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

was the Gap Dragon. Only a few folk knew that, because most of those
who had encountered the dragon had been eaten. There had been a Forget
Spell on the chasm for a long time, but now it was gone and so it was
possible to know things about the Gap. That was just as well, because
she would not have wanted to try to run from the dragon on her wobbly
legs. She wondered how the land folk ever endured such an ungainly mode
of travel.

She came to the brink and climbed over. Now the land was reasonably
level, and she could walk upright. She understood that the Good
Magician's castle was slightly south of the Gap, so she walked generally
westward. There were supposed to be enchanted paths, and once she found
one of those she would be able to proceed to the castle without having
to worry about stray monsters.

Unfortunately she was still in the wilderness. "Ho!"

someone shouted to the side. "A nymph! Hit her!"

Mela looked, alarmed. She was no nymph, for they were mostly brainless
creatures who kept company with sinlarly brainless fauns. For some
reason human men seemed to like nymphs, while lacking interest in the
fauns. She saw that the shouter was a man the size of an elf, standing
hardly taller than her knees. His hands were relatively huge. She
didn't have to worry about him.

Then about six more like him appeared. "Hit her! Hit her!" they cried,
charging toward her in a messy mass.

Now she recognized their nature: these were hit men!

Their hands were huge because they used them to make tremendous fists,
the better to hit innocent folk. They were erupting from a blackjack
bush, which was a plant that liked to be hit. It was always exclaiming
"Hit me!" and "Hit me again! " though its leaves were so thin and flat
that they could hardly stand up long to such abuse. Maybe that was why
they had all those little red and black marks on them in the shapes of
things like spades and hearts and clubs. But hitmen were notorious for
making hits on anything that came within reach, and a luscious bare
female like herself was a prime target. They certainly wanted to hit on
her.

Mela quickly took stock. She was too far from the sea to reach it
before the obnoxious little men caught up with her. Maybe in time her
clumsy legs would be able to carry her swiftly, but she was still
concentrating on things like balance and locomotion. If she tried to
run fast, she would fall on her face, and they would swarm all over her.

Could her magic stop them? She had a spell to splash water into the
eyes of a person, but that only worked on one person at a time, and she