"Green,.Sharon.-.Mists.Of.The.Ages" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)
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SHARON GREEN
has written:
THE FAR SIDE OF FOREVER LADY BLADE, LORD FIGHTER MISTS OF THE AGES THE REBEL PRINCE
The Terrilian Series
THE WARRIOR WITHIN THE WARRIOR ENCHAINED THE WARRIOR REARMED THE WARRIOR CHALLENGED THE WARRIOR VICTORIOUS
The Jalav: Amazon Warrior Series
THE CRYSTALS OF MIDA AN OATH TO MIDA CHOSEN OF MIDA THE WILL OF THE GODS TO BATTLE THE GODS
The Diana Santee Series
MIND GUEST GATEWAY TO XANADU
MISTS
OF THE
AGES
SHAROHOREEH
DAW BOOKS, INC.
DONALD A. WOLLHEIM, PUBLISHER
1633 Broadway. New York, NY 10019
Copyright ® 1988 by Sharon Green All Rights Reserved.
Cover art by Ken Kelly- DAW Book Collectors No. 756.
Dedication:
This one, with apologies, is for, in alphabetical order;
Robert Adams and Pamela Crippen Adams, Alexis Giililand and Dolly Gillilaod, Joel Rosenberg and Felicia Hermann Rosenberg. Six people who are delightfully easy to like.
First Printing, September 1988 123456789 Printed in the U.S.A.
Chapter 1
I stood in the middle of the veiy posh office, looking around by the light of the faint glow coming from the eight-foot desk, trying to feel where the hidey-hole was. With the building shut down for the night most of the maintenance systems were on low-power standby, leaving only the security checks fully active and alert. If you stop to listen you can hear mainte- nance systems, but security nets can only be detected by instruments or nerve endings. I'd used both to get through the net, and now stood in low-power silence trying to detect where the safe spot had been put.
Even the heavy shadows couldn't hide the position of the wall vault from me. and I had to turn my back on the comer before it would stop jumping up and down in my face, waving its arms trying to get my attention. Sometimes the talent of finding things like that makes itself more of a handicap than a help, get- ting in your way when it's the really obscure location you're trying to pinpoint. The wall vault would have illegal documents and negotiable securities and a good chunk of cash and possibly even jewelry and drugs that were exchangeable for cash, but I had no use for fri- volities and no time to waste picking them up. I was after something a lot more delicate in nature and val- uable in potential, a special prize that would not be kept with everything else.
Turning away from the wall vault faced me toward one of the rows of windows, me one that had been on my left when I'd entered the office. The second row had faced me when I'd come in and now decorated
6 Sharwt Green
most of the wall to the right. Comer offices had been high status just about forever, but wouldn't have been quite as popular if the occupants had to wash all those windows they were so proud of. The thought made me grin into me near dark I stood in, a little female humor injected into an otherwise dull time, and then I began laughing softly instead of grinning. What I had thought of as a joke was my subconscious noticing something the rest of me hadn't, and I was forced to admire the skill that had almost gotten it past me. The safe spot in that office was very well situated, but "almost" doesn't make me mark.
I moved carefully around the desk and approached the second window-section from the left, every sense I had extended and alert. It seemed possible that some part of the floor would be pressure sensitive, and I found out rather quickly that ft certainly was. Once I discovered that, it was back to the desk to check for the controls that would not be part of the general sys- tems, but once found the switches weren't difficult to neutralize. They couldn't be turned off without acti- vating a different set of alarms, of course, something a large number of my contemporaries had learned the hard way, but setting them to neutral didn't produce the same results.
Neutral was off enough to suit my purposes, and let me turn away from the desk to examine what I'd found. The window-section that had caught my attention was no window-section, and with the system deactivated I was able to get a good look at the four-foot by four- foot safe spot. The repeater screen that covered it most of the time was excellently made. but that very excel- lence had been its greatest flaw. The other windows in the office were filthy with the usual city grime that settles on everything no matter how often washing is done, but that section of window was measurably cleaner. The system designer hadn't been stupid enough to leave it spotless, but had erred on the short side when it came to "dirty enough." Most people would never have noticed something like that, but that's what makes me more valuable than most people.
There was a fairly complex maze lock on the safe
MISTS OF THE AGES 7
spot entry, but maze locks, as they say, are only good for keeping out the honest. Opening it took no more than a few minutes, and then I was able to slide the entry down out of my way so that I might look at what it normally hid. Only four of the dozen or so com- partments were filled, two with off-planet bank notes • that might well have been counterfeit, a third with a large, tightly-stoppered vial filled with something bright yellow that glowed very faintly, and a fourtE with a narrow envelope which was clearly from an expensive set of stationery. I took the envelope and folded it, stuffed it inside a pocket of my belt, then put the safe spot entry back where it belonged.
Returning everything to normal took almost as long as deactivating it had, but under those circumstances it wasn't a waste of time. Once I'd rechecked the last set of circuits I'd worked, I connected the final lead that meshed everything back into place, then was able to disconnect my diddle box, allowing the next intru- sion signal generated to go to the security force board instead of a dead-end panel in the box. I'd been taught to cover the possibility that I wasn't as good as I thought I was and would therefore set off some kind of alarm during the prowl, and found it wise to never forget the lesson. Seero had taught me that, just as he'd taught me all the rest, but I'd learned on my own that there were times when all the caution in the Em- pire just wasn't enough to make a difference.
I left the building through a maintenance duct that led to the parking level of the building next door, stayed out of range of the scanners until I was back in a normal, street-type bodysuit, then ambled to my jump-around with all the nonconcem of any woman who knows she's parked in a total visibility area. Not only are there no blind spots in a t.v. area, anyone stepping or driving into the section activates real-time monitoring by the duty guards. If an emergency hap- pens they can get there fast, and they usually make the effort to move. There are cash bonuses and public rec- ognition each month for the fastest response to any activated emergency, and any team logging twelve wins gets put on a roster of perpetual commendation.
8 SfUJTtHlGfWM
Gryphon was a world that knew the benefits in paying for what it wanted, and what it wanted was maximum effort from the people whose job it was to protect oth- ers. Substantial annual salaries attracted the best, bo- nuses and public commendations kept them; with those who couldn't afford to have the notoriety, stroking was arranged on a somewhat more discreet level.
My jump-around unlocked itself at my approach, and I unobtrusively checked the back before getting in and starting it up. I didn't really expect to find anyone hiding in the back seat, but when you know how to get around t.v. areas and approach locks, you tend to remember that others can do the same. No one should have known where I was and what I was doing, but that didn't mean no one did; the faster you learned should-haves can turn quickly into dids, the better your chances became of surviving.
I had casually thrown my shoulder bag to the front seat beside me, but once I was out of the parking level and skimming along a concourse, my main priority became getting the contents of the bag property seen to. I wasn't due to deliver the envelope I'd taken for another two and a half hours; simply carrying it with me would have been possible but not terribly bright. I was scheduled to visit some old friends during me time I had free, but not everyone around them would also be friends. If you make a habit of wiggling your back- side at the Pates, you can't really complain when they arrange a suitable response to the gesture.
Not being the sort to make gestures for no reason, by the time I reached the nightclub district I had my prowling suit, tools, and belt all neatly tucked away in the safe spot in my Jump-around. No hiding place is really safe if its location can change as soon as you turn your back on it, but many tiroes half measures are better than none at all. Even if someone managed to steal the Jump-around, they would only be close to the rest, not have it.
And having the Jump-around stolen wasn't that far out of the question, not in thai neighborhood. Once ^ off the concourse I drove more slowly, paying atten- § tion to the darkened, dirty streets and watching those ^
MISTS OF THE AGES 9
who roamed about on them. OH the outer fringes of the district were most of the nightclubs the city boasted, and the foot traffic moved easily under bright lights with easy companionship and enjoyment. About three blocks beyond that thedistrict changed, and al- though there were still clubs they weren't the sort to announce their whereabouts with lights and laughter. Those who patronized this sub-district usually had money and the urge for anonymity, a combination which encouraged the presence of those who mot lOBcd to take things whose absence would not bettported to the proper authorities. If you're only gofflg to Heal what's safe. I don't understand why you'd boAer, but that's a personal prejudice. Others don't took at it the same, which is really too bad.
The parking lot of the Dark of the Moon Club sat beneath the delicate blue glow of its name sign, at least three-quarters of it neatly and quietly fifled. I pulled into a spot between a limo and a new-model sports job, which was the best I could do in me way of protective prevention. In company like that, my lit- tle jump-around was hardly worth looking at, and that, hopefully, meant it would still be there when I came out.
Getting out of my transportation brought me the stale but familiar smell of the air in that district, air that seemed to be holding itself as still as possible to avoid being noticed. It was an attitude that seemed to be shared by a lot of the denizens of the area, and one that had never failed to annoy me. I could understand not wanting to be noticed at certain times, but to spend your lire slipping from shadow to shadow, afraid to be touched by the light of day, afraid to be seen by any- one who might take note and remember—I had grown up in that area and learned a lot of things there, but that particular attitude wasn't one of them. I enjoyed standing tall no matter who was watching, and if the day ever came that I couldn't, I would know my lire was coming to an end.
Walking through the dark to the modest front en- trance of the club didn't take long, and I smiled when I remembered the days there had been scanners which
10 Sharon Green
checked out all new arrivals. What the club had of- fered then was blatantly illegal rather than just mildly so, and they*d had to be careful not to be surprised by unexpected visits. When the club had changed hands its policies had also changed, and it had become a place where people could meet friends and sit and talk in relative comfort, or indulge in certain vices mat affected no one but themselves. Those of us who be- came old time regulars after the change preferred it that way, and with the amounts of money the club was now making legally, it wasn't likely to change back again. When I reached the front entrance I pushed in- side to the outer foyer, and the maitre d' on duty glanced up from his station, then suddenly grinned.
"Well, will you look at that." he drawled in greet- ing, nothing left of his usual professional aloofness of manner. "We must be starting that age of miracles the preachers keep telling us is on me way. Inky has fi- nally decided to come home."
"You may be a dear, Mal, but home isn't necessar- ily where the heart is," I answered, not letting the familiarity of the noisy dining room behind him reach all the way through to me. "All I'm back for is a visit, and to ask myself what I ever saw in this dump. I don't expect to do it a second time."
"You'll change your mind," he said, the grin soft- ening to a smile, which also softened his handsome features. "Home is where your friends arc, where you can be yourself with others like you. We all knew why you left, doll. and we all understood. Now that you're back again, everything will be the way it used to be."
"Not quite everything," I corrected, almost losing it so far that I told him not to call me doll. That was what Seero had most often called me, and Seero was dead.
"No, not quite everything," he agreed, losing his smile as he remembered. "But things do change, and the rest of us are still here. Tris, Riccom and Sharp said to send you back as soon as you showed up."
"I'm willing to bet they said if I show up," I coun- tered. deliberately pushing away the air of gloom that was trying to descend like a falling building. "I didn't
MISTS OF THE AGES 11
know if I'd be able to make it. so-I didn't commit to anything definite. All I promised to do was try."
"Which is why they said when. not if," he coun- tered back, the grin beginning to return. "We know the people we can trust from those we can*t. I'd be there with them myself if I didn't have to work. so I'll have to catch you next time. They're waiting in the quiet comer."
As expected. I nodded my thanks to Mal and headed into the room his station guarded, paying no attention to the people at the curtain tables which crowded al- most every inch of floor. About a fifth of the tables had nothing of a distortion field around them, double that number had shadow curtains to tease passersby, and all the rest were completely hidden by fields that let no one see who was at them, what those people were watching, or what the watchers were doing. How you set your table depended on what you had come to the club to see and do, and very few of the table pa- trons were there for wholesome entertainment. The club had a full spectrum licence, though, which meant even opera and ballet were available, and some of the tables were automatically set to those frequencies. Do- ing it that way meant no one could prove what anyone had chosen to view unless they were right there beside a particular individual, an anonymity which meant quite a lot to some of the regulars.
I was almost across the floor to the booths when Tris spotted me, and then Riccom and Sharp were turning around, adding their grins to Tris'. Most of the booths in me quiet comer were taken, which was usually the way it went. Our kind of people preferred keeping their conversations private even if they were only discuss- ing the weather, a topic that wasn't often at the head of the list.
"Inky!" Sharp exclaimed as soon as I was inside the silencing field and could hear her. the delight in her voice all too obvious. "I knew you would make it, and I told these doubters so. Have you any idea how long it's been?"
"For me, it's been almost a year." I answered, sit-
12
Sharon Green
ting down in the place Tris had moved from to make for me. "How long has it been for you, Sharp?"
"You're not amusing," she stated while Tris and Riccom chuckled, her pale, delicate face flushing faintly with embarrassment. "I wasn't referring to the amount of calendar time, and you know it. What I was trying to say was that we missed you."
"And I missed you three," I admitted without hes- itation, telling them nothing but the truth. "If all you're after now is rekindling old friendships, I'm all for it. If there happens to be an irresistible business deal you're dying to include me in on, I think I'm late for another appointment."
"Why do you have to be such a stinker?" Sharp demanded in annoyance while the chuckling around us changed to outright laughter. "Most people in the trade would give up their vices for the chance to work with us. Did you hear us asking you to give up even a small vice?"
"I don't think she has any vices to give up," Tris remarked, his green eyes studying me where I sat. Tris was good looking in a smooth-featured way, and his physical grace had been the cause of some problems for him. When it came to enjoying himself he pre- ferred doing it with females, but some people had dif- ficulty accepting that. When Tris was propositioned politely by the wrong gender, his refusal was just as polite; if the suggestion then turned to insistence, Tris reached for a knife.
"She certainly doesn't look like she has any vices," Ricco agreed with Tris, his blue eyes even more amused than the other man's green ones. "Have you ever seen such an innocent, open face, hair that black in such a plain, unassuming style, black eyes so large and guileless that you could trip and fall right into them? I'll bet most places she still has to prove she's old enough to drink."
I offered Riccom a wordless gesture that made all three of them laugh, but it wasn't anything they hadn't been expecting. They'd never let me forget the time Ricco and I had gone together to make an assessment of the possibility of approaching a target Seero had
MISTS OF THE AGES 13
been interested in. The point of entry to the target would have been through the posh bar next door, and Ricco and I had dressed to the eyebrows so they'd let us in. We'd made our entrance in a grand way. letting our attitudes say we didn't own the place only because we didn't go in for petty-cash investments, and the maitre d' guarding the entrance was very impressed. He inspected Ricco from light brown hair to broad shoulders to zilf-hide shoes, smiled faintly in total ap- proval, men began to apologize. It took a minute for us to understand that the man was apologizing for the regrettable fact that they couldn't serve children in their establishment, and then Ricco had broken up. He'd laughed so hard we'd had to leave before we were thrown out, and I hadn't had to ask what was so funny. Since I was five months older than Ricco I knew what he found so funny, but I'd never been quite up to sharing the joke.
"I love talking about old times, don't you?" Sharp asked me with a wide grin still in place, one hand brushing at her reddish brown hair. She was a small woman but very rounded for her size. and looked even smaller sitting beside Ricco. "We used to have such fun together. Inky, but the fun doesn't have to stay in the past. If you come back to us, we can have the same all over again.'*
"We might have fan, but it would never be what we once had," I disagreed, deciding it was time we got the matter settled out loud. "You three worked with Seero for a couple of years, but I was raised by him. If he hadn't kept his word to my mother to look after me, I would have ended up in one of those or- phan shelters after she died. He forced me to go to school, bribed me into learning something there by refusing to teach me anything he knew un less I got good grades, and always had the time to listen if there was something I needed to talk about. He was always there for me. Sharp, but when he needed me, all I could do was stand by and watch him die."
"You were there?'* she asked, sharing her distur- bance with the glances she sent Tris and Ricco, getting the same back from them. "We thought Seero was out
14 Shanm Green
alone that night. But Inky—his getting killed was an accident, something no one could have prevented. His line slipped, and even if you'd been right next to it you couldn't have . . ."
"His line didn't slip," I corrected flatly, watching her pale as her eyes flinched away from my gaze. I knew what I looked like when I thought or spoke about that night, and innocent was about as far from it as it's possible to get. I was about to go on when a buzz sounded, letting us know someone was entering our field, and then a harried waiter was beside the booth, putting a cup ofjavi on the table in front of me. If I'd wanted something to eat I would have used the booth menu to order it directly from the kitchen, but javi, unless refused when you first come in, is brought au- tomatically to everyone. Our part of the crowd of reg- ulars had developed that custom for the club, and it had slowly spread until everyone was doing the same. We all waited until the waiter was gone out of the field again, and then Ricco leaned forward.
"What do you mean, Seero's line didn't slip?" he demanded, his big hands on the table's edge, his ex- pression harsh with confusion. "It was all over the news. the next day, and the thuds read a statement about it. 'Death by misadventure during an attempted fel- ony' was the way it was put, and that was after they'd investigated. Are you trying to say it was a cover- up?"
"I'm trying to say they weren't there," I answered, reaching for my cup ofjavi. Black was the way I drank it, as black as my hair, and preferably as strong as my resolve for revenge. "Ricco, you and Sharp and Tris have a decision to make. I can tell you the whole story, or we can simply drink javi and reminisce about old times. If you decide on the story, I can't guarantee the safety of any of you."
That time even Sharp didn't have anything imme- diate to say, and their three expressions were almost identical. In the life-niche we and others like us oc- cupied, there was a great deal of truth to the proverb, "Ignorance is bliss." Too often just knowing about something put you in line for erasure, and it made no
MISTS OF THE AGES 15
difference whether or not you intended using, selling or even giving away the information. Knowing it meant you might pass it on, and that was more of a chance than the people involved were willing to take. It wasn't considered polite to tell people things without first warning them you were going to do it, so I'd given the warning. What happened after that was entirely up to them, and Tris was the first one to acknowledge it.
"I think I'd like to stay and hear about this," he said after a minute, stirring where he sat to my left. "Seero once did something for me I*H never forget, and if there's a question on how he died. I want to know about it. I can meet you two later, somewhere else."
"The hell you can," Ricco said in a flat-voiced way, leaning back in his seat opposite me as he looked at Tris. "You aren't the only one Seero did things for, which means I'm not in the mood for a walk. But it also doesn't mean we all have to stay."
He and Tris turned to Sharp with that, telling her they had no intentions of making any decisions for her, and for an instant she didn't seem to know what Ricco meant. Then she understood they were saying she could leave, and she was suddenly made of indigna- tion rather than flesh.
"Ricco, is your head as muscle-bound as your body?" she demanded, bristling up like an inside-out pincushion. "If you two think you owed Seero, you ought to hear my story. I happen to know he didn't even tell Inky, which means I owe him for that, too. If anyone misses what she has to say, it isn't going to be me."
"That's it, then," Ricco said with a shrug, moving his eyes back to my vicinity. "We're all in and we*re ail ears. Let's get a pot of javi ordered, and then we can start."
"Let's start by not ordering a pot ofjavi," I said, reaching over to catch his arm before he activated the menu. "Seero once told me that most people know they're opening a circuit through the silencing field when they order, but think the circuit is dead once the menu-acknowledge light goes out. All it really means
16
Sharon Green
is that the light is out, not that the circuit is closed. Let's let that waiter bring us refills when he manages to get around to it.*'
"You think the thuds could have this place tapped?" Tris asked with a frown, exchanging glances with Ricco. "Even if they were covering something up when they called Seero's death accidental, how could they get in here? And after all this time, why would they bother?"
"It isn't the police we have to worry about," I an- swered. speaking to all of them. "It's the Twilight Houses that arc involved, and they can get in any- where. Arc you still sure you want to hear about it?"
"More than ever," Sharp said as she rested her forearms on the table, nothing left of the empty-headed high-lifer she enjoyed pretending to be. "If the thuds put Seero out of the way, I could understand it even while hating it. The Twi Houses are another matter entirely."
Ricco nodded his agreement while Tris simply sat and waited, so I shrugged and shifted sideways on the
seat.
"As we've already noticed, this was almost a year ago," I began, toying with my cup as my mind went back to that soul-tearing night. "Seero had intended going out alone, but when I showed up with nothing of my own scheduled, he invited me along. The stroke was set up as a solo and that's the way he intended keeping it, but he didn't mind the idea of having com- pany on the ride back. He also intended having some- thing to show off, and you know how he enjoyed showing off."
They all smiled faintly at the reminder, also remem- bering how we used to tease him about it, but no one interrupted.
' 'The location of the stroke was in one of those open high-rise enclaves that pretend to be closed, the kind that keeps out no one but the innocent people who live there," I continued. "For anyone with a little skill there are a dozen private ways in, and Seero took one of them. He intended using the top of the north tower to reach one of the penthouses in the south, so as soon
MISTS OF THE AGES 17
as he left I found a way into the west tower. I wanted to watch him without being in the way, you under- stand, which I might have been if I'd gone up with him to the north.
"By the time I reached the roof of the west tower, he'd already set his line onto the balcony wall of his target apartment," I said, raising my cup to sip from it. "A minute later he was moving up the line by shift- ing his coasters an armspan at a time, making it look as easy as he always did. Going back it would be downhill, of course, and he'd simply hold on and let gravity do all the work. He reached the balcony, dropped down to it after locking the coasters in place on the line, then went to half-kneel in front of the balcony doors. He already knew what sort of a lock was on them, and even Mal could have gotten it open without a key."
That time they chuckled, knowing how badly Mal did with anything that had a lock- If anyone was ever born to be honest Mal was it, a point finally brought home to him the time he'd lost his key ring. After finding it impossible to get into his jump-around he'd had to walk home, and then had discovered that we, who were his neighbors and who kept a spare set of his keys. were out. He'd decided then and there that he'd be damned if he'd simply sit down and wait until we got back, so he began trying to pick the lock on his door.
By the time Tris and I got back there he'd apparently been at it for hours, and had reached the point where he wouldn't have used a key even if he'd had to spend the rest of his life out in that hall. It was do or die with no other acceptable options, and Tris and I were trying to decide whether or not to mention something rather important to him when Ricco showed up. Ricco, having no idea about what was going on immediately congratulated Mal, and when Mal looked up at him .blankly, Ricco reached over and opened the door with a simple turn of the knob. At some point or other Mal had managed to pick the lock, but the tragedy of it was Mal hadn't noticed. It took quite a while before we were able to get Mal to stop crying, but once he
18 Sharw Green
MISTS OF THE AGES 19
the hand weapons. From where I stood, it looked like Seero had been told he was free to go."
When I paused to swallow at my javi, none of them Jumped in with prompts or questions or comments. They knew what was coming, and although they had already decided to listen, they were in no hurry to hear it.
"I watched Seero go back to his line with what seemed to be reluctance, and couldn't understand why he wasn't acting as relieved as I felt." I continued beyond the pause. "After thinking about it I've de- cided he knew what was coming, which is another thing those four will regret. Seero jumped for the coasters, had them unlocked in a moment, then slid away from the balcony. He was about halfway across when one of the heavies reached up to the line anchor with something too small for me to see, but which .must have been made of plastic. It broke the holding field that kept the anchor firmly attached to the wall, and suddenly Seero wasn't sliding down the line, he and the li ne were falling toward the inner face of the north tower. He tried absolving most of the shock of contact with his legs, but the angle of descent was too Btecp and he was moving too fast. He slammed into the building between two terraces, the impact so hard I could hear it, and then he was gone from the line and falling toward the ground so many stories below. When I looked back to the terrace, the four and their heavies had already disappeared."
By then I was staring down into my javi cup, wish- ing it held something a lot stronger than javi, feeling fte new silence that surrounded me. All the expecta- tion from eariier had disappeared, leaving behind a limping, wordless plea for some sort of explanation.
"I don't understand," Tris said after the gap had grown almost awkward, his voice filled with confu- sion. "If they knew Seero and didn't even have a com- ^ pleted stroke to complain about, why did they wipe i him? And how did he end up in a Twi House meeting place to begin with? He was always so careful about checking a layout before going in."
"They must have been discussing something they
was back to normal his mind had been made up. He "^ still considered himself one of us, but he never tried breaking into anything again.
"I watched Seero fade through the balcony doors, and automatically checked the time," I went on with ^ a sigh, wondering if Mal knew how really fortunate he was. "Seero's maximum time on a stroke never " went beyond nine minutes, no matter what he had to ^ leave behind. Better to get out and come back some ^ other time, he always said, rather than stay that extra ^ minute or two and maybe lose all your some-other- times together. At any rate I knew it wouldn't be long before he was out again, but it turned out to be a lot less than not very long. It couldn't even have been a minute before he reappeared, and he immediately tried jumping for the coasters."
"Without stopping to relock the balcony doors?" ^ Sharp asked with shock in her voice. "I can't believe Seero would overlook anything that important." ^
"He didn't overlook it," I said, answering the ques- js tion for all of them. "He didn't stop because they were f right behind him, too close, as it turned out, for him || to get the coasters moving before they were on top of ^ him. They had hand weapons out and ready, so all he [:•' could do was drop back down to the terrace." ^
"But he wasn't supposed to have been killed with a hand weapon," Ricco pointed out, his expression ^ strange. "Did the thuds cover up that part of it?" ^
"They didn't use the weapons, they just covered him with them." I said with a headshake. "At first it was only the two heavies who stopped him, and I was sure they were private security, which would have ^ meant Seero was caught. Then three men and a woman stepped out on the balcony, four races I recognized ^ instantly in the light coming from inside, and I began ^ / to think everything would be all right. I knew for a fact that Seero had done strokes for at least two of them, and they would therefore understand he could be counted on to keep quiet about whatever he'd seen or heard. One of the men spoke to Seero with an amused smile on his face, turned and said something to the others, then gestured away the two heavies with
20 Sharon Green
considered more important than Seero's life.'* I an- swered, looking up to see the way all three of them stared at me. "They could have decided to depend on his silence the way they had in the past, but chose instead not to bother. As for how Seero ended up in the middle of a meeting between the heads of four Houses who never in the past got together on any- thing, that one is easy. He was set up.
"Is that a guess, or do you know it for certain?*' Sharp asked, her voice very soft in contrast to the look in her eyes. "If it's confirmed, give us a name."
"I didn't have to guess." I said. running a finger around die rim of my cup without looking down. "On the way to the stroke Seero told me who had put him onto die target, and the idea made him chuckle. The man who considered himself Seero's greatest rival had worked for months digging out the location of this shady political bigshot's city address, had confirmed what artwork and other valuables the apartment held by visiting it as a repairman or some such, and had only been waiting for the bigshot to be out of town. As soon as that happened he started getting ready to go—and while he was moving around managed to slip and fall because of a small pool of salad oil that had been spilled by his roommate on their kitchen floor. He ended up with a very painful sprained ankle, which meant he needed someone he could trust to take over for him. He'd hated the idea of calling Seero, but Seero was the only one he knew who could be relied on to play it straight."
"And the reason he didn't simply wait until he was healed, and then go ahead without a reluctantly-taken partner?" Tris asked, filling in the line as he and the others knew it must have gone. They weren't wrong, and my nod acknowledged that fact.
"The bigshot had sold the apartment, and would be moving his things to an in-city estate as soon as he got back," I supplied. "If the stroke didn't come off right then, all those months of work would be worse than wasted. Better half the rake than losing it all."
"And Seero believed him," Sharp stated, her dark eyes furious. "Just as we all would have. because of
MISTS OF THE AGES 21
the one bit of truth he used: Seero was the only one among us who could be counted on to play it straight. There was no way anyone would have thought it was a trap."
"The slig must have found out about the Twi meet- ing while he was sniffing around," Tris said, coming to the same conclusion I had. "There's never been even a whisper about a connection between that polit- ico and the Houses, so the slig must have counted on their wiping Seero to keep that quiet, if for nothing else. They must be into him below his underwear if they used his apartment for their high-level hush-hush. Seero never had a chance, not with the kind of heavies they use to keep those meetings private. Give us the name of that slig. Inky. We want to pay him a visit and tell him how much we admire his planning abil- ity."
"I don't think we can pay him a visit," Ricco said. the first words he'd spoken in a while, his light eyes directly on me, "It was Tardin who did that to Seero, wasn't it. Inky? Tardin the slime, who could never forgive Seero for being better than him. Am I wrong?"
"No, you aren't wrong, Ricco," I allowed, feeling myself smile for the first time since that conversation had started. "Tardin was the one who set Seero up, but 1 don't think he'll ever be doing something like that again, do you?"
"Tardin was convicted of those murders!" Sharp said with a hiss of shock, her stare now on the wide- eyed side. "It made all the news progs, and more than half the editorial slots! Everyone wanted the courts to forget the law and sentence him to a lifetime of torture instead of simple execution. The evidence against him was so overwhelming, not even his court-appointed lawyer believed him when he screamed he was inno- cent."
"That was because of how sickening the crime was," Tris said, giving me the same sort of thoughtful look Ricco had been maintaining for the last couple of minutes. "When the victims are children it's bad enough, but when they're also physically handicapped children who have managed to win outstanding awards
22 Sharon Green
despite their handicap— And when they aren't simply killed, but put through what the autopsies showed— It was all they could do to find thuds to guard him. Most of them wanted to join everyone else and tear him apart."
"And all those of us who knew him wondered was how he'd kept that much twisting from showing sooner," Ricco said, closing the circle he'd opened. "I don't think it would bother any of us to find out he was framed. Inky, but what about the one who really is guilty? With Tardin tagged for the thing, they stopped looking for anyone else."
"Why look for a dead man?" I asked, letting my smile broaden. "One of the earlier victims had a rel- ative none of the news progs found out about, a half- brother who had loved the little giri very much. The naif-brother had a lot of friends and acquaintances, »M I don't think I have to tell you what it's possible (0 pick up when almost everyone on the street is watching and listening for you. Seero had introduced me to him a few years ago, so when it was time to take a good look around a certain apartment, I was the one he asked to do it. Finding those grisly trophies the slime had kept wasn't hard, but once they'd served the purpose of telling us we'd located the right sicko. no one had any more use for them. My acquaintance took charge of the sicko. and when I explained why I wanted the trophies, he thought my taking them was a good idea. It even turned out that one of his friends was the woman who cleaned Tardin's apartment, the very woman who accidentally found all that horror and immediately called the police."
"Finding Tardin's name on the membership list of that group of fanatics who want all handicapped new- boms put to sleep really sealed the lid on it," Ricco said, a grin finally breaking through on his face. "Was he really a member, or did your acquaintance have another friend?"
"That time it was a friend of mine," I answered, watching Tris and Sharp stir where they sat, as though waking from a daydream. "She owed Seero a lot more than one, and computer files will whistle the latest hit
MISTS OF THE AGES 23
r'
'^"t
^
^
&
r
-T' I
if she asks them to. Getting them to accept Tardin's name as a long-time member of that group took about ten minutes."
"No wonder you kept refusing to work with us," Sharp said, satisfied acceptance in her voice. "You were too busy doing things that really needed doing. But now that it's just about over, you shouldn't be busy any longer. Tardin's appeal was denied last week. which means his execution is set for the forty day min- imum. Why don't we all celebrate by pulling off a really spectacular stroke?"
"That would be a good idea except for one thing," I said, quickly interrupting the agreement coming from Tris and Ricco. "I won't be ready to celebrate until there isn't even a foundation left of four certain Houses. Taroin may have been the one who set Seero up for wiping, but he wasn't the one who actually did the job. Until that happens, I expect to have quite a lot to do that's best done alone."
"You don't mean you're taking on four of the Twi- light Houses!" Tris said in almost the same hiss Sharp had used earlier, his expression full of outrage. "Inky. that's crazy! I can understand refusing to take com- missions from them, or maybe even cheenng on the thuds, but actively working against them? They'll wipe you the same way they did Seero, and you won't ever be able to say you didn't ask for it! If Seero was still around, he'd be the first to tell you to forget it."
"If Seero was still around, there'd be nothing to forget," I pointed out, raising my cup to finish the last of the Javi. "I only told you three about this so you'd know why it isn't smart associating with me. I haven't been sitting around with my feet up for the past few months, and although I've been careful not to be sloppy, it's only a matter of time before they find out who's been stroking them. When that happens, you don't want to confuse them by standing next to their target. They usually settle confusions like that by tak- ing out everyone in sight."
"They seem to have a thing about playing it on the safe side," Sharp agreed with familiar dryness, but there was more frustration behind the words than
24 Sharon Green
amusement. "Damn it. Inky, all you'll do is get your- self killed, and no one will be able to help you! Do you expect us to just sit back and let it happen?'*
"The only way you can stop me is by tipping the Houses," I said, taking a deep breath before making the effort to shake off the gloom that had grabbed me again. "If you decide to do that, hold out for as much as you think the information should be worth, but stay out of reach both before and after you collect. They're already feeling the pinch, and I'm told they're not in a very good mood."
"Told by who?" Ricco asked, as annoyed as Sharp and Tris by the suggestion I'd made. "I can believe you've been stroking them. and I believe they don't know who's doing it. Seero always said you were the best he ever taught, and if you ask me you're even better than that. You're also not suicidal, so I'm will- ing to bet you're not doing this alone. Who do you have who's telling you about their mood, and what are they doing with the rake from your strokes?**
"I don't think you really need to know that," I said as I looked around at the three with a friendly smile. Sharp and Tris were startled by the guess Ricco had made, but he always had been the swiftest on the up- take. "Let's just say I've found the perfect place to drop what I come across, and it's possible I may even be around to some day celebrate cracked foundations. I'm not counting on the possibility very heavily, but it could happen. And now I really do have another appointment."
"Was mis your way of saying good-bye to us?" Tris demanded as I began getting ready to leave the booth, his tone almost harsh. "You don't want us get- ting killed along with you, so you took some time out to cut the ties? That was really thoughtful of you. Inky, but what if one or two of us don't want to say good- bye? What if we're willing to take our own chances with getting killed?"
"I'm sony. Tris, but this is my way of getting killed," I said with a glance around, trying not to laugh. "If you or Ricco or Sharp decide you're inter-
MISTS OF THE AGES 25
ested, you'll have to find your own way. You know how I've always hated sharing things."
I put my left hand on his arm to keep him from saying any more, then reached my right hand toward Sharp and Ricco. Both of them took it. Sharp with tears in her eyes, Ricco almost as broken up as Tris, but I refused to let any of their sadness touch me.
"I'll say this as plainly as I can, so I won't ever have to repeat it: stay out of the argument!** I told them, looking at each of them in turn. starting with Tris and ending with Ricco. "I've got m^f covered ID a certain extent, but the coverage isn't enough for four. I'd hate to make it through all this, only to find that one or more of you three didn't. And dont forget, if one of you trips, you might take me down right along with you. If for no other reason, will you let that make you back off and forget all about it?"
Once again I let my eyes touch each of mem, and despite their reluctance they didn't refuse me the nods of agreement I'd asked for. They'd given me their words to stay out of it, but Tris felt it necessary to add one last comment as I freed my hands and stood.
"If you ever change your mind about wanting com- pany, you know where you can find us," he said, then gave me a smile that was trying very hard to become a grin. "Don't forget how bad I am at thinking of my own ways to get killed."
There was nothing to do but laugh at that, and then wave once before turning and walking away. Tris was most probably feeling the short time we'd lived to- gether, but he'd get over it and then he'd be fine. I'd made sure they would all be fine, but that was some- thing else they didn't need to know about. When the Houses finally found out I was the one stroking them, not knowing where I was would be no protection at all for people who were named as friends of mine. What I'd arranged would be protection, but they definitely would not have enjoyed hearing about it.
On the way out I said good-bye to Mat without giv- ing him the chance to press me as to when I'd be back, then left to keep an appointment which centered about the delivery of an envelope.
Chapter 2
My new associates had very little imagination, which mewit they insisted on my meeting them in their own offices. It might have been true that none of their peo- pte ooold have betrayed them even if they'd wanted to, "but tint didn't make me any happier about becom- ing a familiar figure to the workers on all four of their shifts. I was used to having no one or almost no one know what I was into; Stellar Intelligence didn't be- lieve ia running it the same. As far as they're con- cerned, if everyone around you doesn't know what you're doing, you probably shouldn't be doing it. Needless to say, the difference of opinion made our association even more pleasant than it would normally have been-
I left my jump-around parked in a street-level square a couple of blocks from my destination, preferring to lose it among the various vehicles of neighborhood night-shift workers over sitting it down all alone in plain sight in front of the building where the offices were. It wasn't exactly common knowledge that the Empire offices building also housed Stellar Intelli- gence, but among those who did know, very few cared. S.I. was a branch of the Empire administration that supposedly concerned itself with nothing less than things like treason on a planetary scale, and that, of course, made it nothing to worry about to anyone who wasn't plotting the overthrow of the Empire. I'd found out differently one night, and the revelation had mod- ified my plans in an interesting way—if you consider that sort of thing interesting.
26
MISTS OF THE AGES 27
The Empire building was as brightly lit and as full of people going in and out as it always was, which means I accessed their underground parking area through a service conduit that bypassed their security system, then made my way to the upper floors from there. My getting into the building like that was more of a game than a necessity, especially since S.I. hadn't yet gotten around to finding the route. The other end of the conduit was supposed to be completely inacces- sible, and they still believed that; for people who shouldn't have believed anything they hadn't checked personally, it was sad to see how trusting they were. ft was also one of the reasons I wasn't precisely thrilled to be working with them, but they were definitely the lesser choice between evils.
The lift took me up to the fifty-fourth floor, and when the doors opened I stepped out to see the trans- parent wall on my left that told me I'd found the of- fices of the Empire Messenger Corps. Beyond the wall was a rather unplush reception area which contained a brittly-pretty giri behind a desk polishing her nails, and a bored-looking man in the blinding-red uniform of the Messenger Corps leaning against die wall not far from her. When the lift doors closed behind me the gut stopped polishing and the man stopped looking Bored, but neither one tried to say anything until I'd pushed through the entrance panel in the transparent wall. At that point, the giri grinned wide.
"Raksall's expecting you, so you can go right in." she said, sounding nothing like what her looks would lead someone to expect. "And by the way, thanks for earning me a little extra cash. Again."
She made no real effort to look at the man in the red uniform, but she didn't have to. Her final won) had let him know he was being laughed at, and his ex- pression said he wasn't enjoying the experience.
"It's not a joke," he said in a near growl, his dark eyes sending accusation in my direction rather than toward his partner in disguise. "If she's getting into the building in a way we don't know about, there can be others doing the same thing. Betting on whether or not she makes it through without getting caught
28 Sharw Green
isn't as good an idea as trying to find out how she does
*t."
"Our current assignment doesn't call for finding
things out," the woman said, her grin still in place as she swiveled her chair to turn her in the man's direc- tion. "And if you think betting is such a bad idea, why wasn't I the only one doing it?"
The man looked down at her without answering the question, but also without visible enjoyment of the an- kle-length, veed-to-the-waist work dress the woman was wearing. She had no trouble at all filling out the standard red and white dress, but men seem to lose interest in such things when their pride—or wallets- have been brutalized.
"Is Raksall in her office?" I asked, more to change the subject than because I wasn't sure. "I'm still a little eariy."
"She expected you to be late instead, but she came in on time," the woman told me, and then her expres- sion wept solemn. "It may be the next thing to im- morality to mention it. but I think she earned some extra cash, too."
The man came away from the wall with his fists to his hips at that, and even though I was no longer the target for his killing stare, I still headed on back to the offices beyond the corridor leading out of the reception area. S.I. people seemed to be much freer souls than I'd expected them to be, but I wasn't involved with them to make friends. We had a joint business venture going, they and I, and in that area things weren't doing badly.
There were as many people hurrying around the in- ner S.I. office as the rest of the building suffered from, all because of the need of the place to be fully staffed at all times. When you have to deal with information and requests coming in from hundreds of planets and going out to the same number, you run every minute of the local day and night or you don't run at all. I usually preferred night hours because of how much more peaceful they were than the daytime, but in that place it was like middle of the morning any time you got there. I ignored the bustle as best I could, made
MISTS OF THE AGES 29
't
my way across the floor to the office I wanted, and simply walked in.
Raksall looked up at the sound of the door opening, her transparent desk showing all of the stylish orange and brown business suit she wore. The legs of the pants were so full they even looked like a full-length skirt while she was sitting down, and the tight-waisted jacket was more frilly-lace-concealing than straight- line form-revealing. Using lace instead of body lines was the very newest rage in fashion, and it surprised me not at all that Raksall was already wearing it.
"Well. well, eariy instead of late," my S.I. contact said with an amused look, leaning back in her chair while I closed the door behind me. "With everything you had on your schedule tonight, I thought it would be the other way around."
"I have a feeling you thought it would be the other way around because of the number of guards stationed all over the building," I came back, walking forward to my usual chair and then sitting in it. "They were trying to spot me coming in, but somehow they missed."
"I've learned there's nothing of the 'somehow* about it when people miss seeing you," she said, her stronger amusement now showing in a grin. "If we hadn't had Fieran's luck, we wouldn't have stumbled over you die first time. I hope it went just as success- fully earlier tonight."
"They're not quite as clever as they think they are," I said with a smile of my own, reaching down to the wide black shimmer-belt I wore above my semi-skirt. "If you don't have a pair of gloves, I recommend leaving the thing in the belt until you can get a lab to check it for you. They had it in a safe spot, but I have the distinct feeling they decided to play it double safe. If unprotected skin touches that envelope, I'd rather not be around to see what the results are."
"That means they're beginning to try doing some- thing about you," she said, her grin gone as she reached across the desk to take the belt. "What you've gotten from them over the last few months hasn't been used against them yet, so they must think that ridding
30
Sharon Green
themselves of you will make sure it never is. I'd say it's time you let up on them for a while."
