THE WITCH DOCTOR

A Wizard in Rhyme Volume Three

Christopher Stasheff

First Published in 1994



Chapter One


What can you say about a friend who leaves town without telling
you?

I mean, I left Matt sitting there in the coffee shop trying to
translate that gobbledygook parchment of his, and when I came back
after class, he was gone. I asked if anybody'd seen him go, but
nobody had-just that, when they'd looked up, he'd been gone.

That was no big deal, of course I didn't own Matt, and he was a
big boy. If he wanted to go take a hike, that was his business. But
he'd left that damn parchment behind, and ever since he'd found it,
he'd handled it as if it were the crown jewels-so he sure as hell
wouldn't have just left it on the table in a busy coffee shop.
Somebody could have thrown it in the wastebasket without looking. He
was just lucky it was still there when I got back. So I picked it up
and put it in my notebook. "Tell him I've got his parchment," I told
Alice.

She nodded without looking up from the coffee she was pouring.

"Sure thing, Saul. If you see him first, tell him he forgot to pay
his bill this morning."

"Saul" is me. Matt claimed I'd been enlightened, so he called me
"Paul." I went along-it was okay as an in-joke, and it was funny the
first time. After that, I suffered through it-from Matt. Not from
anyone else. "Saul" is me. I just keep a wary eye for teenagers with
slingshots who also play harp.

"Will do," I said, and went out the door-but it nagged at me
especially since I had never known Matt to forget to pay Alice
before.

Forget to put on his socks, maybe, but not to pay his tab.

When I got back to my apartment, I took out his mystical
manuscript and looked at it. Matt thought it was parchment, but I
didn't think he was any judge of sheepskins. He certainly hadn't
gotten his.

Well, okay, he had two of them, but they hadn't given him the
third degree yet-and wouldn't, the way he was hung up on that
untranslatable bit of doggerel. Oh, sure, maybe he was right, maybe
it was a long-lost document that would establish his reputation as a
scholar and shoot him up to full professor overnight-but maybe the
moon is made of calcified green cheese, too.

Me, I was working on my second M.A.-anything to justify staying
around campus. Matt had gone on for his doctorate, but I couldn't
stay interested in any one subject that long. They all began to seem
kind of silly, the way the professors were so fanatical about the
smallest details.

By that standard, Matt was a born professor, all right. He just
spun his wheels, trying to translate a parchment that he thought was
six hundred years old but was written in a language nobody had ever
heard of. I looked it over, shook my head, and put it back in the
notebook. He'd show up looking for it sooner or later.

But he didn't. He didn't show up at all.

After a couple of days, I developed a gnawing uncertainty about
his having left town-maybe he had just disappeared. I know, I know, I
was letting my imagination run away with me, but I couldn't squelch
the thought.

So what do you do when a friend disappears?

You have to find out whether or not to worry.

The first day, I was only a little concerned, especially after I
went back to the coffee shop, and they said he hadn't been in looking
for his damn parchment. The second day, I started getting worried-it
was midnight and he hadn't shown up at the coffeehouse. Then I began
to think maybe he'd forgotten to eat again and blacked out-so I went
around to his apartment to tell him off.

He lived in one of those old one-family houses that had been
converted into five apartments, if you want to call them that-a
nine-bytwelve living room with a kitchenette wall, and a cubbyhole
for a bedroom. I knocked, but he didn't answer. I knocked again, Then
I waited a good long time before I knocked a third time. Still no
answer. At three A.M when the neighbor came out and yelled at me to
stop knocking so hard, I really got worried-and the next day, when
nobody answered, I figured, Okay, third time's the charm-so I went
outside, glanced around to make sure nobody was looking, and quietly
crawled in the back window. Matt really ought to lock up at night;
I've always told him so.

I had to crawl across the table-Matt liked to eat and write by
natural light-and stepped into a mess.

Look, I've got a pretty strong stomach, and Matt was never big on
housekeeping. A high stack of dishes with mold on them, I could have
understood-but wall-to-wall spiderwebs? No way. How could he live
like that? I mean, it wasn't just spiderwebs in the corners-it was
spiderwebs choking the furniture! I couldn't have sat down without
getting caught in dusty silk! And the proprietors were still there,
too-little brown ones, medium-sized gray ones, and a huge malecater
with a body the size of a quarter and red markings like a big wide
grin on the underside of its abdomen, sitting in the middle of a web
six feet wide that was stretched across the archway to the bed
nook.

Then the sun came out from behind a loud, its light struck through
the window for about half a minute-and I stood spellbound.

Lit from the back and side like that, the huge web seemed to glow,
every tendril bright. It was beautiful.

Then the sun went in, the light went away, and it was just a dusty
piece of vermin-laden debris.

Speaking of vermin, what had attracted all these eight-legged
wonders? It must have been a bumper year for flies. Or maybe, just
maybe, they'd decided to declare war on the army of cockroaches that
infested the place. If so, more power to them. I decided not to go
spider hunting, after all. Besides, I didn't have time-I had to find
Matt.

The strange thing was, I'd been in that apartment just three days
before, and there hadn't been a single strand of spider silk in
sight.

Okay, so they're hard to see-but three days just isn't time enough
for that much decoration.

I stepped up to the archway, nerving myself to sweep that web
aside and swat its builder-but the sun came out again, and the golden
cartwheel was so damned beautiful I just couldn't bring myself to do
it. Besides, I didn't really need to-I could look through it, and the
bedroom sure didn't have any place that was out of sight.

Room enough for a bed, a dresser, a tin wardrobe, and scarcely an
inch more. The bed was rumpled, but Matt wasn't in it.

I turned around, frowning, and scanned the place again. I wouldn't
say there was no sign of Matt-as I told you, he wasn't big on house
keeping, and there were stacks of books everywhere, nicely webbed at
the moment-but the pile of dirty dishes was no higher than it had
been, and he himself sure wasn't there.

I stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind me, chewing
it over. No matter how I sliced it, it came out the same-Matt had
left town.

Why so suddenly?

Death in the family. Or close to it. What else could it be?

So I went back to my apartment and started research. One of the
handy things about having some training in scholarship, is that you
know how to find information. I knew what town Matt came from Separ
City, New Jersey-and I knew how to call long-distance
information.

"Mantrell," I told the operator.

"There are three, Sir. Which one did you want?"

I racked my brains. Had Matt ever said anything about his parents'
names? Then I remembered, once, that there had been a "junior"
attached to him. "Matthew."

"We have a Mateo."

"Yeah, that's it." It was a good guess, anyway.

"One moment, please."

The vocodered voice gave me the number. I wrote it down, hung UP,
picked up, and punched in. Six rings, and I found myself hoping
nobody would answer.

"'Alio?"

I hadn't known his parents were immigrants. His mother sounded
nice.

"I'm calling for Matthew Mantrell," I said. "Junior."

Mateo? Ees not 'ere."

"Just went out for a minute?" I was surprised at the surge of
relief I felt.

"No, no! Ees away-college!"

My spirits took the express elevator down. "Okay. I'll try him
there. Thanks, Mrs. Mantrell."

"Ees okay. You tell him call home, si?"

"Si," I agreed. "Good-bye." I hung up, hoping I would see him
indeed.

So. He hadn't gone home.

Then where?

I know I should have forgotten about it, shoved it to the back of
my mind, and just contented myself with being really mad at him.

What was the big deal, anyway?

The big deal was that Matt was the only real friend I had, at the
moment-maybe the only one I'd ever had, really. I mean, I hadn't
known Matt all that long; but four years seems like a long time, to
me. Four years, going on five-but who's counting?

It's not as if I'd ever had all that many friends. Let me see,
there was jory in first grade, and Luke, and Ray-and all the rest of
the boys in the class, I suppose. Then it was down to Luke and Ray in
second grade, 'cause jory moved away-but the rest of the kids began
to cool off. My wild stories, I guess. Then Ray moved, too, so it was
just Luke and me in third grade-and Luke eased up, 'cause he wanted
to play with the other kids. Me, I didn't want to play, I was
clumsy-I just wanted to tell stories, but the other kids didn't want
to hear about brave knights rescuing fair damsels. So from fourth
grade on, I was on decent terms with the rest of the kids, but
nothing more. Then, along about junior high, nobody wanted to be
caught talking to me, because the "in" crowd decided I was weird.

What can I say? I was. I mean, a thirteen-year-old boy who doesn't
like baseball and loves reading poetry-what can you say? By local
standards, anyway. And in junior high, local standards are
everything.

Made me miserable, but what could I do?

Find out what they thought made a good man, of course. I watched
and found out real quick that the popular guys weren't afraid to
fight, and they won more fights than they lost. That seemed to go
with being good at sports. So I figured that if I could learn how to
fight, I could be good at sports, too. A karate school had just
opened up in town, so I heckled Mom until she finally took me, just
to shut me up. I had to get a paper route to pay for it, though.

It only took six months before I stopped losing fights. When
school started again in the fall, and the boys started working out
their ranking system by the usual round of bouts, I started winning a
few-and all of a sudden, the other guys got chummy. I warmed to it
for a little while, but it revolted me, too. I knew them for what
they were now, and I stopped caring about them.

It felt good. Besides, I'd connected with karate-and from it, I
got interested in the Far East.

One of the teachers told me I should try not to sound so hostile
and sarcastic all the time.

Sarcastic? Who, me?

So I learned to paste on the smile and sound cheerful.

Didn't work. The other kids could tell. All I succeeded in doing
was acting phony.

Why bother?

Of course, things picked up a little in high school, because there
was a literary magazine, and a drama club, so I got back onto civil
terms with some of the other kids. Not the "in" crowd, of course, but
they bored me, so I didn't care. Much.

So all in all, I wasn't really prepared for college. Academically,
sure-but socially? I mean, I hadn't had a real friend in ten yearsand
all of a sudden, I had a dozen. Not close friends, of course, but
people who smiled and sat down in my booth at the coffee shop.

Who can blame me if I didn't do any homework?

My profs, that's who. And the registrar, who sent me the little
pink slip with the word probation worked in there. And my academic
counselor, who pointed out that I was earning a quick exit visa from
the Land of Friendship. So I declared an English major, where at
least half of the homework was reading the books I'd already read for
recreation-Twain, and Dickens, and Melville. I discovered Fielding,
and Chaucer, and Joyce, and had more fun. Of course ' I had to take a
grammar course and write term papers, so I learned how to sneak in a
few hours at the library. I didn't take any honors, but I stayed
in.

Then I discovered philosophy, and found out that I actually wanted
to go to the library. I started studying without realizing it-it was
so much fun, such a colossal, idiotic, senseless puzzle. Nobody had
any good answers to the big questions, but at least they were
asking.

My answers? I was looking for them. That was enough.

So I studied for fun, and almost learned how to party. Never got
very good at it, but I tried-and by my senior year, I even had a
couple of friends who trusted me enough to tell me their
troubles.

Not that I ever told them mine, of course. I tried once or twice,
but stopped when I saw the eyes glaze. I figured out that most people
want to talk, but they don't want to listen. It followed from that,
logically, that what they liked about me was that I listened, but
didn't talk. So I didn't. I got a reputation for being the strong and
silent type, just by keeping my mouth shut. I also found out, by
overhearing at a party, that they thought I was the Angry Young
Man.

I thought that one over and decided they were right. I was angry
about people. Even the ones I liked, mostly. They wanted to take, but
they didn't want to give. They cared about fighting, but they didn't
care about brains. They spent their time trying to get from one
another, and they didn't care about why they were here.

Oh, don't get me wrong-they were good people. But they didn't care
about me, really. I was a convenience.

Except for Matt.

Matt was already working on his M.A. when I met him, and by the
time I graduated, he was making good progress on his PhD.

So what was I going to do when I got my degree? Leave town, and
the one good friend I had? Not to mention the only three girls who'd
ever thought I was human.

No way.

So I started work on my master's. Physics, of course.

How come? From literature and philosophy?

Because I took "Intro to Asia" for a freshman distribution
requirement, and found out about zen-and learned about Shredinger's
Cat in "History of Science." Put the two together, and it made a lot
of sense.

Don't ask. You had to be there.

Then Matt ran into a snag on his doctoral dissertation. Do you
know what it's like to see a real friend deteriorating in front of
your eyes? He found that scrap of parchment, the-i got hung up trying
to translate it. Wasn't in any known language, so it had to be a
prank.

I mean, that's obvious, right? Not even logic-just common
sense.

Matt didn't have any.

Now, don't get me wrong. Matt's my friend, and I think the world
of the guy, but I'm realistic about him, too. He was something of a
compulsive, and something of an idealist, as well-to the point of
...

Well, you know the difference between fantasy and reality? Matt
didn't. Not always, anyway.

No, he was convinced that parchment was a real, authentic,
historical document, and he wasted half his last year trying to
decipher it.

I was getting real worried about him-losing weight, bags under his
eyes, drawn and pale ... Matt, not me. I didn't have any spare weight
to lose. Him, he was the credulous type-one of the kind that's born
every minute. I'm one of the other kind, two born for every one of
him. I mean, I wouldn't believe it was April if I didn't see the
calendar. Forget about that robin pecking at the window, and the buds
on the trees. If I don't see it in black and white, it's Nature
pulling a fast one. Maybe a thaw.

So he had disappeared.

I thought about calling the police, but I remembered they couldn't
do anything-Matt was a grown man, and there hadn't been any
bloodstains in his apartment. Besides, I hadn't been on terribly good
terms with the local constables ever since that year I was
experimenting with recreational chemicals.

Still, I gave it a try. I actually went into the police
station-me, with my long hair and beard. Nobody gave me more than a
casual glance, but my back still prickled-probably from an early
memory, a very early memory, of my father saying something about "the
pigs" loving to beat on anybody who didn't have a crew cut. Of
course, that was long ago, in 1968, and I was so little that all I
remember of him was a big, tall pair of blue jeans with a tie-dyed
T-shirt and a lot of hair at the top. I hated that memory for ten
years, because it was all I knew of him until Mom decided to get in
touch with him again, and I found out he wasn't really the ogre I
figured he must have been, to have left Mom and me that way. Found
out it wasn't all his idea, either. And I had a basis for
understanding him-by that time, I had begun to know what it was like
to have all the other kids put you down.

"I'm sorry, kid," he told me once. "I didn't know alienation was
hereditary. " Of course, it wasn't-just the personality traits that
led to it. I wouldn't say I ever loved him, but at least I warmed to
him some. He had shaved and gotten a haircut, even a three-piece
suit, by then, but it didn't fool anybody for very long. Especially
me. Maybe that's why I wear chambray and blue jeans. And long hair,
and a beard-like my early memories of him.

And early memories stay with you longest and deepest, so I really
felt as if I were walking into the lion's den.

The cop at the desk looked up as I approached. "Can I help
you?"

About then, he could have helped me out of there, and I might have
needed it-but I said, "I hope so. A friend of mine. He's
disappeared.

Right away, he looked grave. "Did he leave any message?"

I thought of the parchment, but what good is writing you can't
read? Besides, he wasn't the one who wrote it. "Not a word."

He frowned. "But he was over twenty-one"

"Yeah," I admitted.

"Any reason to think there might have been foul play?"

Now, that question sent the icicle skittering down my spine. Not
that the idea hadn't been there, lurking at the back of my dread,
mind you-but I had worked real hard not to put words to it. Now that
the sergeant had, I couldn't ignore it any more. "Not really," I
admitted.

"It's just not like him to pick up and pack out like that."

"It happens," the sergeant sighed. "People just get fed up with
life and take off. We'll post his name and watch for him, and let you
know if we find out anything-but that's all we can do."

I'd been pretty sure of that. "Thanks," I said. "He's Matt
Mantrell. Matthew. And I'm-"

"Saul Bremener." He kept his eyes on the form he was filling
in.

"Three-ten North Thirteenth Street. We'll let you know if we hear
anything. " My stomach went hollow, and my skin crawled. It doesn't
always help your morale, finding out that the cops know you by name.
"Uh ... thanks," I croaked.

"Don't mention it." He looked up. "Have a good day, Mr.

Bremener-and don't take any wooden cigarettes, okay?"

"Wooden," I agreed, and turned numbly about and drifted out of
that den of doom. So they remembered my little experiments. It makes
one wonder.

The sunlight and morning air braced me, in spite of the lack of
sleep. I decided they were nice guys, after all-they'd left me alone
until they could see if it was a passing fad, or something
permanent.

Passing, in my case. So it was smart-they'd saved taxpayers' money
and my reputation. I wondered if there was anything written about me
anywhere.

Probably. Somewhere. I mean, they had to have something to do
during the slow season. I began to sympathize with Matt-maybe blowing
town suddenly wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Get real, I told myself sternly. Where else would I find such
sympathetic cops?

Back to the search. Maybe they couldn't do anything officially,
but I wasn't official.

So I searched high and low, called the last girl Matt had been
seen with-back when I was a junior-and started getting baggy eyes
myself. Finally, I took a few slugs of Pepto-Bismol as a
preventative, screwed my disgust to the nausea point, and went back
into his apartment.

I scolded myself for not having moved that table; just lucky Matt
hadn't left anything on it. I laid my notebook down on the desk next
to the phone and gave a quick look at the table, the kitchenette
counter, and the miniature sofa. Nothing there but dust and spider
silk.

Then I went through that apartment inch by inch, clearing webs and
squashing spiders. Or trying to, anyway-I must have been dealing with
a new and mutant breed. Those little bug-eaters were fast!

Especially the big fat one-I took my eyes off it for a second to
glance at the arachnid next door, and when I glanced back, it wasn't
there any more.

it wasn't the only thing that wasn't there-neither was any sign of
where Matt might be. I mean, nothing-until I turned and looked at the
kitchenette table and saw the parchment.

I stared. Then I closed my eyes, shook my head, and stared
again.

it was still there. I could have sworn I'd put it back in my
notebook-so I picked up the notebook and checked. Yep, the piece of
sheepskin was still in it, all right.

That gave me pause. Practically a freeze, really, while I thought
unprintable thoughts. Finally, slowly, I looked up and checked
again.

it was on the table.

I looked down at the notebook, real fast, but not fast enough-it
was back between the lined sheets. I held my head still and flicked a
glance over to the table, but it must have read my mind, 'cause it
was there by the time I looked. Then I laid down the notebook, real
carefully, and stepped back, so I could see both the notebook and the
table at the same time.

They each had a parchment.

Well, that settled that. I gave up and brought the notebook over
to the table. I set it down beside the parchment. Yep, they were both
still there-Matt's parchment in my notebook, and a brand-new one
where none had ever been before. At least, a few minutes before-I had
checked the table as I crawled across it. I frowned, taking a closer
look at the new parchment.

It was written in runes, and the "paper" was genuine sheepskin,
all right.

How come runes?

Because runes are magical.

I tried to ignore the prickling at the base of my skull and told
myself sternly that runes were just ordinary, everyday letters in
somebody else's language. Okay, so it was an old language, and a lot
of the items written in it had been ceremonial, which was why they
had been preserved-but that didn't mean they were magical. I mean,
the people who wrote them may have thought they could work magichut
that was just superstition.

But it was also something that made the scholar in me sit up
brightly and smack his lips. I mean, literature had been one of my
undergraduate majors-justified an extra year on campus, right
thereand although it wasn't my main field any more, I was still
interested.

I'd learned at least a little bit about those old symbols-and I
knew Matt had a book around here that explained the rest. I hunted
around until I found it, blew the dust and webbing off, and sat down
to study. I looked up each rune and wrote its Roman-letter equivalent
just above it. I tried pencil first, but it just skittered off that
slick surface, so I had to use a felt pen. After all, this couldn't
really be anything old, could it?

After three letters, I leaned back to see if it made a word.

H-e-y.

I recoiled and glared down at it. How dare it sound like
English!

just a coincidence. I went to work on the next word.

P-a-u-l.

I sat very still, my glance riveted to those runes. "Hey, Paul"?
Who in the ninth century knew my name?

Then a thought skipped through, and I took a closer look at the
parchment. I mean, the material itself. It was new, brand-new, fresh
off the sheep, compared to Matt's parchment, which was brittle and
yellow-several years old, at least. Something inside me whispered
centuries, but I resolutely ignored it and went on to the next
word.

I wrote the Roman letters above the runes, refusing to be
sidetracked, resisting the temptation to pronounce the words they
formed, until I had all the symbols converted-though something inside
me was adding them up as I went along, and whispering a very nasty
suspicion to me. But as long as I had another rune to look up, I
could ignore it-even after I'd already learned all the runes again
and was looking each one up very deliberately, telling myself it was
just to make sure I hadn't made a mistake.

Finally, though, I had written down all the letter equivalents and
I couldn't put it off any longer. I stayed hunched over the
parchment, my hands spread flat on the table, trying to grip into the
plywood as I read the translated words.

H-e-y P-a-ul g-e-t i-n t-o-u-c-h I-v-e I-o-s-t y-o-u-r
address.

Or, to give it the proper emphatic delivery: "Hey, Paul! Get in
touch! I've lost your address!"

I could almost hear Matt's voice saying those words, and I swear
my nails bit into the plywood. What kind a ousy joe was t is?

Friend? You call that a friend? First he leaves town without a
word, and then he sends me this?

I was just realizing that he couldn't have sent it, when I felt
the pain in the back of my hand.

"Damn!" I snatched it back, saw the little red dot in the center,
then the big fat spider standing there with that big wide grin
painted on its abdomen, and so help me, it was laughing at me. Anger
churned up, but the room was already getting fuzzy. Still, I tried to
hang on to that anger, tried to lift a hand to swat-the blasted thing
had no right to ...

But before I could even finish the thought, the haze thickened,
wrapped itself around me like a cool blanket, rolled itself up, and
bore me away to someplace dim and distant, and I almost managed to
stay conscious.



Chapter Two


When I came to, the mist was gone, and I felt amazingly well. I
mean, I had never felt that whole, that healthy, since I was a
kid-and I hadn't been aware of it then, of course. it was like waking
up on an April day, with the air fresh and warming from the night's
chill, and the sun painting the day in primaries as you watch, and
knowing it's your birthday.

But it wasn't April, it was November, and I was inside Matt's
apartment. Only I wasn't, I was out in the open-and it wasn't
November any more, it really was April. Either that, or it was
Florida.

Florida, with mountains stabbing up from the horizon? And not
gently rounded mountains, like the Appalachians, but jagged granite
obelisks, with snow on top?

Of course, they were off in the distance. Close by, all I could
see was a field of wheat, with two or three little hedges cutting it
into odd shapes. Whoever lived here, they could use some lessons in
geometry.

I was just beginning to wonder how I'd come here, when I saw the
knight.

Well, I knew about the Society for Creative Anachronism, of
course, but I also knew they didn't go in for tilting, and this guy
was carrying one of the most authentic lances I could have imagined.
Plus, he was riding a Percheron-and I don't know any SCA types who
could afford the upkeep on a pony, let alone a beerwagon bronc. And,
of course, there were the half-dozen men on foot behind him, all
wearing more or less the same combination of brown and gray, with
steel bands glinting on their hats and long spears in their hands.
They raised a whoop and pointed at me. The knight turned to look.

He saw me and perked up right away-dropped the point of the lance
to horizontal, aimed the warhorse at me, and kicked it into a
gallop.

Must have been the long hair and the beard. Mine, I mean. Either
that, or he had something against blue jeans and chambray.

His men raised another whoop and came pelting after him like
children hearing the bells on an ice cream truck. I just stood there,
staring at all that scrap iron and horse meat thundering down at me,
trying very, very hard not to believe any of it.

Then I realized the tip of the lance had come close enough so that
I could see it was sharp and made of steel, and I had to believe that
much. I jumped aside. The rider tried to swerve, bellowing some nasty
things, but his Percheron didn't have that tight a turning radius,
and he went crashing into the underbrush.

Underbrush?

I whirled around and, sure enough, there it was, just stunted
trees and bushes, a little thicket in the middle of all those fields,
presumably where the ground was too poor to grow anything. Or maybe
around a creek-I braced myself, hoping to hear a splash.

Instead, I heard a crack that filled my whole head, along with a
piercing pain. The scene went dark for an instant, then came back
full of bright little shiny lights. I would have fallen down, but a
big rough hand was holding me up by the arm while a voice guffawed,
"He is nothing, only a scrap of skin and bone! Here, Heinrich, you
try him! " And I was spinning and staggering across the grass, dazed
and amazed to realize I could understand the words, though I knew
damned well they weren't English.

Then I slammed into something else meaty and with foul breath.

He slammed a fist into my gut. I doubled over, my stomach trying
to climb up my throat, and a huge bellow of laughter filled my
ears.

Then something hard slammed into my bottom, and I heard another
nasty laugh. I moved my legs fast, just barely managing to catch up
with my top half in time to keep from falling-but behind me, I heard
an outraged shout. "It was not your turn, Rudolf! Remember your
place!"

Then I slammed into another wall of leather and sweat that made an
evil laugh and pushed me back far enough so that I could see the fist
swinging at me. Reflex finally took over, and I squirmed aside so
that the fist hit my shoulder, not my head. It spun me around enough
so that I could see Heinrich belting Rudolf one. Rudy went down to
his knees and stayed there, rubbing his chin-and behind them, the
knight was sitting his horse with his visor up, nodding and
laughing.

Then another tough snarled, "My turn!" and grabbed me.

But another clunk grabbed my other arm and yanked back. I yowled,
but I could still hear him bellowing, "Take a lower place, Gustang! I
will not be forborne!" And he swung a quick left hook into Gustang's
gut.

I couldn't believe it. Not only were they beating up a total
stranger, just for fun-they were fighting over me, too, about the
pecking order.

But the wrangling had taken just long enough for me to collect a
little bit of my wits, and it was the part that held the memory of my
karate training. What would I have told my teacher, if he'd been
here? "Sorry, Sensei, I was watching the scenery?" Sure.

Time to remember I was a trained killer. I'd never killed anything
larger than a mouse, of course, and that was only with a trap-but
that didn't change the training.

I spun around, slamming into the guy who had my arm and snaking my
leg around his in the process, shoving and kicking back.

Down he went, and I spun to the next one, who was so surprised he
was slow getting his guard up-only it wasn't a guard, he was just
swinging at me, not even trying to block. I ducked and kicked, and he
went down.

The other four finally woke up to what I was doing and fell on me
with an outraged roar. I sidestepped, ducked, punched, whirled, and
kicked, recovered and chopped. The adrenaline was singing, and if I
was bruised and groggy, I didn't realize it. Two of them were down,
and the other two hesitated, uncertain-at a guess, I decided they
weren't used to having their toys play back.

Then the knight shouted and slammed down his visor-obviously time
to restore a little order here. His men relaxed, stepping back and
leaving it to Papa.

All the outrage I felt boiled up as I saw the Percheron plodding
forward and beginning to pick up speed. This was no way to treat a
stranger, at least one who hadn't even offered an insult! As the huge
beast lumbered into a trot, I shouted, "What are you doing, jumping a
stranger just going his way? Are you out of your brains, have you
nothing but hay? Do you have any sanity? Any common humanity? You
should feel what it's like to be crashed up this way!" The huge horse
tripped. It tumbled. It hit the ground hard and rolled. The knight
bellowed in alarm, and just managed to kick free at the last
instant.

I stared.

So did his men.

Then somebody hissed, "Zabreur!" and the knight began to kick his
arms and legs-he was on his back, trying to turn over.

But he was out of action long enough for me to make some headway
against his men. I turned to them, advancing-if I tried to run, it
would restore their self-confidence.

But that was very thoroughly shot. They moaned and backed off
fast, then turned, stumbling, and started to run.

I stared, thunderstruck. They couldn't be that scared, just
because the horse had hit a gopher hole and tripped! Okay, so it was
a lucky coincidence that I had just finished yelling something-but
that shouldn't have scared them that much.

The knight didn't think so, either. "Hans! Klaus! You worthless,
good-for-nothing blobs of dog meat! Come back here and aid me, or
I'll ..." Then he caught sight of me limping toward him, frowning,
curious, and I guess I must have looked pretty bad, being mussed up
with my shirt torn and all, because he moaned and made some sort of
sign. "You cannot prevail! My master is an Earl of Evil!

Some force staggered me, making my head ring. He must have thrown
something I hadn't seen. Anger surged, and my instinct sent me to
kick his head in-but prudence took over at the last second, pointing
out that I should get as far away from him as possible, and not add
homicide to any other charges the local authorities might dream up
against me. This was especially true because he obviously was one of
the local authorities. I had laid off smoking grass for similar
reasons, and it had apparently paid off, since I hadn't been
arrested. I slowed and nodded. "Right. I love you, too,
sweetheart.

Remind me to return the hospitality some day." Then I turned and
went away, walking fast-or as fast as I could; I seemed to have
developed a limp.

I glanced back a couple of times, but no one was showing any great
interest in following me. That made me curious after a while, so I
shinnied up a tree until I had a line of sight back to the little
forest we'd been near. I was on the other side of that woods now, but
I could see the knight and his boys trudging off toward the castle
way up high across the valley. That was both good and badgood,
because it meant I had some time to find a hiding place, or get
farther away; bad, because it meant they'd apparently decided I was
too much to handle and were going back for reinforcements.

Of course they could just be cutting their losses. Maybe they were
planning not to mention me to anybody again-but somehow, I doubted
that. Might have had something to do with that word somebody'd hissed
when the knight went down-"Zabreur." My German was a little rusty,
and that probably wasn't real German, anywaybut didn't the word mean
"male witch"?

Possible.

I shinnied back down, turning thoughtful. Chambray and blue jeans
probably looked like luxury fabrics, to them-now that I thought about
it, their cloth had looked pretty much homemade. And my styles were
certainly odd, by their standards. The belt and boots alone would be
enough to mark me as above peasant rank, and weird-tooled leather
with a huge metal buckle, and high heels. No, from their point of
view, I was familiar enough to be real, odd enough to be special.

I set off uphill again, deciding I'd better stay alert. The
"magician" pose was a good idea-it could help protect me, and I sure
didn't have anything else to do the job. Well, no, I had a large
clasp knife in my pocket-I like 'em big enough so that "jacknife"
seems like an understatement. I decided I'd better use it to help me
make something better in the way of a weapon. I stopped off at the
next woodlot, hunted around, and found a fallen branch that was still
pretty solid. I whittled away twigs as I walked and, pretty soon, I
had a serviceable staff.

I'd hung around with some SCA guys and learned a little about
quarterstaves from them-but I'd learned a bit more from my sensei. I
wasn't an expert, mind you, but I was capable, and it was better than
nothing.

I looked around me then, finally letting the scenery sink in,
instead of just taking a quick glance to know which way to go. There
were rugged mountains in the distance, big hills nearby, with sheep
grazing on the slopes and every more-or-less horizontal spot taken up
by grain. I couldn't have told you one cereal from another unless it
came in a box, but this stuff looked too hairy to be wheat.

Finally, it hit-I wasn't in the Midwest any more. In fact, I
doubted I was even in America-and judging from what I'd seen of the
locals, I wasn't even it the twentieth century.

Time travel? Space zapping? Impossible! I had to be dreaming.

But those punches had sure hurt. A dream, this wasn't.

Hallucination?

Possible-but if it were, it would've had to have been the most
detailed trip I'd ever heard of, and the most enduring. Besides, I
had sworn off all chemical experiences years before.

Flashback?

Again, possible-though I didn't think I'd taken anywhere near
enough drugs, ever, to have caused a spontaneous trip to happen, and
certainly not one that lasted this long. Still, it was a possibility.
I closed my eyes and willed myself back to my apartment.

But there were no psychedelic patterns inside my eyelids, only
darkness-well, redness; I was standing in sunlight. I groped for my
identity symbol, but my hands were empty, except for the staff. In
desperation, I put my left hand on my belt buckle and started tracing
the patterns of the Native American symbols I could feel there.

Nothing happened.

I sighed and gave up, opening my eyes. I was stuck here, wherever
"here" was-and I was going to have to live by the local rules,
whatever they were. Denial wouldn't help, and it might be a quick
road to disaster. Whether that disaster was psychological or physical
was kind of a moot point-it would be very unpleasant, either way.

Unless there was some evidence to the contrary-and I couldn't see
any-I had to assume that the knight and his bullyboys were genuine
not modern people putting on some incomprehensible show.

Those guys couldn't have been SCA members-they weren't polite,
they weren't friendly, and their weapons weren't padded. So, somehow,
I'd landed in the middle of some sort of medieval culture, from what
I could see of it-and if they thought I was a magician, that could
explain a few things.

I wondered where I was. I couldn't offhand think of any place on
Earth that was still living in the Northern European Middle Ages.

Okay, there were some isolated islands where the living was still
pretty limited-no TV, even-but so far as I knew, they didn't run to
knights.

A medieval fair, being held to attract the tourists? No; you don't
beat up on tourists.

I sighed, deciding that I just didn't have enough information to
figure out where I was, how I'd been brought there, or why. I shelved
it until I could learn more. There were more immediate problems that
needed tending to, such as survival.

I set off up-slope. A few hundred yards later, I passed a berry
bush-and I was amazed to realize I was hungry. I stopped and stepped
closer, inspecting the berries carefully, and decided that I couldn't
be all that badly off, if I could still want food. I'd tied in with a
local back-to-the-basics group for a year or two, going out on field
trips into the countryside to learn how to survive in the wild, or at
least without grocery stores; I hadn't quit until they started
talking about setting up a commune. So I knew which plants were
edible and which weren't, and the all-important rule: if you're not
sure it's good to eat, don't touch it. But these looked to be
perfectly ordinary raspberries, so I took a chance, and a handful.
They tasted good, so I took another handful.

As I was munching, I noticed a very big spiderweb, glowing with
the sunlight behind it-in fact, several of them; the neighborhood
must have been saturated with flies. The biggest web, though, had an
eight-legger the size of a quarter, an exact double for the one that
had stung me. Anger rose, and my hand tightened on my staff-but I
told myself that it couldn't be the same bug, and I turned away.

Bad year for spiders, folks.

The land was still sloping upward. I decided I must be in the
foothills of the mountains I'd seen in the distance. After a little
while, I came to a woodlot that went on and on. I stayed on the
fringe, just this side of the underbrush, and kept a wary eye on
it-for all I knew, a dragon might have come charging out any second.
On the other hand, I wanted to be able to duck into it quickly, if
Sir Overbearing and his boys decided to come hunting, after all.

Then, suddenly, the shock hit. I stopped dead still, leaned on my
staff, and waited for the feeling of desolation to pass.

it didn't.

I lifted my head, looking out over that strange, strange view, and
Kullervo's lines from The Kalevala sprang into my mind. I chanted
them aloud, hoping the sound would make me feel better:


    "And the friendless one reflected,
    'Wherefore have I been created?
    Who has made me and has doomed me,
    Thus without a sun to wander
    Through the starry wastes forever?'


It worked. just the sound of a human voice helped, even if it was
my own-and the feeling of kinship, the knowledge that somebody else
had felt this way before, somewhere, somewhen, and that a lot of
other people had to have felt the same way, too, to keep that verse
alive down the centuries. I wasn't a total oddball, and I wasn't
completely alone. Culture can be a great consolation.

Consolation enough to put some spirit back into me. I straightened
up, squaring my shoulders, and set off again.

Light blossomed-an actinic, piercing light that seemed to lance
though my eyes.

I fell back, raising a forearm to protect them. Panic surged
through me-the only thing I'd ever heard of that made sudden light
like that was a from .

But there was no explosion. Instead, I seemed to hear, very
faintly, the sound of a chiming gong-but it could have been
imagination.

In fact, it had to be-and so did the strange, vague,
anthropomorphic shape at the center of that light burst, where the
glare was strongest. As I watched, it coalesced, becoming clearer and
more humanlike.

Then I caught my breath. It had turned into the shape of a young
man, swallowing up all the light so that it still shone faintly, even
though I could see through him. just barely.

He wore a glowing robe, and there was a shimmering behind him, a
suggestion of huge folded wings-and his face was very severe.

No. It couldn't be. An angel?

"I am even so," the being responded, "and the one who hath known
thee even since the day of thy birth, Saul."

Well. That brought me back to my senses, a little. "If you've
known me that long," I said, "how come I've never seen you
before?"

"In that dull world to which thou wert born, naught of the spirit
can be seen, save to those few souls that do glow with goodness.

Here, though, the world of the spirit is open to men, if they do
but seek. "

"World?" I frowned. "You mean I'm in a totally different world
from the one I've lived in all my life?" Somehow, that didn't seem
like news.

"Even so," the angel agreed, but he was still frowning.

Then the other part of his message registered. "But," I said, "I'm
not particularly interested in the world of the spirit."

"How little thou dost know thyself, Saul! And how greatly dost
thou seek to hide thine own nature from thyself. Thou hast ever been
preoccupied with the things of the spirit, and 'tis even thy aching
search for truth that hath led thee away from the churches of
men."

I just stood there for a second while that sank in. Then I said,
"I thought you boys were supposed to think the churches had a
monopoly on truth."

"The religions they serve have truth within them, and therefore do
the churches, also-yet the folk who constitute each church are but
human, and as fallible as any among thee. How intolerant art thou, to
excuse thine own failings and condemn them for theirs!"

I lifted my head in indignation. "I haven't condemned
anybody!"

"Hast thou not turned from them because thou hast judged them to
be hypocrites? Yet surely thou must needs see that their fait is a
striving after perfection."

I nodded, not following.

"Therefore, if they do strive for perfection, they cannot already
have attained it."

"Now, wait a minute!" I held up a hand, seeing where he was
going.

"Thou hast learned it," he said, nodding. "If they are thou canst
not blame them for their imperfections." not perfect,

"But I haven't judged anybody!"

"Hast thou not but now judged even thy Creator? Hast thou not
blamed Him for creating thee doomed to loneliness?"

"Oh," I said. "That's what brought you here."

"Even so," the angel confirmed. "In this world-nay, this
universe-prayers are answered more obviously than in thine own, and
verses are prayers, or petitions to the Adversary."

Suddenly, I was very glad I hadn't sung "Sympathy for the
Devil."

Then the rest of what he'd said sank in. I frowned. "What do you
mean, 'this universe'?"

"Hast thou not perceived it with thy vaunted reason?" he
taunted.

"Thou art no longer in the universe of thy birth. Thou hast been
transported to another, in which magic rules, and physics is
superstition."

I stared.

"Yet the God of All is the One God here, as well as in thy home,"
the angel said inexorably, "and of all the universes that be; for
'tis He who made them, and doth maintain them by the force of His
will. It is this mighty and majestic God whom thou dost blame for
thine own failings! "

"But I wasn't talking about the judaeo-Christian Creator," I
objected. "I was reciting a quotation from the Finnish national epic!
If you want to look for the 'creator' I was talking about, go look
among the gods of the Finns! Besides, I didn't even make a statement!
I just asked a question!"

The angel waved the objection away with an impatient gesture.

"'Tis immaterial. Thou art in a universe in which the only true
Creator is Jehovah, and thou must needs align thyself either with
God, or with the Devil."

"Are you trying to say God didn't make me to be lonely?"

"Nay, nor to wander. If thou dost lack friends and home, that is
the consequence of thine own deeds and choices. If thou dost not wish
it so, thou canst choose otherwise."

I frowned. "Choose to go back to my own world?"

"Even that, though thou shalt have to seek the means, and labor
long and hard to earn or learn the way. Yet I spoke more of thy
grieving for friends and place."

"I've been looking for friends all my life!"

"They have been there," the angel said inexorably. "Thou hadst but
to live as they did, to learn their ways and follow them."

"Wait a minute! You're saying that if I wanted to be part of a
group, I had to do as everybody in that group did? "

"Thou hadst need to abide by their rules," the angel said. "There
are many such that I have rejoiced to see thee turn away from-yet
there were others who were good folk, whose customs thou didst
disdain. "

I remembered the kids in grade school, who thought fighting and
sports were everything. "Damn right!"

The angel's face flared in wrath. I shrank back. "Uh, sorry,
there. Darn right."

He diminished to a slow burn.

I collected the pieces of my wits and said, "They were so
phony!

And their standards were, too! Thinking that how well you could
hit a ball really mattered!"

"It did," the angel said, "to them."

"Not to me! Reading books counted! Knowledge counted!"

"Thus thy books meant more to thee than friendship. Thou hadst
made thy choice; thou hadst small room to rail 'gainst God."

"Oh, yes I did! I should've been able to have friends and
booksother kids who liked to read, liked to learn! Then I would have
been part of a group! We might even have learned how to play baseball
together! "

"Dost thou not wish to be rare?"

"No!" I exploded, and was shocked to hear myself say it-but I'd
worked up too much momentum to be able to stop. "I'd love to be
normal! To have friends! To be a social animal! And I tried! I did
learn their ways, at least a little bit-but it was too late! I
couldn't acquire the instinct! And they knew I was faking!"

"Yet nonetheless would have given thee toleration, if thou hadst
continued to strive."

"To try to be something I wasn't? To be a phony? I thought you
guys were supposed to value truth!"

"As indeed we do," the angel returned, "and I rejoice that thou
hast chosen the more truthful way. Yet 'twas thy choice, not God's
doing."

"Sure, but look what He gave me to choose from!" I drew a deep
breath and reined myself in. Harmony, balance; center yourself . . .
"I thought having more brains was supposed to give you a big boost
toward Heaven."

"Nay," the angel returned. "Heaven is open to all, to the lame as
well as the nimble-and to the moron as well as the genius. 'Tis the
soul that is of concern to God, not the mind."

I stared, shocked.

Then I said, "But I thought people with better minds had a better
chance of coming closer to the truth! And that's God, isn't it?"

gel said, "or a description of it.

"That is an aspect of God," the an 'Tis no more the whole of Him
than is His omnipotence. Oh, a man of greater intellect can come to a
fuller and more complete knowledge of God, if he doth strive
lifelong-yet his way is more torturous, for his mind can see more
obstacles to faith in God than can the man of less nimble wits."

"But the smarter man can do more holy works!"

" Not 'more' " the angel corrected me, "only ones that others
cannot see. Yet his temptations to error are greater, for if he does
not apprehend the truth in an instant, he is like to say it doth not
exist, and turn away."

"So," I said slowly, "that's why the student went to the rabbi and
said, 'Teach me the whole of the law while I stand on one foot.'"

"That is an allegory," the angel agreed. "Yet if thy mind is the
means of coming closer to God in the end, it hath also its own forms
of obligation."

I turned wary. When someone says obligation, they're trying to get
you to do something you don't want to do. "Such as?"

"To use thy mind to labor for the good of thy brethren," the angel
said. "To never rest till thou hast come to see the Truth of God-and,
till thou hast attained that clarity of vision to hold fast in the
faith that 'tis there."

I turned very cold. "You're asking me to believe in something I
don't know is there."

"If thou didst know it," the angel returned, "there would be no
need for faith."

"Nice twist to the logic." I dismissed the argument with a
wave.

"But if I can't prove it, I won't accept it."

"Yet thou must!" The angel stepped closer, face creased with
anxiety. "For this world to which thou hast come is a domain in which
spirit rules, and if thou art not dedicated to God and His goodness,
thou wilt slip toward Satan and evil."

"Ridiculous!" I scoffed. "I've heard that before, too-'you've got
to commit yourself. There's no middle ground.' "

"There is not, here. With each deed thou dost to any other human
being, thou dost commit thyself to good, or to evil! Thou canst not
remain poised between! Thy smallest action will doom thee, if thou
dost not choose God as thy goal. Thou canst not stand alone! "

"Well, I blasted well intend to!" I snapped. "I'm not about to
commit myself to anything! Or anybody! All my life, people have been
telling me, 'You've got to sign up! You have to join! You can't just
stand by yourself!' But I didn't believe them-I learned early that
being part of a group always results in having to do things you don't
believe are right. I refused to do those things before, and I'll
refuse again! "

"And therefore wilt choose to be alone," the angel warned.

"Yeah, I've been ostracized! Sometimes directly and openly,
sometimes subtly and covertly-but always cut off, snubbed. if that's
the price I have to pay for being my own honest self, I'll pay it-and
I have! I've been doing just that for twenty-four years now, thank
you, and doing just fine!"

"Thou hast not," the angel contradicted. "Thou dost endure in
loneliness and instability."

"Well, if that's the price of freedom, I'll pay it! And if you
think you're going to do anything to punish me for it, you'd better
just stop talking and get to the thunder and lightning!" I braced
myself, ready for annihilation, and found myself hoping that I'd been
right about God, and that He was on my side after all.

The angel looked unutterably sad as he studied me, then seemed to
rally a little. "Nay. My power may not be spent 'gainst the living,
and most especially not 'gainst the mortal who was placed in my care.
I shall repel devils who seek to torment thee with all of my power,
as I have in the past-but thy choices are thine own to make, by God's
decree. And thou hast made them."

I stood still, waiting for the adrenaline rush to wear off.

The angel turned stern again. "Yet henceforth do not rail 'gainst
Heaven for thy loneliness-for 'tis thou who hast chosen it."

Suddenly the light exploded outward, enveloping him. It dwindled,
rising and soaring upward, but faded out before it had gone very
far.

I just stood staring after it, feeling the stiffness ebb from my
limbs, feeling the weakness begin, and letting myself realize that I
had just seen my guardian angel.

But I intended to go on griping all I wanted. I might have to
accept loneliness as the price of freedom and integrity, but I didn't
have to be happy about it.

On the other hand, I wasn't accepting it, either. "You can have
friends and still be yourself," I muttered to myself. "It's just that
friends who like you the way you are, are few and far between."

Which reminded me of Matt.

I turned and started trudging uphill again. If I'd been
transported into a different universe, maybe he had, too.

Same different universe?

I hauled up my sinking stomach. There was a good chance of it,
wasn't there? After all, I'd been looking for him when that damned
spider had bitten me and sent me into this world.

How could a spider bite transport you between worlds?

Death?

Or hallucination. Which reminded me of the angel. Had to be a
hallucination. Couldn't possibly have been anything else. The
berries, I realized-they may have looked like ordinary raspberries,
but they had probably contained a hallucinogen of some sort. They'd
just opened up a channel for my subconscious to speak to me, in the
form of my guardian angel.

Which meant my subconscious was religious.

I definitely didn't like that notion.

I could almost hear it speaking. Sub to conscious. Come in,
conscious.

No. I refuse. I'll stay outside.

And I would, too.



Chapter Three


As I walked, I tried to reason it out-after all, forty credits'
worth of philosophy ought to be good for something, and if it wasn't
any good in this situation, it never would be, anywhere. I resisted
the personal, supernatural view of the local phonemena-angels weren't
real, and neither was magic. Well, okay, something that sure looked a
lot like magic was going on here-but magic wasn't a person, with
emotions and a personality; magic could much more believably be just
a force, a kind of energy, impersonal and ...

My train of thought derailed as a flicker at the corner of my eye
caught my attention. I glanced that way, but it had disappeared, of
course. No, there it was again, like a glitch in my field of view. A
wild stab of panic hit; this would be a very, very bad time to lose
my vision! But it passed, with a little shove from my common senseand
just in time, too, because the glitch widened, and I felt the impulse
to reach out and adjust tracking. Silly, of course-because it not
only widened, but swelled, turning into a zigzag tearing that reached
downward to the ground and churned up a cloud of dust.

Then the membranes in my nose stood on end, and wrung themselves
dry as the stench hit them with a rotten egg. "Guardian angel," I
muttered, "if you're anything more than an hallucination, now would
be a great time to show yourself!"

It didn't, of course-hallucinations don't usually come on
demand.

But I did feel a surprising surge of confidence, almost
reassurance.

Shouldn't have surprised me, I suppose-the mind plays funny tricks
on itself, and this was just my subconscious' way of getting itself
to believe it could cope with whatever was coming. I suppose.

But I happened to notice a tickling in my thumbs.

The dust cloud died down, and there sat an ancient crone in a gown
of charcoal gray.

That, I could live with, given the milieu-I had seen her before,
in my extreme youth, in dozens of illustrations in books of fairy
tales.

What threw me, though, was that she was sitting at a desk, with
papers strewn all over it, and a quill pen in an inkwell.

"You have cast two unauthorized spells in the space of half an
hour."

Two?

Spells?

The crone wheezed on. " 'Sobaka,' said I to meself, 'there's
nothing for it but to come hither and gaze-and aye, there he be!
Yonder he stands, flaming with zeal to oust the palsied old
witch-woman from her bailiwick and take her peasants for his own! If
there's aught I cannot abide, 'tis a bursting new magus!"

"Hey now, wait a minute!" I was beginning to get angry again. "I
don't want anybody's 'bailiwick'-and you can't own people!"

"Blasphemy!" she cried. "Not only a magus, but also a liar! As if
'tweren't a plentitude of folk in the art one must struggle with as
'tis!

Aye, a body's no sooner believing she's secure in her place, to
lord it over her own trembling churls in easy breath, when, whoosh!
Another young'un crops up, with cheek and with challenge, to be put
in his place. It's no wonder the land's going to the pigs, with half
the peasants turning to bandits, and a good number of them trying to
out-evil their own township witch! And all from letting delinquents
get out of hand! Abe, for the auld days! When younglings knew their
places, or we had leave to fry them!"

"Leave?" I glanced at the desk again. "Who gives you leave to
blast people or not?"

"Why, my master, fool, Queen Suettay!"

"Sweaty?" I stared; it struck me as an odd name for royalty.

"Nay, fool-Suettay! And be sure you do not take her name in vain,
or she will surely appear to blast you!"

That gave me back some composure. I smiled, not too nicely; I'd
heard that before, though usually about a personality a bit higher
than an earthly monarch-that you have to talk nicely about Him, or
He'll strike you with a lightning bolt. But I've seen and heard an
awful lot of people saying nasty things about God, and I've never
noticed any of them running afoul of large doses of
electricity-except for the one who was working on a live wire at the
time, and he didn't start cursing until after he got zapped. "Okay,
so she's Queen Suet-ty." I had a mental image of a very, very fat
lady looking like an awning pavilion with a crown on top.

"Suettay!" the old witch snapped. "Speak her name properly,
crack-pate, or she will wish you ill indeed!"

Now I had it-the French word for wishes, intentions, as in, "I
wish you a good day." The pronunciation had thrown me off, that was
all. "Whatever. And this Queen Suettay will zap you, if you zap me?
"

"Without showing you the error of your ways, aye. I am the bailiff
of this bailiwick, given authority to see to its taxes and enforce
the queen's laws o'erit! 'Tis for me to see you are noted in its
book, and deal you work to do that will give the queen crops-or, if I
have no need of you, to another."

I bridled instantly. I mean, had I left my own civilized universe,
with running water and modern medicine, just to come to a godforsaken
medieval backwater that still made me cope with a bureaucracy?
"Okay," I snapped, "so you've got the authority to issue me a travel
pass, or whatever, because you're the witch in charge of the local
parish ...

"Bailiwick!" she screamed. "Speak not in the words of the
Flock!"

I frowned. Flock? Then I remembered the parable of the Good
Shepherd, and that "ecclesia" literally means "flock," and I
understood. So anything having to do with Christianity was anathema
to her, huh? Maybe I could use that-but I kept it in reserve. After
all, calling on the saints, or making the Sign of the Cross, or
anything like that, kind of rankled; I hadn't been about to cop out
to religion back home, and I didn't intend to here. Besides which, it
might require conviction, which I definitely did not have.

She must have seen that in my eyes, because she gave me a
gaptoothed grin. "Ah, then! You shy from those words yourself,
eh?

Well, then, come! Prick your finger, write your name in my book,
and swear to serve the queen and her master, or I'll call upon his
power, and you'll writhe in flames!"

Outrage kindled. "No way!" I snapped. "I've heard about that
book-and I'd end up writhing in flames either way, until this
hallucination wears off! I won't be a slave, and I won't accept any
master! " She answered with an evil grin. "Excellent," she crooned,
"most excellent! For if you'll serve no master, then you cannot be
protected by any-and the Other Side will not ward you!"

I felt the hair rise on the back of my neck.

"I felt your first use of a spell and said to myself, 'Sobaka,
what bother is this?' and began to tidy up my work to spare time for
a visit-but ere I departed, I felt the nerve-grating shimmer that
could only have come from an agent of the Other Side, and withheld my
visit till that grinding had ceased . . ."

Translation: she'd sensed the visit from my guardian angel and had
been so scared that she'd burrowed under the bedclothes. I felt a
little more confident.

"Yet cease it did," she crowed, "and totally-there was no shred of
it left! Therefore did I come here, and sure enough, I see no
particle of the aura of the Other Side about you! You have not
aligned yourself with them, and have not their protection!"

The temperature of my precious bodily fluids began to fall
again.

"

"Tis an idiot, surely,' I said to myself, 'an idiot who doth think
to gather magic as if he were a windmill, gathering power from the
gale and wielding it to grind what he will! Ay, such a fool I can
twist right easily!' So come, addle-pate, and sign in my master's
book, or die in agony!"

Somehow, for a second, I didn't doubt that she could do as she'd
said, and my heart sank down to join the caterpillars that were
trying to turn into butterflies in my belly-but mostly, I felt the
hot anger of indignation. How dare this old witch try to push me
around! "No way will I get on your hook!" I snapped. "Keep the fire
for your blasted book!"

She let out an outraged squawk, just about three-quarters of a
second before her book burst into flames. She screamed, jumping
back.

All I could do was stand there and stare.

That was too bad; it gave her a chance to recover from her
surprise.

"Vile recreant!" she screamed. "The records of all who owe my
master are destroyed!" Then she hooked her fingers into claws,
chanting, "By the most vile of obscene names, Follow that book into
the flames!"

And she threw a whammy at me.

Only this whammy took form very fast, some unseen energy gathering
itself together until it materialized about halfway between us as a
roaring globe of fire. I shouted and leapt out of the way, but it
swerved to follow me. I jumped again, in a forward somersault, but
came up to see it still following.

I ran.

Behind me, the hag's cackling almost drowned out the roar of the
fireball-and it was gaining. In a rush of adrenaline, I suddenly
realized I should be trying verbal acrobatics, not physical-she had
brought this phenomenon into being by versifying; I sure hadn't seen
her pulling the pin on a grenade. I ducked behind a boulder; it
followed me, and it was roaring, but so was I, tapping myself on the
chest and chanting,


    "Put out the light, and then put out the light.
    If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore,
    Should I repent me; but once put out t y ig t,
    Should I, considering, find it sinister I can leave it dark and quenched forevermore."


I had to do a little rewriting there, since rhyme seemed to be
important here-but under the circumstances, I didn't think
Shakespeare would mind.

The fireball dimmed, darkened, and took a nosedive for the ground.
By the time it hit, it was only a smoking cinder.

Sobaka stared at it.

Then she snapped her glare up to me, and I have never seen so much
malice in a pair of human eyes. "Villain! Aroint thee! If you wilt
not bend to my will, you shall break!" She began to move her hands in
some sort of jagged pattern, chanting in a language I didn't know,
though it sounded like Latin.

I gave her a grim smile. She must have thought that if I didn't
know the words, I wouldn't realize she was versifying-but I could
recognize rhymes when I heard them, and the meter was strong enough
to slice up for seasoning. Well, if she wanted to have a contest
slinging verses, that was okay with me.

Or maybe it wasn't. There was a huge rumble, and the ground heaved
beneath my feet. I fell, instinctively turning to land on my side and
roll as Sensei had taught me-and saw a jagged crack opening the earth
where I'd been standing. The hair on the back of my neck prickled.
How had she known an earth tremor was coming?

But it was my turn, and the minor chasm made me remember an old
hard-times song. I made a few modifications:


    "Well, if I had it, why, you could have it,
    But I ain't got it-I'm down and out.
    And now I've had it-with you, I've had it,
    So now I'll send it, and end this bout.
    She gave me trouble
    On a scale that's Richter,
    So from the rubble
    Now I have picked her.
    And I will drop her
    Into a deep hole
    That will stop her
    From hurting people.
    And this old clown
    Will be unfound
    As she sinks down, down, down.


The earth rumbled again, and a hole opened right under the old
woman's feet. She dropped like a stone.

I stared.

Sobaka screamed.

I was so flabbergasted, I couldn't think of anything to do until
she had disappeared. Then I came to and leapt over to the hole to
tell her not to panic, I'd dig her out-never mind that she'd been
threatening to kill me-but she was wailing, "Air! Nay, give me
air!"

I looked down the hole and saw two very wide and frightened eyes
peering up out of the darkness about ten feet below me. "The earth,
the earth presses in all about me! Spare me, Wizard! I shall trouble
you no more! Only release me! Do not let the earth fall in on me, I
pray! "

"Holy cow!" I gulped. I had just put a claustrophobic in a
hole.

"Enough, right now!"

I heard a moo.

I froze. I didn't want to look up.

But the wailing down below roused my guilt; I had to do something.
I looked up slowly, straight into the big brown eyes of a leanlooking
bovine female. It had a hump on its back-a Brahma cow.

Coincidence. Pure coincidence. Obviously, I was closer to India
than I had thought.

I turned back to the hole, assured that the cow wouldn't bother
me. "Just keep calm! We'll get you out of there!"

"Be quick," she wailed, "before my master seizes the chance to
take my soul!"

I froze again.

Then I said "No taking of souls allowed. Not while the person's
still living."

"Aye, but death might happen thus! The master needs but a slight
chance, a crumbling of the earthen wall, to bring about a natural
death! Then he can take me, and I am doomed forevermore!"

"He?" I frowned. "You're talking about the Devil?"

"Do not say his name!" she wailed. "Or you will hear the rustle of
leathery wings!

I was about to object, saying that was only a superstition. Then I
remembered the cow, and decided I didn't want any more coincidences.
"Look, as long as you've lived a good life by your own beliefs,
you've got nothing to be afraid of."

"But I have not!" she wailed. "I have been as evil as I might! I
have sold my soul for power over my fellows!"

"Sold your soul?" I stared. "Why the hell-uh, heck?-would you do a
dumb thing like that?"

"I was ugly, and small, and shrewish, and all shunned me.
'Sobaka,' they said, 'you are so ugly, even the swine will spurn you!
You are stupid, Sobaka-step aside.' ' 'Tis done badly, Sobaka-you can
never do anything right!' 'Not even I could love you, Sobaka, and I
am your mother!' 'Do not sing, Sobaka, you have the voice of a crow!'
Until, at last, hate waked like a burning coal in my breast, and I
swore I would someday have power to make them all suffer, to rue the
day they had mocked me! But I could see no way to it, till the master
appeared to me in a dream!"

I couldn't believe it. Not only a paranoid with a five-star
inferiority complex-it had blossomed into raving delusions. She had
actually convinced herself that she had sold her soul! All of a
sudden, I could understand how come she had dug herself under when
she'd heard my verse-it had fitted into her delusional system and had
convinced her subconscious that she'd been overwhelmed by a spell.
And since I wouldn't sign up with the Devil, presumably I had the
force of good behind me, which is always stronger than evil in the
end-at least, in the sort of medieval culture this seemed to be-so
she'd been convinced my spell had taken over anything she could dream
up.

Selling her soul was a metaphor for having dedicated herself to
evil, of course. She had probably managed to become a minor
bureaucrat just by toadying to the people in power-but she had
convinced herself she was damned.

I couldn't let her die in that kind of agony, no matter what she'd
been trying to do to me. "Look," I said, "even if you sold your soul,
you can still get it back. All you have to do is repent, tell God
you're sorry and won't do it again!"

"But what if I should live?" she cried, in an agony of indecision.
"If I should repent and live, I would be the lowest of the low! All
whom I have wronged would rise to smite me down! The master would
send agents to deprive me of what life I'd have left-though 'twould
be precious little; I am more than an hundred years old already! "
Delusion again-she couldn't have been a day over sixty, judging by
looks. This being a medieval culture, she was probably only
forty-life aged them fast, back then.

"Look," I said, "just because you were small and plain didn't mean
everybody hated you."

"Yet they did! All need to know there is one lower than they! How
could they fail to despise me?"

"By your being good, way down deep," I reasoned. "Sure, they're
cruel-but if they saw you were really good inside, trying hard to
make up for everything mean you did, they'd start liking you."

There was silence down at the bottom of that hole. Then, almost
shyly, "Do you truly think so?"

Well, no, I didn't, actually-just from the clues, I had a notion
she had been maximally mean to everybody she'd ever known, and people
aren't that quick to forgive. So I changed the subject. "It doesn't
get done in a day, of course-you have to earn trust, earn forgiveness
by proving you've reformed-and proving it again and again for years
and years. They'll punish you at first, sure, but you deserve it by
now, don't you?"

"I did not when I was a maiden!" she said hotly. "Where was their
good will then?"

"That was then," I reminded. "How much punishment do you deserve
now? "

It was quiet, down there in the dark. Then she began to cry.

I hate the sound of a woman crying. "Please," I said. "Please
don't cry. I'll get you out of there somehow."

"I have been so evil!" she wailed. "I deserve death, slow and
agonizing death! Nay, what if they were to do to me as I've done to
them? "

"Maybe it would be quick," I suggested. inside me, my blood ran
cold. just how wicked had this woman been, anyway? "Maybe they'd be
so angry, they'd just kill you out of hand."

"Then I would be damned!" she howled.

"Not if you'd repented." Then I remembered my Dante. "Sure, you'd
spend a long time in Purgatory-but at least it wouldn't be Hell.
Besides, the more they hurt you before they killed you, the less time
you'd spend in Purgatory." I hated that kind of logic-I had a notion
it had resulted in a lot of people torturing themselves, and
certainly refusing painkillers when their last hours could have been
a lot less agonizing-but it would help in this case.

"I cannot face it," she wept. "I cannot face the tortures I have
meted out."

There was a rustling noise, just in front of me.

I froze. Then, very slowly and much against my better judgment, I
looked up.

He was very toothy in the grin, very red in the skin, very black
in the wings, and very sharp in the horns.

Sobaka saw him and wailed so hard she almost jarred the earth
loose.

I found my voice. "Is this your master?"

"Nay!" she howled. "'Tis his minion!"

Or some peasant, I realized, come to get revenge by scaring the
life out of her.

"Get back, slave," he sneered. "This soul is forfeit!" And he
jabbed at my face with his pitchfork.

I recoiled, but reflex took over; I grabbed the pitchfork and
yanked, hard. I took him by surprise; he stumbled into the hole and
fell flat on his face.

Dirt cascaded down inside.

Sobaka screamed in terror.

I realized I had to work on her delusional system-nothing else was
going to work fast enough. "Get out of here," I snapped. "You can't
take her soul till she's dead!"

"I shall see to that, too." The devil bared his teeth in a snarl,
rolling up to his knees, crouching to spring. "I shall cave in the
hole.

Fear not-she's already buried." And he sprang at me.

I leapt to the side, rolling. Oh, well, what the hell-I had a
delusional system, too. "Guardian angel! This is where violence is
authorized! "

"It is indeed!" a steely voice sang. "Avaunt thee, hell spawn! Or
I shall rend your ectoplasm asunder!"

There he was, my guardian angel, twisting the pitchfork into a
pretzel and throwing it at the devil. The horny one howled in terror
and disappeared.

I wondered just what had been in those berries.

"Only juice," the angel assured me. "I am real, Saul.
Remember."

I was thinking at a frantic pace. "Uh, before you go, could you
step ver to that hole, for a second?"

"Wherefore?" The angel frowned down at the hole-and then, bless
him, he stepped up to the brim and called down. "Sobaka! Call on God,
and He shall yet send your angel to ward you! I have banished your
demon, but he will not stay gone when I go!"

I couldn't take a chance on any more hesitating. I began to chant,
"Aid me now, insightful Freud,


    To help this woman to avoid
    Paranoia stemming from
    Insecurities that come
    From toxic parents, spiteful peers,
    And all anxieties and fears
    They bred, that are a key
    That locked inferiority
    Into her soul, therein to fire
    Hot into a complex dire.
    Vengeful fantasies, begone!
    Grandeur-delusions, all be done!


I swear to this day, I don't know where that verse came from. I
mean, if I'm really up for it, I can improvise-but not like that.

Then I remembered the tried and true.


    "Day by day, in every way,
    I'm getting better and better."


"I repent me!" Sobaka wailed, deep down in the hole. "Alas, my
soul! All these years, I have sought revenge for naught! For insults
that need not have hurt me! Ah, what a monster I have been!

Well. Results already. What had been major wounds suddenly seemed
like minor irritations. It didn't matter what people said to her,
because she knew she was good.

Now.

But why was my guardian angel looking at me that way-I mean,
surprised?

I shoved the question aside. The memories of her cruelties would
swamp her newfound self-esteem, if I didn't give her an out.

"What's done cannot be undone, But what's broken can be
mended.

Remorseful sinners can atone For all the hurt intended."

"Yet there is hope!" the voice cried from the hole. "I can make
amends-some, at least! Those whom I've slain, I can give aid to their
survivors! And if 'twill restore some faith in goodness to them, to
see me suffer as justice dictates, why then, let them hurt me!"

I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that-but it would probably give
her the strength she needed, to endure the transition back to
goodness. Seeing herself as a martyr was better than the fire of her
own self-damnation-I meant, condemnation-and if I ever came back this
way, I could see to it that she moved on from suffering to
service.

"I repent me!" she cried again. "Dear Lord, save my soul! inflict
what trials Thou wilt, what sufferings Thou dost deem just! Only let
me come into Thy presence!"

There was a howl of rage and frustration somewhere, distant, but
ringing. I looked up, surprised, but I didn't see anybody except my
angel.

He was smiling a very smug smile, though. "That, Saul, was her
personal tempter. You cured her mind, and she saved her own
soul."

I stared.

Then I gave my head a shake. Whatever sort of dream this was,
working within its rules was working very well. "Okay," I said, "but
we'd better hurry up and save her life, shouldn't we?"

"Should we? For the longer she lives, the greater the chance that
she'll slip back into sin."

I looked up at him, scandalized-but he wasn't even looking at me,
he was talking to empty air on the other side of the hole. I felt the
gooseflesh rise.

"Indeed, you are right," he said with regret. "If the Lord doth
wish her home, naught we can do will save her."

"So if we can save her," I said, "that means it's not her
time."

He looked down at me in surprise. "Indeed, Saul. You see it most
clearly. " Well. I wasn't impressed. I'd figured that one out, long
ago. Hadn't he been watching? "So how do we get her out?"

"Try a verse," he suggested.

"Ridiculous!" I snapped. "You can't make things happen just by
talking!

I speak of that to Madison Avenue," he retorted. "'Twas you put
her down there, did you not?"

I just glared at him. I always hated it when the other guy was
right.

But he was right-so I sighed and called down into the hole,


    "The day doth daw, the cock doth craw,
    The channering worm doth chide!
    'Gin you must be out of this place,
    Though in sore pain you may bide!"


And she was standing beside the hole, looking about her in
surprise that very quickly became major fear. "How-how did you
achieve that?"

"By poetry," I said impatiently, "or at least a very, very old
folk song. What's the matter-don't you even know the rules of your
own universe? " She shook her head, faster and faster, stepping away
from me, hands coming up to fend me off. "I know only the rules of
good and evil! " That stonkered me. "Then how did you work
magic?"

"Why, by reciting the spells my mas ... doomer gave me."

Rote memorization. Parrotlike repetition. Coincidence and
association. She hadn't understood anything about what she was doing.
No wonder she was a minor functionary. "There are other rules," I
said.

Then I remembered. "But you don't need to know them any more."

"'Tis true." Her hands came down. "All I need now is the justice
of God, and the need for faith in Him."

Suddenly, she was on her knees, clutching at my jeans. "And 'tis
you who have rekindled that faith! 'Tis you who have cured my soul of
the curdled anger called hatred, that did drag it down! 'Tis you who
have freed me to suffer for the right and seek to aid my fellow
creatures! Oh, a thousand thanks, young Wizard, and a thousand
blessings!" Then she remembered herself and dropped her hands. "If
the blessings of a corrupted soul may be of benefit to you."

I was hugely relieved. I just don't like having things clutching
at me-unless they're young, female, and shapely; and even then I'm
wary. This one may have been female, but she was anything but
beautiful, and I could have sworn she was growing older by the
second.

"Your soul shines like newly minted silver," my angel said.

I looked up at him, startled. Compliments were one thing, but this
...

Then I realized he was prompting me. "Say it yourself," I
snapped.

"No way am I going to deliver a line like that!"

"To whom do you talk? " Sobaka quavered.

I looked down at her, then looked up quickly at the angel. No, he
was still there. "Him," I said, pointing. "Can't you see?"

She looked where I was pointing, and fear creased her wrinkled
face, not that it made much difference. "Nay," she said. "There is
none there."

"Well, there is," I sighed, "even if he's invisible to you."

"A familiar!" Her tones quaked.

"No, an angel," I said quickly, and started improvising; anything
to give her the guts to keep going. "You've got one, too, and he-"
"She," my angel prompted.

"She," I corrected. Maybe the Quakers had been right. "She is
watching you every second."

Sobaka glanced around her, fear turning into wonder on her
face.

"Can you see her?"

"No," I said, "but she's there."

"She is very happy just now," my angel informed me.

"She's very happy just now," I told Sobaka. "Don't make her sad
again, okay?"

"Oh, I shall not!" She turned away, heading off downslope. "Oh,
bless you, unseen angel, for never having despaired of me! Oh, stand
by me and lend me strength, for I now must undergo the strongest
trials of my life!" She turned back to call to me. "Ever shall I
praise you in my prayers, healer of my soul!"

I shuddered, but managed to fake a smile. "Pay it back to other
people," I called. "You don't have much time left. Better get busy.
"

"I shall! Oh, I shall!" And she headed off down the hill, caroling
her joy.

I winced; a singer, she wasn't. "At the rate she's aging," I
muttered, "I don't think she'll even make it to the bottom of the
hill."

"Even if she dies, she will be on the road to Heaven," my angel
assured me. "Her angel thanks you, too."

"Tell her she's welcome." I turned to him, frowning. "So angels
come in sexes, too?"

"Well, no," he admitted, "but it makes you humans think of us more
easily if we seem to. You term it 'identification' and 'selfimage.'
Call it 'gender.' "

"Identification!" I looked up, understanding something I'd been
wondering about. "So that's why you've dropped the 'thee' and 'thou'
form.

"That you might better understand me, aye."

"Understand, my foot! You want me to identify with you, to emulate
you! Hey, I'm not even supposed to be able to see you!"

"You did call upon me," he reminded.

"And Sobaka didn't, so she couldn't see her angel? Is that who you
were talking to, about whether or not to get her out of the hole or
let her die,

"Her guardian angel, yes." He nodded. "You have made three most
happy today."

"Three?" I looked around, frowning. "I only count two-Sobaka, and
her guardian angel. if you say so."

"Three," he said proudly. "Count me, also. You have struck a blow
for the angels today, Saul. You are on our side, after all."

Why did that send such a thrill of panic through my veins? Why did
I snap out, "No way! If I did something that worked for your side,
it's just because it was the right thing to do under the
circumstances!

Don't bet I'll do it again! If something else comes up that I
think is right, I'll do it, even if it's for the other side-by your
rules!"

A look of apprehension crossed his face. "Nay, nay! Do not sin for
no reason other than my having said you are on the side of the
angels! "

"Very funny," I said bitterly, "considering who's talking. If it
seems right, I'll do it, even if it's against your side-but don't
worry, I won't murder, loot, or rape, just to keep from signing up
with your team, either. I won't go out of my way to commit what you
think is wrong." I turned on my heel and stalked away.

"You have lied," he called after me, "with that speech."

"See?" I said over my shoulder. "I've started already."



Chapter Four


The nice thing about being past Sobaka's checkpoint was that I was
able to keep on trudging up-slope. I didn't know where I was going,
except that it felt right-especially since it was out of her
domain.

Maybe, if I was lucky, I could get out of this massive
hallucination.

Or else find Matt ...

Another nice thing about getting up in the world, was that I kept
stretching out the sunset. Finally, I came to a pass at the top of
the mountain. Down below me, the valley was in shadow-twilight, to
them. I could even see a few lights appearing-fires of some sort.

Maybe smoke-holes in huts? Had these people invented the chimney
yet?

Then I looked up and saw one of the most glorious sunsets of my
life. The only ones to beat it had been out in the Great Plains,
where the landscape is mostly sky. Here, I was high enough up to have
a lot of sky again, though not quite as much. Everything looked
golden and rose, every mountaintop-and there were a lot of
mountaintops.

I wondered where I was-the Pyrenees? The Alps? Was I even in
Europe?

Or even on Terra?

I shelved that thought, but it shook me enough so that I stopped
contemplating the sunset, I turned back to the pass, saw its huge
granite walls towering to either side, and decided I wanted to be
through it before the light completely failed. I hurried, with a wary
eye above me, glancing from side to side-I'd heard that mountaineers,
historically, tended to be rather territorial. I'd also heard that
they had reasons. But if they were watching, I guess they figured I
was no threat, or was too small a fly to swat, because nothing
happened. in fact, the only living creature I saw was a kind of
mountain goat, who watched me for a while, then jumped into a shadow
and disappeared. He was beautiful, but the experiences of the day
made it seem rather spooky.

So, as I came to the other end of the pass, I was wondering what I
was going to do about being alone in a strange country, in what was
promising to be an extremely dark night.

I was very glad to see the camp fires below me.

Not very far below, and I could tell they were camp fires, because
of the tents. But the hallucination was still on-the men between the
tents and the fires were wearing armor covered by long white tabards,
and leading Percherons.

I sighed, squared my weary shoulders, and started the downhill
hike.

One of the younger ones looked up, saw me, and called out,
"Stranger!" He lugged out a sword the size of the Eiffel Tower and
brandished it as he came toward me, demanding, "Friend or foe?"

"Either one," I snapped-that sword got my back up. "Take your
choice."

He frowned at me-it wasn't one of the expected answers. But his
buddies dropped what they were doing and came clustering around; I
hadn't seen that much steel in one place since I'd crossed the Golden
Gate Bridge. "Declare yourself," one of the older ones demanded.

That was exactly what I had been trying not to do. "Saul Delacroix
Bremener," I told them, and nothing more.

"Saul Delacroix?" He frowned at his companions. "Named for the
king or the apostle, and one of the cross."

"But Paul was not of the cross," one of the others objected. "He
never knew the Savior, in life."

"Still, 'tis a goodly name," another said, then moved aside
quickly as a tall, broad-bodied man with grizzled hair stepped
through. He had a face like tanned leather and a jaw like a vise. The
commander, at a guess.

He looked me up and down and pronounced, "His attire is odd, but
he has no horse or arms. He cannot be a gentleman; he must be a
peasant." Then he turned away, dismissing me with a gesture. "Let him
stay; but he must draw water and fetch wood for the fire." He glanced
back at me. "See to it, fellow."

The command did it. "Peasant" got to me, and the bit about menial
labor made it worse-but the command made my anger turn cold and
active. "Fetch it yourself," I snapped. "I may be a commoner, but I'm
no serf-and I am a gentleman." Which was true, on a technicality-I
was a scholar, after all. By their standards.

"Oho!" A glint came into the commander's eye. "If you are a
gentleman, then you are a gentleman-at-arms-for there is no other
sort!" Great. To be a gentle man, you had to be capable of
violence.

oddly, the idea appealed to me; it fit into my configurational
pattern of contradictory concepts. Hypocrite? Who, me? I just calls
'em as I sees 'em.

"Yet he is clearly not a knight, or he would wear a sword. Ho,
Gilbert! You aspire to knighthood-prove yourself! Test this stranger
for Me!"

A kid with only a small sword grinned and stepped up to me,
dropping into a wrestler's crouch and beckoning.

I was appalled. He was at least six years younger than me,
certainly still a teenager, and the top of his head was bald. "You've
got a tonsure!" I said.

"All monks do," he agreed.

"But you're a knight!"

"Only a squire." His lip curled at my ignorance. "I am not yet
worthy of my final vows. Will you fight, or talk?

Well. Monks were obviously different here than they were at home.
I dropped into karate stance, circling my hands and coming up ready
to catch or chop. "Ready."

He stared at my actions, then frowned and lunged.

He telegraphed the move-I saw the half step forward on the leftbut
I resisted the urge to dodge, staying in to test the waters, so to
speak.

He hit, and he hit hard. it was like slamming into an opening
door.

He grabbed me in a bear hug and hoisted-it had to be the crudest
move I'd run into since grade school.

But effective-he was very strong. I found myself rising high, then
slamming down at the ground, while all around me, those
monkscum-knights were cheering.

I twisted, landing on my side, and rolling back up to my feet to
see the kid grinning as he came back in for more. But this time, I
sidestepped at the last second. "That was your freebie," I told
him.

"Now I get my turn."

He didn't like that; he turned with a bellow and charged. I
grabbed his arm and turned, put a hip against his, and flipped him.
He swung up and down like a Ferris wheel. I figured he wouldn't know
how to fall, so I held on to his arm and pulled up, to make sure he
landed on his side, without too much force. The knights rumbled at
that-they didn't like the look of it. I let go, and the kid scrambled
to his feet again, face red, boiling mad.

Good. Angry, he'd make mistakes.

But he didn't charge again; he was smart enough not to make the
same error twice. He shuffled in, hands circling, hunched over,
watching for an opening.

