Man From Mundania (56 page)

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

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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."