"And I say if I let up on them, what I've done so far will be wasted effort," I countered, watching how carefully she handled the belt. "You're the one who told me how straight-line all this evidence has to be, now an Empire court will accept it if there aren't any carefully timed gaps in the gathering of it. You said if we can prove these Houses are constantly and consis- toatty involved in large-scale illegalities rather than occasionally dabbling over the line of the law, the Em- pire court will accept jurisdiction as the only certifi- ably unbiased source of justice for the people. We both know their bought bodies on this world won't even let them be accused here let alone convicted, and the chance of throwing them to an Empire court was the only reason I agreed to work with you people. If you try backing out now . . ."
^*Toi not trying to back out of the deal," she inter- rupted in annoyance, the look in her brown eyes half impatient and half concerned. "I promised we'd break those Houses for you if you helped us get the evidence we need, and that promise stands. I'd just like to know how well you'll uphold your end of the bargain if you get yourself killed. None of our own people ever man- aged a fraction of what you have in locating the sort of damaging proof we can't go ahead without. If the enemy succeeds in stopping you, where does that leave our effort?"
"Before the question becomes relevant, they have to succeed in stopping me," I answered, working hard to control the furious anger that had suddenly risen inside me. "You told me stolen evidence is just as good in an Empire court as whatever is gotten on a warrant, as long as it's documented as true and isn't unreasonably out of date. If I back off now, you know we'll have a gap, and that gap could get them off. If this is how dedicated you law-and-order types are, I would have been better off going with my original idea."
"Your original idea was to use the other Twilight Houses to destroy the four you're after,'' she said with
MISTS OF THE AGES 31
a brusque gesture of dismissal, still annoyed. "You may or may not have succeeded in that, but when you came to this building to see if the Empire had any file information you could take for the other Houses to use, you walked into one of our security areas. We had to use a Question Beam to find out what you were after, but once we did, didn't we agree to drop all charges against you? Didn't we decide together it would be better to eradicate those Houses completely, rather than simply helping the other Houses to absorb them?"
"Is that what we 'decided together'?" I asked, making a rude face as I leaned back in my chair. "I thought what we decided was that I'd be better off getting evidence for your group, instead of vegetating in a heavy detention center while those four Houses went blithely on the way they had been going. If I'd known you scared this easy, I would have opted for the heavy detention."
"Since I'm not the one whose life is on the line, scared doesn't enter into it much, does it?" she coun- tered, ignoring what I'd said about how I'd been co- erced into the partnership. "And I'm not trying to tell you to back off for good. I want these people as badly as you do. but throwing away the life of the only one able to get me my evidence doesn't make much sense. What you picked up for us four days ago from the Larcher House was a coded list of scheduled ventures involving drugs, prostitution, soul-selling, air smug- gling, puppet-stringing—at least a third of everything they're into. Since we've got to take the time to doc- ument that stellium-mine of a list, there won't be any- thing of a gap showing in our evidence trail. And don't forget what you got for us tonight. If that works out the way I expect it to, what's in that envelope will give the Empire court no choice but to step in. When politicians that big are owned by a House, trying to find an unbiased planetary court is an exercise in fu- tility."
"All of which is a reason for you people to sit back a while, but doesn't in any way apply to me," I said, refusing to buy the wiggler oil she was so good at
32 Sharon Green
selling. "That list you're so hot about involves only one of the Houses, which leaves three more for me to go after while you're playing with the first- In case you've forgotten, it's all four I want, not just a token one or two."
"But you can't get all four if one of them gets you first," she said through her teeth, her fist clenched and her short blond hair almost bristling. "If you leave them alone for a while they'll have to dismantle their traps, or take the chance of losing one of their own. with legitimate business, to something meant to get you. Can't you under—"
Her little speech of useless repetition probably would have gone on until she ran out of breath, but she was interrupted by something other than my impatience. A single knock came at the door, and I turned in time to see a man walking in. He was of average height and build, wearing the tight trousers, tight-waisted jacket, sad severely cut shirt that was the masculine equiva- lent of RaksalFs outfit, but his was a conservative yel- low and tan. He had brown hair and eyes and a narrow, humorless face, was carrying a file of some sort, and I'd seen him once or twice during my previous visits to those offices.
"I'm sony, Filster. but we're in the middle of an important discussion here," Raksall said to the man, making an obvious effort not to be too short with him. "I'll let you know as soon as I'm through, and . . ."
"This can't wait until you're through," the man Filster said, coming forward after having closed the door behind himself. "When you're through, the girt will disappear the way she always does, and I need her here for this."
"For what?" Raksall demanded, letting the river of annoyance inside her wash over the man who was pull- ing up a chair to her side of the desk. "She isn't an operative who shifts from one department to the next and therefore needs to know everything going on ev- erywhere. She has a limited association with my de- partment, so what could you possibly have that concerns her?"
"I have a Situation," the man answered, the word
MISTS OF THE AGES 33
so clearly capitalized that his glance at Raksall was unnecessary. "I queried the main files in search of someone to suit my needs, but rather than offering me a choice of our own operatives, I was given the sug- gestion of that girl. After considering the matter, I was forced to agree with the decision."
His narrow-faced sourness showed how unhappy he was over being forced into whatever it was he was talking about, but I wasn't in the least curious as to what that could be. I'd already done what I'd come to that place to do, and wasting any more time there would have been—a waste of time.
"I think I'll be going now," I said to Raksall as I got out of my chair. "From what you said I'm assum- ing you and your people will be too busy for a while to come up with any target assignments, so I'll take care of finding my own. If I happen across anything interesting, I'll be sure to let you know."
"Just a moment, young woman!" the man Filster said in a very stem way as I turned toward the door, interrupting whatever Raksall had been about to come up with. "You and I have a matter to discuss, which means you're to sit back down and listen to me. I didn't come in here just to watch you walk away."
"I don't much give a damn what you came in here to do," I told the disapproving frown I was getting, liking the man as much as he obviously liked me. "You and I don't have anything to discuss on any subject I can think of, and I really would prefer keep- ing it that way. Have a nice evening."
"How about your four friends?" he countered at once as I began turning away from him again, his tone unpleasantly triumphant. "My department is the one responsible for assigning operatives to make sure the Twilight Houses don't try to use them in an effort to locate you. I've had no trouble finding enough people to assign up until now, but with a Situation demanding all me attention and manpower I can give it . . ."
He let the sentence trail off without finishing it, and when I looked at him his smug expression was all but pure enjoyment. They really did enjoy threatening without using the words, those people, and I was be-
34
Sharon Green
ginning to dislike the habit more than I'd thought was possible.
"Part of my agreement with your group covers the protection of the four people my efforts put in the most danger," I said, speaking primarily to a Raksall who was mostly mad but partly upset. "If that aspect of the deal falls through, so does the rest of it. You may need me to get the Twi Houses* but I can do my own getting with people who don't have your prob- lems- Would you like to tell me which way you want
^ff
• **We want it our way," Filster said with narrow- faced aggressiveness before Raksall could answer me, a gHeam of satisfaction still inexplicably in his eyes. "If yoo don't do your getting with us, you won't do i(«f afi, especially not from the cell of a heavy deten- tion center. You are a thief, young miss, and we have eoough evidence against you in your dossier to keep you in a cell until long past the time the designation 'young* is no longer appropriate. What will happen to your friends during that time, I have no idea. If you aren't identified as the one who robbed the Houses, they may well survive without any sort of difficulty."
Or they may not, his tone suggested, me man ig- noring the way I straightened where I stood. He seemed to know as well as I that if the Houses found out I was the one who had been stroking them, also learning where I was would not keep my closest friends safe. There was still what I'd taken to sustain interest in my background, and until they had that back no one I'd known would be safe.
"Inky, a department with a Situation has priority over all other departments until the Situation is being handled," Raksall got out with difficulty, her intention probably to smooth things over despite her own raging anger. "If you discuss the matter with Filster and can prove to him you can't be of any help, he'll just have to look elsewhere. Let's listen to what he has to say, and afterward you and I can talk for a minute or two."
And get things back to where they were, she didn't
MISTS OF THE AGES 35
bother adding, at least not aloud. At that point I had lost my appetite for dealing with any of them, and if it hadn't been for Tris, Sharp, Ricco and Mal, I would have walked out of there and let them try to catch me. But I did have my friends to consider, so I went back to the chair and sat.
"Your wisdom is exceeded only by your gracious- ness. young miss," Filster said when I crossed my legs, his tone as dry as abrasive powder. "Despite your obvious opinions to the contrary, I'm not enjoy- ing this any more than you are. With that glowering expression you're now wearing, you look more than ever like the innocent child you most certainly are not."
"If all you came in here to do was insult her, Fils- ter, you can just get out again," Raksall said with a hard look in her eyes, her voice thick with the anger she was feeling. "And however this turns out, don't think for a minute that I won't be reporting you. Even having a Situation is no excuse for ruining another department's dealings with essential associates."
"For all the control you have over her, even *asso- ciate' is too binding a descriptive word," the man came back with complete unconcern, paying more at- tention to his papers than to his co-worker. "You can report me as much as you like, as long as you're ready to tell the same board why so essential an 'associate' of yours does as she damned well pleases. And would either of you mind if we got on with this now?"
He finally raised his dark eyes to look at each of us in turn, but not even Raksall had anything else to say. She made herself more comfortable in her chair with her fingers laced together in front of her, and the look in her eyes that promised the man more argument to come at a later, better time didn't bother him in the least.
"About five standard years ago, the planet Joelare announced the opening of its new vacation continent, and within a year it was on the 'must' list of three- quarters of the people in the Empire," Filster said, keeping his eyes on me even as he lectured. "The planet has an anomaly area that does cover just about
36 Sharon Green
an entire continent, an area of perpetual fog, and the section was considered a waste of good worid-space until someone came up with the idea of turning it into a tourist attraction. They had a hell of a time doing the necessary building and developing, but when it was finally completed they had the Mists of the Ages."
He paused then, as though expecting Raksall or me to comment, and when we didn't he smiled faintly.
"What are the Mists of the Ages, you ask?" he said in the lightest tone he'd used yet. "I thought everyone already Knew about them, but since you don't. I*U ex- plain. Towns, villages, and even cities were built in me fog, each area depicting a different historical pe- riod from the past of dozens of the worids of the Em- pire. No one really knows yet why so many human and humanoid-populated worids arose independently to eventually reach the stars and become the corc- woridfl of the Empire, but that doesn't mean people area't interested in what other people lived through before they reached contact capabilities. Joelare hasn't been settled long enough to have picturesque historical eras of its own, so it used everyone else's. With tours ranging from basic to aristocratic, everyone chooses what he or she can afford, and everyone has a fabulous time.
"Or so claim the press releases,*' Pilster went on, impatient disapproval suddenly back in his voice. "Approximately six standard months ago. odd reports began being filed. People who were supposed to have been on the tours were reported missing by friends or relatives, but a couple of days later the reports were canceled. The missing people weren't really missing, they'd only been enjoying themselves so much they'd extended their tours beyond their original intentions. Some of me reports, however, weren't canceled; the missing people really were missing, and eventually turned up dead. They'd wandered off on their own into areas which were restricted because of danger- ous conditions and had had accidents that turned out fatal. What was left of each body was returned to its home world, and then those reports were officially closed."
MISTS OF THE AGES 37
"I'm not seeing what you consider so odd," Raksall said to the man, interest rather than criticism narrow- ing her eyes. "Pe ople do enjoy themselves so much they extend their vacations, and people do die when they wander into places they shouldn't be. All natural- habitat resorts have restricted areas; that's why you sign a release when you vacation in spots like that. If you're properly warned and the restricted areas are clearly marked, your getting killed doesn't entitle your estate to sue."
"Everything you say is absolutely correct, but you haven't seen the reports," Filster answered with a shake of his head- "The computers considered them all together, did a little records checking, men kicked the matter out with gongs clanging and blazing red Situation flags flying. Thirty of the canceled missing persons reports stated that the people involved couldn't possibly have simply stayed past their intended time;
they had previous, very important commitments, and weren't the sort to forget those commitments. When it turned out they had only stayed a little longer, the ones who had filed the reports were bewildered. The objects of their concern had laughed off the entire matter, and none of the thirty showed even the faintest regret for what they'd done. That was the point the computers checked the cash and credit accounts of those thirty and the other 'missing' vacationers for the additional payments they should have had to make to Joelare for their extended stays, and then the alarms went off."
"The payments hadn't been made?" Raksall guessed, her brows higher than they had been. "That would make even an adding machine suspicious."
"Which is probably why most of the additional pay- ments had been made," Filster said, grudging respect only very faintly coloring his continuing disapproval. "Where there were no funds or available credit to meet the payments, suits had been filed against the default- ing parties. All nice and proper and legal, except for two things: the suits were in perpetual continuance de- spite the fact that not even token payments had been made, and most of those who had paid hadn't really
38 Sharon Green
been in a position to take those extra days. They'd strapped themselves badly by doing it, and were right then woridng their backsides off trying to make up the losses."
*Td hate to be the computer who had to specify a Situation like that,'' Raksall said, one finger to her lips as her mind raced behind distracted eyes. "Is there something in the mists on Joelare that causes reliable people to become uncaring spendthrifts, and if so, do the friendly natives running the show know about it? JlAey don't know about it, why aren't they pressing for payment from everyone? If they do know about it. are they taking advantage of an existing situation, or Caufiwg the situation to begin with? If me reaction is a ftatool phenomenon, why aren't more people suffer- ing from ft? And as a temporary last. how, if in any way a all, do the dead bodies fit in?"
•fAneat summation as to why we have a Situation," Faster said to her, his attitude indicating anyone in Raksall's position would have been expected to do the same. "There are people being hurt and taken advan- tage of somehow, but we don*t yet know who is in- nocent and who isn't. It's also been pointed out that the number of people actually reported as missing is guaranteed to be a lot less than the grand total in that category. Some planetary authorities operate under the absurd conviction that people who never deviate from schedule even once in their lives, can't be considered missing until a prechosen amount of time has passed. Places like that would have nothing in the way of re- ports filed."
"So the questions asked need immediate answers, and then we'll know what we're dealing with," Rak- sall said with a slow nod. "If it turns out the people of Joelare decided to help hurry the return on their investment by convincing certain people to stay longer and therefore spend more money, our branch of the Service won't be involved any longer. What we need to do is get those answers,"
"Which is the reason I'm in your office now instead of my own," Filster said, back to looking at me rather than Raksall. "We need someone to go in there who
MISTS OF THE AGES 39
will not only not arouse any suspicion, but who also has the ability to check records and files that arc out of easy reach. Mists of the Ages is run from a central location situated itself in the mist, which means the very finding of it won't be a matter of checking the address and then walking in. Our computer tells roc your—associate—over there has a definite talent for finding things, so she's the one I want."
By that time Raksall was sharing in the stare di- rected at me, and I didn't need to hear her saying any- thing to remember the "we" she'd used with Filster. After hearing his problem, she was no longer blaming him for barging in on us and was also no longer invit- ing him to look elsewhere for help. I'd somehow had the feeling things would work out like that, but they and the computer who had suggested me all had equally randomized circuits.
"Anyone with a little intelligence can be expected to find things," I said after a decent pause, making it seem as though I'd considered his request. "What isn't quite as reasonable is hauling someone off the streets and expecting them to be able to do the sort of Job you people are trained for. Not only wouldn't I know where to begin, I wouldn't even know when to look unsus- picious. They'd have me spotted five minutes after I got there, and that would be the end of my playing snoop. My talent is in extracting things from places people have them hidden, not inserting myself in places people don't want me to be."
"Your talent is in stealing," Filster contradicted with no change of expression, his dark eyes still di- rectly on me. "You specialize in preying on those who have managed to acquire possessions of worth, and haven't enough social conscience to feel shame over such a thing no matter how badly your victims are hurt by it. I despise parasites like you and your sort, who live well themselves by causing misery for others. If I had any choice in the matter I'd see you all in heavy detention, but instead of that I'm forced to work with you. I need information stolen from a place others can't get near, and for that you are exactly right. If you refuse to do it. the trash you call friends will be en-
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tircly on their own* just as they really deserve to be. Make yocr decision now, and make it fast."
If I'd been in the habit of showing enemies how I felt, I probably would have shivered from the pure hate and disgust coming at me. The man's eyes were all but glowing with it, and I couldn't ever remember feeling so sick. People won't understand, Seero had always told me, sometimes not even if you explain. Don't waste your time, little Inky, just let them go on believing as they like. It won't change what we're do- tog, it will Just make it a little harder. Filster made it hafder, all right, but not just a little.
"faky^ if you think about it, you'll find this is all probably for the best," Raksall said, the pitying em- barrassment so thick in her voice that I hated her. ^you need to take some time off from our own project anyway, so why don't you see what you can do with Pilsters? We know you're not a professional, but that might be Just the thing to get you past any safeguards they may have erected. We'll give you what informa- tion and help we can, and your friends—you have my word that they'll be perfectly all right. You can look at it as a paid vacation, and by the time you get back we can probably get on with our work again. —What do you say?"
In actual fact I didn't say anything, primarily be- cause I couldn't. I also couldn't quite meet Filster's eyes or look Raksall directly in the face, not the way Seero would have been able to. He had always been so serenely sure that what he did was right, so gently willing to forgive anyone and everyone the awful things they might say about him. I didn't have the same inner strength, but at least I was able to refuse the urge to make excuses for myself. Making excuses only means you think you're doing wrong, Seero al- ways used to say, and if you think what you're doing is wrong, you shouldn't be doing it. The only wrong I saw was in what I was about to do, but I couldn't betray four people whose safety was my responsibil- ity. I nodded my head stiffly, agreeing to the demand they'd made on me, then stood up and got out of there as fast as I could.
MISTS OF THE AGES 41
The lobby of the Empire braiding had dozens of public call squares, every one of them undoubtedly monitored. I chose one at random and made the call I had to, setting in motion a sequence of events all the monitoring in the Empire couldn't have followed. Then I walked out one of the lobby doors, and went to the place I was then calling home. ;
Chapter 3
The S.I. didn't believe in wasting time. I'd intended dmgaig my feet for a while, at least until the com- pictionof the events I'd started the night before with •ao-view call, but Filster began taking immediate ad- vantage. I don't know if he realized I'd let myself be followed back to the place where I was sleeping those days, but the very next morning one of his people was pounding on my door. The racket woke me to see it wasn't even noon yet, which gave me second thoughts about how wise I'd been in using myself as a diver- sion. I pulled on a bodysuit without bothering to add shorts or a skirt, yanked the door open, and glared at the large blond-haired, blue-eyed man standing right outside.
"Don't you people have any sense at all?" I de- manded in a hiss, working to keep my voice down. "Are you trying to let everyone in the Emp ire know we have a deal going?"
"How did you know I was sent by a mutual friend?" the man asked mildly, his squarish face openly sur- prised. "Since you're staying in this over-night for working girls, you—and everyone else—were sup- posed to think I was an early customer looking for some fun."
"Don't you think they know I'm not wiggling for the trade?" I asked in turn with a lot of the weariness I was feeling, wondering again how people of their supposed caliber could be so innocent. "The ones who run this place make it their business to know what's going on; if they slip, they could be out of business."
42
MISTS OF THE AGES 43
"Then we'll just have to say I'm your boyfriend." he decided with a grin, totally unbothered by anything I'd told him. "Just because you don't get paid for it, doesn*t mean you have to pretend you never do it. Aren't you going to invite me in?*'
I gave it up with a shake of my head and simply stepped back out of the way, and he walked in while looking around in curiosity. He was the sort of really big man I usually find attractive when I'm not three- quarters asleep, and he was dressed like a long-haul jockey whose usual run takes him through the wilds:
leather jacket, leather boots, hugging zilf-skin pants and bright svalk singlet. Wilds jockies nuke large amounts of money and aren't shy about spending it, which some people think is what puts the swagger in their walk. What really does it is a knowledge of just how good they are. undoubtedly the same thing that did it for my visitor.
"You know, this isn't bad," he decided by the time I got the door closed, his all-around inspection of the predominantly pink room finally turning his back in my direction. "The carpeting and walls are clean, the mirrors are shiny and clear, the bed is big enough for three, and the leather is out of sight while it isn't being used. What more can you ask from a temporary lay- over?"
"Watch your language," I said with a yawn, head- ing for the counter with the javi spout and cups. "Fe- males not doing the trade aren't usually allowed to stay in places like this, but I have friends who owe me favors. Its greatest benefit is that I'm not the only one coming and going at all hours of the day and night."
"Now you watch your language," he said with a small laugh, following me over to the counter. "If you're in the mood to pour two cups of that, we can sit down with them while I tell you what I came to tell you. After that you can get dressed and start getting on with it."
"What's the hurry?" I asked, turning to hand him the first cup of javi I'd filled. "According to our mu- tual friend, the game-playing has been going on for at least six months. Since whoever they tick will even-
44 Sharon Green
tually be paid back, what difference can another cou- ple of days make?"
"They'll get paid back if we can prove the Joelare natives are game-playing," he corrected, his blue eyes serious as he took the javi. "If we can't prove it, all we'll be able to do is make the Mists people check cash and credit before anyone is allowed on future tours. Those who can't afford extra time on the planet will then either be separated from their tours at the proper time, or Mists won't be permitted to bill them. That will still leave their previous victims in the hole, and that might not even be the worst of it. We still have those dead bodies to think about."
With my own cup filled with javi I was able to try frowning at him, but he was already heading for the comfortably stuffed chair only a few feet away. He sat down. began settling himself, then moved his head quickly from side to side, a sure sign that he'd just noticed he was in the only chair in the room. When he was certain of that, he looked up at me.
"It seems these rooms weren't furnished with con- versation in mind," he observed, his grin faint but definitely there. "We'll either have to move to the bed where there's room for both of us, or you'll have to sit in my lap.'*
"That's the benefit in having carpeted floors," I countered, folding into a cross-legged position oppo- site his chair. "They give you all the extra options you need. Now, what's all this about dead bodies?"
"Some of those who were reported missing on Joe- lare turned up dead instead of late," he said with a supposedly disappointed sigh, forcing himself to get back to business. "Any place like the Mists of the Ages is bound to have areas of high danger, and tour- ists are notorious for going past flashing lights and screaming sirens without ever seeing or hearing them. Going on vacation seems to turn normal people into instant idiots, so just having bodies isn't what bothers us. The disturbing part centers around the fact that there isn't much left of most of the bodies they send back to the home worlds, only enough to make a pos- itive I.D. A certain percentage of those bodies arc go-
MISTS OF THE AGES 45
ing to be true accidental deaths, but what about the rest?"
"You mean you think they might have been delib- erately killed?" I asked, putting both hands around my cup to fight off the sudden chill I was feeling. "Pos- sibly because they found out what was going on?"
"Possibly, but somehow it doesn't feel right." he grumbled, raising his cup to sip from it while distrac- tion showed in his eyes. "It isn't unheard of for people to kill to protect the secret of what they^re doing, but this Mists whiz isn't all that big and profitable, and it isn't being run by professionals. In most instances am- ateurs try to buy silence rather than resort to killing, and most people offered bribes will accept them. It's a piece that doesn't fit in the puzzle we're trying to work, and even though it's colored the same it ought fit in another puzzle entirely. You'll just have to keep your eyes open when you get there."
"Assuming I don't end up in that second puzzle, and have my eyes closed for me in some permanent way," I said, looking up at him with very little enthu- siasm. "I keep telling you types I wasn't trained for this, but none of you want to hear me."
"We hear you." he disagreed with a shadow of amusement behind his expression. "We're just having trouble believing what we're hearing. You claim to be afraid to get involved in this, afraid of getting killed. For someone who refuses to let up the pressure on four Twilight Houses, any of which would be more man happy to arrange a messy, permanent send-off for her. you're unexpectedly worried about checking into the doings of a whiz run by nervous, almost-innocent am- ateurs. You consider us unreasonable for feeling the least bit skeptical?"
"If nothing else, the way you dismiss amateurs makes me nervous," I came back, disliking his entire attitude. "I'd hate to tell you how many competent pros are killed or almost killed because of them. And this thing between me and the Twilight Houses is en- tirely different. With them it's a personal matter, and I really don't care if they end up getting me, as long as I get them at the same time."
46 Sharon Green
"With us, everything is a personal matter," he said, the amusement gone as he leaned forward just a little. "We hate seeing people being taken advantage of in any way at all, and we*ve sworn to stop it every time we can. But letting them get us when we get mem doesn't make much sense, not if we want to go on getting them. That's why we're as cautious as it's pos- sible to be, and glad to be giving you a vacation from your personal vendetta. We don't like the idea of los- ing you, and this should keep it from happening. While you're gone we'll be looking after your friends, so you don't have to spend even a minute worrying about them. All you need to do is use that talent of yours, and get as the evidence we need against whoever is doing things to innocent, unsuspecting people."
"My taient for stealing," I said as I looked away from him, remembering the way Filster had said it. After tfainlring about it I*d decided Filster was actually the most honest of all of them, saying aloud what the -, others had probably only been feeling. None of them t, understood or even particularly wanted to, which was f^ the reason I'd made the call that began setting up es- ^ cape routes for Mal. Sharp, Tris and Ricco. When ev- ts erything was set the four would be slid into the routes, and then they would be gone from the planet with no possible way of tracing them. I'd set up the routine as an emergency exit before the first time I'd stroked any of the Houses, before I'd gotten involved with the S.I. I'd thought the S.I. could be counted on to keep those closest to me safe, but S.I. worried most about vie- ^ tims, not about those who created victims. It would ) take a few days, but then my friends would be really safe, and after that I could do as I pleased.
"Your talent for stealing," my visitor mused in a calm, even voice as I sipped my javi, making no corn- ^ ment on the fact that I still wasn't looking at him. ^ "That's the way Filster put it, along with everything f else he said. The man is really good at the job he does, ^ but he has no true understanding of people. To him, ^ if you aren't prey you have to be a predator, and he ^ can't forget what predators did to his family. He ( doesn't see himself as a predator, only as prey fighting j|
MISTS OF THE AGES 47
back, so he's incapable of understanding any other mode of existence. You'll find it easier forgiving him for what he said if you tell yourself the rest of us don't see it the same.' *
"I don't tell myself much of anything," I said. fi- nally bringing my eyes back to him. "Talking to your- self is a bad habit to get into, especially in my line of work. Was there anything else, or arc you ready to leave so I can go back to bed?"
"Sony, but you don't have time to go back to bed." he informed me, the grin accompanying the words the least little bit forced. "I still have to tell you about the special ring I have for you, and about the people who will be showing up to help you. After that you have to get your things together in time to catch a shuttle. Your liner to Joelarc will be ready to load passengers about three hours from now."
"You people really don't waste any time." I mut- tered, not terribly pleased with the way things were going. If I could have put them off for the couple of days necessary until my friends were gone from the planet, I would then have been free to refuse to go at all. The four should no longer be where they had been, not since a very short time after I'd made the call, but they were still on Gryphon and would be for another day or two. If S.I. really tried, they could keep them from leaving, which meant I would have to work S.I.'s job before I'd be free to melt into shadow.
"We try not to waste any time, but it doesn't always work." the man in the chair above me said, still trying for a grin. "If it did, you and I would be exchanging more than information, and from a lot closer than three feet. I usually don't have quite this much trouble mak- ing friendly suggestions, but Filster has a knack for ruining things for everybody. What say we put off the briefing for an hour or so, and use the intervening time to—re-cement good relations?"
He watched me as he sipped his javi, nothing show- ing in the way of anxiety over the question he'd put. As attractive as he was he had no real reason to be anxious, but I prefer getting to know someone before getting into bed with them. Many people consider that
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narrow-minded of me but, as my choice of occupation showed, I didn't much care what other people thought. And I also didn't feel the need to be any closer to the people of S.I. than I already was.
"I don't have that sort of relationship with S.I., so there's nothing to re-cement," I told him, wondering in passing if the idea had been his own, or if he'd been instructed to make the suggestion. "We have a very limited association, your group and me, and that's the way I'd like to keep it. If I have a shuttle to catch, you'd better tell me whatever it is you're supposed to teUme."
"I think I'll have a long talk with Filster when I get back to the offices," he said sourly, letting his eyes ^maw over me in a very deliberate way. "And if I can't get you to change your mind once you're back from Joelare, I'll have a second talk with him. Not all of our people are full-time agents, you know, and after this thing with the Houses is done, you'll probably be made a different kind of offer. Not that I don't prefer my own sort."
His grin came all the way out with that, showing he was still in there selling. As hard as he was trying, he probably was under orders to get me into bed, which was an even better example than Filster's of what his people thought of me. I knew well enough how inno- cent I looked, but leave it to S.I. to equate innocent with gullible, I stirred impatiently where I sat, too dis- gusted to let myself say anything, and he finally got the message.
"All right, all right, strictly business," he con- ceded, briefly holding up his free hand. "We have almost no information on the Mists of the Ages and certainly no details on the headquarters building you'll be looking for, but one thing we were able to accom- plish. We had the Division of Records send the Mists board a supposedly new form to be used when send- ing Information Request responses, but the form was really a flat-circuit transponder. We expected it to be filed with the rest of their records, which should have been what was done. Unless we're a lot more unlucky than usual, their main offices are somewhere to the
MISTS OF THE AGES 49
east of the major entry point to the Mists, so we've booked you on the tour that goes that way. Once you're down and moving in the proper direction, you'll use this ring to guide you nearer."
He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a flat, dull silver band that looked well-worn and tar- nished, then handed me the thing. The circular ring was about a quarter of an inch wide and very plain except for three small pieces of plastic that were sup- posed to look like jewels. When paste isn't even good enough to make you think it's glass, you have a real example of junk, and all I wanted to do with it was send it back to the two-for-a-slug vending machine it obviously came from.
"Don't just look at it, put it on," my visitor di- rected, sounding somewhat amused again. "I know it probably offends your every esthetic sense, but that's only because it's in disguise. It's not jewelry, it's a homing device for the flat-circuit transponder and will keep you from getting lost in the fog. When you want to know which way to go, clench your fist and hold it up in front of you. If you need to bear left the left jewel will flash, right and the right Jewel will do the same. Once you're dead on, the central jewel will flash, and then you just keep walking until you run right into it."
"Walking," I echoed, hoping hard the thing wouldn't fit as I put my cup down then reluctantly slipped the ring on my right ring finger. "And running right into it. Every time you open your mouth, you make this all sound better and better."
"It'll work out beautifully," he assured me with confidence, supported, no doubt, by the fact that the monstrosity fit my finger perfectly. "That ring will also identify you for the ones who will be working with you, two of our associated part-time agents who help us out when the need arises. They were already on their way when the computer decided your talent fits in exactly with theirs, so they were alerted to watch for you. When they think it's safe, they'll come over and introduce themselves."
"Safe," I couldn't help echoing again as I re-
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claimed my javi, wondering if there ever really was such a thing. "What son of talents do they have that I fit in so well with them? Arson and mayhem?"
"You intend getting a lot of mileage out of what Filstersaid, don't you?" he asked with a strange light- ness, leaning back in the chair to cross his legs. "Bearing people over the head with mistakes seems to come natural to some females, but it wasn't my mis- take in the first place, so I think my head's taken enough. I also think we'll both be better off if we con- sider that part of our discussion closed."
For a field agent he was getting awfully pushy, but all I did was shrug at the order thinly disguised as a suggestion. How I reacted or didn't react to things was aooa of his business, especially since his being there hada't been my idea. If he was trying to disassociate Binuelfand the rest of S.I. from Filster, he'd even- tually find out he didn't do much of a job of it.
**xhe two people you'll be working with have never woriced together before either," he went on after a moment, realizing that my shrug was all the answer I'd be giving to his comment. "The woman was cho- sen because it was realized the Mists headquarters would be guarded by the most sophisticated electronic devices available, and her specialty area is electronics. There's nothing so advanced that she doesn't know about it, but a number of her own gadgets can't be matched or countered by anything. Once you reach the building she'll be able to get you into it, especially if you're able to spot parts of the system she might oth- erwise miss."
"And the other is a man?" I asked, my inner mind suddenly very interested in the woman I'd be meeting. There were a couple of very important places begging to be stroked, but had proven untouchable because of security devices that couldn't be gotten around. I al- ways knew where those devices were. but had never found anyone with the knowledge of how they could be neutralized. If the woman turned out to have that knowledge . . .
"Yes, the other is a man," the field agent said, again sipping at his javi. "He was included because
MISTS OF THE AGES 51
of the dead bodies, the ones there was so little left of only identification was possible. All sorts of explana- tions accompanied the bodies as to how the people died, but the various home-planet medical authorities were able to confirm the causes of only a few. The third member of your team is a medical specialist, one who concentrates on research but at the same time knows more than a little about other branches of med- icine. If you happen to come across another body, he'll be able to tell us if the death was natural, accidental- or caused."
"As long as the body in question isn't me. I hope he has fun," I said with a small shiver. "Far be it from me to criticize other people's tastes in leisure- time activities, but he must have had a very limited social life in his youth if pathology is one of his hob- bies. Is that it, or do we have more to talk about before I can start packing?"
"Except for handing you these papers, reservations and fund vouchers, that's all the business I have," he answered, reaching into his jacket again for the packet in question before passing it over. "Now, about our date for when you get back. I thought we'd start with dinner and dancing, maybe visit a club or two, and then I can show you my apartment. It took me a while to get it fixed up the way I wanted it, and I think you'll like it."
"Of course I will," I answered smoothly as I rose to my feet, giving his renewed grin a very small smile. "I always enjoy seeing apartments people have put a lot of money into. I certainly hope you won't be off on a run through the wilds by the time I make it back."
"I can guarantee I won't be," he answered, the di- rect look he gave me as he also stood showing that he knew what I was hinting at. "I haven't met a woman yet I was afraid of, and you're no exception. Since I actually do make runs through the wilds, you might as well stop trying to scare me. Whatever happens, I don't expect to have any trouble handling it."
I discovered that he no longer had his cup when he put his arms around me, and then he was giving me the sort of kiss that can't in any way be described as
52 Sharon Green
shy or passing-friendly. He seemed to have taken my threat to strip his apartment as a challenge, and if he really did do mns through the wilds, he couldn't be the sort who let challenges go unanswered. My hands were not only trapped between us, they were also filled with papers and a javi cup, which made it almost im- possible to push or pull away from his demanding lips. I squirmed around trying to get loose, upset over the way he was making me kiss him, and then, suddenly, I no longer was.
"Now Fin really looking forward to that date," he alid softly, letting me go so that he might put a finger W my face. * * Make sure you take care of yourself dur- ing (ins thing. I don't like being stood up."
—He grinned and kissed me lightly one last time, and Am he was striding toward the door. I watched him «^tiloe was gone and I was alone.again, and then I ahywiy shook my head, answering him even though he wttoo longer there. No, I would not be goin^ on a date with him when I got back, not for anything he would find it possible to name. I had just found out how attractive I really considered him, and even if I intended continuing my association with S.I.—which I didn't—he would not be any part of it. I'd have enough interest brought into my lire by the efforts of the Twi Houses; letting him add to that would be worse than suicidal.
I went back to die counter with my javi cup, thought about packing, then said to hell with it and refilled the cup. I didn't have all that much to pack, and I needed the javi to help me get my reactions down from bio- logical and back up to intellectual. I had almost for- gotten that he had most likely been assigned to get me interested in him, which went to show how thoroughly S.I. had investigated me. They knew I liked big men so they had provided one for me to become interested in, an interest that would keep me with S.I. for as long as they needed me. Associate, free-lance worker, whatever they wanted to call it. I'd be theirs to use any time they needed my abilities.
I left the packet of papers on the counter and took my cup to the chair my visitor had used, still enough
MISTS OF THE AGES 53
bothered by what he'd done that the thought of re- venge was very satisfying. He'd tried romancing me to get what his bosses wanted, but no matter how pos- itive a report he wrote, subsequent happenings would not prove a match to it. We'd see how wide a grin he wore when I not only didn't continue with S.I.. but used whatever I could get from their electronics expert for myself. I didn't really care who was ultimately re- sponsible for the destruction of the four Houses that had killed Seero as long as I was the one who made it possible, and as soon as I returned to Gryphon that's what I would be getting on with. The destruction of four Houses. Without the help of the mighty S.I.
I sipped my javi as I felt the pleasure in thinking about what I would do, then ran into something a little less satisfying. I liked knowing the identity of the per- son I decided to teach a lesson to, and the bastard who had been here hadn't even told me his name.
Chapter 4
Being a member of the bodysuit generation is a benefit 10 more than your cash account. Considering how light sad (lun bodysuits and their accessories are, you can pack a month's worth of changes in a single, medium- flaaed grip, and still have room left over for odds and eads. Fd moved into the over-night with the single grip afid that's die way I moved out again, only not to go back to my apartment. I took a public glide directly to the shuttle port, surrendered the grip when the man confirming my presence at the port demanded it, then went to the appointed place where the shuttle was ex- pected to land at any minute. I had DO doubt that die shuttle was ready to land, but it's less hassle traveling from planet to planet than it is taking off from or land- ing on one. We who waited in the all-weather shelter waited fifteen minutes longer than they'd told us we would have to, were finally rewarded with die sight of our transportation arriving, then were allowed to board. Another fifteen minutes after we were settled die shuttle began taxiing up the runway, and that meant the worst of it was behind us. It took no time at all before we were high enough to switch from thin-air flying to no-air power assist, and then we were match- ing with the liner.
If it wasn't such a pain getting off the ground, I would enjoy everything about traveling. Liners move so fast it isn't possible to even come close to imagin- ing dieir speed, but no one on board ever feels the slightest hint of motion. Multiple light speed and ar- tificial gravity all come from the same math the big
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brains say, but as far as my understanding of it goes, they might as well say it's done with magic. Before they found the math everyone was told it wasn't pos- sible to travel at light speed or beyond, but now we can do almost anything we please. Except, of course, get off the ground on time.
Once aboard the liner I was shown to die cabin diat had my grip in it, was handed a five-dimensional fold- up that showed liner layout and scheduled mealtimes, and then was left alone. If I'd needed help with die fold-up I would have had it for the asking from the steward who showed me to my cabin, but services like that arc added to the cost of your trip, something the inexperienced traveler doesn't realize. I wasn't in any way short of funds, but I do have dlis thing about paying tribute when it isn't absolutely necessary. I took time out to sneer at S.I. for having missed finding that little whiz, at die same time trying to fold the fold-up widi the meal schedule out and, by pretending I had six-foot-long arms, finally managed to do it. I hadn't had the chance to eat before it was time to head for the port, so when I saw we were just about right on top of a scheduled meal, I tossed the fold-up onto my bed and headed out.
Cabins on liners tend to be somewhat on the small side, but with the extra amount of fun space that gives you, no one really minds. There are game rooms and lounges and bars and soda fountains and sensor rooms and libraries and exercise halls and just about anything you can name, all there for the use of passengers. Only a very few, very exclusive entertainments aren't in- cluded in the price of your ticket and if you've devel- oped a taste for those things you can usually afford to pay extra for them. If you can't afford them but want to do diem anyway, you're best off trying to get some help. Those who don't too often wind up in my field. which doesn't really crowd the rest of us. Stealing, like anything else, takes training and ability; if you try to do without those requirements, you soon find your- self doing without your freedom.
The wide yellow ship's corridors weren't really crowded, not even with the numl» er of people heading
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for the dining area. I ambled along with everyone else, looking forward to the meal, noticing how many other people were wearing bodysuits like mine. The body- suit covers you from shoulders to feet bottoms and down to the wrists, stretches to fit easily no matter what sort of contours you have, comes in eveiy color there is, and is so light you hardly know you're wear- ing one. Most of the people I walked among wore contrasting shorts as an accessory just as I did, but some wore skirts, or vests with their shorts or skirts, or fancy collars and cuffs along with everything else, or maybe just jewelry. One woman with a spun svalk suit of orange-red had blue-white ice gems decorating it, her hair dyed to match the gems and her walk in- flating die gems were real. There were quite a few men around the woman, all trying to capture her at- tention, all working very hard to pretend they weren't having trouble deciding which to watch, the jewels or her body.
I, myself, had no trouble deciding which I wanted to look at, and not being into women was only a pan of it. I was curious as to whether those gems were the genuine article, but not because I had any designs on them. It happened that ice gems were something of a hobby with me, and I enjoy comparing me ones I own with what other people put their money out for. A glance ahead showed me we were almost to the dining hall. but if I maneuvered myself into the proper posi- tion, I ought to have at least a minute or two to check on their authenticity. Phony ice gems are easy to spot, even without a loupe.
By increasing my pace I was able to begin moving through the crowd, half an eye on where I was going, the other eye and a half on the jewels. To avoid trouble I was also trying to pretend I wasn't looking at the gems at all, and all that watch ing-not-watching activ- ity took too much of my attention. The clumsy clod was right on top of me before I caught the first glimpse of him, and by then it was too late. I couldn't keep from moving toward him just as he moved toward me, his attention obviously elsewhere, and then we col- lided the way jump-arounds sometimes do, glancingly
MISTS OF THE AGES 57
but hard enough to notice. I "oofed" as I bounced off him, staying on my feet only because of my trained balance, but his problem wasn't keeping erect. He'd been holding his fold-up liner guide when we came together, and the crash sent it flying out of his hand.
Now, reflexes are supposed to be the things that keep us alive in hostile environments, but in civilized sur- roundings you're expected to leam to control them. The clod who ran into me had apparently never learned that; without stopping to think about it, he jumped to catch the fold-up before it hit the deck. Why he bothered, I have no idea; the thing isn't really five- dimensional, it only feels that way when you have to refold it. Whatever his reasons he did move fast enough to accomplish his aim, but when his oversized foot came down on my normal one I screeched, im- mediately losing interest in admiring his agility. He hobbled the fold-up at the sound, but finally he had it and then was kind enough to take his monstrous weight off the extremity he had just crushed.