I decided to give him one. I dropped my guard and put my hands on
my hips, looking exasperated.

Sure enough, he bit. He went for my knees. I shoved against his
shoulders, pushing myself back, That made him madder; he charged
forward, trying to catch my knee like a donkey going after the carrot
that's hanging from the pole. But he only took a couple of steps
before he went for my crotch and arm, trying to hoist me. That meant
he was coming up; I stepped back just long enough for his momentum to
take him up far enough so that I could grab his tunic, lifting him a
little bit as I hooked a leg behind his, and pushed as I kicked back.
He fell-harder this time, since I wasn't trying to break his fall for
him. He scrambled up, eyes blazing, and sent a fist shooting toward
my face.

Oh, so he wanted to box. I blocked, and the blow went wide as I
counterpunched. He hit my shoulder, and pain jolted the joint, but
nothing big. On my other hand, his head rocked back, and I brought
the left down, fingers stiffened, and jabbed him in the solar
plexus.

That took the fight out of him, along with the breath and the
legs.

He folded around a center of agony, fighting for breath. I relaxed
with a sigh of distaste-I really didn't like doing this to anybody,
but especially not to a guy who really hadn't had a chance to fight
back. Then I stepped around behind him, massaging his back and sides
right opposite where I'd hit. The ring of men let out a shout of
outrage, but the biggest guy held up a hand. "Nay. He but seeks to
give aid to a fallen foe." He turned to me. "Yet give over, good
man-let us tend to him."

"No," I said, "I don't think you know the technique. I broke it,
I'll fix it." I heard a hiss of breath below me and looked down at
Gilbert.

"You okay now?"

"I will mend," he gasped. "You are a doughty fighter."

"Just had a little training," I assured him. "You're very strong,
did you know that?"

"Strength is not enough," he groaned.

"True." I grasped his arm and pulled. He followed and came to his
feet. From the heft of that biceps, I knew I'd done right to try to
stay away from him. It was a good thing he had used that bear hug to
throw me; if he'd just kept squeezing, I'd have been out like a
light.

"You have fought bravely," the commander assured him, and beckoned
a couple of other squires. "See to him."

They took him away, one on either side, and the ring of men began
to break up as they turned back to their tasks, eagerly discussing
the bout-what there had been of it. I noticed several guarded glances
in my direction, but none of them seemed contemptuous.

I sighed. It was the same old story all over again. just win a few
fights, and they'll accept you. Wasn't there anything more to a man
than his fists?

"You are welcome among us now," the commander assured me.

Of course.

But he was still watching me warily.

"Thanks for your hospitality," I said wryly. "I assure you, I
won't start attacking without an invitation."

He shrugged the comment away. "We have swords enough. As to this
wrestling, 'tis a peasant's sport-yet you do it well."

"Maybe too well?" I hazarded, from the look on his face.

"Mayhap." He turned, glowering. " 'Tis a most strange manner of
wrestling. Where did you learn it?"

"In the East," I said. Okay, so America was west of here, assuming
I was in Europe; but Japan was west of America, wasn't it? And it was
the East. So I had learned it in America, but it was Japanese, and
America was east of Japan, so I had learned it in the East.

"All." His face cleared; he nodded grimly. "The land of the
paynim. Any rarities might come thence."

He meant the Near East, I was pretty sure-but Muslim culture was
just different enough from his that, for all he knew, anything, but
anything, might be there. It struck me with sudden inspiration-an
excellent means of explaining any way in which I didn't fit in. "I
lived in the distant land for many years," I said. "I'm a scholar,
and not terribly interested in the things of this world-but their
wise men taught me that training of the body has to come before any
really advanced training of the mind."

"There is truth in that," he allowed. "With what weapons were you
trained?"

"Only the staff," I said. "They drew their scholarship from holy
men, who taught that it was wrong to use edged weapons."

"As do ours." The commander nodded. "Save for we few who are sworn
to defend the True Faith by force of arms."

"I was wondering about that," I said. "You have tonsures. Are you
monks, or knights?"

He frowned more closely at me. "How long have you been away from
Christian lands?"

"Since I was very young," I admitted. After all, the American
public schools fit that description, these days.

His face cleared. "Small wonder, then. Know that we are knights of
the Order of Saint Moncaire-yet monks, also."

Well, now, that rocked me. I mean, I'd learned about the Knights
Templars in school and read about them in Ivanhoe, and been
thoroughly scandalized by the mere notion that a man who is
purportedly dedicated to God could also be dedicating himself to
smashing up his fellow human beings with a Clydesdale and a mace. But
I tried to be tactful. "Uh ... isn't that kind of a contradiction in
terms?"

Instantly, the frown was back. "Why, how mean you?"

"Why," I said, "a monk is dedicated to love of his fellow human
beings, and to upholding the Commandments-including 'Thou shalt not
kill,' and 'Love one another.' But a knight is dedicated to hurting
those same people."

"Assuredly, you cannot mean it!" He paled, and I could have sworn
he was genuinely shocked. "Do you truly know so little of your own
faith?"

"Of my own civilization, you mean." I frowned up at him. "You
forget I've spent most of my life in a foreign land."

"Aye, I had forgot." He gathered composure around him, but still
seemed rather shaken. "Know, then, young man, that we, as knights,
are dedicated to the protecting of God's people from those who
worship evil. And they who are dedicated to evil, scruple not to kill
and maim in their lust to capture all that they can. It is therefore
necessary to take arms against the minions of Satan; only major force
can stay them."

I braced myself and tried to smile. I was hearing the
rationalization that had allowed medieval Christians to mount a
crusade against their own countrymen, for no better reason than that
they had come up with a different version of Christianity.

The commander turned away and began to stroll through the camp,
glancing around him to see all was in order-but he was still talking,
so I tagged along. "Know, too," he said, "that in these lands of
Christendom, many folk have fallen under the sway of Satan and his
minions. Allustria, where we are now, is sunk in the bog of
corruption; it is ruled by a sorcerer-queen. lbile is only lately
freed from a similar fate, and Merovence is free only because a most
powerful wizard came to the aid of the heir, Queen Alisande, and
fought off the evil spells of the usurper's sorcerer, so that her
armies might cleanse the land of the false king Astaulf and his
twisted knights."

Well, usurpation I could understand, even if it was saturated with
superstition. "I take it you come from this, uh, Merovence?"

"In truth, we have."

"Ibile"-that had a familiar ring. The Iberian peninsula? if so,
the "reign of evil" would probably have been nothing more than the
Moorish Empire-to medieval Spaniards, the Muslim Moors seemed like
pagans, therefore worshipping false gods. So I took the rest of it
with a grain of salt. "Allustria" sounded like "Austria" with a
couple of Is thrown in-maybe "Allemagne," which was Germany, combined
with Austria? I knew of a pretty demonic figure in recent history who
had tried to do just that-but he wasn't medieval. So I decided to
reserve judgment on the evilness of Allustria's queen. But
Merovence-would that be France, or Italy? Or maybe Poland or Russia?
At a guess it was the land of the Merovingians, which would have been
France.

Why not ask? "I'm kind of turned around," I said. "Which way is
Merovence? "

"Why, ahead of you," said the commander, surprised. "You are near
its border. Did you not know you had come out of Allustria?"

Suddenly, the business about Allustria being under the reign of an
evil queen gained credence-at least, judging by the reception I'd had
there, and the things Sobaka had said. "I hadn't known," I said.

"Wherever it was, though, I was trying to get out of it."

"In that, you succeeded. Know that you have come into the
mountains, and even though the queen of Allustria claims them, her
writ does not truly run-though she has folk stationed in pretense of
governance. if these hills are held by anyone, they are held by the
mountaineers who call themselves Switzers."

Suddenly the geography clicked into place, and I frowned. "But
aren't you kind of going the long way around? To go through
Switzerland to get into Allustria?"

The commander nodded. " 'Tis even so. Yet there is no other way to
come upon the minions of Queen Suettay unawares. Even coming down
from the mountains, we may be espied."

"I think not," I said slowly. "If you go down through the pass I
came from, you may find that the functionary who's supposed to watch
that crossing point may not have been replaced yet."

He glanced at me keenly. "Have you slain him, then?"

"Her," I corrected, "and no, I didn't do any killing. Persuaded
her to see the error of her ways, you might say." I didn't like the
way he looked at me then, and I added quickly, "Don't get any ideas.
I'm not a missionary."

"You must have a silvered tongue, then, to have so swayed one of
Queen Suettay's liege men!"

I noticed my correction about gender hadn't taken, and I wasn't
surprised. People tend to see what they want to see, and the Middle
Ages kind of locked people into certain expectations, blinding them
to anything they hadn't been taught. I recognized this whole business
about needing to take arms against evil as just another excuse for
doing what Christianity forbade, which amounted to hypocrisy.

I wasn't about to say that out loud, though. Standing for truth is
one thing, but saying it when you haven't been asked is another. I
had no desire to get pummeled, or to become the subject of an
impromptu beheading.

But I was still kind of dazed by the notion of an order of
military monks. I wondered what their monastery looked like. Did it
have a gate, or a portcullis?

"Strange that you know so little of your own land," the commander
sighed, "from sojourning so long among the paynim. Yet you are a
scholar, and therefore also a gentleman-though you know not the
weapons of honor."

Again, I nodded. I knew something of late medieval society. A
gentleman was below the aristocracy, but above the peasantry-upper
middle class, in my own day's terms. Knights qualified, but by the
eighteenth century, so did squires, even if they never became
knights.

They owned enough land to have several tenant farmers, and
generally had more education than most. At this point in
historyassuming it to be about 1350; I didn't dare ask, for fear of
betraying ignorance that might make me suspect-that meant being able
to read and write, and knowing table manners and strict rules of
protocol.

Not that these boys seemed all that big on class distinctions,
though-I saw knights in their gambesons, fetching buckets of water
and lighting campfires, right along with their squires. "Uh," I
said.

And, "I notice that your men are fetching and carrying, right
along with their squires."

"Aye," he said. " 'Tis a lesson in humility."

"But," I said, "when I came up, you said all I was good for was
fetching and carrying."

"Aye, and I regret the haste of my words-yet by your appearance,
who was to know your quality? Still, friend, though peasants may be
fit only for hewing wood and drawing water, a knight is fit for any
task, short of those fit only for royal blood, or appropriate to a
monk."

"But knights can draw water and gather wood, too, eh?" I nodded;
it made sense, within their worldview. You can always do less than
you're able-and to them, it was a gesture of humility-but you can't
do more. The idea raised my hackles, especially since I knew damn
well that any man could learn to ride or swing a broadsword-though I
would have been the first to admit that some can learn it better than
others. It was just that my enlightened age believes that every task
is as honorable as any other-or tries to, anyway. "But you're monks,
too."

"Aye, and like other monks, we labor at menial tasks as well as
great, to make us mindful that we, too, are only mortal, and must
strive lifelong if we would become saints in Heaven."

Something about that struck a faint resonance of rightness within
me. I tried to ignore it. "Meaning that all people are equal in God's
eyes? " He stared at me as if I had spoken treason. "Nay, nay! Only
that all may become saints, after death!"

But some saints were greater than others, no doubt. I had a vision
of Heaven with everyone walking around with different sizes of halos,
and smaller houses for the peasant-saints but bigger houses for the
gentry-saints, and of course palaces for the aristocratsaints. My
mouth quirked, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing, then
speak quickly to cover up. "In that case, do you mind if I help? "
The commander smiled slowly. "Why, how is this? Will you now freely
offer to do what you refused, when commanded?"

I looked up at him, amused. "Kind of answered your own question,
haven't you? "

The commander laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. "Aye, you
are indeed a gentleman! We will be glad of your aid.', "And I'm glad
of your hospitality," I rejoined, "for which, my thanks. Even with
the opening wrestling match, you're a lot more friendly than the last
bunch I ran into."

The tension was back, suddenly; he was alert all over again. "Who
were they, and where?"

"A knight and his men-at-arms," I answered slowly. "Don't know
their names, but his shield had a torch turned upside down and mashed
flat. "Sir Hohle of the Tarn," he said, his face grim. "I know him by
repute, and all of it is evil. Where did you meet him?"

"On the other side of the pass, and a long way down, before the
climbing became really steep."

" 'Tis well; his horses could not follow. What manner of welcome
did they give you?"

"None at all; they used me for a punching bag, until I got mad and
started hitting back."

"Mad? You are a berserker, then?"

"No, no!" I closed my eyes, then looked up at him with a forced
smile. "I meant 'angry.' I knocked down a couple of them, and the
knight decided to flatten me-but his horse crumpled underneath him,
and the fall knocked him out' "Sheer happenstance?" The commander
frowned. "I trust it not.

What spirit wards you?"

That brought a chill trickle of familiarity through my vitals, but
I shrugged and said, "Just the usual guardian angel, as far as I
know. "

"Then it must have been something you said," the commander mused.
"Are you a wizard?"

Again, that cold trickle-I couldn't think why. "Not as far as I
know." I didn't bother mentioning what had happened to Sobaka; surely
that must have been my guardian angel at work. Or my hallucination
...

Hallucinations that happen to somebody else?

"It may be that you have an inborn talent for magic," the
commander said, brooding. "If so, walk very carefully! The merest
misstep might cast you into the power of the Evil One-for folk who
have such gifts draw either on the power of Satan, or the power of
God, though they know it not. Beware, lest you evoke a power you wish
not to worship."

That got my back up. I wasn't about to worship any source of
power, no matter where it came from. After all, who'd worship Niagara
Falls, just because it produced electricity? "Thanks for the advice,"
I said, though. I've always tried to be polite, but at the moment, I
had extra reasons.

" 'Tis scarcely a matter for astonishment, that you had so ill a
greeting," he said, "since you were coming out of Allustria. In
truth, I am amazed you could walk through that benighted land with no
i-nore unpleasantness than such as they gave." He stopped by a stack
of leather buckets and handed me a couple. I braced for another
scene, but he picked up two himself and started walking toward the
stream that was gurgling nearby.

Mollified, I followed. "I wasn't in Allustria very long." That
much, at least, was true.

He nodded. "You came through the Balkans, then?"

I didn't want to tell a real lie, so I said, "I wasn't about to
ask for hospitality there." I looked up sharply at a sudden thought.
"Wait a minute! That's why you insisted on that wrestling match,
wasn't it?

To see if I'd pull any tricks!"

"We did test you," he admitted. "Think not harshly of us, I
prithee. You were coming from Allustria-we marked you as soon as you
came forth from the pass-and you wear outlandish garments .

Who knew but you might be a sorcerer come amongst us?"

I stopped, frowning. "How do you know I'm not?"

"Why, a sorcerer would have used foul magics to best his opponent,
before ever the man had struck him-or, at least, would have used foul
blows and no slightest mercy. You accorded your opponent first strike
and did what you could to lessen the impact of his fall."

So he had noticed why I'd held on to the kid's arm. I nodded
slowly; for the first time in my life, starting with a fight made
sense.

Almost.

Suddenly, I felt bad about deceiving him, especially if I was
going to accept his hospitality. What had happened to my obsession
with truth? "Actually," I said, "I didn't go into Allustria by my own
choice. I was in my homeland, thousands of miles away, and a very
large spider bit me. I blacked out, and when I came to, I was on the
other side of that mountain." I gestured behind us.

The commander stopped in his tracks, staring at me. "Were you
truly? Then you have been transported hither by some great magical
power! "

"One that works through spider bites?"

He glanced to either side and lowered his voice. "I have heard of
such-of a Spider King, whom no one knows to be either good or evil. "
Instinctively, I liked this arachnid autocrat. "Where can I find him?
Maybe he can send me home!" Could I dispel the hallucination by
working through its own terms?

"None knows, nor do I think he would send you hence, for he must
have brought you here for a purpose of his own." He frowned down at
me for a few seconds, then forced a smile. "Still, be of good cheer!
It may be you were transported here by a saint!"

I shuddered, deciding that, saint or Spider King, I was dealing
with superstition.

That was what this whole scene was, of course. Was that what was
really underneath my rationalist mind-a superstitious
subconscious?

The commander turned away and started walking again. "Still, if
you waked in Allustria, whatsoever it was that brought you must have
work for you there. Mayhap you should not be fleeing that benighted
land."

"Or maybe I should," I gritted. "After all, I didn't apply for the
job.

I wasn't even consulted."

We do not always choose our paths." He knelt by the river and
filled each leather bucket with a single swing of his arm, then stood
again.

"Have you?" I asked. "Chosen your path, I mean."

He nodded slowly. "We have chosen to go into Allustria, no matter
the risk. There do be yet a few good folk there, who strive to
maintain their virtue in a sink of absolute corruption. The sponsor
of our order, Saint Moncaire, came to our abbot in a dream a
fortnight agone, to reveal the plight of one such poor family, who
hold by God and goodness, though they dare not do so openly ... "

I felt the anger of outrage ring through me. Superstition or not,
people have a right to worship as they please, without having to hide
it. "But they've been careful, so they haven't been bothered?"

"oh, nay! They were gentry, but over the span of generations, they
suffered again and again, because their rulers sought to rob them of
their faith by driving them into despair-first by taxes, then by
spells."

"But how'd these rulers know about them?"

"Because the good souls of this household never left off doing
good for their neighbors and aiding those who were poor or beset.

Thereby did the witches and warlocks who were given jurisdiction
over their parish know them for what they were and seek ways to
bedevil them."

"Sounds like some petty bureaucrats I know." I nodded, with a bad
taste in my mouth.

"Now," the knight said, "they live without land and are tenants on
the acres their ancestors owned-for they were squires, and their
holdings held a whole parish within their boundaries. All its people,
following the example of this family's goodness, forsook their
dog-eat-dog ways and persevered in the face of all the harassments
and abuse their masters did heap on them. Those harassments have
grown more and more frantic as the decades have passed, for such
fortitude and perseverance in virtue is bound to attract the
attention of the queen, who will no doubt punish her henchmen for
failing to drive these virtuous folk into sin. Therefore they will
harry this family out, root and branch-for they persevere in their
faith and charity, even though they are poor and must ask aid of
others, which none dare grant. One child is dead of poor food and
chill; another is ailing. They are at wits' end and near to despair.
Therefore hath our abbot sent us forth, to win glory by bringing
these poor folk out of the land of spiritual misery, and into the
light of Merovence."

"That could be dangerous," I suggested, "if there really are so
many evil sorcerers around-and even more, so many evil knights."

"Most dangerous indeed, and 'tis quite possible we shall lose our
lives in the attempt." His jaw firmed and his eyes flashed. "Yet 'tis
for us to seek to ward the godly, unheeding of the peril-and if we
die, we die. Spending our lives in so worthy a cause, we shall surely
not linger long in Purgatory, and it may be that we shall even be
accorded the crown of martyrdom."

I winced; I wondered how many people had been lured into
unnecessary suffering and early death by that promise.

" 'Tis not death we should fear," the commander said, "but that we
might fail in the attempt-for we must bring that family out right
quickly, ere they despair and are subverted and dishonored, or
slain."

"Should fear," I said softly. "But what you really do fear is the
evil that you have heard is in that land. Right?"

"We should be fools if we did not." His whole body tightened so
much that I knew it was closer to terror than fear. Privately, I gave
him credit for being either a hero, a saint, or a fool. I didn't
think he could really qualify as a saint, since he was using a
sword-so, all things considered, I strongly favored the last option:
a fool. Not that I was about to say so, of course.

So I accepted their hospitality for the night, helped with the
camp chores, and joined in the sing-along on the less-religious
songs-I always did like "Amazing Grace," but I wasn't too good on the
Gregorian stuff. I was a devoutly agnostic Protestant, and the God I
didn't believe in was Calvin's, so I didn't do too well on the
Latin-only one year in high school, and it didn't sound much like
theirs. Different dialect, no doubt.

Then I bedded down at their fire, helped with the morning chores,
hauled a bucket of water to help douse the fire-and held up an open
hand in salute. "Well, it's been fun. Thanks a lot for your
hospitality, Sir Monk-but I gotta be going now."

"Assuredly you will not ride alone!" He seemed to be genuinely
dismayed. "You are not yet past the reach of Queen Suettay. Wizard or
not a lone man is a marked man; you will be easy prey for whatever
evil forces she may send against you!"

"I've managed okay so far," I objected.

He sighed. "You have indeed-yet you slept among armed monks last
night. How many other nights have you spent in Allustria?"

I swallowed thickly, remembering what superstition claimed about
nighttime. "None," I admitted. "Only one day."

"Even so." He scowled. "And in that day, you did work magic?"

"Well, I wouldn't have said so, but . . ."

He chopped off my comment with a sideways sweep of his hand.

"What you would say matters little; what you did, is all. Be
assured that Suettay knows of your presence-or that her underlings
do."

That, I could believe, whether or not magic really did work
here.

Sobaka's boss was bound to notice she was missing, sooner or
later-and if she were at all efficient, it would be sooner. First
thing I knew, I might have bloodhounds on my track, and I had a
notion that in this world, the emphasis was on the blood. "I'll be
okay," I protested.

"You mean, 'well enough,' " he interpreted, "and in Allustria,
there is no such state. You are either holy enough to withstand the
assaults of the satanic, or you will succumb to their temptations and
become yourself an ally of evil."

"No way!" I glared up at him. "I don't buy it, Captain! You don't
have to be either a saint or a devil-you can just be yourself, human
and humane. A man can stand alone, and I intend to! I refuse to
commit myself!"

"Mayhap that is true in the land from which you came, but it is
not, in Allustria." He clapped and beckoned. The knights and squires
looked up in surprise, and he pointed at Gilbert, the guy I'd
wrestled yesterday, then beckoned. The kid dropped his horse's reins
and came over.

"This foolish wizard seeks to ride alone, still within Queen
Suettay's reach," the commander explained.

The kid went wide-eyed, staring at me as if I had just volunteered
to be the main course at a state dinner.

"It's not really that bad," I protested.

"Nay, it is!" he said. "You will be corrupted or slain ere you see
another dawn! " My stomach sank, but I stood up a little straighter
and said, "Look, I'm not the superstitious kind, but I'm no fool,
either. if I see trouble coming, I'll hide, and if it won't pass by,
I'll fight."

" 'Tis praiseworthy to die fighting," Gilbert admitted, "yet
foolish to spend your life needlessly."

The commander nodded. "Buy some advance in grace, at least, if you
must give up your life. Nay, I cannot let you ride fully unguarded.
Gilbert, do you ride with him, as his shield and buckler."

The kid stared at him as if he'd been wounded. "But, my
general!

To lose my chance for glory in our quest-"

"is what I require of you." The commander's tone was iron.

Gilbert flushed, then slowly bowed his head, but his back was
ramrod-stiff.

" 'Tis not so vile as it may seem." The commander's tone softened.
"I have had a dream that has shown me that this man is a hinge-upon
him will turn great events, and if he can be held to the path of
goodness, I doubt not he will aid greatly in the overthrow of the
evil queen, and the establishment of the reign of goodness in
Allustria."

Gilbert looked startled, then glanced at me.

"Don't look over here," I said. "It's news to me, too."

"A stalwart man with a rugged face did speak to me as I lay
sleeping," the commander said. "He wore kingly robes, and a cap with
leaden images of saints all about its rim. He told me that this man
Saul will be the lever that topples the throne of Allustria, even as
the disciple Paul was transformed from the sword that slew the early
Christians, to the share that plowed the field of Gentiles." He
turned to me. "You are fortunately named."

I wasn't about to disagree with him, but I did think his metaphors
were a little odd. "Who was this saint you saw in your dream?"

But the commander shook his head. "Some holy man of Allustria's
age of virtue, belike, who lived in humble obscurity and died
unknown; not all the saints were famed, or even known. He was none of
whom I have ever heard. Yet his face did not shine, so he may be a
blessed one, not a saint."

I frowned. "How do you know he isn't a devil masquerading in
disguise? " Everybody in hearing range looked up with a gasp, and the
commander stared, offended. "Why, for that I am in a state of
grace!"

"Uh, sorry." I swallowed and forced a smile. "But even in a state
of grace, you could be tempted."

"Mayhap," he said slowly, "but a devil would not wear saints'
medals on his hat."

I gave it up. He was so certain about it that he couldn't even
consider being wrong. "But look-I really don't need an escort. This
young man has important work to do."

"My work is what my captain commands," the kid assured me, and if
he says that accompanying you is of greater import than our quest, he
must be right."

That grated. Faith is all well and good, but so is skepticism.

But the commander was nodding. "Import there is, and the danger
will be no less-mayhap greater. Nay, there will be great chance of
gaining glory in this mission-and, win or lose, you will gain your
spurs.

The kid's eyes fired.

"Dead or alive," I muttered.

"How do you say?" the young man asked me courteously.

"That this really isn't necessary," I snapped. I had to admit that
I liked the idea of an armed escort, but I have this thing about
close and continued contact with people I don't know well. "Look, I
really appreciate the offer, but I travel alone." I grabbed his hand
and pumped it. "Nice wrestling with you. Have a good trip." I dropped
his hand, gave the commander a curt bow. "Thanks for your
hospitality, Sir. I wish you well on your quest-and good-bye." Then I
turned on my heel and strode away.

Behind me, I heard him call, "God be with you, too, Wizard," and
to somebody else, presumably the squire, "Why do you wait,
Gilbert?

Take sword, buckler, and horse, and go with him!"

I walked faster. If the kid had to pack, I had a few minutes to
get lost, at least. There was a line of evergreens ahead; if I could
make it to the trees, I could hide well enough so that he might miss
me.

I was about ten yards away from the first fir when I heard the
hoof beats behind me.



Chapter Five


Look, I hate jocks-or, well, not jocks as people, just jocks as a
class; and you couldn't have any better example of the jock-ocracy
than medieval knighthood.

"Ho, Wizard!"

I sprinted.

The evergreen boughs closed around me. I heard a blundering behind
me, and a cry, "Wilt thou not wait?"

No. I wouldn't. At least, not if I had any choice. I dodged to the
left, since he'd probably be expecting the right, and plastered
myself behind the largest trunk I could find.

"Wizard? Wizard!

I tracked his voice and, as he moved forward, I sidled around
backward, trying to keep the tree trunk between us. I must have
succeeded, because he blundered around for an awfully long while,
coming up with all sorts of swear words that had to be so clean they
were almost antiseptic-things like, "By blue!" and "Bones!" and
"Blood and iron!" I resolved to remember them if I ever had to cure
an infection. When he was far enough away, I sprinted to a little
thicket I had seen and crawled in. He kept crashing around, coming up
with an amazing variety of expletives that had absolutely no need to
be deleted, while I tried to stifle my laughter, Finally he gave up,
blundering back out the way he had come, lamenting his failure loudly
and at great length. I felt sorry for him, a little, then reminded
myself sternly that he was probably better off with his buddies-and
in any case, this was my chance for a getaway.

I crawled out and started walking fast, heading downhill. Twice I
struck a trail wide enough for a horse, but I sheered away from
them-that was exactly the kind of road he'd be likely to take, if he
hadn't given up looking for me yet. They angled across my path,
instead of going straight down, which I figured was a plus.

Finally, I came out onto a clear road, wide enough for two horses
side by side. It was still trending downhill, but at an angle
opposite to the trails I'd seen, and I decided to chance it. The kid
had either given up by now, or passed me by. But I kept a wary ear
tuned as I went down the dirt track, walking fast, alert for the
slightest sign of him. So the first time, Gilbert saved my bacon
without even being therebecause I was listening for him, I heard the
sudden rustle in the leaves just behind me, and had already leapt
forward before I heard the thud on the ground. I whirled, chopping at
the point where a uy's neck would be if he were crouching. I was a
little high; I caught him on the side of the head, and he yelled as
he went sprawling.

I whirled back to the front, having a hunch he wouldn't have dared
jump an able-bodied man if he were alone. Sure enough, another
specimen was just coming out of his crouch from having dropped from
the branch ahead of me, as four of his buddies stepped in from the
sides, two with battle-axes, two with arrows drawn.

Let me tell you, these were not the nice, clean boys from Sherwood
Forest-or, rather, if there really was a Robin Hood, this is probably
what most of his merry men really did look like. Their clothes were
patched and filthy-I could actually see the dirt-and the only one of
them who shaved had been neglecting that art for several days. The
others looked as if their beards got trimmed once a year, and that
had been January first. Their grins showed rotten teeth, and they
smelled to high Heaven.

The one in front uncoiled from his crouch and sprang at me with a
shout. I didn't try to get out of the way, just gave ground fast, so
that he didn't slam into me terribly hard. I nearly kicked him away
from sheer disgust; the stench of him was more likely to knock me out
than his fighting. But the archers wouldn't try a shot, if he was
real close, so I ignored the stench and grappled him. Unfortunately,
he grappled back, throwing his arms around me and squeezing. I
whirled him around with the pain in my ribs getting worse and
worse-all he knew was a bear hug, but he was strong! I'd caught him
with one of my arms up, though, so I waltzed him over toward his
buddies at the side of the path, hoping my wind would last until I
was next to one of the hatchet men.

Max the Axe saw me coming and backed off, keeping just far enough
away for a swing, worse luck, and I was starting to see spots, so I
stamped on my hugger's instep. He howled and loosened up; I broke his
hug and hit him with three quick punches to the face. He let go with
an oath that would have blistered paint, if they'd had any, and I
staggered away, just accidentally stumbling into the axeman.

He saw me coming and shouted, swinging his blade up, but I slammed
into him in a body block, and we both went down. I grabbed the axe
handle and twisted as I rolled. He yelped, and I came up holding an
axe in both hands.

A stick cracked down on my right-hand fingers. I yelled as the
fingers went numb, and somebody twisted the axe. My hurt hand fell
loose, but I yanked hard on the other one and kicked. I got him in
the gut-he was the first one I'd chopped, getting back into the
fight. He gave a loud grunt and fell away, and I started whirling the
axe, as if it were a propeller blade. The four who were still on
their feet backed away-they didn't like the look of that, and the
archers didn't look too sure about trying a shot.

I was just realizing that one was missing when the blow caught me
on the back of the head, and for a minute, I couldn't see. Somebody
grabbed the axe out of my hand; somebody else kicked me in the gut,
and I went down with that awful dread that the final blow is coming,
that I was just about to gain empiric evidence as to whether there is
an afterlife.

But there was a lot of yelling going on still, and some very odd
ringing noises. I heard heavy, dull, staccato sounds with some
howling thrown in, and managed to pull myself up, my eyes clearing,
to see three of the bandits trying to scramble back into the brush,
three of them lying crumpled on the ground in front of the horse's
hooves, and my old buddy Gilbert, with a little round shield on his
left arm and a large sword in his right, hefting and glaring after
them as if trying to decide whether to go chasing.

"Don't try it," I croaked. "Once you're off the road, they've got
the advantage. They can just sit up in the trees and throw rocks at
you, even. "

"Friend Saul!" he cried, whirling toward me. "You are hurt!"

"Just a mild concussion." I hoped I was as well as I was trying to
sound. "Y' know, I think I'm glad you decided to tag along, after
all."

Then things got kind of dim, and my knees folded.

He was there before I hit the ground, leaning down from his horse,
holding me up.

"I'll ... be all right," I managed. "Just ... need to get my
bearings. "

"You should rest."

"Just a little while." I looked up into his broad, open face, saw
the frown of concern, and decided maybe there was something to be
said for jocks, after all-if they were on my side.

Well, what could I do? Tell him to go home to Papa, after he'd
saved my life? Right.

So we went along together. Gilbert insisted that I ride the horse,
and I insisted that I didn't-if it doesn't have brakes and a gear
shift, I'm not interested.

"You shall have to learn to ride, if you stay long in our land!"
he remonstrated.

"I'm not planning to," I assured him. "What's a nice kid like you
doing in the military, anyway?"

"Why, for that good folk need protecting!" He was mildly
scandalized that I even asked.

Well, that made sense. "But why as a monk?"

"I felt the call," he said simply. "I have a vocation."

I'd always wondered about that. "What's it feel like-the call? Did
you have a dream? A sudden moment of enlightenment?"

"I have heard of such," he said slowly, "yet in my case, 'twas
simply that there was a famine when I was so small that all I can
remember is the great gnawing in my belly, and the kindly face of the
monk who came at last to give my family a loaf of bread. In the rush
of gratitude that came then, I wished to be like him-and that wish
never left me."

"Just a good example." I frowned. "Didn't it bother you, when you
were old enough to know what was going on, to find out that some
monks were greedy and lustful?"

His face hardened. "I did hear of such, aye, though we only knew
of one, ourselves-but we did learn of a whole abbey full of them,
miles away, and heard that other abbeys did visit grinding rents upon
their tenants, the whiles their monks did live in luxury. Yet the
monks who dwelt nearby us lived in a cloister they had built with
their own hands and which they themselves had enlarged and repaired.
They farmed, even as we did, and would not accept gifts of any more
land than they themselves could till."

"Sounds like the Franciscans," I said.

He frowned. "I know none of that name. Their example has shone
down the years of my life, though. I cannot condemn all clergy for
the mistakes of a few, aye, or even of many, when those I have met
myself are good and godly men."

I nodded. "Then why didn't you join their order?"

"Alas! As I grew older, I found that I was fond of fighting. The
good monks did rebuke me, and I strove hard to contain my anger at
others' taunts; but when they struck at me, I felt outrage at their
injustice and smote them down. Then did I come near to despair,
thinking myself fit only for the plow and never for the cloister-but
the monk who came to say Mass for us, every Sunday, did learn of this
and told me of the order of Saint Moncaire. 'If you must needs strike
a blow,' quoth he, 'let it be the minions of Satan that you smite, so
that you may protect the poor and weak.' Thereupon my heart did
thrill, and I gave my poor parents no rest till they agreed to let me
try my vocation, and I went to the monastery as a squire."

I nodded. "So you like fighting, but you wanted to be a monk, and
the Moncaireans let you combine the two. Very neat. And you wanted to
be a knight?"

"What lad does not? Yet I knew I could not, for I was baseborn; I
wished only to be a squire, and never thought I could be more."

"Oh." I frowned. "So that's how it goes here, is it' You have to
be born a knight in order to become one?"

"'Tis possible that a lowborn squire may be knighted for great
courage and prowess," he pointed out, "yet 'tis rare."

"A battlefield commission, huh? And of course, he'll never really
be accepted by the other officers."

"Your terms are strange-yet 'tis so. His children, though, will be
ranked with any, for they will have grown with other knights.
Natheless, 'tis otherwise, in my order-any lad may become a knight of
Saint Moncaire, if he proves his vocation. Yet it will take great
deeds to win my spurs." He flashed me a grin. "Therefore, lead me
into danger, Wizard Saul! For I would prove my worth!"

"I'll try not to arrange it," I assured him, but I had this
secret, nagging dread that he was going to get his wish.

Maybe right now. We came to the top of a rise and saw a huge crack
in the ground right in front of us. It was a gorge, and it stretched
away out of sight to the right and left.

But there was a bridge over it. Very narrow, but it was a
bridge.

"Well, at least there's a way over." As we came up to it, though,
I developed doubts-it looked kind of flimsy.

"Looks like single file," I told Gilbert. "Think it'll take your
horse's weight?"

He scanned it with a practiced eye-I guessed he'd been trained in
military engineering. "Aye, if I dismount."

"Good enough." I started out across.

"Nay, Wizard Saul!" he yelped. "First we must test for-"

"Ho! Ho!" something tumbled.

I stopped and glanced at the sky. "Thunder?"

"Worse!" Gilbert cried. "Flee, Wizard!"

Hands as wide as bread boxes slapped onto the railing. Something
huge and smelly swung itself up in an arc and landed with a shock
that made the bridge sway. I held tight to the railing and stared,
totally dumfounded.

It was about eight feet tall and shaped like a turnip, with legs
as thick as kegs coming out of the narrow end. The wide end tapered
down into two tentacles with the huge hands on the ends, and two eyes
the size of dinner plates stared down at me from its chest. Beneath
them, a knob of nose twitched over a vast slice of mouth, which
opened in a grin set with shark's teeth.

"What the hell is that?" I yelped.

"'Tis a troll!" Gilbert howled. "Not from Hell, but vile
enough!

Stand aside, Wizard Saul, and let me have at him!"

"How?" I looked frantically to left and right, but there was no
place to jump to. Then I remembered that I knew how to swim. I turned
to dive over the rail, but Gilbert called, "Nay! He'll leap in after
you and catch you in a trice! " I wondered crazily if a trice was
anything like a net, as I turned back to watch the troll slobbering
toward me. I backed away, blurting, "But you can't be real-you're a
fugitive from a fairy tale! So I can't be your meal!

The monster jerked to a halt and glanced about him, and I could
have sworn he was looking nervous. So help me, one huge finger came
up over his mouth, looking for all the world as if he were trying to
shush me!

"I will not be silenced!" I cried. "The word is my weapon!"

The troll shrank back, hands coming up to fend me off, and Gilbert
cried, "A deft stroke! oh, bravely done! Smite him again,
Wizard!"

"How?" I cried.

The troll relaxed, straightening up with a slobbering grin, and
came slavering toward me again.

I backed away fast, wondering what had spooked it. "What's a
matter, big guy? You worried about fairies?"

The troll jerked to a stop again, making frantic shushing motions
and glancing about him.

"You are!" I cried in triumph.


    "You're afraid of the word itself!
    Okay, Gruesome, try this one on for size!
    'Rushing down the mountain
    And trooping through the glen,
    We dare not go a-hunting
    For fear of little men!'


The troll gave a moan of fear and jumped.

He landed on top of me, and I slammed a punch in sheer reflexand
howled; it had felt like hitting rock. The howl was a mistake,
because then I had to inhale, just as that huge midriff slammed me
back against the wood, Something cracked under me; I saw stars, and
my w o e universe was filled with the incredible stench of that
monster.

I couldn't believe it-that close to water, and he didn't
bathe?

Dimly, I beard Gilbert yelling, and beard something that sounded
like ringing.

Then, suddenly, there was light, and the hideous smell was
gone.

I gasped, pushing myself up as quickly as I could-and there, so
help me, were a dozen little guys scarcely as tall as my knee, in red
caps and brown outfits, kicking at that troll and pinching him, How
their pinches could make any progress against that granite skin, I
didn't know-but I wasn't about to object.

"You have summoned them!" Gilbert shouted. "Oh, bravely done,
Master Wizard!"

Master? I wasn't even a journeyman!

The yelping troll was caught between two packs of little men
now.

He couldn't even jump off the bridge, because there was a batch of
them on each side, pinching and kicking if he came near them. He
huddled down into a miserable, wailing bundle, tentacle-arms curled
to protect his face. Somehow, I almost felt sorry for him, "Your
charity does you credit, but is sadly misplaced."

"Hub?" I looked up to see a bigger-than-average elf standing on
the railing by my shoulder. instead of a red cap, this one wore a
coronetyour basic, minimal crown.

"Yet 'tis foolishness, also," the little guy went on, "for this
monster has no mercy within his flinten skin, no heart, no
compassion; he would have devoured you as soon as looked at you."

"I believe it." I glanced at the huddled, moaning granite turnip,
then back to the guy with the crown. "Lucky for me you were in the
neighborhood. Thanks for the save, Your Majesty."

"Highness," he corrected. "I am a prince of Wee Folk, not a
king.

And 'tis a hobnailed jest to speak of luck, when 'twas your spell
that summoned us."

He glanced at his corps, while I stared. Spell?

Then he turned back with a severe frown. "'Twas unwise of you to
venture to cross a bridge without having taken precaution 'gainst
that which might dwell beneath it. You know the signs of bridges that
were built by trolls to tempt mortals to their doom."

"Uh-no, to tell you the truth, I don't. I'm, uh, kinda new in this
country, you see."

"New?" He stared at me. "Have you no trolls whence you come?"

"Not like this," I assured him. "I admit I know some people who
could qualify, but they're really human underneath it all."

"This one is not!" He turned on Gilbert, who had come onto the
bridge behind me. "You, squire! Assuredly you must know this land-you
wear the badge of the Moncaireans! Did you not warn him of his
danger?"

"I did not speak quickly enough," Gilbert said contritely.

"Did you not know he was a stranger?"

"I confess I did not realize the depth of his strangeness."

I'd heard that before, from other jocks-but I decided not to take
offense, this time.

The elfin prince turned back to me. "Do you henceforth survey most
closely every bridge that you may come to! If 'tis rudely made, and
the ends of the logs show the marks of teeth, not axes, be sure to
recite a spell for the banishing of trolls ere you cross."

I looked and, sure enough, the ends of the logs did look as if
they'd been chewed through. "I didn't think to look," I admitted.
"Even if I had, though, I probably wouldn't have thought anything of
it."

"Not thought!" the elf prince and Gilbert cried together.

"Yeah," I admitted ruefully. "I probably would have just thought
somebody had used logs that beavers had cut down."

The prince and the squire exchanged a glance, then turned back to
me. "What are beavers?"

Then I remembered that the flat-tailed rodents with the buck teeth
were American fauna only. "Uh, small animals, where I come from, who
like to chew on things."

"Most amazing," Gilbert muttered. The elf prince said firmly, "I
would not offend you, squire, but you alone are not protection enough
for this ignorant man."

"Hey," I objected.

"Not a word!" The prince held up a hand, then turned to snap his
fingers at his retinue. "Stand back, and let him rise!"

They looked up, startled. "But, Highness "Do as I bid!"

Reluctantly, they stepped back.

"Rise, troll," the elf prince said, with a tone that hinted at
dire tortotes.

Slowly, the troll uncurled itself and stood up to a shaky eight
feet, whining at the back of its throat.

"What is thy name?"

The troll shrank back, but a hail of kicks and pinches made it
straighten up with a howl, "Your name," the prince intoned, in a
pitch that wavered like the pattern on a Damascus blade.

The troll croaked some incomprehensible pattern of gutturals and
rachetings-but it was unmistakably language, if one I couldn't
understand.

I stared, amazed that the monster could talk, but the elf prince
held up both hands and began to chant something dire. I could tell it
rhymed and had meter, but I couldn't have made the first guess as to
what the words meant. I only know that it made the troll cower away,
hands up to fend off the words, and I caught the grinding and grating
of his name in there a couple of times. Then I got a real shock,
because the verse ended in my name, "Saul!"

The elf prince clapped his hands, and the troll straightened up,
moaning, his huge mitts dropping to his sides.

The prince nodded, satisfied, and turned back to me, fists on his
hips. "He is tamed now. I have laid a geas upon him, binding him to
go wherever you go and protect you from any thing, beast or man or
spirit, that does seek to hurt you."

My mouth dropped open; I stared at the troll, appalled. Then I
turned back to the prince to protest that I didn't really want such a
gruesome traveling companion, but the prince only held up'a hand,
palm out. "Nay, do not thank me, I know you wish to protest that I am
too kind, but it is our great amusement to protect good mortal folk
from such depraved creatures as this."

I wanted to protest, all right, but not about his kindness.

"Your Highness is exceedingly gracious," Gilbert said gravely. I
turned to ask him if he was out of his mind, but he was bowing his
head to the prince, and I realized anything else might get me in
worse trouble than I was in already. No matter what, I didn't want
these little guys for enemies. I swallowed my protest and turned
around to bow, too-after all, we could always find a way to lose the
monster when the elves were out of sight. He didn't look to have too
high an IQ. In fact, he didn't look to have an IQ at all.

The prince pointed off toward the cast. "The gorge will narrow a
league or so farther on, and you will find there has been a rock
slide that will provide a bridge for you."

Something rumbled in the distance, in the direction he was
pointing. I wondered how long that rock slide had been there. No, I
definitely didn't want these little guys to take a dislike to me.

"Henceforth," he said, with a very severe stare at me, "if you
realize that you shall need our help, summon us at once. There is an
aura about you that tells me that you shall be vital to the casting
out of the rule of evil which we so hate for the trouble and grief it
has caused my people; so summon if you so much as think you may have
need of us; and be sure, we shall come."

"I'm not really that important." Why did everybody here think I
was the solution to all their troubles? I admit I was used to that
attitude from the women I met, but supernatural beings were another
matter.

"You are," he said, with a steely glare that allowed no
argument.

"Call at the slightest need. Till then, farewell! Men of mine! All
flit!"

Sunlight got in my eyes; I blinked, and they were gone. There was
no one there but Gilbert, his horse, me-and the troll.

I braced myself, ready to run-I didn't think fighting would do
much good.

But a very dejected troll came mincing up to me, hanging his
head-or the whole top half of his body, at least-and fell to his
knees.

I backed away, horrified. "All right, all right! I'll have to put
up with you-but no kneeling! I hate that!"

The troll scrabbled to his feet, staring down at me
expectantly.

"Do you remember my saying anything about agreeing to take this
lunk along?" I asked Squire Gilbert.

"Why-you have no choice in the matter, Wizard," he said in
surprise. "Neither has the troll."

"Oh, yeah?" I started out across the bridge. "Just watch me."

There was a loud groan from below.

I froze. I hadn't stopped to think that Huge-and-Gruesome might
have had company. I backed away in a hurry; whatever was under there
just might have brains enough to realize that the easy way to get rid
of Gruesome's geas was to get rid of me.

On the other hand, if it tried, Gruesome would have to fight itand
it might not be smart enough to realize that. I decided I didn't want
to find out. I retreated back to Gilbert's side with alacrity and
turned away east. "On the other hand, maybe a one-mile detour
wouldn't be so bad after all. Let's go, Gilbert-fast!"

"If you say so, Wizard." He mounted and paced alongside me on his
horse, trying not to let his smile show.

I tried to ignore it-and tried harder to ignore the slap of huge
flat feet behind me. I'd had experience with that, too, but it wasn't
working any better this time than it had before.

Gilbert didn't seem to mind it, but every now and then, I caught
him glancing back out of the corner of his eye. All in all, it was a
very nervous-making mile, though he and I tried to cover up with
light conversation.

"So you were born a peasant, but within the order you can become a
knight?"

"Aye. Even so, 'tis not likely, mind you-but I may attain glory
enough to cover me with honor."

Interesting metaphor. I was tempted to try to figure out if it was
mixed, but resisted in favor of gaining information. "Any chance you
can change your mind then, leave the order, and get married?"

"Oh, nay!" He turned to me, shocked. "I would never wish to leave
the order!"

"Eighteen is young," I said, from the airy height of
twenty-five.

"Twelve years from now, you might be tempted to reconsider."

"Heaven forfend! May the angels protect me from such!"

"I hope so," I agreed. "But could you, if you wanted to?' He
started to object again, then closed his mouth, frowning, and thought
it over.

"Purely hypothetically, mind you," I said.

"Nay, I could not," he said. "In the Order of Saint Moncaire, we
do not take our final vows until we are accorded the accolade of
knighthood.

"So." I nodded. "Once you become a knight, you can't quit."

"Aye," he agreed. "Before that time, whilst I am still a squire, I
could leave the order, if I wished-but I do not wish."

I hoped he wouldn't get the quick exit that would no doubt be the
most honorable. I'm sure he would have wanted it, though. These
medieval Christians were crazy for martyrdom.

Well, there went my notion of social mobility. In my own feudal
Europe, the only two ways for a young man to rise in socioeconomic
status were through the army, and through the Church. in the army,
there was an extremely long shot that a peasant might be knighted on
the battlefield for services above and beyond the call of sanity. In
the Church, native ability alone might push him up to the rank of
bishop, or pope if he were Italian-but he wouldn't have any heirs to
leave it to. So, okay, the Order of Saint Moncaire was giving Gilbert
a chance to improve himself-but only just himself. Well, that was all
he asked, anyway.

So far.

The slapping of big flat feet was coming closer. I glanced back
over my shoulder and saw that the troll was gaining, and he had a big
wide grin. Okay, it was an eager, puppy-dog, ingratiating grin-but it
didn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm. "Uh, Squire Gilbert-should we
do anything about our hungry friend back there?"

"Feed him, do you mean?" Gilbert looked back, then thought better
of the idea. "With meat of beasts, that is."

"Assuming we're not beasts." I gave the troll a jaundiced
eyeglance, I mean. "I'm not sure he knows the distinction-and he's
definitely getting closer."

"But of course! How can he protect us if he is not with us?"

"By being far away." I turned back to the front and hurried. "Come
on. Let's find that rock slide."



Chapter Six


it was just a little farther along. A chunk of the hillside was
raw and ragged, and the gully was filled with weed-tufted dirt,
heavily interspersed with boulders. I eyed it with trepidation.
"We're supposed to cross on that?"

"it does look infirm," Gilbert agreed, "but the weeds show that it
has been here long enough for the rains to settle it somewhat."

"Yeah, too much-it's at least two feet lower in the center." I
decided I must have heard another landslide happening.

"I shall essay it first." Gilbert swung down from his horse's
back.

"Yet let Thorn carry only his own weight, that his hooves may not
sink lower than they must."

I glanced over my shoulder at what was coming up behind and said,
"No, I'm the leader of this expedition-or at least, you're here
because of me. I'll go first." I stepped out onto the dirt bridge
before he could stop me.

"Nay, Wizard Saul! 'Tis my place!" he cried, but I waded on with
determination.

And I do mean "waded"-the dirt gave beneath my feet with every
step. My stomach started fluttering, and I began to envision a
minilandslide with me in the middle. It was almost enough to make me
believe in the magic the people here kept talking about. I tried to
remember some stabilizing verses.

"We come," Gilbert called behind me. I took his word for it; my
eyes were on the path ahead, if you could call it that. I tried
stepping on the larger stones, and that was better; they sank in a
little farther, but at least my feet didn't. I was glad I wore
boots.

Finally I reached the other side. I grabbed hold of the nearest
tree and let myself sag against it. Then I turned around so I could
watch Gilbert finishing the trek.

He was doing better than I had, possibly because he was walking in
my footsteps-had to shorten his stride to do it, but it gave him a
firmer surface. His horse followed on the reins, with a lot of
snorting, head tossing, and rolling of the eyes-but whenever they
rolled back far enough, he saw the troll wallowing along behind him
and decided the dirt was the lesser of two evils.

Gilbert guided him up onto firm land, then looked back at the
laboring troll with a frown. "Mayhap we ought to help him."

"Are you crazy?" I protested. "The monster that would have
gleefully had us for lunch-even without ketchup? Besides, we're
trying to get away from him, remember?"

"'Tis so," Gilbert conceded, but his open, honest face looked
unhappy about it. "I hate to leave even an adversary so beset."

"You'll get the hang of it," I assured him. "Look, any chance your
horse could carry double for a little while? I hate to ask it of him,
but I'd feel a lot better if we could put a few miles between
Gruesome, there, and us."

"As you wish," Gilbert sighed, "though 'twill do no good. Once
under a geas, a living creature will ever press after his duty." He
held the horse steady while I mounted. Fortunately, I'd learned a
little bit about riding in my one trip to summer camp, so I knew how
to get aboard, at least. I hiked myself back behind the saddle,
though.

"Nay, Master Wizard! Do you take the saddle!"

"You don't think I'm dumb enough to try to steer this thing, do
you? No, you can have the front seat!"

Gilbert gave me a funny look, but he climbed aboard, bending his
knee so his foot missed my face-but not by much-then turning the
horse's head inland and shaking the reins. The beast started
trotting, and I held on for dear life. "Aren't there ... any ...
shock absorbers ... on this bus?"

"I do not follow your meaning, Master Wizard, but I'll essay a
faster gait." He knocked his heels into the horse's sides. I was
about to protest when the ride smoothed out amazingly. I remembered
that a canter is less jouncy than a trot-but only by comparison; it
was still pretty rough. On top of that, I was discovering why the
army adopted the McClellan saddle. I held tight to Gilbert's midriff
and glanced back. Sure enough, Gruesome was still wallowing through
the dirt and was growing smaller behind us. I relaxed a little, set
my teeth, and turned to the front, determined to last it out.

After about fifteen minutes of this-just a guess; my watch seemed
to have stopped-I said, "That ought to do it. Must have been a couple
of miles, at least."

"Aye." Gilbert reined in. "Will that suffice, Master Wizard?"

"Just fine," I said through clenched teeth. I made it through the
deceleration trot, then gratefully slid off the rump. "Maybe he'll
lose us now. "

"I fear not." Gilbert started to dismount.

"Hey, what're you doing? No reason you should walk!"

"But you are my leader "Not your superior, though, only your
senior! You just keep riding.

After all, you're the one with the armor."

"'Tis only a mail coat." But he seemed relieved. "Even so, Wizard
Saul, 'tis my duty to advise you that distance will not stop a troll,
nay, even if he did not labor under a geas," That was doubly less
than reassuring. It didn't exactly guarantee that Gruesome was under
a geas. Compulsions I could understand, but greed was even more
comprehensible.

We strolled along, exchanging biographical notes, and I switched
the topic to future aspirations. Gilbert practically glowed as he
recounted the glories of knighthood and the potential glories of
martyrdom. You can't help liking a guy with that much zeal, but I
couldn't help feeling that somebody was playing him for a real
sucker. On the other hand, I think Jonah felt that way, too.

The sun was almost overhead, and I was just beginning to think of
calling a halt for lunch, when Gilbert looked back and said, "Yonder
he comes."

I spun about, staring. Sure enough, there he came, snowshoe feet
and turnip shape, grinning from ear to ear with pathetic eagerness. I
had to remind myself that I was the one who was likely to be
pathetic, not him.

"No help for it," I decided. "Time for lunch, anyway. Let's relax
and rest awhile-and if he attacks, he attacks, and we'll deal with it
then." I was nowhere nearly as nonchalant as I pretended. The
presence of an actual, me-eating troll was incentive enough to get me
to working up some good verses, not that I really thought they'd help
any.

On the other hand, if my hallucination included trolls and elves,
why not magic? Though a troll was hardly the kind of opponent you
would expect to start slinging rhymes.

"He will not attack," Gilbert said with blithe unconcern as he
dismounted. "He goes under a geas."

Obsessive-compulsive disorders, I could understand-it was just the
object of the obsession that worried me. Nonetheless, I let Gilbert
lay the fire while I waited, arms akimbo, looking a lot more certain
than I felt-but as Huge-and-Ugly came closer, I felt the old,
familiar chill within me that seems to come whenever danger
looms.

I didn't feel fear, because I didn't feel anything. After the
crisis was over, I'd turn to jelly-but there'd be time, then.

"Running behind schedule, I see," I commented, as he came up.

The troll looked surprised. "Ske-dool?" That's right-I remembered
he'd demonstrated a limited vocabulary.

"Took you awhile to catch up with us." I braced myself and said,
"I'd really rather you didn't."

It stared down at me with blank incomprehension.

"Don't catch up with us," I explained. "I don't want you near
me.

Go. Away. Shoo!"

He stared, grin fading, mouth loosening. "Go?" And, so help me, a
huge, fat tear welled up in one eye.

My inner chill almost warmed into remorse for a second, but I
focused on the shark teeth inside that woebegone lip and said, "You
tried to eat me. I can't trust you. I don't want you along."

"Me come!" he protested, in a voice like a basso chain saw.

"Fairies see! Fairies say! Want only ward you!"

"He speaks truth, Master Wizard," Gilbert said, his voice low and
completely calm. "He cannot turn his heart against you now, not under
the elf prince's geas."

He sounded very confident, and it occurred to me to wonder how the
troll would react if I really did drive him away. if this was
anything like a love-hate relationship, I could find myself with a
real nemesis on my trail. "Well ... if you're sure The troll's grin
came back, and he nodded eagerly. At least, I think it was nodding;
it might have been bowing. But Gilbert assured me, "He is your guard
and servant now, till the Wee Folk remove the geas. " That was the
other thing that bothered me. If some enemy magician came along and
counteracted this artificial compulsion, I could find myself on the
inside real fast, in small pieces. But I didn't really see that I had
much choice. I sighed and said, "Okay, Gruesome, you can join
us."

The troll looked hugely delighted, then frowned, puzzled.

"Goosum?"

"Gruesome," I amplified. "That's my name for you." Then one of my
few moral principles kicked in-I hated infringing on anybody's
identity; I knew what it felt like to have people try. "But I'll drop
it if you have a name of your own."

"Name?"

So much for that idea. "What do other trolls call you?"

"Odder trolls?"

"They are solitary beings, Master Wizard," Gilbert explained.

"They are never seen together."

I frowned. "They have to now and then, or there would never be any
little trolls."

Gilbert blushed. So help me, he blushed. I tried to remind myself
he was an adolescent, and a very sheltered one, in some respects.

"All right," I sighed. "If they don't have a social structure,
they don't have any need for names."

"Well, there is the secret name," Gilbert said slowly. "Every
creature takes the first sound of its own kind that it hears after
birth, as the designation for itself. It is this the elf prince used
to compel the troll. "

"But it's secret?"

Gilbert nodded.

I'd heard of it. Almost every primitive culture believed that
identity was so intimately linked with name that your enemy could use
it to work magic against you-so the true name was secret. Everybody
had a public name for communication, and a private name for identity.
I turned to the troll again. "What is the sound that means you?

"No say!" Gruesome almost looked panicked-and I wasn't an elf
prince, with a host of little accomplices that could pinch hard
enough to be felt through that igneous hide. So, "No se, indeed," I
muttered.

I fell back on primitive communication, pointing to the troll's
granite chest. "You. Gruesome." Then I pointed at myself. "Me-Saul."
Then I jabbed a finger at the squire. "Him-Gilbert." I frowned up at
the dinner-plate eyes. "Understand?"

"Unner ... ? " He didn't have the concept of understanding.
"Gruesome, go to Gilbert."

His face cleared, and he turned to trot over to the squire.
Gilbert braced himself, but he didn't need to-he was still kneeling
by the camp fire, and the troll shied away at the sight of flame.

"Gruesome!" I called. "Come to Saul!"

"Gruesome come," he said brightly, and shambled back to me.

I nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now, eat."

The troll stared, unbelieving.

I suddenly realized what he thought I meant he should eat.
"Gilbert, food! Quickly!"

"Here, Wizard." A round, hard loaf came flying through the
air.

I caught it and presented it to the troll. "Gruesome eat."

The troll frowned down at the loaf, then took it from me between
thumb and finger. His lump of nose wrinkled.

"All right, let it go if you want." I said. "But it's all we've
gotisn't it?"

"There is a little dried beef." Gilbert held out something that
looked like a collection of buckskin thongs. I took them and held
them out to Gruesome, but he backed away, shaking his top.

"Well, sorry." I went to sit down by Gilbert. "But we have to
eat."

I took another loaf, broke it, handed half to Gilbert, and started
munching. He handed me a wineskin; I took a sparing sip, then handed
it back.

Three bites later, I happened to notice Gruesome. He was sitting
down now, with his hands on his knees, eyeing us hungrily. I told
myself it was the food he was eyeing, but I didn't believe me.

"I mistrust his gaze," Gilbert muttered.

"I mistrust this whole geas thing." I frowned at Gruesome. "I'd
feel a little safer if it had been my idea."

"An excellent notion!"

"Say what?" I looked up blankly.

"Make a spell of your own! That will hold him doubly!"

He looked at me with such total trust that I figured I at least
had to go through the motions. "if you say so," I sighed, and turned
back toward Gruesome, trying to remember a verse having to do with
loyalty. I found it among my boyhood Kipling collection, and tapped
my own chest as I recited,


    "Now here is your master-understand!
    Now you must be my guide,
    To walk and stand at my left hand,
    As shields on shoulders ride.
    Till Death or I cut loose the tie,
    At camp and board and bed,
    Your life is mine-your life's design is to guard me with your head.


The troll sat bolt-upright, looking very surprised. Its eyes
glazed, then cleared, and it turned to me and said, "Saul master of
Gruesome. Gruesome guard Saul with life."

He said it with such total conviction that I just couldn't doubt
him. I decided that trolls were very suggestible.

Behind me, Gilbert let out a hiss of breath. I turned back,
surprised, and the kid was staring at me almost with reverence, "You
have done it indeed! All, fortunate am I, to see such spells worked
so hard by me!"

"It's pretty hard by me, too," I grunted, "and speaking of hard,
let's finish this journey bread."

But Gilbert was looking past me at the troll. "He is your creature
now, and woe betide any who seek to hurt you-but he still hungers.
"

It occurred to me that Gilbert might be feeling less than
Secure.

"Guard Gilbert, too," I ordered Gruesome.

"Gilbert safe from hurt!" the troll assured me, but he still
looked hungry.

"He must be fed, with something," Gilbert said, his voice low.

"I'd rather be a little more definite about the 'something,' " I
said, and raised my voice. "Gruesome! Go gobble up a billy goat!"

The troll looked very surprised for a minute, then grinned,
gratified, and scrambled off.

Not believing my luck, I stared after him, then turned to start
stuffing the rations back into Gilbert's sack. "Quick! Now's our
chance! "

"Chance for what?" Gilbert said blankly.

"To lose that monster! Come on, let's go!"

"It will avail naught," Gilbert protested, but he gathered his
gear and mounted up.

We were only a hundred yards down the road when I stopped dead in
my tracks. "What's the matter with me!"

"Naught, that I can see," Gilbert said, surprised.

"Nice of you-especially considering what some other people I know
might have said for an answer." I turned about and started hiking
back, double-quick. "I just realized what I told that fool troll to
do!

"Aye-to dine upon a goat."

"Right! And where do you find goats in a country like this?"

"Why, upon Suddenly, Gilbert's eyes filled with foreboding.

"Upon a farm!"

"Right! And I only told him to guard you-I didn't say anything
about any other humans! Come on, let's go!"

"Ride," Gilbert snapped.

His tone riled me, but I had to admit there was no time to debate
the issue now. I scrambled up behind him and held on for all I was
worth. He kicked the horse into a gallop and went pounding up the
hillside.

"There he is!" I pointed.

Gilbert swerved, and the horse leaped the fence.

I wasn't expecting it-I almost went flying. But I managed to hold
on tighter, and Gilbert grunted as I gave him an impromptu Heimlich
maneuver, Then we were pounding over the meadow grass and swung about
in front of a slavering troll just as the goatherd boy yelled in
fright.

"No, Gruesome!" I held up a hand. "Mustn't eat any people."

"Not eat?" Gruesome protested, wounded.

"Not eat people!" I said with conviction. "Only goats! And wolves
and bear and deer," I modified, and turned to the goatherd. "It's
okay-he's only after your goats, not you."

"But-but I shall be whipped!" Trembling, he faced us all, crook
held slantwise across his body, ready to strike.

I almost invited him to come along right there, he was so brave. I
would have, too, if I'd known where I was going. As it was, I just
reached in my pocket and fished out a quarter. "I'll buy one goat
from you."

He caught the quarter, then held it up, staring at it. "'Tis
silver!"

"Will it . . ." I remembered the principles of bargaining and
changed the wording. "How big a goat will it buy?"

"The biggest in my herd! But 'tis a most strange coin,
gentleman!"

"I'm a foreigner," I explained. "Make it a billy goat, all right?"
I glanced at the troll and said, "A gruff one."

"My worst," he said eagerly. in thirty seconds, he had driven out
the most ornery billy goat I'd ever seen, who kept turning and trying
to butt him. I didn't blame it-if I'd been being driven toward a
troll, I would have tried to run, too.

But Gruesome solved the issue by pouncing. There was a startled
bleat that ended abruptly, White-faced, the goatherd backed away.

"Gruesome! Come to Saul!" I said sternly, and to Gilbert, "Walk
away. " We turned and started walking. I glanced back; Gruesome was
following, taking large bites. I winced and turned away. "Crisis
over. Do we have to go through this every mealtime?"

"You will find a way," Gilbert said with total confidence. I
wished I'd shared it.

I didn't make the same mistake when we set camp for the night-I
made a different one. Well, no, maybe not a mistake, really-as soon
as I realized Gruesome was eyeing us hungrily, I said, "Hungry enough
to eat a bear?"

Gruesome nodded, a huge slab of tongue coming out to slurp over
his lips, what there were of them.

"Then go catch one." I said. "If you can catch it, you can eat
it."

He nodded brightly, surged up to his feet, and trotted off into
the trees.

Gilbert stared after him open-mouthed, then turned to me. "Will he
find one?

I shrugged. "Whether he does or not, we'll get an hour or so of
worry-free sleep."

Gilbert smiled, a slow grin. "Ingenious, Master Wizard! Nay, let
us dine quickly and seek sleep faster! I'll take the first
watch."

I realized I was dog-tired, so I didn't object. Right after we
finished, I rolled up in the cloak Gilbert's commander had sent with
the squire.

"Will you not pray first?" Gilbert asked, scandalized.

"No, I don't think so," I told him, then thought better fast. "I
meditate while I'm going to sleep."

His face cleared; where he came from, "meditate" meant the same as
"pray." He nodded and turned away to watch the night.

He woke me some time around midnight and said, "Wake me for the
third watch." I bit back a gripe and nodded, rolling up to my knees,
watching the landscape, and wishing heartily that this universe had
discovered coffee. Much better for my health, I'm sure, but no more
pleasant than healthful things usually are. Gilbert was snoring
within five minutes. I'd heard that soldiers developed that
ability.

As my head cleared, I looked around and realized what was
missing-the troll. My spirits picked up-maybe the bear had won.

I was really getting to be hopeful when I woke Gilbert about six
hours later-my watch had gone on the fritz, so I was going by the
Little Dipper. He came awake instantly, took one glance at the stars,
and said "Master Wizard! You should have waked me sooner! Nay, I've
slept through two watches!"

"Six hours for you, six hours for me," I told him. "Comes out
even." I didn't mention that mine had been two and two. I decided
that the next night, I'd take the first watch.

"Natheless, a knight should be able to keep a vigil!"

"How about we talk about it tomorrow evening?" I suggested.

He brightened surprisingly. "Aye, assuredly. Good sleep to you,
Wizard! "

"Good night to you, squire," I said, puzzled. I was almost asleep
before I realized why he'd been so pleased-saying we'd talk about it
tomorrow night implied that I was accepting his company. I broke out
in cold sweat as I felt the clammy tendrils of commitment gluing
themselves onto me. I was going to have to find some way to send
Gilbert back to his buddies.

it took me a while to get to sleep.

I woke in the false dawn, to hear a sound like a chain saw eating
its way through a stack of garbage cans. I sat bolt upright to see
Gilbert standing guard, hand on his sword, casting nervous glances at
a huge, gently heaving hulk. I realized it was my pet troll come
home, snoring like a railroad car full of scrap steel, swaying on
loose tracks. Next to him lay a collection of bones and hide, all of
them sizable.

I stared. So the bear hadn't won. I repressed a surge of
guilt-better it than me. Or Gilbert.

Then I relaxed-the fact that Gruesome had done as I told him was
very reassuring. So was the fact that he could handily defeat a
fullgrown bear, Muscles like that might come in useful for a stranger
in a mighty strange land. I decided I'd keep him for a while. All
things considered, I might be safer with him than without him.

Unless some enemy sorcerer decided to remove the restraint spell,
anyway.

That thought, combined with the dawn's early light, pretty much
guaranteed that I wasn't going to get any more sleep. I got up, waved
Gilbert to silence, and started rousting up breakfast. If there was
one thing I didn't need, it was an ornery, fresh-wakened troll.

I took a chance on nudging him with my boot an hour later and told
him we were taking off. He rolled up to his feet right away, eager as
a puppy dog.

So we set off south, heading into what I hoped was Switzerland,
with a squire looking for enough trouble to win him a knighthood, and
a half-tame troll eager to find something to protect me from.

Understandably, I was nervous.



Chapter Seven


Late that day I looked around, frowning and footsore. "Notice
anyhing strange?"

"Aye," Gilbert said. "We have come into a barren waste."

"Yeah, but there used to be a lot of trees here-at least, little
ones." I pointed at the expanse of four-inch stumps, lopped off so
cleanly that you could see the rings. "What was it, a lumber
crisis?"

"I ken not." Gilbert looked around nervously. " 'Tis uncanny,
though. I would we did not have to stay the night here."

"Yeah," I said, "but it's getting dark. Think we ought to pitch
camp pretty soon?"

"It would seem likely," Gilbert said grudgingly.

A distant, bloodthirsty moan stopped us in our tracks.

"But not right here," I qualified.

"Mayhap not." Gilbert nudged his horse ahead and drew his
sword.

"Hold on!" I protested. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To discover what made that sound," he said, in a tone that
brooked no argument. "If 'tis our enemy, 'tis better that we come
upon it, than that it come upon us."

"Now, hold on!" I protested. "If it's going to be that dangerous,
you can't go in there alone!"

"I am a squire," he said simply, "a man of arms."

"That's what I mean." I stumbled on ahead. "Whatever it is, it's a
long ways off yet."

"We must be silent," he protested. "You should stay here."

"Of course," I said, "not."

"Yuh, not." Gruesome flexed his huge hands, grinning, and padded
forward. For all his bulk, he moved more quietly than I did-but then,
he wasn't wearing boots.

"See?" I said. "We're coming along, Gilbert. Gilbert?"

"Up here," a voice whispered ahead of me. "For Heaven's sake, be
still "Still. Yuh." Gruesome turned to hiss at me. "Still!" Then he
turned back without waiting for an answer.

I followed along, wondering what had happened to my usual common
sense.

But it was my party-these two were here because of me. I rushed
the pace a little, passed Gruesome, and came up level with Gilbert as
his horse groped its way along a stony path in the gathering
darkness.

Gilbert started to protest, but just then the moan burst out
again, and I saw a glowing shape drifting toward us through the
gloom, its mouth an impossibly wide circle of slavering emptiness,
eyes staring and covetous, and its fingers hooked like talons, poised
to grab.

Then some stranger jumped out of the dimness, dove past me, and
cowered behind a boulder, trembling.

That seemed to be okay with the ghost. it shifted its attentions
to me, zooming toward me with a gloating howl.

The fugitive leapt to his feet, turned, ran-and slammed right into
the only tree on an otherwise barren hillside. He slumped down,
beneath a huge spiderweb with a very large spider in it. The ghost,
shifting back to its original quarry, fluttered after its victim,
then hesitated, apparently repelled by the spider. I could
sympathize, but I knew the specter wouldn't be halted long.

"Hold it right there!" I shouted. I jumped in front of a big
boulder, yanking my belt out of the loops and swinging the buckle.
"Cold iron, remember?"

The ghost yelled something that sounded suspiciously like "Yum! "
and threw itself on the buckle. I dropped the belt and yanked my hand
out of the way just in time, and the ghost bored on into the rock,
sinking out of sight. Of my belt, there was no trace. There was also
a large hole in the boulder.

Then the ghost veered out of the rock face, swooped out in a
circle, and headed back toward me, smacking its lips and drooling.
Whatever kind of spook this was, it was a virtual flying appetite. it
reminded me of a shark-but it also reminded me of my Kipling. I
shouted,

"We come to fight and triumph in The savage wars of peace, To fill
full the mouth of Hunger, And bid the Famine cease!"

The ghost jolted to a halt with a look of startled shock as its
mouth snapped shut and sealed itself. its checks bulged, and its body
ballooned with a huge flapping sound.

"Wizard Saul!" Gilbert pounded up to me, panting. "Beware! 'Tis a
hunger ghost!"

"Yuh," Gruesome grunted, scrabbling up behind the squire. "Get
'way! Ghost eat all!"

"It will indeed," Gilbert corroborated. "it will eat anything it
encounters-and it is never full!"

"Then I think I've created a first," I said, picking up a stone,
"but get ready with some rocks anyway, will you? If it opens its
mouth, pitch for the breadbasket."

Gilbert turned to the ghost, then stared. "Opens? But a hunger
ghost's mouth is never shut!"

"This one's is," I said. "It's full."

Full, and getting fuller-its belly was still stretching, turning
it into a perfect globe with stubby limbs sticking out and a bulge of
head on top.

"it doth depart," a wondering voice breathed somewhere around my
kneecap. I looked down and saw a patched hat with a gaunt face
beneath it, all eyes and pointed nose and jawbone, with hollows for
cheeks, and more hollows at the back of which eyes glittered.

Well, at least whatever I'd saved was human.

I looked up again just in time to see the ghost drift high enough
to catch an updraft and shoot away to the west, shrinking until it
was lost in the twilight.

"It must have sped most quickly indeed," Gilbert said, "for 'twas
still swelling with thy spell, Wizard Saul."

"Spell?" the man I had saved cried. He looked up at me with a
feverish hunger of his own. "Are you a wizard, then?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that," I demurred-but I saw the scandalized
look on Gilbert's face and said quickly, "but everybody else here
seems to. Why do you ask?"

"If you are a wizard, you can cure me."

Gruesome looked away, humming. That made me uneasy. I stalled.
"How do you know I'm a good guy? just because I worked, urn, a-" I
swallowed heavily and forced it out "-a spell, doesn't say which side
I'm on. I could have been an evil sorcerer."

Gilbert stared, appalled, but the famine case shook his head
firmly and said, "If you had been a sorcerer, you would have let the
ghost have me, and welcome."

"Good thinking," I approved, but I frowned up into the sky. "Do
you suppose that thing will burst when it's had too much?"

"Nay, surely," Gilbert said, and the other added, "A hunger ghost
can never have had too much."

I was again seized with the unhappy reminder that everybody else
in this country seemed to know more about what was going on than I
did. To cover it, I said to the man cowering at my feet, "Come on,
bucko, up with you!" I caught his arm and helped him stand. "How'd
you get that ghost sicced on you, anyway?"

"I think his appearance tells us that," Gilbert said softly.

Yes, it was pretty obvious, now that I looked-the tattered coat,
the patched leggings, the holes in the shoes, and, above all, the
general emaciation. The arm I was clinging to felt like a bone
wrapped by a rag, and the man's whole face was pinched with
hunger.

I remembered a college lecture on the Minnesota Starvation
Experiment. "Gilbert, could you get a piece of beef jerky out of your
saddlebag? And the water skin."

In a second, Gilbert was holding out the tough, leathery strip,
and the water skin.

The vagabond snatched the pemmican from him and bit into itthen
forced his molars down onto it, pulled his jaw open, and bit down
again, and again.

"That's it," I soothed. "Don't bite, chew. That meat is so dried
that you can't gulp it."

The man gave it a valiant try, I had to admit, but beef jerky
takes an awful lot of chewing just to get a bite off the stick, let
alone soften it enough to swallow.

"Not much else to eat, I'm afraid," I apologized, and was glad I
didn't have to lie. "One swallow of water when you get that bite
down, okay? just one swallow-then another bite of jerky. By the time
you finish that strip, maybe we'll have some stew on." I turned to
Gilbert. "Now I'll take the first campsite you can find."

Fifty yards farther down, the path broadened out onto a
twenty-footwide terrace. Gilbert pronounced it fit, so I arranged a
ring of stones and looked around for firewood. "Seen any kindling,
Gilbert?"

"Aye." The squire held out an armload of sticks. "I gathered what
I found, as we did come down the slope."

"Ah, to have Gilbert's forethought!" I dumped the sticks into my
fire ring. "Good thing this path wasn't always above the
timberline."

"Aye," our mystery guest said. "This slope bore a few scrub trees,
till the Spirit of Famine began to chase me."

I swallowed, hard, at the thought of the hunger ghost planing
every living thing off the side of the mountain, and put the thought
resolutely behind me. "Gilbert, will you do the honors?"

The squire stepped up and struck flint against steel. A spark
fell, and he breathed it into a small flame. Seconds later, fire
bloomed from the kindling.

I looked around for something to skewer the provisions Gilbert had
collected along the way.

"Will this serve?" Gilbert held up a three-foot splinter of
rock.

"Yeah, just fine." I poked the spear through the three pheasants,
rested the ends on the highest two rocks, and sat back to watch. I
thought of asking how Gilbert had come by the rock spit, but decided
I didn't want to know.

Our guest watched them hungrily, but he didn't leap on the raw
flesh. The pemmican had filled him up a bit, especially with the
water swelling it in his stomach-and it had taken him so long to chew
and swallow it that he'd begun to feel full before he could gobble
enough to hurt himself.

"A sword would come in handy for this sort of thing," I said.
"Remind me to make one right after dinner."

Gilbert looked scandalized at the idea, but our hungry guest said
obligingly, "Make a sword right after dinner; are they done yet?"

"They've just barely started cooking." I rummaged in Gilbert's
saddlebag, pulled out another strip of jerky, and pressed it into the
man's hand. "Chew on that while you're waiting, Pavlov. Say, what is
your name, anyway? "

"Frisson," the man mumbled through his pemmican.

I nodded. "How'd you get into this fix, anyway? No, I don't mean
attracting the hunger ghost-I mean getting so close to starvation in
the first place?"

"Why," Frisson said, "I am a poet."

I just sat still for a minute.

Then I nodded. "Yeah, that explains it, all right. But, I mean,
you could have gone after a job. Woodcutter, for instance."

"The very thing," Frisson muttered, nodding as he chewed. "I have
been a woodcutter, a plowman, a cooper's prentice, and a chandler's
prentice.

I frowned. "Then why were you starving?"

"I could not cease chanting poetry."

Gilbert gasped, covering his mouth in alarm, and Gruesome edged
frantically away from our guest.

I frowned around at them. "All right, so maybe his verses weren't
the best, but they couldn't have been that bad. Does everybody have
to be a critic?"

