"(ebook) Anthony Piers - Xanth 16 - Demons Don't Dream" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

She saw him as rounded? She was the most delightfully rounded woman he could imagine! But he did not type mat in. Instead he made a safer statement "It's amazing! How did it happen?"

She frowned prettily. "I don't suppose you would believe me if I told you there's some magic involved?"

He shook his head. "I don't believe in magic."

"That's too bad. That is the second, and greater step. When you manage to do that, you will truly be in the game."

"Suspension of disbelief," he agreed. "I really wish I could! But I'm a skeptic from way back. As they say, I'm from Missouri."

She looked blank. "I thought you were from Mundania."

Mundania. Cute notion. "I think Missouri is a state in Mundania. The people there always have to be shown something before they believe it. So if you show me magic, I'll believe it. OtherwiseЧ"

She smiled. She made a sinuous ripple, and suddenly she was a snake with her human head. "This is my naga form, which is natural to me. My magic enables me to as-

DEMONS DON'T DREAM 11

sume human form, or full serpent form." She became a coiled python, whose reptilian eyes fixed on him as it slithered from the fallen garments. But he was not revolted. He could take snakes or leave them; he knew they were beneficial creatures, so he just left mem alone. This one did not dismay him at all. He knew it was Nada, in the context of the fantasy game. It would be useful to have such a reptile on his side, if some game threat materialized, as was sure to happen when he really got into it

"I realize there is magic in a fantasy game," he said carefully. "Things happen all me time in movie cartoons and such. People get flattened by steamrollers, and then pumped back into round with a shot of air, and they are normal again. So you might say that I believe in magic in such a context But never in real life."

The snake slithered behind a screen, carrying the woman's piled clothing in its mouth. In a moment the human form reappeared from behind the screen, decorously dressed. "But if you come into Xanth, then magic will work. If I went to Mundania, I would not be able to change form; I'd be just a little helpless snake." She frowned. "I know; it happened once. But here we follow our rules. So when you can manage to believe, then you will experience magic."

"When I believe that, Til be crazy," he said sourly.

"No, you will just be in another realm. But you don't have to believe, to play the game. Just remember that our rules govern here."

"I'll do that" Dug said, surprised by her responsive-ness. It really seemed as if she were a real person, communicating through the barrier of his disbelief. "How do I play this game?"

She smiled again. The glade lighted when she did that;

it really did become brighter, as if a slow flashbulb had

gone off. So it was a foolish technical effect; he still liked

it She was just such a beautiful woman that he could bask

| all day in her smiles.

12 PIERS ANTHONY

'Take my hand," Nada said, "and I will lead you into it." She extended her lovely hand to him.

Dug reached for the screen, then caught himself. He typed I TAKE YOUR HAND.

The scene expanded. Now he seemed to be in the glade, and Nada stood beside him, about half a head shorter than he. She turned to him, her bosom gently heaving, her brown-gray eyes complementing her gray-brown tresses. Suddenly brown-gray was Dug's favorite color. "Thank you, Dug; it is so nice to have you here."

"It's so nice to be here," he said, discovering that disbelief was getting easier to suspend, at least in this context. He knew he would never get close to a woman like this in real life, so he might as well do it this way. Certainly the way the scene had come to life was amazing.