"Sorry about that, but maybe next time you'll leam to watch where you're going," a deep voice came as I balanced on one foot. trying to clutch at the mangled other. "If you hadn't been trying to plow through the crowd, you wouldn't have run into me."
"/ ran into you?" 1 demanded in outrage, finally looking up at the mindless fool. "You were the one too busy ogling the scenery to watch where you were going, and you were also the genius who thought the fold-up would break if it hit the floor. I thought they knew better than to let your sort out without a han- dler."
His jaw tightened at the insult and his big hand closed harder around the fold-up he held. but there wasn't much he could say. He was really big with longish red hair and a mustache down to his chin to match, hard gray eyes in a square-jawed, masculine race, and a wide-muscled body that his tunic and leg- gings didn't do anything to hide. Adding soft ankle- boots to that let you see at a glance that he was from Rober Tay, the arena world, the place that specialized in breeding and training fighters for their sand arenas.
58 Sharon Green
Eveiy worid in the Empire followed the top-named fighters in their tries for the golden circlets, then bet on their favorites in the multi-circlet challenges. Many fighters died before they won anything at all, others were crippled and permanently disqualified, but only rarely did any of them retire for good without one of those reasons forcing them to it. The most commonly attributed reason for that was supposed to be total lack of human intelligence, and the fact that most fighters traveled with attendants started people calling the at- tendants animal-handlers instead. It wasn't the sort of comment you usually made to the fighter himself, not if you had any interest in finding out what your natural ufe span would turn out to be, but he had gotten me myd amore ways than one, and I didn't really mind returning the favor.
^"If my—'sort'—needed handlers, you'd be regret- ting that question right about now," he said at last, a deluute growl in his voice to match the coldness in his eyes. "And if I was ogling anything, that's only be- came I'm used to going after the best in sight. It's also the reason I didn't happen to see you. But try coming back when you're all grown up, maybe I'll change my mind. Until then, though, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your suicide attempts at least twenty feet away from wherever I happen to be."
His gray eyes swept over me in a quick, dismissive way, and then he was striding toward the dining hall, leaving me to stare furiously after him. Our argument had collected a small crowd, and half of them were chuckling while the other half looked after the depart- ing fighter as though he were crazy. For my own part I knew he was crazy, especially for thinking I didn't know what I looked like. Most men had no trouble at all finding me attractive, so his considering me sub- standard was hardly a crushing blow to my ego. What was getting me so mad was his crack about my not being fully grown, a point I was justifiably touchy about. As I watched the fool disappear into the dining hall, I promised myself he would end up regretting having said that.
It took another minute or two of flexing my foot,
MISTS OF THE AGES 59
and then I was able to use it to make my own way into the dining hall without limping. I looked around the paneled and carpeted room as I entered, hoping there were some empty tables left, and spotted a small one straight back and to the right, just in front of the pro- jection-screen wall. The screen on that side was show- ing a typical Adexian rainstorm, complete with chain lightning and three-hundred-mile-an-hour winds, which made it a perfect match to my mood of the mo- ment. I headed for the table, reached it before anyone else, and claimed it by sitting down.
I couldn't have been studying the table-top menu for more than two minutes, when I was interrupted by the presence of someone hovering at my left elbow. I gave the presence about thirty seconds to see if it would go away, and when it didn't I looked up ready to ask it to go away. I was in no mood for company, but the nastiness I'd been about to speak disappeared at sight of the giri who stood there, almost wringing her hands. She wasn't very tall but was definitely on the chubby side, had long blond hair streaked with purple to match her bodysuit, and had the largest, widest brown eyes I'd ever seen. She looked to be just short of terrified, and I couldn't imagine what was bothering her.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, glancing over my right shoulder to check on the storm. It wasn't any worse than it had been when I'd arrived, and surely the giri knew it wasn't really there. The wall may have looked like a window, but even liners aren't big enough to cany storms for the viewing pleasure of their passengers.
"I—know this—is an awful—imposition, but is that—seat taken?" the girt forced herself to say, the words coming out like a request for charity. 'Tin- supposed to meet—someone here. but he hasn't— arrived yet. and I really couldn't—take up a table all—by myself—"
"No. the seat isn't taken," I assured her quickly, coming close to feeling my own pain over her very painful embarrassment. "You can sit here until your friend comes, and then the two of you can find a table together."
60 Sharon Green
"That's really good of you," the girl said in almost a whisper, moving to the chair opposite me with a shy but brightly warm smile. "I'm—bad at speaking to strangers, so I appreciate this more than you know. I'm Lidra Kament."
"It's nice to know you, Lidra," I said, returning her smile. "Would you like a cup ofjavi or something while you're waiting? I'm about to place my order, so I can just add whatever you want to it."
"You really are nice," the giri said in a very soft voice, a shadow of unexpected amusement lurking somewhere behind her words. "Most people I do this to don't even look in my direction, let alone ask me questions or offer me things. 1*11 order when our third gets here. but just for form's sake you'd better tell me your name."
I forced myself to pay attention to the menu I was ordering from instead of jerking my head up to stare at the girl. but once I'd pressed the proper boxes I did look up. There wasn't a chance anyone had heard what she'd said to me. and after the routine she'd gone through when she'd first appeared, no one would won- de r why they couldn't hear her and certainly wouldn't make the effort to listen. I know I hadn't expected to be found by my coworicers quite that soon, and my expression must have held a trace of my surprise.
"There are times you do get lucky with liner con- nections," the giri Lidra said with a hidden grin, her voice still so low I was almost reading her lips. "Since we knew you were due to come on board at Gryphon, I synched with the frequency of your ring when the shuttle came back and spotted you that way. Chal and I met completely by accident too, and once we all find we're going to the same place, we can decide to pal around together. Now will you please share your name out loud?"
"By the way, I'm Dalisse Imbro," I said, putting my palms on the table as I leaned back in my chair, trying to decide if I liked what had happened. "Most people call me Inky, because my favorite color is black. What's your favorite color, Lidra?"
"No matter how it looks, it really isn't red," she
w
S! -».-
MISTS OF THE AGES 61
answered, now appearing the least bit uncomfortable. "I wasn't trying to embarrass you. Inky, this is just my standard contact routine. People deliberately tune out of conversations they find distasteful, and having them ignore what we're saying is better than using a damper field to make it happen. We'll find enough need for that sort of thing later on."
**I suppose we will," I allowed, accepting the ex- planation in place of an apology. I'm not very good at apologizing myself, which may be why I don't think much of people who start out by glibly saying the worn *sony.' If you're really sorry, the word isn't quite that easy to say. And there was no denying that her way of making contact was clever, which led me to add, "I'm glad you decided to sit here, Lidra. My friend was supposed to go on this vacation with me, but at the last minute she got sick. It hasn't even been an hour. but I'm already learning how lonely a solitary vacation can be."
"Then I'm glad I stopped here, too," the giri said with that not-quite-hidden grin, relief clear in her large eyes. "Even if we don't happen to be going to the same place, .Inky, at least we can hang around together here on the liner."
We had enough time to discover—with great sur- prise—that we were both going to Joelare, and then my rood was brought. Lidra watched without comment while the dishes were set in front of me. but once the waiter had gone on his way she produced a strange grimace.
"If you make a habit of eating that sort of junk rood, you won't be living very long," she said, an odd kind of amusement behind the criticism. "That stuff will kill you faster than an enemy. If you have any doubts, wait until Chal gets here. He'll be glad to tell you all about it."
"He isn't one of those." I groaned, understanding why she'd been amused, then I detemunedly took an- other bite of my grilled meat-round on a bun. "Well. he can be as finicky as he likes about his own rood. but if he tries changing my eating habits I'll defend myself. Once he loses the contents of his pouch or
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pockets a time or three, he'll get the message and leave me alone."
"I haven't known him very long, but I have the feeling he may not be that easy to discourage," she said with a small laugh, her dark eyes dancing. "When we first met he thought I really was as heavy as I look, not realizing there's some of my equipment I don't want anyone putting hands on without my being there. He was already into a very gentle lecture before I knew what he was doing, and I actually had to show him the truth before he let up on me. There is a way to distract him from nutrition, a way 1 discovered to be very en- joyable, but you may not share my tastes for that sort of thing."
The expression in her eyes had turned very amused. bat as I looked at her I had the sudden impression she was more an experienced, self-controlled woman than a young, flighty giri. She'd been fishing around in my direction for reactions, trying to find out as much as she' could about me without coming straight out and asking, but was being as fair as possible in her game- playing. Before checking my preferences and habits she was telling me her own, and there's not much more you can ask from a near-total stranger.
"I'm not above enjoying myself, but I don't believe in buying freedom from pestering," I said, beginning to share her amusement. "I was raised by someone who never tried running my life; he only made sure I knew what all my options were before I came to a decision about something. The only problem with be- ing raised like mat is it doesn't prepare you for every- one else in the universe, three-quarters of whom know what's best for you and are determined to see you do things their way. I have an abysmally small amount of patience when it comes to that son, which they tend to find out if they bang around very long."
"I have a feeling poor Chal is in for it," she said, her attempt at a sigh buried beneath delighted laugh- ter. "Just try keeping in mind that he's basically a very decent person—and that we're probably going to need him, one way or the other. He's— Oh, wait a minute. Here he conies."
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Her chair had her facing the doors leading into the dining hall, and when I turned I saw a man coming toward us who wasn't quite what I'd been expecting. He was fairly tall and broad-shouldered, had very light brown hair with light-colored eyes. and sported a tan that most sensor stars would have envied. He was dressed in light-blue slacks and white, long-sleeved shirt, a style favored by some of the more conservative planets of the Empire, which meant he also had to wear shoes. Bodysuits relieve you of that necessity unless you intend going some place where there's likely to be mud or snow or some such, but the length and ease of his stride said he didn't mind wearing them. He grinned a grin at my companion that turned his face downright handsome, and snagged an empty chair from a nearby table as he passed it, giving him- self something to sit in when he joined us at our table.
"Wait till you hear," he enthused in a voice he wasn't able to hold down much. his excitement almost enough to make him bounce where he sat. "Lidra, you won't believe who's on board this liner!"
"Chal, I'd like you to say hello to Dalisse Imbro, known to a certain select few as Inky," the giri said with what was turning out to be usual amusement, her hand making a graceful gesture in my direction. "She and I met in the same lucky, accidental way you and I did. and believe it or not, she's also going to Joe- lare."
"Well, what a surprise," the man said, turning his head to give me a nod and a grin. "Someone else going to the Mists of the Ages. I certainly hope you suggested we all go together, Lidra. With three of us, we should have a wonderful time. Now, don't you giris want to hear the news?"
"What news is that, Chal?" Lidra asked with a glance toward me, one that had something of a shrug m it. "From your reaction, I'm ready to believe the newest Miss Empire is on boaro with us."
"Better than that." Chal answered with a laugh. apparently too sure of himself to be bothered by teas- ing. "I just found out that Serendel is on board, some- thing no one was expecting. He seems to nave picked
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up the liner at Forge, the port of call just before Gryphon."
"Are you serious?" Lidra asked him as she leaned forward, the widening of her eyes destroying all traces of the sophisticated woman she had only just started to show. "Serendel is my absolute favorite, and I'd kill for an hour alone with him! Chal, are you sure it's
true?"
"He's been seen by any number of people," the man assured her with confidence, enjoying her reac- tion as he leaned forward to put his arms on the table. "Serendel has always been my favorite too, but if / ever got an hour alone with him, I don't think he'd enjoy it as much as he would yours. I don't believe wnat they've published about his diet, and I'd give my next year's research budget to get a piece of him under toy cans-field microscope. Under ideal conditions, the piece would still be attached to him."
"Who are you two talking about?" I interrupted to ask, mostly to divert Chal from what he'd been say- ing. If you're a mass murderer and you chop people up, planetary governments pull out all the stops in an effort to get you. If you're a research scientist, though. you can chop up Just about anyone you like, and every official in sight will smile and nod in approval.
"You can't mean you don't know who Serendel is!" Lidra said with the next thing to outrage, she and Chal both looking at me now. "Where could you possibly have been hiding these last four years? Serendel is the best of the five triple-gold winners, and most people believe he'll take the crown this year. Do you know how few glads have taken the crown after only a tri- ple?"
"So he's a Rober Tay fighter," I said with no en- thusiasm at all, lifting my cup of javi before leaning back in my chair. "I think I have heard something about him, but I don't pay much attention to arena doings. I usually have a pretty heavy schedule, and if I were going to back any of them, it would probably be Farison."
They continued to stare at me for a few seconds, their expressions an identical sort of blankness that
MISTS OF THE AGES 65
declared my insanity without words, and then, an in- stant later, were happily back to being caught up in their enthusiasm
"How could he have been on the liner for three days without anyone finding out about it?" Lidra asked Chal, the ardent worshiper eager for the latest word about her god. "Everyone in the Empire must know what he looks like, even if he doesn't happen to be in fighting leather."
"He must have stayed in his cabin after coming aboard," Chal answered with a matching eagerness, the two of them proving that even above-average in- telligence is often no proof against low-taste diver- sions. "If he disguised himself on the shuttle up and had his meals delivered by chute instead of waiter, no one would have been the wiser. If I know anything at all about fighters, three days of being locked up gave him a case of screaming cabin fever. That has to be why he suddenly showed himself.' *
"But not just ordinary cabin fever," Lidra said in the tones of revelation, her finger and stare pointing toward Chal. "If he came aboard in disguise, he could have come out of his cabin in the same, anonymous way. If he came out as himself, he must be after some- thing he can get most easily by being himself! Oh, Chal, if I only knew where he was!"
"Sony, Lidra, but if you're right, he's already found what he was looking for," the man replied, his totally unapologetic expression reinforcing my belief about those who started sentences with the word "sorry." "Take a look over there, and you'll see what I mean."
Chal turned his head toward the back of the hall rather than pointing, and when the girl followed his gaze she made a sound of deep disappointment. Hav- ing nothing better to do I looked in that direction as well, and saw the pretty woman in her red-orange bodysuit with the ice gems—sitting at a table with the clumsy hulk who had nearly run me over and crippled me!
"You don't mean that's your magnificent Seren- del?" I asked, the sight of him annoying me all over again. "That big fool with the red hair?"
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"Yes, the big fool with the red hair who has every woman in the room—including me—drooling over him." Lidra turned back to say, a dangerous edge to her voice and near-murder in her eyes. "Do you have any final words you'd like to utter before I kill you where you sit?"
"Not a one," I came back, returning her stare over the run of my cup. "If my continued existence de- pends on my saying something nice about that jerk, I'd rather keep quiet and have it end."
"You sound as though you have something personal against him," Chal remarked with obvious curiosity, his hand patting Lidra's arm in an effort to calm her. "Don't tell me you were silly enough to bet against fcim, and now blame him for whatever money you
lost?"
, "Money has nothing to do with it," I answered with A snort, clanking my cup down on the table. "I was on my way here for a meal, minding my own business, when flie damned fool ran right into me. He was so busy staring at the object of his desire he almost broke my foot. then had the nerve to insist the collision was my fault. If he was that hot, he should have had an escort sent to his cabin."
"I think it's against the laws of the glad guild for any of them to pay for it." Lidra said in a breathless sort of way, her eyes wide again. "You mean you actually came close enough to him to get stepped on? Why can't / ever have luck like that?"
"Lidra, remember what his fighting weight is," Chal put in, chuckling at the face I was making in response to the girl's ridiculous comment. "If our new friend here really was stepped on, she's lucky she can still walk. Just to be on the safe side, after we eat 1*11 check the foot over. And biologically speaking. Inky, you can't blame him for being that—eager. He really has no choice in the matter."
"I can blame him for anything I like," I came back, uninterested in listening to excuses for the man, even supposed medical ones. "If other men can control themselves, so can he. The plain fact of the matter is, fighters don't care to control themselves. They're so
MISTS OF THE AGES 67
used to having women throw themselves all over them, they get to the point of thinking it's owed them."
"My dear girl, it is owed them," Chal said with a lot of amusement, leaning back in his chair as he looked at me. "Our species may have advanced to the point of conquering the stars, but our genetic refer- ences are just what they were when we huddled around tribal fires, fearing the dark and the creatures it held. Female codes demand that they seek out the strongest and most successful of the males, to insure as far as possible the strength and success of their offspring. Male codes insist that they take the most attractive females—the definition of attractive varying with cul- tural needs and biases—and that as often as possible before they're rendered incapable of adding to the race through death or crippling. The drive is strongest among those who face physical danger on a regular basis, which means, of course, among the glads. The rest of us know we have time, so we're not driven by the same urgency. Serendel could die in his very next challenge, and his body won't let him forget that. I'm really surprised he was able to hold out for as long as three days."
"It's too bad / wasn't around when he lost the fight," Lidra said glumly, elbow on table and face held in palm. "There aren't many men in this Empire I would choose to have children by, but he's certainly one of them. And I want to have my kids soon, while I'm still young enough to have fun with them. I sup- pose I'd better face the fact that if Inky couldn't dis- tract him, I'd have no chance at all unless I used one of my gadgets. That means you're still at the top of the list. Chal, so don't forget about applying for leave after this thing is over. Now that we've finally met, there's no sense in wasting time."
"I won't forget,'* the man said softly, looking at the girl with a very faint smile she didn't happen to -see, and men he was back to looking at me with an- other expression entirely. "And now that you've men- tioned it. I wonder why Serendel wasn 't distracted by Inky. She's attractive enough by any standards you'd care to use, so why didn't he choose her?'
68 Sharon Green
"Can't we find anything else to talk about?" I asked, the annoyance I'd been feeling beginning to reach for new heights. "My reservation in the Mists calls for a three day tour, what they call a half-week. I understand that many of the tours are for even less than that, which doesn't make sense. Why would they limit a tourist's stay like that?"
"Maybe it has something to do with the constant fog,** Lidra answered, allowing herself only reluc- tantly to be distracted from the previous topic. "When -you leave a day-night schedule—even an artificial one—for nothing but gray that varies only a little, something inside you could start getting anxious. Dif- ferent people are probably able to take the sameness (or different amounts of time, but maybe most people ape quick to reach the point of screaming to be let out and have to work up to being able to take more. Since the Mists people would like to have you come back again to tour a different section, they try to get you out the first time before the screaming starts."
"I hope it's also before the, mold sets in," I mut- tered, trying to keep my distaste only among the three of us. "Wandering around in damp, constant fog isn't my idea of a fun time. no matter what they've done to pretty it up. I hope you two are in good enough shape to keep up with the pace I intend setting."
"The pace you'll be setting depends on how the tour is set up," Lidra told me, her tone of voice back to being one step above inaudible despite the fact that her expression hadn't changed. "They'll be sending us through the section we're booked for, and it has to have something besides fog. And let's not forget the contention that it's so compelling some people have insisted on staying longer. That's one of the points we're supposed to be verifying."
"Well, if you hear me deciding to stay longer, you won't have to wonder if they've gotten to me," I told her, sure she heard the dryness no matter how softly I was speaking. "At that point you'll know, and hope- fully will have enough time to yell for help before you go the same route. It's just too bad any help will be too far away to help."
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"But it won't be," she said, and the amusement was back to lurking in her eyes. "It's highly unlikely that we'll need them, but a destroyer stuffed with Empire shock troops won't be far from the planet while we're on it. If it turns out we do need them, all we have to do is call. For you, that consists of covering all three of the jewels in your ring, then pressing down on them three times in a row in rapid succession. You do it nine times with a ten second pause between each set of three, and before you know it the place is being overrun. Chal and I have different means, but the re- sults will be the same. Our friends don't want to lose any of us, not if they can possibly help it."
"That certainly does make me feel loved," I com- mented, experiencing a need to say something about the awe and gratitude with which I was being filled. The field agent who had given me the ring must have known about its additional ability, but he hadn't men- tioned it. Either he was counting on Lidra to give me all the data I needed—which is one hell of a way to design a briefing—or he didn't care to see me too over- burdened with unnecessary knowledge. When you trust someone, you don't tend to pick over the available information before passing it on, which said quite a lot about how far S.I. trusted me.
"Now I know why Serendel didn't choose Inky," Chal said suddenly, his light eyes filled with the sat- isfaction of a puzzle solved. "I've been seeing it all along, but only just now noticed it when her expres- sion changed. I think the best words I can use to de- scribe it are innoc ent and wholesome."
"Watch it, Chal," Lidra warned with a laugh. "As close as she is, if she throws that cup at you she's not likely to miss. I can see what you mean about the way she looks, but what does it have to do with Serendel? Is he supposed to be turned off by innocence and wholesomeness? * *
"If all those articles are right about his sense of decency, he is," my almost-target answered with a grin, keeping an eye on the cup I still held without letting it discourage his fun time. "If a man has any standards at all, one of the firmest will be on the point
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of 'mining' a 'nice* giri. If he gets serious about that nice giri, that's another story, but if all he's looking for is horizontal exercise, he* 11 choose an already ex- perienced female. If you look at it right, his rejection of Inky could mean he's really quite attracted to her."
"Chal, that's disgusting," I told him while Lidra laughed, failing to see what they both found so amus- ing. "I may like my men big, but I also insist that they have personalities and intelligence. Since the mighty Serendel doesn't qualify on those last two points, he can be attracted in someone else's direction. As for me, I think I can use a nap to make up for the sleep I lost hurrying to catch this liner. Maybe by the time I wake up, you two will be ready to talk about something other than your favorite fighter."
"Haven't you checked your planetary-destination schedule yet?'* Lidra asked as I started to get out of my chair, a faint amusement still with her. "If you shift over right now, what you just ate was dinner, with a night's sleep ahead of you. Chal and I are al- ready on the schedule, and we were going to spend some time in the game rooms after our own dinner. Why don't you join us, and turn in for the night later?"
"Thanks anyway, but I don't think so." I said, really in no mood to be entertained. If I'd still been on Gryphon I could have done some work during that night, but liner nights are good for nothing but sleep. "If I don't get my rest I stop looking pure and whole- some, and that would be a crime against humanity or something. Suppose I meet you two here for break- fast?"
"Maybe a good night's sleep and a fortifying break- fast will bring you back to your senses," Lidra said, the gleam in her eye downright evil. "Anyone who thinks Farison would have a chance against Serendel needs something to bring them back to reality."
Chal laughed outright at that, but all I did was shake my head and turn away without saying anything else. Glad-groupies are impossible to argue with, and I should have known better than to even think about trying. What I wanted right then wasn't an argument, but me privacy of my small cabin. I needed some time
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alone to curse everyone who thought I was sweet or wholesome or innocent-looking—or still hadn't grown up—and to think about what I would do first once I had gotten back to Gryphon. I strode out of the dining hall, trying to decide which of the Twi Houses I would do best allying with, and thought nothing further about all the people I'd seen hovering around the area where Serendel sat, happily drinking in the sight of him.
Chapter 5
The next ship's morning found me wide awake and feeling really good, which lasted until I met Lidra and Chal in the dining hall. They'd taken a larger table not far from where we'd sat the night before, about fifteen feet from the right-hand wall window which now snowed a violently spectacular vista of volcanic erup- tions. My two new acquaintances were paying more attention to their food than to the supplied scenery, but when I came up to the table they actually took a second or two out to smile and nod.
"Morning, Inky," Lidra said around a mouthful of cereal as I sat. "There isn't much time, so you'd bet- ter order and eat as fast as you can."
"She can order fast, but you'll have to let her take her time with the eating," Chal put in, the words more of an order than a comment. "She won't enjoy it very much if she has indigestion, which is what you'll get if you don't stop swallowing without tasting. And by the way. Inky, how's your foot feeling this morning? I didn't get a chance to look at it last night the way I wanted to."
"My foot is fine," I answered as I ordered juice and javi and two slices of pro-pure. "I know you're probably disappointed, but they won't be able to add me to your idol's maim stats. And what am I supposed to be hurry ing-but-not-hurrying for?"
"If she takes her time eating, she'll miss the open- ing warm-ups," Lidra said to Chal, ignoring the ques- tion I'd asked. "Even more to the point, we'll miss them. If we don't stay here until she's through and
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then drag her along, do you think she'll go anywhere near the gym?"
"Getting her sick won't help in changing her mind," Chal returned as he took another spoonful of his soft- boiled eggs, obviously unimpressed with Lidra's ar- guments. "And speaking about getting sick, you really will have to add to your breakfast order, Inky. Pro-pure isn't a food, it's a supplement—and an arti- ficial one at that. If you don't want to die from mal- nutrition, what you need in your body is rood."
"Food doesn't do well in my body while I'm work- ing out, Chal," I answered with a sweet, innocent smile as I looked at him. "Throwing up isn't my idea of fan, and the pro-pure is all protein with enough electrolytes to get me through the session. After that I'll be able to eat all the greasy hot-fries and grilled meat-rounds I like. And what's supposed to be hap- pening in the gym?"
They immediately began choking, Lidra with laugh- ter and Chal with outraged indignation, the result of trying to talk and swallow both at the same time. A waiter came over with my order while they were still fighting to stop coughing, so I was able to drink my juice without being bothered. By the time I put the emptied glass aside and reached for the first slice of pro-pure, though, Chal had recovered enough to be able to split his stem-stare between Lidra and me.
"You don't have to encourage her, Lidra," the gid was told, an obvious effort to banish her continuing amusement. "If she starts thinking what she said was cute and clever, she might even go so far as to try it. Inky—Dalisse—I know you're not a child, so I won't spend time lecturing you. All I'll say is that what we're about to do is very important, too important for any of us not to be in peak condition. To be sure of that I'll order all of our meals from now on, and then none of us will have to worry."
"The hell you will," I countered as Lidra almost choked again, the good mood I'd been in beginning to thin in the presence of his "helpful" attitude. "You, more than anyone else, should know, Chal, that spe- cies survival depends most heavily on the ability to
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adapt. Anyone can keep going on the best and health- iest foods available, but it takes true survival ability to thrive on the junk food most prevalent in our society today. If you're interested in continuing on with the rest of the species, my friend, you'd better hurry up and start adapting."
Chal stared at me wordlessly with his mouth moving just a little, but Lidra put her head back and laughed like hell. I didn't know if she was laughing at what l*d said or at the way Cnal was taking it, but it didn't really matter. This time I was able to finish the slice of pro-pure and half my javi in relative peace, and then Chal managed to pull himself together.
"That has to be one of the most ridiculous argu- ments I've ever heard,*' he stated, annoyed with Lid- it's ongoing chuckling, but apparently determined to ignore it. "You can't possibly believe that any more dum I do, and even beyond that . . ."
"What has belief got to do with truth?" I inter- rupted to ask. still blandly innocent. ' 'If I jump off the top of the Empire building on Gryphon while believing I can fly, will that stop me from splattering when I hit the pavement? Some things can be affected by belief, but Ultimate Truth isn't one of them. And isn't eating right considered to be an Ultimate Truth?"
"I always thought it was just plain good sense," Chal came back, finally understanding that the straighter he played it, the worse off he would be. "I can prove it's good sense by the kind of physical shape I'm in, which happens to be excellent. Can you and your Ultimate Truth say the same?"
"Well, I am a little on the underdeveloped side," I admitted with a sigh that caused dial's eyes to briefly flicker down from my face to the top of my bodysuit. "That's why I work out, to see if I can't improve on the physical shape I'm in. If you and your good sense think you're in better condition than me and my Ulti- mate Truth, why don't we test the theory by working out together for a while? You may have noticed I al- ready have on my exercise bodysuit."
"Don*t be silly, of course he hasn't noticed," Lidra said with a small laugh that brought a grin to Chal.
MISTS OF THE AGES 75
r ««•,
"Why would he notice a skin-tight black suit that seems to be promising to go transparent if it's stared at for a while? And don't try to tell me you're wearing anything under that. If you were, you wouldn't have brought that large an eyeball collection to the table with you. Or are you going to pretend you didn't no- tice all the stares when you walked in?"
"As a matter of fact, I didn't," I said, feeling the least bit uncomfortable over the way Lidra was teasing me. "Getting stared at sometimes is just one of those things that happen. As long as it doesn't happen at the wrong time, there's no sense in making a fuss over it. But I still don't have an answe r to my question. Are you up to working out with me, Chal?"
"With Lidra sitting here right next to me. I refuse to answer that question," he came back, his grin and words making the giri chuckle again. "Whether or not I'll join you in the gym is another matter entirely. I can't see any reason not to join you—except for the fact that there probably won't be any room for us to work out, together or individually. The crowds will be too thick.'*
"That's the reason I was trying to hurry you," Lidra said, her amusement finally withdrawn in favor of faint wariness, possibly due to the frown I could feel myself wearing. "Someone else will be working out in the gym this morning, and if half the ship doesn't show up to watch, you can bet they're nothing less than dead. Seeing it on the specials is nothing like seeing it when you're right there."
"Don't tell me," I said, my tone so flat it could have been used to land a shuttle on. "Your idol is putting on a show for the benefit of the lowly masses, and you can't wait to ooh and ahh. I hate to tell you this, but I left every one of my hoorays back on Gryphon, right next to my yays and lookatthats. I think you two had better count on going without me."
"But we won't do that," Lidra came back, a sleek assurance edging aside the wariness she no longer seemed to need. "We're supposed to be a team, and teams like ours should stay together while they're learning each other. If you end up in the sticky, it
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helps to know what to expect from the people around you. We can't get to know each other if you keep going your own way, so this time you'll go ours- If It'll make you feel any better, you can criticize Ser- endel while we defend him—if you can find anything about him to criticize."
"We won't be together long enough for me to list everything there is to criticize about him," I coun- tered, just to let her know I was taking her up on her offer. The girl was right about our needing to leam to know one another, especially when our lives could conceivably depend on that knowledge. I had experi- ence going out with teams, and didn't have to be told how important it was to know beforehand which way everyone would jump if the stroke went sour. "And you sound as though you've worked with strangers be- fore," I added after a moment.
"I certainly have," she said with a grimace, reach- ing for her cup ofjavi. "If the first time hadn't been against intellectual types rather than heavies, it could also have been the last time. My teammate was sup- posed to be the best with computers ever born, an opinion he managed to slip into every conversation we had, and he did seem to have very little trouble crack- ing the access code of our targets once I got him past the electronics they had on guard. The only problem was, when someone unexpectedly showed up in the offices, I turned around to find him gone, leaving me to get out or get caught on my own."
"What did you do?" Chal demanded, his frown showing more than faint disapproval. "If I'd been there, he would have needed specialists once I caught up with him."
"He almost needed them when / caught up with him," Lidra returned with a snort, sharing his feeling. "If he'd stayed he couldn't have helped, but at least he would have made me feel less abandoned. What 1 did at the time, though, was the only thing I could do:
I turned invisible."
"Now, that's a trick I'd like to learn," I said with a grin, pushing aside the empty pro-pure plate to lean my forearms on the table. "Some people will swear I
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already know how, but there's a difference between talent and true invisibility. Are you into giving les- sons?"
"I'm afraid lessons won't do it," she said with a laugh, only glancing at the odd expression on ChaTs face. It was part amusement and part admiration, but his mad against her former partner was still there as well. "One of my gadgets caused the invisibility, but it's really very simple to build. It's based on the prin- ciple used by privacy curtains, but generates a 180 degree reflecting surface rather than simply distorting a preset field of vision. Designing the function is easy when you compare it to the time you need to spend recircuiting, but even the recircuiting only takes about a week."
"Oh, is that all it takes," I said in a way that made Chal laugh as I sat back again. "If I'd known it was that easy, I would have done it years ago."
"Well, you should have asked me," she said with a smoothly innocent expression, taking the teasing bet- ter than I had. "I wouldn't have minded telling you. Are we all ready to go now? If we wait much longer, we won't even get in the doors."
I groaned at the reminder and reluctantly finished the last of my javi, then got to my feet under protest and let them drag me out. There were any number of things I'd rather have been doing instead of watching a fighter work out, but if it was that important to my new teammates it would hardly kill me to go along with them. With the number of people bound to be there it wasn't likely I was in danger of needing to speak to the big fool, after all, and once he had left and had taken his admirers with him, I'd be able to use the gym for my own workout.
There was a thin stream of people moving through the main corridor heading for the gym. so we simply joined them and went with the flow. The overwide double doors of the room were standing open when we got there, and we entered to see that half the ship re- ally had shown up. An area of about twenty feet by twenty had been roped off to the far left of the gym, and the buzz of the crowd surrounding the area
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sounded child-level excited. There was enough room left over for a couple of people to be involved in their own workouts, but even as we came to a stop to the right of the incoming flow of new arrivals, one of those exercising gave it up to go and wait with those who had come for a show.
"Oh, good, he hasn't gotten here yet," Lidra said in a low voice, eyeing the crowd with excitement of her own. "Remember to stay as close to me as you can, you two, but don't go past the line of my shoul- dcra. I*!! be using a hemispherical repellent field to get as as for front as we want to go, and you're best off Btxying out of it. It won't hurt you, but it's everyone else we want to make uncomfortable enough to move, not one of us."
1 "I'm glad to see you come well-enough equipped to get toe-job done," I commented, having no intentions whatsoever of asking her what a repellent field was. ••It*s a good thing this isn't a real vacation, or you might have gotten caught short."
"I make it a practice never to leave home without the essentials," she answered with a smugness Chal and I both found funny, waving one hand in airy dis- missal. "I was tempted to leave some of it behind in my cabin on the chance that Serendel might look my way, but mat sort of off-again on-again poundage is too hard to explain. I guess I'll have to settle for me looking at him. Are we ready to move?"
"Why don't you two go ahead, and I'll join you once he gets here?" I suggested, having taken a min- ute to look around the unoccupied part of the gym. "I really hate standing in crowds doing nothing, and I see a mat over there where I can get some loosening up in. Then once the show is over, Chal and I can see which of us follows the most profitable eating regi- men."
"But if we go ahead without you, how will you get through?" Lidra asked, turning to glance at the waiting spectators. "People like that sometimes get huffy if all you do is try to crowd them. An attempt to get ahead of them is usually considered a capital crime."
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"Only for those who don't know how to move through crowds," I said with all the assurance she seemed to need, at the same time giving her a grin. "The man who raised me had a lot of friends, and they all felt they were under some kind ofgeas to teach me everything they could of their various specialties, even if I never intended using any of it. Every one of them considered me a star pupil, so I don't mink you have to worry."
"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it," she grudged, but was already on the way to matching my grin. "And if it does work out right, maybe you could give me some lessons. That way I can think about catching Serendel's eye next time."
She gave me a small wave and then headed off" with Chal following, which meant I was able to aim my own steps toward the deserted mat to the right of the doorway, not too far from the wall. This comer of the gym looked almost bare, with nothing but mats and climbing ropes and wall peg lifters and such between a couple of private-looking doors. The more sophisti- cated equipment was over near where the exhibition would take place, and a lot of it had people sitting or standing on its benches and frames to allow them a better view. It was a pure waste of good equipment, but happily I didn't need it just for loosening up.
I walked to the center of the mat and immediately bent over, stretching my arms down to where my palms were flat on the rough surface I stood on, then sending them back between my ankles as I stretched even lower. For some reason I was remembering how Seero used to tease me when I said I had to loosen up, in- sisting that I didn't have to, I only wanted to. I started out with the flexibility most people had to work up to, he'd always told me, and then went on from there to places most, including him, couldn't reach. I could almost hear him chuckling as he watched, telling me my palms-to-the-floor handicap ought to be my having to stand on two-inch-high blocks. . . .
I straightened up and then folded into sitting on the mat, trying to drive those thoughts away from me. It had been a long time since I'd last stopped to feel my
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loss, to send out my need for the close companionship and warm support I'd known for all those years—only to find the usual place of it forever emptied. Seero had always been there for me, always, and like a silly child I'd assumed he always would be. I couldn't yet cope with the thought of his being gone, not on an emo- tional level, so I hadn't even tried. All I'd done had been to look at those who had thrown his life away, and swear they would feel the same loss they'd given me, the same helplessness while knowing exactly what was happening. I needed to get on with fulfilling that vow even more than I needed to breathe, but there I sat, on my way to investigating something utterly un- important, wasting the time I should be spending on what was really vital . . .
I took a deep breath, spread my legs and stretched iny body down to the mat left, right and center, then bent my legs back at the knees so that my heels were dose to my thighs. Letting all that burning impatience get the better of me would be stupid, most especially since there wasn't anything I could do about it just then. For the most pan I'd have to wait it out, but if Lidra thought I'd be letting the tour people set my pace in the Mists, she wasn't as bright as she was supposed to be. Ours would be the fastest tour in the history of the Mists of the Ages, and that would include finding and breaking into their headquarters building.
Slowly, using muscle control, I began letting my body bend backward toward the mat. Lying flat while your legs are bent at the knees gives strength and stretch to your thigh muscles and tone to your body, and isn't anywhere near as painful as some people claim. You may be able to feel some strain if you pay attention to it, but relaxing is easier if you look at something else while you're doing it. I looked up at the gym ceiling hanging a full thirty feet above me, seeing the network of narrow and wide metal beams spanning the room about ten feet below that, con- sciously relaxing my muscles once I was flat down on the mat. I intended staying like that only a minute or two before raising myself again just as slowly, but
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suddenly something besides the ceiling appeared high above me.
I didn't know where he'd come from, but from my place on the mat he looked almost as tall as the net- work of beams I'd been inspecting. He was dressed in nothing but the heavy leather of a fighter, knee-high boots, narrow groin-cover, wide brown chest plate, bracers from wrist to elbow, and a brow-band. Around his waist was a swordbelt, and at his side hung a leg- endary multi-blade, the weapon allowed only to the best of the besi. Gtads started out with uniswords, worked at mastering them, then, if they lived, moved on to trithrusters. You had to be a double-gold winner at the very least in order to merit a multi-blade, and Serendel was supposed to be the best of the three-cir- clet winners. He put his fingertips to his swordbelt as he looked down at me, and faint amusement filled his cold gray eyes.
"I think I understand now why you blundered into me yesterday," he said, his wide-legged stance an ar- rogant challenge even when his words were nothing but mild. "If you do that on any sort of a regular basis, it's a miracle you can ever walk straight."
"Since you were the one who ran into me, I wonder what your excuse is," I retorted, staying down just for the hell of it. Some people claim that simply watching others do the stretch is painful, and if Serendel was one of those, he deserved every twitch. "Maybe you ought to trade in your equipment for a sonic tapping cane."
"If I were blind, I wouldn't have been in so much of a hurry that I couldn't have kept you from tripping under my feet," he returned, that long red mustache rising slightly with the increase of his amusement. "And if you've come to watch the show, little giri, remember what I said about staying back away from me. Someone with balance as bad as yours needs all the distance from danger she can get."
He turned and walked away then, coming up on the crowd from a direction they obviously hadn't been ex- pecting him to appear, and I was so mad I sat up again without taking it slow. Someone with balance as bad
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as mine? From a man who couldn't be trusted not to stampede in the middle of a group of innocent people? He had a hell of a lot of nerve making cracks about me, especially in view of the way everyone stepped back out of his path, opening a broad aisle for him to stomp up. That was the sort of thing he was used to, people scrambling to get out of his way, and too bad about anyone who didn't.
I sat there on the mat with my fists to my thighs, fuming mad, watching as the crowd closed up behind him before surging forward a very little bit- They couldn't wait for the big show to start, the sort of exhibition of skill a top fighter put on even when he was only warming up or practicing. It was too bad nothing was likely to interrupt that exhibition, making Urn look like the stumbling incompetent he was.
**You*d better stay back away from me," I mim- icked in a mutter, hot enough to boil over. "Remem- ber what I said about that.''
What he'd said was twenty feet, but if he'd asked my opinion, I wouldn't have settled for less than a hundred. Twenty feet was a good deal closer than I ever wanted to be to him, unless it was to watch him hang by the neck from a rope—
The thought broke off as another one came to me. an idea that brought a sudden grin to my face. So he wanted me to stay twenty feet away from him, did he? I raised my head slowly to look up at the network of metal beams above me, thought about it for at least ten seconds, then smoothly rose to my feet.
The crowd had already started their oohing and ahh- ing and applauding as I turned to look for a climbing rope, showing that the big hero bad undoubtedly be- gun warming up. I knew I'd promised to join Lidra and Chal as soon as that happened, but maybe they'd be satisfied if all I did was spot them and wave. They wouldn't be able to claim I hadn't watched the work- out the way I'd said I would, because my seat was going to be the best one in the house.
The climbing ropes were anchored into the ceiling, so all I had to do was choose the one that fell closest to the metal framework and unhook the bottom of it
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from the wall. It was a heavy rope that looked sturdy enough, but I still hung my full weight from it for a minute while I was close enough to the ground that a fall wouldn't matter. Seero had taught me to distrust everyone's rigging but my own, and not to expect mir- acles even then. Things can happen even to an un- breakable line, and if you don't really believe that, you'll never find it possible to be prepared.
The climbing rope seemed as solidly anchored as possible, so I began pulling myself up it, hand over hand. It didn't take long to reach the framework the rope hung beside, and swinging over to it with my legs was also no problem. The metal beam was a narrow one, no more than a couple of inches wide, but I'd walked smaller and with a lot less light. I stood with the help of a ceiling-set comer brace, glad that the framework was as steady with me on it as it looked from below, then started moving toward the brace on the other side. The metal was hard under my feet and a little too smooth, but I still made it all the way with- out slipping.