" 'Tis not that, Wizard Saul," Gilbert said. "For all we know, his
verses may have been most excellent. True poetry, mayhap-yet he is
not a wizard."

"What difference does that ... ? Oh!

Frisson watched me, nodding as he chewed, and Gilbert said softly,
Aye, Wizard Saul. A poet's concern is for the words themselves, for
the excellence of the verses and the manner in which they fit
together to form a whole-not for their effects."

The poet turned to him in surprised, though masticating,
approval.

I nodded. "And if he doesn't worry about their effects, the images
he creates in his verses may come to life as he chants, and-" "Do
untold damage," Gilbert finished for me. He turned to Frisson. "What
hazards did you unfold, poet? A juggernaut of doom rushing down upon
the heads of the men in your master's shop? A corpse come to life in
the coffin you were building? Wood nymphs slipping out to seduce the
passersby, in the wood you had gleaned?"

Frisson hung his head, but he didn't stop chewing.

"The man's a walking catastrophe," I muttered.

"Oh, poor fellow!" Gilbert burst out, showing an unexpectedly
sympathetic side to his nature that got the better of his healthy
dread. "You have been cast out to roam the wilds alone!"

The poet nodded; a tear trembled in his eye. "I have sought to
prevent it, good squire. I have broken the meter into odd phrases
with the accents reversed; I have used slant rhymes, broken rhymes,
and no rhymes-yet all to no avail!"

"Of course not." I groaned. "You concocted new kinds of verse, and
just made the magic stronger!"

The poet looked up at me, frightened. "Aye, my lord. The mayor's
house did fly apart on the instant; my words did breach the baron's
wall. I foreswore my verses; I bit my tongue; I ground my teeth
against the words-yet all to no avail! I could not help myself; anon
I shouted words aloud! They chased me from the town, they chased me
from the parish, they chased me from the province-and anon they
chased me from my native land of Merovence, to live or die in this
wilderness of Allustria."

"But," I said. "But-but-" Gilbert looked up at me with a frown.
"We have only two pheasant and a partridge, Wizard Saul."

"But!" I shouted in exasperation. "But you don't have to chant
your verses out loud!"

Frisson's jaw gelled, and he stared up, appalled. "I'd as lief
stop eating, milord." Then he set to work chewing again.

"Write them!" I exploded. "Why don't you just write them down?

Your verses, I mean! Then read them over, and just don't recite
anything that looks dangerous!"

Frisson stared up at me; his jaw dropped.

"He has never thought of it," Gilbert murmured.

"Aye, never!" Frisson burst out. "So that is why men learned to
write! "

"Well, there were some other little things," I said uncomfortably,
"such as grain inventories, and bills of sale, and laws, and
history.

But it works for poetry, too, yes."

"Can ... can you teach me?" Frisson begged.

I just stared at him.

Then I said, "You're a poet-and you don't know how to read and
write? "

"I had never thought of a need for it," Frisson confessed.

"Well! I've heard of the oral tradition-but I've also heard of
departures." I wondered, uneasily, if I was witnessing the downfall
of poetry, or the beginning of its glory. "Sure, I'll teach you to
write."

After all, if I could handle two dozen freshmen, surely I could
manage one starving poet.

Well, it helped. He understood it instinctively, took to it like a
goose quill to ink. More likely, like graphite to paper; fortunately,
I carried a pocket notepad and a stub of pencil. I showed him how to
draw the letters, and the sound each one made. His eyes went wide
with wonder; he snatched the pencil and pad from me, and in half an
hour, he was sitting cross-legged by the fire, scribbling frantically
in an impossibly small hand. From then on, as long as I knew him, he
would be constantly writing in that book-he filled it in a day, but
fortunately, one of his first poems was a wish for an endless supply
of parchment-he didn't know the word for paper-and my little pocket
notebook never ran out. On the other hand, after the first fifty
poems, it started producing a much higher quality of writing
material.

Nonetheless, sometimes some of his magic leaked out. Writing it
down seemed to channel it safely, since he didn't speak it aloud-but
when he didn't have time to write and suppressed too much poetry, he
thought about it so intensely that the magic started working without
his having to say it aloud. Sometimes we'd be hiking down the road,
and his eyes would start bulging, and a bat would materialize by the
roadside in bright daylight, or a gushing fountain would spring up
right smack-dab in the middle of the path, or we would suddenly find
ourselves walking on gemstones, and let me tell you, when the soles
of your boots get thin, that's no picnic.

The first time it happened, I reined in my temper and turned to
him with a sigh. "Frisson, you've got to stop and write it down."

"Eh?" He looked up at me, startled, then saw the glitter on the
road. "Oh! My apologies, Master Saul!"

"No problem, no problem. Never can tell when we're going to need a
little hard currency. Just So Frisson sat down by the while I knelt
down and started you never could tell.

After a while, though, it got never knew when he was going ages.
He never did, fortunately, front of us, too quickly for me to keep
from smacking into it nosefirst, was almost as bad as the wolf I saw
when I opened it. I slammed it fast. "Frisson! Write it down!

He did, and I showed him how to write as he walked. That
helped-but hey, nobody's perfect.

I developed a streak of prudence, though, and I took to going
through his day's output every evening, around the campfire; he was
pathetically eager to have me read them and tell him how much I liked
them-I was careful never to criticize partly because I knew how hard
beginners take it, and partly because I just flat out didn't
understand what he was trying to do. But I knew from experience that
it worked, so I figured he had to be doing something right.

I always enthused as I handed them back to him-but I kept the ones
that I thought might be particularly useful. With his permission, sit
down and write it out, okay?"

roadside and filled his parchment, filling my pockets. As I'd told
him, to be a nuisance, especially since I to start using dragons as
poetic imbut the door that appeared right in of courser had a notion
that infringing copyright could have bad results, in this particular
hallucination. I even memorized the ones that looked to have the most
potential. As I'd told him, you never know ...

But that first evening, I needed a distraction; the first dozen
verses he turned out, and proudly showed me, filled my head with such
a clamor of acoustics and clashing of images, that I needed some
mental soothing.

of course, a philosophy student always has a distraction to
handreasoning out arguments. It's risky, because sometimes you get so
caught up in it that it keys you up even more, but under the
circumstances, I figured it was worth a try. So I spent a half hour
or so trying to rationalize my way out of having to believe in trolls
or fairies, or magical spells that could have anything to do with
either. It wasn't much use, of course-I kept coming back to the
conclusion that either the evidence of my senses was unreliable, or
what I had seen and heard was real.

Of course, it didn't take much to discredit sensory evidence, for
a man of my generation. I seriously considered the possibility that I
was simply stoned out of my mind, and all this was happening in a
fantastic hallucinogenic trip-but I couldn't help remembering that I
had sworn off all drugs for final exams-years ago.

Fortunately, there was an alternative. Bishop Berkeley had pretty
much discredited the senses for us all, way back in the 1700s, by
pointing out that if we don't actually see something, we can't really
know it exists-and that even if we do, we could be wrong, because
even if our minds perceive it, all they have to go on is the sensory
impulses from our eyes and ears and nose and tongue and hands, all of
which can be very easily deceived. Optical illusions are the most
obvious example, of course, which is why science insists on
measurement-but how're you going to prove, logically and completely,
that the ruler itself isn't an illusion? He managed all this without
knowing about LSD, too.

Of course, to Berkeley, the fact that we can't really know
anything was just proof that we had to have faith-but to the rest of
us, the idea that things don't exist if they're not perceived, and
the corollary, which is that we can't know what's real because of the
fallibility of our senses, just means that we have to live in the
world as we perceive it, while we're trying to stretch the limits of
our perceptionsand raises the distinct possibility that
hallucinations may just be the perception of an alternate reality, or
two, or three. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy," as the poet
says, and there may be a lot more to the universe than we see, as
Hamlet was kind enough to point out to Horatio.

I was faced with the unfortunate conclusion that both ideas
applied to my current situation. The world I was perceiving was
certainly real to all intents and purposes, and I had to deal with it
as if it were, because it was certainly going to deal with me as if I
were.

Dr. Johnson claimed he disproved Berkeley by kicking a
cobblestone, presumably meaning that if the cobblestone flew away, he
did interact with it, and therefore he and the cobble were both in
the same frame of reference; what he failed to mention was that his
toe hurt.

So did mine-metaphorically, at least. Gruesome would eat me if my
spell slipped, and there might be a monster around the next hill who
would sneak up on me in the night if Squire Gilbert nodded off while
he was on guard duty. it might be an illusion, but it would hurt just
as much as if it were real-so I was going to have to treat it as if
it were totally authentic, or it might kill me just the same.

But I wasn't going to believe in magic. Okay, some unexplainable
things had happened, and they did seem to coincide with verses I'd
spoken aloud-but coincidence was no doubt what it was, and the events
were unexplainable only because I didn't know enough. I made a firm
resolution to learn more about this strange-but-familiar world, and
not to delude myself into thinking I was practicing magic.

But I decided to save Frisson's verses, just in case.

I remember thinking, just before I drifted off to sleep, that I
had stubbed my own toe.



Chapter Eight


Guardsmen were shoving me roughly, trying to push me into a cell,
and one of them was saying something about things being wrong. I
turned to him with sullen resentment, and was surprised to see that
he had a troll's head.

I stared at the troll, then looked quickly about me and saw the
campfire with Gilbert lying on his side asleep, soles of his feet
toward the coals, Frisson across from him, curled around the warmth.
I realized I'd been dreaming. I looked up and, sure enough, the
troll's head was still there-but now I recognized it. "Time for my
watch again?"

Gruesome shook his head, looking agitated. "Wrong! Wrong!" He
pointed out toward the darkness in several different directions.

I frowned. "What's the problem, then?"

"Dunno." The troll twitched, raising his head to look out into the
night. "Feel wrong, wrong!"

"Just a hunch?"

Gruesome nodded and held up his huge mitts. I backed off in alarm,
but he only wiggled his inside talons. "Feel pinches! Trouble,
trouble! "

" 'By the pricking of my thumbs,' " I quoted, but remembered, in
the nick of time, not to finish the verse: lisomething wicked this
way comes." I rolled up to my feet. "I'm never one to scoff at
intuition-at least, not in this world. Want to wake up the broke off,
staring.

With my usual paranoia, I had decided to set up a barrier against
supernatural attackers-there had been too many things that had gone
bump last night, though that could have just been Frisson dreaming in
verse. We hadn't gone very fast today, out of deference to his
weakened condition, and we were still in pretty open country, though
there were a lot of scrub trees about.

So I had conjured up some talcum powder, sprinkled it around our
campsite in a circle, and chanted the tail end of Shakespeare's dirge
from Cymbeline, with a few adjustments:


    "No sorcerer shall harm thee!
    Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
    Evil ghosts forbear thee!
    Nothing ill come near thee!
    Safe shall we be within this sign,
    For nothing ill shall cross this line!"


I'd figured if anything spooky had tried to get too close, that
verse ought to keep it outside our perimeter-and it seemed I'd been
right.

Just outside the circle of white powder, a blob of formless mist
was rising from the ground, thickening and coalescing into a human
form-but a mangled human form. Its face was bruised and swollen, one
eye socket empty, thumbs dangling, one foot twisted almost backward,
and its tunic ripped open to show dark smudges against its chest and
abdomen.

"It is a ghost," Gilbert murmured from his place by the fire.
Apparently, Gruesome and I hadn't been as quiet as we'd thought. The
squire sounded excited, fascinated. "It is the shade of one who died
by torture. " I was glad he could take such a detached interest in
it. For myself, I felt rather queasy and thoroughly sickened in my
heart.

The specter flitted from point to point about the circle,
moaning.

Chains, attached to the fetters on its wrists, clanked and
rattled.

"Bewa-a-a-re!" it cried. "Oh, foolish mortals, bewa-a-a-re! Flee!
Hide yourselves away! " I summoned my courage and called out, "Having
you hang around just outside the perimeter doesn't exactly imbue me
with a great desire to go exploring!"

"Heart of stone, who would mock a soul in torment!" the ghost
cried. "O kindred of my fate, arise! Up, all ye who died by
torture!

Spirits bound to this world in unquiet slavery to a sorcerer's
will, come now to school this foolish mortal!"

I had to turn to follow its progress, and I muttered out of the
corner of my mouth, "Keep an eye on the place it came from,
Gruesome."

The troll moaned in answer-but I figured he'd fight all the harder
if he were scared. Either that, or run.

I wished I could.

Moans began to fill the night in horrendous discord, faint, but
growing louder; and dim forms, drifting here and there, swam out of
the darkness.

"Abandon your ill-advised escape!" the ghost cried. "Return whence
you came! For know that, if you do persist in opposing Queen Suettay,
you shall become as I-a shadow of a soul who died in agony
unspeakable!"

I felt the blood draining from my face. I remembered Gilbert's
commander warning me about the evil sorceress-queen of this country.
How the Hell had I attracted her attention?

How the Hell?

No. Couldn't be. just a figure of speech.

But I spoke up bravely. Unfortunately, it sounded more like a
croak. "So I'm to be deterred by the thought of a horrible death, a
punishment for even thinking about leaving Allustria, or raising my
hand against the queen?" Not that I had ...

"Even that!" the spirit cried over the chorus of moans and wails
behind it. "I gave the queen my fullest measure of obedience-yet she
had me rent apart, while still alive, for her mere pleasure! Chortled
with delight at all my screams! And as I died, despairing, she seized
my soul, to chain it in eternal slavery to her will!"

Now I began to tremble inside. I scolded myself harshly, if
silently, and reminded myself this was all impossible.

"It is true." Gilbert came to his feet. "Suettay tortures folk for
mere amusement, daily."

A sadist. I was being pitted against a sadist of the worst
kind-and for what?

To get home. Preferably, alive.

I steeled myself to the piteous cries around me and called out,
"Go! The afterworld is huge-you don't have to stay around here!

The queen loses power over you when you die!"

"Foolish mortal, how little you know!" Another specter swam up
beside the first, a ghost like an illustration from an anatomy text,
muscles and ligaments naked to the night. "She whose power comes from
Satan can petition her master for dominion over others who have
turned their hearts toward the Evil One!"

"But you only fall into the Devil's power through your own
fault!"

"And so we did," the phantom sneered. "I myself sought poweralways
power. While yet a boy, I swore to do whatever deed the Devil wished,
if he would give me power-and I gained dominion over peasant folk,
then over soldiers. Yet Suettay plucked me out for her fell mirth,
and I died in agony, crying to my master Satan for power against this
corrupted sorceress-and as I cried out to evil, Suettay wove her
spell about me to capture my soul! At the last instant, I cried out
in despairing repentance, but it was too late. Suettay had claimed
me, and I am bound to her!"

I suppressed nausea. I mean, I really felt sorry for them, even if
they had been total vipers when they'd been alive. If ever I'd heard
a sound reason for being good, this was it. Unfortunately, I was
aware of my own enormous failings and knew I wasn't in the world's
greatest shape for combatting evil.

"Be of good heart, Wizard Saul," Gilbert counseled. "They cannot
touch you here, within your enchanted circle."

I turned, welcoming the change of topic with zeal. "You're
right.

So why did Suettay sic them on us? just to make sure we don't
sleep and are so weak tomorrow that we'll fall into her hands? I
can't really believe that! "

"I doubt it, also," Gilbert answered. "It may be that they seek to
frighten you into joining their foul cause."

"That's crazy." I turned back to the spooks, debating within
myself. I could only wonder how Suettay had come to know I was
here.

Crystal balls? Ink pools?

It didn't matter. "Go tell your mistress that it will take worse
than you to scare me!"

The ghosts' moans turned into roars, and they came swooping
against the invisible barrier like moths to the chimney of a
hurricane lamp, anger and outrage in their faces.

I turned back to the squire. "Has to be more than just a try at
scaring me."

"It must," Gilbert agreed. "Otherwise, when they saw you were not
daunted, they would have fled."

" Yeah." I gestured to the barrier of specters. "You'd swear they
were trying to attack us, but it's obvious they can't get in."

"Obvious indeed," the squire said, turning toward the perimeter,
but not looking all that sure, himself. "Yet there's this, too--if
they cannot come in, it is equally true that we cannot go out."

I could feel my eyes widen. "But that means somebody's trying to
keep us here, to make sure we haven't gone anywhere until A gout of
greenish flame ripped the night, lighting all the hillside with an
eerie light. The ghosts moaned in terror as the light dwindled. The
residual chartreuse glow flickered on a dozen hooded forms, and
lighted from below the face of the huge, grossly fat woman who stood
before them, swathed in brocaded robes, rings glittering on her
fingers, an elaborate crown on her head.

"So, then." She smiled, and her eyes almost disappeared in folds
of fat. "You have the audacity to trespass in my Allustria."

"It is not yours, gross mockery of a woman," Gilbert cried, and I
had to stifle an impulse to shush him. "The land belongs unto the
people! "

"Then it cannot, of a certainty, belong to you, who come from
Merovence." Suettay laughed, a sound like frying bacon. "You are not
yet a man-only a beardless youth."

Gilbert flushed; blond beards don't show much.

The queen turned to the row of men behind her. "Counselors, behold
a marvel! A boy that speaks like a man! Yet an he were, he would feel
desire!"

The hooded forms dutifully laughed, but there was little humor in
the sound.

Suettay turned back to me. "The more fool you, to be so cozened
into taking a mere boy for to ward you! "

"Oh, he's man enough," I assured her. Bitches always make me mad,
and she wasn't the first one I'd run into who'd thought she was a
queen. Gilbert looked up at me with surprised gratitude, but it was
as much for myself I'd said it as for him-I felt anger growing, just
enough to begin countering the fear. "You twisted the facts," I told
Suettay. "But then, you twist everything that's true within your
domain, don't you? Or try to leach the life from it, if it won't
twist! "

"Indeed, as my dunce of a country sorcerer will yet bleed your
troll." Suettay's lip curled. "What a vile thing is he, that's
neither gnome nor rock! What a catastrophe of nature, nay, a
perversion of life! Yet you should thank me, corrupted monster, for
you owe your life to me."

"Wozzat?" Gruesome's grunt had a dangerous edge.

"Your father was a gnome who strayed out of his hole!" the queen
chortled. "I saw, and cast a glamour over a boulder, to make it seem
a woman of his own kind, wondrously beautiful in his eyes! For my own
amusement, I inflamed him with lust for it! Then, in my crystal, I
watched what did ensue, and oh! what delightful-" Gruesome's roar
drowned out the rest of her words, as he lunged.

"No, Gruesome!" I cried in panic. "If she can get you mad enough
to break the circle-"

The monster stopped with a jolt, his head poking out above the
white line. I wondered what could have stopped him, then saw Gilbert
down below, ramrod straight, shoulder against Gruesome's chest,
straining against Gruesome's bulk-but his feet were plowing up the
ground as Gruesome pushed steadily toward the witch, and Gruesome's
top had made a hole in my defense screen.

The troll roared, almost managing to make words-but anything he
was saying was drowned in a mass shriek, as all the ghosts dove at
the hole he'd made in the magical wall.

I leapt up to shout at the monster. "It couldn't be true,
Gruesome!

Rocks can't have children! only a mommy troll and a daddy troll
can make little trolls!"

The troll's eyes suddenly lost focus, and his brow creased with
effort as he tried to figure out the facts of life. He wasn't long on
brain power-but the distraction was enough for the squire.

"Back, brave being!" Gilbert shoved harder, and the troll rocked
back just enough for its head to clear the white line.

The ghosts' noise rose to a howl as they all tried to jam into the
hole, but I shouted out, "If these shadows have offended, Be but
brave, and all is mended!"

The ghosts groaned in disappointment, then roared in rage and
began to dash themselves against the invisible circle again.

I called out to Gruesome, "Let your hide of flint Deflect all hint
Of insults dire!

Come to the fire!"

He looked up, blinking his huge, glowing, saucer eyes, totally
dumfounded, then turned slowly and came hulking back to the
campfire.

Gilbert breathed a long and shaky sigh of relief.

But Suettay and her boys were laughing themselves silly. "Oh,
skillfully done! Skillfully done!" the queen wheezed, between
giggles.

"Why not march upon my kingdom, mortal! Do! For you should be
mired in your own muddle ere the day is out!"

"Oh, yeah, sure!" I strode up to the circle, anger getting the
better of common sense. "We're such total klutzes that you bring
yourself and your top twelve henchmen out to try to scare us?
Meanwhile, of course, you can't even breach this simple little
guarding circle I've set up!"

The queen's laughter chopped off on the instant, and her eyes
narrowed to slits with glowing coals behind them. "Enough! Show this
foolish impostor what awaits im!"

A scream rent the air-but one that was very much alive, not like
the ghosts' mourning wails. This one was filled with terror and was
definitely feminine.

The hooded ones threw her sprawling onto the grass between Suettay
and the guarding circle. She was young, with long blonde hair and an
enchanting figure; I could see it through the rips in her tunic.

She scrabbled in the dirt, turning toward Gilbert and Frisson and
Gruesome and me, her face filled with horror-a face bruised and
battered, with a swollen nose, marks of burns on her breasts and
belly, blood still dripping from triple gouges in her skin. "Help me!
Please, I beg of you, before I-" Then she broke off into a scream as
four hooded forms surrounded her, two of them falling on their hands
and knees side by side, the other two catching her thrashing limbs to
lift her and swing her up onto the backs of the first two.

I almost went right through the guarding circle. All that
restrained me was Gilbert's arm-but it had about as much give as
granite.

"You cannot help her now, Wizard Saul-you can but break your
warding circle!

"Besides, 'tis like enough that she did put herself into Suettay's
power, in hope of preferment," Frisson quavered, staring at the scene
in loathing. "The most you can give her now is a quick death and the
queen will do that herself."

The woman cried, "I did not-" but her sentence ended in a one of
the hooded forms twisted something.

scream, as My mind raced as I stared. The poor victim had been
trying to say she hadn't done anything wrong. How could I save her?
Without breaking the guarding circle, of course-that was what Suettay
wanted. She was lumbering forward, hitching at her robes and pulling
out a long, twisted knife. She held it up in both hands, gloating
gaze fixed on the woman's body as she droned out a long chant,
overriding the screams.

"It is an invocation," Gilbert told me, "an invocation in the Old
Tongue! " It must have been very old indeed-it didn't sound a bit
like Latin, or even Greek. I felt a chill prickling outward from my
spine-how could I fight spells in a language I couldn't
understand?

"She calls on the Devil." Apparently, Gilbert didn't labor under
that handicap. "If the woman, in her terror, despairs of salvation
and is damned, the queen dedicates the woman's soul to Satan, but
asks that her ghost be the queen's slave as long as Suettay
endures."

I felt my scalp prickle; the woman's screams filled my ears,
maddening me. I fought to control myself, to keep from charging out
to try to save her, knowing that I couldn't win, that Suettay had
chosen the time and the conditions. The knife soared high in
Suettay's fists, beginning to glow with the chant as the hooded
acolytes joined in.

I fought back with the only thing I could think of-a chant of my
own. I sang it, of course-that's how I'd learned it.

"Tell her to make me a cambric shirt, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and
thyme!

Without a seam, or belt to be girl, Then she'll be a true love of
mine!"

The girl stared up at me, and Suettay flushed with anger and
jerked a nod at one of her acolytes. He reached down and twisted, and
the girl screamed.

I fought down the urge to leap out of the circle and start
kicking.

I couldn't win alone.

Alone?

"All right, angel!" I yelled. "Now's your chance! You want to make
me believe? Then give me a hand-or an idea! Nothing physical, mind
you, just inspire me! Fill my mind with a way to rescue this poor
victim!"

And, confound me, it was there-the knowledge that the woman didn't
deserve this fate and, moreover, was human and worth any help that I
could give, and my mouth was moving, a voice booming out of it that
didn't seem to have anything to do with my thoughts, but had a very
familiar ring.


    "Woman, pray! Even now, call upon the Lord your God, and
    He will save your soul from Hell's power!
    Only repent and pray to be forgiven, and
    He will snatch you from the jaws of evil, even in the instant of your death!"


But the knife was slashing down, and the woman was screaming 

Screaming, "My God, forgive me my sins and save-"

Then there was only a gurgle, for her throat had been cut, and the
knife slashed downward through her heart. Her whole body convulsed
once and was still.

"Rise and obey!" Suettay thundered.

She didn't.

Well, she rose, all right-at least a shred of her, a wraith. It
was her ghost, and it floated over toward the white chalk line of my
guarding circle as if a breeze were blowing it.

Suettay screamed like a spoiled brat seeing a box of candy being
snatched away. "Vile interloper! Ball of slime, thatch of dung! She
should have despaired in that last instant and been bound for Hell,
whereupon my master would have given her soul into my power! But you
have interfered, curse you, and her soul is lost to me! She was
innocent of all but the smallest sins, and her spirit will flee to
Heaven! " Then, suddenly, she fell silent, eyes bulging, a depraved
grin spreading over her face. "Not yet! Not if I act quickly!" She
whirled to the corpse, hands spread wide and going through gestures
whose meanings I shuddered to consider while she chanted some
racheting verse in a language I didn't understand. A glow sprang up
around the body, like the phosphoresence around decaying vegetable
matter in a swamp, then died away, and Suettay spun about to me with
a crow of triumph. "I have bound her to Earth! As long as her body
lives, her soul is bound here, for I have cast a spell that has
preserved her mortal coil."

"Why, you filthy bitch!" I swore.

"How dare you!" she shrieked, and her hands clutched something
unseen and threw it at me while she snapped out a quick,
incomprehensible rhyme. Energy lanced from her fingertips in purple
streamers-and dashed itself to sparks on my shield.

This time, though, the queen didn't scream. She only glared at me,
her eyes gleaming malevolently in the midst of her slab of pitted
face.

"See to the purifying of your own soul, Wizard, for if you do not,
you shall fall into my power-and you shall meet the same fate as the
girl. Maiden, come!" she snapped at the wavering spirit.

But the girl's ghost had drifted across the line into my circle,
and now she cowered away from the wicked queen, eyes wide and
frightened, shaking her head.

"You have stolen her!" Suettay screamed. "You have taken from me
my rightful-" But her voice was drowned out by a long, shuddering
moan that filled the air, rebounding from ghost to ghost, the
specters' eyes widening and filling with hope.

"I did repent!" one cried.

"I, too, with my last breath!" another answered.

"God forgive my sins!" a third cried.

One by one, they remembered their final moment of repentance,
wailed their appeals for salvation-and, one by one, they winked out,
like candles snuffed.

I stared. "You mean all that was holding them here was their own
belief in the queen's magic?"

"It would seem so," Frisson said, huge-eyed. "They lost faith-but
you have restored it."

That hadn't exactly been one of my prime goals in life. On the
other hand, it hadn't exactly been me speaking, either.

But a new moan filled the air, a moan of dread, as the hooded
acolytes shrank back from the bleeding corpse, huddling together,
terror-filled faces turned up to watch the ghosts depart.

And Suettay was turning to me with a gaze filled with more malice
and hatred than I had ever seen before, a glare of berserk fury. She
strode forward, arms uplifted, striding straight at my guarding
circle, intoning a chant in the Old Tongue.

"She summons a devil!" Gilbert cried.

"Angel!" I yelped. "She's breaking the rules! You can protect us!
" Blue sparks leapt at the queen's fingers with crackles like
gunshots. She shrank back with one of the foulest curses I had ever
heard, then turned to me and my companions, eyes just slits in fat,
hands weaving a symbol I didn't know, bellowing, "Rot their flesh and
boil their blood!

Meat slough off and turn to mud!"

Her hands snapped out, all fingers pointing at us.

A coruscation of sparks filled the air over the white line. A wave
of nausea swept me, and my knees gave way, but Gilbert held me up,
and my legs strengthened again as my stomach settled.

"Cowards!" Suettay screamed. "Pusillanimous pests! Come out to
battle!

"We ... we battled," I managed.

"You shall, you must, soon or late! Then shall I be revenged upon
you! Then shall I see your flesh fry from your bones, your eyes drop
from their sockets!"

I was feeling a little bolder and said the only counterspell I
could think of.

"I'm rubber, and you're glue.

Whatever you say Bounces off me And sticks to-"

With a shriek of frustration, Suettay disappeared. Green fire
thundered inward on itself, seeming to consume the huddled, hooded
forms. It died away, and the night was quiet and dark again.

And clean. Even the corpse was gone.

For some reason, that bothered me.

But I didn't have long to think about it-my head suddenly swam,
and my knees gave way again.

"Now, now, buck up! You did marvelously!" Frisson assured me.

"Heroes are made of sterner stuff, Wizard Saul!" Gilbert
chided.

"You must not collapse as soon as the battle's over!"

"It's better than ... melting while ... it's still going on," I
gasped.

"That is true, and there is no shame in it, so long as he does
wait until the battle's over," Frisson allowed. He propped me up
against Gruesome's side and began chafing my hands. "Really, you were
masterful-you came only moments from death, and a horrible one at
that."

"Huh?" I blinked, the thrill of dread pulling my mind back into
focus. "You mean I almost blew it when I started to charge out?"

"You did indeed. That whole affair with the poor peasant lass
served one purpose, and one only-to induce you to leave your magic
circle in an attempt to save her."

"Yeah." I swallowed thickly. "Yeah, I knew that's what I was doing
as soon as I heard her scream. I knew it, but it almost worked on me
anyway-and on Gruesome. Thanks, Gilbert. You saved his life-and all
of us."

"Surely, Wizard Saul," the squire said, blushing with pleasure at
the compliment. "It was little enough I could do."

"It was enough all right. Thanks again, Gilbert."

"My pleasure," he said, then frowned. "Yet there's another you
should thank, whose aid was greater than mine."

I frowned ' looking around me. "Who ... ? Oh. Yeah." I remembered
my guardian angel. "Well, I'll give him my warmest, next time he
shows up."

The night was awfully quiet.

Then Frisson cleared his throat, and Gilbert looked away,
abashed.

I looked around, frowning. "What's the matter?"

Neither of them answered.

Then Gruesome growled, and my hair rose. "All right, all
right!

Frisson, what did he mean?"

"I do not speak the troll's language," the poet said with
hesitation.

"Still, if I did, I would guess he had said ... that your behavior
was rather . . ." He trailed off, looking away.

"Cheap," Gruesome rumbled.

Frisson looked up, startled. "I did not know he knew the
word!"

I frowned. "What do you mean? Angels don't want bribes."

"Of course not," Gilbert said slowly, "but it might be polite to
at least indicate a willingness to return the favor."

I frowned at him while his meaning percolated in. Then I went hard
inside. "Now listen, and understand this well! I am not committing
myself to either side, or any side! Anybody who does me a favor, I'll
do a favor for him, if I can-but aside from that, I'm not promising
anything! " But it seemed to me that the stars winked, and the sounds
of the night began again as the land came to life around me.



Chapter Nine


it gave me a chill, so I turned away, brusque and growling-to see
the ghost hovering near the fire, half-invisible because of its
light. Her eyes were glowing, though, so I couldn't miss her. In
fact, I wasn't sure I was entirely happy about the way those eyes
were glowing at me-but I had saved her afterlife, so I supposed I had
some responsibility for her. I came over-and she drifted away with a
look of alarm, but still with that morbid fascination in her eyes. At
least, I thought it was morbid. I remembered the blanket rules for
making friends with small animals and sat down, waiting. Sure enough,
she began to drift closer-then hesitated as Frisson came up behind
me. "Why's she looking at me that way?" I asked him.

"Why, because she is in love with you, Master Saul," he answered
softly. "Do you not know the signs?"

I felt the chill again. "Yeah, but I was trying to pretend I
didn't.

Why should she be in love with me? just because I sort of saved
her?"

" 'Tis reason enough," he assured me, "coupled with your face and
form-but there is a greater. Did you not know that the verse you sang
was a binding spell?"

My stomach sank. "Oh. Was it really,"' "Aye, and a most venerable
one."

"What did it bind?"

Frisson stared at me as if I were crazy-or maybe he was seeing
through my attempt at self-deception. "It binds her to yourself,
Master Saul-or at least, her affections."

That was what I'd been afraid of. "An old one, huh? I take it
spells gain power with age."

"Like fine wines, aye."

So that's why each verse ended with, Then she'll be a true love of
mine. "But she didn't have time to make me a cambric shirt."

"It worked by intent," Frisson assured me. "She is bound to you
now, Wizard, by the spell that most surely binds woman to man."

Which would have been great, if it hadn't been synthetic. Her
ghost looked harrowed, but the marks of torture were fading even as I
watched, and she was really, rarely beautiful. Her dress had even
mended itself. I'd heard that love was healing, but I thought it had
to be mutual to have that effect ...

Nonetheless, it was having that effect. I clamped down on the
implications. "How did you fall into the queen's hands, lady? You
don't look to have sinned enough."

"I have striven not to, Sir Wizard."

"Saul." I held up a hand. "Just 'Saul.' I'm not a knight." I
didn't commit myself about the "wizard" part.

"Master Saul," she amended.

I sighed, but told myself it would help keep distance between
us.

"Okay, that's my name. What's yours?"

"Angelique," she replied.

I frowned. "Given the local rules, a name like that should have
helped protect you./, "That was my mother's intent." A tear formed at
the corner of her eye. "She died when I was very small, though."

Somehow, that made sense-and seemed ominous. "But if you tried not
to commit sins, how come the queen had a hold on you?"

"Because she wrested me from my father, Master Saul, and forced
him to yield his authority over me."

My blood ran cold. "What kind of a father would do that to his own
daughter?"

"A father in Allustria," Frisson murmured.

The ghost hung her head. " 'Tis so. He is a merchant who panders
to the queen, immersing himself in every sort of vice to gain her
royal favor-and grants of monopolies."

"To the point of giving her his daughter?"

"Not quite so bad as that," she said stoutly. "Nay, he protected
and reared me in total innocence, until I had come of woman's years,
whereupon . . ." She broke off, with downcast eyes.

"I would not press her," Frisson murmured.

"Right." I slapped my knees. "I didn't mean to get personal-"
"Nay, I must have you know!" She was almost pleading. "No sooner had
I come into earliest womanhood than my father attempted to reap the
harvest of my innocence himself."

I froze, feeling myself turn very, very cold. "Why, that infernal
louse! "

"He did not succeed," she said quickly. "The queen discerned his
intentions and stepped in to halt his incestuous advances. I hailed
her as my savior-until I discovered that she had taken me only to
save as sacrifice to Satan. She told me that fell prince has a great
taste for virgin souls, 'tis said, and they are rare indeed, in
Allustria."

The inner chill was still there, and getting colder. "I really
don't think I like these people at all," I growled. "And I was the
cue for her to kill you? "

"There was some other cause," she said quickly. "I i not grasp the
whole of it-I could spare small attention for her conversation with
her henchmen, the pains of the torture devices being so very severe .
. ."

"That would hinder concentration." The chill had hit absolute zero
and was beginning to bounce back up, as anger.

"There was some talk of barons rebellious," she said, "and of the
queen of Merovence readying her troops to invade."

I looked up at Frisson sharply. "I caused all that?"

"I would doubt it," he answered.

Gilbert said, "Nay, Wizard Saul. 'Twas all of a piece with the
mission of my order-the mill had been grinding before we came upon
you. It Which meant I was only one part of a bigger plan-but whose?
"So she was saving you up for a doozy of a spell that would have
given her the power to blast her enemies-and when the time came, she
decided to get double mileage out of it, by using you to decoy me out
where she could annihilate me." I shook my head. "What a horrible
life you had!"

"Oh, nay! It was pleasant, with many causes for joy-until these
last six years. I grew restive at never being able to roam the town
or frolic through the fields, as I saw others doing from afar-but my
home was spacious and comely, and I thrived in my father's love."

Her gaze strayed, then turned brooding. "Until it soured."

Or until she discovered his real intentions. I wondered if he'd
thought incest would score points with the queen. "What about the
last six?

"I was a guest of the queen," she said slowly, "though I could not
leave my chamber. It was pleasant enough, even luxurious-but it was
all the world I saw."

"Then it's a crime that you should have had so little of life! But
at least you have Heaven waiting. Don't tarry here, whatever you
do-go on to your reward!"

"I cannot," she said simply.

I stared. Then I said, "No! Not just my binding spell!"

" 'Tis not that which holds me to Earth," she said slowly, "though
it fends off sorrow and brings rejoicing."

I wanted a change of subject, quick. "What holds you here,
then?"

"My body." She moved her hands in aimless seeking. "It has not yet
died; there remains some spark of life within it. I can feel it, I
can sense it!"

"The queen has preserved her clay," Frisson said softly.

"Of course!" I remembered what Suettay had said when she cast that
fox-fire spell over Angelique's body-and it made perfect sense.

"She didn't succeed in sacrificing you the first time, so she's
saving your body to try again!"

"But would not the soul need to be within the body, in order for
the queen to murder it?" Gilbert asked.

"Yeah, I'd say it would -especially if she wants to make Angelique
commit the sin of despair, so Hell can have some claim on her. As it
is, her soul's still too pure for Satan to have any hold on it.
Angelique's goodness doesn't protect her from physical force, of
course, but it does make her ghost immune. That was the whole idea of
this horror show the queen just put on-the agony and terror were
supposed to make her stop believing in God and Heaven!"

"It would have done so." Angelique bowed her head. "I verged on
such despair; I had almost come to think that there was no God, or
that the queen was right, and the Devil was stronger than the
Creator. It was your words that restored my faith, if only for an
instantbut in that instant, the knife fell."

"Glad I could do some good," I said lamely.

"But if she can cram your soul back into your body and torture you
again, it might work this time."

"Nay." She gazed directly into my eyes. "You have restored my
faith; I shall never despair again."

How about if I told her I didn't love her? That chilled me, too-it
meant I didn't dare be honest, which really rankled. But we were
right. I'd read enough medieval literature to know the rules, if not
enough to make me sympathize with the spirit. "So she's going to be
trying to get your soul!"

The ghost paled-or, in her case, turned almost transparent. "Then
I must leave you! Or my presence will bring her down upon you!"

And she darted away. I jumped up to call out to her to stay-but
she slammed into my unseen barrier and rebounded with a cry.

"Sorry about that," I said quickly, "but we can't let you go
roamng off by yourself-she'd swallow you up in an instant, and you'd
be back in the torture chamber."

"I must chance it! I will not imperil you!"

I realized, with a sinking heart, that I could really get to like
this girl.

Fortunately, Gilbert spoke up, with quiet certainly. "We would
never forgive ourselves, lady, if we abandoned a maiden in peril.
Indeed, it would weigh on our immortal souls."

The ghost stilled in her frantic dashing.

"You would not wish to send us toward Hell, would you?" Frisson
asked.

The ghost seemed to droop. "Nay, I would not."

"You see," I said carefully, "you've become a crucial element in
the future of this country. There seems to be some sort of a campaign
kick out the queen and all her ministers, and the evil going on, to
that they serve. You were apparently her trump card, her ace in the
hole, her secret weapon to give her more power to repel the invaders
and the rebellious barons. Now that your sacrifice failed, the Devil
and the lords will all drop her as having become too weak-too weak to
be of any use to the Devil, too weak to defeat her barons if they
rebel. That means that all the nobles will be jockeying for power,
each one trying to prove to the Devil which of them is most evil and
most ruthless, so that the Prince of Bullies will choose him to be
the next king."

Angelique's ghost began to grow brighter, then dimmer, then
brighter again, throbbing with anxiety. "But I am only a poor, simple
maid of the common folk!"

"Maybe that's why you're so important," I said softly. "Really
good people are hard to find, in any age." I should know; I'd been
looking for a good woman for years.

"But you must not endanger yourselves for my sake!" she
wailed.

"We're already nicely endangered, thank you," I told her. "Why do
you think the queen brought you to us? No, I'd already made trouble
for her before you came."

Angelique stared, wide-eyed. "Wherefore? 'Tis folly of the worst
sort to antagonize her with no cause!"

"She wants me to leave, if I won't serve her cause," I grated,
"and to me, that's reason enough to go back in. I'm not about to
knuckle under to authority, unless it has won my respect and
confidence. I'm going to do what I think is right, no matter what the
rules say! And something tells me that trying to get your body away
from the queen, and back to you, is right!"

Suddenly the chill within me stabbed all the way to my vitals,
accompanying a sudden total sense of the rightness of what I had
said.

With a sinking heart, I wondered if I had played into the hands of
somebody else-the angels. Especially mine.

"I shall accompany you, then," Angelique said slowly, "for there
is merit in what you say, and I perceive that you are a good
man."

But the way she was looking at me said more, much more, and I went
into panic. "No, I'm not! I'm a sour old cynic who's bitter about
human nature in general and women in particular! I think religion was
invented by priests for their own self-interest, and I scorn its
rules! I'm an agnostic and a secular humanist, and by the standards
of this universe, I'm thoroughly despicable!"

I ran out of gas and stood glaring around at them all, panting.
Angelique shrank back, but not much, and just hovered there, staring
at me out of those huge, worshipful eyes. Frisson and Gilbert
exchanged judicious looks, lips pursed, and finally nodded.

Gruesome, of course, just sat blandly by the fire, looking vaguely
interested. Why should he care?

Right.

"And what are you two snickering about?" I growled at Gilbert and
Frisson.

"That you lack faith may be true, Master Saul," Gilbert said
slowly, "but we have seen your works."

I frowned. "My works?"

"You do not have it within you to turn away from a soul in need,"
Frisson explained.

I glared at him, but what could I say? It's my biggest failing. It
gets me taken for a chump, time and again. Emotional leeches latch
onto me like piglets to a sow, and I let them take and take and take
before I finally get mad enough to tell them to bug off. I'm a sucker
for a hard-luck story and a gloomy face.

Gilbert delivered the final verdict. "You are a good man, and we
will follow you to the death."

The chill hit again, and I snapped up a palm like a stop sign.

"Now, wait a minute. Who elected me leader?"

"Why," Frisson said, "who else has the slightest idea as to what
we should do, or where we should go?"

It was a good question. But I sure as heck didn't.

I was still trying to figure it out as I rolled up in my cloak, to
try to eke out a little sleep from what was left of the night. But
Angelique was right in my line of sight-deliberately, I was sure, the
way she was gazing fondly at my battered, hairy face-and just knowing
she was there played hob with my concentration. Every few minutes, I
found myself opening my eyes just a little, to drink in the sight of
all that lush feminine beauty, that lovely face, those wondrous
curves that showed as hints through her long, gauzy gown every time
she moved a little, and even when she didn't. I might not have been
in love with her, but I sure got a charge out of looking.

Unfortunately, she seemed to have the same problem with me; every
time I peeked, she was still gazing adoringly at me.

Suddenly, it hit me with a shock, and I went rigid, fighting to
keep my eyes shut. That blasted binding song had worked both ways! I
was just as much subject to it as she was! Like it or not, reality or
illusion, I was in love!

My mind reeled, trying to adjust to the facts, trying to
understand romantic love as a magical spell-not just the product of a
spell, but the spell itself. My mind went over and over that idea,
around and around it like a squirrel in a cage, until insight struck
again, and I realized what the literature had always said love
was-magic.

I relaxed, just a little. Of course, I'd been hearing that since I
was a kid, from every adventure novel with a love interest, and half
the popular songs on the radio.

Nonetheless, the reality was something of a shock.

On the other hand, I'd come to believe some time before that love
was nothing but an illusion. I remembered that and got back some
peace of mind.

But not much.

We were up with the morning star for a cold breakfast. I longed
for a cup of coffee and was tempted to believe in magic long enough
to conjure some up-but I turned mulish at the last second. Sunlight
and morning had put me back into skeptical mode, and I was
discounting all the spells I had worked as being part of the
hallucination. Besides, nobody else there needed caffeine.

So we were off as the sun rose, following our shadows down the
road to the west, not that I really expected to get very far. After
about an hour, though, we climbed to the top of a ridge and stopped
short, seeing the telltale shingled roof of an official toll
station.

"I don't mind paying for the use of the road," I said to Gilbert
and Frisson. "Where there's verse, there's gold. But I'm not exactly
up for a session of arguing."

"There is no avoiding it," Frisson told me, "and I have wandered
far enough to know. Even were we to slip into the high grass or the
woods to bypass the hut, the witch within would know of our presence
by her spells."

"Magical border alarm system," I grunted, thinking of electric
eyes and radar. "Well, if we have to brazen it out, we might as well
do it with style." So I strode up to the doorway and knocked.

My friends stared, then ran after me frantically, but they skidded
to a stop as I knocked a second time, their faces sinking as they
realized there was no help for it now.

But by the third knock, they were beginning to look puzzled.

"Nobody home," Gruesome grunted, disappointed; I think he'd been
hoping for a quick snack.

"A border station, unmatched?" Gilbert stared. "Surely not! 'Tis
unthinkable! "

"Then how come you just thought of it?" I turned to Angelique. "I
hate to take advantage of your special nature, but do you suppose ...
?"

"Surely, Master Saul." She was only an outline in sunlight, a
gossamer strand or two-but she drifted through the cabin door as if
it hadn't been there.

We waited. I tried my best to look impatient and annoyed. Gruesome
just looked hungry, and Frisson looked apprehensive. Gilbert, though,
stood like stone with his hand on his sword hilt.

Angelique slipped back out, scarcely more substantial than
birdsong. "There is no one within."

I stared. "No one?"

"None," she confirmed.

"But that cannot be!" Gilbert protested, and Frisson seconded
him.

"No witch who was stationed to guard a road would dare leave her
post while she lived, mademoiselle."

We fell silent at that, exchanging glances. I put it into words.
"But if she's dead, where's the body?"

"There are signs of haste," Angelique said helpfully.

"Let me see." I pushed at the door, but it was locked.

"Lemme." Gruesome hipped me aside-his shoulders were too high-took
the door by the handle, and yanked. Wood cracked and splintered; the
door came loose, leather hinges flapping. Gruesome grunted and tossed
it aside.

"Uh-yes." I eyed the dismembered door and cleared my throat.

"Direct, aren't we? Well, let's have a look." I went in.

it wasn't in the world's best condition, that was true, but it
wasn't all that bad, either-sort of like somebody had stopped doing
the housekeeping a month ago; that rotten smell must have been the
dirty dishes in the kitchen. At least, I assumed that was what the
curtained doorway in the back wall led to; this part of the house
just had a central fire pit under a hole in the roof, shielded by a
louver, and a desk with a huge book beside an inkwell with a quill in
it. I stepped closer and peered in; there was still liquid in the
pot, but you could see the thick line above that showed it had
evaporated. There was a fine coating of dust on the book, not all
that obvious unless you looked; I guessed it had been a week or so
since it had been used.

I looked up at that curtain hanging across the doorway. Something
inside me balked and protested, wanting to leave well enough alone,
but curiosity drew me on. Had to be curiosity, right? Couldn't have
been anything else.

I pushed the curtain aside and looked in. The smell got a lot
worse, and I wrinkled my nose. I couldn't pretend it was just rotting
food any more-it was the stench that goes with sickness, bad
sickness.

Angelique had been right, though-there was no one there, certainly
not in the bed. it wasn't made, though, and the dishes were piled up
on the table. This was where the toll-witch lived-but where was she
now?

I went back out, shaking my head. "You called it, Angelique. No
one home."

Frisson clapped his hands with a smile of delight. "Most
excellent!

Let us go on past!"

"Yeah," I said slowly, "let's."

But it nagged at me, as we went by the tollhouse. I didn't like
unsolved puzzles and I liked even less the idea that somebody might
be lying around sick, with nobody to take care of him. However, there
was every chance that the duty-witch had been taken in for an
overhaul, and that her replacement just hadn't arrived yet, so I
pushed my misgivings aside and followed Gilbert into the woods.

Then I heard the moan from the other side of the trail.



Chapter Ten


it was hard to say whether that moan was of pain or terror-maybe
both. But I couldn't ignore it. I stopped. That meant Frisson and
Gruesome had to stop, too, or bump into me-but they had stopped
already and were frowning into the shadows under the leaves.

"What moves, Master Saul?" Frisson asked.

"Probably nothing," I answered. "From the sound, I'd say whatever
made it is too sick to do more than lie there."

Gilbert heard and looked back. He stopped, frowning. " 'Tis not
our affair, Master Saul."

"Anybody hurt is my affair," I snapped. " 'No man is an island.' I
thought you were a Christian, Gilbert."

"I am indeed!" he cried, offended.

"Then remember the parable of the Good Samaritan."

"The Samaritan," Frisson said nervously, "was in no peril."

"He speaks wisely, Master Saul." Angelique's voice seemed to come
from thin air. "There may be danger."

"Can't let a little thing like that stop us." I stepped into the
shadows, pushing the branches aside with my quarterstaff-and just
incidentally keeping it near the guard position. "Let's see what
we'll find. " Leaves rustled as we moved in-then Angelique recoiled.
"Evil!"

I could smell it, too-or maybe it was just the aroma of illness. I
reminded myself that this massive hallucination included a guardian
angel, and kept going.

The underbrush opened out, and there, hovering near a sheer rock
face, were two of the ugliest creatures I had ever seen, with
multiple fangs and tusks sticking out of their snouts, under baleful
yellow eyes set in red, leathery skin that turned into black as it
stretched out into bat wings. Their fingernails were claws, and their
feet were cloven hooves. I froze; the mere sight of them struck fear
through my vitals-or maybe it was their sulfurous smell, or the aura
of evil that hung about them.

They were chuckling and gibbering, jabbing long-nailed fingers at
the poor bundle of rags and quivering flesh that huddled against the
rock face. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that they were just
hallucinations.

The deep breath was a bad idea, though; I caught a whiff of her
stench and was almost glad the demons, sulfur smell drowned it
out-but it was definitely the same as the trace lingering in the back
room of the toll cabin.

She saw me and stretched out a hand in supplication. "Aid! Good
trave er, ai !"

The devils turned in instant suspicion, saw me, and dove for me,
howling.

Terror damn near immobilized me, but trained reflexes made me leap
aside and slam a kick at the nearest one. I yelped; he was hard!

And hot; pain seared through my toes. My boot was charred.

The devil snarled and turned, gloating-but Gilbert leapt in front
of it, holding his sword up like a cross and crying, "Avaunt! Leave
off, in the name of the Christ! " They actually hesitated, and I knew
with a sick certainty that the only thing that protected Gilbert
right then was his total, idiotic purity and the massiveness of his
unquestioning faith. If I had tried it, they'd have torn me limb from
limb.

Even Gruesome was cowering back, and Frisson was hiding behind
him-but Angelique's ghost drifted to Gilbert, glowing with righteous
indignation and purity. "Get thee hence, in the holy name!

Avaunt, and begone!"

Now the devils did cower back-but they didn't go. I figured they'd
work up their nerve eventually-this was their prey, after all.

Which reminded me about the sick one.

I stepped over to the whimpering bundle. "What's the matter?"

A claw pulled the hood open enough so that two rheumy eyes blinked
out at me. "Oh, the pain!" She pressed one hand to her belly.

"It tears me apart from within! I have cast spells against it, but
it eats through even that power! I die!"

The devils surged forward, cackling with glee.

"Avaunt!" Gilbert shoved his cross-hilt in their faces, and I
swear he didn't show the slightest trace of fear. Angelique glowed
with wrath behind him, and the devils bellowed with anger, but
retreated.

"They will take me," the old woman whimpered. "They will haul me
to Hell!"

Sympathetic fear wracked me, but I hung on to my composure and
said, "No they're not! Not according to the rules! All you have to do
is repent! I remember that, because it always seemed like such a
cheat to me, that a man could live his whole life making other people
miserable and still go to Heaven if he just repented at the last
secend! "

"With eons in Purgatory," the witch moaned, "but even as thou
sayest ... The tortures would end, someday The devils howled with
rage and sprang, vaulting around Gilbert and Angelique in two jumps.
One of them slammed me back into the dirt, and pain tore through me
where his huge hand pressed. His monstrous face was an inch from mine
as his jaws gaped wide, and terror jellied my insides-but I heard the
old witch scream in horror, and the sound galvanized me.

"Angel!" I cried. "I'm trying to do your work now! It's in your
own interest! Get rid of these monsters!"

Thunder cracked, and searing light filled the little clearing.
"Even so!" the angel's voice snapped, echoing all about me. "I am
entreated by a mortal who seeks to do God's work! Begone, loathsome
fiends!"

The light shrank in on itself just enough to be an anthropoid
form, and glowing hands reached out to yank the two devils aside. "
'Tis the power of God that flows through me to brand you! Get hence,
in His name!

The two demons howled; the angel hurled them away, and they
shrank, diminishing, until they were just two black dots that
disappeared with a double pop.

I stared, awed, and muttered, "Dealer wins all draws."

The shining form waved a hand at me. "Let thy pain be gone! Now
aid the woman!"

And he disappeared. just like that.

Gilbert looked up at me, awed. "What manner of man are you,
Wizard, that even angels will come when you call?"

"A do-gooder busybody," I snapped. I was too busy being amazed to
be polite; the burning pain in my chest was gone. I took a quick peek
down inside my shirt and didn't see the slightest scar, just a bright
pinkness in the shape of a huge clawed hand. It was enough to give me
a bad case of the shakes, until the poor lump of rags moaned.

I turned to it, trying to remember that this "poor thing" had
probably burned peasants and gloated at their pain, in her time, and
practiced the rest of the catalog of medieval minor witchcraft, such
as making cows go dry and women barren. But I couldn't resist trying
to help when she looked so pitiful. "Apologize," I advised. "You know
you're going to die-but if you repent, the devils can't have you.

Maybe a long, long time in Purgatory, as you said, but not
Hell."

"I dare not," the old woman whispered. "The pain is held at bay
only by the spells I've cast-and even with their aid, 'tis like to
drive me from my senses!"

"And if you repent, you lose your magic powers, so the pain will
rip you apart? But remember I tried to recall the rules, as I'd
learned them from Dante. "If you suffer the agony patiently here on
Earth for the few days you have left, it will take centuries off your
tortures in Purgatory."

"I fear the pain too much," she gasped in despair. "I am too far
sunk in cowardice!"

I bit back the urge to tell her she deserved what she was getting,
then-I'm sure it wouldn't have seemed that way to me, if I'd been the
one that was in agony. I frowned; what to do? If she couldn't repent
because she was in pain, but the only thing that made her want to
repent was that same pain ...

No, it wasn't. It was fear of eternal pain, in Hell.

"If I can make the pain go away," I asked her, "would you still
want to repent?"

"Aye, assuredly!" she gasped. "Anything to save me from an
eternity of agonies as I've felt now!"

"Probably worse," I reminded her. "Well, let's see what we can
do.

What kind of pain?"

"A gnawing, a hideous gnawing!" She pointed to her belly.
"Here!"

"Not a burning pain, like a hot coal?l, "Nay! 'Tis as if something
did eat me from the inside, with terribly sharp teeth!"

Not appendicitis, I guessed-but it did sound like abdominal
cancer, and she was sure old enough.

I sat back on my heels, frowning. How do you use magic to cure
cancer?

Then I remembered that "cancer" is Latin for "crab," and that the
disease was named that way because it felt as if a crab were digging
you out inside with its pincers.

So how do you fight an inside crab?

obviously, bring it outside.

"Gilbert," I called, "come over here with your sword."

"Nay!" the witch shrieked.

"Oh, it's not for you," I said impatiently. "No mercy killing-I'm
not about to end your mortal agony by sending you to everlasting
torture. " Gilbert came up, sword ready, frowning. "What moves,
wizard?"

"A crab," I told him. "I'm expecting a giant crab, or something
ery much like it. If it shows up, stab it. Frisson?"

"Aye, Master Saul." The poet edged up, trembling.

"See if you can't cook up a verse for killing shellfish. Okay,
folks."

I took a deep breath, tried to ignore the gnawing in my own
middle, and reached out for the scrap of parchment Frisson handed me.
I read it, chanting,


    "Get you gone up-channel
    With the sea crust on your plates,
    And get out of that body
    With the burden of your freights!"


Nothing happened.

Frisson's face stretched so long I thought it was rubber. "I have
failed!"

"No, I don't think it was you." The rules again. "She's in the
power of evil now, and our spells are based on goodness, so they
can't touch her." Except for spells inducing remorse-I'd found that
out with Sobaka.

I wondered if I would have to use them again. "Woman! I cannot
cure you unless you repent! You have to open your soul to God's race,
or all the good will in the world can't touch you!"

She was still a moment, rigid. Then she convulsed around the agony
in her middle again, screaming and crying out, "I repent me!

Aiiee, even if I die in agony, I will not suffer thus for
eternity! I forsake Satan and all his lies!"

Then she screamed, as the king of all pains racked her body
again-a souvenir from her boss, no doubt. But the woman had amazing
grit; she held on, and when the spasm passed, she went right on where
she'd left off, though in a husky whisper. "May God forgive my sins!
I forswear my pact with the Devil!"

Then she screamed again.

I started chanting on the instant, repeating the verse:


    "Come forth from salty bloodstream
    With your pain that cramps and grates!
    Get you gone up-channel
    With the sea crust on your plates,
    And get out of that body
    With the burden of your freights!"


The witch gave one last shriek ' then fell silent, panting
hoarsely as, between Gilbert, Gruesome, yself, and the huddled witch,
the air seemed to thicken, growing darker and darker. Then, all of a
sudden, it snapped into sharp, clear detail-and a crab three feet
wide, with yard-long claws a foot thick, was scuttling straight
toward me, its pincers aiming for my throat.

I yelled and jumped back, just as Gilbert shouted, "For Saint
Moncaire and for right!" and leapt in, stabbing down. His sword
skewered right through the whole crab, pinning it to the forest
floor-and he had the sense to jump back. A high-pitched keening
pierced my ears, and I fell away, hands pressed over them. Gilbert
was staggering, too, fingers in his ears, while the crab scuttled,
thrashing about-until it pulled the sword free from the earth and
came straight at the squire.

With a bellow that shook the trees, Gruesome leapt.

He landed on the monster with both feet; its shell gave with a
sickening crunch. Pincers waved wildly, snaking back to snip at
Gruesome's feet-but he reached down, catching the claws in huge
hands, and straightened up, wrenching them loose. The monster
screamed-I heard it even through my hands-then went limp.

The clearing was very quiet.

I looked around and saw Frisson, over at the base of a tree trunk,
his lips moving silently.

I sat up, dazed, taking my hands away from my ears, but keeping
them close, just in case.

The only sound I heard was the roar of triumph as Gruesome jumped
up and down on the shell, then tore open the claw and thrust it
toward his mouth ...

"Gruesome, no!" I shouted.

His fangs clashed together but held back, as if he'd just bitten
down on a spare auto fender. Then he held off on the claw, looking
down at me resentfully. "Hungry!"

"And you certainly deserve a ten-course banquet," I said quickly,
stumbling over to him. "I'll conjure one up for you, as soon as we're
done helping this poor old lady! But not that meat, Gruesome! Bad for
you! Shellfish has parasites! Very bad! Especially since the pieces
of this one might pull themselves together inside you and start
trying to eat their way out!"

Gruesome stared at the claw as if he'd never seen it before.

" 'Tis well spoken," Angelique said. "The monster weakened outside
a host's body, and quickly-but would it not regain strength, once
within? " Gruesome hurled the claw away with a howl of
frustration-but even as he did, it was fading, fading ... and was
gone. So was the huge plastron he was standing on, and all the little
legs, and the other big claw. Gruesome stared down, dismayed; the
lower edge of his huge lipless mouth quivered.

"Shellfish never did stay with me long," I sighed. "Always hungry
again in an hour. Don't worry about it, big fella-we'll get you a
whole steer, in just a few minutes."

"The witch," Gilbert said softly.

Something in his tone reminded me that without the lash of pain,
our witch might not be feeling so remorseful. In fact, there was no
guarantee that she wouldn't go back on her repentance.

She was sitting up, staring down at her midriff wide-eyed,
pressing experimentally here and there. " 'Tis 'tis gone! I am well!
No more hurt! " ,i,d still take it easy for a while, if I were you,"
I said. "Just because we've got it licked for the time being, doesn't
mean it won't come back."

"Nay, it will not, for I saw it torn apart by your huge troll!
Amazing, most amazing! Who would have thought there was a crab
within? Who would have thought to have conjured it out to fight it
with steel?"

"It faded away," I reminded her. "it could reappear inside you-or
another one just like it."

"Even if it does not, I may find myself beset by another illness,
right quickly." The old woman looked up with tears in her eyes.

"Alas! How comes it, good stranger, that you would help me, who
have been so cruel to so many and torn the life from no few?

"I can't resist a call for help," I said, with some self-disgust.
"I know that makes me a chump, but-"

"Then a 'chump' must be a most excellent thing! Oh, I will sing
your praises wherever I go!"

"Mayhap," Gilbert put in, "it would become you more to sing God's
praises."

"Aye, indeed!" The witch sank down on her knees, clasped hands
upraised. "I repent me of all my sins! I would that I could atone for
each and every wrong I have done! Dear Father, forgive me!"

Nothing happened, no thunderclap ... but a look of peace swept
over her face, and her eyes widened in surprise. "Why ... is it
thus?" she whispered.

"The peace of God." Gilbert nodded. "Yet you must seek out a
priest, poor woman, as quickly as you may, that your sins may be
shriven. "

"Even so! That I shall!" The ex-witch pushed herself to her feet,
gathering the rags of her robes about her. "And I must go quickly,
for if the queen should discover my betrayal, I shall die quite
quickly!"

"And in agony," Gilbert nodded. "Therefore tarry not."

The old woman shrugged. "The agony matters naught; I deserve far
worse than ever she could wreak upon me, for all the wrongs I've
done. Nay, almost would I welcome it now, that it might ease my
burden of guilt. Yet I would not have it for eternity, and therefore
will I go hotfoot." She whirled to me, hands upraised in gratitude.
"Oh, stranger, I cannot thank you enough for your pity and aid! You
have behaved as a true Christian, nay, as a saint would have! May you
be blessed forever!"

"Glad I could help," I said, uncomfortably aware of everyone's
eyes on me. "Now go your way and try to help others as I've helped
you."

"I shall! Oh, I shall! And shall praise your name every night, in
my prayers! Farewell!" She turned and hobbled into the woods, and was
gone from sight.

"You have wrought well for God this day, Master Saul," Gilbert
said softly.

I shrugged impatiently. "I did something good for a human being,
out of entirely selfish motives."

"Selfish?" Gilbert frowned. "How so?"

"Because it made me feel good inside." I raised my voice. "Hear
that, angel? I'm grateful for your help-but I had it coming, because
what I wanted to do was also what you wanted done! I'm not on your
side! But I'm not on their side either! Got that?"

But I felt a strange, vagrant wave of amusement that almost seemed
to blow through me like a breeze, and I had to turn away fast to
escape Frisson's long and thoughtful gaze. "Come on, troops.

We've still got a long day's hiking ahead of us."

But we couldn't have been hiking down that trail for more than ten
minutes before the roadway exploded in front of us.

The explosion kicked up a geyser of dust, and there stood the
wicked queen herself, shrieking pure venom, her rolls of fat shaking
with rage. "Vile invader! Your meddling has cost me five minutes'
agony, hot irons searing all through my body! My master has punished
me shrewdly for letting another soul escape damnation-and has
commanded me to obliterate you and your friends! Yet first, I shall
see you suffer as I have suffered!"

But it wasn't me she threw the first whammy at, it was Frisson,
stiff-arming a gesture that twisted as it stabbed while she bellowed
something I couldn't understand.

Frisson screamed and fell, writhing.

I shouted,


    "For the unquiet heart and brain,
    A use in measured language lies;
    The sad mechanic exercise,
    Like dull narcotics, numbing pain."


Frisson relaxed with a groan of relief.

"Meddler!" Suettay yelled. "Rogue! Villain!" Yes, I did detect a
note of panic there, a note of fear.

Of me?

No, Of her master.

"Mendacious mendicant!" she screeched, then added some syllables
in the Latinlike language, winding up to throw me down.

I took a deep breath for a counterspell, hoping I'd think of one
in thing pressed into my palm.

time-but on the inhalation, I felt some Looking down, startled, I
saw some chicken-track lines scrawled on a scrap of foolscap. The
misspellings were horrendous, but they were being viewed by a
volunteer tutor who had fought his way through many a Freshman
English paper, and I managed to catch the gist of it at a glance. I
called out,


    ,wicked old queen, come losses or gains,
    Here is the verse to bring you fear:
    Go hand, go foot, till naught remains
    Gone with the snows of yesteryear!"


Suettay began to disappear, from the feet up. She howled in
frustration, then lifted her arms to throw another whammy-but they
disappeared, too. She screamed in full rage, face darkening and as
ugly as I've ever seen, as her hips and abdomen faded. Then,
unfortunately, she remembered herself and screamed something in the
Old Tongue that made her arms reappear; they wove a quick, unseen
symbol as she screamed another verse, and all of her reappeared just
as it had gone, but much more quickly. Even as her nether parts were
returning, she was winding up another verse that she belted out,
hands rolling over and over each other, and a six-foot dragon leapt
from them to charge roaring at us.

Gilbert gave a shout of joy and leapt in front of all of us,
stabbing in low and jumping back. Ichor spurted from the dragon's
chest, and it bellowed in startled pain, swerving to pounce at
Gilbert-but the squire leapt aside and chopped horizontally, shearing
off a bat wing.

The dragon screamed, whirling and lashing out; steel talons cut
through Gilbert's mail, and blood slicked the metal. The squire
clenched his jaw and chopped again, a roundhouse swing that clipped
the beast's head off its sinewy neck.

We all cheered.

But Suettay was chanting again, gesturing wildly, her volume
building toward a crescendo.

I gulped. "It's gonna be a big one."

"Can you not hinder her?" Angelique pleaded.

"Frisson!" I snapped. "Any more verses,"' The poet shook his head,
huge-eyed. "Naught but an old song comes to mind, Master Saul-a
child's bit of nonsense."

"Try it! Anything, right now!"

"As you will." Frisson shrugged and started singing.


    "As I went down to Darby town,
    'Twas on a summer's day,
    There I beheld the biggest ram
    That ever was fed on hay!
    That ever was fed on hay!
    That ever was fed on hay!
    When this ram began to bleat, Sir,
    The thunder, it did break!
    When this ram began to walk, sir,
    The earth began to shake!"


A deep, dull, thrumming sound boomed through the air, and the
earth beneath us heaved and settled. Then the sound and the earth
tremor came again, and Suettay shrieked in anger and fear. I risked a
peek.

A wall of wool blocked out the sun a hundred yards distant,
supported on legs that would've shamed a sequoia. I craned my neck
back; up, way up there, a hundred fifty feet up, floated a huge head
with magnificent, curled horns the size of a highway cloverleaf-and
sure enough, there were eagles circling around them. "Must be nesting
season."

But Suettay was still shrieking. "What magic is this, that I've
heard naught of?"

"Ethnomusicology," I called back.

But her attention was on the ram, and with good reason-it was
ambling toward us, and with legs that size, ambling was
high-speed.

"What hell-begot monster art thou," Suettay cried, "that comes
thundering down on this poor rotted world!"

"Nay, speak not of Hell!" The ram's voice was a rumble in the
Earth's crust. "I am begot of the core of the world, a child of
magma!

What art thou, tedious gnat, that would wake Darby's sleep?" The
ram advanced, the earth trembling in sine waves with his
footfalls.

"For he who'd wake the ram must die, ere I can sleep again!"

Frisson turned pale as milk. it was borne in on me that I had
roused an elemental.

"Nay, it was he!" Suettay shrieked, finger spearing toward
Frisson.

"Pounce on him, jelly him! For he 'tis who waked you!"

"Is it thee?" The ram swerved a fraction of a degree, glowering
down at Frisson. "Aye, for I see in thy face that only now dost thou
see the danger thou hast waked!"

Damn good eyesight, I noted; there was maybe three inches of
Frisson's head showing, from the ram's angle. But, the hell with the
risk-I couldn't do anything cowering, and it was my asking that had
nudged Frisson to sing the song. I stepped forward, trying to ignore
the hollow feeling in my belly and the way my knees wanted to webble,
and claimed the responsibility. "it was I who bade him do it, so it
was I who waked you!" I felt a dramatic surge coming on. "Beware,
mountain mutton! For I can slay you forever with the breath of a
song! Hey, it sounded good, right?

"Dost thou threaten me?" the ram thundered in enraged
disbelief.

I bellowed back at him, "Aye, I do threaten! Therefore beware, and
do as I bid thee! Slay this foul witch! "

"Eh, would you dare?" Suettay shrieked. "Heed him not, mighty ram,
but turn to slay him! For know that I, too, can slay you!" And her
hands began to weave an invisible net, while she chanted, "Earth,
give bellow; fire, blast!

Vomit molten rock and ash!"

I didn't wait to hear any more. Queen or not, if that witch was
going to be fool enough to open up a volcano under the ram, it could
kill all of us. I grabbed Gilbert and Frisson and threw them to the
ground, yelling at Gruesome, "Duck! And after the boom is over, run
for your life! " I was only glad Angelique had no body to hurt.

A flue opened, and a jet of ash shot out-but the ram stepped on
it. The earth shook a little, and he set another foot down; the earth
quieted.

Suettay just stared. Then she let out a screech that had some
syllables in it, arms windmilling madly. A sudden whirlwind kicked up
a lot of dust and stray ash, then dispersed and settled-and she had
disappeared.

"Can we rise now?" Frisson asked around a mouthful of grass
blades.

"Uh-yeah! Sure." I stood up slowly, staring at the spot of meadow
where Suettay had been.

"Why-she is gone!" Gilbert said, amazed, as he stood up again.

"Yet I remain!" the ram thundered, still quaking toward us. "Once
I am waked, I cannot sleep again till my waker lies buried!"

"Wait a minute!" I barked. "Remember that spell I told you about!
"

"Wherefore ought I chance it?" The ram was fifty yards off now,
and coming fast. "I shall crush thee ere thy lips can form the
words!"

"I wasn't kidding." But I backed up as fast as I could. "I know
just the verse for the occasion." But my blood ran cold; I was
bluffing.

Frisson stared at me, amazed. "How so, Master Saul? I know the
same verse!"

"Then sing it!" I yelled.

"Aye, do so," the ram thundered, only a dozen yards off.

"I hate people who call my bluff." Actually, the verse was "Didn't
He Ramble": he rambled till the butchers cut him down." But when it
came down to it, I just couldn't stand to see something as majestic
as that sheep converted into a mountain of ram chops-not if there was
a choice, anyway. So I passed the buck and hoped like fury that
Frisson hadn't been bluffing, too. "Frisson! Sing it! Quick!"

The poet started chanting,


    "You who were waked from a century's sleep, in a place dark and timeless, unfathomably deep,
    Return to the slumber from which you were waked!
    Return, and go quickly!
    Your blood-thirst is slaked!"


It was working. The ram towered closer, only twenty feet away, and
he filled the world-but his outlines were wavering, and the curls of
his wool were blurring together.

He covered ten feet with each stride, though.

Somehow, Frisson kept it soft and lulling.


    "Sleep, for your great eyes do close!
    Sleep, as the years and the centuries go!
    Lulled in the magma that rocks you so slow,
    Sleep where only the All-Father knows!"


The ram was a mountain, a McKinley, an Everest-but it faded off
into the sunlight at the edges, and its body was growing
translucent.

And it yawned.

I added my two cents' worth.


    "Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
    Smile while sleeping, never rise.
    Sleep, mighty ram, and make no cry.
    Rock him, rock him, lullaby!"


Frisson and Gilbert joined me for a chorus: "Rock him, rock him,
lullaby!

The great hoof swung up for the last ten feet, growing thinner as
it came. it lifted high over my head. I held fast with every thread
of determination I had, frantically singing, petrified, rooted to the
spot, staring up at the great dark circle that seemed to fill the
sky. It oised, then slowly came lower-but I could see the clouds
through p it quite clearly, it faded to barely an outline as it
dropped down, an outline that encircled our heads

And was gone.

And a vast, distant thunder echoed, fading away, half angry
bellow, half yawn. it reverberated over the land for what seemed a
thousand miles, and was gone.

I let out a very long and very shaky breath, then turned to
Frisson.

"Fantastic job, Frisson!"

He was still gazing at the place where the ram had been. "It was,
was it not? 'Twas truly my verses that effected this!"

"It sure was." I turned to Gilbert. "How bad is it?"

"Naught but a scratch." He looked very happy, eyes glowing with
pride. "I have slain a dragon, Master Saul! A small one, but a dragon
natheless! I have actually slain a dragon!"

"You sure did, and we're your witnesses," I affirmed. "You didn't
hesitate for a second. If that doesn't prove your worth, what
could?"

I turned back to Frisson. "But where'd you ever learn that word,
magma'?

"Why, the ram himself did say it," the poet answered, "did say he
was a 'child of Magma.' Who is she, Wizard?"



Chapter Eleven


The day passed without any further incidents, thank Heaven, and we
set up camp in a nice, wide open river meadow. The most menacing
wildlife in sight was a convention of spiders, and I was getting used
to them. They seemed to be more and more abundant the farther we went
back into Allustria-sort of a comment on Suettay's housekeeping, I
supposed. In fact, there was a web on every bush around the campsite,
flickering with the reflections of our firelight. There were circular
webs, triangular, strands of gossamer between branchesevery sort any
arachnid architect ever thought of trying. Their builders ran the
gamut, too, from humble little brown things, up through the
medium-sized spotted ones, to the huge, wide-as-a-quarter specimens
like the one that had gotten me into this mess in the first place. I
glowered at them with transferred resentment, but I couldn't really
blame them for what one of their mates had done. On the other hand, I
didn't have to let them inside my guarding circle, either.

I suddenly realized that I was beginning to regard them as good
company and decided I had definitely been here too long.

Not that I could do much about it. If this was an LSD trip, it
wasn't wearing off-besides, I hadn't been dropping any lately-and if
it was a dream, I couldn't figure out how to wake up. I had pretty
much decided to take the pragmatic approach to the whole problem of
being in a world that couldn't exist. Illusion, dream, hallucination,
or altered state of consciousness coming from my maybe being hit by a
car and lying in a coma-it didn't matter; I was going to have to
treat it as if it were real. Magic might have been only another part
of this dreamworld, but within the context of the illusion, it
worked, and it could hurt me just as badly as a revolver in my own
world. I was going to have to treat it as if it were real.

Not that I was going to have to work any magic myself, of
course.

I didn't have to admit its existence that thoroughly-not as long
as I had Frisson. Let him write up the spells, let him be the
magician. So what if I was the one who read them aloud? That was just
oral interpretation.

Hypocrite? Who, me? I was simply making an emotional adjustment
necessary for psychological survival.

I took first watch, since I didn't feel much like sleeping with
all that speculation going through my head. It didn't keep buzzing
around very long, though, because Angelique was sitting there,
unsleeping, just outside the range of the firelight, her form glowing
in the night, her eyes glowing at me. I smiled in return, then closed
my eyes, pretending to go to sleep.

I couldn't, of course. My favorite fantasy had come true; a
beautiful young woman was head over heels in love with me, and I
couldn't exactly be indifferent to that-couldn't just dismiss it and
yawn, even if she wasn't anything more than a part of a very detailed
hallucination-and even if she was just a ghost. Of course, pure love
shouldn't care about bodies, but I'm afraid mine wasn't all that
pure.

It also wasn't love. At least, I wasn't in love with her-or so I
was trying to persuade myself. At least, I knew it wasn't real, just
the result of a slip of the tongue, so to speak, a rhyme snapped out
without due forethought, in a place where verse had a far more potent
effect than it had any right to. And I knew da- darn well that
Angelique wouldn't have been in love with me if I hadn't accidentally
come up with the wrong spell.

But what could I do? Tell her that to her face? I couldn't quite
summon that much cruelty-besides which, she probably knew already,
but was still in love with me; knowing it was just the result of a
binding spell didn't make any difference to the way she felt. No, all
I could do was to try to spare her the pain of a phony romance, by
not letting her know how I felt-but that was definitely becoming
harder, with Angelique sitting there watching me adoringly, looking
almost mortal in the darkness.

Then all of a sudden, she wasn't.

I mean, she was still watching me-but she was coming apart at the
seams. Then even the pieces were coming apart, shredding into a
hundred tatters, and her eyes had glazed, no longer seeing, no longer
aware.

It didn't take much to figure out what was happening. I sat bolt
upright, calling, "Angelique! Baby! Pull yourself together!" Then I
snarled at myself for losing my poise and forgetting to make it
rhyme. I racked my brains for an integral verse, but all I could come
up with was a variation on "Danny Boy":


    "But come ye back, all bits of ectoplasm!
    Reintegrate, all shreds of lady fair!
    Remain you here, in firelight and shadow, one integrated whole, with those who for you care!"


Okay, so it was doggerel. What do you expect, on the spur of the
moment? But it helped-a little, at least. The tatters and shreds
stopped moving. They hung suspended in midair, so that it seemed as
if Angelique had just expanded to take in a bit more volume. I racked
my brains again, trying to think of a verse that stressed
reintegration and harmony of disparate elements-but a voice behind me
called out,


    "Oh, come back together,
    All bits of my bonny lass,
    Pull all together, rejoin and tether!
    Be all of one, in mind and in body!
    Go not to pieces, go not so early!
    Stay!
    With those who care for thee,
    Care for thee rarely!"


