"(ebook) Anthony Piers - Xanth 11 - Heaven Cent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

"How can you tell?" a voice inquired from under the bed.

"His hand is big and hairy. Yours is skinny."

The hand let go. There was a scramble and clatter under the bed. "I resent mat! My hands have no skin. They are skeletal." Then the thing under the bed crawled out. It was a walking skeleton.

"What are you doing under mere, Marrow?" Dolph asked. "Where's Handicraft?" He now used his bed mon-

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ster's full name, because he was alarmed; he inherited that from his mother.

"He went to visit Snortimer. I agreed to fill in while he was gone. We thought you wouldn't notice/*

"Not notice!" Dolph exclaimed. "Your hand isn't anything like his! And you only have two of them!"

"True," Marrow agreed, disgruntled. "I suppose it was a foolish attempt. But he did so want to see Snortimer again, and I had nothing to do, soЧ" He shrugged, his bones rattling apologetically.

"Why should he care about Snortimer?" That was Ivy's monster under the bed, who had departed for the realm of the fauns and nymphs, taking Ivy's bed with him. Ivy never had gotten over her snit about that, even though a bed-bug had moved in that was twice as big and soft as the bed she had lost. She had declared herself to be grown up, so that she no longer believed in bed monsters. It was Dolph's private opinion that Snortimer had gotten out just in time. It was doom for monsters when children stopped believing in them. Dolph intended never to do that to Handy.

"It wasn't Snortimer so much as his situation," Marrow said. "The news circulated that he had more nymphly ankles to grab than he could possibly keep up with, and was liable to perish from sheer delight. Handy thought he should investigate the situation, in case Snort needed help."

"What's wrong with the ankles around here?" Dolph demanded.

"Oh, nothing, nothing, I'm sure," Marrow said quickly. "But it just would not do to have poor Snortimer expire from overwork."

"Any monster who would rather grab a nymphly ankle man mine is a jerk!" Dolph declared righteously. "What could he possibly see in them?"

"I admit to being baffled," Marrow said. "Full-fleshed ankles and legsЧno appeal at all." Then, diplomatically, he added: "Present company excepted, of course."

Dolph decided that Marrow was all right. The skeleton had arrived after Esk Ogre and Chex Centaur restored the Kiss-Mee River to its curvaceous state, making it affec-

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donate again. Marrow had been rescued from the Lost Path in the gourd, and now served as a general helper around the castle. He was especially good in the dungeon, because he didn't mind cobwebs or rats. In fact, he normally rested his bones there, lending excellent atmosphere. Visitors not in the know could be quite startled. He even had a convenient hollow finger bone, with which he could whistle for his friend Chex when he needed a lift.

"Maybe I'll add you to the list," Dolph said.

"List?"

Dolph explained about his campaign to trick his mother into agreeing to let Grundy Golem be his companion for the Quest. "You're adult, aren't you? You should qualify. You'd give her a real fit!"

"Excellent notion," Marrow agreed. "Perhaps I can suggest some additional names. What about Cumulo Fracto Nimbus?"

"Terrific!" Dolph exclaimed. "That will really dampen her!" Fracto was the King of Clouds, and was a foul-weather friend. One could never tell when he was going to throw a storm and tear things up with lightning bolts. The very notion of Fracto hovering over her carpets would send Queen Irene into a femalish frenzy.