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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] answered. He reached down to help her get off the carpet and out of the entanglement of children. He brought her to her feet and drew her in for a kiss. Then she began to believe. The Mountain of Change had changed her life! Yet why was she the only one who realized it? Vernon rolled up the carpet and carried it back across the drawbridge. Lacuna and the children followed. She noticed that there was now a regular moat monster in the water, who let them pass without challenge. She paused, looking more carefully at the creature. It seemed somehow familiar, though she was sure she had never seen it before. Had she heard of it? Then she made the connection: she had heard of it! "Aren't you Souffl? Serpent?" she asked it. "Who guarded the moat for Princess Rose of Roogna?" a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r The monster nodded his head in agreement. Evidently more had changed around here than her life! When Ryver stopped being the moat guardian, Souffl?ust have resumed the post. If her change of life had made Ryver's life change, then this had been necessary. How many other ripples had this thing set in motion? MareAnn met them at the castle entrance. She stepped forward to embrace Lacuna. "I see that you did get your wish," she murmured. She, at least, recognized the change which had occurred, perhaps because she had been in Hell with Lacuna, and therefore apart from normal Xanth. "What wish?" Vernon asked. MareAnn answered for her. "Hers was the same as mine: merely to return to her loving family." "But you were away from yours," Vernon said. MareAnn merely smiled. "We women have our little ways. They come with our loss of innocence." Vernon shook his head, perplexed. Lacuna decided that it would be best to let him remain that way. They returned the carpet and key to Magician Humfrey. He was already deep in his beloved Book of Answers. "That confounded foreign elf," he was muttering. "Now she wants to find her way back to the World of Two Moons, and she's going to arrive here right at the worst time." "Worst time?" Lacuna asked, curious though she was sure it was none of her business-or perhaps because it was none of her business. "Portrait Day," he grumbled. "All my wives will be given passes from Hell to attend, because such a melee will amuse the Demon X(A/N)TH, and I'll have to have my portrait done too, and if there's one thing I hate worse than a gaggle of women, it's posing for a portrait." "Maybe Jenny Elf's appearance will give you a pretext to get away from it all for a moment by addressing her Question," Lacuna suggested. Humfrey brightened. "Maybe it will." Then he realized that someone was actually in the room with him. There was the key beside his tome. "Oh. You're back." "Yes, thank you. Your Answer worked. But-" "Of course it worked," he snapped. "How could it be otherwise?" "But there is one thing-" Lacuna began. "Is that another Question?" Humfrey inquired. For another service? She would have to let it go. "No. Thank you for the use of the carpet and key." He glowered at her. "I hate it when dull folk are too nice. Very well, I will make an incidental remark: certain people are not directly affected by certain events, when they are the focus of those actions. They are, as it were, the movers rather than the moved. But in time you will pick up your intervening history by listening to the comments of others, and you will gradually come to accept this as your own memory. a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r Your present life is as it seems." "Thank you, Magician," she said gratefully. Now she knew why she, almost alone, remembered her other life. She was the one who had changed it. Some few others who had interacted with her before that change, and who had had their own lives changed by her actions, also remembered. But the rest of Xanth would not realize what had happened; to them, the present situation was the one which had always been true. Humfrey nodded. Then he did an extremely rare thing: he smiled. Lacuna returned the smile, while Vernon looked confused. "It's nothing to worry about, dear," Lacuna told him, taking his arm. "Let's go home and find something interesting to do." She nudged him in a way that suggested all manner of wild creatures, such as lovebirds and storks. She had dreamed for years of doing that, but had never before had the opportunity or courage. What a joy it was! His eye glinted. "You have always been the most interesting person in my life," he said. Lacuna intended to remain so. History of Xanth (simplified) by E. Timber Brant -4000 ? Presumed arrival of the Demon X(A/N)TH, plus or minus ten thousand years or multiple thereof, causing magic to slowly infuse the region from the trace leakage of his essence. -2200 ? Around this time, a colony of human folk arrives from Mundania. It grows for a while until Magicians and Sorceresses manifest. One of the early Sorceresses is the Sea Hag, mostly unknown to others because of her frequent change of bodies. She survives until 1077, when she is banished to Brain Coral storage. The Hag apparently forgot her history, remembering only that she is thousands of years old. -2100 ? About this time, Xanth is cut off from Mundania, becoming a true island. -1900 ? The human colony fails, with the humans becoming assorted magic species through interbreeding or change by magic. Harpies, merfolk, naga, sphinxes, ogres, goblins, elves, fauns, nymphs, fairies, and other crossbreeds and variants may derive from this; they tend to be closemouthed about it, evidently preferring not to admit the debasement of their lineage by human stock. Thus this colony is unknown to history, except by the mute evidence of the surviving species. -1000 ? The isthmus is restored and limited contact with Mundania is resumed. -800 ? Centaur species begins around this time. -85 ?? Prince Harold Harpy delivered. -73 ?? Prince Harold Harpy exiled to Brain Coral storage. 0 ?????? First Wave of human colonization arrives in Xanth, establishing current permanent settlement. a a T T n n s s F F f f o o D D r r P P m m Y Y e e Y Y r r B B 2 2 . . B B A A Click here to buy Click here to buy w w m m w w o o w w c c . . . . A A Y Y B B Y Y B B r r 1 ???????? Civilized voles leave their main camp near the Gap Chasm. 35 ???? Second Wave occurs, killing men and children of First Wave. 200 ?? Third Wave occurs several generations later. 202 ???????? Magician Roogna delivered to Third Waver. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |