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

Ivy was just inside the doorway, waiting for her. "I knew you would make it through, Lacuna!" she exclaimed, stepping in for a hug. In the old days she had been one of the children Lacuna had baby-sat, and they had always gotten along well. Ivy was now an attractive young woman of twenty-one, and evidently happy in her relationship with Grey Murphy.

"Well, I'm not glad to see you," Lacuna said, then paused, dismayed. "Oops, that lie berry I didn't eatЧ"

"Oh, that's all right; the effect wears off quickly if you don't eat many."

"I ate bushels."

"Which means you ate only one, because if you had eaten bushels, you would say the opposite. Come on, I think Grey is ready for you. He doesn't look satisfied; you must have an awkward Question."

Lacuna shrugged, so that no lie would come from her mouth. She followed Ivy to the central chamber of the castle where the Good Magician awaited them.

Grey was now a nondescript young man of twenty-two. He was the son of Evil Magician Murphy, who dated from eight or nine centuries before, but like the

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Question Quest

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Zombie Master and Millie the Ghost, he had come to the present period of Xanth's history. The senior Murphy was no longer evil, of course; he had renounced that as a condition of being allowed to settle in this time. He seldom used his power of cursing things so that they would go wrong in any way they could, and only did it for beneficial effect. That might seem contradictory, but it wasn't; if he cursed something evil, than that evil person or thing went wrong and couldn't accomplish its malign purpose. Grey had never been evil, of course. But he had the liability of having to serve Corn-Pewter, because of the deal his parents had made long ago, thinking it would never take effect. His father couldn't curse the evil machine directly, because he had made his deal with it to get out of Xanth in the old days, but had been able to curse the evil plot. That had helped save GreyЧuntil Good Magician Humfrey returned.

Grey stepped forward to shake Lacuna's hand. That was one of the quaint Mundane ways he retained. It meant that he was greeting her in a friendly but not assuming way, and expected the same attitude from her. "I don't suppose I can talk you out of asking your Question?" he inquired plaintively.

"Magician, my life is blah. All I want to know is where in my dreary life I went wrong."

"You mean that's it?" Ivy asked.

"Yes. Then maybe I'll know what to do about it."

Ivy turned to Grey. "That seems simple enough."

"It isn't," he said. He glanced again at Lacuna. "I would really rather you didn't ask it."

"Well, I don't want to cause you distress, but it seems little enough for me to ask, considering that I made my way through your challenges and am prepared to offer a significant service."

Grey frowned. "I am not yet completely proficient in the magic of information. The Good Magician Humfrey would know how to handle this much better than I do. But there have been rumblings, and they suggest

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that your Question is a lot more complicated for us both than it seems. In fact, they indicated that if I Answer it, the situation of Xanth may change significantly. I don't want to take the chance. So, with no malice toward you, I must decline to Answer."

"Grey!" Ivy said, appalled. "I've known Lacuna all my life! She's a good person. She has such a simple Question. How can you do this?"

"I know just enough of Humfrey's magic now to know that this is best," he said unhappily. "Now if she cares to ask some other QuestionЧ"

"No, only this one," Lacuna said firmly.