Well, Frisson certainly had learned how to do odd things to rhymes
and meters-but it worked; the tatters that were Angelique began to
pull themselves back together.

Astonished, I whirled and saw Frisson sitting up in his blanket
roll, sorting frantically through the scraps of verse he'd been
scribbling since we pitched camp. I felt stunned-but I forced the
feeling down and turned back to the rope in my magical
tug-of-war.

She was looking a little more solid than before-but even as I
watched, she was shredding again. Grasping at straws, I called,
"Tarry, rash lady! Am I not thy lord?"

No, I wasn't-and Angelique wasn't growing any firmer, either.

The bits and pieces of her ectoplasm were still drifting away from
one another, their form only vaguely resembling a woman's now. After
all, the couplet hadn't rhymed-but at least she held steady for a
minute.

Long enough for Frisson to thrust another verse into my hand, I
gave it a quick glance, then read it aloud:


    "Thou art too long awaited, for
    Thy presence to be 'hated!
    Tarry, lady-stay awhile,
    Till the sun returns to smile!"


That bought us some time, at least. Angelique's pieces began to
pull together remarkably quickly; she was almost an integrated whole
again. Frisson really didn't know his own strength. She became so
whole that I could see she had wakened from whatever longdistance
trance the enemy sorcerer had put her in; she was staring about her
in horror.

I preferred something without a time limit.


    "Oh, mistress mine
    , Where are you roaming,' Oh, stay and hear
    Your true love's coming,
    That can sing both high
    That can sing both high


I was stretching the truth a bit, but I was sure her true love was
coming some time-I just hoped she'd recognize him when he showed up.
But it had worked; her shape was almost complete again, as Frisson
found another scrap of parchment and held it out. I caught it up,
gave it a glance and frowned, but read it anyway:


    "Oh, lady fair, never be so wroth
    As to part the strong friendships thou hast wrought,
    When the spoiler pulls, as now she doth,
    Bear in mind the loyalties thou wast taught,
    And stay to bind thyself fast to us!"


The verse worked with overdrive; Angelique's form pulled together
so fast I could have sworn I'd heard it click.

And was just as quickly shredded again. The enemy sorcerer must
have been putting every ounce of his-or her-energy into that
spell.

I was amazed. I actually began to feel tension in the air around
me, growing stronger and stronger, like strands of unseen force,
pulling and low, and low."

tighter and tighter, and I was the fly caught in the web. The
fleeting thought went through my mind, that this must have been what
an electromagnet felt like as you boosted the voltage-and I began to
feel an intangible pushing, too, as if another field of force was
fighting at my own. Was this how an electron felt, inside a
transistor?

The webs of magical force intensified around me; I felt the
unbearable tension of another magic field repelling my own, trying to
pull Angelique apart. My mind reeled; I felt as if it were being
stretched thin between two enormous engines, each pulling away from
the other with enough force to bend an I-beam-and, in panic, I felt
that Angelique's ghost must be annihilated even if its semblance
stayed with Gilbert and Frisson, destroyed by the sheer stress of
being stretched between two such huge forces.

In desperation, I bellowed the first verse that came into my
mind:


    "What can a tired heart say,
    Which the wise of the world have made dumb?
    Save to the lonely dreams of a child, 'Return again,
    come!'


Angelique's tatters began to pull together one more time, becoming
more and more integral. Before I could even think about the
implications, Frisson thrust another scrap of verse into my hand, and
I called it out without even stopping to think:


    "Begone, dull tearing of the fair!
    Away, false render of the pure!
    Abductor vile,
    By thine own bile,
    Be stunned, and fade,
    And loose the maid!"


Something snapped all about us, something we couldn't hear,
something that slammed us all to the ground with its recoil. Dazed, I
scrambled to my feet, but the tension was gone, the two vast magical
fields dispelled, and Angelique was whipping up, arrowing straight
toward me to bury her face in my doublet-and into my chest-arms
winding about me in a desperate effort to cling, sobbing in terror
and fear.

Automatically, I folded my arms about her, trying to hold them
just outside her form while I murmured soothing sounds, but I was
really too shaken to appreciate the contact; I felt some interesting
prickling, but thrust it out of my mind. I looked up over her
translucent head at Frisson and gasped, "Thanks."

Frisson only nodded, though with shining eyes. The look on his
face gave me a chill, but Angelique was beginning to gasp out
syllables. I turned my attention back to her. "You're safe now," I
assured her with more confidence than I felt. "It's gone."

"Aye," she gasped, "yet it was so evil! I feel soiled by its
touch, whate'erit was-it was so vile!"

"It was," I muttered. "The magic in this land is of the most
depraved sort, all right. Over Angelique's head, I saw Gilbert
standing in front of Gruesome, looking at me with outrage. Because he
hadn't been able to get in on the fighting, no doubt. I asked, "What
sorcerer was that we fought?"

"It could have been none other than Queen Suettay herself,"
Frisson assured me. "Without doubt, she was humiliated by the lady's
escape, and again by your countering of her spells."

"Yes." I nodded. "Since she planned on adding Angelique to her
routine of ectoplasmic slaves-it does reflect on her, having
Angelique saved at the last stab."

"And to lose all the rest of them to Heaven, too," Gilbert assured
me. "It lowers the esteem in which her barons hold her-lowers it
drastically; and several may dare to take arms against her,
attempting to seize the throne for themselves. We weaken her by
protecting the maiden, Wizard Saul."

"And thereby make it vital for Suettay to recover her," I
inferred.

"She has to save face, or risk a rebellion."

"A nice little uprising would rather help us," Frisson noted.

"So the queen must slay you, to prevent that revolt," Gilbert
summarized.

Angelique looked up, horrified, then stepped away from me, hands
warding me off. "Nay, I must leave you, then-for by protecting me,
you have made yourself a marked man!"

I felt my stomach sink, but managed to answer gamely, "Don't let
it worry you-I've been a marked man for a while now." To keep myself
from wondering how much I'd meant by that, I turned back to Frisson
and said, "I really appreciate your help."

"I did aid, then?" Frisson asked, eyes glowing. "I truly did aid?
"Oh, yes," I assured him. "You aided fantastically." But I said it
with a feeling of awe verging on fear, and couldn't help wondering if
Frisson should be classified as a secret weapon.

Apparently so, from the look on his face. His eyes were lit with
joy, and his whole emaciated countenance was suffused with the look
of a man yanked back from the grave. "I think," Frisson said, "that I
have found my metier."

I knew we weren't going to get off that lightly-Suettay may have
lost the skirmish, but she was bound to come back for the rest of the
battle. After all, we hadn't eradicated her, just sent her away from
us, presumably back to her castle-and once on her own territory,
she'd be able to start plotting again. She didn't strike me as the
kind of person who would give up. Considering that she had sold her
soul and promised her boss a sacrifice, she couldn't give up, or
she'd end up in Hellfire, permanently. Extremely permanently.

It made me uneasy, wondering what deviltry she was going to hit me
with next. After all, she knew my weak point-I glanced over at my
weak point, but she was only a heat shimmer in the sunlight.

That wouldn't keep Suettay from being able to find her, though. I
resolved to keep an eye on Angelique, even if I couldn't see her.

About midafternoon, we came to a village that definitely looked as
if it had seen better days. The thatches on the cottages were ragged
and moldering; patches of daub were missing on the walls, letting the
wattle show through. There was garbage in the streets, as if the
people were too tired to take it as far as the garden patches to dig
under for compost. The people themselves were ragged and gaunt,
walking with a shuffling gait, hunched over, as if the weight of the
world were on their shoulders. They darted us quick, suspicious looks
out of narrowed eyes, and as quickly looked away, speeding up to get
away from us. Within five minutes, we were walking down a street that
showed not a single sign of life; there wasn't even a dog or a pig to
go snuffling among the garbage.

Too bad; I would have bought it for roasting. The pig, that is,
not the dog. I was that hungry, and I shuddered to think how Gruesome
must have been feeling. But I noticed a larger-than-average hut with
a pole sticking out above the door, and from the pole hung a bunch of
broom corn-dry enough to use for sweeping, but still a " us which
meant the place was a tavern.

"Let's see if they have anything to eat." I angled toward the
house.

"If they do, I am not sure I would care to dine upon it." Frisson
gave the dried broom a jaundiced eye.

But Gruesome perked up and rumbled, "Food!" so Frisson decided it
would be a good idea, after all. At least, they followed me in, and
so did Gilbert. Angelique's form brightened as she came into the
gloom of the hut, but she disappeared instantly, leaving behind only
a murmured, "I must not alright the landlord."

We sat down at a table. It was quiet as a tomb. I waited
restlessly, watching Gilbert fidget and Gruesome drool, until my
impatience got the best of me. Finally, I cried out, "Ho!
Landlord!"

A formerly portly individual-at least I assumed he must have been
fat once, because his apron was wrapped completely around him, and
the strings were cinched three times-came out, frowning. "What the
devil do ye Then he saw Gruesome, and blanched.

The troll rumbled, "Foooood!"

"But-but there is no food!" the tavernkeeper stammered. "At the
least, there is little enough so that only my wife and hairns may
dine, and that poorly. All else has been taken by the queen's
bailiff!"

I sat rigid for a moment, then forced myself to relax and said,
"That sounds like pretty high taxes."

"Tax' There is no question of tax-'tis a question of what the
queen will let us keep! 'Tis simply that the crown takes all but the
smallest quantity that will keep us alive to raise another crop!
Every year they have taken more, and it has been two years since I
had hops enough to brew my ale! We live by a small patch of garden,
my wife and I, and poorly at that, for three-fifths of it goes to the
queen, and on two-fifths must we dine!"

I felt instantly sorry for the guy, but Gruesome had started
growling, and Gilbert was standing up, loosening his sword in his
scabbard and saying, "If that be so, 'tis my duty as a squire to-"
just then, the door crashed down.

Yes, down, not open-and half a dozen men in steel caps and leather
jerkins burst in, waving halberds and shouting, "Out! Out, one and
all! into the square with you all!"

"What!" one shouted, seeing Gilbert's hand on his sword. "Would
you strike 'gainst the men of the queen's bailiff? Nay, Beiner, slay
him!

Gruesome bellowed, surging to his feet.

The soldiers stared for about one second. Then they slammed back
against one another, scrambling for the door.

"They are strangers! They burst in without asking leave!" The
innkeeper ran over to the soldiers' side fast. "I told them I have no
food to sell, and they-" His fawning restored some measure of poise
to the lead bully. He grabbed the man and threw him back to his
mates, snarling, "Aye, like enough! We have naught to do with
travelers-we have been bidden only to bring the townsfolk! Out with
you, now!" And he made a hurried exit, leading his men out with the
tavernkeeper in their midst-and Frisson and me right behind him.

in the middle of the press of bodies, Frisson hissed, "Master
Saul, why have we come with the soldiers?"

"Because I'm curious," I hissed back. "But they might spot me for
a ringer, because of my clothes. if they chase me out, you stick with
it and come back and tell me what's going on.

"If I can," Frisson muttered, glancing about him fearfully.

That struck me as amusing. Frisson was probably the most dangerous
man there, but he was scared! Somehow, though, I managed to restrain
my boundless mirth.

The soldiers herded us out into the village square, along with a
hundred other souls of both sexes and all ages. Another dozen
soldiers were drawn up there around a roaring fire, and in front of
them strutted a little, stocky man in a long black robe embroidered
with astrological symbols. He grinned as the villagers were herded
up, as if savoring the sight. When they were all there, he snapped,
"You have not paid your taxes!"

A moan of dread swept through the crowd-but the tavernkeeper
stepped forward. "Nay, Bailiff Klout-we have paid, we have all paid!
"

"You know that we have!" an old woman wailed. "Why, you were young
among us, yourself-"

"Aye, and the most despised and shamed of any!" Klout snapped
back, eyes glittering. "Fools! You could not see my inner
greatness!

But the shire reeve did, and has given you all into my power!"

"And every year you have made our taxes higher!" a woman
groaned.

"The queen is never satisfied," Klout retorted. "Yes, you have
paid your taxes for each person, each household-but you have not paid
the tax for your village!"

"A tax for the village!" A man with a long white beard stepped
forward. "Never have I heard of such a thing!"

"You hear of it now! The shire reeve has given me leave to take as
much from you as I will, the better to serve the queen . . ."

"He keeps a share for himself, right?" I hissed to Frisson.

"It is the custom," Frisson acknowledged.

and I have deemed it fit to levy a tax for the village as a whole,
due to the shire reeve and the queen! Ten pieces of gold! Pay!

Pay now what you owe!"

"But we have no more money!" a woman wailed. "All our coins you
took long ago!"

Then I will take cattle or pigs, grain or fruit! But you will pay,
you will pay, or I will burn this village down!"

The people gasped with horror.

Klout surveyed them, gloating. "You laughed at me when I was a
small, clumsy runt of a child! There is not a woman of my own age who
did not mock me for an ugly gnome when I was a youth! Well, mock now!
Laugh now! For by the queen, I surely shall!"

A low moan rose and swelled among the villagers.

I could sympathize with Klout, but only just so far. Revenge I
could understand, but this was way too much.

"No coin?" Klout cried. "Why, then, burn!" And he gestured to his
men, who yanked torches from the bonfire and whirled them around
their heads, setting the flames to roaring.

But another roar answered them-Gruesome, waddling out of the
tavern, and beside him strode Gilbert, bright sword drawn.

Klout recoiled. "What monster is that!"

"Just a friend of mine." I stepped forward. "We're all from out of
town, you see."

Klout swung around, staring at me wildly. "You! Who are you?"

"Just travelers. I worked at being way too casual about it.

"Stopped at the tavern for lunch, but it seems they've gone out of
business-no food to sell. So I got interested in the situation. Think
I'd like to check on the details."

"The queen has sent you!" Klout cried.

"I never said any such thing!" But I wasn't about to stop him if
he wanted to believe it. "I would like to see your books."

"Books?" Klout turned ashen, and a murmur of gratification went
through the crowd.

"Your ledgers, your accounts! So we can all see whether or not the
village has paid the tax due! Come on, trot them out!"

"You have no authority to demand this!" Klout said.

Gruesome stepped up beside me, grumbling with his mouth and
rumbling in his stomach.

"Just an interested bystander," I agreed. "Call me a visiting
magician, asking for a professional courtesy."

Klout took another glance at Gruesome and didn't seem disposed to
dispute my claim. He only turned a lighter shade of ashen and snapped
to one of the soldiers, "The ledger!"

"Cook the books!" I whispered at Frisson.

He stared at me as if I'd gone crazy. "What, Master Saul?"

"Give me a verse to make his accounts show he's lying! Quick!"

Frisson formed an 0 with his lips and turned away, pulling out his
charcoal pencil and a scrap of parchment.

The soldiers were collecting their nerves and themselves, pulling
together into a knot in front of Gruesome, who grinned and licked his
chops. The soldiers faltered, and the ones standing guard at the back
and sides of the crowd began to pull together into clumps. T at left
some unguarded peasants, who began to sneak away between the
huts.

The soldier brought the book from a saddlebag and set it in
Klout's hands. He opened it and held it out before me. "There! You
shall see every penny that each of these villagers has paid, and
shall see that each has rendered no more than the levy set for
him!"

Beside me, Frisson was muttering.

I paged backward, frowning. "Where does your tenure in this office
begin?

"On page thirty-one," he said.

I found it, and saw the change of handwriting-but I also saw the
handwriting change. Nothing obvious, just a few Roman numerals
transforming, two Is close together turning into Vs, two Vs merging
into an X, and so on.

Now, I'm not exactly skilled at Roman numerals, so it took me
awhile to puzzle it out. It certainly turned out to be cumbersome-I
had never realized what a blessing the Arabs had given us when they
invented the zero, and the decimal system that went with it.
Doubleentry bookkeeping would have helped, too-this was just a list
of figures, and I began to appreciate the layout of the checkbook I
never kept up.

I took my time turning the pages, checking out all three of the
years Klout had been in office, and he began to get nervous-I could
tell by his fidgeting, while the crowd eroded at the edges. Finally,
he snapped, "Will you study it all day?"

"No," I said. "I'm up to date. Each person in the village has paid
more than he owed, by anywhere from one penny to ten-and the extra
more than covers the town tax."

He stared, then whipped the book around and started doing his
sums. His eyes grew wider and wider as he paged backward through the
book, growing more and more frantic.

"In fact," I said, "it looks as if you owe the village some
money."

"Witchcraft!" he bawled, and hurled the book away from him, "Liar
and thief! I know what I wrote there!"

I was sure he did-always less than the person had really paid. I
looked up at Frisson. "You saw the figures?"

"Well enough," Frisson agreed nervously.

"Do those figures show anything more than any of the peasants
really paid?"

"Not a penny," he assured me, and he sounded much more certain
about it.

" 'Twas the foulest of magics!" Klout was turning hysterical.
"Vile twisting of ink stains and marks! You cannot come from the
queen, or you would not seek to make taxes less!

Any peasants who hadn't taken to the tall timber were tiptoeing
away now. The soldiers let them go, gripping their weapons tightly
and edging around to surround Gruesome, with Gilbert, Frisson, and me
around him.

"Smite them!" Klout pointed at us. "The queen shall not shield
them, but my magic shall shield you!"

I pulled out my sheaf of Frisson's verses.

The soldiers roared with delight and pounced.

Gilbert knocked aside a sword and sheared through the leather
jerkin behind it in one blow. The soldier screamed and fell back, as
Gruesome reached over the squire's head and picked up another soldier
in each hand. They screamed and struck at him with their halberds,
but he only laughed as the steel glanced off his hide. Then he
squeezed, and the men screamed even louder. Gruesome threw them away
and reached for two more.

Klout shouted something in the Old Tongue, pointing at Gruesome
with both forefingers. Gruesome froze. So did Gilbert, in
midswing-for a split second.

just long enough for me to yell out,


    "The sun beat down upon us,
    And we gasped for cooler air,
    But the sunrays melted all the ice
    That held us frozen there!"


The soldiers roared with vindictive rage and swung, but Gilbert
came alive again, parrying two cuts with one swing, then chopping
back to shear through two halberd handles. Gruesome came alive,
snatching up soldiers and hurling them, Their mates yelped and leapt
back.

Klout turned purple. He pointed at me and screamed,


    "As a lying embezzler, I hearby indict you!
    Let all of these numbers rise up and bite you!"


They did. They really did.

Like a fool, I was holding the book again, open-and I saw the
Roman numerals pry themselves off the page. That was enough; I threw
it away with a shout, but the Xs and Vs were arrowing through the air
to stab at me, and the Ls and Cs were growing diminutive jaws and
biting. Sharp little pains shot through my skin, none more than all
over my face, my arms, a mild nuisance by itself-but they were and my
hands! I had never been so glad that I wore denim and boots!

I flailed at them, trying to swat them, and shouted, "Frisson!
Take over! Don't worry about me, just knock out the soldiers!"

Frisson stared, taken aback, then shook himself and yanked the
sheaf of poems out of my pocket.

Fortunately, Gruesome and Gilbert were keeping the troops too busy
for them to take advantage of my being out of the action. The troll
gathered up two more soldiers in each hand, knocked their heads
together, and threw them at the five who were charging him.

They went down in a tangle of steel and limbs, and Gruesome waded
in, stony talons stabbing.

Klout wasn't idle, though. He was making mystic passes and
chanting in the Old Tongue.

Frisson flipped frantically through the sheaf of poems, found the
one he wanted, and chanted.

"Letters and numbers are toys for the playing,


    Able to hurt only when saying
    The vituperative injuries formed by a man's mind.
    Freed now from that bondage, numbers assigned
    For forays of truth, wound the men of deception!
    Stab them and bite them, in justice's reception!"


The numbers froze in midair, then turned and arrowed toward Klout
and his soldiers.

"Flee!" the lead soldier bellowed, and suddenly the remaining
soldiers were scrambling to their feet and running in panic.

Gruesome yodeled with joy and ran after them.

They looked back, saw him, yelped, and ran faster. They pulled
away-they were much quicker than he was-but he kept it up for a
while, having fun, shouting and blubbering and chortling like a whole
chorus of haunts.

Klout leapt on a mule and dashed away down the road. But at the
village limit, he reined in, turned back, and faced me, weaving
complicated symbols in the air while he chanted something
inarticulate.

Frisson took the next verse from the stack and called out, "Mule,
you have labored right, Therefore of sleep you have great need, So
vanish instantly from sight, And rest you from your worthy deed!"

The mule disappeared, and Klout slammed down, hard, on his
tailbone. His verse broke off into a yell of agony-and the numbers
caught up with him. He leapt to his feet with a howl, then ran
hobbling away, hand pressed over his tailbone. The numerals shot
after him, buzzing like mosquitoes, catching up with him, and away he
went, surrounded by a cloud of the figures of his own deception,
bleating in pain until his shouts faded away.

All of a sudden, the village was awfully quiet.

Then yells of joy burst out all around us, and the peasants came
charging out to hoist Frisson, me, and Gilbert up on their
shoulders.

They paraded us all around the square, singing our praises in
terms that would have made Roland and Arthur blush.

"Did I do well, then?" Frisson called anxiously to me from his
seat on the neighboring pair of shoulders.

"What do you think they're praising you for?" I shouted. "You did
great! And thanks, Frisson-for saving my hide! What's left of it,
anyway! " He took the hint and got busy crafting a verse that would
get rid of my integer rash.

The peasants had just about gotten the celebrating out of their
systems by the time Gruesome came waddling back, grinning, whereupon
they put us down, backed away, and got down to the serious business
of trying to find something for the troll to eat.

They fed us, too, as it turned out-with their usual peasant
shrewdness, they had managed to salt away a few staples that not even
Klout and his soldiers had found. As darkness fell, full and replete,
Frisson and I rolled up in our blankets with Gruesome already a
snoring hill and Gilbert standing watch.

0 0 0

They fed us again in the morning, and we were hard put to refuse
any of it. We managed to set off without being totally foundered, but
the only one who had really avoided overstuffing was Angelique, and I
could have sworn that, if they'd been able to see her clearly, they
would have found a way.

our breakfast was beginning to settle, and we were beginning to
pick up speed, when we came to the circle. The road met another at
right angles, but instead of the two crossing at your average
plussign-shaped intersection, they all ended in a ring-shaped track,
for all the world like a traffic circle. I stopped, frowning.
"Awfully advanced traffic engineering, for a one-horsepower culture.
How come they don't just let the two roads intersect?"

"Because," said Frisson, "that would make a cross, like to that on
which our Savior was hanged."

I seemed to feel the air thicken at the mere mention of words that
were forbidden here, but I did my best to ignore it.

"It was a crossroads once." Gilbert pointed. "The newer grass,
growing where there once was beaten earth, is some small part browner
than the old. Look closely, and you can still see the sacred
sign.

The air seemed to thicken even more with foreboding. I looked
closely, and sure enough, I could just barely make out where the old
intersection had been. "Getting a little fanatical, aren't they"

"I assure you, it would have inhibited the power of the queen and
her henchmen," Angelique's voice murmured, though I could scarcely
see her.

"Well, we do need to get across it, if we're going to keep going,"
I said. "Let's go, folks." I stepped out onto the circle, turning to
my left.

just then, a man wearing black velvet with a dull silver chain
rode out of the woods and into the traffic circle. There were a dozen
armed men behind him, so I could just barely hear him shout,
"Halt!"

He shouldn't have bothered; I'd stopped already and was feeling in
my pocket for the sheaf of Frisson's latest poems.

"Fool, turn!" the man in black barked. "Would you break the
queen's law by going with the sun,"' I stared at him. " 'With the
sun'? What are you talking about?"

"He speaks of the direction in which you were walking, Master
Saul," Frisson said in a low voice.

The head honcho barked, "Go widdershins! Against the sun! Thus is
it commanded of all who come to a road-circle!"

I stared at him for a long moment, then shrugged and turned
around. "Okay, so I'll go from west to east-counterclockwise, if you
insist. Big deal!"

"Hold!" he shouted again. "I like not your manner of speech."

"Well, you've got a pretty lousy accent yourself." I looked up,
frowning.

He narrowed his eyes and moved his horse closer, glaring down at
me. I stood my ground, beginning to feel mulish.

"Odd clothes, odd speech, insolent manner." He looked up at my
companions. "And accompanied by a troll." Back down at me. "You are
he who has been curing witches of their deadly ills, are you
not?"

"Only two." I definitely did not like the way this was going,
especially since his men were making a lot of noise rattling their
sabers as they drew them. "What's the big deal?"

"Know that I am the reeve of this shire!" the man snapped. "Word
has come to me that you bilked the queen of tax money yesterday, and
raised your hand against a bailiff into the bargain!"

"Self-defense," I snapped, "and what's so bad about curing the
sick? "

"Have you a permit for it?" he returned.

I stared. "A permit saying I can cure people? What is this, the
AMA? "

"The queen has ever banned the curing of a witch on her
deathbed!

None who had her license to cure would ever dream of doing so!
Nay, and worse-you have encouraged them to repent, to break their
bonds with Satan!"

"Breaking bondage is definitely what I had in mind."

His sword whipped out. "You had no right, nor license! You shall
cast a spell this instant, revoking those cures you have worked-or
you shall die!"



Chapter Twelve


Gruesome rumbled, and the soldiers had to quiet their horses. They
started looking nervous.

I waved my group to be still and said to the reeve, "Can I see
your license for breathing?"

He stared. "What license?"

"For breathing," I said, impatiently. "if you have to have a
license to get well, you must have to have a license to breathe!
Hasn't the queen gotten around to informing you about it? Show me
your license!

"There is no such thing!" he snapped.

"Ah-ha, you don't have it!" I waved an admonishing finger at
him.

"Everybody who lives in this country lives at the queen's
pleasure, right? "

"Well ... aye "Any heart that's beating, is beating because the
queen lets it beat, right? "

"Well ... aye, but "Then anybody who's breathing is only breathing
because the queen lets them! Because the queen gives them license! So
where's your license to breathe?"

"I... I have not any - - ."

"No license to breathe? And you trying to lay down the law!

Where do you get off telling me to stop curing people just because
I don't have a license' If you really think that makes sense, then
you stop breathing-because you don't have a license!"

That shut him up, and I thought he was just staring at me, until
his face got red. Then I realized, all of a sudden, that his chest
wasn't moving.

"Master!" the soldiers cried, and started forward.

Gilbert drew his sword with an entirely unnecessary clatter, and
Gruesome growled loudly as he stepped up.

The reeve fell off his horse.

I leapt forward and caught him just as the soldiers shouted. They
started forward again, but hesitated, seeing him in my hands.

"This is ridiculous!" I snapped. "Don't you know satire when you
hear it? Now stop this silliness this instant, and start breathing
again! "

He turned blue instead.

"You don't have to obey the queen!" I shouted. "Besides, she never
said anybody had to have a license to breathe! I made it up!"

His face grew darker, and I realized with a shock that it wasn't
just that he wouldn't breathe-he conldn't breathe. I had made the
argument sound too sensible, and he had something like a posthypnotic
command going that compelled him to obey the queen's will-or whatever
he even thought of as her will!

But that was impossible-hypnotism couldn't make people do
something they were dead set against, I knew that.

It followed that the reeve wasn't set against being dead.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. She had linked a posthypnotic
command to his death wish! "Frisson! Praise life!"

The poet held up a scrap of paper in front of my eyes. I read it
aloud, and quickly.


    "You find yourself in love with Death,
    Yet be assured, she
    Is a damsel most distressing,
    And confers no blessing.
    Turn from her, and gain some longer breath!"


I remembered a Drayton couplet, and added it in:


    "Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
    From death to life, thou might'st him yet recover."


And, just so Tennyson wouldn't feel left out-but I made a few
modifications:


    "Drink life To the lees; all times you shall enjoy
    Greatly, as you've suffered greatly, both with those
    You'll find to love you, and alone!"


The reeve's body convulsed with a huge, shuddering breath, and his
complexion lightened. I went almost as limp as he did.

"You ... you have saved me!" He looked up at me, staring, wide
eyed.

"Darn right I have! Another minute, and you would have been at
Hell's door!" I suddenly realized an implication. "That's right-being
a civil servant to a sorceress-queen, you must have sold your soul to
the Devil, too, didn't you?"

"Aye! Yet I have gazed at the fiery portal! 'Tis no children's
tale, but truth!" He looked shaken, but even so, his eyes were
narrowing, and he was beginning to look at me as if estimating how
much torture I could take before dying. I decided the view of Hell
hadn't been enough for him. "Frisson, do you have a verse for
empathy-feeling what other people feel?"

There was a quick riffle of papers behind me, and the reeve shook
himself, glaring over my shoulder. "Is he your scribe?"

"With his handwriting? Not a chance!" I reached for the slip of
parchment Frisson was handing me-but the reeve started to chant in
that confounded ancient language, so I snapped out a Shakespeare
verse that had been tugging at my memory:


    "My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
    And every tongue brings in a several tale,
    And every tale condemns me for a villain.
    All several sins, all used in each degree,
    Throng to the bar, crying all, 'Guilty! Guilty!'
    Oh no! I rather hate myself,
    For hateful deeds committed by myself!"


The reeve froze in midsyllable, a stricken look on his face.

So far, so good. I held up Frisson's verse and read it.


    "There is no creature but I should love,
    And all that I have wronged, should feel my pity.
    For hateful deeds that I have done to others
    Should each and all be visited upon my heart,
    That I myself should feel the pain
    That I have done to others!"


The gathering malice in the reeve's face suddenly dissipated. His
eyes widened, then turned into pools of misery. He bent over, as if
there were a pain inside him. "Aiiee! What have you done! I remember
every cruelty I've wrought; I feel the pain of those I've
injured!

How have you done this thing to me!"

"By poetry," I answered. "That's one of the things it's supposed
to do-make you aware of what someone else is feeling."

"I ache, I burn! Oh, how could I have done such vile things! Curse
you for having given me a conscience! Never again shall I be able to
smite down an innocent!" A single large tear formed at the inside
corner of his eye. "How can I ever make amends for those I have
wronged?"

"Well," I said gently, "You could start by repenting."

"I do, I do! I repent me of my sins! Alas the day that ever I
swore allegiance to the Devil, and banished my conscience! Ah, I ken
not who to hate the more-he for having taken it, or you for having
given it back!" The reeve groaned. "Oh, where is there a priest? For
I must confess my sins, I must be shriven!"

I stared at him a long minute; then I said, "I have a notion you
know better than I do-if there are any priests hiding out in your
shire, you've got a strong suspicion where they are. You just haven't
gotten around to hanging them yet-too many other things to do, like
whipping peasants into paying another tax."

" 'Tis even so." He managed to get his feet under him and stood,
bracing himself against his saddle. "I shall find such a one, I shall
confess! I must know that G ... that Go ... that I am forgiven by the
Most High!" But his body convulsed like a whiplash as he said it, as
if the mere attempt to speak of something sacred had resulted in
intense pain. He set his teeth and pressed on in spite of it. "I
forswear my pact with Satan! I shall turn to G ... to Go ... "

"Keep trying," I urged, "You'll get it out eventually."

One of the soldiers screamed and charged his mount at the reeve,
his sword swinging.

Gruesome took two steps and picked them up, both horse and rider,
gave them a hard shake, and threw them away. The man struck his head
against a stone and lay still. The horse scrambled to its feet and
bolted.

The other soldiers backed away with a moan.

"I take it that was your second-in-command?" I asked.

The reeve nodded. "He would have become reeve in my place, if he
had smitten me down for treachery to the Devil and the queen.

Another will do so soon enough, I doubt not, but I shall have made
some amends for the harm I've done."

I looked at his glossy black hair and realized it was no longer
glossy. In fact, I was definitely seeing a gray hair or two. "Uh ...
if you don't mind my asking, how old are you?"

"Ninety-seven," he answered. "I have preserved life and youth by
black magic-and ahhh!" He almost screamed, back arching in pain.

"What I did to bring about that spell, the number of those I
bled!

Nay, 'tis only justice if all my years come upon me now!"

They were doing just that-he was aging even as I watched. The
black magic that had kept him alive and relatively youthful was gone,
now that he had rejected his bargain with Satan, and his debt of
years was pressing to be paid.

"Find that priest," I suggested, "and quickly, while you still
can."

"I shall!" He scrambled back onto his horse and clutched at the
pommel grimly. To his men, he said, "Get thee back to my castle, with
word that I shall never return! Say also that even my witchcraft
succumbed to that of this stranger! I bid thee repent, for the
hegemony of evil is passing!"

Frisson, pale-faced, pressed another slip of parchment into my
hand. Surprised, I gave it a quick once-over, then nodded emphatic
approval and muttered,


    "He is a sinner, I know full well,
    And yet his death is not God's will.
    But his return to live and dwell
    Until a priest has seen him, still
    Bitten by sin and doing ill.
    One thing is certain, that life flies
    Yet can be slowed for he who tries
    To seek the solace of his faith,
    And find the peace repentance buys!"


That last one sounded like something out of The Rubaiyat, but I
wasn't about to criticize.

The reeve looked up, startled. "What did you say?"

"Nothing to worry you," I answered. "Better get on your way. Who
knows? Suettay might appoint a new reeve before the day's out."

The erstwhile reeve shuddered at the thought and turned his horse
away. "Aye, 'tis even as you've said! Farewell, stranger! I withdraw
my curse on you; I bless you instead, for the agony of conscience you
have wrought will save my soul. But beware the queen, for she never
had a conscience, ever, so no spell can give her one!"

"Thanks for the warning." I exchanged a worried glance with
Frisson. "Hope your trip is smooth."

"If it were rough as rapids, I could not complain of injustice.
Farewell!" He rode away into the woods-but I noticed that he went
clockwise around the circle.

His men groaned and turned back the way they had come, riding
fast.

I turned back to my friends. "Let's just cut across the
circle-what do you say? And get under the trees fast. I don't think
we want to linger.

The trees petered out in late afternoon, and we found ourselves on
an open tableland with occasional straggling lines of undernourished
scrub to show where there was a watercourse. We camped by one of them
just as the sun was sinking, ate a meal of journey rations that
tasted like cardboard and hot water, then turned in. At least,
Gilbert and Frisson did, and Gruesome curled himself up into a very
large ball. But Angelique didn't sleep, of course, and I took first
watch; I was too restless to doze.

So were Angelique and Frisson, to judge by all the whispering that
went on for the next hour-but Gilbert corked right off like the
seasoned campaigner he was, so I woke him up for the second watch,
sometime in the wee hours.

I couldn't sleep, of course. Suettay's threats were too much on my
mind.

Gilbert looked up in surprise to see me wrapped in my cloak
against the night's chill, but still sitting by the camp fire,
staring into the glowing coals. He came over to say, very softly so
as not to wake Frisson, "Will you not sleep, Master Saul? You shall
need your rest on the morrow. "

"I don't doubt it-but I've got much on my mind. I'm trying to
meditate, Gilbert," He frowned. "Do you speak of prayer?"

"It's like praying," I hedged. "in fact, prayer can lead to
meditation, and vice versa. Either way, it's a good way to relax and
get the worries of the day off your mind."

"All." He nodded, satisfied, and stood. "Then I shall leave you to
your holy thoughts, Master Saul. Good night."

"Good night," I answered, and went back to gazing at the coals,
reciting a mantra.

At first I thought it was doing no good-the coals just reminded me
of Hell, which reminded me of Suettay, which reminded me of danger.
So I gazed down at my cupped palms instead, trying to imagine the
sound of one hand clapping, and it was just beginning to work when
there was the faintest of whispers beside me, and Angelique murmured
almost in my ear, "Why are you so sad, Master Saul? Can I aid? " Now,
that was exactly what she was not doing. Maybe she didn't have a
body, but she certainly still looked as if she did, especially at
night, when her form glowed its brightest, complete with all her
curves, which certainly were not in the slightest conducive to a
tranquil state of mind, and definitely not the holy one Gilbert was
hoping I'd have.

"I'm not sad." My voice was more gruff than I intended it to be,
and she drew back a little, hurt-so I amended my statement and tried
to soften my tone. "I'm troubled, yes-worried about the queen's being
after us. But I'm trying to calm down and put her out of my
mind."

"Mayhap I can aid." She reached up to touch my forehead with her
hand, and insubstantial though it was, a breath of coolness seemed to
touch my skin. I shivered, but not with the chill, and reached up to
push her hand away with what I hoped was gentleness. "Your touch
would inspire anything but tranquility. Might distract me from
thoughts of the queen, maybe, but it sure wouldn't put me to
sleep."

She frowned. "I do not understand."

I just stared at her, then nodded. "Good. I think it's better that
way."

Then I unwound myself to my feet. "You'll have to pardon me. just
sitting isn't doing any good, so I think I'm going to have to take a
walk."

"Oh, beware!" Concern replaced the hurt that had been briefly in
her face. "The world is not safe for good folk, at night!"

"Then I shouldn't be in any trouble." I turned and went away
quickly, before the sight of her made me feel any less good. I
glanced back briefly as I restored the guarding circle, behind me,
and saw that she was looking hurt, which made me feel wretched-but
what could I do? And don't give me any guff about spiritual
union-under these circumstances, it would have been highly
unsatisfying.

I strode out into the long grass, walking fast, trying to work out
the sudden spurt of energy her presence had given me. I kept telling
my hormones that ghosts can't emit pheromones, but my glands weren't
listening.

There were too many longings in my body to let me relax enough to
put the witch-queen out of my mind. Besides, Angelique's presence
reminded me that Suettay knew my weakness, and that weakness was
entirely too beautiful, even as a wraith, for my peace of mind-and
far more appealing than she knew. I hoped.

But Suettay knew it, I was sure. I wondered if Angelique was safe
back there, with only Gilbert and Frisson to protect her if the queen
tried anything again-but I decided that, at the least, they'd manage
to call me if anything went wrong. I turned back to see just how far
I had come, then stared, shocked-the coals of the camp fire were only
a glow in the distance, and I couldn't even see any of the bodies
around it. I had come entirely too far. I started back.

A cloud of green smoke erupted ten yards ahead, a silent explosion
in moonlight.

I dropped into a defensive crouch, whipping out my clasp
knife.

Adrenaline slammed through my veins.

The green smoke thinned and drifted away in the night breeze. A
squat, bulging shadow stood black against the moonlight, a
floorlength robe blending its outline into a monolith. A low, mocking
laugh came from the silhouette. "Come, novice! Do you truly think you
can defend yourself from me by force of arms?"

I recognized the voice: Suettay, gilded by moonlight.

I straightened slowly, folding the clasp knife and putting it
away.

"No ... but then, I don't really need weapons, do I?"

But my heart was hammering, and the adrenaline of fear was
flowing. I had faced Suettay and won, yes-but that had been with
friends beside me, including a squire who was as skilled as any
knight, and a poet whose talent verged on genius. How could I stand
against her alone?

Not that I was about to let her know it, of course.

"Ahhhhhh, insolence!" the sorceress breathed. "You have gained
arrogance since our last meeting, Wizard Saul!"

"Oh, so now I'm a wizard, am I?"

Suettay laughed, a noise like a nut grinder. "Certes! 'Tis what
the common folk call you. Did you not know? I assure you, I did.
Naught could happen in my kingdom that I would know not of-for if
anything transpires, my ministers and their clerks tell me of it!
Though there was no need for such offices in this instance; yourself
was enough."

"Enough?" I frowned. "You mean just by living, I give myself
away?"

"There is something to that." Suettay wheezed; I think she meant
it for a laugh. "You should not think so hard about magic-it makes
you quite conspicuous, to those with the Sight."

"True-but you've been watching me all along anyway. How come you
didn't just send another of your minions tonight? Figure you're ready
to take me on personally now?"

"The audacity of the slave!" Suettay breathed, almost in
admiration. "Indeed, I have your measure-and you'll be like a child's
toy to my power! I am sure of your strengths and weaknesses and know
best how to use them!

illogically, I felt a flow of confidence that spread a grin across
my face. "Sure of yourself, eh? Is that why you've bushwhacked me out
here in the middle of nowhere, away from Gilbert and Frisson?"

"Perhaps," Suettay sneered. "They are, indeed, part of your
strength-and you are shorn of them now. You are quite at my
mercy."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow in polite skepticism. "Mercy? Do you
have any? "

"None to mention," Suettay snapped, and her arm swung down like
the arm of a catapult, a fireball leaping from her fingertips.

I dodged, but the fireball swerved to follow me and exploded
against my chest in a soft fountain of sparks. A huge, mushrooming
pain answered from inside my chest, an instant of unbearable agony,
then ...

Nothing. No sensation at all.

The night seemed to darken about me, and strength ebbed from my
legs. As I fell to my knees, I realized, with horror, that my heart
had stopped. Panic thundered in, but I threw it back with a
wrench.

Think fast, or die!

And my mind chilled into total clarity, with an icy lack of
emotion that almost frightened me in itself. There was, after all, no
time for panic-scarcely time for a single sentence. I rasped it out
with what breath was left in my lungs:


    "Life ebbs now in full retreat,
    Till once again begins the beat
    Heavy, steady, short, and hard,
    Beats the never-ending heart!"


Pain wrenched my chest again, but blood roared in my ears and a
jackhammer yammered inside my ribs. I breathed in against its beat
thankfully. As the haze cleared from my eyes, it cleared from my
mind, too: This wasn't going to be a trial of strength, or any other
limited form of conflict-Suettay was playing for keeps. If she could
kill me, she would.

Could I bring myself to try to kill her?

The sorceress came into focus as my heart slowed and steadied.

Suettay's hands were weaving, her lips moving. Then the sorceress
froze, and I realized she'd finished another spell while I was trying
to restart my pump.

Suddenly, the air was filled with darting, whirling streaks of
silver-a thousand knives spinning toward me. I threw myself to the
side, but the knives followed me, swooping. I whipped out my pocket
knife, swinging it in a frantic figure eight as if it were a rapier,
chanting,


    "I, the spirit master,
    Can fend off all disaster.
    Multiply my slight stiletto
    A thousandfold, by whirling ditto!"


There was one slant rhyme, and the meter wasn't exactly constant,
but it worked-the air was suddenly filled with a thousand whirling
clasp knives. They buzzed out at Suettay's daggers, and I grinned as
I watched each of the poniards collide with one of the pocket knives
and fall to the ground.

Then the grin slipped as I caught sight of Suettay; I realized I
shouldn't have taken time out to watch the show. The sorceress' hands
were weaving air again, stringing a pattern of forces. My face
tightened grimly, as I realized the nature of the fight. Working a
spell took time-so, while I was chanting my counterspell, Suettay was
working up her next attack. That meant that I was going to stay on
the defensive, unless I could figure out how to jump a spell.

I had to, or I was dead. Sooner or later, I'd tire-and if I was
late on just one counterspell, I was had.

Dust writhed, and a hundred serpentine heads lifted up around me,
spreading cobra hoods.

It threw me back to my childhood, and Kipling's stories.


    "Let us have a mongoose plural
    From an Indian village rural,
    Skilled at fighting snakes, and glad to
    A hundred mongeese, fighting mad, too!"


I carefully did not watch as the dust boiled alive about me; I
didn't have time. Suettay's arms were weaving, and I took the
offensive:


    "Let a dust storm boil up from the plains of the thirties,
    Filling the sky; and before the next word she's
    Trying to speak, let it blow in and under
    A real Kansas dust storm, sudden as thunder!"


I didn't even get to the chorus before the tableland was filled
with a howling wind, laden with dust. it swept between the sorceress
and me, blocking us from each other. Far off, I heard a roar that
just barely penetrated the thunder of the churning dust
wind-Gruesome, letting out an unbelieving, horrified bellow.

Yes-my mascot was out in this, too. He must have waked, seen I was
gone, and realized I was in danger. I felt an instant panic-had he
broken the guarding circle as he came waddling out to search for
me?

I whipped a fold of my cloak over my nose and mouth, but Gruesome
wouldn't know he should do that. Besides, he didn't have a cloak. The
storm would kill him as quickly as Suettay's spells.

And maybe not just Gruesome; my chest heaved with a huge, wracking
cough. Some of the dust was getting in through the cloth.

But I only needed a few seconds to rank the priorities in my
mind:

One: Get rid of whatever it was that Suettay was whipping up for
her next spell;

Two: Throw another spell of my own at her, and keep on throwing;
and

Three: Get rid of the dust.

Right. Get going on number one.


    "Still more fool shall she appear
    By the time she lingers here.
    With one fool's head she came to war,
    But she'll go away with more!"


Actually, now that I thought about it, that took care of point
two, too; Suettay couldn't do much of a spell with an IQ suddenly
lowered to slightly better than an onion's.

If she hadn't deflected my spell in time. The dust was thinning,
and the wind was dying down. So Suettay had wasted time lessening the
loesS2

Then I heard a rumble of thunder and realized I was wasting time,
myself.

Too late. With a sound like a lireaking sieve, the rain drenched
down. The dust settled, fast; and through the curtain of water, I saw
Suettay-or something that had been Suettay.

It still wore the queen's robes, but it had small eyes under a
very low forehead, and a wide, gaping grin-on one of its heads. The
other two were similar, and maybe worse. I stared, appalled-was this
what happened when you practiced magic without a license?

Certainly without really knowing what you were doing. I was
disgusted with myself. A clean death would have been infinitely
better!

Until I realized the loose grins were forming themselves into
words. Sure-two heads are better than one, and three idiots add up to
a modicum of sense. Whatever spell it was going to be, it wouldn't be
too effective-committee work never is-but I didn't feel like waiting
around to find out. I grabbed for another verse:


    "This monarch will be hanged
    With a silver chain
    'Tis not the chain of many!
    Stole the lives of serf and peer,
    And must be hanged for any!


A silver chain lashed down out of the rain, snaked around the
center head, and snapped taut. Suettay's body jerked upward a good
three feet and dangled, kicking and writhing, from a chain that
wasn't attached to anything.

But the other two heads were still forming words, slowly and
painfully ...

Alarm sizzled through me. I'd only solved one-third of the
problem! Quickly, I started muttering,


    "Triad, by the rule of three,
    Multiply this spell for


Too late. The other two heads were fading, disappearing, and the
loose grin on the one in the noose was tightening as intelligence
came back into the eyes. The forehead moved up-and it was Suettay's
normal face again! The lips writhed in a snarl as she hoisted her
hands up to grab the chain above her head. She pulled, got her throat
clear of the links, and took a deep breath.

I grabbed for another verse.


    "They plucked the entrails of an offering forth,
    And could not find a heart within her breast!"


Suettay looked up, grinned, and started chanting.

I froze. It hadn't worked! Okay, it was only a couplet, and it
didn't rhyme-but it was Shakespeare! It should've shown some
result!

Then I remembered an old medieval tale, transformed into a modern
fairy story, about sorcerers who, afraid of death, put their hearts
outside their bodies for safekeeping-say, in an egg, which was inside
a duck. Or an amulet. How that could work, I couldn't see, unless ...
yes ... wait a minute ... Assume a hyperspatial link, so that blood
could flow from the sorceress to the heart in another dimension, and
back ...

I came to myself with a jolt. Too much thinking! Suettay was
spitting out the last phrase, and I had lost the initiative. Suddenly
my whole body went rigid. I couldn't move! And the paralysis was
creeping over my chest to seize heart and lungs, then trickling up
over my shoulders toward my neck. If I didn't get a quick spell out,
I'd have lockjaw! Plus death.

And Suettay was spell-weaving again!



Chapter Thirteen


I took as deep a breath as I could and spat out:


    "Can't freeze my bones or rot my spleen,
    'Cause I've been shot with Salk vaccine!
    So I'll hang loose from stern to prow
    Paralysis can't touch me now!"


My knees suddenly flexed, and my hands relaxed at my sides. I
tried a step and managed it-but slowly and painfully. Well, you
couldn't expect a cheap spell like that to work wonders ...

But Suettay hadn't wasted the time. She was back on the ground,
the silver noose still hanging above her head, and was finishing up
another chant, her hands pantomiming yanking something up from the
earth.

And four lions leapt out of nowhere, straight at me, roars shaking
the plain.

But a greater roar drowned theirs out, blasting from behind meand
Gruesome thudded past me, straight at the lions!

They hit the brakes, plowing up sod with iron claws and terrified
howls-or three out of four did. The fourth bellowed all the louder an
eapt straight at the troll. I couldn't help thinking that this was
how evolution put an upward limit on courage.

Gruesome was very direct; he slammed in an uppercut. His timing
was just right; he caught the lion under the jaw. It went flipping up
over his head and down in an arc, its head flopping at an unnatural
angle.

The other three decided their initial instinct had been right, and
fled out across the plain with howling yips of fright.

Suettay's hands flew; crooked syllables clanked off her
tongue.

Gruesome turned slowly toward me, a hungry glint in his eye.

"What's the matter?" I backed away. "Look, I didn't mean to get
you into this!"

"Juicy." Gruesome's slab of tongue came out and smacked around his
chops. "Taste good."

I yelped and whirled to run; Suettay had canceled the fairies'
antihuman-eating spell.

Gruesome's feet pounded behind me, coming closer, and I knew that,
though his legs were much shorter in relation to his body, they were
longer than mine, since he was so much bigger-and he could move them
faster, no matter what he looked like. I wasn't going to get out of
this by running-just by talking. Or rhyming, rather. I swerved around
behind the biggest boulder I could find in that barren land and
started chanting.


    "You cannot eat but little meat
    For your stomach, I'm not good.
    Obey elf-prince and wizard friend,
    Not sorceress in hood!
    Why then should you seek quarry more,
    And still seek friends anew,
    When change itself can give no more'tis easy to be true!"


A huge fist came down and smashed the boulder to smithereens.

Gruesome loomed up, huge eyes lit with glee, mouth spread in a
horrible, drooling grin, upraised hands hooked to pounce, and I
turned to run. Huge nails clawed my back, and I howled with pain,
tripping and falling. I rolled to my feet. And I was just in time to
see the glee dim from his eyes as his mouth puckered in confusion.
"Wizard? What I do?"

"Nothing." I went limp with relief. "You chased away some lions
for me, Gruesome. Thanks."

But beyond his bulk, I saw Suettay, hunkered down on her knees,
belt over diagrams she was drawing in the dirt, and intoning a long,
diconing chant.

My heart sank. Whatever she was whopping up, it was big-if
symbolic gestures increased magical power, symbolic drawing would be
even worse!

Then full inspiration hit me, and I realized that a sword can cut
both ways, no matter how clumsy. "Gruesome!" I cried. "There's
another one!" I pointed at Suettay.

"'Nother one what?" the troll rumbled, turning to look. I chanted
quickly, "What you see amid the waste, See as something you would
taste!


    Be it horse, or cat, or bear,
    Or a sorc'ress, kneeling there.
    In your eye it shall appear
    As a morsel sweet and rare!"


Slant rhyme again, but I hoped it would work.

It did. Gruesome let out one gusty "Yum!" and started
runningstraight at Suettay.

The sorceress looked up, startled. Then she sprang aside with a
howl of fear, in the nick of time-Gruesome thundered by, plowing up
her diagrams with his great taloned toes. Suettay howled in rage and
frustration-and I seized the moment, my mind shifting into high gear.
I knew better than to waste a single second by this time.

While she was on the run, I chanted, "Be reversed from
Galatea;

May your limbs and joints betray ya!"

I ripped a thread loose from my shirt, frantically tying knots in
it as I went on:


    "Knot the stomach, bind the head
    Let your limbs go weak with dread!"


The sorceress collapsed, falling back on the ground with a howl of
anger and fear.

Gruesome bellowed victory and stooped for the kill.

"Be as thou wast wont to be!" I shouted. "See as thou wast wont to
see!

Gruesome froze.

Then his face wrinkled, and he turned away in disgust. "Yugh!
Sorceress! Tough! Sour!"

Suettay stared, not knowing whether to be insulted or
relieved.

The fear spell was still on her, but she started muttering anyway,
Gruesome whipped about, looking from side to side in total
bewilderment. "Where goody,' Where juicy piglet?"

So that was what he had seen, instead of Suettay. "it got away," I
said quickly. "Why don't you go back to the camp fire and see if
Gilbert has any leftovers from dinner?"

"Deer haunch." Gruesome nodded sagely and turned away.

Yom!

I pulled out my clasp knife, snapped it open, and stepped up to
touch the point against Suettay's throat. "Cut it," I snapped, "or I
will! " The last syllables of the chant died in the sorceress' throat
as she read the conditional sentence in my eyes.

But she saw something else, too, and a slow, mocking smile spread
over her face. "You believe you have beaten me, then?"

"I did sort of have that impression, yes." Privately, I wondered
how long I could hold the knife still.

"Slay me, then." Suettay smiled, showing teeth.

I stared.

I clamped my jaw, narrowed my eyes. She was mocking me, riding a
bluff. She should have known better; it only made sense for me to
kill her. I braced myself for the thrust-and stayed braced.

Suettay's eyes danced, mocking me.

I ground my teeth and tried to summon up the resolution for the
fatal blow. "Start a spell."

Suettay shook her head, grin widening.

"Damn"' I whirled away, plunging the knife into the earth.

Suettay laughed, a mocking bray. "I congratulate you on your ...
honor, Wizard."

I swung about, fuming.

"Aye, slay the helpless old woman," the sorceress jeered.

"When you rendered me defenseless, Wizard, you bound your own
hands.

"Nothing," I ground out, "gripes me more than someone who takes
advantage of someone else's good nature."

"I could not be more pleased with your ... virtue." Suettay made
the word an insult.

I spun away, burning, taking a deliberate step away from the woman
so I wouldn't do something I'd feel sorry for in the morning.

Behind me, the sorceress sang out a rhyme in that ancient language
I didn't know. I spun about in alarm. She was stretching luxuriously.
"Thank you for affording me a moment to recite my counterspell,
Wizard. Be assured, I'll not return the favor." Her hands started
weaving.

I. snatched up the knife and turned back to her, shifting from
side to side, coming in low. Of course, she could have blocked that
with three words, so I chanted,


    "Her freedom is gained,
    Her malice unfeigned!
    The blow need not hold,
    For blood's no longer ...


Suettay stared, alarmed, then broke off her chant to cry,
"Hist!"

She held up a hand, turning her head a little to the side and
frowning, as if listening to a distant sound.

Then she turned back to me, snarling, "How you have worked your
vile spells, Wizard, I do not know-but I grant You've been far more
formidable than I had thought you would be./' A truce? I wondered if
it was wrong of me to feel relieved.

"I would I could stay and finish what we've so lately begun,"
Suettay spat, "but sudden, urgent affairs have arisen, which require
my Personal attention-blast that monk and his obstinancy! We shall
meet again, be certain-yet I must own, I've gained some respect for
you. When next I see you, 'twill be with an army at my back."

Yes, I decided, wanting a truce was wrong. I screwed down my mercy
and began reciting.

"Fear no more the heat ol the sun, Nor the furious winter's
rages

Suettay looked up in amused surprise. I set my teeth and went
on:


    "Thou thy worldly task hast done;
    Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages."


Suettay cocked her head to the side suddenly, as if she were again
listening for something.

Trying to distract me, I thought. I focused tightly on her face,
chanting:


    "Golden lads and girls all must


Suettay turned back to me with a long, gloating laugh that ended
abruptly in a shouted, unintelligible phrase as she swung her arms in
opposing circles.

"As chimney sweepers!" I shouted.

Suettay disappeared.

"... come to dust," I finished. "Damn. too!

Then I started wondering what she had been laughing about.
Probably just trying to distract me, as I'd thought ... but ...

How about if she had seen some trouble coming for me and my
companions?

On a wide-open plain? In the dead of night? Ridiculous! After an
act like that, what trouble could make any difference?

Then I heard the clank of arms, Gilbert's shouting, and Frisson's
howl, faint but clear across the plain. Gruesome roared, and a crowd
of voices answered him. Metal clashed on metal.

"She sent an ambush party while she had me out of the way!" I
cried. But I didn't answer; I was already running, and trying to
figure out how I could get there faster.

Faster? I skidded to a halt. I was a wizard, wasn't I? At least,
that's what they kept telling me. I could get to any place I wanted,
instantly-at least, within this hallucination. All it took was the
right spell.


    "The trouble's fast-moving, and so must move I,
    Till I'm set by the fire
    'Neath this bright midnight sky.
    Let me, in an instant, a league or more gain,
    In the bat of an eye, far out 'cross this plain!"


There was a sudden rush of giddiness-then my head stopped
swimming, and I looked up at mud-and-thatch walls, crude plank
furniture, and dirty, unkempt people in ragged, dun-colored home
spun.

The man of the house looked up, startled, from his place at the
table. He had a long beard and a large axe.

I stared. What had gone wrong?

Terminology. I'd said "by the fire," but I hadn't specified which
one. And I had said "across the plain"-so here I was, in a peasant
hut presumably on the far side of the plain.

I gave the denizens a toothy grin and tipped an imaginary hat.

"Sorry about the intrusion, folks. just semantics, that's
all."

The man's lips writhed back in a snarl as he came up from the
table, hefting his axe.

Obviously a grammarian. I adlibbed, I And I had a good excuse,


    "The lure missed the fish, and wound up in a shack.
    I return to the world, 'cross the plain. I go back!"


The axe swung down-and I was suddenly in the midst of bright
moonlight again. I turned around, totally confused-and saw a bright
spot on the horizon. Dimly, I heard clashing and yelling.

I sighed. Overshot again! Well, I hadn't exactly had time to get
specific.

But my friends were in a jam. I had to come up with a spell while
I made it to them.

"The starry welkin cover thou anon With gloomy fog as black as
Acheron And lead these treacherous soldiers so astray As each come
quickly in the other's way!"

Suddenly, fog rose up from the ground, getting thicker and thicker
as it climbed. In two minutes, it had hidden the stars-and the
distant clash of arms was liberally interspersed now with shouts of
surprised and angry pain, and cursing.

That would hold them for a while. I dredged up an orientation
verse:


    "Take me back to my new friends
    At the campsite where they fend
    And guard themselves with might and care
    From the foes attacking there!"


There was that moment of disorientation again-then things
steadied, and I found myself staring at the coals of our camp fire. I
whirled about to see Gruesome tossing soldiers like Indian clubs.
Gilbert was laying them about him with his broadsword, and Frisson
crouched by the fire, reading scraps of paper aloud. Angelique
flitted here and there, trying to scare enemy soldiers, and not
terribly worried by their weapons.

But I was-because the fog suddenly lifted. Only ten feet or so,
but that was enough for the soldiers to see where we were and turn to
center on us with some very nasty oaths.

If their field sorcerer could disperse my fog, he might be able to
trap Angelique! I had to find some way to bust up his party.

"Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, That host
with their banners at sunset were seen.

Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown That host in
the morning lay withered and strown."

A huge unseen hand seemed to slap back and forth in the middle of
the raiding party, and troopers went flying. That left only a man in
a gray robe and pointed cap, frantically dodging the unseen force. He
was going to be confused for a few minutes, and I decided to make it
worse.

"I'll chant to him in summertime, And in the winter, too!

But the only, only thing That I'll sing for his song is to shroud
him in the foggy, foggy dew!"

-and among The fog came down again, all the way to the ground the
moans of the soldiers, I heard a tenor cursing. I grinned; that
should keep this junior sorcerer confused for a few minutes.

kly. I needed something a But he'd pick up the pieces pretty quic
uld scare the symbols off his robe-and little more enduring, that wo
his soldiers, too.

And I knew just the thing. I grinned with anticipation as I took a
deep breath and recited, with my best attempt at the original
pronunciation,


    "The fierce spirit painfully endured hardship for a time,
    He who dwelt in darkness ...
    The grim spirit was called Grendel, a rover of the borders,
    One who held the plains, fen and fastness ...
    There came gliding in the black night the walker in darkness,
    From the plain under the mist-hills Grendel came walking,
    Wearing God's anger!"


Night thickened around them, and I took off, following the
crashing Gruesome was making. on my third step, I slammed into
something hard and furry. A roar resounded around me, and a huge,
clawed hand reached down through the darkness toward me. Far above,
two little red eyes gleamed. I howled, ducked around the giant shin,
and ran.

Grendel apparently wasn't about to change course for so small an
irritation, because the crashing of boulders being ground into
pebbles behind me, and I didn't think that was just because was going
away he was running so fast. A yell of horror confirmed it, followed
by the rattle and clash of suits of armor being jumbled together. I
slowed and looked back, but all I could see was a black cloud with a
horse arcing above it and a sorcerer beyond, sawing the air
frantically with his hands. The horse landed on its hooves, by some
miracle, and streaked off in a panic-but the sorcerer had to stand
his ground and keep trying. I didn't think he'd have much luck when
he couldn't even tell what the monster was-especially since I didn't
think the man knew Middle English. Too bad the Dark Age bards hadn't
left a few verses with a wider range of applications-but their
interests had seemed to be rather narrow.

Wide enough for current purposes, however. I noticed that the
crashing seemed to have stopped. So did the sorcerer-he was frozen
with his arms half-raised, looking uncommonly as if he were
surrendering to a Wild West sheriff. Then he whipped about and
disappeared back into the pass. The black cloud drifted after him,
leaving huge, clawed, vaguely anthropoid footprints.

I didn't really care about the sorcerer, but I couldn't leave a
scourge like that to prowl the countryside. I tried to remember how
the fight had gone, decided to be a little more humane, and
improvised a different ending:


    "Grendel must flee from there, mortally sick,
    Seek his joyless home in the fen-slopes.
    He knew the more surely that his life's end had come,
    The full number of his days."


The black cloud kept moving up toward the pass-but as it moved, it
thinned until, by the time it reached the top, it was almost
gone.

A vague outline hung in the air for a second, huge and gross, like
a monstrous parody of the human form-or was it reptilian?-then was
gone, so quickly that I wondered if I'd really seen it. I sighed and
turned away-there had been something heroic about the monster, after
all.

Gilbert was glancing warily up toward the hilltop, then back to
the place where his opponents had been. There was only a dust cloud
there now.

I looked at it, surprised. "What did you do-knock them all the way
back to the mountains?"

"Nay. They saw that black fog you raised, and turned tail. They
fled, and I came near to fleeing after them."

"Near! If I'd had a clear field, I would've been flying out of
here so fast, my backwash would have knocked you over!"

"Me, too!" The troll actually looked shaken. "Goosum go,
fast!"

I looked up at Gruesome, frowning. "I thought trolls weren't
scared of anything."

"One." Gruesome nodded vigorously. "Found it."

"And you banished it, Wizard. Gilbert looked up at me, the whites
still showing all around his eyes. "Nay, you have certainly cleared
our pathway! Have you disbanded them so quickly, then?" "
'Dismembered' may be more like it," I answered. "You'll pardon me if
I don't go back to check."

"Aye, Certes." Angelique looked down from where she wafted around
Gruesome's shoulders, eyes huge. "And what monstrous apparition was
that which you did raise against them, Wizard Saul?"

Being a ghost, she had a professional interest in the
question.

"That's a long story." I sighed. "And a very old one. I'll tell it
to you some time-but right now, I think we'd better reset the
guarding circle that Gruesome broke when he came out to help
me-thanks, old monster .

"Help you?" Angelique looked up, ready to fibrillate.

"That's another story," I said quickly. "I thought you wanted to
hear the one about the monster while we wait for daylight."

"Aye, but I pulled out my can of talcum powder "Then we'd better
get busy.

and stepped over to the break in the circle. Angelique drifted
after me anxiously, but by the time she caught up, I was deep in,
mumbling the spell. When I finished, I looked up brightly and said,
"Okay. Anybody want to hear?"

Angelique's protest was drowned out by noisy concurrence from
Frisson and Gilbert. I glanced around and saw that even the troll was
looking mildly interested. I relaxed and took a deep breath.
"Okay.

Now, once, long ago and very far away, a hero named Hrothgar built
him a hall, hight Heorot . . ."

And they sat up around the camp fire listening for what was left
of the night, eyes growing larger and larger as they listened to the
wondrous tale of the hero Beowulf.

What with one thing and another, we weren't in the world's
greatest shape for traveling when we broke camp and buried our fire
the next morning. We made it until noon, but when we saw the gleaming
castle in the distance, sitting on top of its mound in the middle of
the plain with bright banners flying from its turrets and the midday
light glistening off the white stone of its curtain wall, I couldn't
resist it.

"Just a little farther," I coaxed my friends. "We'll ask for
hospitality there, and if they say yes, we'll be able to rest in
peace and security.

"Aye," Angelique said, "for surely no one evil could live in so
fair a fortress!"

But Gilbert didn't look convinced, and Frisson said, "Can any who
are not evil hold a castle in Allustria?"

But Gruesome grinned from one side of his face to the other and
chortled, "Food!"

"Yeah, but just grain, okay?" I looked up at him nervously. "No
gobbling up the castle horses, now-we don't want to eat out our
welcome."

"Goosum be good," he promised, and we pressed on to our new
short-term goal with renewed vigor.

As we came up the slope, though, I frowned. "Odd. Drawbridge down,
banners flying-but not a soul in sight."

"Mayhap they are all gathered in the bailey for some purpose,"
Frisson ventured.

"Surely they would have left sentries at the walls!" Gilbert
expostulated.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough." We had come up to the
drawbridge's edge. I called out to the little slit windows in the
gatehouse, "Is anybody home?"

A face with a steel cap showed at one of the windows. "What wish
you? " I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
"Hospitality. We are wayfarers who seek a night's lodging-and we are
of gentle blood."

The face looked up a little above my head. "He is not."

I looked around. "Who, Gruesome? No, he's a troll, but he's
friendly. "

"I doubt the castellan would countenance his entrance," the porter
called back. "He must stay without until the lord of the castle has
spoken-but the rest of you may enter."

I stood rigid for a moment, then hissed to my friends, "Maybe we'd
better look for a different campground."

"Mayhap," Gilbert said. But Angelique, unseen, said, "You could do
well with a soft bed and a strong wall about you for a night,
gentlemen, and the troll will not fret,"

"Goosum hunt!" the troll averred.

"Well . . ."

Frisson's eyes were feverish. "A real kitchen, with true food! A
dinner of any other thing but journey rations!" He turned to
Gruesome. "Surely you would not feel neglected, would you, good
monster?"

Gruesome shook his head-or the whole top half of his body,
whichever way you wanted to look at it. "Goosum no trouble! " Well
now, that could have meant that he wouldn't be any trouble if we took
him into the castle, or it could have meant that it wouldn't trouble
him to be left outside, but I chose the latter interpretation. "Okay,
Gruesome, you wait out here. Go hunt a boar or something. We'll see
you in the morning-sooner, if the lord of the castle has a change of
heart."

Gruesome nodded affably and turned away toward the nearest
woods.

Somehow it bothered me, having him out of sight, but I reminded
myself that I was probably safer that way, anyway. "Okay, he's taking
a hike," I called up to the soldier in the little window. "Can we
come in now?

"Aye! The drawbridge is down, and the keep awaits you!" he called
back, and disappeared.

I turned to my companions. "Shall we, friends?"

We went through the gatehouse, Angelique glowing visibly in its
shadow-and the skin on the back of my neck prickled, expecting a
volley from the little windows all along both sides of the passage.
But nothing happened, and we came into the bailey.

" 'Tis fair enough," Frisson said.

It was. The courtyard was bare in the center but with a broad
fringe of grass, where a few horses were grazing contentedly. They
wore only bridles, but they were big-knights' mounts. Smoke came from
some of the buildings against the wall, with cooking odors from the
kitchen range and the steady clang of metal from the smithy.

Both of them relaxed me a little more, though it still seemed odd
not to see anybody around.

"No doubt they are all inside." Frisson sniffed the delicious
aromas and smacked his lips. "Come, friends! To the keep! Must we not
present our compliments to the lord and his lady?"

"Yeah, I guess that's the correct protocol." But this time, I let
Frisson take the lead.

We walked across the courtyard to the tall, round building that
was the keep and went through the doors at its base-into total gloom,
in which Angelique shone brightly again. Frisson stopped with an
exclamation, and Gilbert came through last, looked about him, and
growled.

" 'Tis a ruin!" Frisson cried.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far." I prowled past him, looking
around.

"Structurally, it's in good shape."

"But 'tis filthy, with the dust and dirt of a century at least!"
Angelique protested.

It was. A little light came in from two small windows high up on
the walls, enough illumination to show us a huge round room with fat
pillars holding up the ceiling-and huge cobwebs that stretched
everywhere there was a right angle. A few of them were new, with
active spinners busily mending tears or rolling flies, but the others
were lank and ropy, thick with dust. The floor wasn't much better,
coated with humus that had once been moldering straw. Broken benches
and tables poked up here and there, and I could see the remains of a
few camp fires, where wanderers had spent the night.

"But how could it be?" Frisson protested, visions of a good supper
fleeting away. "The outside is so fair, so well kept and well
tended!"

"Wherefore would they neglect the keep?" Gilbert looked about him,
frowning. "Do not the lord and lady live here?"

The answer hit me like a thunderbolt. "No, they don't, and they
haven't for fifty years or more! The place is deserted! Somebody just
tidied up the outside to lure us in!"

"But who would go to such great labor?" Gilbert cried.

"What great labor? It just took a little magic! And I'll give you
three guesses who uses magic on that scale! Out of here, folks!" I
turned and headed for the door.

just a second too late. A howling war cry cut loose all around us,
waking echoes that the old hall hadn't even known it had.



Chapter Fourteen


Soldiers came charging out from behind the pillars. Around the
edges of the room, knights stepped out from doorways, clanking down
on our little group. iced. He swung it with a Gilbert's sword was out
before I'd not bloodthirsty howl, as I snapped my staff up to guard.
The squire chopped into a helmet, used the rebound to slash at a
belly, and snapped the sword straight ahead to fend off the oncoming
soldier.

But a huge net fell from the rafters to enshroud him. Gilbert
roared and flailed at the net with his sword. He managed to cut a few
strands, but more of them entangled the sword.

I howled in anger, yanked out my knife, and sawed at the mesh,
trying to free my friend-but soldiers crowded me from either side,
and I had to turn to dodge a halberd and lunge at its owner. The
soldier yelled with pain and went down under the feet of his
comrades, and a pike head jabbed at me from the side. I managed to
parry, then remembered I was supposed to be a wizard and frantically
tried to think of a verse. Difficult, because I was also dancing
around the guardsmen, trying to leap in to cut at them and get out
before a sword or halberd hit me. Worse, I was distracted by the
sight of Angelique, almost a whirlwind of gauze, swishing across a
trooper's eyes long enough for Frisson to thwack him with his
staff.

Angelique undulated in front of another trooper long enough to
make him stop in his tracks. The man behind him jarred into him, and
the two of them turned to fighting each other with shouts of anger.
Angelique sped away, flitting through the attackers, causing
havoc.

Frisson fought gamely with a staff, though he was clearly getting
the worst of it.

A bellow split the air, and the soldiers drew back in fright, for
a behemoth strode into the fight with teeth and claws. "Gruesome !" I
shouted with relief. The monster must have heard the sounds of the
fight and come running back to get in on the pounding.

Then some sixth sense warned me, and I spun around. Someone had
managed to get behind me, and a weighted club was swinging down
toward my sinuses with a fully armored knight behind it. I took a
breath to rattle off a verse, but the club swooped down to fill the
world, a huge pain exploded at the side of my head, and I didn't get
to see how the fight came out.

The murk cleared enough for me to see something gleaming. I
blinked, focused, and saw shining, pale-yellow teeth curving upward
in a grin. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head-and immediately
regretted it; pain wreathed my brain in fire. I groaned, clutching my
poor fevered pate and squeezing my eyes shut.

Something nudged my shoulder, none too gently. "Look up, Wizard!
Ere I cut your lids from your eyes!"

There was a certain gloating quality to the words, one that made
me think the speaker would just love an excuse to carry out her
threat. I gritted my teeth and forced my eyes open. The murk,
mercilessly, had fled, forcing me to see the smile in context-and the
context was pretty repulsive. In fact, it was Suettay's face.

I winced and turned away, hoping for a better alternative.

There was an alternative, all right, but whether it was better or
not was decidedly moot. We were in a dank stone chamber, filled with
wicked-looking instruments that I vaguely recognized-an iron maiden;
thumbscrews; and, beside me, several racks. on one lay Frisson, bound
hand and foot-and beside him, Gilbert, who was awake but groggy, and
sitting up. Gruesome was missing. Oddly, I felt a spurt of relief-at
least one of us had escaped the ambush. Then anxiety reawakened in
the wake of the thought, and I hoped the troll wouldn't be so
fanatically loyal as to try to rescue us. After all, what could he
do?

On the other hand, I was a bit more anxious about Angelique.

In fact, she was my prime worry, because she was here, too-in the
flesh! Although now that I looked at it, the body's chest was still,
none of the gashes were bleeding, and it was deathly pale.

Deathly ...

Suettay had put her corpse in with us.

Outrage hit me. How dare Suettay save Angelique's mortal clay like
a trophy?

Or was it for some other purpose?

Suddenly, I remembered what the witch-queen had said about
preserving Angelique's body, and why. I found myself really hoping my
favorite ghost wasn't in that room with us-but I was very much afraid
she was, and in some condition I couldn't detect.

No way around it-I decided I'd have to recognize that we were in
real, genuine, bona ride predicament, and no matter how ugly it was,
I was going to have to face it. I turned back to Suettay.

The queen saw my resignation and laughed, a sound like a truck
trying to roll with a broken hearing. I sighted and reevaluated
herwhen you got right down to it, the queen was a very
ordinary-looking fat woman, if you didn't count the cruel glint in
her eye or the gloating, eager smile on her glistening lips.

A scream scoured the air. I turned frantically to my companionsand
was hugely relieved to see that none of them had made the noise.

it did, however, jerk Frisson rudely back to consciousness,
staring about in instant panic. Suettay laughed again.

I turned to look at her and was amazed to see that the queen
wasn't looking back. In fact, she was looking off to my right with
rapt fascination, nodding slowly and grunting. "Good, good. Again,
again! " Sure enough, the scream split the air once more, and
Suettay's eyes glistened like a connoisseur regarding a Picasso-or, I
revised it, like a voyeur watching a pornographic movie. I turned to
follow Suettay's gaze, puzzled.

I turned away again, as quickly as I could. I could tell from the
sounds that my companions had made the same mistake.

Suettay, apparently, watched torture for fun.

Fortunately, the victim wasn't anybody I knew. I wondered if the
poor man had done anything to deserve torture, or if Suettay's
soldiers had just grabbed the nearest passerby.

The queen turned toward me, grinning from ear to ear. "Do you not
find this pastime amusing, Wizard?" She said the last two words with
so much sarcasm that they might have cracked under the load.

But I was in no condition to notice; I was fighting a rising
gorge.

"Uh, no thanks, Your Majesty-that's more like my idea of
work."

The torturer giggled as he turned some minuscule device, and the
prisoner screamed again.

Suettay's face reddened on the instant, engorging with rage. "Do
you think yourself so much better than me, then? Torturer!" She waved
at the official. "Release the prisoner! We will save the rest of his
agony for a time of proper leisure!" Then, to two apprentices
standing by in leather loincloths and black masks, "Seize this churl
and lay him on the table!"

In the middle of the apprentices' giggles and my friends' cries of
outrage, all I could think, as they unstrapped me and hustled me over
to the table, was that at least I'd spared the poor peasant some
pain.

"Fight, Wizard Saul!" Gilbert shouted. "Do not let them doom you
without a struggle!"

But I didn't have any time to fight-I was too busy thinking up
verses.

The torturers slapped me down on the table. Very effective-it
knocked the breath out of me long enough for them to put the shackles
on. Then the main torturer advanced, grinning over a glowing branding
iron. I tried to forget it was for me and started to mutterbut the
torturer nodded at an apprentice, who stabbed the ball of my thumb
with a fat pin. I yelped, the verse going completely out of my mind.
But it reminded me of another one:


    "By the pricking of my thumbs
    Something wicked this way comes!
    Open locks, whoever knocks!"


The shackles sprang loose with a clatter, and I bounded up,
stiffarming the torturer as I passed. "Sorry, but I don't really have
time today, I have an appointment with-" Gilbert and trisson shouted
approval, but the queen stared, appalled; whatever she'd been
expecting from me, that hadn't been it.

Her face darkened then, and she barked, "Seize him!"

Two guards jumped me and slammed me back down on the table.

Suettay gave a curt nod toward the rest of the captives, and other
guards backhanded them both across the mouths. Frisson reeled back
down, and Gilbert recoiled.

Anger filled me, for which I was thankful. I glared at the queen,
who laughed with vindictive pleasure as the torturer came back with
the heated iron, its glow dulled to a sullen red. He moved it slowly
toward my forehead, his gloating grin growing again.

I stared at the horrid, glowing pentacle, as fascinated as I was
horrified, trying for the life of me to think of a verse-and I
did.

'Tears are for the craven, Pleading for the clown, Halters for the
silly neck That cannot keep a crown.' He was taken prisoner, He was
cast in thrall, iron, cold iron, is master of them all!"

