{"id":381,"date":"2026-01-03T20:36:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/piers-anthony-xanth-11-heaven-cent-anthony-piers\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T20:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:36:26","slug":"piers-anthony-xanth-11-heaven-cent-anthony-piers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/piers-anthony-xanth-11-heaven-cent-anthony-piers\/","title":{"rendered":"Piers, Anthony &#8211; Xanth 11 &#8211; Heaven Cent &#8211; Anthony, Piers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='book-preview'>\n<h3>Book Preview<\/h3>\n<div class=\"calibre1\" id=\"filepos348\">\n<p class=\"calibre3\">\n<span class=\"calibre4\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"bold\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Chapter 1. Mystery<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph made himself comfortable on Ivy&#8217;s bed and watched the Tapestry. The things its moving pictures showed were always so much more interesting than his dull life at Castle Roogna! Ivy was off at a tutoring session with Chem Centaur, so he had the Tapestry all to himself. That was best, because big sisters were a pain in the tail.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">With that thought, he changed form, becoming the wolfen aspect of a werewolf. He curled around, with his four legs tucked under him and his tail just touching his black nose. Animals generally had better bodies than human folk, being born fiercer and more relaxed. Of course he couldn&#8217;t see the Tapestry as well, because his eyes could not focus sharply, but that hardly mattered because he had seen just about everything before. Everything interesting, anyway: the big battle scenes, the horrendous magical events, and the strange monsters. After the first couple of times it wasn&#8217;t much fun watching an ogre squeeze the juice from a boulder or twist a tree into a pretzel, or seeing yet another herd of centaurs playing people-shoes. But here and there a mystery remained, and that could be moderately intriguing.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">For example, there was the question of what had happened to Grandma Iris&#8217; talent. She was a Sorceress of Illusion, who could on her better days make anything seem like anything else, and sound and smell and feel like it too, so that it was almost impossible to tell what was what. That could be a lot of fun! But in the last month she had lost a significant part of it\u2014the visual aspect, as she put it\u2014so that while she could still make something sound like something it wasn&#8217;t, she could no longer make it look that way. Grandma Iris was old, of course, but Dolph could understand how such a thing could be bothersome even so. Where had her Illusion gone? He had used the Tapestry to look for the missing talent but had been unable to find it.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Then there was the matter of the roses. They grew in a special courtyard, a gift to his father King Dor: five bright colors of them, signifying indifference, friendship, romance, love, and death. One person stood in the center, surrounded by the bushes, and another plucked a rose, only of the color that signified his or her attitude toward the other. The wrong color brought a terrible scratch from the thorns. Dolph understood that much; the mystery was why anyone bothered. Young men and young women came all the time to pick roses for each other\u2014to prove their love, they said. What was the point? What, for that matter, was love? All Dolph knew was that it related in some devious way to the secret of summoning the stork so that it would bring a baby. He had tried to trace the storks with the Tapestry, but though he had spotted them carrying babies, he had never managed to discover how anyone signaled the stork in the first place. What was the big secret?<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">This time he tuned the Tapestry in on the major mystery of all time: the disappearance of Good Magician Humfrey. This had been discovered when Esk Ogre, Chex Centaur, and Volney Vole came together to ask Questions, and had discovered the castle empty. They had looked at the Book of Answers, but it turned out to be too technical for any normal person to understand; only the Good Magician could interpret it, and he was gone. After that, King Dor had gone and taken the Book and locked it up, so that it could come to no mischief while the Good Magician was absent. Everyone had tried to find the Magician, but no one had succeeded. So for the past three years, the mystery had prevailed. It seemed that no one but the Good Magician could solve the question of his disappearance with his family. Meanwhile, there were no Answers to be had, and that was a great frustration to many people and creatures of Xanth.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph worried the riddle back and forth, like the wolf cub he was at the moment. Where could the Good Magician have gone so abruptly, leaving behind his castle and everything in it? It seemed to have happened just before the trio came, because challenges had been set up for each of them. Normally there were three barriers opposing the entry of anyone who came to ask a Question, and only those who won through could have the privilege of giving up a year&#8217;s service to the Good Magician for the Answer. His reputation was notorious. Once the Gorgon had come to ask the Magician if he would marry her, and he had made her serve a year before Answering. Once Smash Ogre had come, but had forgotten his Question; the Magician made him serve as a guardian to another querent, Tandy Nymph, anyway. In due course the two of them fell in love and got married, and it seemed that was sufficient Answer for each. They were Esk&#8217;s parents. The Magician had lucked out again.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Now there were no barriers, no challenges, and the castle was deserted. Everybody agreed that the Good Magician had to be found, but nobody knew how to do that. Any number of adventurers had set out to locate him, and some of them had gotten lost themselves. It was a bad situation.