When I reached the second brace I took a minute to look down, which confirmed the fact that no one had spotted me yet. Everyone's eyes were locked to Ser- endel, watching with fanatic pleasure as he swung his multi-sworo on its lowest setting, moving through a glad drill that was meant to warm him up. The drill demanded grace rather than strength, finesse rather than attack, and watching him it was almost possible to believe he'd negated most of his own weight as well as his sword's. Most big men weren't that quick— which is not the same as being fast—and I thought I could see why so many people expected so many great things from him.
But none of that changed my own intentions. The man wanted me at least twenty feet away from him, so that's what he would get. Past the brace I held to was a triple line of metal framework, three times the width of what I'd walked and more than wide enough for what I planned. I swung around the brace to its other side, got both feet onto the triple beam and then, with my arms only a small distance from my sides,
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walked to the spot I'd been aiming for all along. It was about two-thirds of the way along the beam, and when I got there I bent carefully, then stretched myself out along the metal.
Grandstanding on a beam that high off the ground isn't very smart, but as I pretended to make myself comfortable on my right side, I knew that right then I preferred feeling satisfied to feeling intelligent. The fighter was about ten feet ahead of my position and twenty feet down, which, if I remembered my school math correctly, meant I was a little better than twenty- two feet away from him. Since I'd done just what he'd asked me to, he couldn't very well complain, could
he?
Everyone applauded when Serendel finished his worn-ups, and then gasped in delight when the fighter whirled his sword over his head to reset its weight. the jewels in its finger-guard blazed with a light that was almost life, and everyone watching undoubtedly wondered exactly how much weight the sword was now being allowed to manifest. During multi-blade combats the glads themselves usually had that ques- tion, wond ering just how much it would take to stop the strike coming at them. It wasn't unknown for a fighter to defend against an attack that seemed to have everything behind it, only to find that the multi-sword striking his was set at minimum and therefore was im- mediately bouncing off. What usually happened after that was seeing his opponent ride the bounce away in an arc that brought the sword back faster than he could defend against, most often with maximum weight re- turned to it, and that ended the bout in a bloody and very final way. Knowing when to change the weight of the sword, how much to change it, and performing the changeovers smoothly were skills the fighters worked very hard to master; those who made it sur- vived and prospered, while those who didn't had their names added to the lists of the fallen.
I was leaning on my right elbow and supporting my head with the hand, watching with supposed fiul at- tention while I kept my balance with my left hand on the beam, when someone finally spotted me. One of
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the people on the far side of the crowd happened to glance up, did a double take, then started nudging oth- ers around him as he pointed. Even more eyes began coming to me then, the nudging and pointing spread- ing left and right away from its starting point, and before very long it had migrated around the circle to those who stood with their backs to me. When more and more people began turning around, looking up and gasping, it finally came to the star of the exhibition that he was losing his audience. He finished a run- through of a series of attacks and counters, frowned when he saw how many people had their backs to him, then finally looked up.
"By the five-pointed crown of Lethen Highwin- ner!" the fighter blurted, letting his point fall almost to the deck plates as he saw me. "What in hell are you doing up there?"
"I'm watching the show," I called back, making sure I didn't let the speaking shift me off balance. "You did tell me to stay at least twenty feet away from you, and this was the only way I could do it and still get to see something. That isn't all you're going to be doing, is it?"
"Get the hell down from there before you fall and break your neck!" the magnificent Serendel ordered in a growl, resheathing his sword before putting his fists to his hips. "How in the name of sanity did you get up there in the first place?"
"I used a climbing rope," I answered^ innocently, moving my head in the general direction of where the rope still hung. "If heights bother you, you don't have to look at me, you know. Just turn your back and pre- tend I'm somewhere underfoot, and then you'll be able tp get on with your practice.*'
The man's head came up in annoyance as most of the crowd chuckled, his appreciation of my comment a lot less than theirs. They were interested and amused because they thought I was challenging the fighter, the way any number of misguided fools did with glads on a more or less regular basis. What only the fighter himself realized was that I was answering a challenge.
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not offering one, and he didn't seem to care for it much.
"You're not interested in coming down right now?" he asked once the laughter had quieted, his tone sud- denly as smooth as the glint in his eyes. "Well, in that case there's something that should be taken care of, and since you're way up there, I'll see to it for you."
I didn't understand what he was talking about any more than the other people in the room, but they got out of his way fast enough when he stepped over the rope around his practice area and began striding across the floor. I sat up on the beam, shifted my feet under me before standing carefully, then turned to walk back me way I*d come. I had a very strong hunch I needed to be back to where I'd started from as fast as humanly possible, and when I reached the end brace I saw I'd been right but was already too late. The miserable fiend had i^ached the climbing rope before I got to the brace, and even as I watched he finished hooking it tight to the wall in its original position. Pulled that far out of line I couldn't reach it from the framework of beams, something my adversary had known would happen even before he'd done it.
"There we are, now everything's neat and tidy,'* he said as he turned from the wall, looking up to send me the faintest of grins. "Leaving a rope just hanging down like that can cause someone to get hurt, and I really hate seeing people get hurt. You be sure and let me know as soon as you're ready to come down, and we'll see about untying that rope again."
This time the laughter was in support of him, half a dozen people going so far as to applaud as well. The upstart's challenge to their hero had been answered with style, and the foolish female would be stuck up on the beams for as long as he wanted her there. They also seemed to be hoping he would make her ask him nicely before he let her down, and I really did feel sony that their hopes would end up being dashed. The foolish female would have stayed in the metalwork until she died of thirst and hunger before asking their
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hero for anything, but happily for her, staying and dy- ing weren't going to be necessary.
Serendel had already turned and started back to his practice area when I swung around the brace, then be- gan walking the single beam back toward the center of it. I couldn't afford to spare attention for anything but what I was doing and planned to do, but I heard the muttering and gasps of the crowd telling me they were still watching. The highest point I'd ever for- mally dismounted from was fifteen feet, but I knew there had been an informal time or two when I'd bet- tered that. I hadn't had the opportunity to measure back then, but if twenty feet was more than I could handle, I*d certainly find out soon enough.
By the time I reached the center of the beam, I had driven all doubt away, setting myself fimuy into the proper confidence and concentration for dismounting. I had all the room and time I needed, all the balance and ability, so I turned head on in the center of the beam, kicked off it backward, caught it with my hands as I dropped, then sent myself swinging below and past it into the empty, open air.
I don't think dismounting will ever stop making me feel as though I can fly. Flipping over in the air slows your rate of descent and gives you control of the drop, but while you're doing it you feel as though you don't have to land, you're simply doing it because you've decided to. I turned twice in the air and twisted, and then I was down on the mat I'd been stretching on, my landing crouch a little deeper than proper form approves of, but doing nothing to keep me from stay- ing erect. Once I was sure I would continue that way, I turned my head toward my trusty opponent.
"I think I'd like to come down now," I said, work- ing to sound as helpless as possible. "Would you please see about untying the rope?"
Serendel was frozen in place less than ten feet way, everyone else silent and gawping behind him, and then the cheering and applause erupted, making it sound like there were a thousand people in the room. I wasn't used to being cheered and applauded—audiences tend to be minimal or absent entirely when I perform--and
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I was so distracted by die unexpected enthusiasm that Serendel was standing right in front of me before I even knew he'd moved.
"I have to ask you to forgive me for the boorish way I've been insulting you," he said, looking down at me with an odd expression in those cold gray eyes. "I can see now our collision couldn't have been any- one's fault but mine, which means I must offer a be- lated apology. From now on, please feel free to come as dose to me as you like."
If I'd been distracted a minute eariier by the cheer- tog and applause, his apologizing sent me into virtual shock- Never in a million years had I expected him to say something like that, which is most likely the rea- son he had my hand before I so much as realized he'd taken it. I felt the touch of shock again, only stronger, when be actually bent over it and kissed it, and it was afi I could do to keep from staring after him like a gaping idiot when he turned to go back to his practice area. Never in my life had I seen anything like that- net to mention having it done to me—and it took a minute to realize that Lidra and Chal hadn't followed the crowd back to where it had come from.
"So that's what it takes to get his attention," Lidra said, her amusement still very much with her. "The equivalent of diving off a rooftop. Okay, no prob- lem. Next time it'll be my turn to be kissed."
"Before or after you get out of traction?" Chal asked with a chuckle, looking at me with very bright eyes. "Inky here was obviously born to fly, but we lesser mortals have to make do with being chained to the ground. And in case you were wondering. Inky, our competition date is off. If that's the kind of shape eating greasy hot-fries and meat-rounds puts you in, I don't even want to know what decent food would do. The Empire isn't yet ready for the perfect woman."
"Why, Chal, I thought you said / was the perfect woman," Lidra protested with pretend insult, her pout just about as believable as her claim, her hand com- ing up to take his arm. "If the Empire isn't yet ready for me, whatever will I do with my time?"
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"We'll figure something out." the man reassured her with a grin, patting the hand that held to his ami. "But until we do, we still have an exercise session to watch. Are you ready. Inky? With the sort of personal invitation you were given, you won't need Lidra*s re- pellent fie ld to get you right up to the front line."
"Why don't you two go ahead without me," I sug- gested, for some reason very embarrassed by what had happened. "I don't find much interest in watching other people exercise, and it would be rude if he caught me yawning in boredom. He apologized for that mis- understanding yesterday, you know."
"For the—'misunderstanding,' " Lidra said dryly, apparently trying to hide some son of new amusement. "Yes. we know, we saw him do it. Don't you just love the way fighters apologize? It makes you want to start an argument, just to give him another chance to do it. If you're sure you don't want to come with us. meet us later in the dining hall for lunch. We can tell you how it went over a nutritious meal of hot-fries and meat-rounds."
I smiled and nodded while Chal laughed, and then we separated to go our individual ways. I left the gym and got back to my cabin as quickly as possible, then sat down in a chair to look at the hand that had been kissed. It was such an odd feeling to have been treated like that, to have been made to feel that I'd been raised in palaces rather than on the dusk side of respectabil- ity. I'd never regret the way I'd been raised or what Seero had taught me, but somehow I wished we had lived more often among those who inhabited palaces, so that I would have learned what to do when a man kissed my hand. There had to be something to do be- sides standing there staring like a moron, but I suppose it takes time and experience to learn what,
I folded my legs under me and leaned back in the chair, regretting the fact that we'd be getting to Joelare in less than another two ship's days. If the time were going to be longer I would have seriously considered Serendel's offer, but with no more than a day and a half to woik with, all I could do was forget it. My co- workers and I had things to do on Joelare, and after
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that I had things of my own to occupy me on Gryphon. That meant I would be wisest avoiding all contact with Serendel for the rest of the trip, to keep from starting something I might not want to see end.
I sighed as I closed my eyes, called up a picture of the man in his fighting leathers to look at, and spent some time wondering if I would ever see him again.
Chapter 6
The rest of our time on the liner went by as quickly as I'd known it would, and my only major chore turned out to be putting up with Lidra's teasing. She under- stood well enough why I'd decided against getting in- volved with Serendel; it would be more than awkward if the fighter decided to pay my way to wherever he was going, just to give us more time together. Fighters did that sort of thing on a regular basis with women they found attractive, and what kind of excuse could I use as a reason for refusing? Previous reservations? He'd be sure to insist on paying me back for them. Lack of interest? Then why did I get involved with him in the first place? No, the only option I had was to stay away from the man, that or tell him what we'd be up to on Joelare.
Since Lidra understood the point at least as well as I did, she didn't let herself be more than disappointed that she and Chal would not be introduced to the fighter the way they'd been looking forward to. What she did do, though, was give me a detailed description of all Serendel's public movements, including the fact that there were times he seemed to be surreptitiously searching the crowds around him. This, to Lidra, was Highly Significant, an action she didn't hesitate to in- terpret.
"He's obviously looking for you," she proclaimed once, delighted to be privy to limited, inside infor- mation. "Every time I see the poor thing doing it, my heart goes out to him.**
"I'll bet that's not all you'd like to have going out
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to him,*' I couldn't help saying, her pious pity quickly getting to be more than annoying. "And chances are what he's really looking for is that elegant female he appropriated the first day out of his cabin."
"Why would he be looking for her?" the very in- nocent question came, changing Chal's grin to chuck- ling. "She showed up at that first practice right after you left, carved entirely out of smug self-satisfaction and obviously thinking she was making an entrance. When no one even glanced at her she started getting annoyed, but when she tried to get through the crowd and no one would let her by, she went furious. I didn't have a directional pick-up handy, so I couldn't hear what she said, but she must have convinced the people around her that she was entitled to be in front because she was sleeping with the guy. They must have be- lieved her because they finally let her through."
"But not very willingly," Chal added, laughing softiy at the memory. "I don't think they would have minded if it had been you trying to get past them, and some of them actually seemed to resent her. After that she gave up on the entrances, and strutted into places on Serendel's arm."
"Why do you people feel you have the right to ap- prove or disapprove of your hero's personal life?" I asked, suddenly resentful of the supporter mentality. "He didn't ask any of you to support him, so what gives you the right to tell him who he should or shouldn't be sleeping with? Unless one of you is scheduled to be his bed stand-in, it's really none of your business."
"But of course it is," Chal answered at once, beat- ing Lidra to it, neither of them the least bit insulted. "His being as good as he is forced us to be his sup- porters, and now that he belongs to us we want nothing but the best for him. He's entitled to it, you see, and if he doesn't find it for himself, we don't mind helping out. It's the least we can do in appreciation of what he does for us.'*
"And since we female fans can't have him for our- selves. we're damned well going to see him with someone we can stomach," Lidra said, one hand
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smoothing her purple-streaked hair. "That slinker he picked up is okay as a bed-bunny in the absence of anyone better, but there's nothing she can do that the rest of us couldn't, so why should she have special privileges? What you did. on the other hand. was spe- cial, which is the reason most of us would rather see him with you. We know we can't compete with an accomplishment like that, so we can accept your being with him in place of one of us. That's not to say we like it, but we can accept it."
At that point I sat back in my lounge chair and sipped at my javi, far from satisfied but deciding not to pursue the point any further. The whole thing felt too much like the sort of prearranged lifestyles some elements of the Empire still insisted on, the kind that sewed you into what other people thought was best for you. I'd been outraged the first time I'd heard about the practice and had known that those people were lucky they'd never tried their nonsense on me. Telling them what to do with themselves would have been the least of my reactions, and somehow this approval of me for Serendel felt almost like the same attitude. Lidra, Chal and I had been taking our meals in various lounges rather than in the dining hall despite the fact that it cost more that way. preferring the cash outlay to the possibility of running into Serendel. At first I'd been disappointed that it had to be done like that, but after our conversation concerning approval, I was more relieved than disappointed.
When the shuttle took us down to Aeon, Joelare's newest port, Lidra and Chal finally found something other than their hero to talk about. We left the vehicle with at least twenty other people, gasping out our awed delight with the port's decor, admiring the fairyland castle which was their entry-admin building for those booked into the Mists of the Ages. People who were coming to Joelare for reasons other than tourism had to make do with an ordinary customs building of metal and glasstic, but we who were the chosen were es- corted into the Castle of Beginning -
"... where all you lucky people will be given orientation information about your individual tours,"
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our chief guide burbled as she walked ahead of us, smiling and gesturing at our destination. Assistant guides or aides were also among us, carrying any hand luggage we were willing to part with, cautioning us to watch our steps, and taking food and drink orders from anyone who felt themselves in dire need.
"Costumes like mine and other tour area variations will be available for you as soon as we have your mea- surements," she went on in great enjoyment, pausing to turn once in front of us to let us see the many- layered gown of gold she was wearing. The slyrts were so wide she probably needed double doors to get into a room, the front of the dress dipped so low her upper measurements could have been taken by eye, and the three-quarter sleeves on the thing trailed so much white lace it was surprising she was able to lift her arms.
* *What if gold isn' t our best color?' * a mild but very deep voice asked, the voice of one of the men with us. We all laughed at the way he'd avoided asking the most obvious question, and even our guide enjoyed the effort.
"I was about to add that masculine equivalents of this gown will be available for viewing on the castle servants," she answered with a laugh as she resumed walking, the first real laugh we'd heard out of her. "If you'd rather, though, we can have the gowns made up in any color you like. As our guest, the choice will be entirely yours,"
The man acknowledged her comment with a deep- voiced chuckle of appreciation shared by most of the rest of us, but some of us weren't very happy with the entire idea. We weren't even near the Mist s yet, but some of us were already impatient to be leaving.
"Oh, Inky, stop looking so sour," Lidra said to me with no effort at keeping her voice down, her exasper- ation with my attitude clear to anyone who heard her. "Dressing up in costumes will bejun, as long as you make yourself forget you couldn't cancel your reser- vations without losing your deposit money. It isn't their fault your friend got sick at the last minute, so what*s the sense in deciding beforehand that you aren't
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going to enjoy yourself no matter what? As long as you're paying for it, you might as well enjoy it."
"I may have to pay for it. but I sure as hell don't have to enjoy it," I countered, also making no effort to keep my voice down. "If I've got to be here /'// decide what I will and won't wear, not some overpaid flunky with an underactive imagination."
Lidra sighed and simply shook her head, but that didn't mean she wasn't satisfied with the way the con- versation had gone. We'd decided back on the liner that a reluctant guest would be the best thing for me to be, especially if everyone was made fully aware of my attitude. There would be times I'd need to be away from the tour group or dressed in a way that would let me work, and being tagged uncooperative right from the start would get us past the need for later excuses. Chal had helped us build a logically consistent story, and I was a lot happier with it than I would have been with pretend enthusiasm.
"You don't need to watch your steps on the draw- bridge, the entire area is shielded," our guide said, moving first onto a wide ramp of golden vapor. "Once you enter the Mists there will be areas you mustn't move through except with your journey scouts, but you'll be warned about them well in advance, and the warnings will be repeated on a regular basis until after the area is behind you. You will, of course, be told more about that later. Right now, please follow me."
The first people to follow the woman felt a need to test the solidity of the vapor with one foot before trust- ing the rest of themselves to it, but after them no one else bothered. The golden vapor was as solid under- foot as you would expect a force field to be, and we climbed the ramp without difficulty through a golden arch that led us to a wide entrance hall of marble and rainbows. The hall was roofed over with something transparent that took the outer day's sunshine and di- vided it into its prismatic parts, and I had to be careful not to gasp with everyone else. The hall was abso- lutely beautiful, and there wasn't anyone there who didn't appreciate it.
"Just show your reservation slips to the attendants
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moving among you, and they'll direct you to the proper Customs section," our guide told us after a moment, having given us a chance to stare at the loveliness. "You'll relax in comfort while our Customs people clear you, and then you'll be allowed the choice of starting for the Mists as soon as your wardrobes are ready, or spending the night here in the castle and starting in the morning. Those of you on A and AA class tours won't be supplied with wardrobes, and will therefore be able to leave as soon as you've gone through Customs. We know none of you will want to waste even one extra minute reaching the Mists, and we can't blame you. We hope you all enjoy your stay at Mists of the Ages, and look forward to welcoming you back many times in the future."
The woman gave us a final smile and then went to stand at the far side of the room, all finished with her part of the job unless someone had a question they wanted to ask. The attendants who moved among us were both male and female, the men wearing knee- pants and hose and more-or-less elegant coats and such, the women wearing long-skirted gowns that for the most part were nearly the equal of our former guide's dress. Eight closed doorways were spaced around the otherwise empty hall, and each of the door- ways had one additional attendant standing in front of it. From what I could see, the door attendants were dressed somewhat differently from those who circu- lated among us, and then one of the latter was up to Chal, Lidra and me, checking our slips with a glance.
"Portal number three, counting from the left, is your destination, my lord and ladies," the man said with a bow, sweeping his arm in the proper direction. "If you should be interested in the period my costume repre- sents, just ask about the tour through sectors six, eleven and twenty-one."
He bowed again before moving on, and Lidra and I turned briefly to watch him go. His costume had been mostly tights with the addition of a large, intricately decorated codpiece, and the tights were as tight behind as they had been in front. I'm not quite sure what our
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expressions were like, but Chal put a hand on each of our shoulders from behind.
"Don't even think about it,'* he said in a low voice, but not so low that we couldn't hear the flat finality in it. "After we finish our fun time here you girls can go wherever you like, but don't even think about suggest- ing we go through his sector on the way. Anybody who tries to get me into a get-up like that will have a fight on his hands."
"Why, Chal!" Lidra said with surprise, turning to look at him. "That's the second time you've talked about committing violence. I thought you were dedi- cated to healing the hurt, not causing them the problem in the first place."
"When you're willing to fight, you usually don't have to," he answered with calm confidence, the look in his eyes the same. "And just because my greatest joy comes from curing the sick and hurt, that doesn't mean I have to stand helplessly by while people take advantage of me and those around me. I don't usually go out looking for people to mangle, but if you two don't get that calculation out of your eyes, I'll be happy to make your cases an exception."
"We surrender," Lidra said with both hands raised before her while I laughed. "You're bigger and stronger and nastier than we are, so there won't be any side trips. I just think it's such a pity. Women who haven't seen your behind don't know what they're missing."
Her glance was very bland when she slid it away from him, and most likely the only thing that saved her was the fact that she immediately began walking toward the "portal" which had been pointed out to us. It was possible that Chal would have strangled her if she'd stayed within reach, and the embarrassed flush on his face as he and I followed her said it might still happen as soon as they were alone together.
When we reached door three it was opened for us by the attendant standing in front of it, a man wearing a leather skirt that came down to his knees and leather sandals that laced all the way up his legs. For the most part his chest was bare, except for two straps of leather
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that crossed it, then spread out very wide over his shoulders. Both shoulders were completely covered and the leather extended a least two inches beyond
them, an odd sort of arrangement I'd never seen be- fore.
"Now that's something I can live with," Chal res- marked as we entered the room, gesturing back toward
the attendant with his head. "Especially if you girls get costumes just like it."
That time it was ChaTs turn to grin while Lidra gave him a stare that promised a lingering death, which made-me the only one left to look around. The room we'd entered was open and airy while still giving the impression of privacy, but above that it was very in- terestingly furnished. The carpeting under our feet ap- peared to be open, blue-green water, the sort you sail OB and swim in, but rarely walk on. Chairs and couches were white, fluffy clouds, billowing a little where they hung, and large fluttering birds hovered in die air beside the couches and chairs. Two servants in costumes made up of gauze and wings stood on two of four tiny islands spaced around the room, while two more servants dressed the same way were offering trays of food and drink to the four older people already in the room and seated on the clouds.
"Well, will you look at that," Lidra said from be- hind my right shoulder, Chal to her right. "It does pay not to be on a class A orAA tour, doesn't it? If they're not willing to give them costumes or a bed for the
night, they certainly won't be giving them something like this."
"I've got to try one of those clouds," Chal said, for all the world like an eager tourist. "I've always wanted to stretch out on one, but I'm too practical not
to know I'd rail through. If I fall through here, I can sue."
"If you don't drown first." Lidra said, looking down at what our feet rested on. "Are those fish I see swimming down there? Maybe we would be better off sitting down. The idea of being submerged is not one I care for at the moment."
She headed for one of the cloud-couches without
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adding anything to what she'd said, but Chal and I still got the message. Lidra had never told me exactly how much of her electronic equipment she carried with her. but from her reaction to the ocean-carpeting, most of it must have been of the non-waterproof sort. I thought briefly about swimming while wrapped up in a working electrified fence, shuddered a little, then followed along to the couch.
The cloud felt just the way a cloud should feel, soft and billowing but still firm enough to support us. We had barely made ourselves comfortable when one of the winged servants came over for our food and drink orders, telling us we could name just about anything and it would be supplied—for a price. Standard for our tour at that particular moment was a beverage and sa ndwiches, but we would be given an assortment of the sandwiches and could eat as many as we liked. One of the other tours included a free choice of edibles and drinkables at no extra charge, and before the ser- vant left to get our food and javi we were told which one it was. Lidra waited until the servant was out of easy hearing range, and then she shook her head.
"They do believe in advertising in this place, don't they?" she asked, one hand brushing at her purple- streaked hair. "I wonder what they try to sell you if you've booked the best they've got?"
"Possibly a life membership," Chal suggested, too pleased with his section of cloud to really care. "I think those people over there ordered more than the sandwiches. If our standard dinner isn't a good deal above snack level, we ought to consider spending the extra money ourselves."
Lidra made a noncommittal noise and I shrugged, but I was seriously considering going along with Chal's suggestion. The man had been annoyed with me for teasing him when he found out I usually did eat well- balanced meals rather than junk, but I'd been arguing a principle rather than a belief. If I wanted to eat junk food I should be free to do it, whether or not I actually indulged in the freedom. Chal had refused to see that, insisting 1 was only trying to be difficult, but I still intended joining him in any superior meals that were
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offered. After all, with S.I. paying for it, there was no reason I shouldn't.
By the time our food and drink had been brought, there were two new arrivals over with the older peo- ple. The two men were dressed in svalk pants, hose, ruffled shirts and patterned svalk vests, and they chat- ted comfortably with the newly arrived guests as they checked and stamped their papers. Customs inspection i8 something you go through no matter which worid of the Empire you visit, but some are a little less fa- ••;..ntK about it than others. Joeiare officials seemed to
Iji^lfciwaright human, which was a pleasant surprise. ^I^Cte^TOCups had been refilled two or three times w WWB it became our turn, and the two men called for 'JgWi-.of ttieir own before they settled down near us. ^^1^-llRldied our papers so thoroughly they couldn't ^ ; lUm miswd anything that was there to be found, and ^^Ifaooe of the two men looked up at us with a smile. ^ :ttaee you three young people each came here on your-own," he said, looking very satisfied with that idn* "Did you meet on the liner me way those two couples over there did? Yes. I thought you might have. People do that all the time. coming here as strangers and leaving as friends. Right now you'll probably mink I'm boasting, but our world does bring people together and make fast friends of them. It's sharing the expe- riences you have ahead of you that does it, and even if you never come back you won't forget the time. Very few worlds can say the same, and that makes us rather proud."
"And also pleased to welcome you here," the sec- ond man said, adding his own smile. "You list noth- ing but clothing and a few convenience devices on your declaration statements, but for safety's sake there are specific questions we need to ask. Are any of you taking a prescribed medication of any sort? We've found there are certain substances mat don't react well with me vapor of the Mists, and we can tell you whether or not a given prescription is one of them. It isn't necessary to ask about illegal substances, and for good reason. Anyone taking one or more of the current crop of dustings and fixings will find they don't get
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along with the Mists at all. If throwing up every ten minutes for your entire tour appeals to you, we wouldn't think of asking you to forgo the pleasure."
Lidra, Chal and I exchanged glances while the two men grinned at us, that more than anything else assur- ing us they were telling the truth. If they hadn't been, they would have been working to get us to believe them, not telling us to go ahead and try it for our- selves. It was an interesting way of doing things, but I found myself faintly curioas.
"I'm not taking anything of any sort, but I have a question for you," I said, keeping my tone mild but not looking in any way impressed. "Did you make the same point to our older companions over there, or do you save the speech for the Empire's flowering youth?"
"Oh, we make sure to announce it to people like them first," the second man told me, neither one of them looking the least insulted. "Kids know they're doing something wrong, so all but the really lost among them will try for caution if not moderation. Many so-called grownups, though, know the laws aren't made for them. so why should they bother with caution beyond surface appearances? Some are so deeply into it they become violently ill in the Mists, and end up in a hospital for the rest of their vacation. It's one of the reasons for these ironclad releases you'll be signing. When you look through them, you'll find other reasons."
My two companions and I were then handed small leather books, and each of us got the book with our name on it. Inside were a number of pages with ques- tions and statements, and if a question didn't call for a specific answer, the directions ordered us to sign our full names instead. We were also handed indelible markers, and then the first of the men signaled for more javi.
By the time I was ready to hand the book back, I'd shared all of my personal preferences, most of the things I'd tried doing during my life, some of the things I thought I could do in the future, and no longer remembered how to spell my name. The thing was a
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good deal more than just a release in the event of an accident, and once the two men had glanced through what we'd written, one of them told Chal he had noth- ing to worry about, then the two of them thanked us with smiles and went on their way.
"Phew!" Lidra said as she let herself fall back against our cloud, holding her right hand up in a claw. "Did anyone notice if that thing held them blameless in the event of an acute case of writer's cramp? If it didn't, I'm seriously considering calling my lawyer."
'"What aren't you supposed to worry about, Chal?" I asked, turning my head to see the way he massaged his right hand with his left. I'd already flexed my fin- gers back to normal, but still half-wished Lidra wasn't just fooling around about suing.
"I listed the medication I'm taking, and apparently I don't have to worry about it getting into a fight with the Mists," Chal answered, his light eyes very open and innocent, no more than a friendly smile on his face. "It's really nothing more than a general health enhancer with a complex base, my doctor tells me, but there was no sense in taking chances by keeping quiet about it."
I nodded vaguely and performed a small shrug. Just as though I were dismissing the whole thing after un- derstanding almost nothing of what he'd said, but to describe me as curious would be like describing the room we sat in as faintly unusual. I hadn't known Lidra and Chal long, but the one thing I was absolutely cer- tain of was that neither of them took any sort of med- ication, necessary or unnecessary, legal or illegal. Lidra was like me in that she could never remember to take something even when she was sick. and Chal believed almost fanatically that to become dependent on a drug in anything but the most extreme emergen- cy was as good as cutting your own throat. For him, the key to true survival health was to strengthen the body's own defenses, not ignore them in favor of ar- tificial supplements- With that in mind I knew Chal wasn't taking anything, so why had he said he was?
I would have enjoyed being able to ask someone other than myself, but even though I'd never done that
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sort of S.I. sneaking around before, I wasn't simple- minded. Since we didn't know whether or not we were being listened to by people out of sight, we had to assume we were being listened to and therefore had to watch what we said. That, at least, was the way / saw it, and my companions seemed to be operating under the same set of rules. I shifted around on the cloud. about to wonder aloud what would be coming next, but the appearance of a woman in the same sort of golden gown as our original greeter and guide saved me the trouble.
"My lords and ladies, I bid you all a good day," the woman announced with a practiced smile, appar- ently unaware of the fact that she sounded as though she were leaving rather than arriving. "I'd like to take my own turn at welcoming you to the Mists of the Ages, the vacation land you'll never forget. I'm Filla, and after you answer a few questions for me, I'll be glad to answer any you might have. To begin with, have you all decided whether or not you'll be staying in the castle tonight? If you haven't, please take a mo- ment or two to make the decision now."
"What do you think, giris?" Chal asked as quiet conversation arose among our four fellow tourists where they sat. "I'd rather stay with you two than take off on my own, so which way do you want to do it?"
"I'd rather leave now and get it over with that much faster," I answered, still sticking with my impatient- and-unhappy pose. "Hanging around here will just drag it out longer, but I don't want to go on alone either. If you two decide to stay, so will I."
"Come on, Inky, being in a hurry is dumb," Lidra said with a shake of her head, adding a sigh for good measure. "We'll be spending a total of three days here, and staying over until tomorrow morning doesn't mean the three days begin then, because they've already be- gun. Starting tomorrow morning only means we spend l ess time in the Mists. Didn't you read the brochure?**
"No," I answered a second time, trying not to show how stupid I felt for not knowing that. "My friend was the one who talked me into all this, and I'd never
104 a—wGwCT even heud of the {dace. Does that mean you want to
stay ovci?"
"Hell no." she cattie back with a grin, sitting up straighter on her piece of cloud. "Since we came to see the Mists, why waste time sitting around in this {dace? Let's get going as soon as we can."
"Then that's our decision,'* Chal said, getting to ^8 feet. "I'll go over and tell her.'*
As he walked away I could see the other four people were still talking it over, but our decision wasn't just "\ it was also justified. We weren't likely to find Mrf anything to investigate out in the open and _ at the port, so Lidra had come up with a reason ^l|d)ty we didn't want to stay there. My own try at Icaboa had been on the flimsy side, but at least I .,-.^,. ,«lfild a reason for asking about the place. And a ^leasoe for not knowing about most of what was going ""• Ott. Udra and Chal were supposed to have filled me in ot) the liner ride, and probably would have if most of their time and conversation hadn't been taken up by their favorite fighter. I felt a brief flash of annoyance, but getting mad at the two would have been useless. If those S.I. people had briefed me property I wouldn't have needed anyone else doing it, but they'd been in too much of a hurry to get rid of me to come up with so much as a brochure. If I'd had any intentions of continuing to work with them, that alone would have made me stop to think about it.
By the time Chal finished talking to the woman, one of me men from the other group was on his way over to her with their own decision. The woman thanked them both with a smile, then turned to include the rest of us in on the conversation.
"My lords and ladies, the group of four will remain our guests for the night," she said, sounding as though everything had worked out exactly the way it was sup- posed to. "If the smaller group will follow me, I'll get them started toward the costuming area. As soon as that's done, I'll be back to take accommodation and dinner orders from those who will be staying. La- dies?" -
The last word was addressed to Lidra and me, and
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I didn't know about her, but I found it—inappropriate. I had always considered a lady to be someone who did nothing but stand or sit around looking cool, aloof, and untouchable, totally useless and helpless and very pleased to have it like that. Seero had tried more than once to tell me I was wrong, but that was a point we had never agreed on. He'd said it was possible for a woman to be a lady no matter what she looked like or did, but that was silly. How could you be a lady if you didn*t look or act like one?
The woman in the golden gown led us to one section of a light blue wall, which slid out of her way when she stopped in front of it. Beyond the now-opened doorway was a thirty-foot corridor of rich brown wood, and the woman pointed toward the narrow wall at the other end of the corridor.
"Just walk straight at it, and it will open for you," she said, giving us another professionally warm smile. * "The dressers there will have your costumes, and once you're into them you'll be ready to go. Your measure- ments were taken electronically when you first entered the castle, so what was made up for you should need no more than minor adjustment."
"What about the luggage we brought with us?" I asked, stopping Lidra and Chal as they began to enter the corridor. "Your costumes may be absolutely won- derful, but if I should decide I'm not in the mood to wear one, I don't want my only other choice to be skin."
"Your luggage has already been passed through Customs, and will be sent with you to the (daces you'll be staying in the Mists," she answered, her pleasant- ness still intact. "Whether or not you wear a costume will, of course, be your choice alone, but I certainly hope you don't decide against them. Only those who are costumed can be considered part of the scene, and missing the interaction will take half the fun out of your vacation. Without a costume all you can do is watch, and unless there are physical reasons for that sort of a decision, I don't recommend it. Please step ahead now, and do enjoy your trip."
With my question answered there was nothing to
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keep me standing there, and the woman did have the decency not to turn away from us until after we reached the other end of the corridor and the door there slid open. As we stepped through I could also see her step- ping back, letting the wall on her end close again, the gesture possibly meant to keep us from feeling trapped. That had been something of a narrow corridor, and I could see how some people might feel uncomfortable in it.
The room we stepped into from the corridor was not only normal, it was downright dull. The plain brown walls to right and left had nothing but closed doors to decorate them, and the lighting came from ordinary overheads. The man and woman who waited for us with smiles wore bodysuits like Lidra's and mine, both of them having added shorts and vests, and they were briskly firm about separating Chal from us. The man took him to the first room on the left, and the woman led the "ladies" to the first door on the right.
**Your costumes are in the two cubicles, girls," our newest guide said, throwing open the door to show us a large mirrored room with curtained alcoves to the far left and right. ' 'The lilac set is for you with your blond hair, dear, and the rose-red is meant to go with your black hair, honey. Once you*re into the outfits, ring the bell between the cubicles, and I'll come in and check the fit."
The woman gently bustled us inside, then closed the door behind us, so Lidra and I shrugged at one an- other and went to check out our "outfits." It was to be expected that we each went to the other* s alcove, but once we traded I stood by the closed curtain and studied what had been made for me. The color was a very delicate rose-red, all right, but it was also a fe- male version of the costume the door attendant outside our Customs room had been wearing. Rather than be- ing leather it was made of svalk, the knee-length skirt neatly pleated, the top a sleeveless cross-over wrap, the whole thing belted with a side-knotted scarf. The sandals that went along with them had soft leather bot- toms and svalk upper parts and lacings,' and didn't look as though they would be all that uncomfortable. Taken
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together it wasn't a bad little outfit, and it came to me that I would have to try their costumes at least once before I could safely "decide' I didn't want any more of them. It would obviously be best if I did that trying in the beginning, where nothing of interest to us was likely to be found, and then I would be set for later on. The decision was a logical one, not to mention easy. which meant I barely hesitated before starting to get out of my bodysuit.
Once I had the sandals laced, I stood up from the alcove's cushion stack and went out to see what I looked like. I knew I'd probably like the way the cos- tume fit, so I made sure to set my expression into something closer to resignation than enjoyment before I looked into one of the mirror walls. It was a good thing I'd had the foresight to do that; as I turned just a little in front of the mirror, frowning slightly at my reflection, on the inside I was grinning in full appre- ciation.
"Hey, look at you!" Lidra said as she stepped out of her alcove, her eyes going from me to my mirror image. "If I look half that good, I may never leave this place. What do you think?"
She came up to me on my right and began posing in front of die mirror, more than just passing satisfaction in her voice. It wasn't hard seeing she looked a good deal slimmer than she did in a bodysuit, and then I suddenly understood what her question had really meant. She hadn't been asking whether or not she looked good, but whether or not her equipment was showing. I inspected her as closely as I could without being too obvious about it, but didn't see anything that looked remotely like equipment. At that point I would have loved asking where the hell she'd put it all, but even if I'd been able to, her laugh of delight would have come first.
"I think I've decided to bum all my bodysuits as soon as I get home," she said. examining the back of herself with the help of the double reflection from the other mirror wall. "Someone once told me they make you look thirty pounds heavier than you really are even if you're only five pounds overweight, but until this
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minute I didn't believe it. Look at these shoulder scarves, aren't they adorable? Like the leather on that door attendant's costume, only these don't stand out and they're much softer."
She fluffed out the short scarves that, like mine, were tied around the two-inch-wide shoulder straps of the tunic top, and no one looking at her would have guessed she was interested in anything but her appear- ance as a woman. Standing next to her I could see the way her eyes rested just a little longer on certain parts of her reflection than on others, the expression in her gaze very direct and almost coldly calculating, but if I hadn't been looking for something like that, I never would have seen it. I wondered just exactly how much experience she did have at doing jobs like that, but that was another question 1 couldn't ask aloud.
*'I suppose I can live with it for a little while," I grudged, looking again at my own costum e with outer lack of enthusiasm. "If I get tired if it, I will change back to my own clothes, even if that keeps me from being part of me 'scene.' Whatever that's supposed to mean.**
"I really do think we have to get you a brochure to read," Lidra decided, still very much into admiring her reflection. "It only gives you very broad hints about things, but having the hints lets you understand what's going on once you see that release we signed. For instance, didn't you wonder when you got to the question that asked whether or not you were a vir- gin?"
"It was under the physical health section," I an- swered with a shrug, looking at her reflection rather than at her. "Most of the questions in that section were intrusive, so why would I wonder about one more?'*
"Because that particular question is significant/' she said. looking very positive. "People have to be in good physical health to come here because there's a lot of walking 'and such' involved, the brochure says, but if you answered that you weren't a virgin, the way I did. you were asked one more question. Did you happen to see it?"
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"Yes, I saw it," I allowed, smiling inwardly at the way she'd put her own question. "They asked if I would mind being intimate with men who were strangers, but who were also professionals. If I cared to answer no to that one, they were offering a guar- antee that I wouldn't be hurt. There was also some- thing about the tour being more interesting if I were a "full participant.' "
"Well, of course there was," she said, now looking somewhat exasperated as she turned away from the mirror. "Don't you see? They've recreated scenes from the histories of some of the planets, but you can bet none of the tours take you through a lazy free-day afternoon at nap time. They'll be showing significant happenings with lots of action, and being a full parti- cipant has to mean we'll be right in the middle of it, having it happen to us! We'll be full participants in whatever they stage, and I don't mean simply being jostled in a crowd' They'll provide sex, giri, and prob- ably lots of it!"
"You know, I think that word *sex* sounds famil- iar," I said. turning to meet her stare with one finger to my lips. "Is that when a couple of people get to- gether and spend most of their time yelling at each other?"
"You're an absolute riot," she said, now examining me sourly as she folded her arms. "And no, that's not the definition of sex, that's the definition of marriage. Did you opt for full part. or didn't you?"
"Sure I took it." I said, tossing my head a little as I turned back to the mirror. "When this thing is over and I still haven't enjoyed myself, I don't want them to have any easy reasons why that they can smugly point to. Sex is all right, but it's hardly such a big deal that it's guaranteed to make me change my mind. And I don't think I have to ask whether or not you chose it."
"No, you certainly don't," she answered, only her head turning back to the mirror, her mood now thickly self-satisfied. "You can be as stubborn as you like about not enjoying yourself, but I intend having fun. I've never tried a man with professional training, and
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I'm really looking forward to it. I want to know if those groups that say all men should have the same are right."
' 'I wonder if they offered female professionals to the men," I commented, this time not even glancing in her direction. "If so, Chal might soon be deciding all women should have training the way those groups in- sist."
Her annoyance was so thick I could feel it without looking at her, but she didn't get to vocalize any of it. A knock came at the door, immediately followed by the entrance of the woman who had directed us to our costumes, and that was the end of casual conversation. The woman examined Lidra and me with a frown, briefly tugged and smoothed at our costumes, then an- nounced with a smile that no alterations seemed to be necessary. Now that our sizes had been confirmed ex- tra outfits woujd be produced and made available when they were needed, and me clothing we'd taken off would be cleaned and returned to our personal lug- gage. Since everything was satisfactorily taken care of, we were then free to leave the fitting room and really begin the Great Adventure.
