"(ebook) Anthony Piers - Xanth 15 - The Color Of Her Panties" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

Gwenny hadn't thought of that. Of course she didn't want to leave Jenny
Elf behind! Jenny had been Che's friend before he came to Goblin
Mountain, and she had been Gwenny's friend too. "Jenny, too, if she
wants to come," she agreed.

"Of course I want to come!" Jenny said. "I'd like to see the Good
Magician's castle when I'm not distracted."

"Maybe he can tell you how to get back to the World of TWo Moons,"
Gwenny said.

"Yes, maybe he could," Jenny agreed. But she did not seem completely
excited by the prospect.

In the morning they bid farewell to Che's sire and dam, and to Gwenny's
mother. Then Godiva took one path, heading east toward Goblin Mountain,
and the three of them took another, heading south toward the Gap Chasm
and the Good Magician's castle. The copy of Chem's map showed that they
could use the invisible bridge to cross the Gap and then go right on
down to the castle. Then they would have three challenges to surmount
before they could get into the castle, and after that "oops," Gwenny
said. "I will have to give a year's service to the Good Magician, for
his Answer to my Question, but I have only a month before I must be
chief."

"Then I will ask on your behalf," Che said.

"No, I will," Jenny Elf said. Her cat, Sammy, was riding in her
backpack. "You two must stay together."

"But-" Gwenny started to protest. Then she realized that this was help
she needed, and that perhaps Jenny had looked ahead and realized that
their juvenile friendship could not endure beyond the settlement of the
chiefship.

Gwenny would then either be chief, with its pressing responsibilities,
or dead. In either case, she could not truly be with Jenny. So their
separation was coming, regardless. It was not as if service to the Good
Magician was onerous; the word was that often it was as beneficial for
the person as for the Magician. "Thank you, Jenny."

There was more to be said, but she couldn't figure out how to phrase it.

They walked down the path, not hurrying. They had a fair way to go, and
there was no point in wearing themselves out. Also, perhaps, they were
not eager to separate, and that separation could occur at any time after
they reached the castle. This was the last of their carefree
association.

The abode of the winged centaurs was not far from the Gap Chasm. They