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if a mere nine-year-old boy solved the riddle of the age? What fun, to make all the adults look stupid!<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph concentrated on the Tapestry. He could tune it in to any time and any place just by thinking what he wanted. Most folk couldn&#8217;t affect the pictures one way or the other, but he and Ivy were Magicians (well, she was actually a Sorceress, which was vaguely inferior) and it obeyed them with alacrity. He tuned it in to the day before Esk&#8217;s arrival. If he could spot the Good Magician actually leaving\u2026<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">After some joggling around, he found the Good Magician&#8217;s castle on the last day of the Magician&#8217;s presence. There was Humfrey in his study, looking about a century old (which he was) poring over his tome. Once he had overdosed on Fountain of Youth elixir and become a young child; Dolph had laughed at that, seeing it in the Tapestry. But then he had found out how to revert to his regular age, and that wasn&#8217;t much fun to watch. There was the Gorgon downstairs making gorgon-zola cheese by staring at milk through her veil. There was their son Hugo, about fifteen or sixteen years old, supervising the placement of a cage of dragons on the bridge over the moat: one of the challenges for the approaching querents. Everything seemed quite in order.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph moved it forward, orienting on the precise time of departure. Was he the first to use the Tapestry this way? Surely his father had thought to do this! Yet maybe not, because the mystery had never been unriddled. Adults were sort of stupid, as a class. That was why they needed Answers. Maybe that was why they so rigorously guarded the secret of summoning the stork: otherwise the children would do that better, too.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Abruptly the image disappeared. Had something gone wrong with the Tapestry? Ivy would murder him if that were the case! Hastily Dolph backed it up\u2014and the image returned. It wasn&#8217;t the Tapestry, it was something in it that blocked out the pictures.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">He played it forward slowly, checking simultaneously on Humfrey, the Gorgon, and Hugo. It was possible to do that, because the Tapestry had many pictures going at once; it would not tune in on different times or places simultaneously, but it would show several scenes relating to a single place and time. This was the group of the castle, its various rooms open like those of a doll house. Humfrey was still poring over his tome\u2014he never seemed to leave it!\u2014while the Gorgon was making up a petrified cheese salad in the kitchen, and Hugo was conjuring assorted fruits in his bedroom. That was his talent, but he wasn&#8217;t very good at it; the fruits tended to be misshapen and oddly colored. Meanwhile, an elf was setting up some kind of device in a workroom, evidently on Humfrey&#8217;s orders. There were usually assorted creatures around the premises, working off their years of service for their Answers, so that Humfrey had never lacked for assistants.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">But something went wrong with the elf s project. Smoke started pouring from it. The elf retreated, coughing. The smoke expanded, filling the chamber. Now the Gorgon perked up, sniffing; she cried out to Humfrey (the Tapestry conveyed no sound, but Dolph could see her chest inflate, her mouth open, and he saw the reactions of the others as they heard), who roused himself reluctantly from his tome and trundled downstairs. Hugo also came down, carrying a blue-speckled bunch of bananas he had just conjured. They converged on the smoke.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">But the smoke did not wait for them. It doubled its effort and quickly filled several chambers. The elf gesticulated, explaining, but the smoke was hot on his trail. More man that: it was circling around them, forming an enclosure so that they could not escape it. Dolph realized that it was no ordinary vapor, it was holy smoke! There was no telling what a big cloud of that would do.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Magician Humfrey looked annoyed. He gestured, and the four of them hurried to one more chamber. The smoke roiled up avidly, pursuing them. The stuff was out of control! As they squeezed through the door, so did it, closing in. In a moment the chamber was filled, and the picture of mat region blotted out.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">This time Dolph played it on through. In a few minutes the smoke thinned and dissipated. But Humfrey, Gorgon, and Hugo were gone. Only the elf remained, plainly distressed. He had evidently lost track of the others in the smoke and did not know where they were.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">When they did not reappear, the elf proceeded to shut down the castle, perhaps operating on standard emergency instructions. He opened the cage and released the dragons at the moat, who took off down the enchanted path with all the speed they could muster. That was a blunder, Dolph knew that dragons weren&#8217;t supposed to be on that path. When things were wrapped up, the elf departed himself; apparently his own tour of duty was done now.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">That was it, until the three querents arrived the next day. The Magician and his family had simply gone up in smoke! Holy smoke!<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph played it back to the smoke, trying to find some angle that would penetrate the obscurity at the key moment. Now he understood why the adults had not solved the mystery through the Tapestry; the smoke had stopped them. But if his sharp eyes managed to see what theirs could not\u2026<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph changed to griffin form. As a griffin he had excellent vision. Now\u2026<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;What are you doing in my room!?