It took some doing not to react to the capitals in the woman's voice, but we made it out of the room with- out insulting her and rejoined Chal, who was waiting. for us. His costume was exactly like the one the door attendant had worn, all leather with straps across the chest, and on him it looked even better than it had on the attendant. Lidra hummed low in interest when she saw him, but I was the only one who heard it. Chal was talking to a boy in his mid-teens who was wearing a page costume when we came out, and only when the boy had finished what he was saying did Chal turn to us with a grin.
"Say, you girls look great even if you do have more than simple chest straps," he said, then gestured to the boy at his right. "This is Tad, our newest guide, and he'll be sending us on our way as soon as he gives you two your watches.**
"Watches?*' Lidra asked for the two of us. appar-
MISTS OF THE AGES 111
ently as surprised and curious as I was. "What watches?"
"People always say that, and in just that way," the boy Tad responded with a grin, handing Lidra and me plain leather bands no more than an inch and a half wide. "You'll need some way of telling the time once you're in the Mists, and ordinary timepieces don't do well in them. If you use these, you'll know exactly what's happening. Just smooth them closed around your wrist, and then follow me."
The leather band was very soft and flexible, and once I'd smoothed it closed around my left wrist I looked at the face of the timepiece embedded in the center of it. Rather than give the date and local time, it showed days, hours and minutes, all of it going backward. K took no more than seconds to realize the countdown had started at three full days, and even as we stood there the minutes disappeared into the past and were then no more. With a couple of hours already gone, it was clear Lidra had been right about when our vacation had started, which meant that when Tad be- gan leading the way past the fitting rooms, we fol- lowed along without much foot-dragging.
An ordinary door at the end of the fitting area brought us to a wide, well-lit section of stairway that led downward, the stairs themselves curving around out of sight to the left. We continued to follow Tad as he followed the stairs, and after a few minutes of walking we reached the bottom. It was rairiy clear we were well below-ground at that point, but the area was brightly lit and painted with cheerful pastel colors that suggested a party atmosphere. There were leather couches and chairs spaced along the two walls to the right of the foot of the stairs, a sign made of dancing .black letters on the wall to the left that said. "The Castie of Beginning," and something that looked like a wall with windows and doors straight ahead. It wasn't immediately clear where we were supposed to go from there, but Tad answered the question before it was asked.
"That right there is what will be taking you into the Mists,** he said, gesturing toward what I'd thought
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was a wall with windows and doors. "I was supposed to have sent you on your way immediately, but while coming down I was told to have you wait a minute or two. There's someone else starting this tour right now, and it will be more convenient for everyone involved if you all travel together. He was given his costume in another fitting room, so there won't be much of a wait at all. In appreciation for your patience, the man- agement has arranged to compensate you for the loss of time."
His smile accompanied a gesture to his wrist, which naturally made us look at our new watches. The first thing I saw was that the countdown had stopped, and then the minute window blinked twice before advanc- ing for a count of five. After that it blinked another two times then froze again, which obviously meant we were now on hold. The countdown had stopped while we were waiting as we'd been asked to do, and to thank us for being patient we'd been given a bonus of five whole minutes extra. I was seriously considering mentioning how impressed I was with their generosity, but Lidra beat me to it with a comment on a different subject.
"Then that button in your ear is a communicator," she said, sounding pleased and impressed. "Is it one way or two way?"'
"One way is all it has to be," the boy said as I looked up to notice for the first time the button Lidra had mentioned. "I don't usually spend enough time with guests that I*d be likely to need to pass things back up the line, but if I have to I can use one of the house phones. I'm sure you didn't notice them, but every area you've been in has had at least one. Like here, for instance."
He moved between us to go to the wall that had been to the right of the stairs, and pushed aside one light orange section of it to show a quietly modest light orange phone. I felt the urge to ask if the bright yellow and Fight pink sections also had matching phones be- hind them, but decided that wouldn't be very discreet of me. From their reactions I was fairly sure Chal and Lktra hadn't known there was anything behind the light
MISTS OF THE AGES 113
orange section of wall, which meant it would be best if I joined them in ignorance. Our page guide reclosed the section and began turning back to us, then put his hand to his ear and turned to the stairs instead.
"See, they weren't exaggerating," he said, and at that point we also be came aware of the sound of two sets of footsteps descending. "A couple of minutes was what they said, and a couple of minutes was all it was. Now you can be on your way, and the man won't have to travel alone."
If the boy had been facing in our direction he might have seen the glance exchanged between Chal and Lidra, a glance that didn't have much in the way of welcoming fellowship in it. Since we three were sup- posed to be virtual strangers to one another, we couldn't very well refuse the company of another stranger without having it look very suspicious. That left us with no option other than to accept him, at least on a temporary basis- If his presence couldn't be turned to a diversion once we reached our objective, we'd have to find some way of getting rid of him.
Waiting with bated breath for someone to appear has never been one of my favorite pastimes, so I turned away from the stairs the others were watching to glance again at the sections of the wall that were obviously meant to be pushed aside. I really would have enjoyed knowing what was behind those sections even if it was nothing but light switches and thermostats, but I couldn't very well walk over to them and open them up to look. I was seriously considering camouflaging my knowledge by trying all of the differently-colored sections in order, starting with the pale brown right next to the light orange, when I heard the sound of a gasp. The origin of noises like that are often hard to figure out, but it hadn't sounded like Chal or Lidra, and that left no one but the boy Tad, I turned around, immediately curious as to why he would make a sound like that, and }ust as immediately found out. My two companions were doing nothing more than staring in silence, but our page couldn't seem to control himself.
"I know you!" he said excitedly to the man who was coming down the last of the steps, another shin-
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ing-eyed teena&e boy trailing adoringly behind. "You're my absolute favorite, and I've memorized every stat they ever put out about you! Can I shake your hand, just to be able to say that I did?"
The man reached the bottom of the stairs and put his hand out for the boy to take, but only part of his attention was on the exchange. The rest of it was in- volved in the faint smile he wore, the smile he'd de- veloped when his gray eyes had turned in my direction. For my own part I didn't know how to feel, now that it was clear the fourth of our party was the one and only Serendel.
Chapter 7
"I think I'm starting to become a believer," Lidra said in something of a mutter, the gloating delight so thick in her voice she might as well have shouted. "My mother always told me that if I was a good giri Pd be rewarded, and was she ever right! After this I'll be willing to eat everybody's vegetables, not just my own."
Chal smiled faintly as he glanced at her. but he didn't seem to be as amused—or as pleased—as I'd expected him to be. Lidra, her stare still glued to Ser- endel, missed ChaTs reaction, but didn't miss it when Serendel looked at her with a frown.
"I'm sony, but I'm afraid I didn't hear that," he said, honestly puzzled. "Were you talking to me about vegetables?"
"No, not really," she said with a small cough and a swallowed laugh, gesturing aside everything she was very glad he hadn't heard. "We*re delighted you'll be joining us. Winner, and we promise not to chew off more than one of your ears with questions. Don't we. Chal?"
"We certainly do." my other teammate answered, this time more amused as he put a hand out. ' 'I'm Chal Amor. and this is Lidra Kament. As I'm sure you've already noticed, we're also fans of yours."
"I usually prefer fans to enemies," Serendel said with a grin as he took Chal's hand. "Or, to be more precise, fans of mine. I once found myself sharing ground transportation with a small army of one of my main rival's supporters, and I didn't know if I would 115
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make it to my destination in any condition to fight. Between looks meant to kill and acres of frozen si- lence, I almost ended up with poisoned frostbite,"
"Oh, you poor thing," Lidra commiserated even while she chuckled in enjoyment of the story. "But this time Chal and I are here to protect you, so don't let it worry you a single minute that Inky has declared for Farison. We won't let her hurt you."
"Inky?" Serendel said with a puzzled look, and then he seemed to remember the first face he'd seen. He looked in my direction with his brows raised, hope- fully missing the blush I could feel in my cheeks over what that miserable Lidra had told him, and Chal cleared his throat.
"To complete the introductions, that's Dalisse Im- bro, known to those around her as Inky," Chal said, sounding suspiciously bland. "Since she isn't much of a fight fan she hasn't really declared for Farison, but above that, I think you two have already met."
"You might say we've run into each other once or twice.*' the big man answered, speaking to Chal but still looking at me, definite amusement now in his eyes. "We've never before been formally introduced, though, so I appreciate having it done."
"Excuse me, my lords and ladies, but I'm afraid it's time for you to leave now," our page Tad inter- rupted with obvious reluctance, one hand to his ear. "If you'll foHow me into the car, I'll get you settled for the trip."
"Or," Lidra muttered low as the boy moved past us, " *get them going, you idiot!' His boss apparently has very little appreciation for the art of conversa- tion."
"Which may be a good thing for us," Chal added in a matching murmur. "Our watches have started again, which means time flies swiftly before us. We can yak all we like once we're on our way."
"On, Chal, you're so practical," Lidra told him with a sigh, an utter condemnation Serendel found more amusing than Chal did. Our male teammate might have been tempted to defend himself against the charge, but just then Tad pressed a switch in the recess
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he'd uncovered beside one of the doors, and what I'd thought was a wall opened and lit up inside to show what looked like a wide lounge. We followed the boy inside, and he gestured around to the chairs, dispens- ers, consoles and carpeting.
"We hope everything here will make this short trip a comfortable one," he recited, the speech one he'd clearly made any number of times before. "Drinks and snacks are available from the dispensers, music from the consoles, and even news or fiction, if you should want them. When this car stops, you'll have reached the Mists of the Ages. I hope you have the best time ever. Winner Serendel!"
The last line was said faster than all the rest, and after the universe's quickest bow, the boy got himself out of there before his blush set the room on fire. We all chuckled as the door slid back in its place to close us in, and then we felt a small, very smooth lurch.
"Well, it looks like we're on our way," Chal said, rubbing his hands together. "Would you like some- thing to drink, Inky? Serendel?"
"How about me?'* Lidra asked before Chal could get any answers, her tone puzzled. "Were you under the impression I got left back at the castle?"
"I couldn't be that lucky," Chal returned, his back as stiff as his leather shoulder pieces as he walked toward the drink dispenser. "Since you obviously don't think much of people who are practical, I was sure you wouldn't want to be offered a drink by one. If you can't manage on your own, you'll have to stay thirsty."
"Men!" Lidra muttered darkly with her fists on her hips, glaring at the back that was still toward us. "Say even a single word to them. and they get all bent out of shape. And from a distance they look so solid! I think I'd better make sure I don't die of thirst on this trip."
She glanced at us to excuse herself and then fol- lowed Chal to the dispenser, apparently with the in- tention of fence-mending and bridge-unbuming. That left me in the middle of the car with the fourth of our number, and I suddenly discovered that the trip wasn*t
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going as comfortably as it was supposed to. I looked around at the fifteen foot square that was our under- ground transportation, seeing dark walls rushing by beyond the sealed windows, and then my most im- mediate companion stirred.
"I think it's going to be a while before we see those drinks," Serendel observed, his voice held low. "Would you like to sit down while we're waiting?"
His big hand gestured toward a cozy grouping of six chairs around a polished-wood table, and I think if I could have refused the suggestion I would have. I felt like an idiot practicing to be an awkward adolescent, and I didn't understand why that was. Sercndel was hardly the first man I'd ever met, and being asked if I*d like to sit down was hardly the most intimate sug- gestion ever made me. I finally managed to force a smile and a nod, walked over to the chairs and picked one, then sat down. I discovered I'd been hoping Ser- endel would choose a place a few chairs over when he sat down right next to me, but at least things could have been worse. If the chairs had been couches in- stead, I probably would have stayed on my feet.
"I'm finding out why so many women wear body- suits instead of skirts," Serendel said once he was set- tled, his eyes on his costume as his hands smoothed the bottom of it. "If I get to the point of sitting down without paying enough attention, I'm guaranteed to be accused of advertising."
He looked up at me with a grin. and I couldn*t help smiling at his problem. Svalk makes a skirt that's much easier to live with than the leather variety, but I sup- pose it's harder to feel manly in svalk. My own skirt lay obligingly relaxed arou nd my knees, and didn't need smoothing of any sort. With that in view I de- cided it was time I pretended to be adult, and made my own contribution to the conversation.
"My friends and I were surprised to see you." I offered, hanging onto the smile I'd gained. "We thought we were the only familiar faces coming to the Mists of the Ages."
"One of the prices of fame is sometimes having to sneak around." he answered, a look of apology ap-
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pearing briefly in his eyes. "If that crowd on the liner had found out what my destination was, right now we'd be up to our ears in watchers. I never knew how many people can afford and are more than willing to abandon their own plans to follow around after their favorite, not until the first time it happened to me- It ruined the quiet couple of days of relaxation I'd planned, and even ruined the time for the other people at the resort. After that I learned how to make private arrangements with liners and resorts, and I'm usually gone before anyone notices. This time the liner captain used a later run to bring me down with some of the freight, which is why you and your friends were de- layed. I hope it wasn't too long a wait."
"We managed to live through the extra two min- utes," I said. trying to control the outrage I felt. Hav- ing to sneak around like a criminal just to get some privacy simply wasn't right, not for someone who didn't thrive on that kind of treatment. If it had been me, I would have refused to live like that, would have told those people to get away from me and stay away. I probably wouldn't have been liked very well, but people take me as I am or they don't have me at all.
"And I don't know how you can stand it," I went on, finding it impossible not to mention the point. "You can't scratch at a private itch without having twelve people offering to help. If it was me, I'd be insane in about a minute and a half."
"It's not quite that bad," he said with a chuckle, his gray eyes now empty of apology. "For the most part they're really good people, and because they're so involved with my life it usually doesn't occur to them that I'm not actually a member of their immedi- ate family. Ninety percent of them will gladly and willingly give me privacy any time I ask for it, without feeling in the least insulted. It's that last ten percent you have to watch out for, the ones who think their support means they own you. Not only don't they take hints, they have to be shoved out of the way before you can close your cabin door. Real fans don't like their sort any more than the fighters do, but there's
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nothing any of us can do about diem short of exter- mination."
"What's wrong with extermination?" I asked, lik- ing me sound of it. "The Empire would end up being a much better place, and if fighters aren't equipped to do the job no one is."
"You're overlooking one small problem," he an- swered with a laugh, shifting just a little in his chair. "There are laws against doing things like that outside of an arena, no matter how soul-satisfying we'd find it. Do you think they'd be suicidal enough to push fighters the way they do if they weren 't protected by
the law?"
"That's only one of the things wrong with me law," I told him firmly, not about to be talked out of my opinion. "It protects the guilty instead of the innocent, which isn^t the way it was supposed to be'. If the ones who made the laws were forced to live with them rather than above or around them, you'd see how fast things would change."
"If it makes you feel any better, I agree with you completely," he said, trying not to look too amused at my outrage. "I'd love to put one of the lawmakers in my position, and then see how long the pests would last. I'd give it until the first time the man saw an attractive woman he really wanted to meet, but couldn't get anywhere near her because mat ten per- cent was constantly in the way. Some women don't mind the unending hoopla, but the really special ones often dislike being crowded and jostled. When they stay away from you after the first meeting or two, you sometimes wonder if it's the crowds—or you."
Those light gray eyes were no longer filled with amusement, and somehow the conversation had changed from what it had started out as. I discovered that my outrage had disappeared along with his amuse- ment, a cowardly move if I ever saw one. Outrage never seemed to be there when you really needed it. but fluster and awkwardness were always quick as a bunny when it came to showing up. I really didn't know what to say. and when he saw my hesitation he smiled faintly.
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"Farison isn't Just a good fighter, he's also a very lucky man," Serendel said, trying to make the words sound light-hearted. "His followers don't believe in letting themselves be lured away from him."
"But I'm not really a follower of Farison," I blurted, not even thinking about what I was saying. "I've hardly seen him fight, no more than once or twice, but he happened to look better than the ones I did see more of. On the liner— It wasn't you I was staying away from, it was an involvement—with so many people around, and so short a trip—"
"Now that's what I was hoping to hear," he inter- rupted my rambling with a grin, his sadness evaporat- ing so fast it might never have been there in the first place. "It's crushing to think a pretty girl is avoiding you because she can't stand looking at your ugly face. I do hope you noticed there aren't any crowds around now."
He leaned toward me with that and reached for my hand, his grin so infuriating I would have happily smacked him in the face with something. Instead of moving my hand out of reach I simply curied it into a fist, and that got his attention the way my silence hadn't.
"You did that on purpose," I stated, so hopping mad my voice was absolutely steady. "You made me feel sorry for you in order to take advantage of me. I dare you to deny it."
"I had to do something to make you talk to me," he protested with light-eyed innocence, not a trace of guilt in him at having been caught. "After you stopped yelling at me on the liner you avoided me completely, and when we met again Just a few minutes ago, you looked like you were about to go back to the avoiding. I. just thought I'd let you know I don't want to be avoided."
"I'll file your preference in with the rest of your stats," I said, standing up before he could reach for my hand again. "If you happen to get curious about how I'm looking at it, try making a wild guess."
I turned my back and walked away then, giving him help with the guess he'd be making. I really hated it
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when people tried to take advantage of me, which they usually did because they thought I was innocent. Seero had always told me I was lucky to look the way I did, as it helped me to find out veiy quickly who was trust- worthy and who wasn't. I, myself, had never consid- ered the talent that much of a convenience, and I was still so annoyed I almost ran directly into Chal and what he was carrying.
"Hey, look out!" he squawked, stopping very short to avoid the collision, his hands holding the spill- threatening drinks away from his costume. "I have your cup ofjavi right here, Inky. You didn't have to come after it yourself."
"Thanks for the javi, Chal," I said. taking the cup out of his hand with a brisk nod. "I'll be drinking it over here by myself, so you and Lidra enjoy your own
drinks."
I gave him a second nod and then marched away, barely glancing at a Lidra who stood silently beside him with brows raised high. To the left of the drink dispenser was another cozy grouping of chairs, one that looked more attractive than the first in that I would be using it alone. I sat down with my back to the others, crossed my legs, and sipped at the javi.
"What in hell is going on?" Chal demanded, com- ing around to where he could see me. "One minute you're sitting over there, having a quiet conversation, and the next you're practically running me down to get to another seat. Do they charge more for that part of the car, or what?"
"You could say the price of sitting over there is higher than I care to pay," I agreed with a judicious nod, giving the javi most of my attention. "That doesn't mean you two have to do without, not on my account. I'm perfectly capable of spending the trip time alone, and in fact I think I'd prefer it."
"I have a feeling we've been through this conver- sation before," Lidra said, coming to stand beside Chal, each of her hands holding a glass. "Don't tell me: you and Serendel are back to looking for your own private arena."
"Don't include me in on that," the big man himself
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said, making it unanimous as he stopped beside Lidra. "All I was trying to do was get acquainted, but ap- parently I picked the wrong track to take. It looks like I owe everyone another apology."
"Chal and I spend enough time apologizing to each other." Lidra said, looking up at Serendel with a grin. "I don't think we have room for anyone else's apol- ogies, so why don't you save what you have for Inky? And by the way, this drink is for you."
"It's cream-clear," he said in surprise after taking the glass and sniffing at it. "How did you know it's my favorite drink? Winners never state preferences like that one way or the other. If we did, it would be like forcing everyone who follows us to eat or drink the same."
"Which is against fighter codes," she said with a nod, sipping at her own drink. "The only thing is, you didn't start out as a triple-gold winner, and some- one did an interview with you after your second or third successful showing. The interviewer mentione d she spent two hours drinking cream-clear with you, which led me to suspect it might be one of your fa- vorites. How much did I have to lose by taking the chance?"
"Absolutely nothing." he agreed with a grin that matched her eariier one, raising his glass to her. "I gladly toast one of the ninety rather than one of the ten, and tender my thanks for your consideration. And by the way, even though there isn't enough alcohol in cream-clear to affect an infant, the toast is still valid. The codes arc clear on that point, too."
The three of them chuckled as they all drank to whatever ritual fighter-toast he'd proposed, getting 'along as well together as I'd known they would. I moved my attention to one of the windows as I sipped my javi. watching dark walls rush by no more than six inches from the car. They hadn't told us how long a trip we'd be making, and I really hoped that was be- cause the time would be too short to be worth men- tioning. With problems of real importance waiting for me to get home, I wanted that job over with as soon as possible.
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"And now that you've been fortified, why don't you tiy that apology on Inky?" Lidra's voice came, back to sounding amused. "I'd be more than happy to spend this vacation entertaining you myself, but Chal said he sees very poor health ahead for me if I do more than flirt with you and daydream. I'd hate putting my health in jeopardy, so Inky's your only other chance. I know you don't find her very interesting, so I guess you'll have to force yourself."
"Well, we all have to sacrifice something on a joint vacation, for the sake, of course, of the others with us," Serendel agreed in a solemn voice, probably looking just as sober. "I'm sure most men run scream- ing from the sight of Inky, but I'm strong enough to hold my ground and stick it out. Closing my eyes every now and then should help, at least until I get used to her looks. After that, she may not even notice I'm forcing myself."
"No wonder you don't mind entering the arena to answer a challenge," Chal said to him, his tone dryly amused. "If that's the sort of thing you say to every woman you meet, you have to be safer in the arena than out of it."
"Well, she didn't seem to like hearing me say I found her attractive." Serendel protested, and I could hear that innocence again in his voice. "If she prefers being told she's an eyesore, who am I to deny it to her? I try to give all women what they like best, with- out passing judgment on their taste."
"Did you hear that. Inky?" Lidra said with a very heavy leer in her voice. "A man who gives women what they want instead of what he wants. You'd better grab him quick before he gets away."
"Yes, I heard what he said, and I couldn't be more delighted," I answered, continuing to watch the unending black outside the window. "Since what I want most is to be left alone, I'm glad to hear I'll be getting it. Repeating yourself a dozen times or more can be unbelievably boring."
"Look, I really do apologize for what I did a few minutes ago," Serendei said as I sipped at my javi, sounding seriously serious as he stepped closer to my
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chair. "The truth of the matter is I wasn't trying to take advantage of you, but I was trying to play on your sympathies. I've found that some women—hesitate— when it comes to getting involved with me, and that because of the number of women I've already been involved with. I thought if I made you feel sony for me you would let me know if you considered me at all interesting, and then we could go on from there. If I had really been trying to take advantage of you, would I have been so fast to drop the act? Wouldn't I have kept on with it, at least until I'd gotten what I wanted?**
"I don't know," I answered, finally moving my eyes back to look up at him. "Would you have?"
A flash of frustration showed in his gaze, brief but fair-to-middling intense, the sort of thing no profes- sional con artist would ever have let himself show. Push the mark off-balance and keep her there was the standard way of doing it, make her question herself rather than you. I'd been taught more than basic tactics even before I was out of lower school, a self-defense course given gratis by some of Seero's vast multitude of friends. My teachers had all been experienced professionals, but "talented amateur" was the best that could be said about Serendel. He'd conned me once, and I wasn't in the mood to give him a second shot at it.
"Come OB, Inky, you're being unreasonable," Lidra protested, glancing uncomfortably at Serendel. "You're acting like he's trying to apologize for at- tempted assassination. You know he was looking in your direction even before we got here, so you can't possibly believe he's handing you a line. Give the guy a chance!"
"You give him a chance." I said. getting out of my chair to head toward the drink dispenser. "I'm not here just to fill in his empty time until he reaches the next group of dancing giris. If there's a law written somewhere that says I have to associate with him, snow it to me. If there doesn't happen to be that kind of law, leave me the hell alone."
I put my cup in the slot and pressed for a refill of
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thejavi, hearing the heavy silence my last remarks had produced. After having given me her full approval, Lidra was obviously not very happy that I refused to fall swooning at the feet of her idol, but that was just too bad about her. They were all expecting me to let that big jerk treat me any way he pleased and simply be grateful for the attention, but I'd be damned if I would. They all had so much in common it was sick- ening; since the choice was mine I'd be staying out of it, and they could all have fun sickening each other.
"It might be a good idea to talk about something else for a while," Chal's voice came after a minute, trying to smooth the awkwardness out of the moment. "This is supposed to be a vacation, after all, so let*s just relax and enjoy ourselves. Have you ever been here before, Serendel?"
"No, this is my first visit," me man answered after the briefest of hesitations, apparently agreeing with Chal about a change of subjects. "There aren't many places I can go to get away from the general public for a while, but this promises to be one of them. My business manager contacted them for me, and was told that the number of people on each tour session is de- liberately kept small, to encourage those people to Join in on the action as a pan of it. Their workers, who stage the scenes in the Mists, either stay in character no matter who comes past them as a guest, or they get fired. If I can spend my time enjoying the tour rather than being one of its main attractions, I'll probably become a regular visitor.**
"Lidra and I have never been here before either," Chal said, and I heard them moving around as though they were sitting down. I, myself, was in the middle of going back to my original chair with my freshened cup ofjavi, pleased that they finally seemed to be leav- ing me alone. "As a matter of fact Lidra and I met on the liner coming here, the same liner you were on. Since we're both fans of yours, it worked out very well in bringing us even closer together."
"How about your other friend over there?" Seren- del asked as I sat down all alone, his tone not quite as
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friendly as it had been. "Did either of you know Smudge before you met on the liner?"
"Ah—that's *Inky,* and no, we didn't." Lidra said hastily when Chal stayed silent, something odd in her voice. "We all became friends on the liner, especially after we found out we were all going to the same place. Inky isn't very happy to be here, because vacationing in the Mists was her friend's idea, her friend got sick at the last minute, and the Mists people refused to return Inky's deposit. She came alone rather than sim- ply lose the money, but she really is determined not to enjoy herself. Knowing that, you may be able to understand now why she's being somewhat un- friendly."
*'What I think I understand even better is why her friend got sick," was the terribly clever reply, the words dry and spoken clearly enough so that everyone could hear them. "Under similar circumstances, I might do the same myself."
They went on to talk about other things after that, but I had stopped listening. As I sipped my javi, it had come to me how familiar that situation seemed, and then I remembered an incident in upper school that I thought I'd forgotten completely. All schools have their in-sets and exclusive power groups, and mine was no different; those of us who had little or no interest in that sort of flock nonsense simply left them to their games and went about our own business. I'd had no intentions of ever getting involved with those people— until one of them decided to do me a favor.
I sighed as I crossed my legs in the comfortable chair, remembering how excited my best friend had been when I was asked to a dance by the boy who was the star member of the most exclusive of the in-groups. They were the ones who had the money and the social position, and the boy had decided that my guardian, Seero, had enough money to justify my being included in their group. The fact that he was also hot to try scoring with me had helped him make that important a decision, but I hadn't known about that part of it;
I'd thought he was simply interested in me as a person. Seero had chuckled at my excitement and had told me
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to go for it, and my best friend had decided it was the most marvelous thing that could ever have happened to me. If I'd had any sense I would have refused, but with my best friend urging me on I ended up accept- ing .
The dance itself had been a little on the bonng side, but I'd had fun when some of the older members of the group tried making me feel uncomfortable by dis- cussing all the places they'd been. Much to their dis- may it had turned out I'd been to all those places too, and a number of others besides. When I'd mentioned I'd even been on a run through the wilds they'd all gasped, and for the next hour I'd been flooded with questions about the time. My escort had been abso- lutely delighted that he'd chosen so well in a partner for the dance, but only because I hadn't mentioned the strokes that had taken Seero and me to all those places, or the reason we'd had to make the wilds run. There aren't any strokes to be made in the wilds, but there are other things.
When the dance was over, my escort had taken me home in his expensive new sports model—or at least he was supposed to have taken me home. What he'd actually done was end us up in a really bad neighbor- hood, parked in a deserted shopping-traffic lane, and then had pleasantly announced the way I was going to thank him for taking me to the dance. When I'd an- nounced back that he must have had too much of the mixed-fruit punch he hadn't been amused, and had then proceeded to explain my choice. Either I gave him what he wanted or I got out and walked home, or at least tried to walk home. In that neighborhood there was no guarantee I would make it without losing a lot more than he was asking for, but the choice was com- pletely mine. His grin of enjoyment had twisted his handsome face into a leering glimpse of his true na- ture, but the grin had lasted only until I got out of his sports model and slammed the door hard enough to crack its paint job.
As an added statement to the sort he was, he actually drove away and left me there. I'd waited until he was completely out of sight, and then I'd followed one of
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the dark, uneasily-deserted streets to the place of busi- ness of one of Seero's friends. The woman had been furious over what had been done to me, and had had one of her largest bouncers drive me home. My former escort had been right about the sort of things that could happen to a girl alone in a neighborhood like that, but I hadn't been as alone as he'd thought. Thanks to Seero and the shadow-life he'd shared with me, I hadn't had to do anything I would have found extremely distaste- ful, and I hadn't been harmed because of the refusal I would have made in any event.
After that I'd stayed as far away as possible from exclusive in-groups, and hadn't even paid attention when my escort of that night had begun having expen- sive, embarrassing accidents. Seero had been really angry over what the boy had tried to force me into, and Seero had had an awful lot of friends. My own best friend had tried telling me I'd been an idiot, that what the boy had asked for would have been a small price to pay for admission to their group, and not long after that she'd found someone else to be friends with. The someone else had already been accepted on the fringes of the group my ex-friend had had so much interest in, and only then had I understood that she'd wanted me accepted so that she could have an associ- ated acceptance. Finding that out had really gotten me mad, and I'd sworn never to let myself be put in a situation like that again.
I stirred in my seat as I heard the laughter coming from those I shared the car with, the people who had so very much in common. It was a shame Serendel would have to be dumped when we got to where we had work to do, but Lidra and Chal would just have to live with it. Once we were finished they'd be able to find him again, of course, and I'd be able to get out of there and go back to work that really needed doing. I had no interest in belonging to in-groups—of any kind—and once I was back home I'd never have to be bothered by them again.
I was just finishing my third cup of javi when the car began slowing down from a headlong rush. There was still nothing but featureless black walls around us
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when we reached an easy gliding pace, and then sud- denly there was an open area of lights and color that looked very much like the one we'd left. As the car came to a smooth and uneventful stop I was able to see the one difference between there and the place we'd started, the sign on the wall that was now to the right of the stairs we faced. The sign read, "The Mists of Llexis," and as the doors opened there was another boy dressed as a page to greet us.
"Welcome, gentle travelers, welcome to the Mists of Uexis," the boy said, watching as we approached the doors from where we'd been when the car had stopped. "I'm here to take you to your journey scout, who will then get you settled in your accommodations in this part of the city. Please follow me."
Chal and Lidra stepped through the doorway without hesitation, following as requested, but Serendel didn't go with them. He stopped beside the door instead, looked down at me with those cold gray eyes, then gestured me out ahead of him with a small, sardonic bow. I was tempted to say thanks anyway, but I'd rather not have you behind me, but it really wasn't worth the effort. Rather than saying anything at all, I simply walked past him as though he weren't there, glancing around before moving after me three who had already begun climbing the stairs. That multi-colored area had the same panels with things behind them that the first place had had, but there still wasn't any way for me to check them out.
The climb up wasn't as long as the climb down had been, which was a lucky thing for Lidra. She was al- ready breathing heavily when we reached the top, but at least she wasn't gasping. Our page paused then to let us look around, which was really very wise of him. If he'd just continued on he would have found himself alone, and not because any of us, including Lidra, needed to rest. There had been some stray wisps of fog on the stairs as we'd rounded the last turn near the top, finding it thickening the higher we went, but it hadn't prepared us for what we finally moved up into.
All around us was swirling gray fog, roiling mists that refused us sight of the sky, and the sun, and even
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the ground we stood on. The only things that were visible were the items that had been built in and for the Mists, things like buildings. Not far from where we stood, on our left, was a line of buildings and stores and shops and stalls, all of it glowing faintly as though the construction material had been the very sun that the fog refused sight of, a sun that had been reduced to individual pieces of its spectrum. Reds and yellows and greens and blues glowed faintly through the gray of the fog, coloring small patches of the mist, looking like ghosts of things that were bright and real. Some- one clattered past us on a greenly-glowing cart, what was drawing the cart invisible in the fog, and finally our page decided he'd waited long enough.
"This way now, travelers, if you please," he said in a very firm tone, apparently having experience with needing to be firm. "Your journey scout is waiting for you in the assistance booth right over there. If at any time during your tour you happen to need help and your scout isn't available, simply go to one of those booths. There will be someone on duty at all times, and anyone you speak to will be glad to help."
We were being led off to the right during all that, in a direction that seemed to take us through a gap in other stalls, shops and buildings, toward a structure that was brighter than all the glowing objects around it. It looked very much like a slender pyramid built of cold, blue-white fire, and was obviously made to be easily visible in all directions. I tried to watch where I was putting my feet as I walked, and for that reason noticed the ground beneath us was cobblestoned in wide blocks, every fourth block glowing the way the buildings did. Strangely enough the mist felt warm and dry rather than damp as I passed through it, just as though someone had blotted up whatever moisture might have originally been present. I might have felt too warm if I'd been wearing normal clothing, which could have been one of the reasons we'd been given costumes.
It took only a couple of minutes to walk to the pyr- amid, and during that time a number of other people appeared out of the fog, passed us, men disappeared
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again. Only one of them was dressed in the same sort of leather costume the male members of our group wore, and that one strolled along being followed by men in short-skirted tunics of cloth. The one in leather paid no real attention to the ones in cloth, just as though he were allowing them the honor of being near him, but still didn't find it necessary to acknowledge their existence. The rest of the passersby wore noth- ing but cloth, walked alone, and moved so slowly they seemed to have all the time in the universe. Everyone we'd seen was moving slowly, except for our newest page.
"And here we are, gentle travelers," our page said, opening a door in the side of the pyramid that faced us, then leading the way inside. "Allow me to present Vdix, the journey scout who will look after you dur- ing your stay in the Mists."
"Words fail me to describe my delight in meeting you. lords and ladies,'* the scout said as we stopped just inside the doorway to stare at him, the comment most definitely on me dry side. "As you may have noticed from die release you all signed, during your stay here in the Mists, my suggestions are your com- mands. You go nowhere and do nothing without my express permission, or the one place you will go is back to the port to wait for your liner. Your time in the Mists will be the most unusual vacation you've ever had, but if you don't obey me it can also be the most dangerous. Since you* re paying for fun rather than harm, let's make sure that's what you get, eh? Are we all clear on how it will work?"
He looked around at each of us, calm arrogance and authority in the bright eyes that touched us. but he didn't get the sort of immediate agreement he was ob- viously looking for. I didn't know what was keeping the others quiet, but I was still too busy staring at him to have time to react to what he'd said. He was sitting calmly in the middle of the booth floor, paying no attention to the page behind him or the one who had brought us there, apparently also unaware of the fog that swirled around all of us, fighting with the bright lighting inside the booth. Sitting on his haunches his
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head was as high as mine, his beaked nose and mouth giving his dark eyes an even fiercer look. If I hadn't had other things to take my attention I might have wondered how he spoke our language so easily, but the impatient swishing of his long, tufted tail was too distracting. That tail led back up to a dark yellow body that was positively huge, and it was possible to see how well-muscled it was even with the folded dark green wings covering his back. I couldn't quite tell if his mane was fur or feathers, but it came more than halfway down his huge chest, toward four feet that were rather clearly taloned.
I had been expecting our journey scout to be an older version of the pages, but what he had turned out to be was a nonhuman Griddenth.
Chapter 8
"For the amount of money I'm being charged, I ex- pect to have some say in what I see and do," Lidra remarked at last, the first of us to come out of it. "Paying for the privilege of being bossed around isn't my idea of a fun vacation, Velix, and I think my at- torneys will see it the way I do. I agreed to obey the rules of the Mists in the release I signed, but I never agreed to become a puppet or a slave. If that's the way you intend interpreting the release, you'd better get one of your bosses in here to discuss the point with us."
"I'm afraid I'll have to go along with the lady," Serendel put in as the Griddenth glared at Lidra, the man's words sounding almost amused. "I'll be more than happy to have your advice and guidance, but I don't obey anyone without question. If that's the way you intend running this tour, you'd better find a dif- ferent group to do it with."
"So I've been blessed with not one but two free souls this time around," the Griddenth growled, look- ing between Lidra and Serendel, his bearing now much more aristocratic and even less distantly familiar than it had been. "You both seem to think I'm exaggerating the danger and playing tyrant for the fun of it, but that's only because you've never been through here before. You're the ones who decide which way you'll go after the set tour areas are visited and what you'll do when you get there, but I'm the one who tells you whether it's smart to go that way or do as you intend. That point doesn't happen to be subject to debate with 134
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me or my superiors, and if you can't accept it you'll simply have to leave. Now, which way will it be: do you stay, or do you go back where you came from?"
He set the question flatly in front of them, no doubt at all in any part of his bearing, and Lidra, at least, seemed more than simply annoyed. Considering the fact that we couldn 't just turn around and go back, she wasn't free to push the matter too far, not if there was any chance at all the management of the Mists would back Velix. As a matter of fact she'd already made more of a fuss than she should have; if they thought we were likely to cause trouble, they'd watch us more closely than we'd find comfortable or convenient. I saw her lips tighten in angry determination, as though she'd just decided not to let herself be pushed around, and if I'd had the time I would have groaned. Since I didn't have the time, what I did instead was step for- ward before she put all our feet in it-
"What difference can it possibly make who decides what?" I asked, addressing most of the question to Lidra while hoping she'd understand what I was really saying. "Maybe you and Chal expect to have a good time here, but for my part I've come for no more than a single reason. If I listen to them and do exactly as they say and still don't enjoy myself, they can't very well complain I didn't go along, now can they?"
She had her eyes on me by the time I'd finished, and this time I could see frustration in them instead of the previous looking-for-a-fight. She'd read my message ten and zero and was wishing she could argue, but wasn't dim enough to think she really could. Behind her to the left Chal stood with nothing but blandness in his expression, but if that wasn't a hint of relief in his eyes, I've never seen the emotion. No more than seconds went by while Lidra swallowed the bitter pill, and then she nodded with no indication of defeat what- soever.
"You know. Inky, you've made a very good point," she said, then moved her gaze directly to the Grid- denth. "It will be a much stronger stand if we go along with their absurd demands, and our vacation is ruined because of it- My lawyers have won any number of
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cases like that, but the position does require full co- operation. I'll have to be very careful to see that I do exactly what Velix says—within reason, of course."
"Your graciousness is an inspiration to us all, Lady," Velix said with an infinitesimal bow of his head, sarcasm dripping from every word. **I look for- ward to our association during this tour. And what decision have you made, lord Serendel?"
With our own problem solved I found myself hoping th&fighter would stick to his previous stance and turn around and leave, but no such luck. He smiled faintly, possibly at the realization that Velix had recognized him but hadn't shown it in any way other than using his name, and then he shrugged.
**I can't afford the time leaving and going some- where else would cost me,*' he said, sounding no more apologetic or defeated than Lidra had. "I'm here so m be staying here, but it's only fair to warn you about one important point. If I'm told why I shouldn't be doing something I'll most likely go along with the rec- ommendation, but if I'm simply given an order I tend to get annoyed. You really should understand that I, unlike me lady, rarely hand over my annoyances to lawyers. When people understand I prefer dealing with them myself, I find a much smaller number of annoy- ances to deal with."
"Hardly surprising," the Griddenth commented, and I would have sworn he'd developed the same sort of faint smile worn by the man. "When one refuses to accept petty annoyances, one finds fewer of them offered. I'm sure we'll strike a balance acceptable to both of us. Are there any other questions or protests waiting their turn to be placed or lodged?"
He looked around at all of us again, giving it plenty of time rather than none at all, but even though Lidra stirred where she stood, no one took him up on his offer of an argument. I had the feeling he was neatly reestablishing his authority, and when no one chal- lenged it he nodded his head and stood.
"We'll go on to your accommodations, then, and on the way I'll explain what your places are in this town," he said, briefly shaking out his wings as he moved
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toward us. "The period of time is taken from the planet Llexis* distant past, and although they all consider it fact-bound history, the rest of the Empire tends to think of it more as fanciful imagination. Llexians like to believe their distant ancestors had the ability to do magic."
"I've heard that before," Chal put in as we fol- lowed our scout back into the fog, leaving the two pages behind in the booth. **I used to wonder how they could believe that in the face of logic and reason, and then I found out. They think the ability was lost some- where along the road to advanced civilization, that whatever caused the talent to do magic atrophied like the appendix some members of our race once had. It's been theorized that the appendix allowed the human animal to take nutrition from the bark of trees, but once they developed a hunting and farming culture to replace simple gathering, they no longer had a need for it. It was . . ."
"Exactly, exactly," Velix interrupted courteously but hastily, happily heading off what promised to be a very long lecture on comparative biology. "Our peo- ple felt the belief would do very well here in the Mists, and this town is the result of that conviction. Those who wear plain cloth are commoners, those in leather like that worn by you gentlemen are upper class lords, and those in glowing robes are magicians. You ladies are also dressed as members of the upper class, and that's the way you'll all be treated— except by the other members of the upper class."
"Sounds to me like the rivalry was somewhat in- tense," Serendel commented, apparently interested. I, myself, was more interested in something I'd noticed about Velix, a fact that could turn out to be very handy later on. As I walked beside him through the ever- present fog, the sound of his talons clicking against the cobblestones was very clear. If he didn't have some way of muting that sound, we'd never have to wonder whether or not he was in the immediate vicinity. En- gaging in frowned-upon activities went easier and more successfully with a break like that, but before we re- lied on the theory it would have to be tested.
