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

doubted it would discourage even a single one of these hit men for long.
She had a small waterlog, but that would burn only in water. There was
her mirror, but that had very limited power. Not much hope there.

However she also had a little magic manual that was supposed to list
many of the useful things of Xanth, as well as the things best avoided.
She snatched it out of her purse and checked quickly through it. She
saw pictures of various creatures and plants, including the hit men and
blackjack bush. "Well, I already knew about those!" she snapped. "How
about something that will help me that's close by?"

The manual showed a picture of a mitten bush, with neat little white
mittens. A mitten bush? Mela rolled her eyes. She was no kitten, and
she needed no mitten.

Then she spied a mitten bush close by. Well, that might not be what she
wanted, but she would have to make do with it. She hurried to it, not
quite managing to lose her balance in her haste. The hit men were now
almost upon her, their big ugly hands forming into bigger uglier fists.

She dodged around the bush. The hit men piled into it-and its mittens
expanded to swallow their fists. In a moment the hit men were all
caught by their hands, unable to get them from the tight mittens. They
cursed, swore, and obscened, turning the air bilious blue, which was an
unusual effect. Bilious green or yellow were the normal hues. But even
with the blue they couldn't get free, because the mittens were firmly
tied to the bush.

Mela went blithely onward. Sometimes all it took was a little luck and
the common sense to use it. Plus a little help from a manual. This
was, after all, the Land of Xanth, where almost everything was magic,
and the rest was probably lying about it. The land was more dangerous
than the sea, because she was used to the sea, but she could manage.

In due course she came to a river. This was wonderful; it gave her a
chance to wet her tail. She waded in-and right out again. It was fresh
water! What a horrible sensation. She would have to make do on dry
legs until she could return to the sea.

Rather than touch the bad water again, she walked upstream. It stood to
reason that if she went far enough, the river would give up and fade
out, and then she could proceed without touching it.

Soon she encountered an odd little creature. It had pinkish hairy skin
and a squared-off snout, which it used to nose around in the ground. She
brought out her manual again and sifted through the pages until she
found a picture and managed to recognize the thing: it was a pig. The
description was reassuring: they were harmless if not bothered. So she
ignored it and walked on.