The iron star cooled amazingly, its glow dimming to blackness as
it neared. The torturer cried out-was that fear, or just
disappointment?-but Suettay's hands moved in some odd pattern while
she snarled something with a heavy meter in a tongue I didn't know,
and the star glowed into brightness again-not just red, but
white-hot. The torturer's grin grew back with it, and I just had time
to realize that Suettay had been expecting some sort of cooling
spell, before the heat of the iron seared my whole face, then passed
beyond my sight, and pain, bright liquid pain, worse than any I had
ever known, shot outward from the center of my forehead, drowning out
all other sensations-my friends' shouts of horror, Suettay's
victorious crowing, my own scream.

Gradually, the pain diminished until the things I saw could
regisill wrapped in agony, and my ter again, though my whole head was
St whole spirit quailed in total, abject, gibbering fear. I could
hear Suettay soothing, "Softly, softly. Pain on pain will yield no
gain; he will not feel the pins, while he's curled in agony from the
iron."

Good advice, and I realized the smart thing would be to keep
screaming and pretending I was delirious-but I saw Angelique's
bruised corpse; Gilbert, a bruise darkening on his cheek; and
Frisson, crumpled against his rack, blood trickling from the hand
cupped over his mouth.

There was no room for anger now; my whole being was filled with
fear, horrible fear that the torturer would do that again, and I
whimpered, "Please ... please . . ."

"Yes, it does please me." Suettay chuckled. "And will please me
for all of this day, and part of this night, I doubt not." Suddenly,
her eyes blazed, and her whole countenance contorted. "Fool! To defy
my will! Now will you learn the fate that befalls those who oppose
Suettay! Now will you learn what it is, to die in torment!"

She motioned, and pain lanced through my hands. I screamed; then,
as the pain dimmed, the thought fleeted through my mind that at least
I didn't have any major sins on my conscience at the moment, so I'd
die Heaven-bound ...

The realization blossomed like a flower, even through the pain,
and I had no doubts as to where it had come from. By myself, I
wouldn't even have thought of those terms, and if I had, I would have
thought that because I wasn't holier-than-thou, I couldn't have been
good. But the inspiration came, and I realized that, yes, I was in a
state of grace at the moment-not perfect, but I'd been doing more
good works than bad-enough so that Satan had no power over me.

That meant Suettay could only control me with physical force; as
far as magic went, her spells were by no means unbeatable.

If I could only find the right one. And if I could just get it out
of my mouth.

But Suettay saw the hope rising in my face, and screamed, "Lance
him!

Pain bit through my thumbs again. This time, though, I knew it was
coming, and I could grit my teeth and ride it out. I held tight to
the thought of defense. My mind searched frantically through the
verses I knew, rejecting anything the queen might expect, seizing the
least likely:


    "You get a good spadesman
    To plant a small tradesman
    (First take off his boots with a boot tree),
    And his feet will take root,
    And his fingers will shoot,
    And they'll blossom and bud like a fruit tree!"


The torturer cried out in alarm as invisible hands wrenched off
his boots. A block of stone flipped itself out of the floor, and the
unseen hands jammed the torturer into the dirt beneath. Then he
howled with pain and fright as his arms stretched out like tree
limbs. His fingers elongated like little branches, the tips bulging
into buds that sprang open into flowers.

My friends shouted with delight, and the apprentices shrank back
with a moan.

"Mercy!" the torturer cried. "Mercy!"

"You're welcome," I muttered. I wasn't thinking too clearly, what
with all the pain.

Suettay paled, falling back a pace. I started to flounder up off
the torture table, though, and the queen snapped out of her
shock.

"Guards! Seize him!"

But all of a sudden, the guards were reluctant, and it gave me
time to climb to my feet, searching frantically for another
verse.

"Will you not seize him?" the queen ranted. "Must I turn you all
into flaming brands?"

The soldiers paled and started forward.

I decided to stay with Gilbert and Sullivan.

"If you want a proud foe to make tracks, if you'd melt a cruel
monarch in wax, You've but to call in the old resident jinn, From
Seventy Simmery Axe!"

An explosion of expanding air rocked the chamber, and there it
was, a full-fledged Arabian jinn, complete with turban and beard.

"Your command, master?"

The companions and guards both stared, and somebody made a sick
moan-maybe it was Suettay.

"More like a client, actually," I clarified, remembering what one
tradition said happened to jinn's masters. "I'd like you to clear the
guards and torturers out of this chamber, banish them to some oasis
dded, rememberin the nearest desert. But not too lush an oasis," I a
ing what the torturers had done to me.

"Your wish is my command." The jinn raised his hands ...

And Suettay got her mouth working. Her hands twitched through the
air as she recited some incomprehensible syllables-incomrehensible to
me, but apparently something understood them somep where, because
when the jinn cried aloud some ancient syllables of his own and threw
his hands up, the whirlwind that sprang up just as quickly died
down.

The jinn stared, unbelieving, then suddenly gasped and spat out a
string of words, making mystic passes all around himself. His form
wavered and thinned, then solidified again.

Suettay grinned, chanting again as her hands stirred the air.

"I cannot," the jinn gasped. "The sorceress moves against me! 'Tis
all I can do to fend off her magics! " But I had taken time for a
thinking break, and chanted,


    "And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
    Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!"


The guards cried out as a huge, invisible hand slammed them
against the wall. They crumpled to the floor, out cold.

"I cannot prevail," the jinn gasped. "I can at best withhold her
might! "

"You're doing just fine," I assured him. "While you're holding her
off, I'm free to work on her henchmen. Now, let's see ... a verse
about torturers . . ."

Suettay's face twisted, and she snarled, "Seize her!"

The apprentice torturers leapt to Angelique's body.

Frisson and Gilbert struggled against their bonds, but Suettay
snapped, "Hold! Move, and her spirit dies!"

I whirled to her, staring. She was holding a corked bottle over
her head-and it looked to be made of very thin glass.

One of the torturers, hearing, whisked out a knife and held it to
the throat of Angelique's body.

"So," I said. "When your men knocked me out, you managed to compel
her ghost into a bottle."

"W by, how quickly you understand!" Suettay crooned.

"So break it." I frowned. "All you'll do is free her ghost
again."

"Nay, for I'll scream the spell as I do-and as the lady comes out
from the flask, her ghost will leap to her body. Look at it! The boot
is on!"

I whirled to look. Sure enough, the iron boot was clamped around
one of Angelique's feet, and there were thumbscrews on each hand. I
knew, with a sick certainty, that they had been there ever since
she'd died. If her ghost went back in there, and the body came alive
again, it would be in instant agony.

But the explanation had taken time from Suettay's spells, and the
jinn shouted what sounded like an oath. A huge scimitar appeared in
midair, slicing down at Suettay. The queen answered with a curse, and
the huge blade winked out just before it hit her. She broke out in a
sweat and snapped, "Banish him, Wizard, or the woman lives!"

I was in no shape to appreciate the irony.

Neither was the jinn; he was chanting again. Suettay's face
reddened, and her hands sawed the air furiously; she managed to croak
a verse ...

The torturer pricked, and a drop of blood welled up on Angelique's
pale throat. Frisson groaned, and Gilbert cried out in dismay.

I capitulated. "Thanks, 0 jinn-but I'm afraid we're
outflanked.

Back to the place of your people, now."

The jinn cried out in relief and delight, and disappeared.

Suettay wiped her forehead with a shaking hand, drew a deep
breath, and forced a grin. "Now, Wizard. I believe we understand our
positions."

"Not quite." My eyes narrowed. "If that slab of beef harms a hair
on her head, I'll turn him into a turnip."

The torturer looked up, appalled.

"I think not," Suettay purred, "while I can prevent it."

"True. First, I'll turn you into a pig. Not that it will take
much."

Frisson crowed his approval, then caught himself, eyeing the queen
fearfully.

Suettay reddened, and her eyes narrowed. "Attempt it, and she will
wake into agony while you chant."

"Not if the torturer knows you'll gobble him up the next minute-or
do you really think you'd be able to resist the temptation?

You're not too good at that, you know."

"I think I shall still be as I am, and you shall be a toad!"

I raised my hands, ready to gesture. "Ready to try it? On the
count of three "Be still!" Suettay watched me with narrowed eyes.
Beyond her, I saw Frisson's abstracted gaze, and knew I could count
on magical help from an unexpected quarter. On the other hand, I
wasn't sure what the effects of that help would be-if inspiration
struck, he was apt to forget practicalities.

"You prevaricate," the sorceress guessed, "for you would not
chance the woman's life."

I said slowly, "Not if there's a way to guarantee her safety, and
that of my friends, no. Trouble is, I don't see any such way."

"There is one," Suettay said, with a leer. "Ally yourself with
myself and with evil, and the maid shall go free."

I lay rigid with shock-but beside me, Gilbert called out, "Nay,
Master Saul! She would smite the lass nonetheless!"

"I would not," Suettay retorted, "for if I did, the wizard might
turn against me."

"That ... makes sense," I said slowly.

"Surely you are not tempted!" Frisson cried.

"Tempted, sure." I shrugged. "Anybody can be tempted, right?

Can't avoid that. Giving in to it is another matter-but yes, I am
tempted."

"Tempted most shrewdly." Suettay's leer broadened. "Come, Wizard!
Swear allegiance to me and to Satan, and the soul of the lass shall
go free. Nay, further-I'll remove the spell that keeps her body
alive, so that her soul may fly to Heaven."

It was a good deal, and it was very tempting; I loved Angelique
dearly, and sending her to eternal bliss would have made her very
happy. Unfortunately, it would have made me very sad-I finally
admitted to myself just how thoroughly I'd fallen in love with her,
and how much I wanted her with me. With me, in body as well as
spirit, I might add-I might have been substantially in a state of
grace, but I was no plaster saint. I wanted Angelique and I wanted
her alive, well, and corporeal.

But that was selfish.

"No, Master Saul!" Gilbert cried. "You must not! Without you, we
should all be-" Suettay nodded at a guard, who slapped Gilbert hard
across the mouth, then stuffed a gag in, But he'd said enough.
Without me, this whole complex of forces that was gathering to oust
Suettay and clean up Allustria might falter and fail. I know that
sounds conceited, but I didn't really know what my part in the whole
scheme was-only that I was definitely a part of it, and if one part
failed, all the rest probably would, too.

But more importantly, Suettay still needed Angelique for that
virgin sacrifice-and once I committed myself to the power of evil, I
would be under her authority, and powerless to stop her.

"He hesitates," Suettay snapped. "He is a fool, and will do us no
good. " The torturers rumbled agreement-of course-and Suettay stepped
up to Angelique's body. She handed the flask to one of her
henchmen.

"Pull the cork when I bid you, and the spirit shall be sucked back
into the clay." Then she began to weave a pattern of strange, vaguely
obscene gestures over the corpse, chanting in that strange, eerie
language.

I had a sudden vision of that poor, gentle body coming alive,
convulsing in pain, screaming in agony. "No, wait!"

"Will you join me?"

My heart twisted within me, and my whole body twisted with it.

All the fears and horrors of the evil I'd seen flitted through my
memory, and an intuitive impulse such as i,d never had surged through
me, adding up to a panic of denial-but there lay Angelique's body,
with her ghost ready to hand "No."

"Curses!" Suettay spat. "How strong is your love, then, if you
will not sell your soul to save the maiden from pain?"

That suddenly made everything clear, and I felt the peace of
certainty flow back through me-for I realized that selling my soul
would be the denial of love. Love is healing, love pulls the soul
toward Heaven ' because it's a tiny taste of Heaven-so if I sold my
soul, dedicated it completely to evil, I'd be locking myself away
from love. If I signed up with Suettay, I would no longer really be
able to love Angelique.

But I would still desire her-and what might I do to her then, with
no conscience and no empathy?

"No," I said. "if I sold my soul, then I'd be placing her
completely in your power-there would be no one left to shield
her."

"A curse upon the spirit that has told you that!" Suettay
snarled.

I suddenly realized where all these inspirations had been coming
from. "Won't work. He's curse-proof."

Suettay's eyes narrowed. "Then I'll proffer you another
bargain.

Cease your hold on this world, and I shall let the girl's ghost go
free."

Panic again, at the thought of leaving Angelique-but the logic of
it made me hesitate. Sure, if Suettay could augment her power by
converting a wild card of a wizard to her side, it would make her
that much stronger, and her enemies that much weaker-but if she
couldn't subvert me, she could at least get rid of me. That would
give her one less thing to worry about.

A return to my own world was what I wanted anyway, right? Except
that I was trying to find Matt-but I'd sure found out where he had
gone, and there was no particular reason to think he wasn't alive and
well. If I really wanted to find out, all I had to do was go back to
my own world, find the parchment he had used, and read whatever spell
it contained-it would take me to him. Nice double cross for Suettay,
too.

But what would happen to my friends in the meantime?

I summoned all my nerve and said, "No."

"That was my final kindness, fool!" Suettay screamed. "Why do you
disdain it?"

"Because," I said, "as soon as I'm out of the way, you'll go ahead
and sacrifice Angelique, then start in on my friends."

"But you would have no knowledge of that! You would not care!"

"Oh, I would care," I assured her, "very much."

Her eyes narrowed to glitters of malice. "Then we shall remove all
the sources of that care-by simple murder! I am loath to waste
objects of pleasure in quick killing-but if it will speed you hence,
I shall do it! Guards! Slay-"

"No!" I shouted. "You kill them, and I'll hang on in this universe
just to get revenge on you!"

She broke off, looking up at me with a strange, malicious
smile.

" 'Tis tempting-for revenge is sinful, and in letting yourself be
consumed with hatred and the desire for vengeance, you would succumb
to the lure of evil, and be subsumed in it."

My heart sank.

"Sweet though that would be," she said regretfully, "it would be
of no aid to me, myself-and might hinder me, in your rebellion."

I saw my chance. "Yeah! And the sinfulness of my revenge might
even be balanced by the good I did in getting rid of you!"

" 'Tis even so." Her eyes were back to the nasty glitters again.
"So it would seem that you must join me, or die."

I felt my stomach drop down to the bottom of the shaft, but I set
my jaw and said, "Death. Definitely death." And I tried to sneak in
one more spell:


    "He took the Wine and blessed it,
    He blessed and broke the Bread


"Enough!" Suettay screamed. "Silence him!"

A hard hand backhanded me across the mouth. I saw stars, and
wondered if I'd need a dentist or an orthodontist.

"To the dungeons with them!" Suettay ranted. "The wench shall
remain imprisoned in this flask, till I incorporate her to watch his
final agonies! Let them rot in my most dreary cell, while I begin
preparations for a revenge dealt in a manner that will most please my
master! " Then I was running to try to keep from falling as the
apprentice torturers hustled the three of us down the hallway and
into a cell.

My skin crawled with apprehension. Somehow, I didn't think the
"master" Suettay had referred to was anyone human. I had a nasty,
sneaking suspicion that I knew how high up in the nonhuman hierarchy
that individual was-and what kind of revenge he would find most
pleasing.



Chapter Fifteen


We landed sitting down-hard, and it hurt. The door boomed shut
behind us.

Oddly, my initial impression was one of peace. It was so nice and
cool after the heat of the torture chamber, and the darkness was
soothing, especially since it was relieved by the dim glow through
the little barred window in the door.

My second impression was one of amazing satisfaction. I had put a
long-term crimp in Suettay's plans; there was no telling how long the
queen would be tied up trying to figure out a way to cancel my
existence. Apparently I was an odd enough customer that she would
have to do it carefully. For a moment, I was tempted to believe it
was the overwhelming strength of my "spells," the legacy of my nearly
completed English major-but skepticism got the better of ego, and I
realized that it probably had more to do with who had brought me into
this cockamamy universe, than with me, myself.

if I ever met that guy ...

I chopped off that line of thought as a new suspicion dawned. if I
was such a delicate article, no wonder Suettay had tried to deal!

Which raised the possibility that she might try to bargain again;
I decided I'd better get busy figuring out a new set of
counterspells. if she had any brains, she'd gag Frisson at the
outset.

or kill him ...

I mumbled a quick charm to clear my head; I knew I couldn't
concentrate through the pain. Then Gilbert swore, with loathing.

"What's the matter?" All other concerns were instantly
forgotten.

"Something with warmth and fur did brush my thigh!"

"Don't try to hit it if you can't see it!" I had a sinking
certainty that I knew what it was.

Then I heard a dry, high-pitched chuckle from the depths of the
lightless hole.

I froze and hissed, "Everybody stay still!" Then, aloud, "Who's
there?

The chuckle came again, with a nasty edge to it.

It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "I warn you,
I'm a wizard-and the queen herself has just found out to her sorrow
that I'm not without power even here, within the realm of evil!
Answer! Who are you?"

The chuckler was still. Then a rasping voice came out of the
darkness. "Have you hurt the queen, then?"

"Not really," I said, "but I do seem to have snafued her
system."

"I do not know that spell," the voice said. "Tell me, does it
cause her humiliation?"

"Because she can't fix it? Yeah, I'd say so-and frustration. But
nothing compared to what I'm feeling! Are you going to tell me who
you are, or do I have to come over there and drag it out of you?" The
day's woes suddenly boiled over. I shoved myself to my feet and
strode toward the voice.

There was a scrabbling in the darkness ahead of me, and the voice
hissed, "Beware! Or my pets shall have you!"

There was something sinister in the way he said "pets" that made
me halt, in spite of the loss of pride it entailed. "Blast! We need
some light in here!"

"Nay!" the voice cried, but I chanted,


    "Oh, light was the world that he held in his hands,
    And light shall bloom here, to show us this man!"


A torch flame flared in the darkness, and I saw a fat, bald man
with a wrinkled, chinless face, deathly pale from being too long in
darkness. His clothes were filthy rags, but they had once been fine
robes. He flinched back from the light, baring long, yellow teeth.
Half a dozen huge rats scrabbled back with him, lips writhing in
snarls, long, stained incisors bared. A couple of them burrowed into
his robes.

I swallowed. 'I see your point." I cleared my throat and said,
"Odd choice of associates, don't you think?"

"There's little enough else by me here," the bald man snarled,
/land they are better company than most folk I have known."

That was a signal, if I had ever heard one. I stilled inside, and
inquired, "People done you wrong?"

The bald man laughed, a hissing series of expelled breaths. "Who
among them has not? Yet I must own there was a rightness to it-for I
did them harm, as oft as I might. Is not this the way of the
world?"

"Nay," Gilbert croaked.

"Aye," Frisson contradicted. "Yet that's not to say it should
be."

"Should be!" the bald man spit. "A pox upon your 'should be'! I
will abide with what is, not with what 'should be'!"

"As you always have?" I murmured.

"Aye! There's at least some slight honesty to it! Your 'should be'
is hypocrisy! "

"Not if we look for the better world," Frisson said softly.

"if all could behave as they should, look you, the world would
become a far better place," Gilbert insisted.

"Yet your 'all' will not do so, not even a moiety!" the bald man
declared. "Nay, I shall abide by my 'is'!"

"After all," I said, "it's done so well for you."

The glare the bald man gave me was pure hate. "It did well indeed
for me, young man, for three dozen years! Ever did I rise higher
through the ranks of the queen's clerks, till I stood above them all
as chancellor, with a dozen desks 'neath my sway, and twenty
scriptoriums to each! Directly below the queen's privy chamber I
stood, and would have risen to a post within it, had not misfortune
intervened!"

"The queen's privy?" Frisson murmured. "I should think that an
unfortunate position."

The bald man's eyes narrowed again. "Mock if you will! But those
who are the queen's most senior servants have power indeed, because
they are privy to her counsel!"

"So you were the top man in the second level of the bureaucracy,"
I interpreted.

The bald man frowned, peering keenly at me. " 'Bureacracy'? What
is that? "

"Literally, 'government by desks,' " I answered. "It's the
organization of clerks who actually run the country."

The bald man held my gaze for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"Aye. 'Tis oddly said, but 'tis how Suettay doth govern."

"And," I inferred, "you made a little mistake in your climb to the
top?"

"Aye, a small mistake only," the bald man grated, "and one that I
should have seen would be so-for I did bethink me of a means toward
greater power for the queen, believing she would create a new
chancellery for it and for me, and raise me to the privy chamber. Yet
she saw, and clearly, that such power might give me some chance to
move against her, and therefore sent me here."

I nodded. "You did your job just a little too well. She realized
the true scope of your ability, so she made haste to Put you where
you couldn't do her any harm."

"Would she had slain me instead!" the bald man hissed.

"That would have been nicer," I agreed. "Trouble is, it might not
have made you enough of an example for ambitious young men who show
too much initiative and do more than they're told. How many times has
she pulled you out to parade before her clerks?"

The bald man frowned. "Twice, o'er the years-and, as you say,
'twas before her clerks assembled. Yet 'twas to demand of me the
scope of my chancellery, matters which my successor had
forgotten."

I nodded. "And, conveniently, on the inauguration of the new
chancellor, each time-just as a little warning to him." The bald
man's eyes widened, burning. " 'Tis even as you say! What a fool was
I not to have seen it!"

"Understandable." I shrugged. "You fell victim to the bureaucrat's
big weakness-you started caring about the job itself and forgot it
was just supposed to be a means of personal advancement."

The glittering gaze held for a minute, before the bald head nodded
slowly. "Aye. Fool that I was, I thought that excellence of work
would raise me up by itself."

"The race is not always to the swift " I quoted, "nor advancement
to the most able-at his job, at least. It is to the most able, at
currying favor and influence. Of course, if he can't do the job, he
gets fired.

Gilbert shuddered. "Woe to Allustria! If it is to be governed by
such willful incompetence!"

No, it is competence," I corrected, "but only competence." I
turned to the bald man. "And you let the queen see that you could
actually excel. " The long teeth bared in a mirthless smile. "Aye,
fool that I was."

"Then you hit the midlife crisis." I lifted an eyebrow. "I take it
your chancellery had something to do with the fall of Allustria The
bald man grinned. "You may say that if you will. Certain it is that
Queen Graftus, the queen unseated by Suettay's grandmother, became
greedy and boosted the taxes-but then, at the recommends tion of her
chief adviser, began to try to be sure the taxes were collected.
First she had a complete list of all possessions made up, then
verified the taxes each person owed and, when they were paid, checked
them against the record-all under the direction of her chief adviser,
of course. In cases of underpayment, she dispatched a squad or more
of royal knights with a clerk, to collect. When recalcitrant dukes
managed to resist, her adviser recommended magic, and went herself,
with a small army, to work sorcery against the reluctant dukes."

"Let me guess," I said softly. "The chief adviser was
Suettay."

The bald man frowned. "Nay, her grandmother, the Chancellor
Reiziv. We speak of events two hundred years gone, young man. How old
do you think the queen to be? " I exchanged a quick glance with
Frisson, but only said, "Sorry. I guess I'm just overly impressed by
Her Majesty. I take it Queen Graftus was happy with her
sorceress-adviser?"

"Aye; the stratagem was so successful that the queen allowed
Reiziv to recruit junior sorcerers, and no baron dared to resist
again.

Queen Graftus thus became very wealthy and very powerful."

"Very," I agreed. "How long did it take her to realize her chief
adviser Reiviz really held the reins of power?"

"Never, till she waked in the middle of the night with a knife in
her throat, and the sorceress' laugh of glee ringing in her ears, all
the way down to Hell. Then did the sorceress become queen, and all
the people did witness the power of sorcery."

"Yes, of course-after all, it had won, hadn't it? So you grew
up

"Aye." A shadow crossed the bald man's face. "Yet I was found
wanting to become a sorcerer."

wanting in talent. Therefore did I turn with zeal to becoming a
clerk.

"Next most profitable career, I guess. What was your dazzling
improvement on the system?"

The bald man's gaze darkened with self-contempt. "Oh, 'twas a
marvelous scheme, to be sure, and so simple! 'Twas only the posting
of a junior clerk to each town, to oversee all transactions and
judgments, and to undertake whatever actions the queen would think
good! "

"With a junior sorcerer to guard him, of course," I murmured.

"Aye. Being of the royal household, the clerk would pay no heed to
the wishes of the townsfolk, or their mayor and reeve. He would be
answerable only to the queen."

"Which meant, of course, to his bureau chief," I murmured, "which
would have been you."

Aye," the bald man spat. "Fool that I was, I did not realize the
extent of the power this would have given me."

"But the queen did. "Oh, aye! Therefore did she set out the clerks
as I had suggestedbut kept their governance to herself."

"And threw you into the dungeon."

The bald man nodded, bitter as a London pint.

"The reward of the capable man," I sympathized, "but of the man
who is more capable of doing the work than of currying favor. "

"I was a fool," the bald man spat. "A talented fool, mayhap, but a
fool nonetheless."

"Quite talented," I agreed, "though not at the sorcery you wished
for. "

"Aye." The bald man's eyes brightened with bitter
satisfaction.

"Yet here, at the end of my course, I have discovered that I did
have some modicum of a true and most singular talent-much good may it
do me in this place!"

"Oh?" I asked softly. "What's that?"

"I have befriended the rats," the bald man hissed, "so well that
they come when I call. Nay, I could raise up a hundred of them now
and tell them to overwhelm you!"

Gilbert growled with menace, but Frisson asked, "Would they do
what you bade them?"

"They would." The bald man showed his long yellow teeth.

"Aught that I told them, even to running headlong into death, so
long as they could do it in a body."

"Lord of the rat pack," I mused. "Frisson, do you 'remember' that
verse about cats?"

"Nay, but I will bring it to mind most quickly."

"And I know one about terriers." I gazed thoughtfully at the Rat
Raiser. "A very considerable power. With them at your command, why do
you languish here?"

"What should I gain by their use?" the Rat Raiser countered. "It
would appear that even you, at a thought, can summon up creatures to
oppose them! What, then, could my sovereign Suettay do?"

"Annihilate them," I answered, "probably by calling up a demon or
two."

"And would annihilate myself with them," the Rat Raiser answered.
"Nay, I've no wish to die, or to see my pets fry. An I wished it, I
could have bade them slay me long ago."

"And you've thought about it, eh?"

"Who would not?" the Rat Raiser returned. "Yet I abide. Why, I
know not-but I abide."

"No doubt just waiting for us to come help you out," I said
breezily, and turned to Gilbert. "How long do you think those locks
can hold you?" Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the Rat Raiser
sit up straight-but he slumped again, glowering. Of course, I
realized.

Who knows better than a bureaucrat, to distrust promises?

"I have tried them," Gilbert answered. "There is a spell to hold
us here; the locks will not budge, nor the bars bend, and the wood is
like armor. 'Tis you who must take us forth from here, Wizard, or we
will rot with the rats and their friend! Nay, bend thy talent to its
utmost and bring us forth from here quickly! For with every moment
that passes, the lovely maiden comes closer to torment!"

The Rat Raiser laughed, a shrill, high stuttering of breath.
"Fool!

Do you think you can prevail 'gainst the vile, twisted power of
the queen?"

"It's possible," I said slowly. "I seem to be in a state of grace,
at the moment." More thanks to my guardian angel than to myself, I
had a notion. "Let's start by trying to get out of this cellar." Not
easy, for a guy who claimed not to believe in magic-so I relayed it
to one who did. "Frisson, if I sing you a couple of songs, can you
craft them into a spell that will get us back to the torture
chamber?"

"Why would you wish to go there?" the Rat Raiser gasped.

"Because the queen is about to visit a friend of ours with a fate
worse than death-it must be worse, because she's going to bring her
back to life just for the occasion. How about it, Frisson?"

"If you wish it, Master Wizard, I shall essay it," the vagabond
said slowly.

Before they could talk, I recited,


    "Over his parchment the musing hard,
    Beginning doubtfully and far away,
    First lets his quill wander afar,
    As he draws on his muse for his lay
    Then as his point drinks up sable ink,
    So his heart takes fervor, feeling his theme,
    Rising in flashes, in darkness to sink,
    To make realize that are as they seem."


I shuddered to think what I'd done to Lowell's verse, then
consoled myself with the thought that there was so little of it left,
he'd never have noticed.

A pen, an inkwell, and a sheet of foolscap appeared, hovering in
the air. I took them and handed them to Frisson. "Write it down-I
taught you how! That way, I can check to make sure it'll work before
it gets said aloud."

Frisson took the pen with a show of reluctance, which I didn't
believe for a moment. "If you say to, Lord Wizard. Natheless, I am
yet slow to form my letters."

I had to admire how well he took a cue. "Try," I urged. "Do you
know an old song called 'The Castle of Dramouye'?"

"From the Isle of Doctors and Saints? Aye, I have heard it."

"You might try a variation on that, to get us into her
dungeon.

Then we'll need one to get us out of this castle; have you ever
heard a song that goes like this?" I hummed the first eight bars of
"Greensleeves."

The poet nodded. "I have heard them. Must I hold to their limits,
though?"

"Of course not! If the muse visits, wear her out! Write what comes
to you; I'm just giving you a starting point-call it muse bait."

But Frisson was already sitting down cross-legged, gazing off into
space. After a moment, he dipped his quill and scratched a few words,
gazed off into space again, then dipped his quill once more and
started scribbling furiously.

Slow to form his letters. Right. Well, I had known the man was a
genius-I wasn't surprised that he'd learned so quickly.

The Rat Raiser was, though. He was staring, though the rest of his
face was immobile. He didn't say a word, of course-too experienced a
bureaucrat to give anything away-but from the way he watched, I knew
he was reassessing our skill as wizards. Admittedly, Frisson was too
ragged to look like much, and my clothing was too outlandish-but if
the "spells" we used were so potent that we had to write them down
and check them before we read them aloud to cast them, we must be
mighty indeed.

I didn't argue.

Frisson looked up and held out the page, looking very anxious.

"Will it sail, Lord Wizard?"

I took the parchment and studied it. My eyes widened. Could this
really be as excellent an adaptation of a folk verse as I thought it
was?

it could. After all, I had just finished reminding myself that
Frisson was a genius. "This is very good, Frisson," I said slowly.
"Almost too good to be used as a spell."

Disappointment shadowed the poet's face. " 'Almost,' I said! if I
weaken it a bit, it should work stronger magic than anything I've
ever made up. Brace yourselves, men-and join hands."

Gilbert seized my right hand, and Frisson seized my left as I
closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and began to recite.


    "Summer winds turn chill around
    The Royal Keep of Doom.
    Cries of pain and fear resound
    Within its torture room.
    There let us be transported all,
    Its anguish to subsume!"


The cell darkened, the light went out, and the Rat Raiser cried in
the darkness. A wave of nausea swept through me and was gone;then the
light came back, and I saw Angelique, still stretched out on the
torture bench, eyes wide and unseeing, chest still.

Beyond her, Suettay was just taking the cork out of the bottle,
intoning a chant. The torturer, restored, was chuckling as he
tightened the thumbscrews on the corpse.

The ghost rose from the bottle, trembling with apprehension. Then
Suettay saw us, and stared at us in amazement and alarm.

The assistant torturer held the corpse's leg, stroking it
lasciviously, as the chief torturer paused to make a last adjustment
to the iron boot. He looked up, saw the expression on his queen's
face, spun about, and smashed a fist into my face.

I saw it coming just in time to roll with the punch-but I saw
stars, and pain racked my head, stirring up anger. I was too slow,
though-the squire beat me to it Gilbert roared and leapt forward; the
torturer was just beginning to turn when the squire's fist caught him
under the jaw. I heard something snap, but all I saw was the torturer
sailing over the table in a perfect parabola. He crashed into the
wall just above the floor, but by that time, his first assistant was
in midair heading for the south wall, and Gilbert's fist was in the
second apprentice's midriff. Then he picked up the man like a javelin
and sent him after the first; he almost had all three in midair at
the same time. I hadn't known the squire was a juggler-or such a
strong one, either.

It only took him a few seconds, but that was long enough. Suettay
whirled about, teeth bared in a snarl, and began to shout a
verse.

I rose up from the floor, trying to forget that my momma had
taught me never to hit a lady, and slammed a fist into her
jawbone.

She slumped, out cold, and the bottle hit the floor, shattering.
The ghost drifted free with a cry of relief.

Two guardsmen shook off their stupors and stepped forward. One
drew a sword; the other hefted his pike, then realized it wasn't
there.

I leapt forward, shouting, "Go down!"

The guard looked up, startled, just long enough for Gilbert's fist
to connect with his cheekbone. As he was crumpling, his mate was
looking around for his pike when he tripped over its butt, fell
sprawling, rolled over, and found himself staring at its blade.
Gilbert spared him confusion by clouting him neatly on the crown, and
he lapsed into unconsciousness.

Then Frisson whirled and stabbed down with the pike he'd used to
trip the guard. He plunged it straight into the queen's chest.

It was a good move, and one Gilbert couldn't have forced himself
to do, since it was in cold blood, and therefore without honor-but
Frisson wasn't a knight, or a squire. I just didn't have the heart to
tell the poor vagabond it wouldn't do any good.

Gilbert whirled to Angelique's body, unscrewing the boot. "Be
consoled, maiden! It shall not hurt you any longer, even if you are
reincorporated! Nay, fear not-your tormentors shall harry you no
more!

He wasn't even panting.

I turned to Frisson. "Thought you were a poor, law-abiding
victim.

"What-this?" The poet looked at the pike as if he'd never seen it
before. "Well, I have learned some knack of separating people from
objects, aye."

"Valuable objects, right? And without their ever noticing it."

Frisson shrugged. "The mammon of wickedness can be turned to a
good purpose, Lord Wizard."

"Oh, I don't dispute your use of the techniques-just wondering
how'd you'd learned them."

Then Angelique's ghost gave a cry of horror.

Gilbert was at her side in an instant. "Be assured, fair maid,
'tis only us, who are your friends."

"But who is he?" Angelique gasped.

Frisson followed her glance and said quietly, "We came
accompanied, gentles."

"Aye," Angelique said. "Who is yonder old coil?"

"Old coil!" a voice behind me cried. "I'll have you know, lady,
that I am scarcely into the middle of my years."

I turned slowly. "That's right. It's just that a lot of those
years passed while you were in a dark dungeon. That aged you a bit."
Then, to Angelique, "Milady, may I present to you a former star of
Suettay's administration, fallen upon evil days-the Rat Raiser."

"A henchman of Suettay's?" she cried. "How came he to accompany
you?"

"Why, by seizing hold of the wizard's hand, when he bethought him
'twas that of one of his comrades," the Rat Raiser cackled.

I turned to Frisson. "I thought it was you holding my left
hand."

"Nay," the vagabond said, "I did seize the squire's fist."

I turned back to the Rat Raiser with a face like an iceberg. "You
definitely were not invited."

The bureaucrat glared up at me with vindictive malice. "You would
have gone off and left me no better than you had found me, would you
not?"

I cocked my head to the side, considering. "Maybe not, if you had
asked. But of course, if you were going to continue working for
Suettay "Wherefore should I do that?" The Rat Raiser stared,
appalled.

"To try to get back into her good graces."

"Wherefore? So that she might turn me out again? Faugh!" The Rat
Raiser glared at the unconscious queen, gloating. "Let her look to
her own!

"She cannot look to anything!" Frisson stared, frightened at his
own accomplishment. "She is dead!"

"I fear so small a stroke as steel through the chest will not kill
so puissant a witch," the Rat Raiser said bitterly. "We should have
some few minutes ere she wakes-but waken she shall."

Frisson backed away from Suettay, trembling.

"Would she would not," the Rat Raiser said, lips tight. "Nay, if I
find any way to injure her at no risk to myself, I shall do it!"

"Even if it means repenting your sins and adhering to God?"

The cell was very quiet as the two of us stared at each other
across a gulf of tension.

"Aye," the Rat Raiser breathed. "Even that."

"Even if it means devoting yourself to the good of your fellow
man? Becoming the servant of the poor and weak?"

The silence was even longer this time, but I saw the Rat Raiser's
countenance begin to lighten, eyes widening at a new concept. "Aye,
even that," he breathed. " 'Twould hurt the queen grievously, would
it not? So that is the meaning of the 'coals of fire upon his
head'!"

"I can think of better motives for taking up a life of goodness,"
I said "but I'll take what I can get. Who knows? Maybe it'll grow on
you, after a while."

"You do not mean he shall accompany us!" Gilbert protested.
Angelique touched his arm and said, "Aye, he must. Ask me not why,
but I feel the rightness of it."

Gilbert opened his mouth to protest further, but saw her face and
fell silent.

"Shall I swear?" the Rat Raiser demanded.

"What good would that do? If you're secretly holding fast to a
life of evil, you'll break an oath without even thinking. No, I can
feel the rightness' Angelique is speaking of. I'll take a chance on
you, Rat Raiser."

The bureaucrat cracked a smile. "I thank you, Wizard. You shall
not regret it."

"I hope not-because if I do, you will, too." I gazed into his
yellowed eyes a moment longer, then turned back to my friends. "Okay,
time to leave, before the posse arrives."

"But who can know?

"Suettay's second in command. I'll bet she had six kinds of magic
alarms rigged to our cell. When they find us gone, they're bound to
try here. No, don't try to kill her by magic-you'll just trigger some
kind of ectoplasmic guardian that will be really rough to
handle."

" 'Tis even as he says," Angelique quavered. "I ken not what they
may be, but I sense some dark and lingering presence that awaits any
threat to her body."

"But I slew her!" Frisson cried.

"Nothing fatal, I'm afraid," I sighed, "which is why the guardian
didn't respond. She doesn't keep her heart within her chest. Don't
let it worry you, Frisson-you'll get another chance. Remember, the
idea right now is to escape-we'll figure out a way to kill her some
other day."

The poet looked crestfallen, but he squared his shoulders-and his
chin.

"Okay," I said, "everybody hold hands, now." I took the Rat
Raiser's paw myself-after all, I already had once, hadn't I?
Knowingly or not. Everybody else linked up on my right hand. "Here we
go, folks!

Frisson, the parchment, please?"

The poet held up the sheet of foolscap, and I read it,
chanting,


    "Alas, foul witch, you do us wrong
    To chain us so unjustly,
    Where folk have suffered oh, so long,
    Amusing your foul cruelty.
    Green grass is my delight,
    Blue skies are all my joy!
    I yearn for freedom with all my heart, in a place of great  security!"


The door was opening, and soldiers were bursting into the torture
chamber, just as it faded and sank into the void.



Chapter Sixteen


There was no world and no time, and no sight but light. There were
colors swirling about me, but mostly what there was, was
Angelique.

I wasn't alone in the mist this time. I was a separate identity,
but I was also integrated with Angelique. Somehow, her soul was
interleaved with mine, touching me far more intimately than any
embrace of bodies could achieve, in contact with me at every point,
and the thrill of her touch was ecstasy. I couldn't see her, but I
could perceive her, perceive the memories of horror, the aftershocks
of agony, but all of it was muted now, numbed and faded, far less
important than her joy at having found a man who loved her
deeply.

Because I couldn't hide that from her, now-our souls were open to
each other. The only way I could have hidden my feelings was to have
locked her out entirely, and to do that I would have had to become
catatonic, completely cutting off perception of everything but
myself.

But I didn't want to hide my feelings, somehow.

Maybe it was because she couldn't hide anything from me, either,
and I could perceive her love for me, ardent and deep. I realized
that the spell had only made her see my good qualities before-but now
she saw all my faults, too-the temper, the mulishness, the hypocrisy,
the sprees, the sordid little affairs, the chip on my shoulder. But
my virtues were so important to her, so much of what she needed and
admired, so much like her own ideas of what was good and right, that
my harshness and abrasiveness seemed unimportant to her. She knew
them for the front, the shield, that they were, and knew also that
they didn't really matter-but that what they protected, did.

As for me, I was a total goner. I'd been able to see beneath the
bruises and see in her glowing ghost that her face and body were
beautiful, the most beautiful I had ever seen-but I began to realize
now that her beauty was only partly physical, that what raised her
above every other woman I'd ever known was the sweetness and
steadfastness of her soul. Her spirit was far more beautiful than her
body could ever have been, than any woman's body could ever have
been.

My own lack of purity saddened but did not repel her. I could
feel, through the beating of her energy field against mine, her urge
to heal my soul of the rifts made by the women who had hurt me, the
men who had ground at me until I had learned to strike back.

Her touch, if the contact of spirit with spirit can be called
that, was cool and soothing, then heating, inflaming. It crossed my
mind that this beat sex all hollow, until I realized that this was
sex, in the ultimate-or rather, that this intimacy was what we poor,
fumbling men of clay are trying to achieve, through the use of our
physical extensions.

That's when I really began to believe in the soul-and with it, I
began to suspect that there might be an afterlife.

Then, suddenly, there was a rude pain-or no, not a pain, really,
but a jolting shock that made Angelique cry out soundlessly and made
me grapple her to me more tightly, trying to surround her, to shield
her, anger kindling against the being who had disrupted our idyll,
defaced our Eden. But the anger did no good; a stern voice was
echoing all about us, commanding,


    "Maiden, leave that body!
    Depart, and leave him breath!
    Separate, if you do love!
    Would you make him yearn for death?"


With a soundless cry, Angelique disengaged herself from me,
breaking apart at the horror of the thought. Raging with anger, I
surged up, snapping to alertness, body in fighting stance, eyes open
...

I saw Frisson's face, staring right into mine not six inches away,
with a grimness that I hadn't even suspected he had in him.

Then the room spun, and so did I, with a dizzy spell unlike
anything I'd ever had before. A hand caught me, a hard arm braced me,
and as the stars faded from my vision, I saw that Frisson and Gilbert
had propped me up between them.

"What ... what happened?" I croaked.

"You did blend your soul with Angelique's ghost," Frisson
explained. "In our journey through that realm that is and is not,
from one place to another, your soul loosed itself from your body, as
it ever does, and clasped Angelique's soul, as your hand did hers-for
that was the only way in which you could carry her from one place to
another."

"Thank Heaven for small duties," I breathed, "and Heaven it was!
"

"Only a small taste of Heaven, if what I suspect of that state of
bliss has any truth in it."

"You mean it gets better?" I shuddered in anticipation of
unguessable ecstasy. "I'd be glad to spend a whole lifetime being
good, if it got me into that state again after I die! In fact, now
that I think of it, why bother waiting?"

"There, maiden, is the peril in which you have placed his soul,"
Frisson said severely.

Angelique lowered her gaze, abashed.

"For shame, maiden!" the poet went on. "Moments more, and you
would have made him yearn for death before his time-and the fruit of
that yearning is suicide, which would have reft him from you for
eternity! You have tempted him into ending his life before his
worldly tasks were done-and how many would have suffered because of
the work he did not do? How many would have perished because he was
not there to save them?"

"Hey, that's low and dirty!" I stood up straight, glaring at
him.

"Emotional extortion!"

"A new term, but perhaps an apt one," Frisson acknowledged. "Yet
the words I've said are true. Bear this in mind-if she did tempt you
to take your own life, that would be a great sin upon her soul. How
then could you be joined after death?"

"Well ... maybe not in Heaven, but-"

"There is no joining in any other realm." Frisson chopped his hand
sideways, in total denial. "Each suffers alone in Hell; there is no
companionship of any kind. The greatest torture there is the total
absence of God, and of even the small reminders of his presence that
are other souls. " Now, that kind of stubbornness always gets me
angry. "How would you know?" I demanded.

"Why, how think you I would?" For the first time, Frisson showed a
flash of anger. Only a flash; it was gone in melancholy a moment
later as he said, brooding, "I have sought early death more than
once, Wizard Saul. A maiden whom I loved with ardent passion spurned
me, and in the misery of love unrequited, I yearned for death so
greatly that I tied a noose about my neck and hanged myself from a
tree. I live to speak only because a wandering monk happened by and
cut me down ere I had quite strangled. He spake with me long and
earnestly, showing me that lovers' despair is like any other despair,
and to give up hope of love is to cease to strive for the touching of
souls-which is to say, to cease in striving for Heaven." He turned to
me alone. "I have great cause to be thankful to you, Wizard Saul,
even though death by hunger would have satisfied my hunger for
death-thankful because, in staying alive, I have come to know
friendship and the caring of those for whom I care. Though it is not
love, it is enough to live for, and to give me hope of greater
worth."

"Why ... uh ... thanks, Frisson." I felt outraged and humbled all
at once. "I'm glad I did some good. I mean, it would have been
ridiculous for a nice guy like you to let himself die, just because
he didn't think anybody could ever like him!"

"Yet so would I still believe, had you not taught me how to shift
this curse of poetry, by the gift of writing."

"Then you've just paid me back." I sighed. "Well, if it's too soon
for the real thing, let's get back to trying to make Heaven on Earth,
shall we? Or at least to get rid of Hell." I looked around me,
regretfully shouldering the burden of life again.

Sunlight beamed down upon us from some high window, showing us a
pool of thick dust over rock. I looked around and saw a large room, a
hundred feet across, ceiling just barely visible in the shadows. An
old, faded tapestry hung on one wall, showing a maiden in Norse garb
gathering golden apples from a tree. There were only a few trestle
tables and benches over by the huge, cold black fireplace-but there
was nonetheless a feeling of peace to the place, even of coziness.
Over at the bottom of the stair was a dark archway, with more steps
going downward-but strangely, it didn't seem threatening.

" 'Tis a castle long vacant," Gilbert said. "Praise Heaven! We are
free! "

"Be not too quick with your thanks," the Rat Raiser said, but even
he was having trouble restraining a smile. "I know this place; 'tis a
castle taken from Lord Brace, who could not pay the fullness of his
taxes. The queen hath said she will someday set a court here, for we
are in her capital of Todenburg."

"The queen take up residence?" Frisson looked about him, wideeyed
and smiling. "Nay, how could she? For the peace of this house doth
fill my soul, and the traces of laughter and kindness that emanate
from its walls do exalt my spirit!"

"Even so," the Rat Raiser said sourly. " 'Twill be easy enough to
desecrate, look you-but until she does that, she cannot bring herself
to reside here for any length of time. Therefore has this castle
stood thus abandoned these ten years. I came with a troop of clerks
to list all goods within, then remove them-and I was sorely tempted
to cease my sinning." His face twisted. "As I am now." He turned
squarely to me. "What you would do, I advise you, do quickly, for we
are still in Todenburg, not a mile from the queen's stronghold, and
she will surely be working divination, even now, to detect our
presence.

I looked up in surprise. "That's right, she will, won't she?
Quick!

Everybody down to the dungeons!" I turned away toward the dark
doorway at the foot of the stairs.

The Rat Raiser started, astonished, and Angelique gasped.
"Wherefore the dungeons?"

"Do not ask, milady," Frisson answered. "He knows what he is
about-and there is small time to explain." He set off after me.

"Belike we would not comprehend, even if he did lay it all before
us." Gilbert offered his arm. "Come! Have faith in the Wizard
Saul."

Reluctantly, Angelique came with him, though it was an open
question whether her hand was on his arm, or in it. They were last in
line; the Rat Raiser was scurrying ahead of us.

Fortunately, there were torch butts in the sconces, and Frisson
turned out to be carrying flint and steel.

"Wherefore do you not make light with a spell again?" the Rat
Raiser fairly howled. "Quickly! The queen will be upon us!"

"That's why I don't want to use magic," I said evenly. "It'd be
like a flame in the night, showing her where we are. Besides, the
wood's old and dry. See?" I held up a lighted torch. "Thanks,
Frisson."

"Oh, 'tis my delight." The poet rose and stamped out his pile of
tinder. "May we go, Wizard?"

"Right this way." I led down the curving steps. I stayed close to
the wall; there wasn't any guard rail.

Angelique looked about, frowning, as we came out into the middle
of a huge underground chamber. "Even here, there is peace, and no
aura of misery."

"What would you expect?" The Rat Raiser spat. "Lord Brace kept no
prisoners, nor did any of his forebears, and I doubt he even thought
of torture! That is why there are no cells!"

"But there is water." I frowned, listening.

My companions quieted, and heard the sound of dripping.

"Yon." Gilbert pointed toward an archway.

"Just fine." I headed for the portal.

"Hold, Wizard!" the Rat Raiser rasped. "That way leads to a vault
beneath the courtyard!"

"Even better for my purposes." I looked back over my shoulder.

"Come on! Believe me, it's important!"

My friends exchanged baffled glances. Then Frisson shrugged and
turned away. "We have followed him thus far; why not farther?"

"Is there peril yon2" Gilbert asked the Rat Raiser.

"None to speak of." The bureaucrat frowned. "Only rats, who will
do my bidding. Yet wherefore would he wish a parade ground over him,
not a castle?"

"We shall learn, I doubt not." The squire turned toward the
archway. "Milady, will you walk?"

"Willingly, good sir."

The Rat Raiser shrugged and followed us.

As they came up to the torchlight, they found me standing by a
large puddle, fed by a drip near the wall. The drops had worn a
little channel to the center of the vault and formed a small pool.
But I wasn't looking at the water; I was frowning around. "Wood ...
wood . . . " My eye lit on Frisson. "You're wearing wooden
shoes!"

Frisson looked down at his feet. "Sabots, we call them."

"Then let's try a little sabot-age! Lend me a foot, will you?"

The poet stared at me as if I were mad, but he passed over his
shoe.

"Okay, everybody grab hold." I knelt and poked the toe of the shoe
in the pool underneath the drip from the ceiling.

Gilbert looked at Angelique, then at Frisson. The poet shrugged
and knelt, hooking a finger into the sabot. The ghost and the squire
sighed, knelt, and took hold. Grumbling, the Rat Raiser knelt at my
left and touched the shoe.

"And now?" Gilbert asked.

"Ground the torch," I grated.

"We must not be without light! " Angelique cried.

"Have to. Be brave, folks-it's vital. No, don't drown it! We'll
need it later. just grind it out."

Gilbert looked up, startled, the torch poised over the pool. Then
he shrugged and jammed the flame against the stone.

It was totally dark, except for the glow from Angelique.
Personally, I couldn't have found a more lovely light, but the
darkness bothered her-reminiscent of the grave, no doubt; but it had
to be. She was brave, though, and only gave a half sob, then was
silent.

I reached out to push my hand into an overlap with hers. Her touch
was cold, very cold, but she seemed to gain reassurance from
mine.

"What do we do now?" Gilbert asked.

"Now we wait," I answered. "Get comfortable, folks. This could
take a while."

They waited. Time passed even more slowly than the drips from the
ceiling.

Claws clicked on stone, and something furry brushed my calf.
Angelique cried out.

The Rat Raiser's voice crooned, "Peace, little one. We shall not
disturb thy silence long."

The chamber was silent for a moment. Then the claws sounded again,
fading away.

"Be of good heart," the bureaucrat's voice advised us. "They shall
not trouble you."

"Thanks," I breathed. "Kind of glad you came along for the
ride."

"We are ever pleased to be of service," the Rat Raiser said
dryly.

A sudden chill touched my spine, and I felt a strange sort of
tingling along my scalp. Frisson's head snapped up, eyes
widening.

"Hist!" the Rat Raiser rasped. "She comes!"

Interesting that he could feel it, too.

"Just hang on," I said, voice low and calm. "As long as you keep
touching the shoe, we'll be all right."

Angelique was trembling, and white showed all around Gilbert's
irises.

Then the feeling of "presence" was gone, abruptly, totally.

I relaxed with a sigh. "Okay, folks. It's over-and she won't be
back." I stared straight ahead, murmuring,


    "Suns that set may rise in glare
    So if we lose this torch's light,
    We won't be in perpetual night.
    Our brand once more will flare!"


The torch burst into flame again.

"How can you be certain?" the Rat Raiser demanded.

"Because I jammed her radar." I straightened up, holding the shoe
out to Frisson. "She couldn't see us, because it was dark-so she had
to go by feel. She could tell we were here-but she was going by
clues, indirect evidence. She knew we were under earth, under stone,
and touching wood which was touching water."

"A coffin!" Frisson cried.

"You're quick, mate. Yes, she figured I had somehow transported us
all into our graves."

"Then she shall not trouble us further!" Angelique cried. "She
will think us dead!" Then she remembered her own state and blushed,
which is no mean feat for a ghost.

Gallantly, I affected not to notice-I only nodded.

But the Rat Raiser cautioned us, "She will nonetheless seek us now
and again, in case she might have guessed wrongly. Yet, all in all,
she will cease to concern herself with us."

"It gives us some time, anyway," I said.

Slowly, the poet took the wooden shoe and put it back on. "I will
the'er question you, Wizard, after the manner in which you freed
us."

"Uh, thanks, I guess." I didn't feel entirely comfortable with
such faith.

"Praise Heaven she is beguiled!" Frisson sighed, leaning back to
look up at the ceiling. "Ought we not to fly, Wizard? You have bought
us time by your subterfuge, but it is not by any means the eternity
which the queen thinks it to be. We cannot stay in any one place, or
Suettay will find us again."

"No, we don't want that," I mused. "I want to find her, insteadbut
only after I've gathered enough force to restore Angelique to her
body, then free that body."

Gilbert glanced at me, troubled. "Beware covetousness!"

I shrugged. "Look at it this way-if I can bring her back to life,
I can ask her to marry me."

"True," Gilbert allowed, and looked much more comfortable-but
Angelique was staring at me, huge-eyed.

"Just ask," I hastened to reassure her. "Nobody's going to force
you to say yes."

That brought her out of it. "Wherefore would I need force!" Her
insubstantial hand brushed through mine.

"Beware the death wish!" Frisson scolded.

"Aye, and beware the queen," the Rat Raiser said sarcastically.
"To free the maiden's body, you must first slay Her Majesty."

I shrugged. "Okay by me."

"Nay, Saul!" Angelique cried. "Must you alright me so? To wish to
murder another is to imperil your immortal soul!

"Not in this instance," Frisson demurred.

I nodded. "Wishing to kill a woman who is corrupting a whole
kingdom isn't a sin. In fact, if I were able to do it, the amount of
good I'd achieve would balance out the evil of the murder."

Somehow, when I put it that way, it didn't sound hypocritical.

Maybe it was because it was me who was saying it.

Gilbert, of course, looked very happy about the whole thing. The
Rat Raiser, though, just stared at me as if I were insane.

"However," I said, "on a more practical level, how could I find
enough force to go up against the queen?"

"A telling point," Frisson said, relieved. "We were best to use
this time the wizard has bought us to find a deep hole in which to
hide."

"Or a vast enough space in which to run." The Rat Raiser looked
relieved, too.

"Aye," Gilbert agreed. "Where shall we go to escape her wrath,
Wizard? "

"Nice question." I pursed my lips. "Anybody have an idea?"

They were all silent, looking at one another in alarm. If the
wizard had no idea where to hide, how could any of them know?

Light glinted off a thread of silk. Looking up, I saw a spider,
stretching a fan between two layers of the barrel vault.

The Rat Raiser followed my gaze. He saw, and his eyes glinted.

"There is a legend, Wizard-one told by prisoners, who know no
other life but rats and spiders . . ."

"Aye," Frisson said, with the ring of one who knew the subject, "a
tale told of a King of Spiders, who dwells in a land no mortal can
discover. " I felt a sudden prickling up the spine and across the
scalp, very much like the one Suettay's surveillance had just given
me.

Angelique shuddered. "What a loathsome thought! To dwell with a
vasty spider!"

Frisson grinned. "Nay, milady. He is not himself a spider, but a
man, though one in a weird."

"As I am not a rat," the Rat Raiser grunted, and glared at me as
if to contradict him.

I didn't answer, because the feeling was stronger than ever, and
the spider was one of those big round-as-a-quarter jobs. Who was
watching me now?

"And are we, then, to seek him, this Spider King, and walk into
his weird, never to return?" Angelique demanded.

The dungeon was silent. Nobody answered her-but they all turned to
me, and the look on my face must have been answer enough.

Angelique's eyes began to grow wide and frightened. "You cannot
truly think it!"

"Why not?" I shrugged. "We're in the dungeon already; we can't go
much lower."

"But you can! Are we to step into the underworld, then?"

"Nay," Gilbert said slowly, "for therein dwell Suettay's
masters.

Yet I, too, have heard of this Spider King, and his kingdom is a
realm apart, neither underworld nor afterworld."

I recognized an allusion to an alternate universe. I frowned.

"You're talking about going through another dimension to gain
access there. How do we do that?"

They were quiet again. Then Gilbert said, with deference, " 'Tis
you are the wizard. if you cannot say how to come to this Spider
King, which one of us can? "

"But I've never heard of him before!"

"You had not heard of Suettay, either," Angelique reminded me,
"Yet you countered her."

I glanced at her in annoyance. "When did you switch to pushing for
this travelogue? All right, I suppose I could work up a longdistance
projection spell using this Spider King as the focus Frisson took on
a faraway look.

"Write it down," I said quickly.

The poet sighed, coming back down to earth. "If I must-yet 'tis
such labor, to carve words with a pen when they are so easily spoken
aloud. "

"Yeah, but it takes us so long to clean up the mess
afterward!"

"As you say," Frisson said, with rue. "Yet we cannot simply spell
ourselves a long way to this enchanted realm, Wizard."

"Aye," the Rat Raiser agreed. "The Spider King's realm is said to
be everywhere, but nowhere."

"Overlaid on ours like an egg on a flapjack." I nodded. "That's a
description of an alternate universe if I've ever heard one!"

Gilbert frowned. "Then how can we come there, Wizard, if 'tis all
around us, yet beyond our ken?"

"Through another dimension," I explained. "No, don't ask me what a
dimension is-you already know. Length, breadth, and depth-those are
the three dimensions, and they're all at right angles to one
another."

The squire frowned. "But there is no other!"

"Yes there is, though we can't perceive it-and not just one, but
many. How we go through the fifth dimension in order to come back to
the third, though, is a problem I haven't tackled before."

"Then do," the Rat Raiser urged.

I pursed my lips. "Other dimension or not, we won't get there by
standing still. We have to start walking somewhere."

Gilbert, Angelique, and Frisson glanced around us, perplexed, but
the Rat Raiser said slowly, "There do be sewers underlying all this
town-huge old drains, small tunnels, left to us from the empire great
Reme spread throughout this middle earth."

I nodded. "That'll do. Do you know your way around them?"

"No," the Rat Raiser said, "yet I have friends who do." He made a
peculiar kind of squeaking noise, and Angelique let out a very funny,
throaty noise, like the sound of a scream being stifled. We men
stiffened, hackles rising, as a troop of huge gray rats scampered
into the pool of torchlight, coats filthy, fangs gleaming.

The Rat Raiser knelt, holding out a hand and crooning. The rats
came up to him, nuzzling his fingers. "Nay, I've no food for you now,
little friends," he said with regret, "but there shall be feasting,
if you can bring us where we wish to go. Lead us down below ground,
yet through tunnels high enough for us to walk without stooping. Lead
us down, and bid all like you withdraw, to let us pass."

Angelique shuddered.

"Not the most salubrious notion in the world," I agreed, "but it's
better than staying here and waiting for Suettay to catch us, isn't
it?"

Angelique swallowed and nodded. Gilbert murmured, "Be brave, lass.
However long it may be, we shall pass through; it shall end."

"All right, we're ready now," I said to the Rat Raiser,
softly.

"Off, little ones!" the bureaucrat commanded with a wave of his
hand. He rose as the rats scampered away. "Follow," he said over his
shoulder, and stepped off after his pets.

"Ready?" I asked. "Well, we're going, anyway." And I followed the
Rat Raiser.

off we went into the gloom, the poet and squire bunched
protectively around the lady's ghost, leading onward and downward,
following the wizard-me-who was mumbling some very strange verses
indeed as we descended into the lower depths.



Chapter Seventeen


I wasn't entirely sure where the cave in the dungeon wall had come
from-I could have sworn it hadn't been there when we had come
down-but I wasn't about to object. If the rats knew where it was, it
had to be real-at least, assuming the rats themselves were real;
which made me begin to wonder about the Rat Raiser.

While I was wondering, we were going downhill; I couldn't help but
think of Hellmouth in the old mystery plays, and wonder if this was
its throat. It was certainly dark enough-and growing warmer; and the
aromas rising were anything but life-giving. Trickles of water
glittered in the torchlight here and there, becoming broader as we
descended deeper.

Time to start the active part. I took a deep breath-and regretted
it-and began to recite:


    "Where Alph, the sacred river ran
    Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.
    Turn, to where there's naught but rest!
    Turn, to find the spider's nest!
    Through all the worlds his web he spins,
    Catching prey by hidden sins!
    Turn, to pierce his secret ring!
    Turn, to find the Spider King!"


We moved down, our pool of torchlight coming with us, until water
glistened below, black water, and the Rat Raiser whispered, "We have
come into the sewers. Carefully, now, children-the water is deep, and
the way is narrow."

He turned to the left, following his pets. I saw a spark off to
the side and frowned, glancing at it; then I glanced again. There
were two sparks, a pair, and, as I watched, another pair appeared,
and another.

"We are regarded," Gilbert said, indicating a bank of little
jeweleyes glowing at the edge of our torchlight.

Angelique gave a strangled gasp, but the Rat Raiser crooned,
"Gently, children, gently. 'Tis only the small ones who dwell
hereand, no matter what you think of them, they will not hurt you
while I am here."

It was a gentle reminder of who held the power at the moment, and
I didn't trust it. I thought up a protecting verse and held it ready
on my tongue. I also glanced at Angelique, to make sure she was
okay-then glanced again.

She was solid!

Apparently, her incorporeality was right in phase with whatever
nonexistent realm of nonreality we were in.

My lord, that woman was beautiful! None of the bruises or wounds
showed on her ghost-only a hollowness of the cheek, a darkness around
the eye, that spoke of the harrowing experience she had been through.
Even that enhanced her beauty, rather than diminished it-or was I so
much the captive of my own binding spell, so much in love with her,
that nothing could lessen her beauty in my eyes?

I shook off the notion with a shudder and turned away. Women were
for enjoying, nothing more-and since you couldn't just enjoy them
without hurting their hearts, I was determined not to notice them.
Never mind that Angelique already knew my true feelings for her-that
didn't mean I had to let them show. I resolutely turned my back and
followed the Rat Raiser into the unknown-and surely that couldn't
have been a small, very self-satisfied smile I had glimpsed on her
lips as I had turned away, could it?

We paced the narrow path, scraping the stone wall on our left,
with a host of bright beady eyes watching us. To our right,
torchlight reflected off thickened, tainted water. The aroma had
become almost unbearable; we breathed through our mouths, but I could
have sworn I was tasting the air.

The surface heaved, and a huge clawed hand broke through with a
long, scaly, tooth-filled snout behind it. The hand groped toward us,
and the Rat Raiser shrank back with a squeal that had the ring of
command-but also of fright; and his pets answered him with a
squealing and skittering as they disappeared into the darkness.

But I was already chanting.


    "Room for our shadows on the path
    Let us pass!
    To the left and right, stay clear!
    Or we shall call the Buyer of the Blade
    Be afraid!
    Call upon the great god Tyr!"


The questing talons paused, wavered, then withdrew, slowly sinking
out of sight.

"I thank you, Wizard." The Rat Raiser sighed. "I had not known
such a monstrous being might rise from this stew."

"Always pays to be ready." I didn't tell him what I'd been ready
for. "Frisson, do you think you could hold that verse ready to
chant?

And no improvements, mind you! I have another spell to
recite."

"Aye, Master Saul," the poet said grudgingly. "But be mindful, I
am no wizard."

"Don't worry, I am." Okay, so it was a little white lie-but they
needed the reassurance, just then. "I'll join in and chant with you,
as soon as I can drop the other verse. But my reaction time will be
slow, and I think yours will be fast."

"Be sure of it," Gilbert muttered.

"I shall." The poet sighed.

"Well enough." The Rat Raiser pulled himself together and stepped
forth, making little squeaking noises interspersed with words. "Where
have you gone, sweetings? Nay, come back, little friends-the monster
has fled, and we have need of your guidance.

Slowly, a couple of huge, ragged rats appeared at the edge of the
torchlight.

The Rat Raiser nodded with satsifaction. "Lead on, then-we shall
follow.

We did-not that we had much choice.

I watched the Rat Raiser's back, gauging him. The man hadn't been
quite the abject coward I had expected him to be-but then, he
couldn't have been short on nerve, to have dared the climb within
Suettay's organization. Sense, maybe, but not nerve.

I started reciting my navigation spell again, with a touch of the
frantic. At the end, I repeated, "Turn, turn, turn!" with perhaps
excessive force.

Excessive, because the Rat Raiser was just warning us, "Slowly,
now, and warily-for this ledge was made only for guardsmen from the
castle, who knew its ways. Strongholds have been taken by parties
raiding through the sewers, look you, and-" He broke off with a
gasp-because the water was dwindling, showing blank stone to either
side.

"Keep walking," I grated, and went back to mumbling my verse.

The Rat Raiser stumbled as the walkway disappeared, and he cried
out. His rats echoed him, squealing with horror and fleeing away; but
the sludge had dwindled to a mere trickle, and I demanded, "Go
on!"

"Nay, I am no longer master here," the Rat Raiser panted, white
showing all around his eyes. " 'Tis you must lead now."

I shoved past him with a mutter of impatience. The Rat Raiser fell
in behind me, staring incredulously at the stone underfoot. it was
completely dry now, but curved, in the middle as much as at the
sides. "We are no longer in the sewers!"

"Praise Heaven!" Angelique sighed. "I may breathe again!"

"Yet where are we, then?" Gilbert demanded.

"In the wizard's realm," Frisson answered. "Be patient, my
friends, and trust our guide; surely he knows where he goes!"

"Then he must know where we are." The squire had to shift his gait
as the tunnel curved to our right. "Ho, Wizard! What place is
this?"

"A torus." My voice sounded remote even to me, unconcerned with
this mundane reality; but the roof rolled over us, and the tunnel's
curve had become permanent. We were walking inside a granite
doughnut.

Yet not granite either, for it was seamless, and slightly
resilient underfoot. What it was, I couldn't have said. My friends
muttered behind me, afraid of the unknown-but they followed.

I wasn't really perceiving my surroundings all that well-I A,as
busy muttering, concentrating on what the next development should be,
so intent on where I was going that I wasn't really aware of where I
was.

Shadows loomed about us, just outside the circle of
torchlight.

Then the shadows parted ahead, and I saw two tubes, branching in a
fork. I bore to the left with complete assurance, not even thinking
about it-almost as if I hadn't even noticed the split-and my
companions followed me, mute with astonishment.

After a few minutes, the way branched again, then again.

"Are you sure of your course?" the Rat Raiser husked, but I only
nodded once briefly and paced ahead, mumbling.

Then, suddenly, the tunnel ended. We halted, facing a blank,
curving wall. My companions muttered with overtones of fear, but I
just frowned at the wall, shaking my head, irritated, and turned
back, retracing my steps. My companions made way for me, then hurried
to fall in behind again-but Gilbert demanded, "Wizard, where are
we?"

"In a maze," I answered.

They fell silent again, and I could almost feel their dread. I
didn't want to-I had enough of my own. My skin was trying to raise
hair where there wasn't any.

"Do you know the way?" the Rat Raiser whispered.

I came to a halt, head cocked at a thought. Slowly, I turned back
to the Rat Raiser. "Maybe you should take the lead again, come to
think of it. Rats are very good at running mazes."

"I am not a rat!" the ex-bureaucrat stammered. "And none of my
little friends are here!"

I just gazed at him with an abstracted frown, then sighed and
turned away. "Guess it's up to me, all right. Come on, folks."

They did.

The tunnel branched, and I chose a way. It branched again, and I
took the arm that curved back the way we'd come. Another fork, and I
turned to my right, but muttered to the Rat Raiser, "Try and call
your pets, will you?"

The Rat Raiser sighed and let out a series of squeaks.

We waited.

Finally, the Rat Raiser shook his head. "There are none near us,
Wizard. Whatever place this may be that you have taken us to, it has
no rats."

Gilbert frowned. "What manner of human place is this, that it has
none?"

My attention caught on the word "human"; it sent prickles down my
spine. "Good question. Should we maybe ask, instead-what does live
here?"

My friends exchanged quick, apprehensive glances.

"Saul," Angelique said, "if you can lead us through this maze, I
pray you, do so quickly!"

"You can, can you not?" Gilbert asked with a worried frown.

"Given enough time, yes," I said slowly. "I was always pretty good
at solving mazes when I was a kid, sick in bed. But I think we may
need faster action than that, right now."

"Indeed!" Gilbert agreed. "Bring us out, Wizard!"

"Patience, friend," Frisson counseled. "He is only human, after
all, as lost as any among us."

"We could wander here till we die of thirst!" the Rat Raiser
cried, appalled.

"oh, come on!" I protested. "I can always conjure up a good meal,
you know."

The tunnel was silent.

Then Frisson said, delicately, "That is not entirely reassuring,
Wizard Saul."

"What, because you think it's really going to take that long?" I
shrugged. "Look-you knew this wasn't a morning's jaunt. Even without
the maze, this could be a long journey."

They looked at one another, and I could feel the apprehension
growing. Finally I capitulated. "All right, all right! I'll see if I
can't summon a guide who can take us out of this mess!"

"What manner of spirit would that be?" Gilbert still looked
wary.

"One good at figuring out mazes, of course." I frowned. "Which
means one who could understand how a straight, direct path could
become twisted and convoluted."

"Why, I am able to ken that," the Rat Raiser said.

"Yes, you would be, wouldn't you? Any good bureaucrat would.

But I had in mind the one who's good at coping with bureaucratsone
who knows how to weave in and out of the red tape, how to go around
the runaround, how to keep from losing his way in a paper storm." I
frowned, rubbing my chin. "Let's see ...

"We need a one who can discover The tortured track that turns and
runs Through forest dark and hidden bower, Past concrete towers and
Stone Age duns, A spirit who can comprehend The twists and turns it
finds inside, And so can lead us past blind ends TO where the monarch
hides!"

There was a flash of light, so bright as to dazzle us all with
afterimages-but a gravelly voice was calling, "What? Where? How came
I here?"

In a panic, I blinked and rubbed, trying to clear my eyes before
the creature I had summoned could turn on us.

Too late-it was howling, "What benighted son of a sorcerer and a
witch has brought me into so bleak a place as this?"

"Guilty!" I shouted. "It's my fault, not theirs! But have the
courage to wait until I can see you, you . . . "

"Then clear your eyes!" the newcomer snorted; and suddenly, I
could see again.

I blinked, asking, "What kind of creature can ... Oh.

My friends gasped with shock. The "creature" looked up from the
neighborhood of my belt buckle, arms akimbo and his other two arms
folded under his shoulder blades, tapping the forward-facing foot
while he balanced on the backward-facing one and took aim at my shin
with the third. His noseless face glowered up at me in indignation,
huge saucer eyes glowing an angry yellow while he twiddled the
tentacles on top of his head. Overall, he looked like a mauve
cucumber whose vines had decided to turn into legs and arms and
prehensile hair. He wore pointed shoes with curling toes and a wide
belt loaded with every sort of tool imaginable, plus a few that I
couldn't.

And he wasn't happy.

I swallowed. "Hi! I'm Saul, urn, a wizard. And who are you?"

"Who did you expect?" the gravelly voice growled. Yes, its lips
moved.

"Just somebody who understands the illogical well enough to get us
out of here. Uh-who are you? "

"I," said the little monster, "am the Gremlin."

I stared.

"Saul," Angelique quavered, "what is a Gremlin?"

"An imaginary creature whose goal in life is making things go
wrong," I told her. "If anybody can understand the kind of realm
we're in, he can."

"But will he aid us?" Frisson breathed.

"Unlikely," the little monster grated. "I delight in foiling and
frustrating, not aiding-especially to folk who yank me
unceremoniously from my home!"

"My apologies," I said, "but there really wasn't any way I could
ask you ahead of time. The Gremlin unlimbered an arcane tool from his
belt. "I'm minded to send you back in that time you speak of, to give
you space to learn your manners."

"No, please! We really do need your help. We're stuck in this
maze, see, and we need to get through it fast. There's a whole
kingdom that needs our help."

"What's your kingdom to me, or I to it?"

"You could be its rescuer," I said, "and it's a goodly land that's
being laid waste by black sorcery. Forests are being blighted-trees
and animals are being twisted out of their natural forms . . ."

"How foul!" the Gremlin cried, outraged. "That is my workthough I
would rather work it through machinery, and the more complicated, the
better. What bastard of spirits usurps my prerogative in such
fashion?"

"Her name is Suettay," I explained, "and her grandmother seized
the throne three generations ago. They've been ruining the land ever
since."

The Gremlin shook his fists, hopping mad-literally. "So many
years? Have my tasks been usurped for so long as that? Why has no one
told me of it before?"

I sensed an opening. "Because they didn't know how. I mean, even
with me, it was as much accident as intention."

"But you did at least bring word!" The Gremlin stilled,
scowling.

"Surely I shall help you, if it will bring me a chance to
annihilate this usurper! What do you wish of me?"

"Well, we're trying to get to the Spider King, see-we're hoping
that maybe he-"

"The Good Bourgeois King?" The Gremlin stared. "Aye, most surely
he could aid you! But how think you to come to him?"

"That's why we're trying to get through this maze, see. I recited
a spell that should take us to the Spider King."

"A spell?" The Gremlin rounded on me, looking me up and down.

"Art a sorcerer, or a warlock?"

"Neither, really-I think I'm a wizard. But I don't believe in
magic, see, and the spell didn't take us right to him, so "A wizard
who works magic that he does not believe in!" the Gremlin crowed.
"Why, this is too delightful! How shall I bollix work for you,
mortal? By making your spells all work aright? Oh, this is
priceless!"

I exhaled a shaky breath. "Surely you wouldn't do anything so
perverse."

The Gremlin eyed me shrewdly. "I think you know me by repute, and
too well to think there is anything too perverse for me. So you wish
to come to the Spider King, eh? "

"Yeah, but my spells haven't been working, and-"

"Nay, I should think not! His realm is too closely guarded, to
come at him unawares!"

"Unawares?" I looked at the tunnel about me. "You mean this whole
thing is his early warning system?"

"He will know of you when you arrive, aye." The Gremlin tilted his
head to the side, looking me up and down. "This much I will do for
you-I will lead you back through this maze, whence you've come. if
"Nay!" Angelique cried. "We must go on!"

The Gremlin looked up, surprised.

" 'Tis the salvation " of the land we speak of," Gilbert
explained.

"Besides," I said, there. " you don't know what's waiting for us
back

"Tell me," the Gremlin coaxed.

"Oh, all right." I sighed. "An evil queen and a torture chamber,
not to mention a dungeon."

"You have reason to wish to go on," the Gremlin admitted. "Yet
'tis not so simply done as that. There are greater dangers than this
maze, look you."

"If you think they're bad, you should see what we left behind
us."

"I have." The monster leered. "Or ones much like them. So you
think, then, that you are on the road to his palace, this Spider
King?"

"Well, to his kingdom, maybe."

The Gremlin shook what passed for his head, with certainty.

"His kingdom runs throughout the heart of the continent between
the Northern and the Middle seas; it overlies your own, like a saucer
on a plate. You seek his palace, not his kingdom alone. I will take
you there, for I'll need his aid against this woman who usurps my
prerogatives." He grinned. "And, too, I'm minded of the mischief you
will wreak in Allustria, if the Spider King lends his strength to
your cause.

I didn't remember mentioning a cause-and I certainly didn't
remember mentioning Allustria. The prickling feeling moved over my
shoulders and the back of my head again, as I began to feel the
tendrils of a conspiracy waft around me. The worst of it was that I
suspected that I might be part of the conspiracy, not just its
object-but I wasn't exactly in a position to be picky. "Then you will
help us?"

"And gain a chance to help confound the self -important and
harshruling ones? Aye, and gladly!" The Gremlin leapt to the fore.
"Follow me!" He strode off into the darkness. "Do You follow
close!"

I hurried after him, and the gang followed, but I don't think any
of us was convinced that it was entirely a good idea.

Lead us the Gremlin did. How, I couldn't have said-but every time
my sense of direction told me I should zig, the Gremlin zagged, and
every time I thought we should turn left, the Gremlin turned
right.

Archways and corners swooped past us in dizzying array, for the
little monster never faltered. How he could tell where to go, I
couldn't guess, but I wasn't about to argue.

Then, finally, the tunnel opened out. I looked up, with a notion
of what I might see-and I was halfway right, at least. I saw a convex
wall curving up and away from me, continuing onward in a great
circle. It was as if we stood in the center of a doughnut.

But what was above that doughnut was a surprise.

"Wizard," Angelique said softly, "what is that darkness all
about?"

It was dead black, flat, total darkness, without the slightest
hint of light. It seemed to dim everything near it.

"The void," I answered. "That's what lies outside of space and
time."

"Then what," Frisson said, "is that great curve that rises above
us", it was like a huge corkscrew, rising up over the rim of the
doughnut, slanting upward into the void and out of sight.

"Yonder lies your path," the Gremlin informed him.

Angelique frowned. "Yet how are we to come to there,"' "Through
yonder gate." The Gremlin pointed. On the far side of the circle, the
wall curved inward, forming the mouth of another tunnel.

"If we must, we must," Gilbert growled. "Lead on."

"Even so," the monster murmured; but he had taken scarcely one
step when a huge roar sounded, a roar that shook the very walls, a
roar that pained our ears and hit us with almost physical force.

" There are impediments," the Gremlin murmured.

