Man From Mundania (69 page)

"Switching readily from one to the other, according to the

need, to fool intruders."

"According to the need," she echoed. "Grey, I think

you've got it!"

"I do?"

"There must be a command or something to change the

castle, to make it different. Something he could invoke."

Grey nodded. It was making sense! "We'd better invoke

it soon; Mae is almost here."

"I'll try." Ivy took a breath. "Castle—change form!"

They waited, but nothing happened. Ivy tried other

commands, but nothing worked.

"Uh, maybe since it's my service we're doing," Grey

said. "I mean, it's my problem, having to serve Com-

Pewter, so I'm the one who owes the Good Magician the

service. The castle—well, it sorta has to cooperate, if—"

"It sorta does," Ivy agreed, mimicking him again.

"Well, give it a command."

Grey turned to face the main portion of the castle. "In

the name of Good Magician Humfrey, change form!" he

intoned.

There was a rumble. The castle shook. Walls slid

around. In a moment the platform they were on heaved,

and the stones of the wall rose up high.

Grey discovered Ivy in his arms. They were no longer

on a parapet, but in a cupola whose arched windows over-

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Man from Mundania

321

looked the moat. They could see the slanting roofs of the

castle, different from before. The entire layout of the cas-

tle had changed.

"It obeyed me!" Grey exclaimed, amazed.

"You didn't believe your own reasoning?" Ivy inquired

archly. "That it had to cooperate, if you were to perform

the service for the Good Magician?"

"I guess my faith wasn't strong," he agreed. Then he

looked down again. "But we still have to deal with Mae."

"Well, the drawbridge is up, so that may slow her,"

Ivy said.

"The Maenads can swim; they love to bathe in their

wine spring. Except for—" He brightened. "That's it!"

"That's what?"

"She doesn't like blood! Is there a vial of imitation

blood in the collection? I mean, something that would—"

"Gotcha, Magician!" Ivy said. "Grace'1!"

The lady skeleton appeared. "Something funny has

happened''—she began.

"All under control," Ivy said smoothly. "Is there a vial

of blood in the chamber?"

"Certainly. Concentrated blood extract."

"That should do. Pour it into the moat."

The skeleton, not having much brain, didn't argue. She

went off to find the vial.

They watched from the cupola. In due course a bony

hand extended from a lower window. Something dribbled

into the moat.

Abruptly the moat turned deep red. It looked as if the

river of blood from Girard had been diverted and now

coursed around the castle. There was even a wisp of vapor

rising from it, as if it were hot. The Good Magician's vials

remained potent!

Mae came to the brink and stared into the moat, evi-

dently appalled. She had left the Maenads because she had

no taste for fresh blood; what would she do now? Well, if

her concern was less than critical, this would cause her to

turn around and go back to Mount Parnassus, saving them

trouble.

The woman put her hands to her "face in a gesture of

grief. Suddenly Grey felt like a Mundane heel. She was

weeping!

The color of the moat faded in the vicinity of the Wild

Woman. The water turned clear, the clearness spreading

slowly outward. What was happening?

"Her tears are washing out the blood," Ivy said. "I

didn't know Maenads could cry."

"Maybe true ones can't," Grey said. "I think she is

surmounting the first challenge."

"And we still don't know what her problem is or how

to fix it!" she exclaimed.

Grey nodded. "We're here for only a few days, but I

want to do the best I can while I am here. Maybe it's a

test, and if I do a good job, the Good Magician will return

at the last moment and give me my Answer." It was a

wild hope.

"That just might be!" she agreed. "This is certainly

turning out to be more than just a castle cleaning!"

There was a shadow in the sky. "There's another one

already!" he said, his heart sinking. "A roc. Neither moat

nor walls will slow that down!"

"No, it's my brother, silly!" Ivy said. "We'll tell him

to fetch us the Book of Answers, so you can answer Mae

and send her back immediately.'' It was evident that Ivy

remained uneager to have the shapely Wild Woman remain

close to Grey for any longer than was strictly necessary.

He liked that.

"You tell Dolph," he decided. "I'll figure out the next

challenge. I think we can use Goody Goblin after all."

"See that you do," Ivy said darkly, and hurried off in

the direction of a roof terrace.

Grey went in search of the goblin, whose chamber might

not be where it had been. All the labyrinthine passages of

the castle were different, but there were not a great num-

ber, and soon he did find the goblin.

"Do you know, Magician, I must have been unobser-

vant yesterday," Goody remarked. "I could have sworn

the passage was of another nature."

"It was," Grey explained shortly. "We changed the

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layout. Now I would like you to do me one service before

you go."

"Gladly, Magician!"

"There is a Wild Woman coming into the castle. You

must go down and try to scare her off. Don't hurt her, just

frighten her."

"A Wild Woman? But they don't affright readily, and I

am hardly the type to—" The goblin paused, realizing

something. "I believe I saw a mirror chamber downstairs.

In that I could assume the aspect of twenty goblins. If I

made faces and moved around, I might put on a good

show. But if she catches on—"

"Then she wins the challenge, and your service is

done," Grey said. "You will then be able to go your way

with a clear conscience."

"Excellent! I shall intercept her as she passes through

that chamber." Goody hurried down the hall.

But he still needed a third challenge. What would really

faze a Wild Woman?

Grey snapped his fingers. He searched out the maiden.

"Maiden, there is a service you may be able to perform

to acquit your debt to me."

"What would that be. Magician?" she asked, just a

trifle warily.

"There is a Wild Woman coming into the castle soon.

I want you to intercept her after she passes the goblin, and

give her a manicure and hair styling and female outfit-

ting—a frilly dress, slippers, and uh—" He faltered.

"Panties?" she prompted.

"Uh, yes. That sort of thing."

"Oh, yes, I am excellent at that sort of thing!" she

agreed. "But a Wild Woman—"

"You will stand athwart a locked door which bars her

passage to me. She must suffer the treatment or be forever

barred. If she departs without the treatment, your debt is

paid. If she agrees to it, you will—how long would it

take?"

"To do it right? Hours!"

"Perfect! When it is done, knock on the door, and I

will open it, and you may go home."

Man from Mundania

323

And if that didn't stop the Wild Woman, nothing would,

he thought as he went looking for Ivy. But by that time, he

should have the Book of Answers, and be able to handle

her Question. He really appreciated Humfrey's system,

now!

Mae encountered the goblin in the mirror chamber. She

screamed: not in fear, but in outrage. It seemed that Mae-

nads didn't like goblins. She chased the first figure she

saw, and smacked into the mirror. After several such

smacks she began to catch on to the nature of the chal-

lenge. She noted her own reflections in the mirrors, and

avoided these. Finally she found a panel in which there

was neither a goblin nor Wild Woman and leaped through

it, for that was the exit. She had won the second challenge,

and it had only taken her an hour to do it.

Meanwhile Dolph had taken off for Castle Roogna. As

a roc he could cover the distance rapidly—but once there

he would have to convince King Dor to give him the vol-

ume, which was kept locked up for safety until the Good

Magician's return. Ivy would have sent a note, but even

so, it could take hours. Would the book arrive in time?

The maiden intercepted the Maenad. There was another

screech of outrage. Almost the wild woman turned back—

but the same flaw of character that caused her to avoid

blood made her decide to submit to this transcendent in-

dignity. The maiden started to beautify and civilize her

appearance.

Two hours passed. Grey knew that the beautification

could not last much longer. Where was Dolph?

Then the roc showed on the horizon. The big bird was

carrying a book!

It turned out to be a monstrous volume. Grey clutched

it in his arms and set it on a table evidently sized for it.

He opened it—and was bewildered by such a maze of en-