy explained about their sneak peak at the volumes the

Muse of History was working on. "But couldn't he just

take care of it right there?''

"No, this was of a preemptive nature. The Magician

never was very tolerant of interruptions, and this was so

important that he decided to eliminate interruptions en-

tirely. We have not been disturbed for seven years." But

there seemed to be more regret than pride in her voice.

"But we have a Question," Ivy said. "We must have

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Man from Mundania

301

the Answer before we can get married. So we tracked you

down here, and we will go home as soon as we see Ma-

gician Humfrey."

The Gorgon shook her head. "I'm afraid he won't see

you. He is so wrapped up in his Quest that he allows

nothing to interrupt it."

"But we must have that Answer!" Ivy protested.

"I would be delighted to have him give it to you. But

he just won't. He will just slide into another level of the

dream realm and avoid you, without ever taking his eyes

from his texts."

"But he left his texts behind!" Ivy said.

"The physical ones. He has all of them duplicated per-

fectly here, and all his other magic. Everything he needs

for his Quest—including privacy.''

"I think I could find him," Grey said. "I could null

out the levels of magic illusion until—"

"No, that wouldn't make him give an Answer," Ivy

said dispiritedly.

And that was it: they had come all the way here for

nothing. No wonder the challenges they had faced when

entering the castle had been perfunctory: the Good Ma-

gician wasn't at home to Questions anymore.

Grey nulled the magic for them as they held hands, and

in a moment Ivy looked up from her gourd. They were

back in Castle Roogna.

For a moment she was tempted to say they had gotten

their Answer. But that would not be honest, and besides,

if she could have figured out an answer herself, they would

not have needed to find the Magician.