Forth it came from the darkness of the tunnel mouth-a monster who
stood upright on hooves and switched an oxtail, whose body swelled
into the deep, muscular chest of a bull, merging into huge, human
arms and shoulders. The mouth opened and loosed another closely, I
realized there was no muzzle, but only a great russet beard roar; I
thought, at first, that it was a lion's head. Then, looking more and
mustache, and that the face was human, though with a huge mane of
tawny hair.

But those were fangs inside that human mouth-fantastically
elongated canines.

Angelique moaned and shrank back against me; I reached out a
protective arm.

"Wizard," Gilbert said, "what manner of creature is that?"

"He is the Bull," the Gremlin answered, "and he is set to slay any
who come herein."



Chapter Eighteen


The Bull charged, arms reaching out for easy meat.

"Scatter!" I shouted, leaping away to my left, Angelique darting
with me. Gilbert dashed off to the right, and Frisson leapt out
ahead, then veered around in a circle.

The Bull turned to follow him.

But the Rat Raiser popped up in front of the monster, crying,
"Hold! Show me your permit!"

The Bull screeched to a halt, forgetting Frisson in its amazement
at the sheer arrogance of this overweening human. Then it lowered its
head, shoulders rising, and let out a bellow of tripled rage, lunging
toward the bureaucrat.

The Rat Raiser turned and fled, crying, "Summon the
men-atarms!

"Why, then, here am I!" Gilbert cried, and threw himself at the
Bull's hocks in a perfect flying tackle. The monster slammed down
like a tidal wave hitting shore, letting out a roar like an
earthquake.

I winced, and hoped there'd be enough of Gilbert left to hold a
ceremony over.

One way or another, the squire had bought us some time, enough for
me to search my memory.

But Frisson got in there before me:


    "Gazing down from Olympian heights,
    Zeus beheld the Phoenician maid,
    Whose face and form with beauty bright
    Awoke desire in the Jovian blade.


He changed himself into a Bull; He mingled with her father's herd
With gentle mien, and hide all white, His breast with ardent passion
stirred As he watched the maid; his heart was full.

Europa saw, and in delight,


    Plaited a garland of blossoms while
    Each graceful movement made him sigh
    Her beauteous face, her glowing smile,
    Sweet curves of breast and cheek and thigh,
    And thresh of limbs as she came nigh!"


Something glimmered in the center of the circle, glimmered and
took form, that of a tall, voluptuous woman in a chiton, blond hair
piled high, with a face of pure innocence. She whirled and ran,
revealing smooth ivory thighs.

Of course, if you looked closely, she was a little
translucent.

Maybe transparent-the Bull saw right through her, anyway. He
stampeded straight past the illusion, shaking the whole chamber with
his bellow, and the Gremlin gibed, "You have mistaken quite, if You
wish a female for his taste."

And, suddenly, the illusion-woman wasn't there any more; in its
place was a young and shapely heifer, slender-for a cow-and, even to
my eyes, somehow alluring. She sauntered out between the humans and
the Bull, who dug in his hooves and jolted to a halt, its eyes fairly
bulging. The heifer turned, switching her tail in his face, ambling
away from me and my companions.

Bewitched, the Bull followed.

Gathering my wits, I dashed over to Gilbert, but the squire had
pulled himself together and was sitting up, shaking his head. I
stopped by him with a sigh of relief. "You okay?"

Gilbert looked up with a frown. "What is 'okay'?"

"Uh-sound, in this instance,"

"Aye." Gilbert caught my arm and pulled himself up. "Sound, and
ready for another round. Where is our foe?"

Another wall-shaking roar answered us. We whirled and saw that the
Bull had finally caught the heifer-but she had turned into a Spanish
fighting Bull, head lowered and pawing the earth. The halfhuman Bull
bellowed his bafflement and rage, and charged.

Somehow, he missed.

And, somehow, the Spanish Bull was a heifer again, scampering away
with a playful moo. But the Bull, fully aroused, roared his wrath and
pounded hot-hoof after her.

I saw our chance. "Now! While he's too mad to think at all!"

"Even as you say." Gilbert hurled himself forward again.

"Hey, no!" I cried, appalled; but the squire did even better than
before. He landed in a crouch right in front of the Bull and, with
its next step, surged upward, arms wrapped around the monster's
knees, pitching upward with his full strength, slinging the Bull high
and hard. The monster's bellow took on a note of bafflement; it
flailed about as it flew, and Gilbert turned with it, hands still on
its hooves, then slammed it down with all his might. The Bull hit the
ground with an impact that shook the whole cavern, and Frisson yanked
off his wooden shoe, leapt in, and swung hard. The crack! of wood on
bone was almost as loud as the roar, and I winced, hoping the Bull
wasn't dead even as I wondered if I'd have to conjure up a new shoe
for Frisson.

But the Bull only sagged, pushing itself halfway up, then tilted
over and fell heavily again. He lifted his head, looking about, then
rolled over to his belly and got his legs under him.

"He has a hard head," Frisson noted, pulling his shoe on
again.

"Yet he will recover, and soon." The Gremlin was there by me.

"Quickly, Wizard! Conjure tea!"

"Tea?!" I stared, totally taken aback.

"Aye, tea and scones, with a silver service and a linen cloth!

Quickly! Lose no time!"

"But what good will tea and "Do you not hear me? I tell you, I
know this Bull! High tea, and promptly, for even now he regains his
senses!"

I gave up trying to make sense out of it, and recited:


    "Oh I some are for the red wine, and some are for the white,
    And some for guzzling moonshine by the pale moonlight;
    But I'm for tea and crumpets, for high tea just sets me right!"


The air thickened; then light glittered off shiny surfaces, and a
linen picnic cloth was there, with cups and saucers next to a
bonechina teapot. Hot scones nestled in a linen napkin lining a
silver basket; another held crumpets, with butter dish and jam pot
close by.

"Maiden, pour!" the Gremlin urged.

Angelique stared, startled to be told to do something for which
she'd had no training; but she turned, gamely stepping in with her
upbringing as a proper hostess, and sat gracefully by the pot.

"One hand keeps the lid on," I whispered.

Angelique took the cue as if she hadn't even noticed it, pouring
tea into a cup and burbling, "How pleasant the weather is! Quite cool
for August, do you not think? Lemon, Sir, or milk?"

The Bull looked up, sighting an island. staring at the service
like a shipwrecked sailor

"Sweetening, perchance?" Angelique prompted. or two? "One
lump,

"She picked up on that awfully fast," I muttered at the Gremlin
with a hint of accusation.

The little monster looked up at me with a mischievous twinkle in
his eye. "There are more ways than one to put a notion into a body's
head, Wizard."

"Two lumps," legged. the Bull rumbled, pulling himself up to sit
cross

Frisson and Gilbert exchanged a look of amazement, but Angelique
didn't even bat an eye. She dropped two lumps of sugar into the cup
with silver tongs. "Will you take milk, or lemon?"

"Milk, if you please, the Bull answered, with a good public-school
accent. "And perhaps a scone?"

"Surely.

" Angelique presented him with a cup and saucer, then turned to
take a bit of scone from the basket. "Butter?"

"Of course."

"So I had thought." Angelique spread butter, set the cake on a
plate, and handed it to him, then looked up at me. "Saul?"

"Milk and sugar." I folded myself into a tailor's seat, surprised
to find I was hungry. "And a scone, if You please./i "Most
certainly.

" Angelique poured, chattering, "I think we will have an early
fall, do you not? And you, Sir Bull, what fine chance brings you our
way?"

The Bull frowned. "I might have asked the same."

"Then do, I prithee! And might you have a name?"

"John," the Bull said.

Of course.

Then, obligingly, "And what chance brings You my way?"

Slowly, Frisson and Gilbert came up and sat down. Angelique poured
tea with milk and sugar for them as she answered, "We flee a wicked
tyrant, who would imprison us, abuse each of us in ways as foul as
she can imagine, then slay us by slow torture. And yourself?"

"I have been here as long as I may remember," the Bull answered
slowly, land that is long, maiden, very long."

"Centuries," the Gremlin breathed.

"Even so." The Bull bowed his head to the monster in
acknowledgment. "I know not who sent me here-only that his voice did
echo all around me as I woke, saying, 'Here you stand, and here you
must remain, slaying all who seek to pass until fair Chance may send
you they who seek to rise for good.' Angelique exchanged a glance
with me. "Mayhap we are they."

"Mayhap," the Bull said slowly, trying to throttle hope. "Where do
you seek to go, and why?"

"To the castle of the Spider King," Angelique answered. "We seek
his aid in defeating a foul sorceress who has laid a whole land
'neath a grid of rules and clerks. indeed, her people scarcely dare
to stir out of doors without her say-so."

The Bull frowned. "Why should the Spider King aid you?"

"Why," Angelique said, "we have heard that he is a good man, who
aids those who seek to help the poor, and yearn for justice."

"He does that, aye, does both. Yet what advantage is there for him
in thus aiding you to give aid?"

I do not know," Angelique admitted.

"Maybe we could tell, if we knew what he wants," I said
slowly.

"Do you know?"

"He lacks nothing," the Bull said.

I shook my head. "If that were the case, he'd either help people
just for the fun of it, or he'd be getting something out of it. A
sense of purpose, maybe?"

"How old is he?" Frisson said.

"Centuries," the Bull said firmly. "As long as I have been here,
at the least."

"Mayhap, then," the poet offered, "he has need to justify his
continnued existence?"

I looked up, startled. Where had this country bumpkin taken his
philosophy course?

But the Bull was nodding. "I could think that, aye. Why else does
he constantly seek out human misery and invent ways to assuage
it?

"Does he so?" Frisson fastened on the words, his eyes keen.

I wondered at it, but the poet didn't seem inclined to expand upon
the point, so I said, "If that's his motivation, why does he have you
here to keep people out?"

"I cannot say with any surety that 'twas he who set me here," the
Bull said slowly. "As to the 'why' of it, I cannot so much as
conjecture.

"Not without knowing the 'who,' no," I said dryly. "Well, let's
assume for the moment that we're the ones you're supposed to let
through.

"Let us not!" the Bull said sternly. "And let us recall that, when
this teatime is ended, we shall war again, you and I."

Inside, I went cold, but my mouth kept going. "But what if we are
the ones you're supposed to help?"

"If you are, why, you shall defeat me, and I shall go on to the
Spider King's palace with you." The Bull sounded angry, and I could
imagine the anguish he was feeling at the moment of decision. "If you
are not, then you shall die in the attempt."

But Frisson had fastened to the first sentence. "If you are to go
with us, can you guide us? Have you been to the palace before?"

"No," the Bull said slowly, "yet I have a memory of the route.
'Tis as if I were made with it in me.' "DNA can do such wonderful
things," I murmured. Then, louder, "Trust the inborn hunch-and take a
gamble on us. After all, how many other groups have ever come this
way?"

"Only three," the Bull admitted.

I felt another chill, trying to imagine what the last questers
Must have been.

"Yet they were all men," the Bull continued, "and wore the black
robes of sorcery. There was a reek of evil about them, which there is
not about you."

"We are a force of right," Gilbert said with total conviction.

The Bull gave him the jaundiced eye, but I said, "At least we're
fighting evil . . ."

"And each of us has suffered from it," Gilbert stated.

"Well, yes," I said, shifting uncomfortably as I remembered a few
of my less glorious deeds, then shifting back with apprehension as I
remembered my encounter with my guardian angel. "I have to admit I'm
out for my own ends, though."

The Bull's head snapped about to stare at me. "How so?"

"I'm trying to find a friend," I explained, "and after that, I'm
out to get back home." But I glanced at Angelique as I said it, and
suddenly found the issue much less pressing than it had been. "It
just seems that I'm going to have to defeat the evil queen before I
can do either. "

"His gain will be the people's salvation," Gilbert said
quickly.

The Bull ignored him, eyes still on me. "That is not the most
noble motive for a quest."

"It's better than a lot of 'em," I answered, reddening, "and its
side effects would benefit the people of Allustria. Couldn't very
well be worse than what they've got."

"There is that," the Bull admitted. "And, mayhap, it would be less
of a bore to assist you, than to guard this gate interminably. It
would, at the least, be adventure."

My hopes soared. "Oh, I guarantee it wouldn't be boring!"

"Indeed it will not," the Bull admitted, "for we must pass mine
enemy. Will you aid me in fighting him?"

I felt sudden interior brakes slamming on. If this monster felt
the need of help confronting the next one, how horrible did it have
to be?

"Just what kind of beastie is this?"

"His name is Ussrus Major," the Bull answered, "and he is the
Bear.

The tone in which he said it was enough to chill the blood, but
Frisson murmured, "Saul, you are a great wizard, surely."

"Yeah, with your verses." I remembered a poem, took a deep breath,
and said, "Okay. Count us in."

"I may indeed," the Bull answered, "for the Bear blocks the way to
the Spider King."

Suddenly, he straightened, slapping his knees. " 'Tis done; I am
with you. If I am wrong, and mayhem strikes, why, then, let it come!
"

"You are noble," Angelique murmured.

"I wish escape from my prison."

"You are brave," Frisson qualified.

The Bull stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Yet every man
fears some thing, and this is mine, this journey. Still, I long for
it, too-so let us be about it."

He to le, lithe, twisting movement and set off toward se in one
sing his cave. We others sprang to our feet and followed. I glanced
back; saw the remains of our picnic; and, with a quick, muttered
verse, banished the mess. It twinkled and was gone.

The Bull wrenched open the gate, and we followed him into the cave
beyond it-with some trepidation, if truth be known. Me, I was
remembering the story of Chicken Little-but the cave extended, going
on and on. I realized it was another tunnel.

"What spell you used to seek out the Spider King, use now," the
Bull rumbled. The Gremlin nudged me; I took a breath and started
chanting, low, almost subvocally.

I had scarcely finished the first recitation when the tunnel
started changing. its roof developed a split; then, as we walked
along, the split became wider and wider until the roof was gone. I
began to eye the dark space beyond it nervously, especially as the
walls of the tunnel began to taper down, lower and lower, until they
were scarcely knee-high, and we were walking on a concave
pathway.

"Now," the Gremlin said, "one might feel dangerously exposed."

"One might," I agreed, with a nervous glance at the darkness
around us-then looked again. "Hey! It's getting lighter!"

"We approach his region-mine enemy." The Bull came to a halt,
pointing. "Yonder lies the pit of greatest danger for me-the pit of
the Bear! Mark it!"

There he came, shambling through the mist, a huge dark shape in a
phosphorescent cavern, and my heart sank down to my boots. But the
trail led through that huge cave, a floating pathway with no visible
means of support, angling through the ghostly cavern, perhaps six
feet off the floor.

"Onward," the Gremlin said, face grim. "We gain naught, if we
stand to be prey."

"Why, then, pray we must," Frisson countered, and immediately
chanted, loudly, 'God of pity, God of wrath!

Save us from the ursine path!"

I looked around in a panic, but there was no visible damage, and I
let out a sigh of relief. "Please, Frisson! Write it down!"

"Even a prayer?" the poet cried, amazed.

"Anything," I snapped, "as long as it's original."

But the Bear had heard and reared up on his hind feet, forelegs
upraised as if imploring. "Comrades, please! I wish only
detente!"

"Keep walking," I said grimly, and we did, though our steps had
slowed with dread.

"Surely we are too heavy for so fragile a path," Angelique
demurred.

"Forward," I commanded, "or he'll take the hindmost."

"Can you not make our weight less?"

,oh, all right," I grumped.


    "Afoot and hearted
    I take to the climbing road,
    Healthy, free,
    The world before me, dismayed
    Rising up un Forward the Light Brigade!"


"Volga, mother dear!" the Bear cried, "you have never had such a
gift as this!" With that, he swung a huge paw with double eagle's
talons at the maiden, to snag her dress. She screamed and shrank
back, but the Bull roared in anger and leapt from the pathway, hooves
slamming straight toward the Bear.

Ussrus stepped back just in time, and the Bull landed right in
front of him, slamming a haymaker into the Bear's jaw. its head
rolled back, and its arms came up. "Comrade, please! I come in peace!
A truce, I beseech you!"

"Don't trust him!" I called. "Cry no peace with the Bear who walks
like a man!"

The Bull only kept his guard up, glowering.

"Bring him up, quickly!" the Gremlin hissed. "We cannot go on
without him"' The way ahead was luminescent, glowing with distant
fires. I called,


    "Up, up and away!
    For he who fights and runs away,
    Will live to fight another day!"


The Bull admitted, "yet should I therefore "There is sense in
that,"

not give him his truce?"

"No!" I bleated.

"Horrible, hairy, human, with paws like hands in prayer, Making
his supplications rose Adam-Zad the Bear ...

When he stands up as pleading, in wavering, man-brute guise, When
he veils the hate and cunning of his little swinish eyes, When he
shows as seeking quarter with paws like hands in prayer, That is the
time of peril-The time of the Truce of the Bear!

over and over the story, ending as it began:


    There is no truce with Adam-zad, the Bear that walks like a man!"


"Betrayal!" the Bear cried. "Our plan is discovered!" His huge paw
scythed toward the Bull's face, but the claws tangled in the Bull's
long hair, just long enough for John to beat away the attack and
counterpunch. The Bear recoiled, then came back roaring, with
scytheclaws flailing. "Transform the imperialist war into civil
war!"

Frisson pressed a piece of paper into my hand. I read it without
thinking.


    "Raise up our tiring friend!
    That we might rise away with him,
    Up toward our chosen end,
    Clambering dire to meet the arachnid sire
    Spiraling higher in a widening gyre!"


The Bull shot up into the air as if a huge hand had grabbed him,
then dropped back onto the pathway-but very lightly, as if that same
invisible hand was setting him down with the greatest of care.

I began to wonder about Frisson's verse of prayer.

The Bear recovered, its shoulders hunkering down, an ugly gleam
coming into its eyes. "Do not set yourself above us! For surely, all
history is that of class conflict!"

"The conflict part, I can believe," I said to the Gremlin, "but he
totally lacks class."

"Keep walking, Wizard," the monster answered nervously.

"I sense an uprising," Gilbert muttered.

The pathway shuddered under our feet, then pulled itself loose
from the ground and drifted upward, curving into a widening spiral
that wound up out of sight.

The Bear rose up, both forepaws hammering at the pathway, claws
flashing like icicles. "Let us restructure the economy!" He hooked
huge talons into the spiral and pulled downward.

The path jolted, and my companions cried out, fighting for
balance. Frisson and I fell, but Angelique and Gilbert managed to
keep their feet. The Bear dragged the pathway down, roaring, "Scorch
the earth and burn the city! Let not a scrap remain to strength the
enemy! It

"Too much anachronism is too much," I growled.


    "Oh, hear you not the singing of the bugle, wild and free?
    And soon you'll know the ringing of the rifle, from the tree!
    oh, the rifle, yes the rifle, in our hands will prove no trifle!


Light gleamed along a length of blue steel, and I found myself
holding a Kentucky flintlock.

Well, one shot was better than none. I tucked it into my shoulder
and sighted.

The Bear dropped the pathway and backed away, arms up high again.
"Brothers, do not shoot!"

The pathway whipped back up, then sank down, then back up, and
even Angelique and Gilbert howled as we tumbled. I squeezed the
trigger, and the hammer snapped down-but there wasn't even a flash in
the pan. I threw the rifle at the Bear with an oath of disgust.

The butt caught Ussrus right across the chops, and he reeled, head
spinning.

"Enough of this!" the Gremlin cried, exasperated, and jumped down
into the cave of the Bear.

"No!" I cried in alarm, but the Gremlin was muttering something as
he dashed in a circle around Ussrus Major.

The Bear suddenly let out a howl. "What are these leaves? What are
these-gooseberries?"

"What ails the beast?" Frisson asked, wide-eyed.

"He supposes he is a bush," the Gremlin answered, hopping back up
onto the pathway. "But the spell will not endure forever, Wizard.

The Bull must find some way to bring this path up high, where the
Bear cannot reach, or he will surely drag us down."

"Right." I pulled myself together, racking my wits for some verse
about a rising path. The first thing that came to mind was,


    "Up and away, Chingachgook'
    The hunter who follows shall now be shook!"


"I'm out of rhymes!" I shouted. "Take it, Frisson!"

The poet adlibbed as easily as a stream flows:


    "As we go faster, we slow our pursuer!
    The pilgrims rise up, and disdain the lure!"


"Walk!" the Gremlin commanded us, and we scrambled to our feet,
swayed a moment in the motion of the rising path, then managed a sort
of bowlegged gait, leaning into a hike that had suddenly become a
climb, as the path rose up at an angle and kept rising. Below us, the
Bear roared in impotent fury, clawing in vain at a curve that had
risen so high that it exceeded his grasp. He stood below us, flailing
away at those whom he would drag down, until his voice was lost in
the mists that rose up to obscure him, mists that rose even higher
until they were all about us, then hardened-and we found ourselves
walking in an enclosed tunnel once again.

"You have succeeded, Wizard," Frisson whispered.

"Yes, but only because I had a lot of help. The tunnel has changed
a lot, though. Are we still on the right path?"

"Aye," the Bull said, "for we have but discovered the way to the
Spider King, in spite of all the deceptions with which the Bear
sought to enshroud us."

"Yet it seems to differ so," Angelique objected. And it did, for
the curve was much sharper, and rose in an incline. We toiled upward
through a torus that became a hollow expanding helix, ascending and
ascending until it suddenly opened out into a great room, so vast
that its ceiling glowed in an opalescent mist, a fabric of gossamer
threads. it had no walls, but columns as numerous as the trunks of a
forest, with vistas of hills and meadows and groves visible between
them, bathed in sunlight and vividly green. We walked out in wonder,
across a floor that was a mosaic of marble so huge that our eyes
couldn't even begin to discern the picture it formed.

Directly before us, in an archway, stood a stocky figure with a
flowing cloak, silhouetted against the sun.

"Gentlemen and lady," the Bull said, in a hushed, almost reverent
tone, "we have attained our goal. We stand in the palace of the
Spider King.



Chapter Nineteen


The dark form came forward. As he left the sun-dazzle, his face
became visible. At first glance, he wasn't a terribly prepossessing
figure-only a man of middle height, wearing tunic and hose of dark
gray broadcloth, a hip-length coat with wide sleeves, and a cap
encircled by a band of leaden medallions.

Then I saw the face, as rough as if it had been hewn from stone,
with fire in the eyes and a grim set to the lips, and I quailed for a
moment.

Only a moment, not even long enough for my natural mulishness to
arise-because I looked at his eyes again and decided that if this man
told me to follow him into a battle we couldn't win, I probably
would.

"Be welcome in my palace," the Spider King said. "If you have
found the means to come to me here, the stoutness of heart to win
through, you must be good folk."

I glanced around, but nobody else seemed inclined to answer, so
cleared my throat.

But Gilbert spoke up first. ,you must be sure indeed of your
power, Majesty, to greet so unseemly a crew as we, with no guardsmen
or knights about you. The Spider King's lips quirked into a smile,
apparently ignoring the element of threat in Gilbert's words-was the
squire out of his mind?

He started to answer, but before he could get out a single word, a
horrifying apparition came dashing from behind a pillar. He was only
a man, but incredibly ugly. His eyes and nose were surrounded by a
huge tangle of red hair and beard. His tunic and leggings were of
good cloth, but irretrievably rumpled. He ran hunched over, a
standing cup of dull white metal in his hands. "The cup, Majesty! The
antimony cup! You must drink!"

The king glanced at him, irritated. "Away, Oliver. I have affairs
in train.

But, "You must drink!" the shaggy man maintained, and he set
himself beside the king like a tree that had suddenly taken root.

The king gave him a look of exasperation, but took the cup and
drank off the draught. Then he pushed the cup back and said, "Now
begone! I shall summon you at need!"

"As your Majesty pleases." The vagabond bowed and scurried
off.

"As you see, I am attended," the Spider King said to Gilbert. The
squire had not moved, but somehow gave the impression of having
shrunk away in loathing as Angelique had very definitely done, and
the rest of us had backed away a pace or two.

"He could repulse a squadron by the mere look of him," Frisson
murmured.

"Not that he would have need to." For some odd reason, Gilbert
seemed to relax. "We have come in peace, Majesty, to beseech your
aid.

"None would come for aught reason else," the king said, with a
sardonic smile. "You seek aid against the queen of Allustria, do you
not?" Something clicked in my mind. "Yes, we do," I said slowly, "and
I think you know all about it-starting with my being transported to
this universe."

"To the universe of Allustria and Merovence," the Spider King
corrected me. "We stand between all universes, here. Yet I cannot be
certain that I know all your grievances. Therefore, tell me
them."

For a moment, Gilbert looked lost. "There is so much . . ."

"I am a poet whose verses wreak evil, Majesty," Frisson said,
"even though I intend it not. Yet this wizard . . ." He nodded toward
me. ". . . has taught me to write, so that my verses no longer need
to be spoken, and no longer wreak havoc."

Gilbert took his cue. "The people of Allustria have suffered at
the hands of Queen Suettay, Majesty, and I was of the band of the
Order of Saint Moncaire sent to free one good yeoman and his family
from her oppression. Yet my general did command me to accompany this
Wizard Saul, for he had a vision that showed Saul to be the salvation
of Allustria."

i still didn't like the sound of that.

"He wrested me from my prison cell," the Rat Raiser said, "where I
had languished for years, since Queen Suettay consigned me there for
no crime but fulfilling my function too well."

"And seeking to rise higher?" The Spider King fixed him with a
gimlet stare.

The Rat Raiser bore it as long as he could; then he lowered his
gaze and muttered, "I was ambitious, aye. Yet I did not seek her
throne."

"That would have come," the Spider King assured him. He turned to
Angelique. "And yourself, lady? Have you, too, suffered at the hands
of this Queen Suettay?"

Angelique straightened, lifting her chin. "She did sacrifice me to
evil, majesty, and did attempt to ensnare my ghost to be her slavebut
the Wizard Saul did remind me that I had but to repent my sins, and I
would be Heaven-bound. He thus freed me from her power-but she kept
my body between life and death, so that I must yet linger on this
Earth."

The Spider King nodded slowly, eyes still on her. "And 'tis only
the trickle of life in your body that holds you here?"

Angelique blushed and lowered her eyes, and I felt a thrill shoot
through every limb and extremity. it surpassed anything that was ever
brewed in a test tube.

Then the Spider King turned to me with a skeptical lift of the
eyebrow. "What say you, 0 Hope of the Oppressed?"

"Uh . . ." I swallowed through a suddenly dry throat. "I just want
to find my friend Matthew Mantrell, your Majesty." I was about to add
the bit about getting back to my own universe, but I glanced at
Angelique, looking so vibrant, alive, and curvaceous, and decided to
leave that part out. Honesty, however, compelled me to admit, "I also
want to get Angelique's ghost back into her body."

"How shall you do that, with the queen in your way?

I shrugged. "Take the queen out of the way."

"So you are set upon the slaying of a monarch?"

"I hadn't thought of it that way," I admitted, "though I wouldn't
mind, now that you mention it-nobody could deserve it more. Besides,
her grandmother usurped the throne-she isn't a rightful monarch.

"If she was born to it, it is hers by right," he stated with an
air of full authority.

I looked at him narrowly; I've developed this instinct for knowing
when a person's trying to snow me. "You don't believe that for a
second," I accused. Then pieces pulled themselves together in my
mind-the picture of that great fat spider sitting back and laughing
at me, after she had just bitten me in Matt's apartment, and all the
little arachnids that had been watching me ever since. "You were the
one who brought me here in the first place! Maybe you can tell me how
I'm going to unseat Suettay! That's what you want, isn't it?"

He stood still for a moment, then smiled. "You are astute, Wizard
Saul-and, yes, you are a wizard; your denials are futile. As to
deposing the usurper, you are the lodestone to which the forces of
opposition will gather, and may have the strongest chance of
success-but it is not by any means certain."

I frowned. "Just a minute, there. In the first place, I thought
you said Suettay wasn't a usurper."

"Her own actions betray that she is, at least, no rightful
monarch," the king said. "Since taking the throne, she has sought for
the rightful king; for twenty years she has sought the descendant of
the queen her grandmother slew."

I nodded. "So she knows she's trying to impose herself on a land
that isn't hers, one that rejects her naturally." I had heard of such
a thing, in the comparative lit major that I almost finished. "So if
I kick her out, I'm just punishing a would-be regicide. And since
she's a sorceress, it will be in the land's best interests for me to
overthrow her."

"Even so." The king's face darkened; right or wrong, the killing
of a monarch went against his grain. "None but a monarch born may
claim a crown-and one who knows her claim to be unrightful must bring
chaos upon the land she would rule. To do so is to offend against
nature and goodness! To do so is to turn her power to evil!/' His
glare was so damned intimidating! I stood against it, though, and
said stoutly, "So whether she was evil or not, she certainly would
be, once she had decided to keep the crown and kill the rightful
claimant-if she could." Privately, I was remembering the long history
of European dynasties being established by usurpation, and the
Chinese convention of the Mandate of Heaven passing to the successful
usurper-but the rules seemed to be different here. Or, no, not
different, but lying on a deeper foundation; there was some sort of
affinity between the rightful ruler and the land itself. Now that I
thought about it, European usurpers usually had been related to the
previous dynasty in some way, no matter how tenuous-at least, the
usurpers whose families had managed to hold the throne for several
generations. I took a deep breath and said, "Majesty, aid us in
overthrowing this vile sorceress, and we will seek the legitimate
heir!"

Gilbert and Angelique both stared at me, eyes very wide. I didn't
blame them; I felt the same way. I had been so determined not to get
myself committed! But this was, at least, only a short-term
commitment-and it seemed to be the price of the king's help. I
guessed that was what he had brought me here for.

Seemed I'd guessed right, too. The Spider King stood in thought,
chin sunk on his breast. Finally, he lifted his head and said, "Will
you swear? " I ground my teeth in resentment, even though it meant
I'd guessed rightly. But he didn't leave me much choice, now. "Yes.
But I want to hear the wording first."

"You shall have it." The king plucked one of the leaden medallions
from his hat and held it out in his palm. "Upon Saint Louis!

Swear that you will hold the throne only to search for its
rightful occupant, and that you will make no attempt to take the
crown permanently for yourself or for your line!"

I didn't move, just stood there and looked him eye to eye. "I
wasn't planning to take it at all."

"And who will rule the land when the usurper is dead, while you
seek out the rightful heir?" the king said impatiently. "Come, swear!
"

"I'm tempted. But, actually, I had in mind a ruling council, maybe
with representatives from all the different classes-uh, estates."

His mouth twisted in sarcasm. "And who will lead it?"

I just glared back at him while my mind raced like a rat in a
maze, searching for a way out. There wasn't one, so I went for the
most limited terms I could think up on the spot. "Okay, so I'll call
myself prime minister, or president . . ."

He frowned, not understanding.

"The one who presides," I explained, my exasperation beginning to
show. "But I won't call myself king."

He glared at me, but the glare was softening a little. Finally, he
ave one short, curt nod. "Good enough. Swear!"

I stared for a second longer, then sighed and gave in. I clasped
my hand over the king's. "All right. I swear."

"Speak the words!"

I took a deep breath, as much for patience as for a long
sentence.

"I swear by Saint Louis that, if I come to lead the government of
Allustria, I will hold it only for the purpose of . . ." I broke off,
staring at our joined hands.

Beneath my palm, the medallion had grown warm.

"Swear!" the Spider King commanded.

All around me, I felt tension, as if the air itself were
thickeningbut I couldn't see anything. I looked up, and the king's
glare seemed to bore into my eyes. "Swear!" he demanded. "Or are you
false?"

I reddened and tried to ignore the heat. ". . . for the purpose of
governing its people as well as I can, but only while seeking its
rightful heir . . ."

But the tension in the air was growing physically tangible, and
the medallion had become hot. It was beginning to be painful. I
gritted my teeth and went on. "I swear that I shall never leave off
searching for the heir and will resign as soon as I have found him-or
her! And that-" The medallion was a searing pain beneath my hand, but
I forced myself to ignore the agony and go on. "-under no
circumstances will I seek to take the throne for myself, or for my
heirs! By Saint Louis! " Then I tried to pull my hand away, but the
king still held it, gaze probing mine, as the heat died away and was
gone. Then, finally, the Spider King released my hand. I snatched it
away with a groan of relief and looked at my palm to make sure I
wasn't burned.

There, tan against the skin, was the image of Saint Louis.

I screamed. "No! I'm nobody's man! I'm not property!"

My friends stared at me, Angelique frightened, Gilbert appalled,
and Frisson very interested.

"It will fade when the terms of your vow are completed," the
Spider King advised me. "But for now, you are committed. Never
forget."

"How can I, when I've got this brand to remind me?" I shouted.

He nodded slowly, unfazed by my anger. "That is its purpose."

"And to make sure everybody can tell whose side I'm on," I yelled,
"including my enemies! What chance do I have now to survive if I'm
captured?"

"What chance did you have before?" he returned.

I just stared at him while the blood drained from my face. He was
right-Suettay knew who I was, sure enough, and so did all her
henchmen. A disguise might have worked, but I doubted it.

I was a marked man-in more ways than one.

The king still held my gaze, then nodded slowly. "Peradventure you
will not forget. Yet if ever you are tempted to, you have but to look
in your palm."

I stared at the image in my hand.

"As is your body, so be your soul," the Spider King said
softly.

"May your duty to Saint Louis and the people of Allustria be as a
brand upon your spirit."

I lifted my head, staring in surprise and shock. Then finally I
remembered how I had come into this mess in the first place and said,
"It is. It already was."

But I hadn't realized it before.

So did it matter that I was now locked into it?

Not really. No. But it sure made me feel eerie. I hated being
committed, in any way.

I looked up and noticed Angelique eyeing me with a very leery
look. I think she was noticing my attitude, too.

Heat ...

I had felt the force of magic enveloping me, binding me, through
the leaden icon of the saint. I was branded, indeed, and I wondered
what form the results of that branding would take.

"Now," the king said, "I will hearken to your tale of woe. What
moves in this Allustria of yours that is so ruinous to her
people?"

"Sorcery!" Gilbert declared.

"Slaughter and rapine!" Angelique cried, appalled.

But I just stared into the eyes of the Spider King and said
slowly, "You already know all that, don't you? You have spies
everywhere."

"Everywhere," he said, "and too much-for I must winnow amongst my
knowledge to find that whereof you speak. Where is your
Allustria?"

Gilbert frowned, puzzled. "By Merovence, and north of the Middle
Sea."

"In which universe?"

The others stared, floored. I felt a chill, even though I had
guessed this, and said, "In that universe in which magic works by
poetry, Majesty, and in which Hardishane's empire drove out the
minions of evil, with the aid of Saint Moncaire."

"Ah! Saint Moncaire." The Spider King nodded. "I know the hundred
of which you speak. Tell me more of it."

"Why," Gilbert said, "Alisande has become queen of Merovencc, five
years past-"

"The only one in which evil has not overwhelmed all of Europe'

Aye, I know it! Yet my attention has turned to the other universes
near it, which are more in need of my aid."

"Allustria stands in need of your aid, Majesty, too, and
desperately," Angelique protested. "We dwell in horror there, as
fodder for evil men!"

The king shrugged. "I pity you, lady-yet what may I do? There must
be some who wish the rule of right, and one to lead them; else I can
do naught."

"Why, we wish such a rule," Gilbert cried, "and here is our
leader." He clapped me on the back.

I regained my stability and forced a smile.

The king turned to me, interest whetted. "Is it so? Then tell me
summat of this Allustria, and of yourselves."

But I shook my head and said slowly, "It's the Allustria that you
brought me to, because you wanted me to fix it."

The king's mouth quirked toward a smile, but he said nothing.

"You have tendrils reaching into all the universes, don't you?" I
accused.

"Not all," the king admitted, "only those in which I, or my
analog, one very like to me, was born, or will be. I am outside time,
as are the saints. In the universe that holds your home, I have been
dead for almost five centuries; in life, I was known there as Louis
XI of France. In this universe of which you speak, I was the Crown
Prince Karl of Allustria-but when Suettay's grandmother slew the
rightful queen, she also slew all her heirs, and all her possible
heirs. Thereby did I die."

I stared, shocked. Then I gathered the remnants of my wits and
said, "But that was a hundred years ago!"

"Two hundred," he said. "These sorcerous monarchs live far past
their natural time."

"But why didn't you call me in sooner?" I bleated.

"Because you had not been born," he said simply, "and because the
forces that can be gathered to oppose the queen did not yet
exist.

Now, however, Alisande rules in Merovence and has a most puissant
Lord Wizard by her side, who defeated the evil sorcerer that sought
to take her kingdom. When I saw how Allustria had fallen and my
system of clerks been perverted, I resolved to one day cleanse
both-and my chance came when a wizard rose who spearheaded the
overthrow of the sorcerer-king of lbile-Matthew Mantrell, Lord Wizard
of Merovence. "

I stood galvanized, just staring at him. He knew why, too, the
has

tard; he just smiled back at me with that small smile and that
selfsatisifed look in his eyes.

Then I burst out, "Matt? A lord?"

"Aye," he said, "and a royal consort, after three years."

"Married?" I turned away, my brain whirling-and thoughts tumbling.
Matt had always had the look of the kind who would get married, mind
you-but to a queen?

Well. Good for him. I pulled myself together and turned back to
the Spider King. "I'm glad to hear it-he's my best friend-but you
knew that, didn't you?"

"The times were right, at last," he answered. "There is a
similarity of talents to you two."

"So you just followed his back-trail and looked for a man who
could do what he had done." I looked at him narrowly. "But you did
say three years,"' The king nodded. "Time runs at different rates, in
your world and mine. I sought a man who had a strong enough sense of
self, whose individuality was so certain, that he would not
compromise with any group force, but would maintain his integrity in
spite of all temptations. " I backed away, staring, shaking my head,
harder and harder. "No.

Not a chance. That's not me. No."

"Truth," the Spider King insisted, with iron tones. "Yet there was
this flaw in the scheme: A man who is so obsessed with becoming his
true self is not committed to either evil or good, and his commitment
to himself may make him corruptible by self-seeking."

Well. That sounded a bit more like me.

"That's really a minor danger," I said slowly.
"Self-aggrandizement would violate my integrity. I'd just like it
clearly on the record that I resent being drafted, though."

"Noted," the king said, his eyes glowing, and somehow, I was
certain the fact had just been written down, somewhere, by some being
that I preferred not to know about. "Noted-but 'drafted' you
are."

"Yes, damn it!" I snapped. "You know just what you've done, don't
you? Throwing these really solidly good people in my path! You've got
me too caught up in this universe, now, to be able to reject it
without trying to save it!"

"Therein am I indeed guilty." The bastard sounded proud of it.

"But you don't do anything!" I exploded. "You just sit here and
watch! How can you call yourself a force for the good?"

"In your universe, and in many others, I was a force for goodness
overall," he qualified, "though I achieved my ends with guile and
stealth, which laid a great deal of guilt upon my soul. I thus was
able to see to your world and recruit you. Your friend the Lord
Wizard would not do for this affair-he is too strongly allied with
good and too scrupulous for some of the means we must use to combat
Suettay. But you, with your determination not to commit yourself to
any larger force, to remain yourself, alone if need be-you may be
able to combat this system of Suettay's, that seeks to grind all
souls into the same likeness."

"I do have an interest in fighting depersonalization," I
admitted.

"But with the kind of power you have, I find it difficult to
believe that you couldn't have just walked in and kicked out any of
these evil monarchs, any time you wanted."

"The power," he agreed, "but not the right. if these people do not
wish to change their queen, what right have I to meddle?"

I stared. My companions stared, too, aghast.



Chapter Twenty


Then the statement suddenly made sense to me. "It's not just the
queen, is it? Her successor might not bring better rule, after all.
So a new king can't do any good there, unless he changes the system
of rule. That country can keep running just as well as it does now
without any king-or just as poorly!"

"The monarch has appointed clerks and reeves enough," the Spider
King said, by way of agreement.

I frowned, trying to pierce the man's emotionless mask by the
sheer intensity of my own feelings. "And you think that's good, don't
you? A good way to rule."

"If the clerks are mastered, aye. if a capable monarch of good
intent commands them, they can strengthen the land immeasurably,
preserving the peace and bringing greater wealth to all."

"Like Joseph in Egypt," I murmured, "storing up grain for the
famine. That's your goal, isn't it? No one starving, no one wearing
rags or sleeping on the streets."

This time, the king nodded as he smiled.

"But that's not enough." I frowned. "No one should have to kneel
to somene else, just because that someone else is stronger. No one
should have to live in fear of an overlord's cruel whim. No one
should have to be locked into doing whatever job someone else assigns
him, if he doesn't want it and can find other work that he likes
better!

"None should have to marry where they do not wish," Angelique
murmured.

"All should be free to seek their own paths to Heaven," Gilbert
added.

The Spider King pounced on it. "Freedom for Heaven is in one's
soul, squire. Earthly bondage will not hinder it; mundane freedom may
not aid it."

"There is some truth in that," Frisson admitted. "Yet how if one
dwells in agony of spirit, Majesty, as the peasants do in Allustria?
if they seek to live morally, they are sorely beset by the miasma of
evil and tortured by its minions. The lives of the common folk need
not be Hell on Earth."

The Gremlin just stood by, looking interested.

The king pulled his head down, glowering. "You speak truly," he
admitted, "and the reign of sorcery must cease. Yet that is a fault
of Suettay's, not of the form of her government. A rightful king,
devoted to good, may transform that heap of clerks into a force for
virtue. " "The rightful king cannot return!" Frisson protested. "The
heir cannot be found! For if he is, Suettay will slay him out of
hand!"

"Then seek him out and protect him," the Spider King said, with an
air of grim finality. "Bring him to the throne. For the clerks wield
the law, look you, and the law preserves the weak against the
assaults of the strong."

"Unless the law is made by the strong for their own advantage," I
pointed out.

The king cast a quick frown at me, then turned back to
Frisson.

"Those who are freed to seek their own destiny may ofttimes go
astray and find instead their own ruination."

"Free or bound, 'tis they who must answer to God for the
prosperity or corruption of their souls," Frisson said evenly. "Their
lord cannot speak to God for them, when they are come to
judgment."

"And shall their lord hinder them, if he is unjust and evil? "He
shall," Frisson said, "if the torments he visits upon them try them
unduly."

"All life is the trial of the soul, if the priests speak truly,"
the Spider King returned. " 'Tis God who allocates tribulation, each
to the strength of his soul. The withstanding of it is the winning of
Heaven. "

"Then isn't it the king's job to make life as pleasant as he can
for his people?" I put in. "He can leave it up to God to assign
hardships."

The king's lips twitched with impatience. "Should the king, then,
ennoble all his peasants?"

"Not a bad idea," I said. "And if he can't do that, he can at
least stop preventing them from ennobling themselves."

"They who mislike their lowborn state, may aspire to clerkship,"
the king returned, "and rise within the king's service."

"Until they do their tasks too well," the Rat Raiser said. "Until
the king says, 'Thus far, and no farther.' " But I addressed the
larger issue. "The government of clerks may be led by a strong king,
Majesty, true-yet unless he is extremely strong, the layers of clerks
will choke off his will and govern in his stead."

The king turned to me again, frowning. "Why, how is this?"

"The clerks will begin by serving the government, but end by
becoming the government," I explained, "a government that becomes
like a living being itself and works to maintain its own interests,
disregarding the good of the people."

"Is this an old wives' tale?" the king demanded. "Or have you seen
such monstrous growths?"

"Oh, yes," I said softly. "In fact, they're so common where I come
from that the law has even made them legal entities, and scholars
have stated the rules of their behavior."

"Why, what rules are these?" the king demanded.

"They were deduced by a man named Parkinson," I explained, "and
they describe the workings of a form of government called
'bureaucracy.' " The king frowned. "What is the meaning of that
word?"

" 'Government by desks.' The problem is that any request for
action has to go from one desk to another, higher and higher up the
ladder, until it reaches the one that can actually do something about
it."

"What monarch would so ignore his clerks?"

"Any one that doesn't enjoy work." I raised a hand to forestall
the king's protest. "I know how scandalous that sounds, Your Majesty,
but there have been quite a few of them."

"They cannot have been rightful kings."

I shrugged. "All right, so they were illegitimate. They stayed in
power for fifty years and more, though, sometimes, and their sons and
grandsons after them. It's all well and good to say they weren't fit
to be kings-but no one else was doing the job."

The Spider King gave me a fierce glare, but held his peace.

"Not that it matters," I qualified. "After all, once the
bureaucrats take hold, they set up so many layers of desks that the
king can't possibly keep in touch with all of them. That's one of
Parkinson's lawsthat every clerk will try to hire more people to work
for him."

"Who will allow him, if he does not need them?"

"Anybody who looks at his situation on paper-and paper is the key
word. The ambitious clerk manufactures more and more pieces of paper
that need to be filled out for any one decision, until he really
can't do them all by himself-never mind that they don't really need
to be written. And when each bureaucrat does that, pretty soon you
have an immense number of people, and it takes a king's whole reign
just to figure out who is really necessary and who isn't."

"It cannot be," the king scoffed, "for naught would ever then be
done, and the land would sicken."

I carefully looked elsewhere. Gilbert cleared his throat with a
covert glance at Angelique.

The king's gaze darkened. "Speak, then! For I know that Allustria
does languish-but can this be why?"

"It is," the Rat Raiser said heavily, "and 'tis some fault of
mine. I made a ladder of command from the smallest town to the
queen's chancellery, that any command might be executed the next
day.

'Twas for this Suettay cast me into the dungeon-yet she kept my
ladder to make her will felt on the instant, wheresoe'er she
wished.

'Tis even as the wizard says-each reeve chose bailiffs, and each
bailiff chose a watch, and each watchman chose-"

"Enough." The king chopped laterally. "I take your point. Yet all
will jump to the king's whistle, will they not?"

"They will," Frisson said slowly, "when they hear it, which can
take a great deal of time, if they wish-but the peasant who cries to
the king for aid will not be heard."

"Why, how is this? Surely these clerks dare not withhold news from
the king!"

"Well, not openly," I answered. "But the lower down the ladder
they are, the less power each one has to make a decision-so each one
thinks it over for a day or two, then passes it up to the man above
him. Unless he takes a dislike to the person who made the complaint,
of course-then he just loses the piece of paper with the complaint on
it. Parkinson called that one, 'Delay is the deadliest form of
denial.' "

"And if it does come to the chancellor," the Rat Raiser breathed,
"he will have piles of such petitions. He must decide which to show
the queen, and which Her Majesty would count a waste of time . .

"And which ones might make the chancellor look bad," I added.

"if the king should discover he has suppressed a report ... !"

"He'll have a good excuse. He 'lost' it, or it was too minor to
trouble her Majesty with, or-"

"Enough." The king closed his eyes, pressing a hand to his
forehead. "Can a monarch care so little for his power?"

"No, Majesty, but she can care that little about her people. All
Suettay really cares about is whether the taxes come in, and whether
the orders she does give are obeyed."

"And her chancellor will always assure her they are," the Rat
Raiser finished.

The king lowered his hand and looked up again, eyes burning. "Yet
if what you say is true, the land would be near chaos! Bandits would
be rife - - ."

"I was beset by armed bands three times, ere I met the wizard,"
Frisson murmured. "... barons would cease to fear the king's peace
and would rise against one another in war - - ."

"We've seen it," I said, "and they do it with the queen's
blessing."

The king stared, aghast. "And the peasants? Cares she not that
they starve? "

"She cares that they be able to farm," Frisson said, "that they
grow wool for her to shear. Beyond that? What cares she if they
wallow in squalor? if their clothes are rags, and their faces pinched
with hunger? When they are too weak to follow the plow, mayhap she
will take notice . . ."

"Yet before they come to that," Gilbert put in, "they will have
ablured the faith and gone to serve the reeve-or taken to the
greenwood, and gone in banditry."

"Her minions set neighbor against neighbor," Frisson added, "by
saying that whosoever the village watchman chooses as best plowman
shall be accorded extra victuals-meat once a week, a sack of meal
each month, and new cloth for his family."

"These are great prizes indeed," the Rat Raiser informed him.

Angelique stared, shocked. "Will they not, then, seek each to plow
harder? "

"Aye, and all will excel. Yet the watchman must rank them, as
first, second, and third-so each peasant seeks to curry favor with
the watchman and to revile his neighbors. They, in turn, seek to take
the credit for his work, by claiming 'twas of their doing; and each
seeks to make all others believe poorly of his fellows."

"Each bailiff, meanwhile, accepts favors from his watchmen," the
Rat Raiser added, "and the plowman is pressed to bring his comely
wife, or his blooming daughter, to the bailiff for the night-"

"If those chaste ladies have not come to the watchman themselves,"
Frisson pointed out, "seeking favor for their husbands-"

"Or for themselves, in disdain of their husbands-"

"Anon the husband, discovering he's a cuckold, strikes down his
wife-"

"And the plowmen ply the watchman with such gifts as they may
discover-"

"Uh, boys, I think that's enough," I said. The king looked ready
to explode.

"Enough it is-a surfeit!" The king turned his back, stalking away
toward the archway, where he stood looking down. "Alas for Allustria!
If matters have come to so foul a pass there, we must find a way to
hale down this false queen!"

I breathed a sigh of relief and saw my friends go limp. I, of
course, was as sturdy as spaghetti.

"Yet we cannot tear out her whole government, root and branch,"
the king mused, "or the land will be plunged into chaos absoluteand
in that chaos, Satan's minions may well establish themselves anew.
It

"But you cannot leave these parchment-bound clerks to plunder the
people!" Gilbert cried.

"Nor shall I-but 'tis you who must do the work. I can aid you with
knowledge, I can tell you where to seek the lever that will topple
the tyrant; I may even lend you strength, through the strands of my
web. Yet I cannot march with you; I must remain here, in the nexus of
the worlds."

The others stared, not understanding, but the Gremlin nodded, and
I pursed my lips. "We can't rightly ask for more-and the bureaucrats
will be quick to reform, once they see their sorcerer overthrown, and
a God-dedicated king on the throne. But how about the system,
Majesty? Any bureaucracy has certain inherent tendencies toward
corruption. " "Why, so does a man," the king cried, "and 'tis naught
but the morality stemming from his sense of self that makes him
retain his wholeness, his integrity, to resist the Tempter! And
whence, I ask you, comes that morality, that self-warding
wisdom?"

"Why-from the priests," I admitted, "and the philosophers. And the
poets, and all the wise men who try to guide people away from ruin
and toward fulfillment."

"An odd choice of terms." The Spider King frowned. "Yet they are
nearly as true as to say that the men of God guide us away from the
road to Hell and seek to set our feet on the path to Heaven. And as
they do for men and women, so may they do for the government by
clerks."

"A spiritual adviser for a bureaucracy?" I frowned. "I'll have to
nvinced a bureaucracy has think about that, Your Majesty. I'm not
co

a conscience."

"Why, then, 'tis a beast, and not a soul, and may be purged and
goaded without compunction! You have but to find your emetic and your
prod."

"Now wait a minute!" I held up a hand. "It's made of human beings,
after all!"

"Who need to be governed in their own right," the king returned,
"and justice meted out, even to those who mete out justice."

"Who shall watch the watchers?" I hazarded.

"Nay," Frisson said. " 'Who shall govern the government?' "Be
mindful!" The king raised a forefinger. "If they are humans, may not
another human be their conscience? For is not a 'conscience,' after
all, but the wisdom to preserve one's own soul?"

"Recognizing one's ultimate good, even if it means a temporar or
apparent loss?" I frowned. "Interesting notion. But even human
consciences need to be made aware of the pain and disaster that
befall those who stray."

"Then make them so aware! Find some device that will punish the
clerk who strays, and will make his plans of malice go awry!"

"Why," the Gremlin chuckled, "that can I do."

The Spider King bent his frowning gaze upon the monster. "I am
sure that you can-but have you the self-denial to withhold your
mischief when a clerk does rightly?"

I stared. "You two know each other?"

The king looked up, amused. "Whence did you think he came, Wizard?
"

"We are both outside the universes," the Gremlin explained, "and
flit from one to another, as need or inclination dictates."

I found myself wondering about the forms of angels-or
disguises.

"What is this?" Gilbert demanded. ,what shall the monster then do?
"

"Why, as I will," the Gremlin answered. "Does a clerk write out a
writ of foreclosure? I shall make it go astray. Does a reeve set out
a warrant? I'll make sure the writing's changed ere the bailiff comes
unto the victim. Does the chancellor seek to withhold reward from one
who has toiled long? Does he seek to imprison one whose only fault is
aiding those in danger? Does the king himself seek to draw and
quarter one who would resist him, or to exile a saint on a desert
isle, for no offense but that of lending comfort to souls in misery?
In a sieve I'll thither sail!"

"And, like a rat without a tail," Frisson murmured, "he'll do, and
he'll do, and he'll do!"

I clapped a hand over the vagabond's mouth. "Hold it, boy! You
were coming perilously close to poetry!"

"Let him versify; he cannot cause havoc here, where we are beyond
the laws of any universe," the Spider King said.

I took my hand away, and Frisson beamed with glee.

"Yet before he speaks," the king said hastily, "we must confer on
ways of confounding your vile tyrant. The Spirit of Disorder will
beset his clerks . . ."

"With effects that are comic and tragic," the Gremlin
murmured.

"So much the better; you may then make these puffed-up clerks to
see their own fallibility, thus restoring to them some measure of
humility. "

"Mayhap I shall even make them to laugh at the absurdity of their
own vanities and strivings after dross!"

"Ah! If you can, if you but can! Then might they see themselves as
they are, and see how petty are the goals for which they strive!"

"It would destroy them!" the Rat Raiser said, ashen-faced.

"Mayhap; but out of this crushing of the soul, they may emerge
with some truer view of life, and greater inclination to labor for
the common weal."

"Yet that cannot be," the Rat Raiser said, frowning, "for each
clerk, in the end, labors for himself."

The Spider King wheeled toward him. "We have each the need to
labor for something greater than ourselves, friend, so that we may
feel less alone, and feel our lives to have worth."

But the bureaucrat only frowned, not understanding.

I didn't blame him. I couldn't help thinking that this Spider King
had an awfully idealistic view of bureaucracy.

The Gremlin clapped his hands and chuckled. "We shall craft a
bureaucrat's bane! Ah, what fun! I have not had so grand a time for
eons! I have grown rusty, I have grown stale!"

"We're going to pit entropy against perversity, then?" I
asked.

The Spider King nodded. "It may not succeed in great measure,
since the one is but an aspect of the other ,Oh, no," I said softly.
"That could be very, very effective."

"Devastating." The Gremlin chuckled. "if an enterprising spirit
doth move the confrontation."

"And on this kind of issue, you can be very enterprising,
right?"

"Just so!"

"So much for Suettay's ministers." The king dismissed them with a
wave of his hand. "They may be rendered benign. Yet how shall you
deal with the woman herself?"

That brought me up short. I spread my hands. "Confront her and try
to match magics with her, I guess-and hope I've got better
verses."

The king shook his head with certainly. "That way lies
disaster.

You must enlist a power greater than your own, that together you
may be more than the sorceress-queen."

I frowned, instantly suspicious. "How do I do that? Pray?"

"Nay." The King beckoned, and I came over to the archway with him.
Looking down, I saw an azure field ringed with green and tan, and
with a fleck or two of green in it. With a shock, I recognized the
Mediterranean.

"Yon lies the world of Merovence and Allustria," the Spider King
murmured.

I wondered how he had locked in the view of that one universe
-from this nexus. I began to realize why the man was called "the
Spider King."

"There is a man who is bound for sainthood, though he knows it
not." The king's arm reached past me, pointing at an island in the
Aegean. "There, where Circe beguiled the men of Odysseus, dwells a
nymph named 'Thyme'-and the sorceresses of Suettay's guild have
kidnapped the saintly man and placed him there, within the bondage of
her spell."

"What a way to get to sainthood! I take it he's having a good
time?

"Nay. His spirit's sorely tried, and he is racked with the hot
irons of desire-for he will not yield to the nymph's blandishments.
He knows that no man can serve two masters, and that love is a most
demanding one-but he chose Christ for his master long ago. He seeks
to do Christ's work, aiding the poor and friendless, and there fore
will not yield unto the nymph."

"Wholeness," I murmured. "Integrity. The unity of his spirit." "
Even so. Yet from his enduring struggle, his soul has gained strength
tenfold-and it was a mighty spirit ere he came there. Folk said that
he worked miracles of curing, and of producing food, but he denied
it. Yet if any man can give you strength 'gainst Sucttay, it is he.
it "A veritable treasure," Gilbert mused behind him. "How shall we
know the man?"

"By his sex-he is the only male on the island-and by his
habit."

"Habit?" The squire frowned. "Is he a cleric, then?"

"He is-a monk, of the Order of Saint Louis, one Ignatius by
name.

And you will find him a source of strength in other conflicts,
too; he may even rekindle the ideals of the clerks."

"If he can do that," I murmured, "he can work miracles."

"And so, away!" The Spider King clasped my arm, turning me around
and propelling me toward another archway. "Yonder lies your path!
Together, now, and off upon your quest!"

"Hey, wait a minute!" I tried to backpedal, but the king's grip
was surprisingly strong, and I found myself gliding over the smooth
marble floor in spite of my efforts. "How are we going to get hold of
you if we need help?"

"You will not-I will maintain touch with you! Each separate one of
you is now at the end of one of my threads; you are all caught within
my web! When you doubt it, find a moment in a place of stillness, and
you will feel my power! Now, Godspeed! And may your patron saint
stand by you!"

I tried to stop, but I skidded through the archway, and my friends
came tumbling after me with shouts of alarm, tumbling after me into a
warm, clinging darkness that enveloped us, rocked us, soothed us
...

And vanished.



Chapter Twenty-one


The trees crowded in on us, towering up to form a roof overhead,
lowering down with an ominous susurrus. I swallowed against a knot of
apprehension deep in my throat and glanced back at my companions.

They were feeling it, too-some lurking presence that did not want
us there.

Fortunately, we had the Gremlin along to chase the baddies
away.

"Uh-you sure you know where you're going?"

"Of a certainty, I know!" Then why did the monster look
worried?

"I am going to the bower of the nymph Thyme!"

"Uh-right." I frowned. "Did you, uh-have any idea what route we
were going to take? "

"As I told you, we follow the sun. If it is before us in its
course as it arcs dawn to dusk, we go aright."

I glanced back at my friends, noting Angelique's apprehension and
the Rat Rasier's angry glower. "Right. Say, uh, Gremlin-we haven't
been able to see the sun for six hours now. Not since we got kicked
out of the Spider King's palace and found ourselves in this
forest."

"Do you doubt me?" the Gremlin challenged. "Could I go astray
without wishing it?"

"Just what I was going to ask."

"Mayhap the wood itself wishes to mislead you," Angelique
suggested quickly.

The Gremlin halted and heaved a huge sigh. "You have said it,
maiden, and I think you may have some hint of truth in that
saying.

Nay, we have lost our way."

I frowned. "Of course, it couldn't just be that you think it's fun
to help travelers get lost."

"Not when I am one of them! I swear, Wizard, 'tis no doing of
mine! " I winced and glanced around me. "Please! You swearing
anything strikes me as extremely hazardous!"

"We must forge ahead," Gilbert said grimly. "We shall come to
naught if we do naught. "There's a certain sort of sense in that," I
agreed. "Onward, mes amis! "

"If the way 'onward' doth reveal itself," the Gremlin grumped; but
he started forward again.

An hour later, I called a halt again. "Okay-we've been watching
the light on the trees, and it has always stayed on their fronts-but
I'm sure I recognized that birch tree at least three times!"

"Why," the Gremlin growled, "how can you be sure it is the same
tree?

"Because this is a deciduous forest, mostly oak and ash, and
that's the only birch tree I've seen. Also because the markings on
its bark have twisted themselves into a gloating leer."

Everybody turned and looked at the birch tree. " 'Tis true,"
Gilbert said. "In the center of the trunk, the blackbird marks have
shrunk into eyes, and the one beneath has widened into a grinning
mouth."

The Gremlin stamped up to the tree. "At what do you laugh,
white-face? Do you dare?"

It must have been the wind in the branches. The tree couldn't
really have been laughing.

"I submit," I said, "that the queen knows where we are and has
placed a spell on this forest to keep us going around in
circles."

"But she thinks that we are dead!" Angelique protested.

"She must have developed suspicions and looked in her crystal
ball. "

"Not likely," the Gremlin said, coming back, "for no crystal can
see into the palace of the Spider King, unless he wills it, I would
as lief believe the forest was enchanted in antiquity, and all who
dwell nearby do know to avoid it."

"Could be." But I glanced aside, distracted. "Frisson, what are
you doing?

"Only toying with a stick." Frisson snapped up straight, hands
going behind his back.

My scalp prickled. "Why do I get the willies when you start
playing around? What's the game, Frisson?"

"oh ... naught but this." Frisson took the stick out from behind
his back-three sticks, actually. One was a section of a tree trunk,
like a flat table; the other was a peg, going through a hole in the
center of the long one.

"What does it do?" I asked suspiciously.

"I recited a verse in praise of the Pole Star," Frisson explained.
"It will always point to the north, now. just an idle amusement, of
no worth-"

"No worth, he says! He just invented the compass, that's all!" I
went around behind the poet. "Lead on, Frisson! As long as that stick
is pointing toward us, we're going south!"

Frisson looked up, pleased, then started off into the forest
again.

The Gremlin followed at the end of the line, grumbling.

Another hour later, I called a halt again. "Okay. No luck. We've
ight line according to Frisson's compass, but here's that gone in
astra blasted birch tree again. I've got half a mind to blast it for
real."

A long moan sounded.

I glared at the tree. "That got you, didn't it? Gonna let us go,
now? " The moan came again, drawn out and quavering.

"Saul," Angelique said, "it came from our left, and the tree is to
our right. " I looked up, frowning, peering off into the underbrush.
Sure enough, the moan came again-but it was coming closer. "Everybody
step back!"

The moan came loud and clear, and a gnarled, bent old woman
tottered into the clearing, hurrying as fast as she could, glancing
over her shoulder in terror.

That bothered me-badly. "What's chasing you?"

"My death!" she cried. "Away, fool! or would you catch the pox
that does infest me? Then Death will dog your footsteps, too!"

Everybody edged back, including me-but the rational part of me
took over. "You can't run away from Death, lady-you have to stop and
fight him."

"Do you think my master would give me power to fight Death?" she
screeched. "Fool, thrice a fool! When Death has taken me, the Devil
shall have me! Begone!" And she tottered straight toward me.

Reflex took over. I stepped aside, saying, "If you repent, maybe I
can heal you."

She stopped dead-as it were-in front of me, and those old green
eyes pierced me to the marrow. "If you can heal me, do so now!"

"You've sold your soul," I pointed out. "I'm not a priest or an
exorcist, just a magician." One of us was, anyway. "My magic can't
work on you as long as you're in Satan's grasp."

"Then I repent!" The panic suddenly broke through, and the woman
sank to her knees, hands uplifted in prayer. "Lord of Heav ... of Hea
... Lord above, save me! I know I am unworthy, for all the evil I
have done-but let this foolish magician save my raddled hide, and I
shall never work evil again!"

Something rattled in the shadows. I glanced at them apprehensively
and held out a hand toward Frisson. "Pox."

"I have searched it." Frisson pushed a piece of parchment into my
hand.

I held it up and read it.

"Smallpox, cowpox, all are healed!

French pox, East pox, marks annealed!"

That inspired me; I added a couplet Frisson couldn't have known
about:


    "Spirochetes be rent asunder!
    Germs of raddles, be plowed under!
    


Whatever was rattling in the shadows stopped.

The ex-witch looked up, amazement lighting her face-and even as we
watched, the hideous marks of the disease were fading. " 'Tis true! I
can feel the sickness leave me, feel the fever abate, my strength
reviving!

"It might not last," I said, "if you don't get to confession.
You're out of Satan's power, but not very far out. "Aye! I must seek
out a priest without delay!" She scrambled to her feet and headed off
into the forest, her thank-you floating behind her. "I cannot bless,
for I am too sodden with evil-but I thank you, kind strangers!"

A sudden inspiration hit, and I leapt after her. "Which way to the
nearest priest?"

"South! He lives in a village in the plain beyond these
woods!"

"Follow that witch!" I shouted to my friends, and we all pelted
off through the forest.

The sun was nearing the horizon as we came out of the forest and
saw the plain, rolling away under a huge expanse of sky. Even from
the edge of the forest, we could see the roofs of three little
villages.

Between, the flatland was a jigsaw puzzle of small fields, divided
by hedges.

The nearest town was maybe half a mile away. Sunlight glistened
off whitewashed adobe houses. "The priest lives yon!" The old witch
pointed toward the smallest hovel in town. "oh, how deeply I rejoice
that I put off and put off the bearding of him, and the slaying of
him for the queen!"

So she had been an official. A nasty thought occurred to me. "You
didn't maybe put a spell on that forest so that anybody trying to get
through it would get lost, did you?"

"Aye. It protected me from those who sought to hurt me-they could
not find my cottage. Farewell, kind strangers! When I am shriven, I
shall bless you! I shall sing your praises throughout the land! " I
felt the old familiar chill again. "I'd really rather you didn't. I'm
working on a low profile here, you see, and-"

"Ever shall I trumpet your virtues!" she cried. "So wise and
merciful a wizard is deserving of glory! And when I'm shriven, I
shall bless you with my every breath!" She went tottering off to find
a priest, and absolution.

I turned to the Gremlin. "Narrow thing, that. You wouldn't have
had anything to do with her catching the pox, would you?"

The monster grinned, showing a lot of snaggled teeth. "I did not
happen by here so many years ago as that, Wizard."

"Just wondering. By the way, which way to the nymph's house
now?

"Yon." The Gremlin pointed due south.

"Yon it is." I sighed. "But only until sunset. We're still in
hostile territory, and we'll need some time to pitch camp."

"Shall we never leave Suettay's country?" Angelique sighed. "It
was so great a blessing to be free of her, in the palace of the
Spider King!

"I'm afraid she knows we're still alive," I said with chagrin. "I
shouldn't have cured that last witch."

"Nay, you should have," she said quickly, but her eyes were huge
with trepidation in the shadows.

"Mayhap you need not come, milady," Gilbert told her. "Perchance
the Spider King would let you remain in his palace. The poet will
stay with you-will you not?"

"Aye, if you bid me." Frisson sighed. "Yet I had hoped to witness
the end of this sage that unwinds before me."

"You shall," Angelique said quickly. "I shall not be left
behind."

I wondered if it was courage, or reluctance to be left alone with
Frisson's unharnessed verses. "Okay, then, we're all agreed," I
said.

"Southward he!"

"All right, sprite, want to explain this plight?"

We stood between the forest and the seashore, watching the
breakers foam up onto the gravel.

"We seek the nymph, Thyme," the Gremlin said stubbornly. "The path
to her lies yon." He stood with the setting sun at his right and
pointed toward the south-and several hundred miles of waves, sea
stretching away to the rim of the world.

"Yeah, I thought it was an island." I sighed. My stomach sank,
rehearsing its probable behavior as we crossed the sea. But there was
no help for it. We couldn't exactly drive, and though I was tempted
to think about flying, I didn't-what would happen if Suettay managed
to cancel my spell when we were a thousand feet up over the miles and
miles of waves that were all there was between the island of Thyme
and this southern border of Suettay's kingdom. I guessed the little
port town I saw in the distance would have grown up to be Trieste, in
my own world. "At least we get to leave the queen's jurisdiction.
"

"Then we shall go, and gladly," Gilbert said. "I confess that I,
too, rejoice that the nymph does dwell outside Allustria's
borders."

The Gremlin shrugged. "For all we know, she may not. Who holds
sway over these little islands?"

It was a moot point, and one that hadn't been entirely resolved
even in my own universe. "If she lives on an island," I said, "why
didn't the Spider King just send us there?"

"Mayhap he has work for us to do on the way," Frisson suggested,
"though I could wish he had told us what it was,"

"You and me both, brother," I muttered.

"Peace, gentlemen," Gilbert soothed. "He could have sent us into
the middle of Allustria, to fight our way free again."

"Praise Heaven he has not!" the Rat Raiser said.

"Yeah," I said, "but after we find this monk Ignatius, we have to
come back."

ingly philo"What must be, must be." The Rat Raiser was surpris
sophical. "Yet be assured, companions-if we must return to Suettay's
domain, we are better to do it by sea, where there is less chance of
meeting with her wardens."

"Yes, now that she has definitely decided to get rid of us," I
agreed.

"And it will be a lot quicker, in any event. We got through from
the mountains last time, but it took a great deal of luck."

"Come, then!" The Gremlin turned away. "We must seek out a ship
and a captain. Yet I think it best that you be the one to haggle with
him, Wizard-he might be shy of my dealings."

"Understandable," I muttered, as I followed the monster. I called
back to my friends, "Come on, folks! Gotta hurry!" I forced my tired
legs into long strides.

Even so, Gilbert caught up with me. "Wherefore must we hasten,
Wizard? "

"Because," I said, "Thyme and tide wait for no man. Let's go."

"I carry only cargo," the captain said stubbornly.

It could have been worse-it could have been night instead of
sunset, with Angelique totally visible, instead of being washed out
by the sun's orange rays. if he could have seen her, he would no
doubt have been pointing out that a woman on a ship is bad luck. Come
to think of it, he might have extended that notion to ghosts, too, so
it was just as well my beloved could stay hidden.

"We're not asking you to take us any great distance," I argued,
"just to some obscure little island out in the middle of
nowhere."

"But you have no passports." The captain eyed the gold in my hand.
No question about it, he was tempted-but he was balancing the danger
of breaking Suettay's emigration laws, against the cash in my hand.
So I slipped another gold piece from my pocket and added it to the
stack. The captain's eyes fairly bulged, and he drew in a sharp
breath.

"Guaranteed," I said. "Just an offshore island. We'll even supply
our own local transportation-all you have to do is carry us there and
lower us over the side in the longboat."

The captain stared at the stack of gold, teetering on the
brink.

Then he cried, "Done!" His hand scooped up the coins and made them
disappear.

I gaped, wondering if I could make money vanish that quickly. In
fact, I hoped his wouldn't. My money never lasted very long,
anyway.

"But you must board right now," the captain said, "while my crew
is ashore on their last roister. As to the longboat, you shall have
mine, for two gold pieces more. I shall buy another in Mycenaea."

He sure would, I reflected as I climbed the gangplank-and for a
lot less than even a single gold piece. But I wasn't about to haggle.
Besides, I could make more of the stuff whenever I wanted to. I just
had.

We clambered down a ladder and stowed ourselves in the hold, under
the captain's cabin.

"How may we be sure of his troth?" Frisson asked, wide-eyed.

"By his own peril," the Rat Raiser answered. "We have but to
denounce him to the harbormaster, and he is food for the gulls."

"But he need not take us to Thyme's isle! He need but have us
thrown into the sea, as soon as we are too far from land to
swim!"

"And what sailor-man would raise his hand against us?" Gilbert
retorted. "We are not the most mild-seeming of bands, look you."

"We could make short work of his whole crew," I assured the
poet.

"So you might scribble down a verse for giving sailors heart
attacksand either you or I will be awake at all times."

Frisson nodded slowly, frowning.

"Then, of course, there are the members of the party they haven't
seen." I glanced at a row of hogsheads against the wall of our timber
dungeon. "Are you in there, Gremlin?"

One of the barrels wavered, waxed, and transformed itself into a
monster. "Aye," the Gremlin answered. "Let this trip be quick,
Wizard! I mislike so much water!"

"I'll make certain they have a favorable wind," I assured him. I
tried to remember what I'd heard about the Finnish recipe for
summoning a breeze.

The ship tossed and heaved, and the Gremlin was green from top to
toe. On the other hand, that wasn't that far from his natural
color.

"Wizard, you have given them too much wind!"

I held my hands out, palms up. "Not a bit! They were doing fine
without me; I didn't even whistle!"

"Yet mayhap," Angelique gasped, "you could find a way to slacken
their progress some little."

Chartreuse was definitely not her color, I decided. How she was
managing to be seasick without a body, I didn't know; must have been
psychosomatic. "I know it's rough, but try to stick it out. Ships
always pitch and heave a lot, especially little ones like this."

Gilbert turned away, his hand over his mouth. I decided that I
shouldn't have said "heave."

The Rat Raiser frowned at us, puzzled. "I do not ken it. There is
excitement in this, truly, but no cause for discomfort."

"It's all right for you," I retorted. "You've got friends
here!"

But the Rat Raiser shook his head. "No longer, Wizard. My little
furry ones have sought their holes in the keel beam."

I sat bolt-upright. "They have? Then something must be really
wrong! " A huge blast of thunder answered me from above. I frowned
upward; I seemed to hear yelling.

" 'Tis a tempest," Frisson moaned.

The trapdoor overhead wrenched open to show the captain's face,
laring down at us in the light of a lantern. "What ill luck besets my
ship?" Then he saw Angelique, and his eyes went wide. "A woman!

Know 'ee not 'tis bad luck to bring a woman aboard ship?"

"Not really," I said. "She's a ghost." Then I bit my tongue, but I
was just a second too late.

"A woman and a ghost!" he howled, wide-eyed with sudden
fright.

"Small wonder my ship is beset! Now could my bark founder and all
my crew drown on her account!"

Gilbert forced himself to his feet and stepped over to stand-or
sway-in front of Angelique.

"Don't plan anything rash." I scrambled to my feet. "Here, let me
take a look."

But the captain pushed me back, though not before I had seen a
couple of hulking sailors behind him, glowering with resentment and
trembling with fear. "Are you daft, man?" the captain demanded. "It
is hard enough for a seagoing man to hold his feet above decks. A
landlubber would certainly be lost to the waves!"

"You can lash me to the nearest mast," I offered. "Believe me, I
can help."

"Oh, aye," one of the sailors sneered. "And who do you think you
be-the Old Man of the Sea?"

"No, but I'm sure we'd be on speaking terms, if we met. You see
I'm a wizard."

Their eyes widened, and they shied away. Even the captain was
startled just long enough for me to push past him. He came back to
himself quickly enough to lurch after me, trying for a tackle, but I
sidestepped and threw myself toward the mast.

The wind hit me like a sandbag, and thunder blasted my
eardrums.

Lightning dazzled me; I almost did go into the sea. But I managed
to grab a rope and haul myself up against the sudden wash of icy
water as a wave broke over the little vessel. I came up gasping,
shivering, and chilled to the bone, but still aboard, and pulled
myself a little farther until I could get an arm around a belaying
pin.

"See you not the folly of it?" the captain roared in my car; I
could just barely hear him. "Do you not see you can do naught to aid?
Nay, get below! "

"Not ... yet," I gasped, and dredged up Kipling's words, with a
few quick adaptations:


    "The tempest caught us out at sea, and built its billows high,
    Till we heard as the roar of a rain-fed ford,
    The roar of its wind and sky.
    Till we heard the roar of its wind and sky
    Rise up, die down, and cease
    And the heaving waves did all subside
    Till we sailed on a sea of peace."


It might have been my imagination, but I thought the wind abated
ù fraction.

" 'Tis not enough!" the captain called. "It will still drag us
under!"

"We must throw the ghost-woman to the waves!" the first mate
shouted. "Then will they be appeased!"

Nice to know who was the vice of the piece.

"Give it time," I shouted back. "It didn't fall on you out of a
clear blue sky, you know."

The mate and captain exchanged looks. Then the master called out,
"Indeed it did! One moment, we sailed in fair weather-the next, the
sea heaved and a gale struck us like a huge hand, with a torrent of
rain in it!"

I stood immobile, hanging on to the rope and staring at the
sea.

"Wizard?" the captain called, scowling.

"Yeah, I'm here." I turned to look at him. "That means the storm
was set on you by a sorcerer."



Chapter Twenty-two


"Beset by a sorcerer?" the captain cried, "Aye, because of the
woman! "

"No-because of me." I turned to scowl out at the waves, muttering,
"Now, how the hell did she find out where I was?" -but

So I missed the startled glance between the mate and captain I
turned back in time to see the way their faces hardened with put pose
as they advanced on me. I was in time to see their fists coming up,
too.

I raised my hands and started spouting nonsense syllables.

They stared, appalled, then lowered their hands.

I smiled with bitterness. "I may have a better way. it'll take a
little time, of course, because I'm battling a sorcerer, not just a
storm-but it'll bring back the sun." Then I turned back to the waves
and started singing.

"Peace, we ask of thee, 0 ocean, Peace, peace, peace!"

The racket began to subside. The mate and captain looked up at the
sky, startled-but the wind had already abated enough for them to hear
each other without shouting.

"He is a wizard," the mate said.

"Who is this who has sailed with us?

But the captain frowned.

Then the wind hit us like an earthquake, and a tsunami towered
over us.

They shouted and grabbed at belaying pins as the water fell on
them. It drained away as the wave lifted the little ship crazily
toward the sky, and the horizon dipped and rolled around us. The
captain coughed out some unintelligible remark, and I stopped my
singing long enough to call back, "I know-it's going to take more
than that!" And it certainly would-I'd almost lost my hold on the
rope!