&#8221; Ivy demanded, bursting in upon him. &#8220;You brat of a brother\u2014you aren&#8217;t supposed to be in here!!&#8221; Half her anger was real, half pretense; he could tell by the doubled punctuation.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph reverted to human form. What a stew of a picklement he was in now! He had gotten so absorbed mat he never heard her returning. &#8220;I was just watching the Tapestry! If you\u2019d let it hang in my room for a while\u2014&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Never!!&#8221; she exclaimed. She was fourteen, and at the very total height of her bossiness; Dolph knew that nothing, repeat NOTHING, was worse than a big sister that age. Her talent was Enhancing, and it certainly enhanced her nature. It was futile even to attempt to reason with a creature like that.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Therefore he didn&#8217;t try. He changed into a giant poisonous spider and stood over her, mandibles dripping.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Ivy screamed and retreated. &#8220;What utter ick!!&#8221; she cried in simulated horror. &#8220;He&#8217;s finally reverted to his true form!! I always knew he was creepy!!&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Somehow he was still getting the worst of this! She always managed to do it to him. He reverted to boy form. &#8220;You mink you&#8217;re so smart! I&#8217;m going to do something to make you look like harpy guano!&#8221; He tried, but he just couldn&#8217;t manage doubled exclamation points, unfortunately.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Yeah? What, you little twerp!?&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;I&#8217;m going to go find the Good Magician and rescue him!&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">She did not retort. She was too sneaky for that. She simply burst out laughing. She fell on her bed, supposedly overcome by the mirth\u2014and abruptly sobered. &#8220;There&#8217;s werewolf hair on my bed!!&#8221; she exclaimed, outraged. Her moods could shift from horror to sardonic mirth to outrage with incredible velocity.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph realized that there was valor in judicious retreat. He changed into a mouse and scurried out, leaving the screams of sisterly ire behind.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">But the notion of searching out the Good Magician would not leave him. He had said it in the spirit of a dare, to daunt his imperious sister, but now he could not retreat from it without getting horribly razzed. Besides that, he was fed up with being the younger sibling, and wanted to get out to make his own mark. Why not seek Good Magician Humfrey? He was as well equipped to search as anyone; he was young, but he was a full Magician. If anything threatened him, he could change into something to stop it in its tracks.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">So he decided: he would do it. He would go to the Good Magician&#8217;s castle and see whether there was not some hint in that chamber that would show him where the Magician had gone. Then he could follow.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">There was, however, one small problem: his parents. They thought he was too young. Their answer to anything ambitious was always that. While this was merely another proof of the opacity of adults, it did need to be handled. After all, his father was King of Xanth, so could not be completely ignored.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Perhaps In a few years,&#8221; King Dor suggested diplomatically. He was always the more liberal of the two, but that counted for little in the face of Queen Irene&#8217;s certainty.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;But the Good Magician needs to be found now!&#8221; Dolph exclaimed. &#8220;Everyone knows that!&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t,&#8221; his chair said.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Shut up, wood-brain!&#8221; Dolph hissed.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Don&#8217;t call me names, smart-bottom!&#8221; the chair retorted, louder. &#8220;I&#8217;ll run a splinter into you.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph decided not to argue further. His father&#8217;s talent was conversation with the inanimate, and the inanimate wasn&#8217;t very smart. In King Dor&#8217;s presence anything was apt to talk, even when not asked.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">King Dor exchanged a glance with Queen Irene. Dolph knew that meant trouble. They were looking for some way to keep him home without hurting his feelings. Parents were experts at stifling adventure without seeming unreasonable.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Perhaps if you had a suitable adult companion,&#8221; Irene said. She was actually just as bossy as Ivy, but she masked it expertly. Her suggestions, however mildly phrased, had the force of law.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Ouch! That was worse than a splinter! An adult companion would ruin everything. Especially the kind his mother would favor a centaur. Centaurs were entirely too disciplined and reasonable, and they always wanted to educate children. Dolph had had more than enough tutoring for a lifetime.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Still, his mother had spoken. She knew he didn&#8217;t want a companion, certainly not an adult. She figured that would turn him off the Quest. But perhaps he could get around her by getting a companion who wouldn&#8217;t be too obnoxious. It could be a real art\u2014getting around parents\u2014but it was possible if one truly put his mind to it.