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"The rivalry was more than 's omewhat' intense," Velix said to Serendel, now apparently amused. "Every member of the upper class was ready, at a moment's notice, to insult or destroy any other mem- ber. The only thing that kept it from being a time of constant, all-out warfare was the presence of the ma- gicians. Every lord had a magician backing his House, and the strength of his magician determined what he could and couldn't do against the others. After you've rested, you gentlemen will have the chance to choose magicians of your own."
"What about 'we ladies'?" Lidra asked at once, taking her attention from a pinkly-glowing house on the left that seemed to have a lot of windows, all of them lit. "Don't we get to choose magicians for our own Houses?"
"Alas. dear lady, the period of time didn't work that way," Velix answered as he turned his head to her, his amusement perfectly clear under the sorrowful tone he'd adopted. "Only lords were permitted to be heads of Households, never a lady alone. The ladies were another popular point of contention for the lords, and may well have been the most popular. If a lady struck a lord's fancy he simply claimed her, and the strength of his magician determined whether or not he got to keep her. You two ladies will certainly be claimed almost immediately, and if the magicians chosen by the lords who accompany you aren't powerful enough, you'll need to accede to the wishes of the claiming lord- If the chosen magicians prove more powerful than their adversaries, you'll be the undisputed property of the lord accompanying you. That's the way the game works, and I believe both of you ladies indicated com- plete willingness to comply in your releases."
"But what if we don't have a lord accompanying us?" I said, finally finding something of my own to argue about. "I agreed to go along with the game where the people working here are concerned, but nothing was said about my having to be stuck with some other guest like myself. If something had been said, I would have had the chance to enter a refusal, just the way I'm doing now."
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"My dear young lady, we do have experience in arranging these matters," Velix said as he this time looked at me, superior and almost condescending re- proof in his voice. "If there had been no other ac- ceptable guest to add to your party, one of our own would have been added to balance your numbers. With lord Serendel available, however, the effort became unnecessary. For you, he's the lord accompanying you."
I thought I heard a sound like swallowed laughter, but when I turned my head fast to the right, the fighter was looking down at me with the blandest expression I'd ever seen. When he saw me looking at him he shrugged just a little, his small headshake adding to the impression of total resignation in the face of com- plete helplessness, a defeat accepted even before battle had been joined. I'm sure he thought he was being really cute, but I was in no mood to be the butt of anyone's joke.
"As I said, I never agreed to let myself get stuck with some stranger," I told Velix as I turned back to look at him, even less friendliness in my tone than there had been. "Since there isn't anyone acceptable around to be my lord, I'll just have to do without one.''
"No one acceptable?" the Griddenth echoed in near outrage, those bright, dark eyes glaring at me. "My dear young woman, have you any idea what you're saying? Don't you know—"
He broke off in the middle of the sentence, obvi- ously fighting to keep from talking about things his job didn't allow him to talk about, and then he got a firmer grip on himself.
"All right, I think it's fairiy clear that whatever gods there may be are displeased with me," he said, a strong determination to cope now in his tone. "Nev- ertheless, I think 1*11 be best off ignoring that and sim- ply going ahead as though they weren't. If you intend arguing the term 'acceptable,' young lady, you ought to know how these matters are judged. A court will poll a hundred women from your own home world, and if three-quarters of them or more disagree with your decision, the court will find against you. You will
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be told that we had every right to eject you from the Mists for breach of contract, and not only won't you be relieved of the necessity for paying us the full amount charged, you'll also be given the burden of paying court costs. And just in case you're uncertain as to how the poll will turn out, I'll let you in on a little secret. One of the larger glad program networks already did a poll about three months ago, using the top five winners as their offering and every woman between the ages of sixteen and ninety on every planet the network broadcast to as their base. Based on the results of that poll, and bearing in mind the fact that even women who weren't regular viewers of arena events were counted in, my advice to you would be to not waste your time and money."
"I seriously doubt whether any court can tell me I have to like what everyone else likes," I countered, feeling the need to dent his heavy satisfaction a little, but more concerned with a different point he'd men- tioned. "My planet has laws guaranteeing my right to my own taste in things as long as no one else is af- fected by my choice, but I don't understand why you're being so unbending about this. Why would I be ejected from the tour if all I did was refuse to associate with someone in my own group?"
"The answer to that, dear lady, is that a choice of such a sort on your part would afreet many more peo- ple than just yourself," he answered with a sigh, stop- ping where we were in the fog to look directly at me. "Based on the answers given in your release, certain specifics were arranged for this group's tour, and lord Serendel was added to it. If you try changing your mind now, after everything has been arranged, our tour plans are ruined and so is lord Serendel's vacation. With that in view our only option would be to eject you, replace you with one of our own people, and then charge you for the time lost. You would also be ex- pected to pay for the tour as though you'd taken it, and if it came down to going to court, your signatures of agreement on the release would make the term 'ac- ceptable' a matter of general opinion rather than a spe- cific. Do you understand what I'm saying, or must I
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go through it again more slowly and in greater detail? I'll be happy to go over it as many times as you like, but I really must have an answer from you now. If you insist on keeping to your refusal, I have to see about sending you back and bringing one of our workers in to replace you."
I didn't answer him immediately, but not because I didn't understand him or was worried about having to pay for a tour I hadn't taken. My hesitation was based entirely on the apparent fact that if I refused to go along with their game, they'd kick me out without waiting for another reason- Having to go back home immediately rather than after a delay would not be my idea of a heartbreaking outcome, but that would leave Lidra and Chal in a bind after I'd given my word to help them. I stood there for a minute without being able to see any way out of the mess, and then Chal decided to do for me what I'd done for Lidra.
"Come on. Inky, you don't want to spoil our va- cation, too," he coaxed. "If you aren't here with us we'll have a miserable time no matter how much fun it turns out to be, so tiy to be reasonable. And I'll tell you what: if it happens that Serendel's magician is stronger than a claimant's and you make an effort to get along with the winner but can't, you and Lidra can trade lords for a while. You don't consider me unac- ceptable, do you?"
He gave me a smile with the question, emphasizing the personal and deemphasizing the fact that he'd re- minded me I was needed, and because he was looking at me he missed the peculiar expression that Lidra briefly showed. She'd agreed completely with the first part of his speech, but when she realized he'd offered himself in the place of Serendel, she hadn't seemed to like the idea. Considering the way she supposedly felt about the big fighter her reaction was very interesting, but I had no rime at all to think about it. Velix seemed even more pleased with dial's offer, and quickly added some urging of his own.
"And you really must remember that a lord is needed no place but here, in the Mists of Llexis," he said, settling his wings flatter in a very comfortable
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way. "Once we move on to the next place on your tour, the scenario will be entirely different."
"And it could turn out that my—lord—picks a ma- gician who can't cut it," I added my own oar, trying to sound as though that possibility in itself made it worth taking a chance. "All right, I'll agree to give it a try, and if the try doesn't work I'll go for the swap. As long as there isn't some rule or regulation against swapping."
I looked at Velix as I said that, daring him to even hint there was, but all I got was a headshake and the suggestion of a smile of amusement. I thought that would be the end of the subject, but someone else turned out to have a question.
"Now that the point's been mentioned, how do we pick our magicians?" Serendel asked, totally placid and not even glancing in my direction. "I want to make sure, you understand, that I don't pick anything but the best available."
He gave our journey scout a very innocent smile then, and I think if Velix had been human he would have had to mb at his face while he coughed into his hand. The Griddenth found Serendel amusing, but I still didn't.
"We'll discuss the matter of choosing after you've all rested," Velix's answer came i n a familiarly bland and innocent way, as he leaned back on his haunches to gesture behind us with one taloned forepaw. "The guest house right there is where you'll be introduced to the magicians, so the stop is essential. After that you'll plunge right into upper class society, and will be given accommodations at the palace any time you want them. The activities go on nonstop over there, and you're free to go on with them as long as you feel yourselves able. My humble advice to you is to take full advantage of this stop to restore yourselves."
After having stressed the word "humble" he got back to his feet and moved through our line to lead the way into the guest house, leaving behind him the dis- tinct impression that he was doing all in his power to keep from insulting us with orders rather than sugges- tions. I'd never met a Griddenth before getting to that
r ^
^
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planet, even though they'd been full members of the Empire for more than a hundred years. If they were all as arrogant and sarcastic as Velix, though, it was fairly clear I hadn't missed much.
We followed our scout through the front door of the guest house and were met Just inside by two people, a man and a woman, in the cloth outfits of the lower class. They greeted us warmly, told us we could have anything we wanted just by asking for it, then led us through the large entrance room to a stairway going up. There were a lot of lamps lit all around the room and on the wall by the stairs, but their numbers didn't help that much against the thick fog hanging every- where. The guest house seemed to be made entirely of wood with heavy leather furniture standing around waiting to be used, but th& fog turned everything into a suggestion of itself, insubstantial-looking and there- fore possibly unreal.
We were taken to the second floor and shown to rooms, one for each of us and no nonsense about shar- ing between lords and their ladies. The man who had opened the room for me urged me to look around while he got Lidra settled, and if there was anything I wanted he would be available very shortly to supply it. The first thing I looked at was him leaving and closing the door as he went, wondering if his offer was really as broad as he'd made it sound. He was definitely on the handsome side and hadn't looked bad in his short cloth outfit, but for some reason I couldn't generate much interest in taking him up on the suggestion he might have been making. I wasn't on that trip for the purpose of having fun, and the urge to get on with it was be- ginning to grow stronger than it had been.
I did take the time to look around the room, and was unsurprised to find a fully equipped bathroom behind one of the doors. What did surprise me was finding my luggage behind the door that hid a closet, and I couldn't help noticing that it hadn't been unpacked. It seemed to have been sent along with me in case I needed something from it, but otherwise could simply be ignored. Since I didn't need anything right then I ignored it. but felt a little better knowing my bodysuits
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were handy if I wanted one- I was looking forward to it not being very long before I was able to get down to work, and that would be when I wanted one.
My temporary accommodations were moderate in size, with a large bed opposite the door to the hall, three leather chairs scattered around the room, the bathroom and closet doors in the wall to the left, and three wide windows in the wall to the right. All the windows showed was more fog with ghost-lights ap- pearing here and there in it, the same sort of fog that shared the room with me, the stuff I was beginning to get tired of looking at. I went to the bed and sat down on it, wondering what you were supposed to do during that rest time if you didn't feel like resting. The bed- cover seemed to be svalk, comfortable but not terribly interesting even though the color was a pretty rose. I lay down on it for a while, counted wounded minutes dragging themselves by, then finally sat up again. Even more lame time limped past, possibly a year or two, and then a knock came at my door.
"Who is it?" I asked, wondering if it was the man who had brought me to the room, coming back to re- offer his suggestion in case I was bored. I still wasn't interested in that sort of a distraction, but I needn't have worried. The door opened to admit Chal, cany- ing what looked like a blue flame in a small, round copper dish, and when he closed the door behind him- self he turned to face me with a grin.
"Isn't this the wildest thing you've ever seen?" he asked as he came toward me, sounding like a little boy with a brand-new gadgettoy. "That woman is the most brilliantly creative person I've ever met, male or fe- male. I can't get rid of the delightful feeling that I'm in the middle of a children's adventure book."
"If we end up getting caught doing the wrong thing, I doubt if you'll have trouble losing the feeling," I commented, trying to be as specific and yet obscure as it was possible to be. I didn't know why he was suddenly acting as though we didn't have to watch what we said, but it didn't seem wise to go along with him in it.
"Oh, you don*t have to worry about anyone over-
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hearing us," he said as he sat at the foot of the bed opposite me, just as though he'd read my mind. "As long as this flame stays blue, there aren't any listening devices operating near us and we can speak as we like. If anyone tries eavesdropping with nothing but ears, they'll find our conversation is too low for them to hear. If the flame suddenly turns orange, though, we'd better be fast about finding something innocent to dis- cuss."
"That's one of Lidra's devices?" I asked in sur- prise, finally understanding what he'd been talking about. "It doesn't look like anything but a plain cop- per bowl, and a small one at that. How can it do all that?"
"You're asking me?" he came back with a snort of amusement, giving me a wid® grin as he set the bowl down between us. "When it comes to electronics, I know nipping the switch up turns it on and down turns it off. If it doesn't have an on/off switch, which this doesn't, I usually ignore it entirely. That saves me from having to admit how far beyond me it is."
"You and me both," I muttered, leaning forward a little to peer at the bowl and the blue flame it held. "Isn't it too hot to Just set down on svalk like that? If we start a fire, we'll have to explain how it hap- pened- ''
"It isn't hot at all," he said, still enjoying whatever my expression must have been like. "No matter how real it looks, that flame isn't a flame, and it isn't bum- ing. I had to put my hand in it before I believed that, but there's really nothing there. Go ahead and try it for yourself."
"I'd rather take your word for it," I denied, sitting straight again. "With the way my luck's been going, I'd probably find out it only bums females. How did Lidra smuggle something like that in here?"
"She simply tossed it into her luggage," Chal said with a chuckle, leaning back against the padded foot- board. Serendel had complained about having trouble with the skirt of his costume, but even leaning back Chal wasn't having the same. "She tells anyone who asks that it's an ashtray for puffers, and even has the
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puffers to prove she indulges. She isn't anything like an habitual smoker, but every now and then she has one. She brought it to my room to explain how it works, then suggested I show it to you."
"Your being here is her idea?" I asked with brows high, finding myself distracted at last from the copper bowl and its nonflame. "After the offer you made me, that's about the last thing I would have expected her to do. Is she trying to show how broadminded she is, or that she doesn't really care?"
"Neither," he answered with a good deal of satis- faction, folding his arms as he looked at me. "You had to be told there was a way to speak freely when we had to, and I had something to pass on that I didn't want overheard. That made it my place to come in •here, but not with company. If Lidra had come with me without our inviting Serendel to join us, it wouldn't have looked right. And if the time comes that you want to speak to one or both of us in private, just make some comment about puffers. We'll get the message and be with you as quickly as possible."
"Puffers," I acknowledged with a nod, certain that he knew he hadn't really answered my question. "And what was it you felt you had to pass on in private?"
"I wanted you and Lidra to know about some of the things I brought along to help us," he answered, his expression now more businesslike. "According to what Velix said I expect us to be offered a lot of par- tying, and there's no reason for us to arouse suspicion by refusing to join in. If there's a lot of drinking going on, for instance, I can give you something to take be- forehand to keep you sober no matter how much you swallow, or I can give you something afterward that will sober you up in about fifteen minutes. If we have to stay awake for long periods of time you have the same choice, something to keep you awake, alert and refreshed, or something to make you that way when you're dead on your feet. We'll be smartest eating as much as we can as often as we're able, but if for some reason provisions become unavailable, I can take care of that, too. In addition to those I also have a good supply of pain-killers, antibiotics, sleep-assists, and
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me like, and all of it's compatible with the biosphere around us. My initial research made sure of that, but I double-checked with the entrance officials here just to be on the safe sid e. We may need to take time to recover from the strain afterward, but for the short time we'll be using the compounds, we should sustain no lasting physical damage."
"And you brought it in as your own medication," I said with another nod, remembering when he'd men- tioned it to the Customs officials. "I hadn't expected something like mat, and I have to admit I'm im- pressed. Do you happen to have something to take against the possibility of sudden, extreme nausea?"
He frowned briefly at that, at first taking the ques- tion seriously, and then he understood what I meant.
"I'm realty sorry you've decided you'll be feeling that way with Serendel," he said, his light eyes ex- amining me soberiy. "I still don't really understand what went on between you two, or why you refused to accept his apology."
"What went on was that he tried to con me, and apologizing for something like that is never more than an extension of the con," I said, turning to stand a thick pillow against the headboard for me to lean against. Chal had been polite enough not to put his curiosity as a question, which meant I didn't mind an- swering what he hadn't asked. "I also don't like being done favors, and that's what Serendel's attention feels like to me. The big man has graciously decided to give the little girl a giant thrill, but the little girl isn't in- terested in buying. The man who raised me taught me that people who grant you favors aren't worth know- ing; only the ones who are willing to exchange favors think of themselves as dealing with equals rather than doormats."
"I really do think you're misjudging Serendel," he said with a sigh, shifting a little against the footboard. "I'm willing to bet more than one of the top fighters are like that, but I don't think he is. If I'm right, though, you'll probably find it out for yourself. The man you mentioned, the one who raised you—he sounds like an extraordinary person."
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"He was," I said, smiling just a little at the mem- ories all the ruthless killing in the Empire couldn't destroy. "There was a time right after my mother died that I pretended Seero was my father, taking the trou- ble to raise and protect me even though he didn't want to acknowledge me. He wasn 't my biological father, but by the time I was able to admit that to myself, it no longer mattered. He proved himself my father with everything he said and did, and the fact that we shared no common blood made it better than if we had. He didn't have to take care of me, he wanted to; if that didn't make him my father, nothing in the universe including blood would have."
"I see I was right about him being extraordinary," Chal said with a smile, and then the smile faded. "I— don't quite know how to ask this without insulting you, but there's something I've been very curious about. If the man who raised you was so special, and everything you've said confirms that—how did you end up in the- unusual—occupation you've reportedly become so good at?"
"That must be the most tactful way of putting it I've ever heard," I said with a grin. finding his open em- barrassment amusing. "Seero told me right at the be- ginning that there were two kinds-of people: those who would understand what we were doing, and those who wouldn't. He said I'd know which were which by the way they approached the subject, and damned if he wasn't right as usual."
"I hope that means you think I'm one who would," he said, a wry expression showing that was probably the result of my grin. ' 'I really meant what I said about not wanting to insult you, so if you'd rather not talk about it all you have to do is say so. On the other hand my curiosity is close to killing me, so ..."
"... so why don't I save your life by giving you a chance to understand," I finished for him with a chuckle when he just let the last word trail off. "It so happens I do think you're the type to understand, but I also think you have the right to make up your own mind about it. Let's start with the way Seero first ex- plained it to me, when I asked him why he took things
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rather than working for them the way my mother had. I was very young at the time, and he knew I wasn't judging or criticizing, only asking."
"Just the way I'm doing," Chal put in, abruptly looking very virtuous despite the amusement in his eyes.
"Yes, just the way you're doing, sweetheart," I agreed with the sort of oil you use on a child when you think it's too young to understand it's being pa- tronized. Chal winced and held his hands up in sur- render, admitting defeat and letting me go on-
" Seero took me out onto the dining terrace, sat me down with a soft drink the two of us shared, and then told me gently that the Empire wasn't the fair, just place everyone liked to pretend it was. There were people who worked hard for'what they had and others who tried to take those things away from them, but not all of those who took were arrested, tried and put in a cell. Some were too clever or competent to be caught by the police, but by far the largest number of them bought their way out of trouble. Some did the buying with the jobs they held, as politicians or judges or maybe even as police. Others used part of the money they stole to buy themselves out of trouble with poli- ticians or judges or police, using what they took to keep themselves in a position to take even more. The honest police couldn't touch them because the honest police had to work within the law, and it was almost impossible to have them do that and still expect them to get anywhere. That made the bad people think they were something special, that they had the right to keep stealing from innocent people and getting away with it. Seero said he didn't blame them for thinking that, but he didn't agree."
"Don't tell me that's who you took from!" Chal said with sudden delight, sitting up away from the footboard. "You and he went after the crooks who stole and got away with it?"
"Yes, but it's not quite the virtue you're trying to make it sound like," I answered, smiling only faintly at his enthusiasm. "No matter who the targets of our stroking were, it was still stealing and against the law.
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We ended up being responsible for quite a few of the supposedly untouchable getting caught, because when we cleaned them out we forced them to go back to the well before it was really safe, thereby setting them up. We even helped put the skids to small Twilight Houses on behalf of larger Houses, to keep the small-fry from growing up and carving out pieces of their own terri- tory. But that, Chal, doesn't mean we weren't steal- ing. It only means we stole from those who had no legitimate claim to what they had. Seero refused to start training me until I proved to him I understood the point. We might have been stealing only from scum, but if we*d gotten caught we would have been the ones who ended up in a cell."
'-- "If you ask me, you were both making too much of die point," he said, and damned if he wasn't acting stiff-necked and offended on Seero's and my behalf- **If the law can't touch somebody, does that mean they're entitled to get away with what they do? No matter who gets hurt? I don't happen to believe that, which is one of the reasons I'm here right now. The S.I. isn't as helpless as planetary officials are, and I'll bet they don't think you did wrong, either."
"Don't make bets you can't afford to lose," I told him, remembering what that S.I. man Filster had said to me. "Most people can't be bothered with differen- tiating between one thief and the next, and you can't really blame them. Stealing is stealing, no matter how well you justify it. Seero and I simply felt that what- ever ends we accomplished made the rest of it worth- while; I'm just glad you're one of the few who agree."
"Damned right I agree," he huffed as he leaned back again, still touchy but beginning to calm down. "People who take advantage of the helpless set their own rules for the game, and have no call to complain when others play by those rules. If they're as helpless before you and the man who raised you as others are before them, who could have the gall to say it's un- fair? And—ah—I think I've been very insensitive. It's only just come through to me from the way you were speaking— The man Seero is dead?"
"Yes, he's dead," I said, looking down away from
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Chal to keep the whole thing from flooding over me again. Every time I met someone I liked, my first urge was to drag them home and introduce them to Seero, to let them see for themselves how wonderful he was. Even after almost a year, I still hadn't learned not to do that. Somehow I didn't think I would ever leam not to.
"Inky, I'm sorry," Chal said, and the tone of his voice was compassion rather than pity. "I didn't mean to bring the pain back to you, not for the sake of noth- ing but curiosity. I can see I should have kept my big mouth closed.'*
"No, Chal, it wasn't your fault," I said, looking back to his very serious face and forcing a smile. "You couldn't have known, and talking about it just helps to remind me that it's all being taken care of- But I've also been reminded of something else, and since we're into asking each other openly direct questions I'm go- ing to repeat one to you: why didn't Lidra mind your coming here to talk to me alone?"
"I never said she didn't mind," he corrected me, a faint look of satisfaction suddenly back on his face. I didn't know if he realized I was changing subjects on purpose, but he didn't seem reluctant to cooperate in the effort. * 'What I said was that Lidra understood why she couldn't come with me and suggested that I come alone, not that she didn't mind staying behind. But that's not all she was bothered by, only I didn't see it until she came to my room."
"She isn't as happy about the swap as she expected to be," I guessed, positive that had something to do with it. "She thinks Serendel might not be attracted to her, and she doesn't want her idol yawning in her face."
"Inky, Lidra's not like that at all," he protested, moving around again where he sat, his expression now faintly hurt. "She knows Serendel is too much of a decent person to do something like that to her, and it isn't even the fact that she knows he prefers you. When she came into my room she was so quiet I almost didn't recognize her, and although I could see she really didn't want me coming in here alone, she forced her-
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self to tell me I had to. We all have a job to do, and Lidra knows that has to come first."
"Then what could her problem possibly be?" I de- manded, sitting up away from the pillow. "I thought she was jealous over the offer you made, but what you're describing doesn't sound like jealousy."
"I'm hoping it's better than jealousy," he said, and now he was back to grinning faintly, a definite twinkle in his light eyes. "I have a feeling the first part of Lidra's problem is that she isn't quite as—eager—to have sex with every acceptable male in sight as she pretends to be. It wasn't until she realized I was seri- ously attracted to her that she let me come closer than arm's length, and just between the two of us,-I'm not very used to that. I may not be a fighter like Serendel, but I seem to attract women almost as easily as he does. When Lidra told me she wanted children I agreed to father at least one of them, but nothing was dis- cussed about any sort of relationship beyond that, and I never told her I didn't want her getting involved with Serendel. I didn't have the right to tell her something like that, especially not without specific agreements between us."
"But—then. I don't understand at all," I protested, really feeling confused. "She kept insisting she would do just about anything to get Serendel into bed, and now that she practically has him there she's trying to turn and run the other way. And why isn't she at least faintly annoyed that you offered to swap her for me? More than once I had the impression she was looking at you like private property."
"I think she realized she hasn't done anything to give her the right to look at me that way," he an- swered, and again that satisfaction was there. "I'm convinced she didn't oner anything in the way of a relationship because she's been hurt in the past, quite a few times, and didn't want it happening again. I thought she understood how deep my interest in her goes, but now I can see she's been deliberately letting it slide right past her. And I didn't swap Lidra for you;
I swapped Serendel for me, and that Lidra does un- derstand."
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"I'm glad someone's following what's happening," I muttered, leaning back on the pillow again to give him what I like to think of as a balefiil stare. "What's the difference who got swapped for whom? We're still talking about the same swap, aren't we?"
"Oh no, we're not," he came back, grinning at my annoyance. "Lidra realizes I used the opportunity of a near-crisis to not only smooth things over for you. but to also give her what she kept insisting she wanted. I don't think anyone's ever done that for her before, and I'm certain she didn't expect it to be done this time either. She's been very careful to maintain the attitude that says there's nothing between us but an agreement to make a child, all the while loudly ex- claiming how acceptable she found Serendel. I'm sure she does consider him acceptable, but only in a dis- tant, biological way."
"You mean she kept drooling out loud over Seren- del because she never expected to end up anywhere near him," I said slowly as the light finally came, distantly knowing Seero would have understood a good deal sooner. "And she barely glanced in your direc- tion because you were right there and closer than arm's reach, able to hurt her badly if she showed the least sign of interest going deeper than plain sex. Now she's trapped because Serendel and I aren't getting along, and she may even be put into the position of having to sleep with him. Chal, you have to do something! Hitting her with a problem like that just isn't fair."
"You have to remember how unfair a place the Em- pire really is," he answered with a smile for the way I was sitting straight again, then held up a hand to cut off the immediate protest I began. "Inky, Lidra cer- tainly does have a terrible problem, but it's nothing I can help her with. If I work very hard and manage to convince her I want her on a more permanent basis than the one she's offering, she may come around to agreeing to go along with it, but she'll never really believe it. She has to decide on taking one last chance of letting her own feelings out, and give me the chance to respond to them. That way she'll be able to accept what I'm offering, and won't ever have to wonder if
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it's the truth. If I don't make her do that, then we'll never have anything worthwhile between us."
"Worthwhile," I echoed, wondering how so inno- cent-sounding a word could be responsible for so many difficulties. "And just what do you consider that to be, Chal? What is it you want happening between you andLidra?"
"I want us to make a life together," he answered very simply, his warm, happy smile turning him even more handsome than usual. "I've always found it very convenient having so many women attracted to me; it gave me the chance to look carefully for the one I wanted. I was certain I would find her some day, and when I met Lidra I knew that some day had come. We share so many pastime interests we might as well be the same person, but our major career paths are so widely separated that one can never intrude on the other. Since she's as brilliant in her field as I am in mine, our children will have the potential of being just about anything they please. Our house can have two labs, one for her, one for me, and I'll never have to worry about her coming into mine to 'straighten a lit- tle.' There are all sorts of benefits in marrying a highly intelligent woman, and that's just the best of them."
By then he was grinning at me, the joke he'd made trying to turn the situation funny rather than touching, but I couldn't see it that way. His intentions seemed like the most wonderful thing I'd ever heard, the son of romantic drivel you laugh at in books, but can't quite laugh at in real life. I found myself envying Lidra instead of feeling sorry for her, as it seemed fairly clear that Chal had no intentions of letting her get away. I spent a very short instant wondering what that would be like, and then I smiled at him.
"I hope it works out the way you want it to," I told him, and I was sure he could see I wasn't just saying that. "I suppose I'd also better hope now that it doesn't come down to my having to swap Serendel for you. That would just make things harder all around."
"Not at all," he said with a continuing grin, begin- ning to get back to his feet. "The swap might be just the thing to push Lidra past that blind spot of hers. If
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she wants my attention while not having to give any- one else hers, she'll have to talk to me. I'm sure she feels about me the way I feel about her; all I have to do now is get her to admit it."
"All," I repeated with a laugh, watching as he re- trieved the copper bowl with its blue fire from the bed. "I'm glad my end of this three-way partnership is the easy one; the only thing I have to do is get us into a place people don't want us getting into. Security sys- tems are a lot easier to get past than emotional de- fenses."
"You may be right, but emotional defenses are all I'm equipped to handle," he answered with a chuckle, then sobered just a little. "And speaking of emotions, if Serendel wasn't truly sorry for his misjudgment in his conversation with you, he ought to leave the arena and take up acting. He was trying to make associating with him easier for you by evoking faint pity first and then humor, but you reacted in a way he wasn't ex- pecting. He said if he'd known you had the soul of a female glad, he wouldn't have worried about your be- ing afraid of him."
"Well, he's right about my not being afraid of him," I said with a snort, leaning back against the pillow again. "As far as the rest of it goes, though, I don't want associating with him made any easier. Bot- tom line is, I don't intend associating with him at all. There's the faint possibility I may have to sleep with him, but that doesn't mean I have to talk to him."
"Inky, don't make the mistake of offering him a challenge," Chal warned, now completely serious. "He ignores that son of thing from noncombatants, but he seems to have classified you differently- If you annoy him too badly, you may find him reacting in the mental set that makes him a very successful fighter. If you find you need to talk about that or anything else, Just come to my room. Lidra is next to you on the right, I'm beyond her, and Serendel is beyond me. Right now, I'd better get back to where I belong."
I nodded to show I agreed he'd already been in my room long enough as far as possible suspicion went, and once he was gone I was able to look down at my
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hands without being bothered by someone who had obviously studied the mental sciences as well as the biological ones. I didn't feel uncomfortable, exactly, most certainly not where that big fool Serendel was involved, but I didn't quite understand what Chal had meant when he'd said th e fighter had classified me as other than a noncombatant. I didn't like the sound of it any more than I liked the man himself, and snorted out loud at the thought of how solicitous he'd been of my feelings. I wasn't afraid of him or anyone, and if I had to prove it there on Joelare the way I had on Gryphon, I would.
I sat up to lay the pillow flat, then stretched out, wondering in annoyed impatience Just how long a time we'd be wasting in "rest.'* If it turned out to be too long, they'd find themselves in possession of a com- plaint they couldn't simply gloss over. Having a guest dying of boredom was very bad press, and if they knew what was good for them they'd try hard to avoid it.
Chapter 9
Our rest time was long enough for me to fall asleep for a while, which didn't turn out to be as unwelcome as I'd thought it would. When I woke I had enough time to stretch comfortably while I considered getting up, and then soft, pleasant music began playing in the room. The music went on only long enough to wake me if I'd been asleep, and then a woman's voice an- nounced that my presence was requested in the dining room downstairs at my earliest convenience. Once the voice had stopped I wondered very briefly what they would do if I simply turned over and went back to sleep, but I was only curious, not interested in trying to find out. I yawned and stretched a second time, then got up to use the bathroom.
As expected, even sleeping in the svalk costume hadn't wrinkled it. so all I had to do was throw a little cold water on my face and brush my hair, and then I was ready to go. The hall outside my door was de- serted when I walked out into it, and I couldn't help noticing how eerie the fog made everything look. There had been just as much fog inside my room, but there had also been a lot more light and the presence of windows. For some reason having fog around when there were also windows was less disturbing, but I hadn't any idea why that should be. I raised my head a little to show the fog I wasn't afraid of it either, and then moved deliberately through it toward the stairs leading down.
When I reached the lobby it was also deserted, but a glowing sign hanging in midair showed an arrow 157
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indicating the dining room somewhere off to the left around the staircase. I walked through the fog into the next room, expecting it to be just as empty as the lobby, but found instead that the next hovering arrow, still pointing left, also indicated a group of people. Our trusty journey scout Velix stood between Chal and Serendel, talking to them as he indicated four men seated in large, ornate wooden chairs which stood side by side in front of the wall the two men and Velix faced. The seated four had long white hair and beards, eyes which glittered even from where I was, and wore ankle-length, long-sleeved robes that glowed even more strongly than the lights and signs around us. None of the four looked at the men who were exam- ining them, instead gazing straight ahead while resting their arms on the chair arms, and as I came up behind those who were observing them I was able to hear what Velix was saying.
** ... are the ones you'll be choosing among for your personal magicians," the Griddenth told the two men, sounding very firm. "Whether or not there are others available makes no difference at all, lord Ser- endel. These four arc representatives of the available talent, and it's up to you gentlemen to each choose the one you think will serve you best. You may each ask one question of any two of them, and then you must state your choice. Since lord Serendel got down here first and therefore gets to choose first, lord Chal may ask his questions first."
"That's your idea of giving me a break?" Chal said with wry amusement, his eyes still moving among the four who were seated. "How am I supposed to know what to ask them?"
"You're supposed to ask them questions which will tell you whether or not you want their protection," Velix answered, less wry and more amused. "Look at them carefully, remember what their purpose will be, and then choose two to question. I can't be any more specific than that, or it won't be fair."
"I'd consider it fair," Chal came back in a way that made Serendel chuckle, and then he shook his head. "Well, if I have to, I suppose I might as well get on
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with it. You said to ignore the fact that they don't seem to be paying attention, and simply address the one I want to talk to? All right, then I'm addressing you, sir, the gentleman on the extreme left. Who's the most powerful magician among you four?"
"I am," the man addressed answered, sounding considerably younger than his appearance suggested. He'd answered without hesitation, but he hadn't even glanced at Chal.
"Since I don't get to choose first, maybe I shouldn't have asked that question," Chal said. looking to his right at Velix with raised brows. "What do I do now?"
"I would strongly suggest asking your second ques- tion," the Griddenth answered, now apparently even more amused. "You don't get involved much with gameplaying, do you, lord Chal?"
"I don't have the spare time most of it requires," Chal said, suspecting the Griddenth was trying to tell him something, but not knowing what- "I can't think of anything to ask that would better my first try, so all I can do is save Serendel the trouble and confirm what I've already been told. You, sir, second from the left. Who's the most powerful magician among you four?"
"I am," the second long-bearded man answered with as little hesitation as the first, also sounding equally as positive. He also made no attempt to look at Chal, but this time Chal was returning the compli- ment.
"I'll bet I wasted both of my questions, didn't I?" he asked Velix as he stared at the Griddenth, sounding more excited and enthusiastic than depressed over hav- ing messed up. "It didn't matter that I asked what I did, because it doesn't help Serendel any more than it helped me. Am I right?"
"In a way, you certainly are. lord Chal," Velix an- swered, his wings moving a little with his amusement. "At the very least, as far as your own efforts go, you have wasted your questions. Let's see if lord Serendel can do any better."
I joined the two of them in looking at the fighter. but probably unlike them I was hoping he would not do better. For his part Serendel was staring narrow-
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eyed at each of the four magicians, but rather than simply looking them over, he seemed to be searching for something in particular. After a minute or so his inspection ended, and a faint smile raised the ends of that long red mustache.
"I believe you said they would all tell the truth, at least as far as they see it," he stated to rather than asked Velix, only glancing at the Griddenth long enough to see his nod of confirmation. "In that case, I'll address my first question to the one here in front of me, on the far right. After yourself, who's the most powerful magician in this group of four?"
"After me, the most powerful is Jejin,*' the man answered at once, still staring off into space some- where but giving me the distinct impression he was beginning to be amused. Serendel nodded as though he*d gotten exactly the answer he'd been looking for, and then his eyes moved to one of the ones Chal had already questioned.
"You, second from the left," he said, his tone a good deal less respectful than Chal's had been. "Which one of you four is Jejin?"
"Jejin sits beside me to my left," the man an- swered, and I would have put money on the fact that he was enjoying himself as much as the other one had. Serendel nodded again, this time with that faint smile he liked so much, and then he was looking directly at Velix.
"Since first choice is mine, that's the one I want," he said, calm satisfaction in the decision. "The one named Jejin, who I believe is sitting second from the right. Do I have to do anything beyond stating the choice?"
"No, but I'd say lord Chal is curious as to why you did it the way you did," Velix answered, his tufted tail flicking back and forth. "You don't owe him an answer unless you want to give one, and you certainly don't have to say anything until he's made a choice of his own."
"But I can comment if I want to, which it so hap- pens I do," Serendel summed up, then looked at his fellow tourist. "Chal. we were told twice to look them
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over, and when I finally heard the hint and followed it, I noticed something interesting. They're all wearing the same kind of clothes, but not the same quality. They may all consider their own power the strongest, but if it isn't so, which it probably isn't, how other people see them is the most telling point. The strong- est will pull down more wealth than the others, so he should be dressed better than them. I asked who the second strongest was, got an answer that should nave been true, then double-checked it against appearances. The two matched, so I made my choice."
"Damned if you aren't right," Chal muttered, this time looking at the four magicians with purpose rather than aimlessly- "The one you picked is better dressed than any of the other three. And you did get use out of my wasted questions, by realizing that they can't be trusted to speak anything but opinion when it comes to themselves. I appreciate the help, my friend, and I'll use it to choose that one."
Chal pointed to the magician on our far left, the one he'd spoken to first, the one who, after the fighter's choice, was dressed in the best quality robe. It came to me to wonder if that was how Llexian magicians really had shown off their status spots, with more ma- terial acquisitions rather than fewer, but I didn't men- tion the point- My nemesis seemed to have overlooked the consideration, and I wouldn't have wanted to bring it up even if Velix hadn't already started going back to his take-charge guidance.
"Now that the choosing is taken care of, my lords, you and your ladies and your magicians are free to have your meal." the Griddenth said, just short of purring. "When you've finished eating I'll conduct you all to the nearest palace and its revelries, where you'll certainly have opportunity to test the wisdom in your choices of magicians. If you'll follow me?"
The two designated magicians had gotten out of their chairs to join our little group, and when Velix moved off to the left leading Chal and Serendel, they followed along behind. I hesitated for a moment, wondering how Lidra was supposed to find us, then glanced around to discover that she already had. She stood a few feet
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back from where we'd all been, a phantom of a ghost in the swirling fog, an odd, secret smile on her face as she watched the men moving behind Velix. She seemed more calmly amused than in the grip of the sort of disturbance Chal had described earlier, and when she saw me looking at her she actually grinned and winked. If she'd had her copper bowl I would have asked her what she found so funny, but without it all I could do was join her in adding to the parade behind Velix.
The room the magicians had been sitting in was wider than it was long, and the doors in the short left- hand wall were double with servants to see to their opening. We sailed on through as though we had just bought the place, and once into the next room we could see two long tables facing one another across a space of about ten feet. There were three heavy chairs set at the outer sides of each table, and a servant stood be- hind each of the six chairs. Velix stopped short of the tables, then nodded toward the one on the right.
"That one is for you and yours, lord Serendel, and the one to the left is yours, lord Chal," he said, his head moving around as though he were making sure everything had been set up right. "There will be en- tertainment during the meal, but I would advise using part of the time for getting acquainted with your newly acquired magicians. I'll rejoin you all after you've eaten."
He glanced at the two men he'd been talking to, again giving them the chance to ask any questions they might have. then moved off to the far right when they didn't take him up on the offer. As soon as he was gone from among us, the servants came forward to welcome us while deftly herding us to our respective places, and I found myself being seated first, in the center chair of the right-hand table. Through the fog I could see Lidra was being given the same honor at her own table, but I still would have made a fuss if I'd thought it would do any good. My digestion would have been considerably improved if the magician had been seated between me and Serendel instead of to my left with the fighter on my right, but our hosts obvi-
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ously didn't want it like that. Since I hadn't been given a choice there was nothing I could do but sit back in the padded, thronelike chair and pretend I was as com- fortable as it's possible to be.
"I feel as if I'm starving," Serendel said as he set- tled himself in his place, glancing at me and the ma- gician both. "I haven't eaten since early this morning on the liner, not even so much as a snack in the car that brought us here. When was the last time you and the others got something to eat?"
The question he'd put was casual small talk, nothing of earth-shattering importance—but also nothing the magician could be expected to answer. It looked like the companion who had been forced on me was trying to break the conversational ice, but that sort of thing isn't hard to get around.
"We all had a snack during Customs inspection," I answered without even glancing at him, then turned my head to the magician with a smile. "How long has it been since the last time you were chosen to be the protector of a visiting House?" I asked as though really interested. "And are you truly as pleased to be included in on this meal as you look?"
"I'm delighted to be included in on this meal, and as soon as they bring out the food you*ll understand why," he answered in a light and easy voice accom- panied by a return smile, apparently all through with staring off into the distance. "As far as being chosen as a protector goes, I'm picked at least as often as any of the others, but rarely for so—distinguished—a House. I may be putting my foot in it by saying this, but—am I wrong in thinking you don't agree with me about how much of an honor it is?"
He was examining me with guileless, light blue eyes, waiting for an answer to his admittedly bald- faced question, most of his expression hidden behind that long white beard. I really wasn't much interested in going into detail on my dissenting opinion, but someone else proved more than happy to jump in for me.
"The lady feels I insulted her," Serendel supplied in the same calm and easy tone that he'd used earlier,
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drawing the magician's gaze. "All I thought I was doing was soothing the nervousness many women feel in my presence, but apparently she doesn't see it like that. She's decided I insulted her on purpose, and isn't interested in hearing any statements to the— Ah, here comes the first of the food.*'
He interrupted his own story to watch the approach of four tray-bearers, three carrying tureens and tiny cups and spoons, the fourth carrying nine empty bowls and nine regular-sized spoons. The tureen-bearers put their burdens down on the far side of the table opposite us, paying no attention to the golden cloth covering the table, and with the help of the servants who stood behind our chairs, we very quickly had three tiny cups standing in front of each of us, samples of the different sorts of soup which had been brought. As other ser- vants came by to drop off baskets of more kinds of bread than I knew there were, the servant who had been carrying the bowls stepped in front of the three soup-men.
"Gentles, please taste our offerings and indicate which of them you find most pleasing." he said, per- forming a general bow that was apparently meant for us all. "Should you find two or even three equally as pleasing, simply instruct your personal servant to fetch you some of each. Three or none, the choice is, of course, yours."
