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

"Then I'm sorry, butЧ"

She fixed him with an Adult Stare. He was not yet so long beyond childhood as to be immune to its effect. He scuffled his feet. "I did not come here to take No for an Answer," she said. She might be dull, but she knew her rights. "I insist: tell me Where Did I Go Wrong?"

Grey obviously felt properly miserable, but still he clung somehow to his position. "I won'tЧ"

It was time for the carrot. She had learned how to wield stick and carrot; it was a necessary secondary talent of all baby-sitters. "I have in mind a rather special service, to repay you for your trouble."

"Well, if I were to use your service, I'm sure you could confuse other applicants by putting misleading printed messages on the walls. ButЧ"

"Magician, I can free you from your obligation to the evil machine. Even after Magician Humfrey returns."

Both Grey and Ivy jumped. "You can do that?" Ivy breathed with sheer faint hope.

"I can go to Corn-Pewter and change the print on its screen to say that Grey Murphy's obligation is no longer in force. Since what's on that screen changes reality to conform, that will be true. There will be no further obligation."

Question Quest

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Ivy turned to the Good Magician, her eyes shining. "Can she do that, Grey?"

Grey dived for a huge tome sitting on a table. He leafed rapidly through it, staring into the depths of its musty pages. He paused, then looked up. "Yes, it is here. She can do it. If she prints the right words on Pewter's screen. If she has the nerve to broach the evil machine in its evil den. There is one key word that must be used at the end or it won't be effective."

"Key word?" Lacuna asked.

" 'Compile.' "

"You mean to assemble something?"

"Compile. It has a special meaning for Corn-Pewter. It locks hi whatever has just been printed on its evil screen. Corn-Pewter can change anything except itself, and this changes Pewter itself. I understand about this, because of my experience with similar machines in Mundania."

"ThenЧ" Ivy started.

Grey raised his hands in surrender. "That is the one service I cannot refuse. I will have to Answer Lacuna's Question."

Lacuna smiled, vastly relieved. The truth was she wanted to free Grey anyway, because she knew how happy that would make Ivy. But it was best to do it this way.

"Very well," Grey said grimly, turning the pages of the Book of Answers again. "I shall have to Answer, and hope the consequences are not as bad as they could be." He found his place, read the entry, and looked up, perplexed. "This is really of no practical use to you. Are you sureЧ?"

"I am sure."

He sighed. "It says that you should have proposed to him."

"That's no answer!" Ivy protested. "It doesn't say whom or when! I mean, of course it's all right for the girl to propose; I asked Grey to marry me, and he accepted. ButЧ"

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Question Quest