"(ebook) Anthony Piers - Xanth 12 - Man from Mundania" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

Man from Mundonia

4

They snatched fruits from the orchard as they passed
through it, eating on the run. Then they reached the main
path going north. Every so often Com-Pewter arranged to
set up a D-tour, and then King Dor would send out some-
one to shut it down because it was a public nuisance. Ivy
happened to know that there was a D-tour currently in
force, and this time they meant to take it. It was the easiest
way to reach the evil machine. They were supposed to
stay clear of the infernal contraption, of course, which was
part of what made him so intriguing. Stanley would be>fio
protection against him, but Electra would. v^>

Sure enough, there was the D-tour. They veered onto
it. Now they could relax, because even if it got shut down,
they wouldn't lose it.

They stopped for the night near the unlevel playing field
where the Bulls and the Bears charged back and forth.
Grundy Golem had discovered this during his Quest to
locate the missing pet dragon. It was called the Market,
and the Bulls and Bears were the Stock. Almost every day
the foolish animals resumed their pointless activity, react-
ing dramatically to insignificant events and ignoring major
events. There were many strange things in Xanth, but this
business was too strange for even the craziest folk to un-
derstand. What did those Bulls and Bears find so fascinat-
ing about that Stock Market?

Stanley whomped off into the thickest wilderness to
catch a bite to eat, while the three girls harvested pies
from a pie tree near the path. It wasn't much of a tree,
but Ivy used her talent to enhance it, and then the pies
became so healthy that they steamed. There were many
more such trees along all the paths than in years of yore,
because Ivy's mother, Irene, had seeded them in and made
them grow, and Ivy had Enhanced them.

While they ate, they talked, for it was always fun to talk
when there were no adults to listen in. Inevitably the sub-
ject found its way to Romance, for that was the most
fascinating concept ever to approach teenage girls.

"When are you going to Find a Boy, Ivy?" Nada in-
quired. "I mean, you're well into seventeen, and when