He bowed again before going back to his tray, and the annoyance I'd been feeling with the fighter sitting next to me spread to cover the Mists people almost as thickly. Giving us soup before offering anything more substantial wasn't too obvious a ploy to cut our ap- petites for and possible consumption of more expen- sive dishes, and that idea was a perfect kicker to SerendeFs attempt at showing just how unreasonable I was being. If I hadn't realized just how hungry I was I would have ignored the soup samples the way I was still ignoring the fighter, but the smells coming out of the three tiny sample cups were just too good to resist. I knew I had to taste all of them. and then I might be able to get back at Velix's bosses by refusing all three,
After tasting the samples, the best I could do was
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settle on just one of the three. I couldn't remember ever tasting soup that good even at the very expensive resorts Seero and I had visited over the years, but I wasn't ready to admit I might be wrong about the scam the Mists people were trying to run. Seeing the chilled fruit and cheese and even more hot baked goods added to our table let me stay suspicious, but once they be- gan bringing out the meats and vegetables and gra- vies—and wines—I decided I might be wise dropping all thoughts of a scam. We were urged to try as much of as many different dishes as we liked, and despite the soup I found I wasn't reluctant to go along with the suggestions. I felt as though I were eating ten times more than I ever had in my life, but I enjoyed every bite without also feeling that I was about to explode. When I finally finished I was most aware of satisfac- tion, that and the impression that I was now prepared to get on to other things.
"That has to be the best meal I've ever eaten," Serendel announced once his wine glass had been re- filled for the twentieth time, a pleasant nod of thanks for the servant who had poured. There hadn't been any conversation while the food had held our attention, but there had been music as well as dancers who spun gracefully between the tables. The dancers had been mostly female, which was probably why I'd had the opportunity of noticing how little the magician had eaten in comparison to the fighter. Our bearded friend hadn't been shy about helping himself, but even my capacity had been greater than his. I wondered if the difference meant anything, but couldn't think of any way it might.
"There's never any stinting when it comes to a feast of greeting," the magician—Jejin, that was his name- said in answer, his own wine glass still more than half full and close to his hand. "You won't go hungry in any of the Mists, but this one is far and away the best. Before the meal, lord Serendel, you were saying some- thing about many women being nervous in your pres- ence. I think you understand there are certain things I can't mention here and now, but with those things in mind even though absent from tongue, I must confess
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I don't understand why that would be. I should think you would find it the complete opposite."
"Most people think it's the complete opposite," the glad answered, faint amusement in the gray ga ze he rested on Jejin, his body relaxed back in its chair ex- cept for the hand that gently swiried the wine in its glass prison. "There are enough amateur wigglers and hot crazies around to give that impression, but you can't lump them in under the general heading of 'women.' They may be female, but they're not inter- ested in what you might want to say to them, only in what you can do for them, in bed or in supplying pres- tige. Those who can be listed under the heading of women are capable of occasionally doing something really unusual, Uke carrying on an intelligent conver- sation.'*
The dryness in his voice made Jejin chuckle, but I was busy paying more attention to the newest dancers performing in the space between the tables. One male and one female they were, and their costumes were definitely on the skimpy side.
"Yes, men of action aren't supposed to be inter- ested in something as unusual as conversation," the magician agreed, his appreciation of the comment still clear. * 'Some observers seem to be afraid that if they're allowed that, the next things they might take an inter- est in could be the unthinkable realms of poetry or music or literature. I can see that, but what I can't see is why you maintain women are nervous in your pres- ence, Is conversation with you considered that much of a danger?"
"You forget it's not supposed to be conversation that I'm interested in," Serendel returned, just short of sounding like a martyr. "A woman finds herself face to face with me, suddenly remembers all those things everyone 'knows' are tme about people like me, and that's the end of any chance at conversation. Calm friendliness changes so fast to nervous tension that you'd need an open lens to catch the action, and all because they're afraid I won't be able to keep from attacking them."
"And men say women aren't perceptive," I mur-
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mured to myself, still keeping my eyes and attention on the dancers. I knew I shouldn't have cut the hook from the dangling fishing line, but the temptation had been too heavy to resist, I was supposed to have been filling up with pity for the poor little misunderstood fighter, but it hadn't quite worked out that way. I un- derstood him better than he knew, and if he decided to argue I could always cite Chal as my authority. Rather than argument a lot of silence came from my right, and then there was a throat-clearing sound from my left.
"I beg your pardon, my lady, but are you saying you agree with those who judge from nothing but idle gossip?" Jejin asked, his tone a good deal more dip- lomatic than his words. "Were you afraid lord Ser- endel would attack you before you and he began arguing?"
"I was never 'afraid' of anything in connection with lord Serendel," I came back, shifting in my chair as I glanced at the bearded man in annoyance. "It so hap- pens I don't believe in being afraid of things, or people either for that matter. If all your friend wanted out of me was a little conversation, why was he so interested in choosing the strongest magician available? Is that what 'lords' win in this section of the Mists, the right to talk to the lady of their choice?"
"If that's what would please them most,"Jejin be- gan to say in counterargument, making it sound no more than reasonable and to be expected, but that was as far as he got. A sound like the hissing of vexation through teeth came from my right, and then I had un- expected support on my side of the disagreement.
"The lady is absolutely right, Jejin," Serendel said in what was neariy a growl, drawing my attention as well as the magician's. "All I want from her is the use of her body, and that's what I intend getting. What do I have to know or do, to be sure no one succeeds in claiming her from me?"
"You have very little more to do than has already been done," the bearded man said with the faintest of hesitations while I glared at the miserable beast of a fighter. "If you're challenged by another lord, you
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simply order me to protect what's yours. If my powers are stronger than those of the magician I go up against, you win. If they aren't, you lose."
"Can't you tell beforehand which of you is stronger?" the fighter demanded, completely ignoring the way I was looking at him. "Haven't you been here long enough to have been tested against most if not all of the others?"
"It doesn't work that way," Jejin answered, shift- ing just a little under the cold gray stare he was get- ting. "The magicians here come in grades of ability, and if your original choice is someone from the low- est grades, you might as well give up the idea of win- ning against anyone of higher ability. If your choice brings you someone of high ability, that in itself should guarantee success in most cases. The only time diffi- culty arises is when your challenger's magician is of the same caliber as your own. There's always uncer- tainty when two master magicians face one another, so the meetings are usually governed by pure chance- But that's a circumstance covering the meeting of equals, which only happens occasionally. It really isn't worth getting too upset about."
By that time the bearded man's voice was nearly trembling, and the sweat beaded on his forehead wasn't being caused by the closeness of the room. He was obviously required to tell Serendel just what he had been telling him, but what the fighter wanted to hear was how he could win, not the reasons why he might lose.
"Then maybe we can find something I should get upset about," he said in that same near-growl, his eyes refusing to turn Jejin loose. "That list of grades we were just discussing—on what part of the list does your name appear?"
"I—I'm the strongest magician of them all," the man mumbled in the faintest of voices, close to being terrified at having to give an answer that was obviously required of him. Serendel's head went up when he heard it, those gray eyes growing even colder, but I'd had enough of that nonsense.
"Stop it!" I snapped to the fighter, the anger in my
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voice enough to finally get his attention. "Can't you see you're not supposed to find out how good or bad he is until after the first challenge? And where the hell do you come off giving him a hard time? It wasn't his idea to be chosen, it was yours! If you're mad at me and looking to start a fight because of it, start the fight with me, not some innocent bystander! I said I wasn't afraid of you, and I meant it!"
"Yes, you did say that, didn't you?" he murmured, most of the coldness gone from his eyes as he leaned back to stare at me. "It obviously slipped my mind that you have the soul of a female glad, but I'll try not to let it happen again. And for the second time, the lady is absolutely right, Jejin. I was taking my mad at her out on you, and I apologize. None of this stupidity is any fault of yours."
"Thank you for understanding that, lord Serendel," the magician answered, vast relief in the words. "The explanations we're required to give are designed to keep guests in eager suspense, but it's clear they weren't anticipating guests like yourself. And my most heartfelt thanks to you, lady Dalisse, for interceding on my behalf. I'm afraid my bravery isn't quite on a par with yours."
"Don't tell me you're someone who believes all that idle gossip about how untrustworthy fighters are?" I asked with inch-thick innocence, turning my head in time to see the magician flinch over having his own words fed back to him. "Don't you know they're men of iron self-control, who have absolutely no need of the handlers it's been suggested they shouldn't be al- lowed to walk around without? Were you afraid of the man before he started flexing a bad temper in your direction?"
"Of course he was afraid of me," the fighter an- swered for Jejin in a very neutral way, the ghost of guilty agreement flashing briefly in the bearded man's eyes. "Everyone with sense is afraid of a man—or woman—whose career is based on the ability to kill. Any other reaction is the result of never having thought the thing through. But don't forget, Jejin, it wasn't bravery that made her defend you. Without fear brav-
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ery isn't possible, and she isn't afraid of me. And you should also know that she prefers her nickname, so please don't call her lady Dalisse. Call her lady Smudge."
"That's Inky, not Smudge," I said with a growl of my own, turning again to send daggers toward the big fool. "Don't pretend you don't know that, because I heard you being corrected once before. And in any event, what the name is or isn't doesn't concern you. My nickname is reserved for the use of friends, and you don't happen to qualify."
"Why are you acting so outraged?" he asked with brows raised high, the innocent child being unjustly accused. "Didn't you just now say that if I wanted to start a fight, you were the one I ought to be starting it with? Don't you consider being insulted a good way to start a fight?"
"Oh, it's a wonderful way," I agreed as I seethed, hating the grin he couldn't quite swallow—not to men- tion the chuckling Jejin was doing. "The only problem I can see is that it isn't quite fair on my end. There are so many things about you open to comment, I'm having trouble deciding which to use first. Maybe I ought to settle for asking how you can speak so clearly with your foot constantly in your mouth. If you doubt the contention, just remember how many times you've had to apologize over the last few days."
"At least I'm bright enough to recognize those times apology is called for," he came back as he straight- ened in his chair, a good deal of his amusement having dissolved. "That's more than can be said for other p eople at this table, specifically other female people. You ..."
"My lords and ladies, may I have your attention please," a voice suddenly came to interrupt the fighter, and I reluctantly looked away from the argument to see Velix standing in the space between the tables, a replacement for the dancers I hadn't seen leave. "If you're all quite finished with your meal, we can leave for the palace now. Nibbles and drinks will also be available there, and I have transportation outside be-
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fitting those of your station. Please rise now and fol- low me."
"Just a minute," I called as I stood, making no effort to look at the fighter again. "Is that transporta- tion one of your ironclad requirements, or is it possible to walk off part of that meal I just swallowed? I'm not worried about getting lost in the fog. If I have to ride in anything right now, it's much more likely I'll have being sick to worry about."
Most especially from the company, I added to my- self as Velix paused, wishing I could read the Grid- denth's expression. If he refused my request and I ended up anywhere near Serendel in whatever we were supposed to ride in, everyone else was in danger of ending up knee-deep in spilled blood. Lidra wasn't the only one who had managed to smuggle something past Customs and the clothes change, and another five min- utes of arguing with that stupid glad would guarantee everyone's finding out just what that something was. Serendel and Jejin got to their feet the way the three people at the other table did, and Velix looked around at us all before performing a gesture that was very like
a shrug.
"I meant to mention this once we'd reached the lobby, but since the point has been raised I might as well go into it now," he said, sounding calm and un- disturbed. "It so happens you do have the choice of walking, but not through the heavy mists in the street. Anyone not thoroughly familiar with this area couldn't help getting lost, that's why another route was pre- pared. It reaches the palace by means of an under- ground passage, and although the passageway isn't used very often, it's not really possible to become lost in it. I, unfortunately, must stay aboveground with the transportation, but any of you wishing to use the pas- sageway may certainly do so."
"Then that works out really well," I said before anyone else could jump in. "You'll go along with my fellow travelers in the transportation, and I'll have the passageway and a little time to myself. Every now and then I need to be alone, and this seems the perfect
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opportunity to satisfy the need. No one objects, I hope?"
I'd tried making the request sound like sweet reason incarnate, primarily to have a strong basis for protest if the mighty Serendel decided to open his mighty mouth in disagreement. I'd stated a need and had asked for everyone's help in seeing to it; if the fighter tried arguing he would be the unreasonable one, and his suitability as an acceptable companion would begin losing all those legs it had been standing on. I waited with a friendly smile on my face, not really looking at the way Chal and Lidra exchanged a silent glance, and then Velix gave that sort-of shrug again.
"Apparently no one does object," he said, delib- erately looking around as he said it. "The passageway is all yours then, and we'll meet again when you reach the palace. We'll all walk to the lobby together, and then go our separate ways."
The servants pulled the chairs out of everyone's way to make it easier to leave the tables, and I followed after Velix without even a single glance behind me. As I passed Jejin, I noticed a faint frown on his face. but I didn't ask him the reason for it and he didn't volunteer any data. I was too delighted at the thought of getting away from that glad to wonder why the ma- gician was unhappy, and then it occurred to me our reasons might be exactly the same. I was happy to get away even for a little while, but that meant Jejin would be all alone with Serendel until I rejoined them. If he was as afraid of the fighter as he'd claimed to be, my not being there as a buffer would make the time a good deal less than pleasant for him.
Getting back to the lobby didn't take very long, and we hadn't gone more than a couple of steps before Velix stopped and turned to look at me.
"Our transportation lies through the doors straight ahead, the doors you all came in by," he said, ges- turing behind himself with his head. "Your point of departure, dear lady, lies behind you to your left, through that portal. A servant will be here in a moment to open it for you."
I wondered why I needed anyone to open a door for
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me, but once I'd turned to look I began to understand. Portal Velix had called it and portal it was, a heavy, metal-bound wooden door that had a large ring of metal on the left, halfway up. If I wasn't mistaken, it was the thick ring that was used to open the door, and with the swirls of mist all around it it really did look as though it hadn't been opened in a while. I wasn't ac- tually beginning to have second thoughts about going through the door, not with the alternative being what it was, but the arrival of two big men ended the time I had even to toy with the consideration.
"Very good, men, just as prompt as ever," Velix said to the new arrivals, watching them walk to the door. "There's only one to go through this time, and then you can close it again."
"Close it again?" I asked as the two men put hands to the ring and shoulders to the wood, then began pushing with all their strength. "You mean you're just going to—close that behind me?"
"Well, of course," Velix said with an indulgent chuckle, his bright, dark eyes faintly amused, "We can't very well leave it open, not with the number of other guests around. We really do need to keep track of all of you for safety's sake, and if we left that door open, half our charges would disappear through it, just to find out if it really does go where we say it goes. Surely you can appreciate the problem."
"Surely." I said in a voice that sounded very hol- low to me, which is why I said no more than the single word. I hadn't known I was going to be closed behind a door I had no chance of opening again, but it was much too late to back out by refusing to go. I'd look and feel like a complete idiot, and I knew I'd rather die than give Serendel the satisfaction of that. I'd just walk as fast as I could until I got to the other end of the passageway, and then it would all be behind me.
"When you reach the palace, the servants there, sta- tioned inside the portal, will open it for you,** Velix said, his tail moving in sharp arcs in contrast to the smoothness of his tone. "I believe the opening is wide enough for you to fit through rather easily now. ..."
He let the sentence trail off as he moved closer to
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examine the efforts of the two men, and when I made myself follow I could see he was right. They'd pushed the door more than halfway open, and behind it and them I could see mist-shrouded stairs that trended downward. Through the fog I could also see the faint glow of intermittent light, which meant there was no reason including dangerous dark to keep me from get- ting started. My lips felt the least bit dry when my tongue wet them, but then I realized there was really nothing to be nervous about. I was being sent through that door in front of witnesses, so if anything hap- pened to me the Mists people would be liable. It was like crossing a street in the middle of ground traffic;
no matter how badly the drivers wanted to hit you, none of them would or their insurance would go up. I was safe and I knew it, so I simply stepped through the opening without the slightest worry.
Chapter 10
The lack of worry lasted until that impossible door was pulled slowly and silently shut behind me, then the lack of worry became conspicuously absent. The back of the door was completely smooth, with nothing for anyone without talons like Velix's to get a grip on, and somehow it seemed out of character for the thing to have opened and closed without making a sound. By rights there should have been the eerie scream of protesting hinges, much like the moaning cries of lost, tormented souls . . .
"Are you completely out of your mind, or just a little on the weird side?" I demanded in a hiss, talking to myself the way I deserved to be talked to. "If you do any more of that, you'll be having hysterics even before you've gone down the stairs! I thought you were supposed to be the one who wasn't afraid of things."
I conceded that an excellent point had been made, then took a deep breath and looked around a little more. Between the fog and the plain, stonelike mate- rial of walls, steps and ceiling, there wasn't much of anything to see, so I simply started going down the stairs.
By the time I reached the bottom of the flight, I was certain I'd gone lower than the level of the transpor- tation system that had brought us to that section of the Mists. The descent had been long, tedious, dizzy- making, boring—but it hadn't been hard on me phys- ically even when I'd jumped down one section of me steps. I'd done the jumping because I'd been curious about what the steps were made of, which wasn't stone 175
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even though it looked like it. The material was unex- pectedly springy while still being very firm, and the sharp edges of the steps were anything but sharp. It came to me that I probably couldn't hurt myself on the stuff even if I tried, and when I looked more closely at the walls I saw they were made of the same mate- rial. I realized the Mists people really were being cau- tio us about my safety, and after that felt a lot better about continuing down.
The ever-present fog didn't thin at the bottom the way I'd been hoping it would, but the passageway I found before me was wide enough and almost well- enough lit to make that a minor problem. As I began walking I noticed there wasn't a sound anywhere, nothing but the very soft, very faint scuff of my san- dals against the not-stone of the passageway floor. Even right on top of it I could barely hear it, and that gave me an odd sense of being absolutely alone. The thought was disturbing, and I didn't understand why that should be. I'd been alone before, most especially on strokings, but I'd never felt the way I did right then.
The only thing I could do about the feeling was shrug, so I shrugged and just kept going. The pas- sageway took me straight ahead for a while, and then it began curving first right, then left, then right again. After another few minutes it was a toss-up as to which way the curve would go, and that no matter which way the previous curve had gone. I wasn"t completely sure, but I was beginning to think the light was a little less than it had been, and the passageway walls looked somehow different. The fog hung too thick around the walls for me to see them at all easily, but I was sure there was something different about them. If I'd stopped to examine them I might have found out what, but I didn't stop. I just kept going while trying to look everywhere at once.
"This is stupid," I whispered to myself, the words coming out with a lot less sound than I'd wanted them to have. "There's nothing here, not even a shadow. Why are you so nervous?"
I would have enjoyed being able to answer that
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question, but I couldn't think of an answer. The fog was just as warm and dry as it had been all along, but it seemed to be threatening to go chill and dank at any moment. The mist-diffused light was trying to hide the fact that it was slowly fading, the walls were sneakily changing in some way, and even though I'd been try- ing not to admit it, I thought I heard small sounds both behind and ahead of me where there had been nothing but silence earlier. Velix had said the passageway wasn't used very often, but although it had felt empty when I'd first begun walking, it didn't feel that way any longer, I knew something was down there with me, I just didn't know what.
"And wouldn't it be nice if we could keep it like that," I muttered to myself, still looking around at fog-covered nothing. If the passageway was usually empty, something could have moved in and made the area its home; it was possible the stretch had been safe, but now no longer was. I looked around again, remembered that one of the reasons the S.I. had sent me to that world was to keep me away from traps that had been set and waiting, and almost laughed. There wasn't a day or night I wouldn't have preferred facing Twi House traps to what was right then in front of me, but it was much too late to make that sort of a choice.
The urge to laugh didn't last any time at all, espe- cially once I'd turned the sharpest bend yet and found something like a fairly large room beyond it. To be honest it was more of a chamber than a room, circular, completely undecorated, fog-blurred not-stone with an archway leading out of it again on the far side. I stopped just inside the entrance archway to look around, but the curving walls to left and right were too obscured by the mist for anything but vague outlines to be seen. I decided it must have been meant as a rest area for those using the passageway, and might even have comfortable benches near the walls for anyone who wanted to sit down and rest a while. Since sitting and relaxing was the last thing I wanted to do, I began crossing the area to the only other way out of there. I suppose if I'd stopped to think about it. I would have
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realized that that was the perfect time and place for the lights to go out.
I froze almost in midstride in the thick, ominous blackness, my heart thudding so loud I would have missed the sound of a ten-foot-tall behemoth charging at me, my imagination immediately sending a lot more than one of them in my direction. I was even sure there were other things creeping at me, and that thought was much worse than the idea of being charged. How all those attackers were supposed to see me in mat end- less, enveloping dark was beside the point; things like that never had trouble finding their victims in the dark, something everybody knew. I was sure I heard faint sounds all around me, and if I hadn't been beyond movement of any son, I would have trembled like someone trying to stand upright in an earthquake.
That was when the lights came on again, too faint to be anywhere near the level I wanted, but at least a thousand times better than absolute dark. It couldn't have been more than a minute that I'd been without light, but while it was happening it had felt like ages and eons and time without end. I forced some spittle down my very dry throat, so relieved to find nothing in creeping distance that the feeling was indescribable, my mind grabbing wildly at die thought that the loss of light had only been a brief, meaningless, power outage. Nothing sinister, nothing trying to get me— and then I finally looked up to see what had become of the previously solid walls.
"That's not possible," I breathed as I looked fran- tically around, but it wasn't just possible, it had al- ready happened. Instead of one archway leading into the room and one leading out, the walls were now covered with archways, some lit, some as black as the darkness I'd so recently been through. The passage- ways I could see were riddled with crevasses and openings, places where anything or anyone could lurk unseen, none of them as smooth-walled as what I'd walked past to get there. I didn't know which way I'd come in, couldn't tell which passageway led out again, but knew beyond the faintest doubt that if I chose the wrong one I'd deeply regret it.
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And then I heard a sound I wasn't at all unsure about, a sound that froze the blood in my veins and almost brought a whimper to my throat. Something was moving in the darkest passageway to my right. something that shuffled and dragged part of itself, something that breathed with a gargling, burbling sound, something that was definitely coming toward the chamber I stood in. Dizziness swept over me, and the need to be violently sick, and it was all I could do to fumble out the tiny palm dagger I had sheathed high up on my right thigh. The weapon was too small to be useful against anything but people, which meant it would be no help at all against whatever was coming out of the passageway. I held the useless dagger in a fist of whitened knuckles, and began backing away from the passageway without light. I backed three steps, four steps, still seeing nothing in that dark, only hearing it—and then I backed into something that was definitely not a wall.
At that moment quite a lot of me was ready to pass out, but what was left refused to do anything that su- icidal. I may have screamed as I whirled around, but I certainly brought the palm dagger around with me, sweeping up at the belly of whatever might be there. It was one of the movements I'd been carefully taught, a crippling swipe even if it failed to be lethal, but the blow, never landed. A thought-fast hand wrapped around my wrist, stopping the attack cold, and then I was staring stupidly up into the face of the fighter Ser- endel.
"I know you said you wanted to be alone," he drawled, "but I didn't think you'd go to these lengths to be sure you were. If I let you go, will you put that thing back where it came from?"
His glance was for the palm dagger, and I realized he was one of the very few people who had seen it who didn't consider it a harmless toy. I'd found it possible more than once to say it was a nail file, but the ones who had believed that weren't professional glads. The one who was still had his fingers closed tight around my wrist, undoubtedly waiting for me to agree to his offer, but that wasn't going to happen.
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"I'm not putting it away until I'm out of here," I said, the words unbelievably steady in comparison with how I felt. "There's something heading this way from that darkened passage, and if you think I'm going to meet it emptyhanded, you're out of your mind."
"What do you mean, 'something' heading this way?" he asked with a frown, his eyes and attention immediately on the section of room I'd mentioned. "If Acre's anyone there it has to be one of the Mists peo- ple, but I don't hear or see a thing. Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"
"My imagination most prefers supplying horrors without adding details," I answered, pulling my hand out of his loosened grip before turning to eye the guilty passageway. "What I heard moving along in there may have been imagination, but it certainly wasn't mine. And now that you mention it, I don't hear it anymore either."
**It probably decided to take its stroll in a different direction, one where it would run less of a risk of getting sliced info strips," he said, a faint amusement now in his voice. "If I'd known you were that well armed, I might not have started that insult exchange. Female glads can be pushed only to a certain point, and then they'll use whatever they might be carrying."
"I'm not a female glad," I told him sourly, giving him no more than a glance. "And don't bother trying to pretend you're afraid of me with a weapon in my hand. I saw just how afraid you were when I acciden- tally attacked you. What are you doing here?"
"I'm walking to the palace," he answered , making it sound absolutely usual and routine. "I was in no more of a mood to ride than you were, but I felt I'd crowded you enough for one day. I waited until you were well on your way before having them open that door again, and then I started out. I really didn't ex- pect to meet you on the way, but I can't say I'm dis- appointed that I did."
I looked over at him then, to see the very open, frank and sincere expression he wore. None of it was overdone or in any way phony-looking, but for some reason I didn't believe him. His gray eyes rested on
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me with easy unconcern, which just seemed to add to all the rest.
"You enjoy arguing so much you're happy you caught up to me?" I asked, wondering if it was my previous annoyance that was making me so suspicious. "Now I know why you became a fighter. You must consider being in the arena the ultimate party.'*
"It keeps me out of barroom brawls," he offered with a faint grin, his long red mustache moving with his lips. "And it isn't the prospect of more argument that makes me happy to see you. Don't forget that I'm after your body."
My first response to that was to come back with something smart, but despite being able to think of any number of things to say, I somehow couldn't bring myself to say them. Even if the accusation I'd made was true, it was hardly so unusual and despicable a thing that I'd had to make it sound like perversion. As far as females went, I wasn't too close to being an eyesore, which meant most healthy males looked at me with one and the same idea. It wasn't a novel con- cept, it certainly wasn't insulting, and I had the dis- tinct impression that if Seero had been around to hear me say what I had, his anger would not have been aimed at Serendel. I found myself hoping it was too dim in that place for the warmth in my cheeks to show, but just in case I found an excuse to turn away from the fighter.
"Have you any idea which of those passageways is the right one to use?" I asked, very busily examining the archways in question. "When I first got here there was only a single way out, but now I can't tell which one it was."
"I have the feeling this place was originally sup- posed to be part of the show, but so few people went for it they decided to turn it off," he said, making no further mention of the subject I'd avoided so grace- fully. "The first part of the walk was so boring I thought I'd fall asleep on my feet, and then everything suddenly changed. Maybe they realized they'd forgot- ten to turn on the special effects, and decided to go along with 'Better late than never,' If that's true, then
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it doesn't much matter which passageway we take. They should all lead to the same place."
"What kind of 'show' could they be putting on?" I asked, confused and faintly disturbed. Just before reaching the chamber I remembered thinking the walls of the passage looked different, but hadn't been able to figure out different in what way. If Serendel was right—and it was hard to argue the point—then the difference in the walls meant they were supposed to change. "What could they have in mind that this sort of special effects would be called for?'*
"They're probably trying to make us think we have to hunt for the way out," he answered, looking around with faint amusement. "You know, make the right choice or wander around forever. Some of those pas- sageways may make the walk a little longer, but I'm sure they all lead to the palace eventually. Why don't you choose one, and we'll see if I'm right."
"As long as there's light, I don't care one way or the other," I said, frowning at the choices he'd given me. "This place reminds me a little too much of a certain section of the wilds on Gryphon. How about that one?"
"That one it is," he agreed, beginning to walk with me toward the passageway I'd pointed to, but he was suddenly giving me more attention than the direction in which we were going. "You've been through the wilds on Gryphon? I was there myself once, so I think you'll know I'm not joking when I say I'm impressed. It isn't a place for tourists."
"Well, most of it wasn't all that bad," I said, for some reason embarrassed by how serious he sounded, finding it easier watching the passage we were about to enter than looking up at him. "We had a couple of guides who had as much experience with the area as it's possible to get and they were both well-armed, so the trouble was kept to a minimum. The worst part was going through the mountain caverns to get to the other side of the range; that was where we lost one of the guides, and the rest of us weren't sure we 'd make it either. If it was possible to fly in rather than needing
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to go overiand on wheels or on foot—but of course they won't allow that."
"Not when you never know who'll be taken over and who won't be," he agreed, distaste now coloring his tone. "They told me pilots have almost no chance of resisting the mental attack, even if they've gone in on foot before with nothing happening. The muties hate each other as much as they hate humankind, but they apparently band together if there's a chance of getting an air vehicle. I'm told as soon as they get one, they crash it in the middle of one of the cities."
"It had to happen three times before the planetary officials got the idea and banned air traffic into the area," I said, spending only a little disgust on people who'd been dead even before I'd been born. "The planet was settled because the muties lived nowhere but in the wilds, but they should have expected trouble when they found it impossible to sign treaties or agree- ments with any of them. I suppose they were feeling too superior and advanced to worry about trouble, so people had to pay with their lives before they under- stood more advanced doesn't mean indestructible. I hate stupidity like that, but it seems to be the common curse of humans everywhere,"
"Which is one of the reasons why I like the way my home planet sees to the problem," he said, dividing his glance between me and the crevasses and folds of the walls we were passing. "No matter what you want to do on Rober Tay, you have to prove you're the best one for the job. Not that you want the job more than anyone else, but that you're also the best. If you want to work in the government, you and your opponent or opponents don't run for election, you all do the job for a year in simulation by interactive computer pro- grams, facing the same problems actually faced by the one who is doing the job. If one of your moves is so wild and brainless it leads to a crisis, you're immedi- ately disqualified. If all you do is play it safe by taking no chances not backed by precedent, you're disquali- fied. You have to show imagination and ability, oth- erwise you have no business involving yourself in other people's lives."
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"Gryphon isn't quite that advanced," I said, decid- ing I liked the way his planet did it. "Our people still think it's possible to make an unknown stranger into a good leader by pushing a lever in a voting machine. Or by taking the word of his or her party as to how competent the candidate is. After all the times they got duds instead of doers, you'd think they'd have learned their lesson."
"Change is the hardest thing for people to accept," he said, sounding a good deal more tolerant than I was feeling. "The established way of doing something might not be the best way, but what guarantee is there that a new way won't be a lot worse? You have to be in a position where nothing could be worse than what you have, and then change becomes the best of all options. Not the most eagerly accepted, just the best."
"You know, that's very deep," I said with a small laugh, looking up to his face where he walked beside me. "You sound more like a philosopher or a psy- chologist than a—"
"Than a mindless, bloodthirsty glad?" he finished when I didn't, more amusement in him than anything else. For my part I was back to being painfully em- barrassed, but silently cursing the big, flapping mouth I come equipped with didn't call the words back. It also didn't help me understand why he wasn't feeling insulted, as he had every right to be.
"Despite a lot of people's opinions to the contrary, there really is no law that keeps a fighter from being able to think," he went on, his grin wider than it had been, probably because of whatever my expression was like. "I wasn't forced into becoming a glad, I made the career choice as soon as I was old enough to un- derstand what the choice entailed. It was a field that suited my temperament perfectly, one that kept me from ending up fighting society instead of other bom fighters like myself. I began training when I was very young, just the way everyone on my worid is encour- aged to do even if they never intend going near an arena, but that doesn't mean I stopped going to school. I enjoyed school almost as much as I enjoyed training,
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and I like to believe I may have stopped going now. but I haven't stopped learning."
"Maybe there's a law keeping me from thinking," I suggested, feeling even worse than I had earlier. "It might not be an excuse for the way I've been behav- ing, but at least it would be a reason."
"I can think of a better reason than that," he said with a chuckle, accepting my halfhearted and fully inadequate apology as though it been perfect instead. "All those people who kept telling you how wonderful I was—they turned the mistake I made into a crime of gigantic proportions. If they'd left you alone, you would have seen for yourself that I'd just been stupid in my estimation of you. Instead of that they kept try- ing to insi st I was too marvelous to do anything wrong, which you knew damned well was a lie. And you don't like having people telling you who to associate with, do you."
The last was a statement rather than a question, those gray eyes still faintly amused as they looked down at me. I could see he was sharing a joke rather than laughing at me, and I couldn't help smiling myself.
"No, as a matter of fact I don't like having people telling me who to associate with," I agreed. "And I'll bet you paid a lot of attention in school to courses on psychology. An awful lot."
"Enough to know when it becomes time to keep quiet'," he said as he laughed, understanding imme- diately that I'd caught him trying to play me again. "Let's see if there's any more to their show than mak- ing us think that we're lost."
The suggestion was a very sensible one, so we both began putting it into effect. The passageway we walked along almost seemed to be hovering menacingly, but with the presence of someone there besides myself, the menace wasn't as—menacing—as it had been. I grudg- ingly sheathed my palm dagger and we walked on through the fog for a while, following the twists and turns of the passageway, and then Serendel said some- thing or other that was no more than conversational. I know I answered him in a way that made him chuckle and say something else, but I really wasn't paying at-
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tention to the chit-chat. I'd begun hearing small noises from some of the openings in the walls we were pass- ing, but I couldn't tell what they were. Very soft noises that stop as soon as you try listening to them are an- noying, but in a place like that they're something else as well.
"You're not listening to me, are you?" Serendel said abruptly, but his voice was filled with curiosity rather than annoyance or anger. "Is something wrong?"
"I think someone's starting to exercise their imagi- nation again," I muttered, silently cursing all that fog and darkness. "There's movement of some son going on in those unlit openings, but I'm damned if I know what's doing the moving."
"I haven't heard a thing," he said, now sounding puzzled. "Of course, I also haven't been listening. Maybe the problem is that this place does remind you too much of the caverns under the mountains in the wilds. Is this any help?"
"This*' was his arm coming gently but firmly around my shoulders, a gesture I hadn't been expecting. Star- tled, I looked up at him, seeing the faint, calm smile in his gray eyes, and that told me he really was asking whether or not I minded. He wasn't expecting me to mind, but the attitude was more a matter of assurance than arrogance, a mature outlook of serene confi- dence. I remembered the times in school and afterward when boys and men had done the same, most of them self-conscious, nervous or aggressive, all of them us- ing the gesture as an opening move toward taking more. None of them had asked, not even the nervous ones, and this time I somehow knew the arm around me wasn't meant as an opening gesture. The man I looked up at didn't need gestures of that son, an ob- vious truth that managed to make me inexplicably un- comfortable again.
"If this is the way you usually guard yourself against possible attack, remind me to bet on the other guy the next time you fight," I said, holding the words as steady as I could. His hand was so very warm on my arm, and my left shoulder touched one of the leather
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straps on his otherwise bare chest, and that was the closest we'd come to one another since our very first meeting. Thought of that time made me laugh just a little, breaking the mood of embarrassment, which in turn let me add, "And is this supposed to make me feel better? The last time we were this close I was nearly trampled."
"You're in absolutely no danger of that now," he said with an answering laugh and a grin, enjoying the comment. "I usually limit the number of times I tram- ple any one woman, just to keep the rest from getting jealous. If I trampled you more than once, I'd have to do it to all of them.''
"I hope you know you're not really kidding," I said, remembering Lidra's comments on the subject. "And I also hope you know you have my sincere sympa- thies. Living with something like that would drive me crazy in no time."
' 'If you do your best to win the loaf, you can't com- plain when the crust comes along with it," he said in a very pious way, deliberately making it sound like an ancient adage I wasn't old enough to have learned. I stuck my tongue out at him while making a very rude noise, and his grin came back doubled. "But it hap- pens to be true," he protested through a laugh, and then the arm around me tightened. "And you can't deny'there are occasional compensations. If I wasn't who J am, you might have been able to get away with calling me unsuitable as a companion for this tour. Then I'd really need someone's sympathy."
His grin eased off as his head began lowering toward mine, his intention obvious, and I wasn't surprised to find I didn't mind the thought of kissing him. He was more than just a handsome hunk of meat; at the very least he was acceptable to have vacation fun with, and I began to raise my own face, when—
"What the hell?" he exclaimed as I whirled away from him, the palm dagger already in my hand. "What are you doing?"
"Damn it, something pinched me," I answered with a snari, my eyes searching the thick, swiriing fog. "I
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know men come equipped with more than two hands, but I really don't think it was you. Am I wrong?"
"No," he said with a frown I could hear, also un- doubtedly searching the fog. "But how could anything have pinched you? If anyone had been behind you, I would have seen them."
"If you're going to suggest it's my imagination again, let me assure you it never works overtime with- out getting paid," I responded sourly, reluctantly giv- ing up the useless search as I turned back to him. "There's something weird going on here, something we're just not—"
The word I'd been going to use was "seeing," but suddenly it no longer fit. There, just beyond Seren- del's left shoulder, was a six-inch line of dark blue, a streak that stood out clearly against the gray of the fog. The streak was just hovering in the air, unsup- ported and all alone, and if it's possible for a six-inch blue line to laugh at someone, that damned line was laughing at me.
"If I end up paranoid, I won't have to wonder why," I muttered as I resheathed the obviously useless palm dagger, more than aware of the strange look I was getting from Serendel. "Turn very slowly that way, and then tell me I'm imagining things."
His brows went up as though he thought I was be- coming a candidate for protective restraint, but he still turned slowly to his left as I'd suggested with my nod. I felt grimly pleased that he hadn't hesitated, but the pleasure dissolved fast when the line began moving with him, just enough to keep out of his range of vision. The damned thing really was playing games, and I was so instantly furious I'm surprised I didn't start foaming at the mouth. If Serendel didn't see the thing he'd never believe me, and the thing was making very sure the fighter didn't see it.
"Is this where I get to say you're imagining things?" the man in front of me remarked mildly, turning back after having examined nothing but fog. "Now let's see, where were we?"
Very suddenly both of his arms were around me, holding me tight against him, and before I could make
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a single sound he had taken my lips with his. I strug- gled to get free, damned if I was going to be kissed in front of a line with a warped sense of humor, but struggling abruptly became entirely unnecessary. The arms that had closed around me quickly opened again, and Serendel's head drew back as he voiced a wordless shout.
"Damn it, something bit me!" he growled, turning completely around to reexamine the fog that had shown him nothing only a minute eariier. "I'd love to be able to blame you, but girls don't come equipped with more than two hands."
"Remind me to introduce you to some of the giris / know," I said, trying not to laugh out loud at the way I'd been vindicated. "Are you sure it wasn't my imag- ination? Some people feel it can be very vivid."
"Is vivid supposed to include having teeth?" he asked, fists to hips as he glared around. "I don't like being attacked from behind, and especially don't like having that attacker then refuse to face me. Do you still see whatever it was you saw?"
"It was a thin blue line, and no, I don't," I re- sponded, also looking all around in the fog. "When you missed it, it hid behind you, but I don't see it now. Are we going to search for it?"
"Search where?" he asked, finally turning back to show me heavy annoyance—aimed elsewhere. "The thing could be hiding ten feet away from us, but with this fog we'd never know it. Our best bet is to just keep going—and have a little talk with our—hosts- when we get to the palace."
"You knock 'em down, and I'll stomp on 'em," I agreed with a laugh I couldn't hold back, looking up at his continuing anger. "I didn't like where I got pinched any more than you like—ah—the way you were bitten."
"The way I was bitten," he repeated, surrendering to a grin that refused to be denied, "1 like women who are diplomatic. Let's go get 'em."
We resumed our walk up the passageway, and al- though I was still able to hear sounds from the dark- ened openings, there was no sign of interfering blue
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lines. The passage continued to twist and turn as it pleased, but absolutely nothing happened. My com- panion and I were trying to be very alert, but boredom and nothi ngness will wear down sharpness faster than any number of attacks. After about fifteen minutes we reached a stretch of wall with fewer openings than there had been, and suddenly I was no longer walking ahead but was being pulled around and folded into Serendel's arms.
"I think we've earned a short break,** he said as he held me to him, his voice very, very low. "If they don't know about it they can't bother us, and this looks like a perfect place."
His head lowered and his lips touched mine, briefly testing the waters, so to speak. The waters were fine as my smile and return kiss proved, and then our lips were touching with less brevity and more sustained interest. He held me to him with my hands against his chest, his arms delightfully tight around me, one of his hands to my hair. Our bodies moved closer to one another, the taste of warmth rising, and then—
"Slig!" I yelled, and "Slime-wiggling jark!" Ser- endel snaded, the two of us pulling away to whirl around in murder-rage. This time there were two of them, one blue line hovering behind each of us, and although I didn't know what had happened to the fighter, I knew damned well what had been done to me. It was the next step up from pinching, the sort of long-finger effort that was usually the trademark of sidewalk idlers, and the only other time it had hap- pened to me I'd gone after the doer with a length of two-by-four that had been lying handily about. Not only was there no handy wood this time, I had the definite feeling it wouldn't have done any good even if there had been.
"The damned things are laughing at us!" Serendel growled, probably still glaring at his the way I was doing with mine, making me feel less paranoid. "I wasn't wrong, they are trying to keep us apart. What in hell are they?"
"Part of whatever game our hosts are playing," I answered, jumping forward fast to try grabbing my
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line. My hand closed on nothing as the line darted up and away, which made me feel better despite the miss- If getting my hands on it wouldn't have done any good, the line would have had no reason to dodge. Since it had dodged, / now had reason to try again, at a time it would hopefully not be expecting the grab-
*Tve now gotten to the point of not liking the game at all," the fighter said very flatly, his voice slightly raised as though he spoke not only to me and the lines, but also to whoever else might be listening in. "Ev- eryone's entitled to fair warning, so I'll say it once clearly, and then I won't bother again: stop the game and cancel any other plans you have in regard to me and the lady in this place, or you're the ones who will be responsible for what happens. You won't be able to say you didn't know. Come on, Dalisse."