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;All right,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But I get to choose him.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">King Dor kept a straight face, which meant he was trying not to smile. That was a good sign. They both knew that Queen Irene would want a female centaur; if Dolph got this past her, he would win half the battle at the outset.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Very well,&#8221; she said after a significant pause. &#8220;But we must approve him.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Urn. That could be a devastating qualification. She would not approve anyone he really liked, only someone she liked. How could he get around mat?<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph had a quick, juvenile mind. In only three seconds he had figured out a way. &#8220;Done,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;ll make my choice tomorrow.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Certainly,&#8221; Queen Irene agreed with one of her smooth masked smiles. She thought she had him.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;This&#8217;ll be fun, twerp,&#8221; the chair remarked insolently.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">King Dor said nothing. He knew better than to get in the way of a contest of wills like this. That was why he was King.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Back in his room, Dolph pondered names. His strategy was simple: he would make a series of suggestions so awful that his mother would reject them with queenly outrage. She was good at that. Then he would slip in the one he wanted, and it would seem so sensible by comparison that she would agree before she really thought about it. She might regret it later, but she would be committed. A Queen never went back on her word; it looked bad, and she was very conscious of her appearance.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">The one he had in mind was Grundy Golem. Grundy was an obnoxious, loudmouthed little creature, fashioned from wood and string and rag and later made real by the Demon X(A\/N)th. He had an insult for every occasion. Therefore he could be a lot of fun. He also spoke every language that existed, both animal and plant, and that could be handy on a trip into the wilds of Xanth. He was married to Rapunzel, who was a sickeningly nice little woman at all times except when she got a snarl in her hair. That was because her hair was endlessly long. Then she could speak almost as interestingly as Grundy as she fought with the tangle. Grundy was devoted to her, but he liked adventure too, so would probably agree to travel with Dolph.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Now all he needed was a suitably awful list of names. Who would really turn off his mother? Well, there was Brontes the Cyclops, the huge one-eyed monster who lived -in a cave and ate people. There was the Gerrymander, who was continually dividing and conquering, changing his shape into the most grotesque configurations. And Pook, the ghost horse. But he needed more names, in case his mother was too canny to be fooled by only three.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph jumped on his bed, bounced a couple of times, then swung his legs over the side. A cold hand shot out from the shadow under the bed and grabbed his ankle.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Hey!&#8221; he cried. &#8220;You aren&#8217;t Handy!&#8221; Handy was his regular bed monster.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;How can you tell?&#8221; a voice inquired from under the bed.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;His hand is big and hairy. Yours is skinny.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">The hand let go. There was a scramble and clatter under the bed. &#8220;I resent that! My hands have no skin. They are skeletal.&#8221; Then the thing under the bed crawled out. It was a walking skeleton.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;What are you doing under there, Marrow?&#8221; Dolph asked. &#8220;Where&#8217;s Handicraft?&#8221; He now used his bed monster&#8217;s full name, because he was alarmed; he inherited that from his mother.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;He went to visit Snortimer. I agreed to fill in while he was gone. We thought you wouldn&#8217;t notice.\u201d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Not notice!&#8221; Dolph exclaimed. &#8220;Your hand isn&#8217;t anything like his! And you only have two of them!&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;True,&#8221; Marrow agreed, disgruntled. &#8220;I suppose it was a foolish attempt. But he did so want to see Snortimer again, and I had nothing to do, so\u2014&#8221; He shrugged, his bones rattling apologetically.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Why should he care about Snortimer?&#8221; That was Ivy&#8217;s monster under the bed, who had departed for the realm of the fauns and nymphs, taking Ivy&#8217;s bed with him. Ivy never had gotten over her snit about that, even though a bed-bug had moved in that was twice as big and soft as the bed she had lost. She had declared herself to be grown up, so that she no longer believed in bed monsters. It was Dolph&#8217;s private opinion that Snortimer had gotten out just in time. It was doom for monsters when children stopped believing in them. Dolph intended never to do that to Handy.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t Snortimer so much as his situation,&#8221; Marrow said. &#8220;The news circulated that he had more nymphly ankles to grab than he could possibly keep up with, and was liable to perish from sheer delight. Handy thought he should investigate the situation, in case Snort needed help.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;What&#8217;s wrong with the ankles around here?&#8221; Dolph demanded.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Oh, nothing, nothing, I&#8217;m sure,&#8221; Marrow said quickly. &#8220;But it just would not do to have poor Snortimer expire from overwork.