"(ebook) Anthony Piers - Xanth 14 - Question Quest" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

"I'm getting as bad as what's her name," he said, flustered.

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Question Quest

"Metria," Ivy said.

"The Demoness Metria," he agreed. "Getting the wrong word." He looked at Lacuna. "Anyway, I'll send you to see Humfrey now. But I warn you, it's not a pleasant trip."

"My life is not a pleasant trip! I could use some excitement."

"Well, then, you can go to Hell."

Lacuna was taken aback. "ButЧ"

"In a handbasket," he said. "That's where Humfrey is, and it's the only way to go there, if you don't belong."

"Oh." For a moment she had been on the verge of mistaking his meaning. Folk from Mundania could have some crude Mundanian manners clinging to them.

"But you can do that tomorrow," Ivy said. "You will want to rest here tonight."

"No, I don't think I do. I'd rather go straight on and get the second Answer from Magician Humfrey."

"As you wish," Grey said. He went to a locked cupboard, unlocked it, opened it, and brought out a seated jar. He unscrewed the lid and took out a tiny basket, like a thimble made of wickerwork, on a thread. He flipped the thread up toward the ceiling and let go of the basket. It hung there, suspended from nothing.

"This is the basket," Ivy said. "It's one of the magic devices we found in Humfrey's collection. He evidently used it and sent it back. You will ride in it to Hell."

"But I can't fit in that little thing!" Lacuna protested.

Grey smiled. "Your body will rest in a coffin, just as Humfrey's does. Only your soul goes to Hell. Don't worry, your body will be quite safe here, until you return to it."

Ivy walked to a low solid bench. She lifted its topЧ and it came up, manifesting as the lid to a plushly lined coffin. "Lie down in here," Ivy said.

Lacuna was beginning to have, if not exactly second

Question Quest

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thoughts, first-and-a-half thoughts. Sleep in a coffin? But if it was the way to go, then she had to do it.

She got into the coffin and lay on her back. Somehow this action made her feel even older and duller than she hoped she was. Grey put his finger behind the hanging tiny basket and pushed it toward her. "Get into this."

Lacuna wanted to protest, but found herself floating up toward the basket, which was rapidly expanding. She caught its edge with her hands and climbed in. It was now quite ample in size; she could stand upright within it and peer over the edge and down.

She saw her huge body lying there in the coffin. It looked every bit as blah as she had feared.

She turned to face the other way. As she did so, the basket began to move. It was swinging along at the end of its rope, which was firmly knotted to the stout handle. The room, indeed the entire Good Magician's castle, seemed to have disappeared. She was on her way.