He took my arm and went marching up the passage- way again, ignoring the two blue lines we left hover- ing behind us. The lines now seemed more unsure than amused, and if that was true I couldn't say I blamed them. The fighter was so angry his gray eyes were frozen slow-sparks, which made me decide to tell him some other time that I didn't like being called Dalisse. Right then my most central concern was keeping up with him without running.
After a couple of minutes Serendel slowed down, but more because he'd gotten his anger under control than because it was any less. He made no attempt to look behind us to see if the lines were following, but I didn't have the same unspokenly-deadly image to maintain. I looked back a few times without making any attempt to hide what I was doing, and finally glanced at Serendel.
*'I don't know if it means anything, but they aren't following," I told him. "Or at least I can't see them following. Maybe they'll be smart and take your ad-
' i*
vice.
"They'd better be that smart, because it wasn't ad- vice," he came back without looking at me, all of the growl gone from his voice but the faintest of shadows. "Doing things like that to people isn't the joke some consider it, especially when there's a lady involved.
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My parents taught me manners while I was growing up; if theirs didn't do the same for them, it's more than time the oversight was corrected."
I lapsed back into silence at that, not quite sure what to say. The fighter was angry, all right, but not for the reasons I'd thought and he wasn't only angry. He also seemed to be indignant and outraged, in large measure on my behalf. A reaction like that wasn't something I'd expected from a virtual stranger, especially not one I'd exchanged more argument with than conversation. Obviously there was more to Serendel than just being a brainless glad, and he'd been very right: if people bad left us alone, I might have found that out sooner.
Once again we just kept walking, something that was beginning to be really boring. I felt as though we'd already come miles, and there was no knowing how far we had left to go. Serendel didn't seem inter- ested in more conversation, and I agreed with that. When two people begin getting to know each other, the personal items they exchange are meant for each other, not an audience. We'd had more than enough proof that someone was keeping track of us; if they really were also listening in, the rest of our conver- sation could wait.
Possibly another ten minutes went by, and then I began noticing different sounds coming from the dark- ened openings we passed, with some not confined to the openings. I hadn't realized it sooner but the fog also seemed to be thickening, which made seeing more than a few feet beyond us just about impossible. Some of the noises sounded like dragging, some shuffling, a few like scrapes, and one or two were nothing but strange breathing. At first I considered the whole thing stupid, but when the noises began sounding closer and there was still nothing in view to account for them, / began thinking about changing my mind.
"I think it's safe to assume my warning was heard and believed," Serendel said suddenly, almost making me jump. "Since I didn't like the first game, they've decided to play a different one."
"Do you think they'd listen if I said / didn't like this one?" I asked, the words very nearly a mutter. "I
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know I don't have your standing or size, but I am supposed to be a paying customer."
"I hope you're not taking any of this seriously," he returned, and there was no doubt he was back to being amused. "Strange noises in the dark, breathing out of the fog—it's the sort of thing you use to frighten little children.' *
"Little children aren't the only ones smart enough to distrust what prefers hiding out of easy sight," I told him with a glance, disliking the faint grin he was wearing. "And there's a big difference between fright and caution, something someone in your position ought to know."
"That's right, you're the one who isn't afraid of anything," he said, and if he didn't sound even more amused it was only because he was consciously re- fraining. "Believe it or not. I'm glad you reminded me about that. Now I don't have to spend any time reassuring you, or protecting you, or anything like what I'd have to do with a different woman. It feels good having a companion rather than a dependent."
With that he pounded me on the back a couple of times, not quite hard enough to knock me down, but certainly with brother-and-equal vigor. When I glared at him he chuckled, wordlessly admitting he was the kind who never passed up an opportunity for teasing, which told me I'd be wasting my time getting mad. He fully intended pulling my leg until it came off in his hand, and people like that are beyond help. All you can do is shake your head at them and sigh, and then get on with what you were doing before they started their nonsense.
Which meant I went back to wondering just what the hell was making those noises, and even more to the point, why they were being made. They couldn't seriously be expecting to scare anyone, not even if it did sound like dead bodies and whatever had made diem dead were just out of sight, waiting to add one or two more to their group. The fog was really thick at that point, cutting down visibility to arm's length or less, and the fighter beside me was giving most of his attention to the ground under our feet. Since he
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was doing that my own area of responsibility became obvious, and that was why I kept a close watch on the fog all around. If anything was going to jump out at us in attack, it would find at least one of us on guard.
Our having to move so slowly made it seem as though we spent a really long time in the extra-thick fog, but it couldn't have been much more than another ten minutes before our range of sight began expanding again. The fog thinned rather than receded, and when we were finally able to look all around, most of my companion's amusement thinned with the mist.
"This doesn't look anything like the passageway we were in.** he said with a frown, staring at the much wider area we suddenly found all around us. "As a matter of fact. it doesn't look like anywhere I'd ever choose to be. Could we have taken a wrong turn?**
"Through all that completely transparent fog?" I asked with a soon, no happier than he was. "Of course we couldn't have taken a wrong turn. This must be pan of die palace.*'
At that point it was his turn to make a sound of ridicule, all due to what we were seeing more and more of as the fog thinned. The walls of the area had wide, uneven gaps rather than archways, and where there wasn't a gap it was possible to see some sort of long. drooping, creeping plant growing on the wall surface. What looked to be trails of slime could be seen under the plants, and here and there the floor had matchi ng trails. Even though I didn't want to, I looked up toward the ceiling, and was indecently relieved to see that it was just ceiling with some mist below it. If those plants had been on the ceiling as well, even someone Serendel's size couldn't have kept me from stampeding out of there.
"If this is the palace, I'm going back the way we came.** Serendel said. turning slowly to look all around himself. "That ragged gap behind us must be the way we came in, but I*d like to know how much more of this we're supposed to . . .'*
His voice trailed off because he had heard the same thing I had. me sudden sharpening of a sound that had probably been hovering just below the level of our
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conscious awareness for the last couple of minutes. It was the sound of deep, body-racking, heartbroken sobbing, the voice cleariy a woman's, also cleaiiy coming closer. For some reason it was difficult decid- ing from what direction the crying was coming, but it was definitely getting closer. It got nearer and nearer, louder and more like a totally shattered soul, and then, with what seemed like no warning despite all the sob- bing, the woman was there in the room with us.
I think every drop of blood in my body froze at her appearance. It wasn't the fact that she and her floor- length gown were as white as the fog was gray, or even mat she was surrounded by at least a dozen of those dark blue lines, all of them taking turns stroking and touching her. What turned my stomach upside down and aimed it at my mouth was the fact that the sobbing woman held her arms out toward us as though begging for our help, but she couldn't also stretch out her hands. Her arms ended where her wrists should have been, nothing but stumps without proper finish- ing.
"I can't find them,*' the sobbing woman said, look- ing at us from where she'd stopped, at least twenty feet away. Her voice was muffled by the crying but was also unbelievably clear, as though the words and the woman herself were no more than inches away.
"I can't find them,** she said. sounding like a little girt who had lost her brand-new birthday boots. ' 'They took them and won't give them back. and now what am I going to do?**
Serendel made no more effort to answer the question than I did, but he stood staring at the woman with no visible sign of the shuddering storm I could feel inside me. I would have loved being able to say something smart, but at that point I couldn't even get my heart to stop the exploding it considered beating. Although I don*t know what I would have done with it. I was wishing I could make myself reach for the palm dag- ger—and that's when we began hearing the laughter.
Have you ever heard someone who was really in- sane, laughing in chilling delight at something you have no hope of seeing the humor in? The laughter we
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heard then was very much like that, and then all the ragged openings behind and around the woman were filled with hideous creatures, showing themselves as the ones who were laughing. Two of them, one to the left and one to the right, each held a slender white hand, and even as we watched they approached the woman with their burdens. They were humanoid in shape but horribly twisted and malformed, wearing rags rather than clothing, and when they reached the woman they each set a severed hand at the end of a stump of a wrist. The woman's sobbing trailed off when they began their grisly attempt at reconstruction, and once it was done she began to laugh the way the others were doing. I couldn't see what there was to laugh about—until she held up arms and hands that were complete.
, "Oh. thank you, thank you for giving them back," she sang, beside herself with joy, and then her horrible white eyes returned to Serendel and me. "Now you can take theirs!"
A chorus of insane laughter greeted the suggestion, and then all of the creatures were producing very long, very sharp-looking knives from somewhere. Every one of them was staring straight at Serendel and me, and then they began moving toward us.
I wasn't exactly frozen in place any longer, but I might as well have been, for all I could figure out what to do. My palm dagger was useless against the knives the creatures were holding, and even if there had been some definite place to run to, I didn't want those things coming right behind me. Running was a bad idea and I had nothing to stand and fight with, all of which meant I might as well have been frozen in shock for all the good being relatively free did me. I took a step back from the slowly advancing creatures, watching as many of them as I could while I frantically tried to think of something—and then something happened that was even more unexpected than what had already oc- curred.
I hadn't forgotten about the man who stood only a few feet away and ahead of me on my right, but de- spite Serendel's size and training. I couldn't see that
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he had any more of a chance to accomplish something than I did. Numbers and weapons tend to negate size and skill, but our intended attackers were due for a shock. They, like me, had thought the fighter was un- armed, but suddenly, unbelievably, he proved he was anything but.
The fighter took one short step forward and his right hand reached left, but rather than finding nothing but air his fingers seemed to close around something. He drew his fist up and away, as though he unsheathed that giant sword I'd seen him wearing on the liner, and then I had to rub my eyes and blink very hard because he was holding the sword! I hadn't the faintest idea of where it could have come from, but there was no doubt that it was there; he wrapped both of his fists around its hilt, set himself as he held it up before him, then grinned that faint, deadly grin at the advancing creatures.
Formerly advancing creatures. When I looked at them again, they were as still as paintings, decorations for the room that had been posed staring at the gleam- ing sword held by a man who had proven he was very good at using it. Even the woman was staring in shocked silence, and then one of the creatures swal- lowed hard.
"Shit," he muttered, and the word rang hollowly but cleariy all over the room. "That is Serendel, and he sure as hell does have his multi-sword with him. I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't take this job to get sliced into sections. I think it's time for my javi break."
With the last of his words the creature turned and began striding back the way he had come, suddenly looking more like a man in costume than a malformed monster. The rest of the creatures lost no time follow- ing his example, some almost tripping over their own feet in their hurry, and in less than a minute only me woman was left. She looked as though she wanted to call to the creatures to wait for her, but there turned out to be something she had to say instead.
"The—the way up into the palace is just through there, sir," she quavered, pointing with a long-
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fingered hand toward the largest gap on our right as she backed away. "I'm sony we— I mean, it's only what we're supposed to— Please don't be angry—"
Serendel's lack of response finally got to her, and she turned and ran into the nearest wall gap as though she was being chased, her hands holding up the bottom of her gown. I was seriously tempted to let myself collapse into a heap on the floor, but couldn't do it with all that slime they'd spread around.
"And that's another benefit to having people know who you are and what you can do," the fighter said with heavy satisfaction when the woman was out of sight. "Their own game ended as soon as they saw I was about to start one of my own, and that's Just what I wanted- They couldn't— Hey, are you all right?" ^ Sas question obviously referred to the way I stood ; tbece with my eyes closed and one hand to my head, "•Hbe Kst of me trying to get the sour taste out of my mourn. If the scene Serendel had broken up was the Wits people's idea of fun. there'd be no pretense gbout it when I hated the rest of the tour.
-"We*d better get you up into the palace where you can sit down for a while/* die fighter said as his arm went around me, nothing at all patronizing in his tone. "I'm as mindless as they are for not understanding how you'd take this nonsense. Come on, it shouldn't be far."
I opened my eyes to see his concerned face looking down at me, but he didn't know the half of it. I felt very pale as we took the gap pointed out by the woman in white, a corridor that turned out to be no more than fifteen feet long. On the other side of it was another room with a stairway leading up, but it was a normal room with normal walls and floor, and two normal, human men.
"Is the lady all right?" one of the men said when he saw us. the other frowning and coming forward
with the first. "Was there an accident? Does she need a doctor?"
"All she needs is to sit down for a while, and what happened was no accident," Serendel told them in a very hard voice, one that stopped the men before they
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reached us. "Don't you people have sense enough to check the home planets of your guests before you pull childish jokes on them? If I hadn't been there, some- one could have been very seriously hurt."
"I—don't understand," the same man said, ex- changing a bewildered glance with his friend. "The passageways scene is an extremely popular one with guests, especially the very end. What could home planets have to do with any of that?"
"The lady comes from Gryphon, and Gryphon has the wilds," Serendel answered, still sounding very un- friendly. "Anyone who has ever been in the wilds knows that the fastest way to get kill ed is to doubt what you're seeing, no matter how fantastically unreal it looks. Some part of the seeming fantasy will always be real, and if you don't figure out which part that is, you'll never get another chance. The lady has been through one of the worst sections of the wilds, and because of that everything she just went through was real rather than a joke. Is there any way up to the palace besides that stairway?"
"Certainly, sir, there's an emergency lift right over here," the second man said hastily when the first just stood with his mouth open, looking almost as pale as I felt. "Please follow me and I'll accompany you aboveground, and then pass on what happened to my superiqrs. I know they'll be very upset, and they'll also want to apologize to the lady."
"Give me a couple of minutes, and 1*11 be glad to tell you what they can do with their apologies," I managed to say, making the second man look very unhappy. He pressed a section of the not-stone wall and a part of it slid aside to reveal a small lift-car, then moved into the car to hold the door open while Serendel helped me in after the man. The fighter's sword had disappeared again, back to wherever it had come from, I supposed, but I wasn't quite up to won- dering where that was. What I needed right then was a good, stiff drink, or maybe two or three drinks of the sort that bring you alive again. I still had the fun of the palace to look forward to, and I could hardly wait.
Chapter 11
The man who was accompanying us aboveground had due choice of letting the lift move as fast as it could, or setting it to a much more leisurely pace. I'm not
- (mite sure why he opted for the slower rise, but by the ' .tone we got to the top and the door opened, I'd pulled
"t;, affyaetf together enough to stand without help. I hadn't realized Just how hard I'd been hit until it began wear- ing off, and I didn't know yet whether or not to be angry. I*d have to speak to Lidra first, in private, and then I'd be able to decide.
The open door let us out into what looked like a private alcove off a much larger room, part of which could be seen through the crystal-like walls of the al- cove. Besides being absolutely enormous, the area be- yond was filled with fountains, and crystal staircases, and couches and servants and music and partying peo- ple, none of which caused crowding in any of me parts I could see. It looked as if someone had roofed over an acne or more, fog and all, of course, but nobody seemed to be minding the fog. The scene was so op- ulently compelling it was hard to look away from, at
least until Chal, Lidra and Velix came hurrying up to us.
"Inky, are you all right?" Lidra demanded as she reached me, more outraged than the ones who had asked the same question before her. "These people must substitute this fog for their brains, always assum- ing, of course, they had any brains to begin with. I think a doctor should look you over."
*'I could have used one down below to restart my 200
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heart, but I'm over that now," I told her, pretending I didn't see how carefully Chal was studying me. "If I had any wishes coming I'd wish I was still a smoker, though. A drink and a puffer and a quiet place to sit down for a couple of minutes are things I would enjoy right now."
"Well, I can take care of the puffer," Lidra said, turning to look at a Velix who was on the verge of hovering behind her. "Do you think anyone in this place is up to supplying the rest, 0 faithful and capa- ble journey scout? If not, I'm not above opening doors until I find what I want."
"There's certainly no need for something like mat," the Griddenth answered stiffly, trying to balance his annoyance with Lidra and his concern for me. "There's a ladies* retiring room just up the corridor here which should do nicely, and I can have drinks brought to you there. If there's anything else you'd like, just ask for it."
"How about the head of whoever thought up that cute idea for the passageway?" I muttered as Velix fussed his way past me to show where the "ladies' retiring area" was. The Griddenth's wings were threatening to start flapping, his fur was practically on end. and he ignored my comment in a way that made me think he wanted the same thing. I hadn't expected him toJbe that upset over what had happened to me, and couldn't understand why he was.
Velix led the way to the right of the lift, away fipom the area beyond the crystal wall, and stopped a few feet down in front of an archway on the left sur- rounded by opaque pink crystal walls. The pink was obviously a sign to be read as giris only, which most of the men with us seemed ready to go along with. The sole exception to that was someone I'd forgotten I was still being held around by, but Lidra noticed and stopped just short of the archway.
"It*s all right. Winner, you can trust her in my care for a little while," she said to Serendel as she put a hand on my arm, smiling up at him warmly. "Before you know it, I'll have her back to you just the way she was."
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"Anything but that," the fighter murmured only loud enough for me to hear, giving me the job of keep- ing myself from laughing out loud, then he raised his voice to a normal level. "I'm not doubting your trust- worthiness, Lidra, but I can supervise her sitting down and putting her feet up just as easily as you can. She and I were getting acquainted when this happened, so we can use the time she rests up to go on with it."
I knew I couldn't very well talk privately with Lidra if the fighter was there, and Lidra, of course, had to know the same. The only problem was, she didn't look like she knew it; instead of arguing, all she did was smile again.
"Well, if that's the case, then come on in with us," she invited pleasantly, her eyes sparkling as her hand tightened on my arm. "Come on. Inky."
. I stepped forward with her, feeling as confused as I ever had, but it was only a moment before I under- stood completely, Lidra and I moved through the arch- way without any difficulty, but Serendel stopped so abruptly it looked like he'd run into a brick wall. I'd heard about exclusionary gender screens but had never seen one before, not even in me resorts Seero and I had. stayed at. The area was open only to those who were biologically female, and the way Lidra chuckled softly as she led me deeper inside said she'd known the screen was there.
"I'm glad you two are finally getting along so well, but I really don't think ten or fifteen minutes of being apart will ruin anything," she said, directing me around the comer to the left. "We'll let the men ex- plain the facts of life to him, and in me meantime you and I can sit down and rest a little. We may nave ridden here rather than walked, but once we arrived they started giving us the Grand Tour. You won't be- lieve how big this place is until you see it for your- self."
There was a very pleasant, pinkly-lit resting area around the comer we'd turned, one with etched crystal walls and soft carpeting and svalk-covered lounge couches and one mirrored wall. Beyond the etched crystal I could see the man who had ridden up with us
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in the lift and the Griddenth Velix, both working to soothe a very annoyed Serendel. Nothing of what any of them were saying came through, but it was possible to see that even the two previously-chosen magicians were now there.
"And here come our drinks," Lidra said, nodding toward the female servant who was circling the group of men with her tray held carefully away from them. "One-way walls are fun, but you're not in here to stand and sight-see through one. Sit down on that lounge-couch, and close your eyes for a minute."
I let her urge me down with my back to the one-way wall, then closed my eyes as she'd suggested. I didn't really need to do any of that, but if she and I were going to speak privately, there had to be an overt rea- son for our being alone. I heard the female servant come in and put her tray down, and then she offered to stay and help Lidra take care of me. Lidra told her it would probably be a couple of minutes before I was up to taking anything from Mists people including their help, and happily the woman didn't argue. I heard her leave, heard Lidra sit down, and then a minute or so later there was the clink of glasses.
"Okay, you can have your drink and conversation now," Lidra said, and I opened my eyes to see her holding out a filled glass toward me. "This place is completely clean, although that giri who came in wasn't. As long as we're careful to watch for any new arrivals, there shouldn't be a problem. You didn't really want a puffer, did you?"
"No," I answered with a shake of my head, taking the glass being held out to me. The wine in it was a very pale orange, and although it was smooth going down, it caused my blood to surge a little in greeting. I could have done without the drink, but as I leaned back on the couch I admitted to myself I was glad I had it.
"What in hell did they put you through down there?'* Lidra asked, and I saw that she held a lit puffer as well as a glass of her own. I admired her dedication to her image, but certainly didn't envy it. "All we were told was that you'd had some sort of unexpected
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trouble. It couldn't have had anything to do with the reason you chose this place to vacation, could it?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," I answered, sipping at my wine as I answered her real question about the assignment. "Serendel thought I was scared gray because I believed everything going on was real. It*s true that someone who has been through the wilds on my world tends to come away believing that every- thing they see after that, no matter how strange, is real. but after a while the belief fades. Their cute little honor show may have shaken me a little, but it wasn't until toe very end that it took me by the throat. Lidra, die woman who was the first to show herself to us had both hands cut off at the wrists."
The giri sat in silence staring at me, both the puffer and her drink forgotten. I'd thought I might have to explain what the symbolism meant, but the way she'd pued a little showed she understood without explana- tions. The very old, very standard way of punishing thieves was the removal of one or both hands, and from the time I'd first heard of that. at a relatively young age, I'd had periodic nightmares about it. It hadn't been enough to make me let Seero down by not joining in his private social protest, but I also had never mentioned the point to him.
"You think they may have been warning you off," Lidra said at last, the sentence a statement she was weighing the truth of. "It presupposes the fact that they know who and what you are as well as the reason why you're here, and although not impossible, the consideration is highly unlikely. If they know about you they know about Chal and me, which means they would have warned all of us and that hasn't happened. Are you disagreeing with anything I*m saying?"
"I'm not disagreeing with anything that comes out rational and levelheaded rather than scared gray," I told her, reeling a great deal of relief. "I couldn't think about this thing, all I could do was look for a corner to shiver in. I agree it isn't very likely for them to know anything yet, so as long as you and Chal are left alone, I can be indignant instead of shaky."
"If anyone ever did something like that to me, I'd
MISTS OF THE AGES 205
^ be a hell of a lot more than shaky," she said with a 'I definite shudder, now beyond considering the matter ?. professionally and into the realm of the personal. "I'm not joking when I say I think the whole thing is a nauseating coincidence, but I wonder if I can ask a very intrusive question- What would you do if it wcisn 't •^ a coincidence? What would happen if they really were warning you off?'*
"That's two questions," I pointed out, raising my wine glass, hesitating, then putting it down again be- fore looking bleakly at a very sober Lidra. "What I'd want to do is run not walk to the nearest exit, then take a liner going any place at all. What I would do, unfortunately, is pretend I didn't know what they were talking about, then set the stroking for as soon as it was possible to schedule. Once I commit to something I'm stuck with seeing it through, especially if it can't be done without me. Maybe you and Chal would be interested in a quick course on lifting and stroking for fun and profit."
"I don't think so," she said with a laugh, some sort of satisfaction in her light eyes. "The first rule you learn in this business is not to try spreading over into someone else's specialty. If it was possible for you to be as good as they are, you would have been given the training before you were sent out. It looks like it's a good thing luck is on our side, though. With Serendel around for you to stand next to, your nerves shouldn't be spending too much time regretting your commit- ment."
"What do you mean, stand next to?" I asked with a snort, this time swallowing more of the wine without changing my mind. "The place I stood was behind him, a position I can't possibly recommend too highly. Those make-believe monsters the woman sent against us had knives, and no matter how idiotically melodra- matic everyone else considered the scene, I thought sure we'd had it. That was when Serendel pulled his sword out of thin air, and if I'd been capable of speech I would have thanked every god ever conceived of."
"I don't think you're as over your time in those wilds as you believe you are," she said, her smile less
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amused than sharing. "And Serendel didn't pull his sword out of thin air, he didn't have to. It's a multi- sword, after all, so all he did was shift it full-in and overt, bringing it on-line instead of off. He probably wouldn't have done it if he hadn't been considering you, but I'll bet those monsters changed their minds in a hurry. People tend to forget multi-sword wielders are never without the weapon once they win the right to use it; being reminded the hard way is just a little unsettling.'*
"Most especially in the bowel and bladder regions,** I said, wondering if I should ask, then decided I might as well. "I know I'm going to sound ignorant as hell, and I won't even try to find out how you know this place is clear while the serving woman wasn't, but— what was that you said about the multi-sword? That OQ-line instead of off made it sound like a computer printer."
"In a manner of speaking, that's not too far from what it is," she said with a laugh, reaching to the crystal carafe of wine still on me tray and refilling both of our glasses. "If I could show you the math it would be much easier to understand, not to mention explain. Multi-swords are quasi-paradimensional constructs made to manifest fully, partially or negatively in a specific mathematical locus. If you want to think of them as computer analogs with sharp edges and a point you won*t be wrong, but you also won't be completely right. They're very complex in nature, which is one of the reasons why their usage is so limited, and teams all over the Empire are working on their basic princi- ple to find out where it can take us. The breakthrough was made by an arena buff. who was trying to make a weapon worthy of use by Winners. He made the weapon and was delighted with the accomplishment, and never once stopped to consider what else he had done. I hear the various research teams use his name as a curse word; they lost two years of work through having to find out about the breakthrough from an arena telecast accidently viewed by someone who could appreciate what he was seeing.*'
"Well. at least I can understand that part of it," I
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said, shaking my head. "I've also come across the idea that a 'negative manifestation' is considered pos- itive and measurable to the sorts who use the kind of math mat has no numbers, but if you don't mind I'd rather not think about things like that. I tend to picture people with nets chasing after invisible glow-flits."
"Well, of course they use nets," she said, a straight- faced, reasonable expression all over her. "You can't catch an invisible glow-flit without using a net."
"Since I don't doubt you're one of those who do it on a regular basis, I'll take your word for it," I told her, the dryness in my tone making her grin. "I also won't be surprised if I hear people have started chas- ing you with nets. How much longer do you think it'll be before we get close enough to our objective to get to work?"
"I think we may very well be within range when we get to our next tour area," she said, controlled eager- ness quickly taking the place of playful teasing as she leaned forward. "We're closer now than we were at the port, and the route we're on is supposed to swing us right by there. 1*11 check again once we get to the designated area, and if we seem close enough you can do a physical check. If you. can find some way of shak- ing yourself loose from Serendel."
The last of her words were filled with sudden dis- turbance, as though she hadn't considered the point sooner, and she leaned back again on her couch look- ing thoughtful. It was nice to see her matchmaking enthusiasm dimmed, but that didn't solve the problem.
"I'm glad you finally noticed," I said, watching her take a last drag on her puffer before she dumped it in the couch slot provided for the purpose. "I think it would have been easier if he and I had stayed enemies. but it's too late for that now. If I started snarling at him again after what he just helped me get through, even his great-aunt Nellie would be suspicious. When the time comes, you and Chal will have to divert him."
"If we can," she answered doubtfully, still looking bothered. "In case the point went past you, it took an exclusion field to separate you two a few minutes ago. All we can hope is that he was just feeling very pro-
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tective because of the way you reacted to the passage- way game, and will back off on his own once he sees you're all right. That's not too much to hope for, is it?"
"You're asking me?" I said with a sound of ridi- cule, taking a last sip of the wine before returning the glass to the tray. "You and Chal are supposed to be the experts on that particular glad, and I don't like infringing on other people's areas of expertise. I'm going to use the facilities in the next room, and then I think we ought to rejoin the others."
**Before Serendel finds a way in here," she said, gesturing with her chin toward the wall behind me. I got off me couch and turned to look, and at first I couldn't see anything but the fighter standing with folded arms, staring at the wall he wasn't able to get through. It took a moment before I noticed the look in his cold gray eyes, and then I suddenly understood what Lidra was talking about.
*TH hurry." I said. and began to do exactly that. If there was ever a man calmly considering which point or an annoying obstruction he was very soon going to be attacking first. . .
When Lidra and I walked out of the comfort area, no one was there but Serendel. Everyone else seemed to have vanished, and we found out to where when the fighter came over to join us.
"Chal and the magicians are in the men's area down there on the right, Velix and the man from below went somewhere to file a report, and that leaves me," he said, answering our question before we asked it out loud, and then his eyes came to me. "You're looking a lot better than you were. but you weren't in there very long. Would you like to find some place else to sit down, preferably some place with equal access?"
"I think I'd rather see what this place has in the way of diversions first," I answered, using Lidra's theory as a basis for the response. If Serendel would ease off as soon as his worry about me did the same, I intended being as recovered as possible as quickly as reasonable. Letting him get into the habit of sticking dow would be stupid, and I had the feeling there
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would be enough stupidity on our project without my deliberately adding to it.
"If she gets tired too quickly, she can always change her mind," Lidra put in when the fighter hes- itated, his expression saying he wasn't sure he ought to agree with that reckless a decision. "She wasn't physically hurt, after all, not the way you 've been hurt from time to time, and even though you undoubtedly heal faster than she does, you have to consider where she's starting ..."
"Hold it," the glad interrupted quickly, raising a palm in Lidra's direction. "I should have asked this as soon as I saw you, and would have mentioned it before you went into the rest area if I hadn't been caught by surprise. Did you spend any more time tell- ing her how great I am? If you did, I just may turn very violent."
"Relax, my friend, she didn't say a word," I an- swered for a bewildered Lidra, finding it impossible to hide how funny I thought, the situation was. "I haven't decided to walk around ibecause I'm trying to avoid being alone with you. What I'm trying to do is find a little fun / can appreciate ^the sort of thing everyone keeps assuring me this place is loaded with. If you don't think you can handle something like that, just say so. I still have the option of trading you in for Chal.."
"You can't exercise that option until after you've tried me," he said with a faint grin, finally less intense than he had been, the amusement reaching even to the gray eyes looking down at me. "1*11 go get the others, and then we can start searching for that fun."
He turned and moved off toward the blue-walled area farther down on the right, and once he reached it and disappeared inside, Lidra put a hand on my arm.
"What in hell was that all about?" She demanded in a hiss, still wide-eyed and confused. * *If I ever won- dered bow his opponents must feel, I'll never have to wonder again."
"I don't think he actually would have killed you," I said with a laugh, perversely pleased with the way that had gone. "If you'd said anything nice about him
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he might have broken some of your bones, but I really don't think he would nave killed you. After all, you are one of his biggest fans."
"I can see I stepped into some sort of private joke," she said as she sighed, smart enough to give up asking for an explanation she could see she wouldn't be get- ting. "If you decide to trade him for Chal after all, give me a couple of minutes of prior warning, will you? That will give me time to formulate the questions I want to ask while I can still think. After that, he 'II .betfaeooe to find out how his opponents tend to feel." ^{iarcy«8 were on the place where the fighter had ^lrrlT"1—1"*^, a lip-licking expression of hopeful antic- her face, and I didn't understand that. Ac- Chal she didn't want Serendel the way she ie did, but that wasn't what I was getting Bg at her. I spent a minute wrestling with . n of whether or not to pry, and even though true hesitation I still lost the opportunity. The „ „„.,, » we were waiting for came out of the rest OBM^ and we DO longer had time for the discussion of deticaEtc subjects.
"I've been led to believe there are ladies out here who are interested in finding some fun,"Chal said as he came up to us, his grin wider than Serendel's. "If that turns out to be true, we're pleased to inform you that we know two lords interested in me same. May we be of service, ladies?"
"Only if you mean that in all senses of the word," Lidra answered with a grin of her own, reaching over :. to take Chal's arm. "So far the only things we've got- ten out of this trip are one new outfit each and a mod- ^-;«Rtely lavish meal, but we expect that to change. If it |i^lte»B*t, we'll be the ones who change—to a vacation p^®ot where the fun times aren't quite so well hidden." §^^**I;have the definite reeling the second half of that ^^"•TO't include us, Serendel." Chal said to the fighter i an expression of anxiety no one above the age of would have believed. "We'd better hurry up and something to change their minds, or you and I be left with no one but each other."
[ tUcc you, Chal, but I don't like you that much,"
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Serendel said with a chuckle as he came closer to me, men took my right arm to put around his left, the way Lidra held Chal. "I'm sure there's something in this place to divert the ladies, and if it turns out there isn't, we'll Just have to—improvise. Jejin—is it beyond your range of duties to act as a guide for us?"
"I'm supposed to be more of a silent companion, lord Serendel, but there's nothing to keep me from commenting on some of the things you stroll past,'* the magician answered, he and Chal's man both smil- ing under their beards. "We're also meant to answer questions put to us, so if you see something you'd like explained, simply ask. There shouldn't be too much of that sort of thing, as most of the diversions in the palace are no more complicated than they look.**
**In that case, let's get started," Chal said to us all. then led off with Lidra. His magician moved to follow along behind him, and Jejin kept his place behind us.
It wasn't more than a dozen steps to the end of the alcove area, and then we were suddenly in the midst of a giant structure of crystal and mirrors and mist. I'm sure the mirrors helped to add to me impression of size, as did the fact that the second floor didn't start until where the third floor should have been. but it was large to begin with. Chandeliers hung from the thirty- foot ceiling, multicolored glowings that lightened and tinted'the mist, fountains gurgled happily as their con- tents poured endlessly from various beautifully-cast statues, and people wandered everywhere. Most groups were six-people big and some larger, but few, if the man was in leather and the woman in svalk. were smaller than three.
"Now, that's something you two ought to know about,'' Chal said as he stopped and turned to Serendel .and me. "The first thing Lidra and I were told about when we got here was those fountains. Do you see all those goblets around the rims, almost as though they were decorations? Well, they're not decorations, be- cause the fountains aren't filled with water. That's wine they're throwing about so casually, and anyone who wants some is free to help himself. Why don't we start by helping ourselves?"
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My companion thought Chal had come up with a great idea, so we all went to the nearest fountain and started to help ourselves. Serendel took a goblet and tried to hold it in the froth of spray coming out of the gills of some sort of water beast, but after a few sec- onds it was clear he was getting more wine on his band and ann than in the goblet. I'd chosen the heavier stream coming out of the statue's mouth, so I had enough to drink in no time at all. When I pulled the gpblet back I sipped from it, then raised my brows.
"Hey, this isn't bad at all," I told the fighter, turn- iltg to watch his much less successful efforts. "If you .any, you'll probably like it. Do you think that fus. of yours, and doesn't want to see you
,is, it'll just have to close its eyes," the fighter 1'back, paying more determined attention to what RS doing than to the words he spoke. "I'm here flft ideation, and I'll be damned if I'll let people—or fM&—tell me what to do. I have enough of that when r.fla,ifl training."
^tyour meager size, I can understand how every- one coming by must push you around," I said with a nod of Compassion, smiling inwardly when he gave up on the froth and switched to the stream I'd used. "You ? really should hire someone to protect you."
"I've considered the idea," he agreed solemnly, fi- $ nally pulling back a filled goblet. "I'd need somebody % who was tough, preferably armed, and wasn't afraid ^ of anything. Would you like a job?" ^
"I'll have to check my employment schedule," I 2 answered, seeing the amusement in his eyes as he %. flipped at his wine. "I'm in such demand as a body- f ~ws^ that I'm just about booked solid, which I'm sure | ttcan understand. If I find any uncommitted time, B let you know."
gfSy poor abused body will be grateful," he said ft chuckle, then shifted the goblet to his left hand "^r to shake the right and hold the arm away from 1*4 also be grateful for something to take care mess. Wine in the mouth is a treat for the pal- an arm, all it is is sticky."
MISTS OF THE AGES 213
"That small fountain over there has nothing but wa- ter," Jejin said from behind us, waiting until we turned before pointing in the proper direction. "There are also towels to be found in its base, as this sort of thing happens on a regular basis."
"Then let's take advantage of it," Serendel said, immediately starting for the pretty little spout and ba- sin to the left of the fountain we'd gotten the wine from. "We still have fun to find, and I'd like the use of my arm while we're looking. Just in case I have to improvise, you understand."
The grin he sent to me sai d he now had another subject to tease about, and as I followed along I made a mental note to thank Chal for that. People who con- sider teasing their second calling in life don't need to be handed a subject by those around them; they do well enough finding ammunition on their own. Jejin chuckled softly as he followed in turn, but that was only because he knew he was hardly likely to be made victim in my place.
As soon as Serendel reached the water fountain, he put down his goblet of wine and began washing his ann. Just to save time I bent to look for the towels that were supposed to be in the base, saw immediately which carved panel was supposed to be slid back, and uncovered the hidden cache without any trouble. I did have «o put my own wine aside in order to pull out one of the giant monsters folded fluffily inside, and then I had to stand in order to open it.
"I think they were anticipating bathing orgies," I said as I unfolded about a quarter of that bright yellow towel. "This thing is big enough for half a dozen peo- ple all at once, and may even be a tent in disguise. If you aren't careful, you could get lost in it."
"Only if you're there to get lost with me," the fighter said, coming over to put his now-clean-but-wet ann into the towel. "Getting lost all alone is never any fun."
Those gray eyes were looking down at me with only a hint of amusement, and it actually took a minute or two before I realized he was just standing there while I used the towel to dry his ann. Finding that out was
214 Skarmt Green
somewhat embarrassing, mainly because I also found I wanted to do the drying. It has also occurred to me to wonder what diying the rest of him would be like, and that was even more embarrassing. I was sure the eyes watching me knew exactly what I was thinking, but I was saved from having to retreat in total fluster by the intervention of Jejin.
"The towel can be left right there, in front of the fountain," the magician said, drawing Serendel's gaze and thereby earning my profound, undying gratitude. "The servants will take care of it in a minute, and you "'""" i^tNiave all the palace to see. What do you think
t8ke to do first? Have a snack to go with the ^ Wifely slaves at the auction? Gamble with some ^ •'"•other lords? Watch the races or other athletic ^.. There arc also shows, and music, and ..." ^ Ban's voice went on and on, listing our choices, . topped the towel, turned away to retrieve my ]• tel was fight then busy sipping it. I didn't know | tifae fighter, but the one thing / was interested in • *. 'I; been on Jejin's list. I didn't know what was '• [with me, suddenly wanting a man so badly my ' ; were nearly trembling with the effort not to let ^ it show. The wine undoubtedly had something to do ;- with it, but I was used to having more capacity than ^ that, and more resistance to the beast called male. Most .. men were fun to be with, but I'd never experienced ^ the—draw—I did with Serendel, the urge to be some- M where alone with him without mindless blue lines || around to spoil things. ... II
"And now. my lady, you may consider yourself ^ claimed," a smug voice said suddenly, bringing me S:. abruptly out of my thoughts. I looked up to see that ^'|F4 apparently drifted away from the water fountain to |^^|tf -open section of the floor, and there was a strange ^: ''—"• "in leather standing about five feet in front of me. vss the one who had spoken, and as an apparent basis he gestured to the robed magician on his -That worthy stood with one hand up, and in the ; was a glittering rope of light. I looked down again ^ that the light stretched from him to me and Lay waist, a special effect that was mildly im-
MISTS OF THE AGES 215
pressive. I remembered then what Velix had said about my being subject to claiming, but I really wasn't in me mood for that.
"Why don't you find someone else to claim?" I suggested with a smile, an attempt to show the hand- some newcomer that it wasn't him I was refusing. "We've only just gotten here, and I haven't even had a chance to look around."
"You may have that chance once I'm done enjoying your favors," he answered with a grin, the way he looked me over turning it more into a leer. "The choice in the matter is mine, lovely lady, as you are. You will now accompany me to a privacy chamber, where I may take pleasure from my claim choice."
I was about to tell him exactly what he could take and also what he could do with it, when I was inter- rupted by something I hadn't been expecting. The string of light around my waist tightened to a point where I could actually feel it, and then it began tug- ging me forward. A glance at the magician showed that he was the one pulling on the light, but the grin- ning man in leather was the one I was being pulled toward.
"Damn it, I said I'm not interested!" I snapped to the man, trying to dig in nonexistent sandal heels. "You can't just drag me off as though my opinion doesn't count."
"Alas, dear lady, but your interest and opinion do not count," he said, really enjoying the game he was playing. "Here, your lord may do with you as he pleases, and at the moment / am your lord."
"But not for much longer," another voice said, this time from behind me, and suddenly I felt the counter- tug of another rope of light. A glance back showed Jejin holding the second rope, and Serendel, of course. had been the one who had spoken.
"You mean to challenge my claim?" the man in leather asked the fighter, scorn in his voice and ridi- cule on his face. "With the aid of the least magician in these precincts? You could not possibly have chosen worse, my friend, and you will certainly shame your- self if you continue. For your own sake I advise you
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to withdraw the challenge, and accept a quiet defeat rather than a public one."
"The only time to accept defeat is when you're dead," Serendel returned flatly, erasing the smirk from the other man's face with the softness of his words. "And if Jejin was all that bad, you wouldn't be trying to talk me out of the win. The woman was mine when this first started, and she'll still be mine when it's over. Magician, defend my property."
The other man was scowling by the time Serendel finished his speech, and had obviously decided «guost wasting any more words. His gesture to his am magician was even more curt than the fighter's ^nmand had been, but it managed to serve the pur- ytMe. Tfae two magicians moved to face each other to iftQrJeft, both of them taking the straight pans of their *^Ka»g»of light with them. I discovered that the loops ^HkBnBKl my waist had been left when I tried to turn •Mid walk away. finding out only then that I was still bong held in place. My anger flipped up a notch at mat, right into the spitting-furious range; your lord can do as he pleases with you, and magician defend my property?
The two men to my right who were so eager to win me weren't even looking in my direction, but instead were giving all their attention to their magicians. The gray-bearded figures had shortened their light-strings as they faced one another, and then suddenly the strange magician sent his string flaring toward Jejin. The end of the string widened immediately into a cone mouth that reached for Serendel's servant, but Jejin wasn't asleep or in any way unready. His own string widened and flashed to intercept the first, which it did with no difficulty at all but with lots of pretty sparks. The two widened strings fought each other with cor- uscating colors that lit the swirling, ever-present fog, and groups of people who had only been passing by stopped to watch the duel of powers.
If I'd been in a better mood I might have enjoyed the show, but then again I might not have. The two magicians made a real production out of it, first one of them gaining an edge only to lose it, then it was
MISTS OF THE AGES 217
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