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Any monster who would rather grab a nymphly ankle than mine is a jerk!&#8221; Dolph declared righteously. &#8220;What could he possibly see in them?&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;I admit to being baffled,&#8221; Marrow said. &#8220;Full-fleshed ankles and legs\u2014no appeal at all.&#8221; Then, diplomatically, he added: &#8220;Present company excepted, of course.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph decided that Marrow was all right. The skeleton had arrived after Esk Ogre and Chex Centaur restored the Kiss-Mee River to its curvaceous state, making it affectionate again. Marrow had been rescued from the Lost Path in the gourd, and now served as a general helper around the castle. He was especially good in the dungeon, because he didn&#8217;t mind cobwebs or rats. In fact, he normally rested his bones there, lending excellent atmosphere. Visitors not in the know could be quite startled. He even had a convenient hollow finger bone, with which he could whistle for his friend Chex when he needed a lift.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Maybe I&#8217;ll add you to the list,&#8221; Dolph said.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;List?&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph explained about his campaign to trick his mother into agreeing to let Grundy Golem be his companion for the Quest. &#8220;You&#8217;re adult, aren&#8217;t you? You should qualify. You&#8217;d give her a real fit!&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Excellent notion,&#8221; Marrow agreed. &#8220;Perhaps I can suggest some additional names. What about Cumulo Fracto Nimbus?&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Terrific!&#8221; Dolph exclaimed. &#8220;That will really dampen her!&#8221; Fracto was the King of Clouds, and was a foul-weather friend. One could never tell when he was going to throw a storm and tear things up with lightning bolts. The very notion of Fracto hovering over her carpets would send Queen Irene into a femalish frenzy.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Then there&#8217;s Hardy Harpy, and Xap Hippogryph,&#8221; Marrow said. &#8220;Not to mention Stanley Steamer.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Great!&#8221; Dolph agreed enthusiastically. &#8220;Those will drive her crazy! She won&#8217;t know what she&#8217;s doing!&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">So it was decided. Marrow crawled back under the bed, which was as comfortable a place for his bones as any, and Dolph tuned his magic mirror in on the Tapestry in Ivy&#8217;s room. Unfortunately she was letting it run random; there was nothing interesting on. That was the problem with big sisters; they had no taste in viewing.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Next day he started his program. &#8220;Marrow Bones,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I want him for my companion.&#8221; Irene nodded. &#8220;Yes, I think that is an excellent choice.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Well, then, how about Cumulo Fracto Nim\u2014what?&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;Marrow is adult, mature, and experienced,&#8221; Irene said.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">&#8220;He has a good skull on his shoulders. I understand he was a great help to Chex Centaur. There is also no problem about feeding him. I commend you for your perspicacity in selecting him.&#8221;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">Dolph didn&#8217;t know what &#8220;perspicacity&#8221; meant, but he knew he didn&#8217;t like it. How could she agree to the first foolish name he had named? It wasn&#8217;t fair! Now he was stuck with the walking skeleton! &#8220;Uh, yeah,&#8221; he said. Maybe Marrow wouldn&#8217;t want to go.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">But by the time he got back to his room, he decided that maybe it was better to stick with what he had. Marrow was a decent sort; for one thing, not only did he believe in the monster under the bed, he helped him. That made him childlike in a way that counted. He would do anything for anyone, and he could keep a secret.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"calibre6\">\n<span class=\"calibre5\">So it was arranged: Dolph would go on his Quest to solve the mystery of the Good Magician&#8217;s disappearance, and Marrow Bones would be his companion. The Adventure would Begin.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><br class=\"calibre1\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"calibre1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mbppagebreak\" id=\"calibre_pb_1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style='margin: 30px 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee;'>\n<p style='text-align:center;'>Read the full book by downloading it below.<\/p>\n<p><a href='https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/download-is-starting\/?url=https%3A\/\/mega.co.nz\/%23%21EkBwkazQ%21xETlYZ006zGGc3fNVD9PVW6HMe65m_owblrwA5p1QiY' class='download-btn' target='_blank'>DOWNLOAD EPUB<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Book Preview Chapter 1. Mystery Dolph made himself comfortable on Ivy&#8217;s bed and watched the Tapestry. The things its moving pictures showed were always so much more interesting than his dull life at Castle Roogna! Ivy was off at a tutoring session with Chem Centaur, so he had the Tapestry all to himself. That was &#8230; <a title=\"Piers, Anthony &#8211; Xanth 11 &#8211; Heaven Cent &#8211; Anthony, Piers\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/piers-anthony-xanth-11-heaven-cent-anthony-piers\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Piers, Anthony &#8211; Xanth 11 &#8211; Heaven Cent &#8211; Anthony, Piers\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-piers-anthony"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}