A new wave smashed down on me, and I held on for dear life, very
close to wishing I would never have to see another drop of water.

Then the wave washed by, and there was shouting all around. I
gasped for air, searching my memory frantically. I didn't dare take
out my packet of Frisson's verses; I had to rely on remembering
them.


    "Built straight by a worthy master,
    Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel,
    That shall laugh at all disaster,
    And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!
    Small showers last long, but
    Sudden storms are short;
    The waves reach high in play,
    And with the winds disport.
    Domain of soaring gull and diving pike,
    The winds are wanton, and the sea is like
    A lass flirtatious, whose lover is ginned
    Oft shifts her passions, like th' inconstant wind,
    Sudden she rages, like the troubled main,
    Now sinks the storm, and all is calm again!"


I chanted through to the end and, when I'd finished, started from
the beginning again. As I chanted, the wind slackened and the waves
began to subside.

Then a fresh gust hit us, and I knew Suettay was calling in more
power from somewhere.

Well, I had reinforcements of my own. "Saint Brendan," I cried
out,


    "Patron of they who sail in ships!
    Aid us with the power of prayers from your lips!
    Patron of those who sail on sea and air,
    Aid us now with the power of your prayer!


Then I sang on.

The storm slackened again-and kept on slackening. As I chanted the
hymn over and over, the wind died down and the waves subsided until
the sailors could tell it was raining. Then the rain itself died, and
the clouds drifted off to the west. A sunbeam lanced down, and the
sailors bellowed a cheer, waving their caps.

I left off singing with a cough. "A drink! I've sung myself
dry."

The mate dashed away, still bellowing for joy.

Even the captain grinned, but his eyes were shadowed with con
cern. "What if the sorcerer strikes again, Wizard?"

"Then I'll have to start singing again," I croaked. "I feel sorry
for you. Get me that drink, quick!" Silently, I breathed a quick
thankyou to Saint Brendan, the holy Irish sailor who had set out to
explore the Atlantic in a cockleshell of a boat, and who may have
found North America.

The mate shoved a wooden tankard into my hand, and I drank
gratefully. It was warm, bitter beer, but at that point, it tasted
heavenly.

A long, triumphant cry split the air above us.

"Land!" cried the sailors who had gone aloft to unfurl the sails
again. They pointed off toward the west, crying, "Laaaand!"

"Aye, 'tis land." The captain shaded his eyes, following the
sailors' pointing arms. "That storm has lent us wings indeed, if'that
coast be

Crete. " 'Tis an island!" the lookout cried, but the men cheered
anyway.

"Land is land," the captain said, his face closing into a mask.
"You paid us to take you to an island off the coast of Allustria,
Wizard, no more. "

"Yes, I did, and we'll count the contract fulfilled." I couldn't
rightly put him and his men into peril again-and after that ride, I a
travel. I'd make a magic carpet, or was definitely set against se
something. "And, uh, might I suggest that after you drop us off, You
go find another island to visit for a week or so? you might want to
give Suettay time to forget who brought us this far."

-after all, the storm hadn't been The longboat pitched and tossed
over all that long-and Gilbert and Angelique were still looking
rather green; but they managed to summon up the energy to wave
good-bye to the retreating ship. The sailors raised a shout and waved
back. I didn't doubt that a sourpuss or two among them might remember
who had gotten them into the storm in the first place-but to most of
them, I was only the hero who had saved them.

Then the ship slipped below the horizon, and I turned back to
rowing. We didn't even need the sail; the waves were carrying us
toward the island on their own. I needed the oars mostly to
steer.

Then the bottom rose up to meet us, and the longboat ground into
the sand. I jumped out, trying to remember that my jeans would dry
out, and threw all my weight against the bow. Gilbert muttered
something about incompetence, dragged himself over the side, and all
but fell into the water. I leapt to help him up.

"I thank you, Master Saul," the squire gasped. "Aid me to stay
upright, here." With my help, he tottered toward the bow.

"Look," I said, "seasickness is sickness, no matter how you slice
it! You're in no shape to . . ."

Gilbert grunted as he yanked on the bow, and the longboat slid up
the shingle till its forward half was clear of the water. Gilbert
leaned against the side, gasping and swallowing. "... exert
yourself," I finished. I tried not to stare.

Gilbert slumped, hanging onto the side of the boat and gasping
like a beached whale.

Angelique was over the gunwale and at his side in a second,
although she was still looking somewhat bilious herself. "Are you?
...

Courage, valiant squire! It ... it will ... pass.

Gilbert hauled himself upright. "I draw courage indeed, from your
gallant example, maiden." He forced himself to step away from the
side of the boat, but kept a hand on the gunwale. "Into what ...
mannet of country are we come, Wizard?"

"Rock and scrub, mostly." I frowned, looking around me. "Not
exactly the most hospitable beach I've ever seen."

The beach itself was gravel, turning quickly into flat, shelving
rock that mounted upward in steps, like the seats of an amphitheater,
toward a fringe of grass adorned with the occasional stunted, twisted
tree. Its cousins grew here and there about the rocky shelves,
interspersed with boulders and thickets of scrub.

"Are there ... any folk about? "Not that I can see." I cocked my
head to the side, listening for the mewing of the gulls. "Nor hear,
for that matter."

Up high, a goat leapt down onto one of the rock ledges and let out
a bleat.

I grinned. "Well, there's life, at least. Come on, folks. Let's
see if we can find a spring. We deserve a little R & R before we
shove off for Thyme's island."

Aye Gilbert agreed, "water He pushed himself away from the boat
and stumbled after me.

Angelique, whose pride ran in different directions, was quite
willing to lean on Gilbert's arm, especially since she wouldn't tax
his strength any, not weighing anything.

jealous? Who, me?

The Rat Raiser brought up the rear, frowning as his eyes flicked
from side to side; he didn't trust the outdoors. If the Gremlin was
still around, he gave no sign.

Perhaps with good reason; we hadn't clambered up more than three
stony shelves before a dozen men stepped out from behind rocks and
bushes, gathering silently in an arc before us, arms akimbo.

I stared, totally taken aback.

Then I whirled, thinking about the longboat ...

Another man stood by it, and six more stood along the gravel beach
between us and our transportation.

"I think," I said slowly, "we've definitely got the wrong
islandand I think we've been trespassing."

The Rat Raiser grunted. "I might have known. Where there are
goats, there are people."

"Let us have at them," Gilbert groaned, pulling himself
together.

I glanced at the squire. If Gilbert had been in shape, I might
have chanced it-but even without him, I could unleash Frisson ...

"Wizard," the poet said, "let me speak-"

"Nay, do not!" the Rat Raiser said sharply. "Work magic so near to
Allustria, and Queen Sue-the queen will know our placement to the
inch!

"I think she's already pretty close," I said, "but I hate to shed
blood when it isn't necessary."

"It is not," Gilbert said. "Smite them down with a blow; stun
them, no more. But if you wait, we may be so beset that you cannot
choose your verses with care."

"A point," I admitted, "but I notice none of them is holding
weapons."

They weren't. Each of them wore a knife as long as his forearm,
but all the knives were still thrust through the peasants'
beltsthough their hands, clapped to their waists, weren't exactly far
from the hilts. They were broad-shouldered, thick-chested men,
dressed in belted tunics and loose pantaloons, with brightly colored
kerchiefs tied around their heads. Their faces were swarthy and hard,
and most of them wore mustaches that drooped down around their
mouths. if I had been the kind to judge by looks, I would have
thought they were pirates.

"No fighting," I decided. "We're not enemies yet." I pursed my
lips, gazing at the man directly in front of me, who stood a little
in advance of his comrades, and made up my mind. "You folks stay
here." I stepped forward, ignoring Gilbert's shout of alarm, and
inclined my head in greeting. "Sorry to intrude-but we didn't have
much choice. There was a storm, you see "Indeed. We saw." The man's
voice sounded like a hacksaw chewing through old iron. Even so, I
looked up in surprise. The words were heavily accented, but he spoke
the language of Allustria. "We saw, too, that the ship left you in
your longboat and sailed away. What plague do you carry, that the
sailors should wish to be rid of you?

I stared at the man. Suspicious, weren't we? I glanced at the
hardfaced peasants to either side of him, remembered the ones behind
us, and decided on the truth. "We are enemies of Sue ... of the Queen
of Allustria. Are we also enemies of you?"

The man's brow drew down in a scowl, and his whole body tensed,
but he said, "Mayhap-though it may also chance you are not." Then he
stood still, just glaring at me.

My mind flipped through alternatives and decided I didn't want the
ball in my court. I held my best deadpan, looking right back in the
man's eye.

It did as much good as anything. Finally, the peasant nodded and
turned away. "Come," he said back over his shoulder. "This is a
matter for the duke."

The castle he took us to was hundreds of years old, to judge by
the weathering and the thickness of the crust of salt spray. it was
squat and thick, with Roman arches and thick, Doric columns. If I'd
been in my own world, I would have guessed that it had been built by
adventurous Normans, and would have called it Romanesque.

For all that, though, it wasn't especially menacing. It was made
of some light-colored stone that had a touch of red in it, warm with
the stored sun-heat. It might be forbidding, but it wasn't
gloomy.

Its owner was very much like it.

The duke, as it turned out, was somewhere in his fifties, grizzled
but still powerfully built, looking about as aristocratic as a rugby
serum. Certainly he fitted right in with his men-except that he was
wearing a midnight-blue robe decorated with the signs of the zodiac
and girded with a belt that held a heavy-looking broadsword.

He carried a six-foot staff made of some hard, gleaming wood, so
dark as to be almost black, carved into the form of a serpent.
Instinctively, I braced myself; the astrological gown was neither
black magic nor white, but the staff was definitely tending toward
symbols of evil. In European culture, the snake was, if not always a
sign of Satan, at least usually a sign of menace.

"I am Syrak, duke of this island," the martial magician said. "Who
are you, who come unbidden to my shore?"

I decided on the most general truth. "We are wayfarers, seeking to
come to an island near Allustria, milord."

"Vincentio tells me you were cast adrift by the ship that brought
you here.

"That was by our own request."

"Request? Why would you request to be set adrift from a ship,
hey?" The duke's gaze sharpened. "Did you not tell Vincentio you were
enemies of Queen Suettay?"

I winced at his use of the queen's name, but maybe it wouldn't
matter-if she noticed him, she might not notice us. I nodded, still
carefully deadpan. "We did. We did not wish the captain and crew to
suffer for having brought us."

"And you also wished to go secretly from Allustria, did you
not?

You did not care whether you would bring the queen's wrath down on
us, hey? "

"We weren't really planning to land on an island with people on
it," I admitted. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that
Gilbert's scowl had darkened, and that he had noticeably #erked up a
bit. I did not think that was an entirely favorable sign.

"But you have landed on an island with people! And if we let you
go free, Suettay's wrath will fall on us! Will it not?"

His men stirred around him, muttering.

"There's a chance of it," I admitted. "But, if we get some fresh
water, and a little rest, and food, we can be away before dawn
tomorrow.

The queen doesn't even have to know we were here." And to Gilbert,
"We're outnumbered, you know."

"When has that ever given you pause?" Gilbert asked.

The duke scowled, but decided not to notice him. "There is
something in what you say-if you speak truly."

"Oh, I do!" I said, with alacrity. "Believe me-there is absolutely
no reason to doubt my veracity!"

"Yes," the duke said. "And surely you would say just that if you
lied. In truth, the more false your words, the more you will swear
they are true."

I drew myself up with maximum indignation. "Are you saying I'm a
liar? "

"I am saying that I wish you to prove the truth of your words. I
stared at him, trying to think of a proof. Finally, I shook my
head.

"I can't. I am telling the truth, mind you-but, prove it? Short of
bringing the queen here to testify, I can't think of a way."

"No, and I think she would be a grumbly guest," the duke said,
with grim humor. "Yet if you cannot think of a way to prove your
truth, be assured that we can."

"And that is?" I asked, with foreboding. Somehow, I had a notion
that the duke's idea of proof wouldn't exactly delight Euclid.

"The Ordeal," the duke said, and I could hear the capital. "One of
you must undergo the Ordeal, that the others may go free."

"Me," I said, without even stopping to think-which was a good
thing, because Gilbert was one syllable behind me.

"I shall!"

The duke nodded, a slight smile curving his lips. "You have said
it," he said to me. "It is your portion!"

"But I-" Gilbert started, before Angelique drowned him Out.

"Ohhhh, nooooo!" She threw herself between me and the duke, her
substance wavering, growing brighter and dimmer as she tried to hold
his attention. "You have no way of knowing what manner of horrible
things this Ordeal may hold, my love! Oh, nay, Lord Duke, do not
submit him to the torture! You cannot, you must not! He is a good
man, he is truthful in all he says and does, he is not deserving of
such horrid treatment!"

Gilbert stared, flabbergasted.

"Gently, gently," I soothed. I caught her hands, wishing I could
feel them, and summoned up every ounce of reassurance I could. "I'll
survive, never you fear. And as to pain and torture, why, I expect
I've withstood worse. Right, milord?"

The duke stood with a face of flint. "What manner of man are you,
that you have won the love of a ghost?"

"A wizard," I answered.

"But one not wise." Nonetheless, the duke nodded. "Still, it
speaks well for you that your friends are so quick to leap to your
defense."

"There, I knew it," I said quickly. "You see? It'll be all right
...

Gilbert, help the lady, will you? There now, darling, don't worry.
I've been though tortures before."

"But there is no need! You are an honorable man!" she cried, then
collapsed weeping into Gilbert's arms. He held her up and turned her
away, his face a study in consternation.

"You will take them to their boat," the duke informed
Vincentio.

"Bid them sail, and watch till they've gone from sight."

Vincentio nodded, and his band closed around my companions, hiding
them from view.

I didn't even get to watch them out of sight, myself; the duke
took me by the elbow and turned me away, leading me back across the
drawbridge and into the castle. "So, then, you come. And begin your
Ordeal, yes?"

"Of course," I said, feeling somewhat numb. At least the duke
wasn't gloating about it. I took that to mean he wasn't a sadist-so
things could have been worse.

Couldn't they,' As we passed through the huge portal into the
keep, a shadow moved, and I thought I recognized the Gremlin's
silhouette-but I hoped I was wrong. I'd far rather he was with
Angelique and the boys.

I didn't think the sprite could do much for me, but he could make
the difference between freedom and capture for my friends.

But it would have been nice to know I wasn't completely alone.

Besides, how bad could the Ordeal be? I eyed the duke, again
taking in the astrological signs on his gown and the snaky staff. He
wasn't completely gone over to black magic, that was obvious. Using
some aspects of it, maybe, but not wholly dedicated to it yetplaying
the old game, thinking he could take what he wanted of the Devil's
power without giving anything of himself.

I halted, shocked. Was that what I was trying to do?

Certainly not. There had to be a distinction. Had to.

That was it-I wasn't trying to use the Devil's power. Or God's,
for that matter, though I wasn't doing as well there-I had called on
a saint or two, now and then, and even recited a prayer or two
directly to the Top. As an equivocator, I wasn't doing so well. Could
be the duke was better at the balancing act.

Or maybe he wasn't even the equivocator he seemed to be. Maybe he
was a white magician who was only borrowing a few diabolical
symbols.

And being tempted. Sorely.

The duke led me up to the battlements so I could watch the
longboat put out to sea. I could just barely make out the little
black dots that were heads, but the duke was true to his word. My
friends, at least, were safe.

"Now you come," the duke said, and led me down the stairs.

And down.

And down.

Somewhere below the dungeons, in a pool of torchlight, we stopped.
Before us, a stone slab rose up from the floor, knee-high, six feet
long, and four feet wide. I eyed it warily and decided it was too low
to be an altar. Which was a definite comfort to me, as the peasants
stripped off my shirt and started tying me down.



Chapter Twenty-three


The duke hit the floor with the heel of his staff. It struck with
a huge, booming reverberation, out of all proportion to its size.
Then he thrust it up high, swirling its tip above his head in a
widening he lix and calling out. The call became rhythmical, settling
into a chant.

I frowned, straining to understand; the language sure wasn't the
one I'd been hearing. It seemed older somehow, kind of like
Latin.

Latin! Once I realized that, I was able to catch the occasional
cognate. "Sun," that word had to be, and "heat," which made senseand
sure as taxes that next one had to be "water," or a near
relative.

days" after it? Wasn't that That was a number-five! And was that
"

a negative suffix, though ? But why negative? ...

The duke finished his chant, brandishing his staff again, and the
peasants repeated the verse; the cavern boomed with it. Then all of a
sudden they went quiet, and the duke shouted out a last sentence,
punctuating it by slamming his staff against the floor again ...

Where the heel struck the rock, an explosion blossomed in silence,
a burst of searing white light against the cavern's gloom, swelling,
expanding, filling the chamber ...

it was the sun.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the glare; afterimages danced. I
gave my eyes time to adjust to the crimson, then opened them just a
little, squinting.

I was still lashed to the rock-but it was surrounded by miles of
sand. Heat waves shimmered about me, and the sky was a brazen coin in
pitiless blue. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and the heat baked me
as if I were in an oven. I could have sworn I could feel the rock
heating up below me, and I was already bathed in sweat.

Suddenly, the significance of the duke's "five days" hit me-I was
supposed to stay bound to this stone bed for a hundred and twenty
hours! And the negative suffix was about water!

In panic, I realized Frisson had been right-like it or not, I'd
have to try to work magic on my own. Call it working within the frame
of reference of the hallucination, call it selling out, call it
whatever you like-I was going to have to do it, or die.

Preferably without drawing on either the powers of good, or of
evil.

I tried to think of some verse that would stop my sweat glands-I
was going to need every ounce of water my body held. Then I
remembered that without sweat, I would overheat in an hour.

Decisions, decisions!

It was going to be a long day.

I decided it had been a long day already, but the sun was still
ominously close to the zenith. My tongue felt like a piece of
leather, and my skin felt about right for writing. How long had it
really been-an hour? Maybe less?

No matter-I wasn't going to last the day, and I had a notion my
body was going to stay there without me for at least twenty-four
hours. I had to have water, fast-or something to drink, anyway.

What I wouldn't have given now, for a cola ...

Inspiration struck. Commercial jingles! Could I remember one?

Could I ever forget?

Could I talk enough to recite it?

I smacked my lips, or tried to-and found I couldn't get them to
open. In desperation, I worked my cheeks, trying to pump up some
saliva-but nothing came. Panic began to grow, but I forced it down
sternly while I kept working my cheeks ...

Pain lanced through my lower lip. Blast! I'd bitten it again. It
hurt, on top of everything else, and I tasted blood ...

Blood.

Moisture.

I moved the tip of my swelling tongue against the inside of my
lips, pushed hard-and they opened. I took a deep breath ...

And the blood dried up.

Quickly, before my mouth could seal up again, I cried,


    "Drink Sass-Pa-Rilla, like a man,
    In the bottle, in the can!
    Right from the store, into my hand!"


Something slapped into my palm, something cold and wet. I breathed
a sigh of relief and started to bring it to my lips ...

My hand wouldn't move.

it was tied over my head.

I bit down against anger, and called up a verse:


    "Unravel the cord, and untie the knot!
    Loosen the binding, for bind it shall not!"


I felt a writhing about my wrists and ankles that made my innards
twist in revulsion. Sternly, I schooled my stomach; it was only the
ropes untying themselves-I hoped. I lifted the arm with the soda in
it, experimentally ...

it lifted. And was instantly filled with a hundred hot
needles.

I let the arm fall back, groaning with agony. But I had to get at
that soda. I lifted again, but the effort made my body roll, and I
finished up scraping the can across the stone toward my mouth. I made
it, and my teeth closed on aluminum.

just aluminum. No soda.

I had forgotten to open the can.

I just lay there a second, marveling at my own stupidity. Then,
with another groan and a great deal more stabbing pain, this time in
the upper arms, shoulders, and chest, I managed to work my way up
onto my elbows and achieve the stupendous feat of hooking a finger
through the ring. I pulled; the top popped; I bowed my head and
lifted, and a splash of soothing, chilly Sass-Pa-Rilla flowed into my
mouth. Most of that first shot ran down my chin and sizzled onto the
rock, but enough of it sloshed into my mouth to fill me with the
blessed, icy taste, burning the cut where I'd bitten my lip. My
throat worked, and I felt the trail of cold all the way down into my
stomach.

I sighed, lifted the can, and took a real swallow. I had never
known a commercial product could taste so good and decided I'd never
make a joke about Sass-Pa-Rilla again.

Which was very good because, as I lifted the can, it
disappeared.

I stared at my cupped and empty hand as if it had betrayed me.
Then I curled it into a fist, feeling the anger rise. Not my hand,
but somebody else, some person, had betrayed me-and I had a notion
who. The duke had decided he didn't want the rules changed. I didn't
feel sorry for him; after all, I'd told him I was a wizard before he
tried hanging me out to dry. He shouldn't have been so sure I
couldn't survive@yen though, come to think of it, I wasn't all that
sure of it, myself.

But I was also a wizard who was going to need a little help to
fight back-and whatever I was going to do, I was going to have to do
it quickly, before the spurt of energy from the cold drink wore off.
Already, I could feel the searing heat enveloping me again, and the
first tendrils of a headache were rising to meet it. Where could I
get reinforcements?

Of course! The local spirits. Every little location had them-the
nature spirits, the sprites and dryads and nixies and pixies, the
spirits of trees and streams and even grass!

"Ye elves of desert, rocks, and wind-blown dunes, And ye that on
the sand with printless foot Do chase siroccos, and do fly them,
Whose aid, weak masters though ye be, I now require, to bedim the
noontide sun, And save my hide from furnace winds!"

Well, Shakespeare would forgive me.

Tendrils of mist started to rise from the ground around me, from
the boulders and the sand-mist, where there was no moisture. I
breathed a sigh of relief and croaked, "Let's hear it for
animism."

Then the spirits finished taking form.

There wasn't much of them-just tenuous, smoky-looking, hulking
shapes about knee-high. Behind them was a miniature whirlwind filled
with sand-a dust devil?

"You have called," one of the rock-faces croaked. "We have
come."

"What manner of spirits are you?"

"You have called for the spirits of the land," another
boulder-type grated. "We are they-spirits of rock and sand."

"I should have realized," I groaned. "Mineral spirits."

"We will aid you, if we can," the first rock-ghost growled. "How
may we do so? "

"Hanged if I know," I muttered. "You wouldn't have anything cool
about you, would you?"

"At midday?" hissed the whirlwind. "Nay! We all are heated through
and through."

"I figured as much." The rock under me was getting hot even in my
shadow. "And none of you have any moisture, do you?"

"You cannot get water from a stone," a boulder grated.

The whirlwind drifted closer. "Shall I fan you with my
breeze?"

The first tendrils of moving air caressed me, and I gasped,
drawing back. "Uh, no thanks! I appreciate the intention, but you
have all the charm of a furnace!" A horrid notion crossed my mind.
"Uh-what do men call your kind of spirit? "

"A dust devil," the whirlwind answered.

"I thought so." I swallowed, painfully. "You, uh-haven't come hot
from Hell, have you?"

"Nay!" The tone was indignant. "You asked what men call me, not
what I am!"

I nodded. "I thought so. What's in a name? Not much, in this case.
You're no more a part of the Hell crew than-"

I broke off, my eyes widening.

"Than what?" the dust devil pressed.

"Than something I learned about in general physics! Of course! If
I'm hot and I want to get cool, who should I call for but Maxwell's
Demon?

"I know of him," the dust devil hummed. "We dwell in neighboring
realms and are much alike in that we are neither evil nor good, but
much maligned by men."

"Can you get him here? He's an expert in air conditioning! If
anybody can save me, he can! "

"I shall try," the dust devil said, and whirled faster and faster
until it had flung itself to bits, disappearing.

I stared. That was going home? in dread. MaxThen I realized what I
had asked for, and waited well's Demon was a gimmick James Clerk
Maxwell had dreamed up, in an attempt to get around Newton's laws of
thermodynamics. Being from the never-never land of scientists'
whimsy, he wouldn't be either good or bad-he'd be an impersonal
force. So he wouldn't be one that could be ordered around-and might
decide not to help me. In fact, there was no guarantee he would be
here; he came if he wanted to, and didn't if he didn't.

Maybe I hadn't made the situation clear. I tried again.


    "Entropy personified,
    I will soon be mummified if your power retrograde
    Comes not eftsoons unto my aid!"


I wasn't sure about the "eftsoons" part; after all, Maxwell had
invented his Demon in the nineteenth century, not the

Air split with the sound of gunshot, and the Demon was there, a
point of unbearably intense light, with the dust devil rising from
the sand again behind it. The Demon was singing and humming, "What
have we here? What other mortal knows of me in this universe of
magic? "

"The name's Saul," I said, with my most ingratiating smile. Then
the implications of the spark's remark hit me like a ton of
books.

"Other mortal?"

Aye. I have a friend who knows my name, though he learned of it in
another realm within the curves of time and space."

I forced myself not to ask; first things first, and right now,
survival was kind of the top priority. "I don't suppose you'd be
willing to lend a hand to another know-it-all, would you?"

"Mayhap," the Demon hummed, "if it strikes me as amusing.

Know, mortal, that the bane of existence of immortals is tedium.
if you can offer me respite in the form of some unusual event, I
shall be quite pleased to intervene on your behalf, What diversion
can you offer me?"

"How about saving my life?"

"I have saved mortals before." The Demon seemed irritated.

"What is new in the fashion in which you would have me save
you?"

I began to realize that I was really dealing with an embodiment of
physical principles-impersonal, like a computer, and therefore
needing explicit instructions that it would follow to the letter.
Unlike a computer, though, it wanted to be amused.

I would have to be very careful of what I said.

"I specialize in paradoxes," I told the Demon. "You might have fun
watching."

"Paradox?" The Demon sounded interested. "In what fashion?"

"Well, for openers, I contradict myself every five
minutesespecially since I came to this universe. Not my own idea, by
the way. "

"I doubt it not." The Demon's hum deepened to a lower pitch. "In
what manner do you contradict yourself?"

"I'm bound and determined not to be committed, you see-not to a
woman, not to an idea, not even to myself, if I can help it-but
especially not to good or evil."

"Amazing," the Demon murmured. "How have you endured more than
thirty seconds in this universe in which all action stems from either
good or evil, from God or Satan?"

"By pure dumb luck, I guess, until I found out what was going
on.

But as soon as an emissary from each side had tried to recruit me,
I dug my heels in and turned mule-headed. I was bound and determined
not to be a tool for either one-so every time I accidentally did
something a little bit good, I tried to follow it with something a
little bit bad. "

" 'Tis a set of poles, not a continuum," the Demon corrected me in
an abstracted tone. "Indeed you live in contradiction-not in thoughts
or words alone, but in'deeds. Yet do you dare no more than little
bits?"

Indignation hit, along with the age-old alertness that someone was
trying to infringe on my identity, to twist me into his own path.
"I'm me," I said, "not an extension of somebody else, natural or
supernatural. I have to be me; I can't be anybody else. If I go in
for big gestures, stupendous feats of nobility, I'm committing myself
to good so thoroughly that I become just an extension of it. Worse,
I'd have to counteract that by doing something really vile, which
would mean I'd have to infringe on someone else's identity, destroy
their integrity, ittle bits of good and evil, and that's just
flat-out wrong. No, I'll do I thank you, but all I'll go for in a big
way is being me."

"Excellently stated!" the Demon hummed. "You have grasped the
essence of paradox!"

I had?

"I cannot allow a mind such as this to be wasted and withered," he
went on. "What would you of me?"

"Shelter!" I gasped-then, afraid of seeming too eager, I tried
nonchalance. "As you can see, I'm in the kind of a bind only you can
save me from."

"Save?" The Demon hummed, surveying the situation.

The local spirits groaned and winked out, vanishing into their
boulders and sand grains.

"Kin!" the dust devil gusted. "Source and lord!"

"In some measure, mayhap," the Demon hummed, and to me, "wherefore
seek you my aid? Here is one with power enough!"

"Only to make things hot," I groaned, "and my species doesn't do
too well at temperatures above ninety degrees Fahrenheit."

"Aye-I had forgotten you were so fragile," the Demon answered.

"I ken not how your kind has survived so long, balanced on so fine
a line of energy."

"Cultural evolution! Artificial temperature control!
Technology!

But the duke and his men stranded me out here without any
machines, and I'm just not built for it! Please, Demon-take me
someplace cool! About seventy degrees Fahrenheit," I added
quickly.

Somehow, I didn't think I wanted to be where it was cool for the
Demen.

"Someplace that is neither hot nor cool, rather," the Demon
corrected me, "a barrier between heat and cold. Aye, I know of such a
place. But 'tis such a realm as would drive a mortal mad."

Ingrained caution welled up. "How so?"

"Why, for that 'tis a realm of paradox incarnate, where a mortal
would be lost in confusion . . ." The Demon's voice trailed off, then
ignited with enthusiasm. "Aye, we shall put you to the test of
yourself! Do you think that you are so wholly dedicated to paradox as
to withstand the confrontation of it?"

I hesitated-but he was putting me to the test of my self-image.
"If I'm not," I said, "I want to know about it." Then the
counterimpulse ma e me say, "Besides, if I can't, you can always drop
me back in the real world-preferably at some point a little less
extreme in temperature.

The Demon keened with delight. "You contradict yourself
indeed!

t Nay, let us see how you withstand the test that you yourself
conceive! Come, mortal, away!"

The landscape tilted and slid-or was it I who was sliding? I
didn't know, but suddenly, blessed coolness surrounded me. In fact, I
shivered.

"Sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit," the Demon informed me.

"I'll get used to it," I promised, "fast. Thank you, Demon. You're
a lifesaver." I looked around, and found myself in a realm of
formless gray. Mist seemed to fill all the volume about me, and
beyond it were only clouds. I looked down and, for all I knew, I
could be sitting on another cloud. "Where are we?"

"Where you have wished to be," the Demon said, "the barrier
between the cold and the hot. I looked up, startled, finally
recognizing the reference.

"Welcome to my home," the Demon sang.

"Uh-thanks." I looked around, feeling kind of weird-new boy in
town, and all. And a town there was; shapes were beginning to show
through the mist-houses, or things that my mind was interpreting as
houses; it occurred to me that I probably wasn't seeing what was
really there-or, rather, that I was seeing it, or my eyes were, but
my mind couldn't accept it or comprehend it, so it was giving me
familiar analogs. If that was the case, then the mist would be the
fog of my own confusion. One way or another, it was thinning as I
began to be able to recognize forms, and I was feeling a bit better
at being able to see houses-in the shapes of geometric solids, and
with polygons for windows and doors, but definitely houses. And a
street-though it looped about in a funny way, and I couldn't see
anything supporting it. And some strange, amorphous masses of
greenery that kept fluxing and flowing and changing shape, like
vegetable amoebas; I figured they had to be analogous to trees and
bushes.

And there were animals.

Or should I say, "creatures"? The first ones to come ambling up
were a pair of cats that hadn't quite made it into twins-there were
two of them from the middle forward, but at the end of the rib cage,
they joined, and only had one set of hindquarters. A single tail
snaked around and tickled the ear of the head that had its eyes shut;
they opened, and the other head's eyelids closed.

That unnerved me, not to mention its offending me -how would you
feel if someone sauntered up to you and fell asleep? "What's the
matter?" I asked the wide-awake head. "Early morning last night?"

"Nay," the cat answered, which somehow didn't surprise me. "He has
died-and I have come alive."

I stared.

Then I said, "Is he going to come alive again, too?"

"Aye, at some odd moment. We can never know when, though. We know
that when he lives, I die, for the two of us cannot both be alive at
one time."

Something connected. "I thought that only applied when you were in
your box," I said.

"Nay," he contradicted me. "When we go home to our box, both
become comatose-neither alive nor dead."

"Till someone opens the lid," I said. "You're Schredinger's
Cat."

Which explained the joined hindquarters-only the front part had
split into two time lines yet.

The cat turned to the Demon with a look of surprised approval.

"You have found a mortal with some modicum of sense."

"No," I said, "just a little knowledge."

"Then you are very dangerous."

"More than you know," the Demon sang. "I did not find him-he
called for me!"

The cat looked at me and shuddered. "You could visit chaos upon us
all! "

"I could?" I said blankly, then realized that I was throwing away
a bargaining chip. "Oh, yeah, I could! I wouldn't, of
course-especially since your friend Maxwell's Demon has helped me out
of a tight spot. "

"A hot spot, rather," the Demon explained. " 'Twas like to fry his
brains. " The cat looked at me as if that might be an improvement.
"Can you not send him back?"

"Aye, when the night has come, and coolness with it/ I glanced
around at the alien setting, feeling kind of nervous. "If you don't
mind the waiting." I wasn't sure I didn't.

"Oh, we need not wait!" the Demon sang. "From this space-time, we
may project you to any point within your own."

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. "You mean I'm not even in the same
universe?"

"Nay. This realm lies between universes."

"Then it's a universe of its own."

"Mayhap, though I would be reluctant to term it so, when Itis so
small."

I sat bolt-upright, galvanized by a sudden revelation. "Then you
could just as easily send me back to my home universe!"

"I could," the Demon agreed. "Do you wish it?"

That brought me up short. I frowned, considering
alternativesAngelique, and the fun I'd been having not working magic,
and Angelique, and the adventure, and Angelique, and the friends I'd
gained-or companions, at least-and Angelique, and the fact that I
felt as if I was worth something. Especially to Angelique. Okay,
there was danger in it, too, but at least it wasn't boring. "No," I
said slowly, tinot just yet."

After all, I couldn't commit myself to not committing myself,
could I?

"Then to the universe of Allustria, whence you came," the cat
urged.

But the Demon asked, "Are there many like you, in your home
universe?

"Not enough for comfort." I frowned; a long horizontal plane was
coming into focus, looking like a fence made out of a continuous
sheet of plywood. "Like me in what way?"

"In believing in Maxwell's Demon."

"Oh." I relaxed, shaking my head. "No, not many. Maybe a
million.

"A million!"

"Out of three billion," I said quickly. "Even out of the ones who
know about you, most of them think you're just a scientific
fable."

"But we are," the Demon and the cat sang together, and the Demon
went on, "This is the home of all such fables-and of those of logic
and reason, too."

But I was distracted by the big eyeballs and the long nose peeking
over the fence. When I glanced directly at them, though, they
disappeared. "What's he doing here?"

The Demon didn't even look. " 'Tis as much his home as
Yehudi's."

"Yehudi"' I glanced around, noting a series of level planes rising
away off to' my left, like a staircase-but it was empty. "I don't see
him. "

"Of course not; the little man is not there," the cat said
contemptuously. Behind him, I noticed two guys with saffron robes and
bald heads, sitting in lotus position facing each other; each was
holding a light bulb, but one was so dark it must have been burned
out.

"I suppose that makes sense," I said. "Then the Gremlin is here,
too? "

"Shh!" The cat glanced about with apprehension. "Speak not of him,
for if he comes, he will make all go awry."

"I don't think so; we/ve been getting to know each other." I felt
in still wasn't home-and even better, better, knowing the Greml from
the cat's look of surprise. I noticed a guy with medium-length hair
and a very bland face, in a powder-blue oxford-cloth shirt, blue
jeans, and running sneakers, strolling along the row of polygons.

"Who's he?"

"The Norm " the Demon sang.

"I thought he didn't really exist."

"Be still!" the cat spat, but he was too late. The Norm faded away
and disappeared. "Now you have done it." The cat sighed. "It will
take him many days to believe in himself strongly enough to manifest
again." very guilty, so I whispered the next one.

" Sorry, " I said, feeling "Who's the anorexic over there?" I was
talking about the guy who was a stick figure, like the ones kids
draw-a featureless circle on top, with straight lines for arms and
legs and torso.

"The Statistical Abstract," the Demon hummed softly. "You need not
fear; he will not go away."

A robot came clanking up and ground to a halt.

I stepped back, ready for trouble. "He doesn't belong here! Where
I come from, he's real-these days!"

"Only my body," a voice said, but the robot's mouth just opened
once, and a wispy form drifted out of it to float in midair before
us.

"I had wondered how long 'twould be ere you came amongst us!"

"Hey, I know you!" I said. "You're the philosophy assignment I
really resented!"

"The Ghost in the Machine," the breezy voice agreed. "Wherefore
did you resent me? "

"Not you," I said, "just having to prove that you didn't exist,
when something inside me told me you did!"

"Indeed I do, but only in this realm that defies all logic,
agreed. the ghost "Oh," I said. "So that's why you thought I'd come
here some day."

"Indeed," the ghost agreed. "Do you still rail against reason,
even as you practice it?"

"Not really," I said with a smile. "Kant got me out of that."

"Even so," said the large, egg-shaped guy who came strolling up. I
looked closer and realized he really was an egg. " 'Tis even as I've
said about words-only a matter of whether they will master you, or
You will master them/ "Right." I nodded. "Logic's just a tool. You
can't let it run your life by itself." But I was bothered by the
implication of his knowing my inner thoughts so well-was I really as
much of a fence sitter as he was?

Yes. I had that sense of balance.

In the distance, I heard a long and mournful whistle, and a
locomotive chuffed by drawing a train around a circular track, with
so many cars that the engine was both pulling the tender and pushing
the caboose, which was pulling it. I didn't have to look; I knew it
had no driver. It was going faster and faster the longer it ran, and
I looked away.

"Say, you wouldn't know where I can find the Dinganzich, would
you?"

"It is not here the ghost lamented.

"We have only its shadow among us," the Demon said.

"No," I said with regret, "I was looking for the real thing. Next
dimension, huh? "

"Nay; beyond them," the Demon commiserated. "I fear, mortal, that
what you truly seek is not here."

"And probably not anywhere," I sighed, except inside me after
all.

"Or in Heaven," one of the monks spoke up.

I frowned, looking up at him. "Thought you guys didn't believe in
that state."

"It has many names," the monk explained.

"Look, I gave up on trying to find God a long time ago."

The monk shook his head. "Foolish. You must seek while you live,
if you would find Him after death."

But that had a false ring to it. "Next thing I know, you'll be
telling me the Ultimate Buddha is in Heaven along with Jehovah."

"Nay," the monk contradicted. "They are Heaven, and they are one
it t/One what?" I asked, then felt a chill pass over my back and into
my vitals. I tried to chase it by saying, "You would think that way,"
but I shivered and turned to the Demon. "I think maybe I'd better get
out of here. I'm not ready for this."

"Will you ever be?" the cat mocked, but the ghost said, "He may
be, if he never leaves off seeking."

"Yet for now, you have the right of it," the Demon told me. "Back
to your Ordeal, mortal. Are you refreshed?"

"Enough to last," I told him. "Could you send me back to just
before sunrise at the end of the fifth night after you found me?"

"Gladly," the Demon said. "Prepare yourself. "Hey, just a minute!"
I said. "I almost forgot. This other guy in that universe-the one
that you said knew about you, too. Who is he? "

"He is Matthew Mantrell, Lord Wizard of Merovence. Do you wish to
go to him? " It was tempting-but there was Angelique, and the need to
get her body back. "No," I said slowly, "I'm just glad to know he's
alive and well.

"He is," the Demon assured me. "Now let us see to yourself. Lie
back and relax, mortal."

I did, closing my eyes.

"Awake," the Demon's hum said right next to my ear. I opened my
eyes and sat up-and realized I could sit up. Of course-I had spelled
away the ropes. No reason to think they would have come back, was
there?

"Thanks, Demon," I said. "I won't forget you for this."

I could feel an impulse to laughter somewhere around me, and the
Demon's voice hummed, "I am rewarded in your mere existence, mortal,
so long as you seek to remain poised on the cusp of paradox.
Farewell, for the sun is rising."

I looked toward the east just as the first ray pierced the
lightened sky. "Good-bye, Demon," I said into the roseate glory of
the new morning. "And thanks."



Chapter Twenty-four


They appeared as black dots on the face of the rising sun, then
expanded hugely, seeming to zoom out of the ruddy disk-the duke, with
a dozen of his men behind him. Most of the men carried shovels, but
one of them was nice enough to be carrying a big water skin-probably
for them, not for me.

I debated whether I should play dessicated semicorpse, or just be
sitting up obviously alive, well, and nonchalant. That last sounded
suspiciously like bragging, but what the Hell, it was the truth, so I
went with it.

They loomed dark and darker until they were close enough to begin
seeing features. That's when I sat up.

They shied off like elephants confronting a lemming, and the duke
took time for some loudly intoned verses in his archaic language,
with a few mystic passes. I just sat there and watched, studying his
technique-but I didn't feel anything, so he must have been working on
de-ghosting a risen corpse. Wouldn't have any effect on me, of
course, since I was still alive and in my body ...

The duke finished his gestures and chants, and his eyes widened
when I didn't disappear or even waver. He came closer, very
carefully, as if I were a rattlesnake that might strike any minute,
the whites showing all around his irises. He edged up near enough for
a close inspection, reached out toward me as if he were going to prod
me to make sure I was really there, but said instead, "You live!"

"That's my main occupation," I agreed.

"He should be dried!" one of the boys in the back row muttered,
with a quaver that would have done credit to a vibraphone. "He should
be leather!"

"I'm not feeling too chipper," I admitted. "But I'm still
juicy.

" 'Tis not unknown." You could see the duke was doing a quick
revision on his estimates. "Yet those few who have endured till the
second morn were feverish, seeing sights that mortal eyes seldom view
I felt a chill; that sounded uncomfortably like the Demon's home.

"They told you about that, did they?"

"Some one or two who endured to reclaim life," the duke admitred.
"Most have not lived to see a third dawn, no matter how gently we
tend them, for they are the chattels of the god, look you ... "

The god? Suddenly I realized why this man's magic seemed to be
halfway between good and evil-he was a pagan and didn't realize the
source of the powers he was drawing on!

and surely none can speak of the holy sights they have seen, when
we find them, for their tongues are swollen." A look of foreboding
came over his face. "How is it yours is not.

I didn't see any reason to lie. "I conjured up something to
drink."

"That, I did sense-and did seek to block! How is it you were able
to go around my wall, and without my knowing of it?"

I wondered where he thought I'd brought that drink from-and I
began to see what he was afraid I'd been doing. "I went away. I
called up some friendly spirits, and one of them took me to one of
those places your victims see, but can't tell you about. He and his
friends took care of me and sent me back as you see me." I didn't
figure I needed to tell him about the time shift-that would just have
complicated matters.

The man in the back row spoke up again, his voice trembling.

"What spirits are these he can call upon?"

"Be silent!" the duke snapped, so viciously that I knew he must be
scared-and overawed, or he would have thrown a whammy at me.

"In truth," he said to me, "you must be a far more puissant wizard
than I had thought. I caught the subtext-that he was afraid I was
more powerful than he was. Maybe I could play on that. "I guess so,"
I agreed. "'I'hings being as they are, maybe you'll go a step further
than just letting me live, the way you promised."

"What step is that?" He was braced for the worst.

"A boat," I said. "Nothing elaborate-just a one-man craft, with a
sail and a rudder. Say, about twenty feet long."

He looked startled, and another anonymous voice from the ranks
muttered, "What will he conjure up to sail it for him?"

Now, that was a thought. For a moment, I toyed with asking Sir
Francis Drake or Christopher Columbus in for an excursion, but I
decided they might be otherwise occupied. "I'll manage," I assured
the duke. "You might put in a few goodies, too-say, a week's worth of
journey rations. And water."

"Oh, aye!" He nodded his head, most emphatically. "For one who has
survived the Ordeal? Oh, most surely."

You bet he thought it was a good idea. Get me out of his hair, for
only a longboat and a week's worth of rations? Cheap at the price.
For all he knew, I might have been sore enough to turn against
him.

Which wasn't that bad an idea, now that I thought of it-but I
didn't have time; I had bigger fish to spear.

"And speaking of water I glanced suggestively at the water
skin.

The duke snapped his fingers, and the water carrier hurried to the
front with the skin. He started to hand it to me, then thought better
of it and shoved it at his boss. Let him take the risks.

"All praise to he who has survived the ordeal," the duke said,
presenting the skin as if it were a trophy.

By extreme self-control, I managed not to snatch it; I only took
it from his hands slowly, popped the cork, and shot a jet from it
into my mouth, reflecting on the irony of cool wetness tasting so
good, so soon after I had almost hoped I would never have to see
another drop of it. I was going to have to be careful what I wished
for.

A couple of men-at-arms were very willing to push the boat into
the waves for me, saving my legs from wetness at the cost of their
own dousing. I could have done it myself easily enough, but if they
wanted to honor me, I was willing to let them. I was beginning to
realize the value of status and prestige in a world like this one.
Besides, it helped them feel as if they were doing something to get
rid of me.

I let go of an oar long enough to wave bye-bye, then managed to
catch it again before it had quite slipped away into the next wave.
It was going to take me a while to get used to having just a couple
of pegs for an oarlock.

Nonetheless, I did manage to get the boat through the breakers and
out beyond the bar-I could almost hear the soldiers snickering at my
lack of seamanship, all the way out here. After all, on a little
island like this, every able-bodied man must have started out as a
fisherman or a sailor, even if he later became a soldier. They'd make
fantastic marines.

Out into the swells, I shipped the oars and hoisted canvas. I'd
learned to sail in the summers, out of sheer boredom-when you grow up
near the Great Lakes, you have all sorts of opportunities for water
sports. So I managed to get the sail up and catch a breeze without
capsizing. My wake began to foam, and I was off.

Very quickly the wind picked up. I frowned, shivering and wishing
I'd thought to ask the duke for a cloak, then glanced up at the
sun.

There wasn't much of it there.

I glared up at the clouds, willing them away-but I felt a sinking
feeling in my stomach. The day had dawned clear and sunny-very sunny.
If it was clouding up so soon, it could just be a storm front moving
in-or it could be Suettay, out to have another try at drowning me. If
I had another storm blow up, there wouldn't be any Frisson around to
hand me magic verses. I'd have to try to lull it by myselfand I hated
working magic on my own. It felt like surrender, somehow. Besides, I
wasn't all that sure I could succeed.

None of that! I reminded myself sternly. Defeatist attitudes
wouldn't help. Besides, I didn't really need to make the storm go
away-just manage to get safely to shore.

Safely?

A nasty suspicion budded in my head and blossomed into the
fullgrown conviction that the storm dying down just where it did
hadn't been completely my doing. Suettay could have seen that I was
going to win that round and kept wrestling just long enough to drive
us onto the island, hoping that its xenophobic duke would do her
dirty work for her, conveniently killing us off before we could do
her any more damage. Maybe I hadn't won such a great victory, after
all. Maybe it had really been a very deliberate conjuration by a very
nasty sorceress.

Of course, she might have been doing me a favor-as a ghost, I
could no doubt have had a much better time with Angelique than I
could as a

I clamped down on that thought, hard. That way lay suicide, and
losing all hope of getting Angelique completely free Of Suettay's
machinations.

Careful, there, boy, I warned myself. You're coming perilously
close to admitting that magic works in the here-and-now.

No. Absolutely impossible. A philosophical absurdity. Which, of
course, was the point-magic was completely illogical.

Completely?

I reined in my thoughts, exasperated. When would I ever learn to
stop making sweeping generalizations? They always had exceptions.

Okay-so maybe this universe was one of the exceptions?

I backed up against that one like a Missouri mule against an
overloaded wagon. Somehow, I was constitutionally unable to accept
the notion that magic might work, outside of a massively detailed
hallucination. Possibly because if I allowed that it did, I would
find it very hard to come up with a reason to avoid committing myself
to one side or the other.

Or to Angelique?

Well, now, that was the advantage to being in love with a
ghost.

The vow, after all, reads, "Till death do us part," and death
already had parted us-before we even got together.

Somehow, that sounded pretty thin, but I held onto it.

All right. Try something else then. And hurry, stupid-those clouds
have grown awfully thick and awfully low, and that breeze has a
definite taste of rain to it.

Okay. I decided to suppose, just suppose, magic really did work in
this world. How would I work my way out of this storm?

All right, so I was cheating. I put that issue aside and decided
to deal with it when I had time.

Actually, I wasn't all that sure I wanted to get rid of the
storm.

Drifting without any wind at all wasn't exactly my idea of a
picnic, either. If I could throttle it down, maybe, or direct it
...

Or both. After all, the nymph Thyme was supposedly nearby, on one
of these Mediterranean islands. I decided to work from that.


    o blow, ye winds, heigh-ho!
    To Thyme I wish to go!
    I've stayed no more on the ordeal's shore,
    So let the music play!
    I'm off with the morning's gain,
    To cross the raging main!
    I'm off to see Thyme With a pack of rhyme,
    So many miles away!"


The wind veered. I knew, because my sail swung about almost ninety
degrees. it creaked as the strength of the wind bellied it out to its
limit, and the wind sang in the stays-sure enough, the music played!
I noticed that, just as a burst of spray drenched my back and
shoulders. I yelped-it was cold! But that didn't matter, because just
then a giant kettledrum boomed overhead and rolled all about me, and
its owner pulled the plug. Rain sluiced down, not bothering with
individual drops, and I was soaked to the skin. Shivering, too, and
my canvas sail groaned. I hitched around, alarmed, to lower itand my
feet sloshed through a few inches of water. I stared down, feeling
the first faint fingers of fear take hold as I realized I might ship
enough water to sink.

All of a sudden, I was in favor of half measures. A little
thunderstorm can be a blast, when you can revel in the wildness of
the wind and the power of the storm-but when it's all directed right
at you, it can be a little unnerving. Scaled down, mind you, I would
probably have loved it-if I'd had a soulwester.

What harm could it do? I tried.


    "So blow, ye winds, heigh-how,
    But not so hard as now!
    I've need of speed, but less, indeed,
    So slacken your gale-force blasts!
    My sail can't stand the strain!
    Slow down your wind and rain!
    I can wait for the tide,
    And Thyme can bide.
    Be a good stiff breeze that lasts!"


The thunder cracked and growled, and I could have sworn it cursed.
But it faded even as it snarled, and the wind slackened. My sail
groaned with relief, and the rain toned down to a heavy soaker with
headstrong winds. I shivered and sneezed. Landing near Thyme's
hideout wouldn't do me much good if I was dead of pneumonia when I
got there, or even just delirious with fever. I thought of trying for
that sou'wester, then rebuked myself for being greedy, not to say
soft.

What was a little rain, anyway? After all, yesterday I would have
given anything for this. I gritted my teeth and held on.

Over the waves that gale blew me. I lashed the line around a
thwart and held on to the tiller for dear life. It wasn't too bad for
the first hour, but then I began to get tired. It didn't help that I
couldn't see too far in front of me, either-but after the second
hour, my eyelids were drooping so much that it didn't matter
terribly, either. How far could it be to Thyme's island, anyway? I
thought these Mediterranean mountaintops came in archipelagoes.

Finally, the sky lightened. The last thunderclap sounded far
behind me, and the rain lightened to a drizzle. Not that I stopped
shivering, though. Fortunately, the wind was still strong enough to
keep my boat going into the waves, instead of veering crosswise;
unfortunately, it was also hard enough to keep my teeth from
chattering.

Then I realized there was a dark blob on the skyline ahead of
me.

My spirits lifted amazingly. I tightened my weary grip on the
tiller and grinned into the salt spray that doused me in the face.
Relief was in sight.

Relief swelled up mighty fast, too, the blob growing into
something that filled most of the horizon. Almost too late, I
realized that the wind behind the boat was going to keep driving me
until I was right up on the shore-which would be just fine if there
weren't any rocks in the way, but I heard a suspicious booming, dead
ahead. I managed to pry my fingers loose, pulled my right hand off
the tiller, and just barely got the knot loose in time. Then I hung
on as the rope sizzled through my fingers so that the sail would
collapse, not blow away. I yelped as the rough hemp burned me, then
reflected that it was the first heat I'd had in hours. First too much
heat and dryness, then too much heat and coldness-I longed for a
happy medium.

The boat slowed down just in time for me to notice rocks rising up
to left and right, but I could see a narrow gap between them. I
heaved and pushed at the tiller, just barely managing to slip the
boat through without shoaling. Then I realized that there was a pole
in the bottom of the boat. I caught it up and fended off the rocks on
either side until, amazingly, they were gone.

I turned and looked ahead to see the beach heaving toward me. I
figured it was my boat that was doing the heaving, not the shore, and
held on to try to enjoy the ride. Okay, after those rocks took out
the worst of it, the surf wasn't anything you'd find on Malibu, but
it was still enough to drive my longboat ashore.

It jammed into sand, and I barely had enough presence of mind left
to jump out, wade to the bow, and haul it onto the beach before the
backwash could pull it out to sea again. Then another wave came along
and pushed, and I gained another yard or two, enough to keep the boat
secure from the next tug of receding water. I waited for the next
wave. It came, I closed my eyes and threw my weight back against the
boat-and it came. Easily.

Too easily.

I had to run backward to keep from being bowled over. I opened my
eyes to see what had happened and saw a huge pair of hands clamped
onto the far side of the boat, pulling. I kept pulling, too, as I
followed the hands up arms like hawsers, to a huge and hairy chest
with eyes like saucers at the top, looking down at me while a huge
mouth curved open into a grin set with shark teeth.

I stared up as my heart dropped down, trying to hide in my boot
tops.

Then I recognized him-I hoped. "Gruesome!"

The grin widened even further, and his top half nodded
eagerly.

"Yuh! Yoh! Goosum!" And the huge arms crunched me up against his
stony hide while his basso voice chirped, "Goosum so happy see Saw! "
It was more of a croak than a chirp, actually, and he stank
abominably. I made a mental note to teach him about bathing and
squirmed around enough to gasp, "I'm glad to see you, too, Gruesome."
And I was, surprisingly-after that stint in the desert and all that
ocean, anything familiar looked good. Besides, he had saved my life
once or twice, or had at least helped out.

But that clinch was inching me uncomfortably close to those shark
teeth. "Yeah, glad to see you. Uh-how about putting me down,
Gruesome? " He started to, but hesitated with both huge mitts wrapped
around my ribs, holding me up, and I could have sworn I saw a hungry
glint in his eye. I was sure about the drops of drool glinting on his
canines.

They made him swallow, and it sure sounded as if he smacked his
lips.

"Down, Gruesome!"

"Yuh, yuh! Down! " He finally lowered me till my feet touched
sand, and loosened his hold. I twisted the rest of the way out of his
grip with a sigh of relief, telling myself that I really hadn't had
anything to worry about-but myself wasn't listening too well. "You
won't believe this, but I'm really glad to see you. What're you doing
here, though? I thought you were still on the mainland!"

"Mainland?" He scowled.

I decided that was better than the grin-it showed fewer teeth.

"You know-Allustria? The place where I met you? Where we fought
Sue ... uh, the wicked queen?"

"Queen! Uh-h-h-h!" He shrank away. "Queen found us! Shellmen!
Sharp!"

Us? Had Gruesome somehow found the others? If so, I gathered that
they had made it back to the mainland, but Suettay had ambushed them
with a dozen or so knights-and panic stirred in my depths, assuming I
had any. "Couldn't Frisson make them disappear?"

"Yuh, yuh!" He nodded. "Got two! But shell men had spell man!"

"The war party had a sorcerer?"

"Yuh, yuh! Bad, bad! Stopped Fish-un's spells! Shell men hit
himboom!" He slammed one huge fist into the other for emphasis.

I braced myself against the shock wave, then said, "You mean a
couple of the knights knocked him out?"

"Yuh, Yuh! Sleep! More shell men hit Gibbet! And me!"

"I was wondering if you'd done any fighting." Frankly, I had
difficulty imagining that he hadn't. I hoped he'd remembered that
just because something's in a shell doesn't mean it's fair game for
eating.

"How many of them did you knock out?"

"Two! Tree! Five!" Gruesome held up one combination of fingers
after another, and his brow furrowed at the immense task of
counting.

I decided to spare him the trouble. "You knocked out a lot of
them, anyway. How come that didn't stop them?"

"Spell man! Threw fire! Fire sticks! Hurt, hurt!"

I got the message. The party's sorcerer had thrown lighted torches
at Gruesome, thick enough and fast enough to drive him away. But that
didn't sound like your garden-variety sorcerer to me. Alarm thrilled
through me. "So they captured all of them?"

"No, no!" Gruesome shook his head most emphatically. "Only
Angel!

"Angelique!" I yelped. "How could they capture her? She's a
ghost!

"Bad spell! Bad, bad spell!" Gruesome shook his head to show how
thoroughly he disapproved, scrunching up his whole face. "Held up
jug! Skinny jug! Angel go skinny, too, and go in jug ...
Thhhhhw-pp!"

He made a sucking noise through pursed lips. "Shriek! Loud!" He
clapped his hand over his ears, remembering. "Bad, bad!"

Now the anger started. "Into a bottle?" I howled. "He said a spell
that sucked her into a bottle? And it hurt her?"

"Yuh, yuh!" Gruesome nodded. "Shriek!"

Of course, she might have just been scared, but either way, I was
c out, even if I did have to mad enough to go turn that sorcerer
insid work magic to do it-and even if he was more powerful than the
average spell-caster. "Which way did he go? where did he take
her?"

"No, the'!" Gruesome waved his spread hands back and forth.

"Changed! Like lizard skin! Not magic man, magic woman!"

My heart sank. "Once Angelique's ghost was in the bottle, the
sorcerer changed into Sue ... into the queen?"

"Yuh, Yoh! Gruesome nodded vigorously. "Wanted Saw! Mad, mad!
"

"I'll just bet she was," I growled.

It all made sense. Suettay had come out in disguise, expecting me
to be with the party and knowing that once I saw her, I'd forget
about everything else and just get Frisson working on immobilizing
her spells. But with your ordinary infantry sorcerer, I would have
put him on the back burner and set Frisson to knocking over the
knights.

Once she saw I wasn't there, she changed herself back into
Suettayespecially since, by then, Gilbert and Frisson had been
knocked out, and she'd driven Gruesome away.

Which raised another issue. "You hung around close enough to see
all this?"

"All!" Gruesome nodded. "But couldn't stay watch! Queen tell shell
men kill friends! Couldn't watch! Shriek, run back, hit!"

"Good troll!" I could just picture Gruesome thundering down on the
knights again, bellowing in rage. "I'll bet they pulled back!"

"Yuh, yuh! Shell men run! Goosum put Gibbet and Fish-un in boat!
Queen shout, shell men run back! Hit, hurt! Gibbet and Fish-un wake
up! Fish-un make spell, wind come, blow boat into water!"

For him, that was a major soliloquy. it wasn't all that bad a job
of reporting, either-I'd heard worse on the ten o'clock news. "They
left without you?

"No, no! Queen throw fire, Goosum run into water!" He shuddered at
the memory, and I could only think that there must have been a lot of
fire, considering the troll's fear of water. "Gibbet pull Goosum into
boat!"

That must have darn near swamped it, but it sounded like the kind
of foolish, gallant thing Gilbert would do. The incongruity struck
me.

So. They had reached the mainland right enough, but as soon as
they had, they'd walked into an ambush. Suettay had looked in her
crystal ball, or pool of ink, or whatever, and seen where they were
going to land. She'd taken a band of knights and waited for my
buddies to show up. When they had, the knights had descended on them,
four overwhelming Gilbert while a dozen or so harried Gruesome, who
harried them back-but then Suettay, in disguise, threw fireballs at
him until he had to run, while a half dozen attacked Frisson. He got
two of them with his spells, but the "sorcerer" knocked him out with
a magic verse, then recited another one that pulled Angelique's
ghost, screaming, into a bottle. No wonder-the sorcerer was Suettay,
disguised enough so they wouldn't be able to detect her. She was no
doubt outraged to discover that I wasn't with the party, and headed
back to her castle with Angelique locked up in the bottle. On the way
out, though, she had thoughtfully ordered her soldiers to kill
Gilbert and Frisson. That was when Gruesome had flown into a rage and
charged from his hiding place, holding off the soldiers just long
enough to drag Frisson and Gilbert back to the boat. Apparently the
dragging brought Frisson around, reviving him just in time to call up
a wind that blew them out to sea. Suettay had come back and thrown
fireballs at Gruesome, driving him into his hated enemy element,
water-but Gilbert had pulled the troll in at the last second, nearly
swamping the boat.

"Wait a minute," I said. "If that all happened on the
mainlandwhat're you doing here?"

"Big wind!" Gruesome made whirling motions with his paws.

"Fish-un say queen send! Blew back toward land!"

"The queen conjured up a gale to blow you back to her." I
nodded.

So did Gruesome, apparently delighted that I'd understood him so
easily. I wished he weren't delighted so often-all those shark teeth
made me nervous. "But Fish-un make spell! Wind change, blow from
land! Goosum look back, see boat sink!" He shuddered. " Goosum see
Goosum go into water!"

"It was just an illusion," I said quickly, "like a dream."

Gruesome frowned, puzzled; apparently trolls didn't dream.

"Pretend." I struggled to explain a concept. "Something that
wasn't real. Like a story, only you could see it happen."

His eyes widened, and his mouth formed a saw-toothed 0.

"You know it didn't really happen," I pressed the point, "because
you're really here. it was just a fake Gruesome that drowned-like a
picture."

He nodded, faster and faster, 0 turning back into a grin. "Then
wind blow, land go away. Then wind go away, too. Gilbert push boat. "
I had a sudden vivid vision of Gilbert getting out to walk on the
water, pushing the boat in front of him like a wheelbarrow-but of
course, Gruesome only meant that Gilbert had rowed the boat.

"Didn't Frisson take a turn?"

Gruesome nodded. "Short."

"No staying power," I agreed, "but I'll bet he got back into shape
fast. Didn't he try to raise a wind?"

Gruesome shook his head. "Queen might know," So Frisson had been
afraid to whistle up a wind, because Suettay might have detected it
and realized they were still alive. I gave him points for foresight,
but subtracted them for underestimating his opponent-I wouldn't be
surprised to find out Suettay had seen through his illusion.

A nasty suspicion occurred to me. "Did a new wind start up?"

Gruesome nodded, staring at me in amazement.

"Same thing happened to me," I assured him. "And it blew you here?
"

"How know? How know?" Gruesome bleated.

"Just a lucky guess." I had remembered that I had told the wind to
take me to Thyme. Apparently, this was where she lived. I had twisted
the wind to blow me here, but I needn't have botheredThyme was
keeping an eye out for any boat that came close enough to puff into
her trap. My friends' arrival on this island was no accident, either.
I had a sudden image of a spider again, but this time, it was a black
widow. "So where are they? Frisson and Gilbert, I mean."

Gruesome started to answer, then shrugged helplessly and pointed
inland. "In woods. In cage."

"Cage?" I stared. jail? Frisson and Gilbert? A nearly-knight and a
nouveau wizard?"

"How? " Gruesome shrugged. "Woman."

"They were captured by a woman? Okay, I can understand that-I
guess. But what kind of spell did she use? "

"No spell." Then Gruesome frowned, reconsidering. "Maybe spell.
"

" 'Maybe spell'" I frowned. "How can you have a 'maybe'
spell?"

"Fish-un and Gibbet see woman. She smile. Gibbet turn red, start
shaking, go hide. Fish-un big-eyed, come to her. She lead him into
cage. She chase Gibbet into cage."

So. She hadn't needed any magic, other than her own sweet self-or
sweet body, I amended; the self was yet to be determined.

Just the ordinary magic that any beautiful woman has naturally, or
can learn.

Well, I was armored against it. I'd been worked over by champions
and had accumulated some thick layers of scar tissue around my heart
in the process. Any time a pretty woman started giving me the
come-hither look now, all I had to do was remember what the other
ones had done to me, and the beautiful lady suddenly seemed much less
enticing. Okay, so maybe I had lost out on a good one that way, but I
didn't really think so-experience had shown me that every time I'd
fallen in love with a woman who turned out to be good, she tactfully
and gently let me know it wasn't mutual. I attracted neurotics and
sickles, women who wanted to use me for their own twisted purposes,
and the hell with what it did to me.

What can I say? Like will to like? I hated to think that. But if
it was true, all the more reason to stay single. Which I had.

"Thyme," I informed Gruesome. "The woman's name is Thyme."

"Time?" Gruesome asked, frowning. "Day? Week?"

Well. I hadn't known he had grasped the concept. Apparently the
spillover from that spell I'd thrown at Gilbert had done more than
I'd known. I felt a chill, wondering just how much else Gruesome knew
that I didn't know about. "You might be right," I conceded, "but I
thought she was named after an herb. After all, she's a nymph."

"Nimf?" Gruesome screwed up his face in trollish
concentration.

"A nature spirit," I explained, "a personification of fertility-or
at least sexuality. She's not really human, she's supernatural-and,
thank Heaven, can't leave this island. She's tied to the plant whose
life energy she embodies."

That was too much for the poor troll. He just shook his head, loo
ing frazzled-or shook the upper part of his torso, anyway. "Like Saw
say. We go break cage?"

"We can try," I said slowly, "but that brings up another
question.

Did you try to break them out? "

"Me try break!" Gruesome nodded with vigor-something like bowing.
"She touch cage, and cage bite Goosum. jump back and fall-plants tied
around feet."

"The cage bit you?" Then I remembered-that was how you explained
an electric shock to a toddler. Thyme had touched the cage, and it
had given Gruesome a jolt. "Was the cage made of wood?"

"Yuh! Wood! Sticks!"

So. Anything made of plants, she could use to work magic. I laid a
bet with myself that the "sticks" were still alive, plants that she
had just told to grow into a huge box. "And while you weren't
looking, the grass tied itself around your legs?"

"Yuh! Legs! Arms, too, after fell! Try get up, grass pull me
down!

Roar! " He gave a sample, letting loose a bellow that shook some
nearby rocks and left waveforms in the sand. I winced and reminded
myself to conjure up some mouthwash for him. "How'd you get loose?
"

"Woman tell Goosum go stay near water, watch for Saw. Find him,
eat him! "

"Saul!" I stared. "Me?" How the hell had Thyme known I was
coming?

Exactly. Maybe she had a message from the Other Side.

Or maybe she had asked Frisson. From what Gruesome said, he was so
besotted he would have told her anything. Of course, he also would
have told her that the moon was made of green cheese, if that was
what she had wanted to hear, but she seemed to have overlooked that
possibility.

Then the rest of what Gruesome had said percolated through to my
undernourished brain. Something about if I showed up, he was supposed
to have me for dinner. I swallowed thickly and looked up at him. Was
that a hungry gleam in his eye, or was I just imagining it?



Chapter Twenty-five


I wasn't imagining the drop of saliva that hung on his lower lip,
but Gruesome was always drooling, anyway-I told myself. Myself wasn't
really listening, though-it was paying too much attention to the
cold, trickling dread that was pooling in my midsection. I started
talking, slowly and soothingly, but getting faster and louder as I
went. "Gruesome. This is Saul speaking. You know, Saul,' The nice
guy? Your buddy? The one who always lets you have time off to go
hunting? Who stopped the nasty sorcerers who were throwing whammies
at you?"

Gruesome nodded, but he still looked hungry. A huge slab of tongue
lolled out and smacked around his mouth in a circle, cleaning up the
drool with a sucking sound that lanced from my ears straight through
my gizzard down to my boot soles. I talked faster.

"Gruesome," I said. "You remember the fairy folk? The ones who put
a spell on you? That you would never eat people again?"

Gruesome frowned-apparently, it was a less-than-pleasant
memory-but he nodded.

"And remember the spell I laid on you?" I knew I was treading on
thin ice, but I had to take the chance.

"Spell." Gruesome nodded. " 'Member. Yah."

"Those spells make sure you can't eat me, or even try to be mean
to me," I reminded him.

"Spells no good no more," he informed me. "Time woman do
something. Goosum no feel spells hold him back no more."

Alarm thrilled through me, five alarms with all the fire trucks
already gone. The nymph had something to do with time, indeed. She
had reached back into Gruesome's personal past somehow, countering
the fairies' compulsion spell and my own binding spell. I started to
edge away. "Uh-you aren't really all that hungry, are you,
Gruesome?"

"Plenty hungry," he assured me.

Frantically, I tried to remember that binding spell.

"But Goosum no eat Saw," he explained. "Maybe yummy, but friend.
Saw save Goosum, Goosum save Saw. If eat, no have friend."

I heaved a sigh and began to relax a little. Gruesome had realized
that you can't have your friends, and eat them, too. "I-I'm really
glad you had that insight, Gruesome." Gruesome shrugged, somewhere up
above his face. "Food plenty. Friends few. People yummy, but deer
yummy, too. And sheep and bunnies. Even fish."

And, of course, there was no shortage of finny dinners in the
vicinity. Cautiously, I asked, "Eaten any good fish lately?"

"Yuh!" The tongue came out to slurp again. "Big fish, big as
Goosum! Fin in middle back, pointy nose, teeth like Goosum.

Yummy!"

A shark? He had fought a shark and won? Talk about eat or be
eaten!

And it had only made one lunch?

I decided to make sure Gruesome was with me if I wanted to go
wading.

I looked up at the big guy, studying him closely. Yes, the hungry
gleam was there, but so was something else-some deep-seated, total
trust, some light of admiration. It hit me with a shock-Gruesome had
me on a pedestal. To him, I could do no wrong.

I felt shaken. I also felt like running for the hills. When
someone is that loyal to you, you have to be loyal to him, too.
Friendship means responsibility. Friends mean commitment. I felt as
if the quicksands were running, sucking me down.

Then I remembered that I was here because of a friend.

With a shock, I realized that, somewhere along the line, I had let
myself become committed. Okay, Matt might not have thought so, but
apparently I had.

Well, no, it wasn't complete commitment. If I'd been mad at him, I
wouldn't have hesitated to run out on him-if he weren't in
trouble.

Of course, Matt never made any demands on me when he wasn't in
trouble, except for company, which was mutually agreeable. Come to
that, he hadn't made any demands when he was in trouble, either this
little excursion had been my own idea.

Suddenly, I realized that this big, ugly troll saw more virtue in
me than I did-but I wasn't about to tell him his mistake. Instead, I
felt humbled and unworthy, simply because a living creature could
value me more than his own strongest instincts.

I was touched.

So, of course, I couldn't let him know about it. I stepped closer
in spite of the rank aroma, reached up to slap his stony hide, and
said, "Come on. I hereby release you from any compulsion to patrol
the seacoasts looking for me. After all, you've found me, so that
order doesn't apply anymore. Let's go find our friends."

But he balked. "Saw?"

"Yes, Gruesome?"

"Could make spell 'gain? Don't like hunger for friend."

I swallowed, and agreed very quickly. I rattled off the
spell-after all, if he wanted temptation removed, I wasn't about to
argue.

of course, I still didn't believe in magic. I looked him up and
down, frowning dubiously, The glint was still in his eye. "I don't
think that worked."

"Oh, yuh! Yuh!" he assured me. "No feel hunger for Saw now.I

Ev'thing else, but not Saw!"

"Or our friends, either?" I figured I'd better run the spell twice
more, with Frisson's and Gilbert's names, just to be sure.

Then I reconsidered. I'd run the spells again-after we'd found
them. The spur of hunger might help overcome the remains of Thyme's
compulsion to stay on the coasts.

"Friends! Yuh!" Gruesome said, with enthusiasm. "Go to
friends!

Now!'I

And he plowed off into the undergrowth, heading inland and going
fast.

I hurried after him, rehearsing the spells under my breath. After
all, if Gruesome thought his hunger for me had abated, then it had,
right? The magic worked in his mind, not his stomach-but it worked.
Who was I to argue?

I could imagine how it must have been-Thyme appearing out of the
jungle foliage, clothed in nothing but a vague notion, and Gilbert
turning bright red as he spun about to rid his eyes of a sight that
kindled desire that threatened to overwhelm all his ideas of the
noble life. Frisson, however, labored under no such handicap-he
stared like a hooked fish, probably gulping like one, too, and
drifted toward her like a zombie. Not terribly difficult to manage,
either of them, no.

Would I be?

I had time to consider the answer as I followed Gruesome into the
bush. It wasn't a jungle here-the Mediterranean isn't far enough
south-but it was certainly a rain forest of a more temperate
disposition. The trees and flowers were all familiar to my North
American eyes, but there were a lot more vines that I was used to,
winding around the trunks and hanging from the limbs. The underbrush
left off after a dozen yards or so, but the soil sprouted flowers
everywhere there was a patch of sunlight. Their perfume filled the
air, stirring memories of late-night dates and feminine companions
who let down their hair in more ways than one, and let down ...

No. I clamped down on that thought hard, and thought about oranges
with great intensity. Maybe it was just the landscape, or maybe it
was an enchantment-autosuggestion? But in either case, Thyme was
softening me up, getting me into a sensuous mood, preparing me for
her appearance.

Was I getting paranoid? And what did I mean, "getting"? Or was I
arrogant? Or was it just wishful thinking?

All at once, the trees were gone. We stepped out into a sloping
meadow with a stream running through it. I looked around, dazzled by
the riot of blossoms all about me and the horde of butterflies of all
patterns and hues, huge and iridescent. The perfume filled my head,
making me feel giddy. I reached frantically for some reminder that I
was under attack. "Gruesome! Where're Frisson and Gilbert?"

The troll just grunted by way of answer, but he also pointed
toward the banks of the stream. I looked, then looked again; what I
had thought was a grove, was something quite else. The trees were
scarcely more than saplings, but they grew so closely together that
only the skinniest of men could have slipped between them. Of course,
Frisson was the skinniest of men, but Thyme had taken care of that
problem, too, because vines almost as thick as the trees wound
between the trunks, rambling up and down and wrapping around each
upright, to form a very effective cage. Up above, about eight feet
off the ground, branches grew out almost at right angles, tangled
with more of the vines. Yes, it was a live and growing cage, just as
I'd guessed, with plenty of shade to protect the prisoners from the
sun, grapes for them to eat, and a meander of the stream close enough
for them to dip up water to drink. But it was bedecked with the huge,
gaudy blossoms that smelled so intoxicating and must have constantly
been filling them with sensuous feelings that verged on desire. I
wondered about pheromones-and how poor Gilbert's dreams of virtue
were holding up under this assault.

Not too well, at a guess-there he was, kneeling in a corner,
facing the bars, arms thrust through to give him something to lean
on, hands clasped in prayer. His eyes were closed, his lips were
moving soundlessly, and there was sweat running down his face.

The heat, no doubt. Of course, he was rather pale ...

But where was Frisson?

There, flat on the floor of the cage, facedown, the most
dejectedlooking heap of rags I'd seen since the flash flood hit the
thrift shop.

He lay so still that a shot of alarm juiced through me-but as I
came closer, I heard him moan. I relaxed-a little. "Frisson! Gilbert!
We've got to get you out of there! " Frisson jerked up off the floor.
"Master Saul!"

Gilbert spun about. "Wizard! A rescue! Take us out from this
cage!

"My fondest wish," I reached out to grab a vine and shake it.
"This doesn't look all that strong, Gilbert. One cut with your sword,
and "I have it not."

"Hub?" I glanced at his scabbard. Sure enough, it was empty.

He reddened and dropped his gaze. "The witch ... She took it from
me when I averted my eyes."

And struggled with his libido, no doubt, trying to erase the
afterimage of that beautiful body from the insides of his eyelids. I
nodded.

"She's disarmed belted knights in her time, I bet. Nothing to be
ashamed of. Well, this is no sword, but it'll have to do." I pulled
out my clasp knife, popped it open, and began to saw at a vine.

it shrieked.

I yanked back the blade as if I'd just cut into a power line.
"Holy Hannah! It's really a live one!"

Gilbert looked about with sudden hope. "Hannah? Is there a saint
come to help us?"

Frisson lamented, "Certainly it is alive, Master Saul. Are not all
vines and trees?"

"Well, yes," I said, "but they don't feel pain." I'd been
following the research, and there was still no definite evidence of a
nervous system in plants. "And they certainly don't scream!"

"All plants do, on this nymph's isle." Frisson sighed. "The very
stones cry out to her. 'Tis thus she knew of our coming."

"Oh, did she really!" Not that I had thought these two would have
been terribly good at adopting a low profile, anyway.

"Aye," Frisson said. "She appeared before us, stepping through a
screen of leaves so that she seemed to have come out of thin air. She
wore a gown the color of her skin, yet of velvet, so soft that it
seemed to beg to be touched ... stroked ... caressed He swallowed
thickly.

"Spare me, poet," Gilbert groaned.

But Frisson didn't hear him; he was staring off into the immediate
past and wishing it were the present again; his longing was naked in
his face. "She stepped from beneath the trees, and her every movement
was an invitation to that dance that ends only with two bodies
conjoined, hip to hip and chest to breast. 'Welcome, wayfarers,' said
she. 'Will you not tarry with me a while?' "I could not force mine
eyes away." Gilbert dropped his head in shame.

"I could not wish to," Frisson said in rapture. "Indeed, I could
only wish to gaze at her more, to breathe the perfume of her presence
...

and touch ... for she came closer, much closer, and reached forth
to caress my cheek, breathing, 'Will you come with me, then?'
'Anywhere,' I answered on the instant, and she laughed, low and in
her throat. Her finger trailed fire across my cheek, touched a flame
of pure pleasure to my lips-but alas, it died as she took her hand
away, turning about and swaying off toward the trees. I followed on
legs that felt like stumps, so clumsy had I become, and there was
naught in the world for me but the roll of her hips as she left.

