Read Online Man From Mundania by Piers Anthony - Free Book Online

language could
    prevent her from escaping it, because the Mundanes would
    think she was unable to speak or was crazy. She needed
    to satisfy them that she was a normal person so that they
    would leave her alone—and here was the way to do it.
     
    She dived into the sign-language lesson with a ven-
    geance. She told herself that she was very smart at this
    kind of thing, and therefore she was, because though magic
    might not work very well here, her power of enhancement
    still worked on herself. She quickly mastered the signs for
    "man," "woman," "girl" (merely a smaller "woman")
    and got into more general terms, such as the one for going
    somewhere: the two index fingers rotating around each
    other in the manner of a wheel rolling forward. The ma-
    tron was amazed and pleased; it seemed she had never
    before had so apt a student.
     
    There was a knock at the door panel, and a Flatfoot
    appeared. The matron, startled, glanced at her wrist,
    where a funny bracelet was. The ornament had a round
    flat surface like that of a sundial, and two little lines whose
    position changed magically, because they never changed
     
    while Ivy was looking but were always different when she
    looked away and then back at it. Then the matron spoke
    rapidly to the Flatfoot, who departed.
     
    The matron faced Ivy and made a gesture toward her
    mouth several times, as if pushing something into it. Ivy
    was perplexed; what did this mean? Too much talk? Rather
    than struggle with that. Ivy inquired about the bracelet.
     
    The matron tapped the back of her wrist with a finger
    several times, then made a funny fist and circled it across
    her other flat palm. Ivy shook her head; she couldn't make
    sense of this. The matron opened her picture book and
    pointed to a similar bracelet there, with the word "xbudi"
    beneath it. Apparently it was just a special kind of deco-
    ration.
     
    Then the Flatfoot reappeared with a package. The ma-
    tron took it and opened it. Inside were several sandwiches
    and two of the funny Mundane paper boxes of milk.
     
    Ivy made a lightning connection. This was food! The
    matron didn't need to make the hand-to-mouth sign again;
     
    it was obvious that it meant "eat." Ivy was famished.
    More time had passed than she had realized, and she hadn't
    had breakfast anyway. It was now around midday.
     
    The matron gave Ivy two sandwiches and one box of
    milk, and took the others herself. Ivy quickly picked up
    the terms for "egg salad sandwich" and "milk"—the lat-
    ter was most peculiar, involving the squeezing of the two
    hands separately as if hauling on short ropes, instead of
    the obvious plucking of a milkweed pod—and ate eagerly
    as the lesson continued.
     
    Now it was business: the matron was questioning her,
    using the signs they had established. Where is Ivy going?
     
    Oops! Ivy understood the question well enough, but how
    could she answer? If she said "Xanth," she would be
    deemed crazy. But then she saw the way through:
     
    Ivy is going home. The sign for "home" was like the
    one for "eat" and "sleep," because home was where a
    person usually ate and slept. Xanth was indeed home for
    Ivy!
     
    The matron nodded. Who is man?
     
    She meant Grey. That was easy. Friend. The sign con-
     
     
     
     
    48          Man from Mundania
     
    sisted of hooking her right index finger over her left index
    finger, then the left over the right, making a double link-
    age.
     
    The rest was relatively easy. It seemed that not only
     
    were the Flatfoots worried that Ivy was crazy, they thought
    that Grey might be mistreating her or that both of them
    were running away from their homes. Ivy had already re-
    assured the matron that there was nothing wrong with her
    mind, only her language, and now reassured her that Grey
    was helping her return home, not run from it. She also
    realized that they would have questioned Grey similarly,
    not having to use the hand signs, and that he would have
    been smart enough to avoid