"But that movement slowed and stopped; she turned with a frown to
my friend Gilbert, saying, 'Come with me, then, handsome stranget.'
'Nay,' quoth he, his eyes averted." have taken a vow never to touch
woman.' 'Why, then, you will not be forsworn,' said she, 'for I am
not a woman, but a nymph.' 'You are an object of venery,' quoth he,
'and I have sworn to be celibate.' 'Surely so great a vow cannot be
binding when made by one so young,' and her voice was a purr.

'Come with me and learn why you should not have given it.' 'I am
true to my word!' cried he, and spun about, his back to her. I could
see the anger in her eyes, though she banished it quickly. Then those
hips began to move again, and I followed, entranced, but she went
around in front of Gilbert and stepped close, so quickly that he
could not turn away. Instead, he staggered back as if she had struck
him and she stepped close once more. He backed away yet again, and
had not stopped when she stepped in, and thus they went, him backing
away before her with myself following after. I blush to say it, but I
did not realize my friend's pain-for all there was in my world was
that graceful, slender back, and the swaying of those hips, and . .
."

He swallowed thickly again. my dreams of what those clinging
skirts might hide."

I was hanging on his every word; this was better than a porno
video. "So she took you to her house?"

"Nay; of a sudden, she turned to face me, and I saw Gilbert
stumble to a halt and whip about, away from her. She beckoned, and I
came in delight-but she stepped to the side, and I went on past. I
whirled, but she was backing away. I cried out and followed, but this
lattice came up between us, and I could only throw myself against it
and cry out with my loss, reaching out to touch-and there was a
vagrant caress of some velvet swelling that set me afire from head to
toe, but it went away Gilbert moaned, squeezing his eyes shut. " ...
and sweet, full lips tickled the palm of my hand, and were gone.
'Bide you there,' said she, 'till I have need of you; for I've one to
toy with already, and will have no need of aught but he, till I have
done with him. Pray for him to fulfill my desire, that I may more
quickly come for you.' I cried again, plastering myself against the
trunks and reaching out so hard I thought my shoulder must crack. But
she only laughed again, and leaves rustled, and she was gone.

"I bade him not pray," Gilbert said, his voice tight in his
throat.

"Did you truly?" Frisson turned to him. "I did not know. There was
naught for me but the sense of aching loss, and I closed my eyes,
that I might treasure the memory of the sight of her the longer."

"So she boxed you up right and proper," I said. "Does she feed
you?"

"Not herself, alas-but some barky monster that speaks not, and
fills the air with musk."

interesting-she had a guard. A plant, from the sound of it, but I
didn't think his classification would help us much. I glanced up at
Gruesome and decided that with me there to goad Frisson into working
magic, or at least to read his verses for him, there was an even
chance. "Well, I don't like to cause anything pain-but there has to
be a way to get you out. Which end opened up to let you in?"

"Yonder." Gilbert pointed. "I remember, for as soon as I could go
no farther, I turned about, to rid my sight of that corrupted
witchand saw that I did stare at a tree with a double trunk."

I looked; the curves of the trunks suggested a man and a woman
approaching one another in intimacy; I could imagine how they swayed,
when the wind blew. How could Gilbert have missed it?

Because I had a dirty mind. In fact, the fruit on that tree looked
like the epitome of sensuousness to me, the double swelling globes
elongated just enough to suggest human anatomy, and covered with a
downy softness that fairly begged to be stroked. I shook my head;
dirty mind, as I've said. "I don't suppose you've eaten any of that
fruit? "

"I did try," Gilbert admitted, "but when I reached out to touch,
it did withdraw, ever tantalizing, ever just beyond reach. "Figures,"
I muttered. After all, I knew that plants had sexuality, too. "Well,
if the other end is the door, let me take a look and see how it's
fastened." I went down to the end of the cage, pushing past a lot of
leaves-it had been nice of her to leave them with a roofand inspected
the corners. Sure enough, the corner-post trunk was right next to a
vertical length of vine, almost as thick. There were at least a dozen
creepers weaving back and forth between the two of them, though, and
they were barky and looked tough. I stared, at a loss. "I hate to
cause pain to a living being . . ."

"Do not," Frisson said quickly. "I will wait, I will wait gladly,
I will endure a thousand days, if only at the end, she will come to
bid me amuse her!"

"How hollow of you!" Gilbert cried. "Would you rush to sin, false
man?

"I am a poet," Frisson said doggedly. "I hear you speak of sin,
but with the memory of that splendid form within me, the words have
no meaning."

"They have to me!" Gilbert strode over to me and gripped the
vines, shaking them with sudden rage, straining at them with strength
that spoke of sublimation and should have moved half a ton.

He had some effect, too-the vines keened, so highly pitched that
it went right through my head.

"Leave off!" I cried. "You're hurting them!"

"What matter pain, when virtue's at stake?" Gilbert raged. "What
matter the pain of a plant, for Heaven's sake?"

"Yes, for Heaven's sake!" I shouted. "I thought you were a
Christian! "

He froze, staring at me blankly. "Why, so I am!"

"Then isn't charity as high on your list as chastity? Isn't it
just as important that you not hurt another living being, as that you
keep from having sex?"

"Nay," he said, "for sex-" He winced at the word, but forced
himself to use it. "-sex is one among the means by which we are hurt,
or hurt one another! To take a woman's virginity is to hurt her most
shrewdly, to steal her greatest treasure and break her heart-and
therefore, to take a man's will hurt him likewise, though he know it
not! Even to fornicate with one not a virgin, will surely hurt her
heart-or his, for that matter-and will cause that hurt whether she
and he deny it to themselves or not! 'Tis to be used, exploited! "
Now, that struck me as a sick attitude. I really wished I could
disagree with him.

Unfortunately, I couldn't-not if I was really trying to be honest
with myself. What he had said was possibly true and fitted my own
experiences. Of course, it was sick nonetheless-or was it the
exploiting that was sick?

"There are limits," I argued. "Under the right circumstances, sex
can be a wonderful thing."

"Aye, if both are in love, and wedded!"

"Love is not needed," a throaty, musical voice behind me said.

"Only desire need be felt."

Now, to call that voice "musical" is like saying that champagne is
old grape juice. it was lilting, it was transporting, and most of
all, it was stimulating. It resonated in my loins and set up a charge
that shot up to make my head giddy.

So, before I turned around, I made a stern effort to get control
of myself, reminding me that she was just another woman who was
looking for an angle to get what she wanted out of me, while giving
as little of herself as she could. Thus buoying my concept of
manliness, I turned slowly, saying, "Nymph Thyme, I presu-" I
couldn't finish the word. The descriptions hadn't just failed to do
her justice, they hadn't even leveled charges. She was even more
beautiful and seductive and sensuous than they'd said-and nobody had
mentioned her face, but for a few seconds, I couldn't notice anything
else. Her face was heart-shaped under glossy black hair that tumbled
down about her face and shoulders; her sloe eyes were huge and
slumberous, shaded by long, thick lashes under delicate, arching
eyebrows. Her nose was a delicious, tip-tilted confection that fairly
begged to be kissed, and her lips were wide, full, dusky red, and
aching to be tasted. Her gown was very low cut, but that mass of
black hair tumbled in to fill what the dress revealed, allowing only
tantalizing glimpses of cleavage between softly swelling mounds,
which fulfilled every promise a man could ever have dreamed of as
they strained the fabric of a velvet bodice that was the exact same
shade as her skin. Frisson had been right-it fairly compelled me to
reach out and touch it.

But I fought the compulsion and forced my eyes to stay on her
face. The ripe lips parted, moistened, and breathed, "Come, lordly
gallant! Will you not tarry with me, to enter my abode and taste of
my pleasures? " Believe me, I was tempted. Tempted? I could barely
keep my feet from moving. But I must admit to a certain incipient
panic underneath it all, the old conviction that whatever she was
really after, it wasn't entirely for my own good. Angelique! Save
me!

After all, what's a true love for?

And she did save me-or the memory of her, anyway. Pale and
smoke-thin as her wraith was, it still outshone in beauty and allure
this gorgeous wench in more-than-full color right before me. How?

Maybe it was Angelique's innocent faith in love and her sheer
goodness. Maybe it was the sweetness of her spirit. Most likely, it
was all of it rolled into one, the totality that was that single
wonderful being, Angelique.

Whatever it was, the memory of her protected me against the vamp
right then, dimmed Thyme's attraction to bearable levels, and made me
aware all over again that I was confronting a magical being on her
home turf, and that the attraction I was feeling was anything but
natural.

That being the case, I needed to fight magic with magic.
"Frisson!

Give me a verse! " A grubby, spider-leg hand pushed a scrap of
paper into mine. I snapped it open, tore my gaze off the purring
vision before me, glued it to the letters, and chanted,


    "Lovely wanton! Could I command
    Troops of knights from every land,
    They'd bow before you, and admire
    Each curve so sweet that wakes desire!
    Swaying or still, clothed or bare,
    Your lips, your eyes, your raven hair,
    Your breasts, your thighs


I stopped right there. No use helping the enemy, now, is
there?

I should have realized. What else would Frisson have been writing
about while he was stuck in a cage on Thyme's island? What else would
he have been thinking about?

I was on my own. And I didn't want to work magic. That might have
demonstrated that I believed in it, which I was determined not to
do.

But, hey-if they were somebody else's words, that wasn't my doing,
was it? Even if I made a few changes.

All right, so I was rationalizing-but logic wouldn't help me out
of this bind.

Kipling would.

"A fool, there was, and he made his prayer (Even as you and I! I
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair (We called her the Woman Who
Did Not Care@, But the fool he called her his lady fair @Even as you
and I!).

A fool there was and his goods he spent (Even as you and I!) Honor
and faith and a sure intent (And it wasn't the least what the lady
meants, But a fool must follow his natural bent (Even as you and
I!).

And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame That stings like a
white-hot brand.

It's coming to know that she never knew why (Seeing at last she
could never know why@ And never could understand."

The nymph stared at me in disbelief. "I? Be wit out mercy?"

"You don't really give a damn about what happens to the men you
use," I said. "It's the same effect, no matter the cause."

"To be sure, I care! I seek only to give as much pleasure as I
take!"

"Yeah, but you don't think about the aftermath." Still, I was
getting the idea-I needed a stronger verse.

And quickly-her eyelids were drooping, and she was sashaying
closer. Behind me, I heard Frisson groan. Before me, I could hear her
begin to sing, in a voice that awakened every hormone I had and made
each one thrum through my blood. I missed the words, but they didn't
matter.

Of course they did! I tried again.

"Her true love hath her heart, though she not his: A poor
exchange, one for mere liking given.

She holds his dear, but hers he seems to miss, Yet dotes she on
him, and for his love is driven."

She stared at me, those huge, marvelous eyes growing even more
huge. Then they filled with tears that overflowed and ran down her
cheeks as she turned her face away. "Alas! How can I be true to love,
who know only the pleasures of the body?"

I stared appalled, and behind me, Frisson cried, "Wizard Saul! You
are a beast, to make so beauteous a damsel cry! Lady, wait! For I
shall comfort you! "

"I could not ... could not accept ... " she sobbed, "for I have
...

I have one whom I ... Oh! What is this pain in my breast?"

Frisson let out a cry of despair. "Wizard! You have destroyed my
hope! My hope of a few hours alone with this nymph!"

"I have?" I looked from him to her, totally confused.

She looked up at me, tears flowing. "Aye, for I burn within for
the sweet and gentle monk who dwells now in my house. What have you
done, Wizard? For I can no longer bear the thought of coupling with
any man save him-and he will not surrender to my blandishments!

Oh! What is this pain?" And she pressed a delicate hand over those
glorious breasts.

"It is her heart," Gilbert said, with heavy satisfaction, behind
me.

"A heart!" She stared up at him, appalled. "In a nymph? Nay, I
prithee!"

It made sense. In a fertility sprite that was ready for any
encounter, anything resembling memory, or lingering fondness for any
one male, would definitely be a liability.

I decided to be a little more direct.


    "Now this is the law I shall give you,
    And bound to its mass you shall stay
    For the head and the hoof of the law,
    And the haunch and the hump is-obey!"


Her eyes went wide in sheer horror. "What would you do? No man may
command me-for I must command every man!"

"Not any more," I said severely. "Just try to disobey now."

"I shall go!" She turned on her heel.

"You will stay," I said quickly.

She froze, one foot up in the air. "I ... I cannot ... summon the
will! "

"No," I said softly. "My magic compels you." Actually, I had a
notion it was sheer suggestion, but why should I have told her
that?

"I shall summon my own magic!" she cried. "I shall enchant myself
free!"

"Watch out," I warned her. "Give me any more grief, and I might
find a way to give you a soul."

it was pure bluff, of course-even agnostic me knew that only God
can make a soul-but it straightened her up and put the light of
terror into her eyes. "Oh, nay! You would not make me mortal!"

"Any way I can," I assured her, "so let's not make it necessary,
okay? just show us to this houseguest of yours."

Foreboding shadowed her face. "What wish you with him?"

"We need a consultant." I chose my words carefully. "I understand
he's an expert."

"He is? At what is he expert?"

I took her in from head to toe in a single glance. "Nothing you're
interested in-but I'm afraid he's not learning anything you have to
teach, either. As the phrase goes, I don't think the two of you have
any common area of interest."

"But we have! I need simply convince him!"

I eyed her askance. "Not having too much luck at it, are you?"

She flushed, and snapped, " 'Tis purely a matter of time. He is
male, is he not? And any male will succumb to me, given Thyme."

Frisson made a mewing noise behind me.

"Prove it," I said. "Show him to us-but first, let my friends
out."

"Wherefore should I?" But her feet were already moving toward the
cage, and a look of alarm spread over her face. "How is this! I do
not wish it!"

"But I do," I said softly. "My spell, remember?"

"No mortal wizard can have power o'er me! Not here, on mine own
island!"

"Guess again," I said, still softly. "Sorry to have to do this, ut
we really can't take the time for an extended persuasive campaign."
Especially since, if we did, I was afraid I was the one who would be
persuaded. "Just let them out, there's a good nymph, okay? Then
introduce us to this houseguest of yours."

We came through the musk-scented forest, out of the trees into a
meadow of grass mingled with mint, and saw her bower.

"Bower" is the only word that could describe it. I suppose it was
technically a house-but with a house, you expect the wood to have
been cut down. This one was made of trees growing side by side, with
just enough space between them for windows. The boughs intertwined
overhead to form a very snug roof-evergreen, I noticed. I didn't
think winter would do much here except rain, but she was ready for
that.

And, of course, flowers. Each tree trunk held a climbing vine that
sported blossoms of all hues-the blue and purple of orchids, the red
and white of roses, the yellows and oranges of melon flowers. It was
a gay and dazzling profusion, and its perfume filled the air.

I didn't see how any man could get a lick of work done in there,
let alone think about anything but sex.

We came in the front door-a wider-than-average opening between two
trunks, shaded by a huge evergreen bough-and stepped into the
bedroom.

Actually, I don't think that bower had anything but a bedroom-it
was all one room, and it was floored with heaps of cushions. Oh,
sure, there was a low table, just big enough for dinner for two,
though it was low enough that you pretty much had to lie down and
prop yourself up with an elbow, Roman-fashion, and there were a few
other horizontal surfaces filled with knickknacks-at a guess, one was
a vanity, and the other was a wine cabinet. There was a tapestry,
too, hiding a large space at the far end that might have served as a
closet, though I didn't get the impression that our hostess was big
on clothes. Neither were the figures on the tapestry.

But most of the floor space was taken up by a huge bed that looked
to be solid padding eighteen inches thick, the softest and most
inviting bed I've ever seen. For that matter, the whole room was one
big invitation, and I didn't see how any man could ever summon the
resolution to leave.

Which made it all the more stark a contrast, to have a high
writing desk and a stool over against one window, a roll of parchment
bathed in a ray of sunlight that lanced down over the shoulder of the
brownrobed monk who sat there, industriously scratching away with a
quill pen.



Chapter Twenty-six


I stared.

He must have felt my gaze-or heard us enter, and what man could
keep from looking up at Thyme' But he saw me, and Frisson the
hollow-cheeked and Gilbert the gaunt, right behind me. He stared in
surprise. His face was round and pleasant, but creased with lines of
strain. There were a few gray hairs mixed in with the brown around
the bald circle of his tonsure. His face broke into a glad smile.

"Why, 'tis company! How welcome are they!"

"Scarcely at all." Thyme pouted. "Are you so easily distracted
from me, man of letters,"' "Nay." He turned a fond gaze on her.
"Naught could command my attention for long while you are with me,
lovely one-nor is any company lacking. Yet novelty is always
pleasant, and new company stimulating."

She flushed with pleasure and lowered her gaze. I had to give him
points for gallantry-and for diplomacy. That mention of "stimulation"
ought to win him her willing cooperation in having a chat with us.
Poor thing, she didn't realize that the stimulation he meant was
purely mental.

"Sit down, sit down!" He gestured toward the low table. "They may,
may they not, mine hostess"' "Aye," she said unwillingly, "though not
for overlong-for there are matters I wish to speak of with you, the
two of us alone."

Which was, no doubt, the topic she always wished to speak
about-the two of them being alone together. Very much together.

"To be sure, to be sure!" he climbed down off his stool and joined
us as we folded ourselves tailor-fashion around the taboret. Gruesome
slouched in the doorway, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other
and blocking the view.

I glanced at the writing desk-current research was always a good
conversation topic, even if you didn't understand the answer. "What
are you working on there?"

"Only copying out my breviary," he said, and must have seen the
look of blank incomprehension on my face, because he went on to
explain, " 'Tis the book that contains my office-the prayers that I
must read every day, and which I must contemplate."

"Really," I said. "How long does that take you? Per day, I
mean?"

He shrugged. "Scarcely an hour."

An hour? A full hour of prayer every day? I tried to hide a
shudder and thought up another question. "Why are you copying it
out?"

"Why, for that I fear I will wear it out, if fair Thyme keeps me
here overlong.

"I shall." She made a face. "You have ever your nose thrust in
that small dusty volume!"

"Alas!" he agreed, almost meeting her eyes-and suddenly, I
understood. Saying his office was about all that was keeping him from
giving in to her temptations. I figured he was probably reading a lot
more than one hour each day.

"Drink, my guest," Thyme putted, setting a flask of amber liquid
on the low table. Gold glinted within its depths, and the light
shimmered on its surface. If it wasn't an aphrodisiac, it should have
been, just by its looks.

"How good of you," the monk said. "Will you pour, pretty one?"

Thyme leaned forward with the bottle-which brought a gasp from
Gilbert, as he quickly averted his eyes, and a whine of agony from
Frisson-and poured with ill grace. "They shall have to share one cup,
good man, whiles you and I share the other-for I have only the two. "
"Oh, we'll manage," I assured her, and lifted the cup for a sip. It
hit my stomach with a jolt, bounced, and felt as if it blew the back
of my head off. Coconut milk? Sure! Fermented coconut milk, to the
point where it must have been a hundred proof at least. Sort of a
natural pifia colada-and come to think of it, there was an overtone
of citrus to it.

Frisson reached for the cup, but just in time, I remembered what
any beverage in Thyme's house might do, and covered the cup with a
palm. "No, pal, you've got it bad enough already." That won me a
dirty look from Thyme.

The monk ignored it. "What brings you to this island "An ill
wind," I quipped, "but I made it blow good."

I expected puzzlement and a suspicious glance, but the monk only
nodded, as if he understood. "You are a wizard, then."

I felt a chill down my back; this guy understood too much, too
quickly. "No, not really. In fact, I don't even believe in magic. I
just pretend when I have to, toss out a few rhymes when I've run out
of any other way out."

He smiled, amused. I felt a flash of irritation, but I had to
admit it was mostly shame-it sounded pretty hollow, even to me.

"You may equivocate with yourself, Sir," the monk said softly,
"but you cannot equivocate between God and Satan."

"Now, hold on!" I bridled. "You trying to say there's no middle
way? That you're either a hundred percent good, or a hundred percent
evil? Well, I don't buy it, brother! " His gaze stilled totally, and
he looked so intently into my eyes that I thought he was trying to
see into my brain. "Why would you think I had not taken my final
vows?"

Now it was my turn to go on the ropes. I stared at him, thinking
fast, churning up what I could from my medieval history course. It
didn't help that I wasn't Catholic-but I did seem to remember
something about the difference between a monk and a priest. I'd said
"brother," and held thought I was using his title-or what I thought
was his title.

Or what he wanted Thyme to think was his title.

That's right, a brother hadn't taken his final vows yet. Maybe
that included the vow of celibacy?

Well, I wasn't about to blow his cover. "All right, so you're a
father. But not my father, Reverend!"

"Certainly any priest is your father in faith."

"Only if I belong to your church-and I don't."

Gilbert recoiled. "Paynim!"

The monk held up his hand, eyes never leaving mine. "Nay, good
brother-for so I see you are, by your tonsure. Nay, our friend may be
a Christian indeed, but of an eastern church. Is that not so,
Wizard?"

I thought fast again. How far east did he want? After all, my
parents' church had sort of started out in New England-well, England,
really, and that was plenty far east from where I was living just
now-if you went all the way around the globe. "Another sect," I said.
"Another branch of Christianity. That's what I was raised in.
Sure."

He frowned, catching the equivocation again, but all he said was,
"I cannot continue to call you naught but 'wizard.' I am Friar
Ignatius. And yourself?"

"He is the Wizard Saul." Thyme leaned forward, taking the
opportunity to intrude herself into the conversation-far more of
herself than was good for Friar Ignatius' peace of mind. "His
comrades are Squire Gilbert and the madcap Frisson-and that huge
monster who lurks in the doorway, he calls 'Gruesome.' "Rightly,
too." The monk took the excuse to glance away from Thyme and the
primrose path, and look up at the troll. "How comes he to your
service?"

"He tried to ambush me when I was crossing a bridge," I said.
"Being new to your country, I didn't know any better. By accident, I
called on the fairies, and they enchanted him so that he no longer
wants to eat people, and they bound him to my service."

"I thought I had detected some such unseen bonds upon him. Thyme
frowned prettily. "Yet I thought I had untied them. How comes he to
be so bound again' Can you explain this, Friar?"

It was no accident that she h. ad switched the question from me to
him; in all courtesy, Ignatius couldn't help but look at her. His
glance dipped to her decolletage for just a split second, then leapt
to her face and held there with frantic intensity. His face
tightened, and I realized where the strain lines had come from-he was
bound and determined to be true to his vows, but he wanted her so
badly that it was physical pain.

She knew it, too, the witch. Her smile heated up several degrees;
her eyelids drooped more, and her lips seemed to grow fuller and more
moist even as I watched. She leaned a little further forward to offer
a better view-but Friar Ignatius, gaze stayed fixed on her face.

I was awed by such iron self-control.

Behind me, Frisson whimpered.

"I can only guess, pretty hostess," Friar Ignatius said calmly,
though his voice cracked a bit, "that Wizard Saul knitted up those
bonds again."

"Yet how could he do so?" she murmured, deep in her throat,
reaching out to touch his hand. "On my isle, my magic must needs be
supreme."

The hand didn't move, but the monk's whole body shivered.

"There are some magics that are of great force no matter in whose
domain they are said, sweet hostess." His voice seemed to roll and
caress over that word "sweet," but he kept his gaze glued to her
face.

His voice cracked, though, and his whole body was tense.

"Yet there are some enchantments that must needs be stronger in my
presence." Her touch moved up to his chest. "Must they not be supreme
in my own garden?"

His voice was almost a groan of torment. "Nay, sweet lady. The
object of an enchantment can strengthen any magic. If the troll
wished the spells to be reestablished, his own will would aid the
wizard's weaving."

And, by inference, if Friar Ignatius was determined to resist
Thyme's charms, they couldn't bind him, whereas Frisson's will went
hand-in-glove with Thyme's. No wonder he was so completely
spellbound.

I couldn't help wondering about Friar Ignatius, though-either he
had the will to virtue of a saint, or he was something of a wizard in
his own right. I decided to give him an out. "That's right. it seems
Gruesome has taken a liking to me during our travels. He asked me to
reestablish the spells."

It gave him an excuse to look away from Thyme; it broke her charm.
She looked daggers at me, and I felt them stab through my nervous
system all the way to my groin; but Friar Ignatius was saying, "Even
so. His will reinforced your spells. it was not one who worked
against the strength of Thyme and her island, but two."

Did I detect a plea for help there? "You seem to know quite a lot
about magic, Friar. You must be a wizard, too."

But he shook his head. "I am but a student, Master Wizard-"
"Anything but a master. Scarcely an apprentice."

That won me a smile. "I but study the ways of magic and the
workings of it. I can tell you much, but I lack the talent."

"Talent?" I stared. "It requires a talent?"

"Aye. Do not any of the arts?"

"Well ... sure." I swallowed, collecting my wits. "It's just that
I thought it was a ... uh ... more of a science."

"Odd choice of word." Friar Ignatius frowned. "However, 'science'
means 'knowledge,' and surely the practice of magic requires that,
too-at least, if it is not to bring disaster."

"Well, where I come from, 'science' means more than just a
collection of facts. It organizes them and generalizes-it works out
rules for using forces."

Friar Ignatius lifted his head slowly. "Fascinating! That is the
very approach I attempt!"

I began to see why the Spider'King had sent us to him. "But if
you've worked out those kinds of rules and methods, anybody should be
able to work magic-they shouldn't need talent!"

"Any practice requires talent, Master Wizard," Friar Ignatius
countered. "We may not realize some of them, for they are so
common-there are few indeed who cannot cook, though there are a few
who fail in so much as frying an egg, no matter how much they learn
nor how hard they try. There are few men who cannot wield hammer and
chisel to craft things of wood-yet again, there are some who fail.
There are some who lack those talents, and whose efforts come to
naught, even at tasks that most of us regard as simple. I remembered
my own attempts to fix my car, and held my peace-especially since he
had mentioned cooking; I remembered what had happened the last time I
had tried to boil rice. "And you lack the talent to work magic?"

"Oh, not completely." He waved the notion away. "By long and
arduous practice, I have mastered a few simple spells-and any peasant
can mix a few herbs while muttering a charm to mend a sprain, or cure
a cold."

"Oh, really?" The pharmaceutical companies back home would have
loved to get that one.

"You did not know?" Friar Ignatius looked more closely at me.

"Yet you walk boldly through the worst of Thyme's spells."

How had he known that? Probably one of those "little spells" he
had mentioned.

"You are surely a wizard of power," the Friar summarized. "You
must have great talent, Master Saul."

"Aw, shucks." I dropped my gaze, putting on my bashful act.

" 'Twarn't nothin'."

"Nay, 'twas a great deal." Friar Ignatius frowned. "Do you truly
know so little of the craft you practice, Master Saul,"' He
stiffened, suddenly becoming aware of something, and peered more
closely at me. "Whence come you?"

I just stared at him for a second while I weighed alternatives.
Then I decided I had nothing to lose and said, "Another world."

"Do you truly?" he breathed. "And does magic work so differently
there? "

"Scarcely at all," I admitted. "In fact, we've managed to do
without, by studying the world around us and organizing that
knowledge into the science I told you of. I suppose we've had to
replace magical strength with knowledge and skill-but we've found
ways to work some wonders, anyway."

"And with that method of thought, coupled with a strong talent, in
a world in which magic does work ... Nay, small wonder you are a
master wizard, though you know so little of it!" The monk glanced at
Thyme and glanced away, lowering his eyes and flushing; but she
stiffened, eyes widening in alarm.

He didn't have to say it; it was plain for all of us to see: Can
you get me out of here?

"Why, how is this?" Thyme demanded. "In all this world, there's
scarce a man who would not give all he had to be where you are, and
to taste of my charms! As would you yourself! Admit it, shavepate-do
you not burn to embrace me?" Her voice deepened, growing husky. "To
stroke and caress me, to let your hands taste of my body while your
mouth tastes of my lips, and then to-"

"Why, to dwell in sadness, so sorely afflicted?" the monk
groaned.

"Cease to torment me, fair one! I beg of you!"

"I will grant your wish when you grant mine." Her voice was a
silken caress, unrelenting. "Speak truly, Ignatius! Do you not wish
to learn the pleasures of my body?"

"Alack-a-day, how shrewdly I do!" he moaned. "When you are near,
my mind seeks only to fill itself with the sight and sound and scent
of you-but my soul yearns yet toward Heaven! Do not tempt me,
beauteous one, for your charms are torment to me, who cannot have
them!"

"Yet you can," she breathed, reaching out to turn a soft hand
across his. "They are yours whenever you wish it!"

"Nay, for I must needs be true to my vows!"

"As you wish," she teased, brushing against him.

Ignatius shuddered, and cried, "Nay, not as I wish, but as I
will!

Oh, how cruel you are to me, fair nymph, to torment me with
pleasures I have forsworn! Cease this sweet torture, I beg of
you!"

"Ah, well, as you will, then," she snapped, nettled-and, suddenly,
somehow, she was no longer a torch of desire, but only a very
beautiful female. "I cannot move you whiles your will holds firm. You
are maddening, Ignatius!

"I regret that I cause you pain." He lowered his eyes.

"You do not regret it sharply enough." But her gaze kindled with
mischief again.

Suddenly, I understood. "He intrigues, doesn't he? The only man
who has ever resisted your blandishments."

"The fool!" Frisson moaned.

"Oh, there do be some few others." The words were ashes in her
mouth. "There was a man with a strange gleam in his eye, who turned
upon me and beat me till I fled; I found him quick passage on a ship
I summoned by storm. And there was another monk, a friar in a white
robe, who declared me to be a devil, a succubus, and sought to banish
me by long and hateful verses. This island was a miserable and barren
place while he lived."

I thought about asking how long that had been and how he had died,
then thought better of it.

Friar Ignatius was shaking his head and muttering. "I could never
do such a thing, no! Nay, she is a good woman, a sweet woman, and I
confess to great fondness for her."

"But not so great as to surrender to lust," she said, with a
sardonic smile. "What is this new emotion you have kindled in me,
monk?

For I have never before laughed at mine own downfall."

"Frustrating," I said, "isn't it?"

"He chafes me no end," she agreed, "yet not as I would wish.

Therefore shall I keep him here in my bower, until he gives in to
his feelings, surrenders to sweet sensation-for if he does, he will
fall fully in love with me, abjuring his vocation and even his
religion,"

"Since the one follows the other," I murmured. "Just can't resist
a challenge, can you? Isn't a temporary lapse into sin good enough
for you? " Thyme shrugged, which set up secondary wave effects that
were entirely too harmonious. "When first he came here, mayhap-yet
now, my pride is affronted. I must have his total, abject
devotion."

"You have it! 'Tis yours!" Frisson exclaimed, his eyes
burning.

She glanced at him with a flicker of long lashes and a lazy
smile.

"Many thanks, man of song; yet 'tis he who has pricked my pride,
not yourself. Nay, I must become the most important object in his
life, or feel myself to be a woman of no worth. "But you are! You are
sweet and kind!" Friar Ignatius almost put his hand on hers, but held
it back just in time.

"Sweetness of temper is the least I offer you," she returned, "and
the kindness of your taking is not the kind I would receive."

"He got under your skin right from the beginning, didn't he?" I
said.

"Aye, but only in metaphor, more's the pity. Oh, he was but a mild
diversion to me at first, naught but another shipwrecked man in
truth, he was least and last-least of interest to me, and last of all
his shipmates, the captain and crew. Yet when I had done with them
and sent them on their way to deflower maidens no more-"

"You destroyed their desire?" I stared, eyes wide.

She gave me a cynical smile. "Know, poor male, that the
fulfillment of your fantasies would end them."

I wondered just what she had done to those sailors. Had they been
so thoroughly sated that they could never work up a good case of lust
again? Or would real women pale into insignificance, after her?
"Finished with them? What did you do to them?"

"Sent them all packing," she assured me. "My magic repaired their
ship; my island replenished their larder. I wished them fair winds
and sent them coasting away in their ship, chastened and much less
likely to despoil women."

Of course, they might also go on a campaign of rape to re-prove
their masculinity to themselves, but I didn't think Thyme had
considered that. in fact, I didn't think she considered anything
about anyone but herself. "Then you found Friar Ignatius wasn't
willing."

"Aye," she said with bitter resignation. "Him, I could not seduce,
and that made him a thing of fascination to me. So when I bade his
fellows farewell, I kept him here, to amuse me-yet I've found naught
of amusement, and less of satisfaction."

"And never will, I fear." Friar Ignatius sighed. "My regrets,
sweet one. "

"But you rose to the challenge," I interpreted.

"Aye," Thyme said, "and would warrant that he did, too, though he
allows me no proof of it."

I understood. She'd had supreme confidence in her femininity, in
her limited way-but that limitation covered a deep insecurity; it was
only a bubble. Friar Ignatius had punctured that bubble by his
refusal and had become an affront to her self-esteem. The only way to
rebuild her self-image as the ultimate femme fatale, was to seduce
him-and since he wouldn't seduce, she was thinking less and less of
herself every day.

He had a great technique for saying "no," though. Any woman but a
nymph would have felt immensely flattered and been willing to give
up.

But she was a nymph, and the real thing, too. I shook my head
sadly. "I hate to be discouraging, but I'm afraid you're doomed to
disappointment."

"I will never give in till he does!" she declared.

"Your tenacity is laudable," I said, "but your judgment is
lacking."

I hoped. "Either way, I'm afraid I really can't afford to give you
the chance to prove your point, or his; I need his help."

"I shall the'er let my true love depart!" she cried.

"But you will," I said softly, "because I'm a
wizard-remember?"

Her eyes narrowed; she surged to her feet, throwing her head back
and arms up, as if to embrace the sky. The sight was breathtaking,
but I was braced for a move like that, so it didn't quite drive the
verses from my head.


    "Dim lords and captains have I seen
    Who witnessed my spells, one and all
    And say, 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci I have in thrall!' "


Thyme froze, then slowly lowered her arms and her gaze, to regard
me with disgust and loathing. "Speak, then." Her voice was choked
with tears. "I must obey."

"I bid you give this monk your leave to go."

"Why, so I must," she said with infinite reluctance, and turned to
Friar Ignatius. "I am constrained; therefore you are not. You are
free to go!

Relief and joy flooded his face. She saw, and her own filled with
hurt. Friar Ignatius leapt up with a cry of pity. "Poor wanton! Ah, I
could wish I had not taken holy vows, that I might indulge my base
desires with you! I am a man sworn to God and chastity; yet still my
heart will ache for sight of thee!"

The hurt lessened in her face.

He caught her hand, eyes lit with fervor. "Never will I forget
these sweet days, nor the hours of delight in your company! Nay,
every minute near to you has been pleasure so sweet as to be almost
pain, and I thank you mightily for this taste of bliss! Never will I
forget you; ever will I treasure the memories of these months!"

The hurt was almost gone now, but there was an aching longing
welling up in her; she could not take her eyes from his face.

He forced his own gaze away. "Wizard! Can you not lessen her hurt?
Can you not give her sweet nepenthe?"

"Forgetfulness?" Yes, out of sheer pity, I could certainly do that
much. Besides, I couldn't have her menacing shipping and sailors,
trying to restore her wounded vanity. I turned to Frisson. "How about
it, Fr-oh."

Frisson's face was so heavy with lugubriousness that he looked
like a bloodhound. His eyes were huge and bloodshot, transfixed on
Thyme.

"No, I think I'd better try to manage something myself." I turned
back to the ill-sorted couple, remembered my evenings in the
coffeehouses, and dredged up an old folk song: "In my garden grew
plenty of thyme, it would flourish by night and by day.

O'er the wall came a lad, And he took all I had, And he stole all
my thyme away, Yes, he stole our sweet Thyme away."

it worked faster than I had expected; even while I was still
singing, the "lad" showed up, his head poking above the wall of
greenery not too far from the bower. Then his whole body appeared,
climbing up a tree; he swung out along a branch and dropped to the
ground. He was just a little shorter than Thyme, if you didn't count
the hornsshort goat horns, and goat's legs with cloven hooves on the
end. Of course, with that shaggy hair from the waist down, he didn't
need any clothes-which was just as well, since he wasn't wearing any.
He was wearing a syrinx, though-a set of panpipes, hung around his
neck by a cord.

Thyme glanced at him, then glanced again.

I wondered if I really needed the second verse, but I sang it
anyway.

In June, the red rose is in bloom, But that was no flower for me,
For I plucked at the bud, And it pricked me to blood, And I gazed on
the willow tree."

"The willow, symbol of lovers' sadness?" Thyme sighed. "All, well
could it be mine!

"What! Do I see the trace of melancholy on thy features?" The faun
hopped up to her. "it must be erased-for a face so fair must not be
careworn!

She glanced his way, her gloom lessened by the flattery; but she
said "Why, what are you to speak so? Consider with care, foolish boy,
for you are but a kid!"

"Mayhap, but I am a goat withal." A mischievous grin touched his
lips. "Be mindful, sweet wanton-I will grow on you."

"Not if I can prevent it." She made a shooing gesture,
irritated.

"Begone, irksome child!"

"Alack-a-day!" The faun looked up at me. "Can you not aid,
Wizard?

"Could be," I said.

"Oh, it's very good drinking of ale, But it's far better drinking
of wine.

I would she were clasped In her lover's arms fast, For 'tis he who
has stolen her, ThymeYes, 'tis he who has stolen our Thyme."

"What nonsense do you rhyme?" Thyme demanded, nettled, but the
faun lifted the panpipes to his lips and began to blow.

It was a melody amazingly sweet, but also sad, weighted with a
longing beyond his apparent years, and it conjured up words to match
it, not quite clearly enough to voice, hovering just on the verge of
consciousness, telling a tale of unrequited desire and aching
yearning.

Thyme looked up, staring in surprise.

The faun began to weave from side to side, then to move his hooves
in a slow dance.

Thyme followed him with her gaze, mesmerized. The lines of sadness
disappeared from her face, and she began to sway in time to the
music.

I reached out and grabbed one of the tree trunks that made up the
bower. That music was getting to me, working its way inside and
initiating its own ache in me, from heart to loins.

Thyme's swaying grew broader; she began to move her feet,
following the pattern of the faun's dance. The music thrilled with
hope, and the faun's movements grew more suggestive. Thyme followed,
hips swaying more broadly, body curving and retreating, her eyelids
growing heavy, a knowing smile curving her lips.

Behind me, somebody moaned; I recognized Frisson's voice.

Now the two were as close as dancers in a ballroom, weaving and
swaying, advancing and retreating. All signs of care were gone from
Thyme's face, and a musky scent was beginning to tinge the air. The
dancers moved in unison, as if a single mind animated both
bodies.

out of the corner of my eye, I saw Frisson staring with eyes so
wide that the whites showed all around, his face one instant from
madness.

Thyme reached up to the brooch that held her dress fastened.

"Time to go." I grabbed Frisson and tugged, but he was rooted to
the spot. I cried, "Gilbert! Help me!"

The squire shook himself, coming out of his trance. He flushed
deep red, nodded, and took Frisson's other arm.

"Lift," I told him, and together we hoisted the poet's frozen form
and moved toward the door. An agonized sound started in his throat,
slid up to his mouth, and out his lips: "Noooooo!"

"Keep going," I said through clenched teeth.

"Nymph, keep me!" Frisson begged. "Use me, debase me-but keep
me!"

She didn't even glance his way; her gaze was transfixed on the
faun, her face glowing, her fingers fumbling with the brooch.

"Sweet nymph, farewell!" the monk murmured, and ducked out the
door.

Frisson gave a horrible groan as we pulled him through the portal
and away, struggling in our hands. Gilbert held fast, his back
resolutely turned to the scene behind him. That meant I was facing
it; I saw the dress slip, saw a flash of pearly pink skin, before the
glare of the noonday sun washed out all sight of the interior. We
turned frontward and stumbled away, dragging Frisson with us.

Behind us, the music grew slower, even more heavily sensual,
setting up a rocking rhythm.

Frisson went slack in our arms, sobbing, and Friar Ignatius let
out a long and shuddering breath. "I thank you, Wizard. Of all the
assaults my virtue has suffered on this isle, this was the greatest."
His mouth twisted in a sardonic smile. "Though I must confess, 'tis
cause for chagrin, to find I am so easily forgotten."

"Just think of it as proof that she was only using you," I
suggested, /,or wanted to."

"Yes. Well put." He nodded. "In that fashion, I am glad to know I
was right to resist-glad in worldly terms as well as spiritual, for I
was but a toy to her."

"Don't worry," I said. "She isn't interested in any of us any
more."

"Praise Heaven!" Gilbert shuddered. "And I thank you, Wizar ! I
was almost ensnared!"

Privately, I thought it would have done him a world of good, but I
didn't say so.



Chapter Twenty-seven


Frisson didn't manage to start working his legs again until we
came in sight of the ocean. Even then, it was all he could do to
stagger across the beach to the boat and collapse into it, sobbing.
The rest of us heaved and pushed, driving it over the sand and back
into the ocean, though I don't think we could have done it without
that huge boost from Gruesome.

"In." I looked up at him, pointing to the inside of the boat.
"I'll finish pushing off this time."

The shark mouth grinned; he was glad to be leaving. He clambered
in and sat huddled in the bows, moaning in anticipation of
seasickness.

"Get in," I told Gilbert and Friar Ignatius. They clambered over
the sides. Gilbert sat down facing aft, took up an oar, and fitted it
between the pegs that passed for an oarlock-and to my amazement,
Friar Ignatius did the same. They pulled together, I shoved, and the
boat's bottom grated free of the last of the shingle. I vaulted up
and over the stern, and the two men of different cloths threw their
backs into it, rowing hard.

The last echo of music died away. I wondered what was going on
back in the bower, then thought frantically about apples-it doesn't
do any good to try not to think about something; you have to think
about something else instead.

When the island was only a thin green line on the horizon, Friar
Ignatius panted, "Hold." He and Gilbert leaned on their oars, drawing
deep gasps. When he'd caught his breath, Friar Ignatius said, "I
thank you, Wizard. I'd have never won free by myself."

I knew why, too-he hadn't really wanted to. I couldn't blame
him.

"Glad to do it-but I had an ulterior motive."

"Aye." Friar Ignatius nodded. "You said you had need of my
aid."

"That's right. You see, we're trying to stage a bit of a
revolutionoverthrowing the queen of Allustria."

For a minute or so, the only sounds I heard were the surf, and
Frisson's last miserable sobs.

Then Friar Ignatius said, "Well." And, "Are you, indeed."

"Yes," I said. "You see, I fell in love with one of the queen's
sacrifices and managed to keep her from despairing at the last
secondand being a virtuous maiden, her ghost was headed straight for
Heaven. Suettay couldn't stand to let a victim get away, so she kept
the body alive. I'm trying to get Angelique's body back, but it's in
Suettay's castle, so ...

"The only way is to overthrow the queen." Friar Ignatius nodded
with grim understanding. "Well, I cannot say the goal is unworthy,
Wizard Saul, though your reasons are somewhat less than noble."

"I always thought love was very noble-if it was real." I
shrugged.

"Besides, I'm not from your world, so I don't have any vested
interest in your politics. This is entirely personal."

Friar Ignatius stared at me. "Surely any man has interest in the
war between good and evil!"

"They're pretty abstract," I returned, "and for a long time, I
wasn't even sure there was any such thing as real, genuine evil-I
thought it was just the label I used for people who were opposed to
me. Over the years, though, I've seen people, those I had nothing to
do with, do some really horrible things to other people, sometimes
just because they enjoyed it; so I'm willing to say there is such a
thing as evil.

Even so, it's not my problem, don't you see-it's none of my
business."

But for the first time in my life, the words sounded hollow.

There was a racheting groan, and Frisson pulled himself up off the
bottom of the boat onto a seat, staring past me at the thin green
line that was Thyme's island.

I took a chance. "Feeling a little better now?"

He just sat there staring for a minute or so, then finally,
reluctantly, nodded. "Aye. And I think I must thank you, friend Saul,
for aiding me. I was ensnared."

"But you're still not sure you wanted to be freed," I said
softly.

He shook his head, then let his chin sink onto his breast. "Ay
me!

I could wish I were to die there, so long as she were to bestow
her favors upon me! I could wish to have put her in a flask and taken
her with me, that I might let her out whenever I wished! "

"You're not the first man to wish something like that," I said
softly.

"You would let her out at once," Friar Ignatius said with the
certainty of one who has been there, "and never put her back. You
would waste away your life in dancing attendance upon her, Master
Frisson.

Frisson shuddered, remembering. "How could that be waste!"

"Because you wouldn't accomplish anything," I said. "You wouldn't
become anything in your own right-just one of her toys.

Put it behind you, Frisson-as I said, you're not the first man to
wish it, and you won't be the last." I turned to Friar Ignatius. "I
don't want him to forget-and I don't want him distracted, not when we
have so much menace facing us. You've studied magic-any ideas?"

" 'Tis not that I've studied magic alone," he said softly, " 'tis
that I've studied God, and the Faith, and the soul." He reached out
to touch Frisson on the temple. it was a very light touch, scarcely a
fingertip, but Frisson went rigid, and the monk chanted something in
Latin.

Frisson went limp, but the hangdog look hung lower.

Friar Ignatius took his hand away with a sigh. "As I said, I've
not the talent."

"But I have?" I asked him. "Let me try."

"If the fool'd been stripped to his foolish hide, (Even as you and
I!) Which she might have seen when she threw him aside(But it isn't
on record the lady tried) Some of him would have lived, but the most
would have died@Even as you and I! @

Yet it wasn't the lady-a friend interfered @Even as you and I! @
And rent him away from the one he revered, Before she could come in
the scented dusk And suck out his juice, and toss out his huskHe
turned from the lady, freed, unharmed, Though not by his choice, but
his friend's strong arm @Even as you and I!"

Frisson stiffened like an I-beam again, then slumped in total
relaxation.

We waited, holding our breaths.

Slowly, the poet sat up, eyes wide. " 'Tis done! I am healed!" He
looked at me with a tremulous smile. "I cannot thank you enough,
friend Saul!" But he still looked sad.

"Anything for a friend," I said. "Besides, I need you functioning,
on the side of the angels."

Friar Ignatius looked at me in surprised approval. "I thought you
professed to be apart from good and evil, Wizard Saul."

"Not apart from them," I corrected, "just not committed to
them.

He smiled sadly. "You cannot have the one without the other,
Wizard.

"Oh, yes I can," I said softly. "There is neutral ground, and I'm
it."

I heard the after-echo of my own words with something resembling
shock, but I plowed ahead anyway. "But that doesn't mean I'm
apathetic. I do care when I see people suffering, and I'm willing to
try to help if there's a way I can. I'm just not a fanatic, that's
all."

"You cannot equivocate between God and the Devil, Wizard," he said
softly.

I felt a chill on my back, but I shrugged it off. "Not here,
maybe.

But you can keep the whole thing in perspective and not let your
zeal for the letter of the law distract you from the spirit."

His eyes widened. "I thought you had no affinity for good, Wizard
Saul-yet you cite our Savior's words."

"Know your Bible pretty well, do you? Well, so do I, and not
entirely willingly. I had a good religious upbringing-good in my
parents' eyes, maybe."

"Then how was it not good?"

"Because it showed me too many fanatics, too many people who are
willing to do bad things, such as humiliate a kid publicly and
convince him that he's bound for Hell."

"That is a grave error," he said, his eyes huge.

I gave him a sour smile. "I wish there were more clergy like you,
Friar Ignatius."

He turned away, his face darkening. "Do not, for I am little use
with a congregation, Master Wizard. In truth, if I so much as step up
to a pulpit, my tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth with craven
fear, and I cannot utter a word."

I felt a surge of sympathy. "Hey, now-it's all right. We all get
stage fright-and if you get too strong a dose of it, why, that's just
not your talent. You know your own strengths, don't you?"

"Aye." He turned back to me. "I have a useless gift for pondering
Holy Writ, Wizard, and am therefore skilled at explaining how the
words of Christ, uttered a thousand years ago and more, may guide our
conduct even in this latter age. Nay, mayhap not so useless, for
other priests do hark unto me and find my words of aid in speaking to
their flocks."

I stared. "You're a theologian."

"I would be loath to claim the honor," he said.

"And might thereby deceive people who have to deal with you," I
said. "And you specialize in applying Scripture to daily life?"

"Aye, most especially in the use of the talents God has given
others, for I am so lacking in them."

"So that's why you study magic," I said slowly, and a thought
throbbed in my brain. "Does that extend to explaining how it
works?

"Aye, though in its essence, 'tis simplicity itself."

"Most great insights are," I said softly.

"Though the first step in that simplifying is to merely say what
is magic, and what is not."

"Oh,' What is not?"

"Prayer. If we pray for God to intervene in our lives, and if He
sees fit to do so, we are like to think it magical, when 'tis more
properly a miracle."

I frowned. "I haven't seen many of those."

"Oh,"' He smiled. "Did you not speak of love for a maiden?"

I flushed. "That's ordinary, not miraculous! I mean,
everybodywell, a lot of people fall in love. It's just hormones and
sublimation, not . . ."

His gaze was very steady.

"Okay," I admitted, "so there's something there besides lust and
compatible pheromones. It's still not exactly rare."

"Have you ever seen a baby born?" he asked.

That's a natural process!"

"The creation of a new soul is not-'tis an act of God."

I tensed against an eerie feeling that was stealing over me. "I
thought that was the phrase for horrible storms and earthquakes."

"Do you see God only as a destroyer, then? Or do you see each
lightning bolt as a miracle?"

"I thought it was supposed to be the wrath of God," I snapped.

"Nay, though it may be His instrument, as virtually anything of
this world may be-and as any good Christian must hope to be."

"Now, hold on!" I held up a hand to forestall him. "Are you trying
to say everything that happens is a miracle?"

"Certainly not-but by the same token, a miracle need not be
rare.

It will nonetheless be a miracle, my friend," Friar Ignatius said,
with that gentle smile. "I have seen hopeless illness cured, and not
through the laying-on of hands, but only through prayer, and because
it pleased God; I have seen melancholy lifted from a maiden's heart
by the beauty of a sunrise; I have seen a man, bent on death,
restored to the will to live by the song of a skylark. The grace of
God can reach us all at any time, if we are open to it."

Revelation. "So that's what prayer is! just turning on the
receiver, opening a channel!"

"Odd terms," Friar Ignatius said with a frown, "but that is
certainly an aspect of prayer. Not the whole of it, of course, but a
part."

"The part that seems to pertain to the discussion at hand." I
frowned. "So how do you think magic works?"

"By symbols and intent." He rested a hand on Frisson's shoulder,
and sang, "Let your heart's pain ebb, Let it pass, let it pass!


    Be freed of love's web,
    Let it pass, let it pass!
    From the Mire of Despond be raised,
    And your heart be filled with praise
    And the past cleared from your gaze,
    Let it pass! Let it pass!"


Frisson looked up, startled, then turned to Friar Ignatius with a
frown. "What have you done?"

"Only given you a song to ward your heart," the monk assured
him.

Frisson held a level gaze a moment longer. "You have, and I thank
you deeply. Alas, the wanton was fair! But in truth, she had thought
only for her own pleasure, and none for my welfare. it is removed,
now, though the memory of the passion is sweet His face darkened.
"Alack-a-day, what I fool I made of myself!"

"You had a great deal of aid," the monk assured him.

Frisson smiled, and I stared in shock, for it was a sardonic
smile, such as I had never seen on his face before. "I had small need
of help, Friar Ignatius, for I've made a fool of myself many, many
times in the past. Ah, so many!"

"Why, then, we are brothers," the monk said with a smile.

"Are we so? Nay, I think not-for you did cleave unto God's rules,
and thereby did save yourself from shame."

"As the psalm says, 'The salvation of my countenance, and my God,'
" Friar Ignatius said softly.

"For you, mayhap-but for myself, I played the fool roundly. in
truth, I would be tempted to say that I could not have made a fool of
myself, for God did. "

"Say not so." Friar Ignatius' voice became stern. "The only true
folly is turning away from God, Master Poet, and as long as you reach
out to others, you have not done that."

"Even if they should spurn me? There is some sense in what you
say." Frisson nodded. "But there are ways of reaching out, and there
are other ways of reaching out. I think I must modify my techniques,
Friar Wisdom."

"Friar Fool, say rather." The monk smiled. "For as long as we do
live and breathe, we must needs be fools in some measure." He noticed
my stare and turned to me. "What amazes you, Master Saul?"

I gave myself a shake and said, "Thought you claimed you couldn't
work magic."

Friar Ignatius flushed and lowered his gaze. " 'Twas only a small
magic, Master Wizard, such as a cotter might use."

I started to object, then caught his meaning-the "spell" had been
as much suggestion as anything else, Convince Frisson that he had put
Thyme behind him, and he did-for certainly, he believed in both magic
and monks. Instead, I said, "Had that spell ready to hand, did
yOU2,/

"I did," Friar Ignatius admitted, "though I recast a few lines as
I spoke. 'Tis a sovereign for many ills, Master Saul-for all things
must pass, and it behooves us to speed their passing if they are not
for our good. " It made sense, but it wasn't the kind of wisdom I was
used to hearing from the West. "I was beginning to think you were
this universe's equivalent of a theoretical physicist," I said, "but
I'm beginning to suspect you're something of a psychologist, too.
Friar Ignatius frowned. "These terms are strange."

"Darn right they are. So, Friar Ignatius, just how do you think
magic works?"

"As it will," he answered, "and constantly, for it sustains us
all, though we know it not. 'Tis like some great, thick, unseen
blanket that overlies the whole world, Master Saul, like a mist upon
the plain.

I started to object to "overlies" and was about to suggest
"englobes," when I remembered that to him, the world was flat. "So
it's a substance, though a diffuse one?"

"Not a substance," he said, "but a kind of energy, like the
thrumming you feel within you on a fair morning, when you are in good
health.

I stiffened; he was describing a field force. "And this energy
blanket covers the whole Earth?"

"Aye, but the energy within us can thicken and direct it, if we
have the talent."

"How?" I frowned. "By thinking at it? That would make sensethought
waves modulating a field force . . ."

But Friar Ignatius held up a cautioning hand. "Not thought alone,
Master Saul, but all of our bodies, every bit of our being. Our own
energies fill us; they are not in our minds alone, or we could never
walk."

I didn't like the way this was going, but Frisson did-his gaze was
fairly glued to Friar Ignatius' face.

"A man born with the gift for it," the monk said, "can make the
magic thicken, gather power from it, and direct that power as he
wills.

"And how does he do that?"

"By the symbols that he chooses, to clarify his thinking and
involve his whole being in his intention," Friar Ignatius said.

"Then what," Frisson asked, "makes the magic black or white, good
or evil?"

"The purpose for which he intends it," Friar Ignatius replied,
"and his motives for doing so. If a virtuous woman wishes to heal, to
help, or to protect another, then she appeals to God for His aid in
her deeds, and her magic will be white."

"How about if she's using it to kill an attacker?" I said.

"A good woman would not wish to kill." Friar Ignatius turned back
to me. "She would wish to protect herself and would therefore only
wish to stop or withhold the attacker. Her spell might kill him, if
that were the only way to stop him, but her intent would be good, and
her magic from goodness."

it sounded specious, but I didn't argue-I'd heard enough about sex
crimes to believe that a woman might very well kill an attacker by
accident. All she'd really be thinking about, of course, would be
stopping him-but if she hit a vital organ, tough luck. I'd be the
first to say it, and the last to deny it. "So how can you tell if
you're dealing with a wizard or a sorcerer?"

"You may know him by the symbols he uses," Friar Ignatius
answered. "If he inflicts pain to gain magical powers, if he speaks
of death and uses skulls and twisted blades and blood, then his magic
is surely ill, and aided by evil."

"Symbols?" I frowned. "I've only seen sorcerers use words!"

"You may also see them brandish a staff or a wand," Friar Ignatius
said. "It magnifies the force of a spell, even as it magnifies the
force of a blow."

I had a notion it had something to do with directing the force,
like an antenna, but it was not fair bringing electromagnetism into
the discussion.

"But brewing spells with physical objects for symbols is lengthy
and cumbersome, though the magic is extremely potent," Friar Ignatius
said. "In the field, a magician will rely on words and gestures."

"But how could that do any good? How could physical symbols do any
good, for that matter?"

"Because, Master Wizard, the symbol is the thing. I stared and
clamped my jaws shut. In my universe, one of the cardinal principles
of semantics was that the symbol was not the thing.

Well, other universes, other natural laws.

"The whole of one's being must be gathered together and directed,"
Friar Ignatius explained, "that all the energies within and around
our bodies may form and fashion the magical energy to our purpose.
Symbols are the tools we use to so solidify our beings-and the more
powerful the symbol, the more fully are the various parts of
ourselves gathered together."

"So whether we're drawing on God to help us focus our own energies
is a matter of whether or not we want to," I interpreted.

" 'Focus'-an excellent term!" Friar Ignatius clapped his hands. "I
should have thought of turning to mathematics for my concepts! I
thank you, Wizard Saul."

I shivered, wondering what I had done. This "magic field" he was
talking about seemed to be this universe's equivalent of
electromagnetism-and I knew darn well what our own physicists and
engineers had been able to do with electricity and magnetism, once
they had started shaping their thinking according to mathematical
principles. What would happen here, if Friar Ignatius started
applying math to magic?

Amazing things, I didn't doubt-because I had a very strong
suspicion that it really was possible to manipulate that magic field
without drawing on either good or evil. It was an impersonal force,
after all-the personal element came when you tried to draw on the
power of supernatural beings to help you control it. Besides, I was
still trying to think of those beings as imaginary-in which case,
they served as very, very powerful symbols.

Powerful, indeed-they tapped directly into the subconscious. I
thought of my hallucinatory guardian angel and shuddered. "I wouldn't
be so extreme," I said easily. "After all, we're talking about an
art, not a trade. So words are symbols, and poetry concentrates
meaning-so the better the poetry, the more powerful the spell?"

Frisson's eyes were so wide they almost bulged.

"Aye," Friar Ignatius said, "and poetry that is sung, is more
powerful still."

"Sung?" I frowned. "How does that work"' "Because there is order
in melody," Friar Ignatius explained, "that adds its strength to the
order of rhyme and meter; and because song is felt throughout the
body, and thereby incorporates all of our energies."

My spirits sank; I bad a tin ear. But Frisson's face lit with
delight.

"I have a passable voice."

"Then bend your thoughts toward God and goodness." Friar ignatius
said, turning to him. "Meditate on Him, that your magic may be for
the benefit of others, and the stren thening of goodness."

Frisson gazed at him, eyes glowing, and nodded. "Aye, for we go up
against great evil, Friar Ignatius."

"The power of goodness must needs be greater than the power of
evil," Friar Ignatius rejoined, "for it doth draw on God, the
Ultimate Source. " I sat bolt upright. "You aren't trying to tell me
that good will always triumph over evil!"

"it will, if all other elements are equal," Friar Ignatius said.
"No demon can stand against an angel, and white magic is much more
powerful than black. But it is more difficult to be good than to be
wicked, and more difficult to master white magic than black. Fasting,
prayer, self-discipline, returning good for evil-these are difficult.
To give in to anger and the lust for revenge is easy."

I thought about the Taoists and Zen Buddhists, and kept
thinking.

But Frisson spoke. "We must needs confront a vile sorceress and
her minions, Friar Ignatius. We will need all the strength that God
can lend."

"His grace is there for all," the monk murmured, "if we will but
be open to it."

"I think," Frisson said, "that I must learn to pray."

For some reason, that sent shivers down my spine. I tried changing
the subject. "Was this why the queen had Thyme tie you up?"

Friar Ignatius turned to me, a strange light in his eyes. "So you
have guessed that, too, Master Wizard! Yes, I had wondered-though I
cannot prove that. Still, 'tis quite possible that it was the queen
of Allustria who drove our ship to the nymph's isle-for she could not
damage me herself, as long as I remained devoted to God."

"And if anybody could break that devotion," I said, "it would have
been Thyme. But why did the queen want you out of the way? Was she
afraid you might convince some of her sorcerers to repent and start
working toward sainthood?"

"As do we all," Friar Ignatius reminded me, "if we do not
despair.

That is possible, Master Saul, but I think it more likely that she
wished me imprisoned so that my ideas of human life would not
spread.

,ideas about the riddle of human existence?" I frowned. "How could
that hurt her?"

Friar Ignatius bowed his head, hiding a smile of bitter
amusement.

When he looked up again, his face was bland and his smile gentle
once more. "I have gathered wisdom from the East and from the West,
Master Saul, and let go of those parts that I did not feel consistent
wit'n the whole. What is left is somewhat irreverent; indeed, those
in positions of power might think I mock them, or the very notion of
their right to authority."

"You mean you've come up with ideas that are a threat to the
queen?" I frowned. "How?"

"Because, taken together, they add up to the notion that folk need
not depend on the crown for their sustenance or safety, but only on
God, on themselves, and on their neighbors."

"Decentralization!" I stared, thunderstruck. "My lord! No wonder
Suettay's out to get you! You're threatening her bureaucracy!"

He frowned. "What is a 'bureaucracy'?"

"Government by desks," I said. "Behind each desk sits a clerk, but
they come and go, and the desks stay. Each desk has a bigger desk it
answers to-the more powerful clerks answer to other more powerful
clerks, and on up to the queen herself."

"Then you see clearly, Master Saul." Again, he gave me that
strange, close look. "You know that her clerks do make her the center
of authority of the land and give her control over the least of her
subjects, no matter how far from her castle they may be."

"I'm familiar with the basic idea, yes."

"And with the notion that each subject must do as he is told,
without question?"

"With the notion, yes. Not with the fact-my countrymen tend to do
a lot of questioning, and complaining, too, and sometimes they even
manage to go around the lower desks and go right to the top and get
satisfaction."

His eyes glowed. "A marvelous people! Small wonder you are the one
who can aid this land!"

"I didn't say I was one of the ones who succeeded." I stirred
restlessly. "On the other hand, in my own world, I've heard of
countries where the people don't dare complain, or even ask any
questions.

Allustria's like that, huh?"

"Aye-and if you know the manner of it, then you must be able to
imagine what would hap if each of those subjects were convinced that
he was the master of his destiny, and that he himself had the duty of
choosing what he would and would not do."

I could feel my eyes snap wide. "That's your theology?"

He shrugged uncomfortably. "A part of it, yes. But 'tis truly
quite old-Christians have always believed in free will, believed that
'tis for each of us to choose whether to sin or not to sin, whether
to work toward Heaven or lapse toward Hell."

"But a tyrant like the queen can gain a lot of mileage if she can
convince her people that they're all bound for Hell already, so they
might as well do what she says and keep from having pain in this
world-and gain anything she's willing to give them for rewards."

"Even so. And, too, I have come to believe that folk should be
governed by their own consent and consensus, by discussing matters
till they can agree, following the example of the holy hermits who
abide nearest them. Thus they would live according to the common law
they create together, and by the Commandments of God."

"Revolutionary!"

" 'Tis a brave notion, and devoutly to be wished." Frisson was
pensive. "But how could it come to be, Friar Ignatius? Such a
transformation in people's thoughts could not be worked in a single
night, nor even a decade."

"Even so," the monk agreed. "If it can come about at all, it will
be by the patient example of men and women dedicated to God-and I do
not, of course, believe it can come to be completely or perfectly as
I see it. Only in Heaven may we be perfect, one by one or all
together.

Still, I do think we can hope to improve greatly as the years
roll.

" 'Twill be a long process, and slow "But even in its early
phases, people would want a better government," I said. "You're
giving them the idea that they can expect to be treated as worthwhile
human beings in their own right."

"But of course," Friar Ignatius murmured, "for that is what they
are. Every soul is infinitely precious, Master Saul-precious to God,
and therefore should be precious to anyone who calls himself
Christian. "

"Should be," I noted. "And, of course, there's the minor problem
of whether or not your ideas will work unless everybody tries them
all at once-but even a small dose would be enough to bother the
bureaucrats. They see people as numbers, not souls."

"A fascinating notion." Friar Ignatius frowned. "So you can
understand, Master Saul, why the queen would wish me gone."

"Oh, sure! She wants people to believe they're stuck being
whatever they were born as-and if they were born serfs and peasants,
as the vast majority of them were, it's not going to do them any good
to try to be anything different, or to even protest against what the
authorities tell them to do."

"Which is to say, that they have no free will, not even such
lesser forms," Friar Ignatius agreed.

Interesting that he thought social mobility and social action were
minor. "Of course, it is awfully difficult to become anything you're
not born to-and society does everything it can to keep you in place.
" "Difficult," the monk agreed, "but not impossible. Our birth and
our talents, and the moral teachings given us by our parents and
clergy-these are among those things given us, over which we have no
control. Still, a soul who strives, and who uses wisely what she or
he is given, may yet do great things."

I frowned. "How about if he's born with a really vicious temper, a
lust for power, and a sex drive that just won't quit?"

Friar Ignatius shuddered. "I have heard of such men-nay, I
have

-ict them. But even one so accursed may win to Heaven through
deotion to God, and adherence to His Commandments."

That, of course, was what really mattered, to him-free will was
there so we could choose to sin or not to sin, to fly or to burn. I
was seized with the vision of the pinball machine of life, with the
balls and the laws of force and motion being determinism, and when
and how I hit the flappers being free will. "I think we should
tilt."

All three of them looked at me as if I'd lost my marbles. "What
did you say, Wizard?

"Uh, nothing," I said quickly. "Strategy for the revolution. How
long before we get to the mainland, do you think?"

Only a day and a night, as it turned out. There were some storms
with some very odd timing, boiling up out of a clear blue sky-but
Frisson was clearheaded again, and we had some idea what we were
fighting. I fished through my sheaf of parchments and handed him a
couple of odes in praise of sunshine, and he improved on them as he
recited, and for some reason, the foul weather blew over almost as
quickly as it had come.

Still, it did seem kind of odd to me that the queen should let us
make it back to the mainland with no worse trouble than that.

I mentioned this to Friar Ignatius right after we had hauled the
boat past the high-tide mark and started hiking inland. "It may be
that she has little time to spare for us," he told me, "even though
we may be the greatest challenge yet to her throne."

"Aye," Gilbert agreed. "If the Spider King and t e Grem in ave
done as they promised, she will be far too busy to spare us much
attention.

"Good point." I turned to the nearest large spider-we were hiking
through a marshy meadow, and the arachnids seemed to be everywhere;
the stiff grass was ideal for mooring webs. "Tell the Spider King
we're back, will you?" I said. "And we'd like to know what's going
on."

My buddies glanced sidelong at me as if they were wondering about
my sanity again, but they'd met the Spider King, too, all except for
Gruesome and Friar Ignatius, so they kept their peace. Which was very
wise-the spider was busy mending the rim of her web, but she turned
and scampered straightaway back to the center-and disappeared.

Friar Ignatius stared at it for a few seconds. Then he whipped his
gaze up to me, stared for a few seconds longer, then glanced back at
the web.

Gilbert squared his shoulders and cleared his throat. "There is
small time to debate, " he said. " 'Tis long and far to Allustria,
and we have only our legs."

He took the lead, and we filed off after him.

About half an hour later, we were coming up to a stand of
trees.

just to the right of our path, a really splendid web was strung
between two saplings, four feet in diameter, with a spider whose body
was the size of an old-fashioned dollar. We glanced at it in
admiration, then looked again.

Woven into the web were runes. They spelled out, "Gaze."

"Gaze?" I frowned, staring. "Gaze at what?"

"Thus." Friar Ignatius beckoned, and we turned aside from the
path, heading for the sound of a brook that had been paralleling our
path for the last few minutes. The monk scouted along its edge until
he found a small pool that had formed between some rocks. "Here,
poet," he said. "Craft a verse that would tune a pool to the king's
mind.

"uh, I think I pulled out the sheaf and riffled through, then
yanked a slip. "Here, Frisson!"

The poet pursed his lips, absorbing his own verse again, then
spouted it out, with improvements:


    "Water, water, most contrary,
    Help this televisionary.
    Let no image now be sinking,
    But show us what the king is thinking.


I did a double take, but he was right-"television" was Latin for
"seeing at a distance," though not quite in the way my culture meant
it. I looked down at the pool, almost daring it to show me
something.

it clouded and darkened, then cleared, but stayed dark, a deep
indigo-and in its depths, images formed. My gaze locked onto them; I
couldn't have forced myself to look away if I'd wanted to. And, of
course, I didn't want to; to say the least they were compelling.



Chapter Twenty-eight


We saw a mob of peasants beating up a squad of soldiers in a
village square. It was unbelievable, until the pool showed us just
one villager swinging a cudgel down at a soldier. The men-at-arms
stabbed at him with a pike-but the peasant's cudgel whacked right on
the haft behind the head, and the shaft broke.

"The Gremlin!" I breathed. After all, our perverse friend
specialized in making things break down at the crucial moment.
Admittedly, he was better with high-tech devices-the more complicated
they are, the more things can go wrong-but he was managing pretty
well with what he had.

The battle disappeared, and another army swam into view-but in
this one, the soldiers were fighting among themselves. A knight rode
about the fray, trying to knock combatants apart with a mace, but his
horse tripped, and he disappeared into a melee of flailing arms. The
images grew larger and larger, floating out past the edges of the
pool, till I could see an overturned kettle next to the ashes of a
campfire. The kettle was empty. Then the fighting soldiers swam back
in, growing smaller and smaller until I was looking at an overhead
view of the churning mass of soldiers. Suddenly they streaked past
me, and the images expanded again, until I found myself looking down
into a trio of farm wagons. They were filled with hay. Apparently,
the quartermaster had bollixed up the order, sending horse food
instead of people food, and the soldiers were starving.

"The Gremlin!" Gilbert breathed.

"Maybe," I said, "but I think he's getting expert advice."

The fight dimmed and faded, and another picture grew in its
place.

A peasant, wearing a green tunic with yellow hose and a tall cap,
was going from door to door, looking very confused as he scooped gold
pieces out of a bag and handed them to the peasants. The recipients
stared, unbelieving, then broke into huge smiles and heaped thanks on
the donor-but he was already turning away toward the next cottage,
looking very frazzled.

"He is a tax collector." Gilbert frowned. "Wherefore does he give
money, rather than take it?"

It almost seemed as if the pool had heard him; it clouded up, then
cleared again, showing us a view of a big room. We were looking at it
from high up on the wall, and we saw a mob of men in rich-looking
robes milling about half a dozen tables with checkerboard tops. There
was a lot of gesturing, and I could imagine the noise. It looked like
one of those television news shots of the New York Stock Exchange
just before closing time on a bad day.

" 'Tis the exchequer," Friar Ignatius murmured.

Oh. So that was where the word "checker" came from. Now that he
mentioned it, I could see colored disks on some of the checkerboards,
like beads on an abacus, and serving the same purpose. This was a
counting room, and these men were clerks. "What are they arguing
about?"

I shouldn't really have asked; I knew the answer as soon as I'd
thought of the question. They were blaming one another, of course,
trying to pass the buck before one of them got caught with it.

The pool seemed to have heard me, though-as if in answer, it
magnified the big desk in the center of the room, the one without a
checkerboard, where a man with a gold chain around his neck was
scribbling furiously on slips of parchment and handing them to the
nearest of a group of boys, who twisted their way between furiously
arguing clerks to hand the slips to men who were still sitting at
their counting tables, moving stones about frantically, trying to
look busy.

As one boy carried his parchment, it swelled till it filled the
pool, and we could all read, "Take two pennies from each peasant."
But even as we watched, the words "Take" and "from" were blurring,
the pen strokes writhing into new forms that made the message say,
"Pay two pennies to each peasant."

"What spell is this?" Frisson stared, amazed.

"The Gremlin again," I said, "though I think he might be getting
some advice from the Rat Raiser."

The scene rippled and disappeared, and another one steadied in it,
place. This one looked a lot like the first, except that the tables
didn't have checkerboards inlaid into them, and the men milling about
wore richer and more colorful clothing-mostly doublet and hose; I
only saw one or two real robes. Most of them were also wearing mail
shirts that gleamed at the necks of their tunics and showed between
belt and hose.

" 'Tis the command post of an army!" Gilbert exclaimed,
staring.

"And judging from the quality of the clothing, this is the high
command," I agreed. "it looks a lot like the other room."

" 'Tis in the queen's castle," Brother Ignatius breathed.

Gilbert frowned. "How is this? Knights and lords, scribbling on
parchments?

"It's called centralized command," I said. "They put their orders
in writing, and couriers run them to the generals in the field."

"They fear the field will come to them," Gilbert said, "and
shortly, or they would not be wearing mail."

I hoped he was right.

A general finished dictating to a clerk, who was scribbling on a
parchment. He poured sand on it, dumped the sand, made sure the sheet
was dry, and handed it to a courier who headed for the door, slipping
it into a pouch as he went-but not quite quickly enough to keep the
pool from magnifying it, and we watched it change from "Conscript
five male peasants from each village" to "Discharge five male
peasants to each village." Then the parchment slipped into the
dispatch case and was gone from sight-but even as it did, the scene
rippled and changed to a view from up high, showing a long stretch of
dirt road with twenty or thirty soldiers ambling along with their
pikes over their shoulders, laughing and slapping one another on the
back.

"Men released from arms?" Gilbert cried. "in the midst of a
war?"

"Seems Queen Suettay made a mistake by turning her commanders into
bureaucrats," I said. "She made them vulnerable to the Gremlin-and
the Rat Raiser, of course."

"The Rat Raiser! Can this soft-handed clerk best even knights in
the field?"

"Not in the field," I corrected him. "Only before they get
there."

The scene rippled again and changed to a paneled room with a
richly dressed man sitting behind an elevated table on top of a
dais.

Before him stood a bruised man in rags and chains, flanked by two
well-fed men in green and brown.

"Foresters," Gilbert breathed, "and a county magistrate."

"A courtroom?" I asked.

"A knight's court, mayhap," he said, "though a simple knight can
carcely be termed to hold court."

"Well, it certainly is serving the purpose." I couldn't help but
feel sorry for the poor peasant in front of the bench. "What did this
guy do, to deserve being arrested?"

"The two men to either side of him are forest keepers," Frisson
said. "I warrant the peasant was caught a-poaching." He sounded as if
he spoke from experience.

I caught my breath. I'd always thought the medieval forest laws
were unfair, even though I had to admit the game laws of my own day
and age made no sense. Still, making sure deer and pheasants aren't
hunted to extinction was a far cry from making sure they were
reserved only for the aristocracy's tables and amusement.

This time, however, justice seemed to be adhering to the spirit
rather than the letter; the knight was gesturing, and the foresters
stared, aghast. The knight pounded on the table, getting red in the
face, and the foresters reluctantly turned to strike off the
peasant's irons. He stood, dumbstruck, staring at his reddened but
naked wrists; then a forester gave him a shove toward the door. He
stumbled, but turned the stumble into a run and got out of there
before the knight could change his mind.

The knight, for his part, was still red-faced, only now he was
glowering at a parchment that lay beside him on his high table.

"The Rat Raiser again!" I grinned. "He told the Gremlin how to
louse up the judicial system-from Suettay's standpoint, anyway."

"Aye." Frisson smiled. "Merely dispense actual justice."

The scene rippled again, and we found ourselves looking down from
overhead at two long battle lines stretched out across a meadow,
facing each other. At the head of each rode a man in armor, with a
whole squadron of silver lobsters behind him on heavy-duty
Percherons.

" 'Tis the duke of Degmaburg!" Gilbert cried. "I know his
arms!"

"Only a duke?" I frowned. "Not a minister of some sort?"

"Nay. He was too strong to depose, though not to corrupt. He is
one of the few of the old nobility who has held his station under the
sorcerers' reigns."

"And now he sees his chance to reestablish the old line," I
breathed, "meaning himself."

Even as I said it, the duke's horse began to canter forward. His
squad of heavy armor heaved into a trot right behind him, and the
peasantry leveled their pikes and began to move forward.

But Gilbert was frowning. "How is this? The queen's knights are
far behind the line of men -at-arms! What can they do there"' He was
about to find out-for just before the duke and his knights struck,
the peasant line opened up like a gate, and the horsemen hurtled
through. Suettay's armored division snapped their lances down and
tried to work up to a quick trot-apparently they hadn't planned on
having to fight. But the duke and his men were going too fast to
stop; they slammed into the royal knights, unhorsing a few, then
dropping their lances and grabbing for maces and broadswords. It
turned into a melee after that, with the knights chopping one another
to filings.

Meanwhile, back on the front lines, one of the noncoms lowered his
pike and held out a wineskin. The advance wavered; then the duke's
troopers dropped their pikes, reached for the wineskins, and pulled
out some hardtack. In a few minutes, they were laughing and chatting
with their opposite numbers, having a regular party while they
watched the lobsters open one another's shells.

"How can they think they will not be punished?" Gilbert
wondered.

"Nice question." I pointed to the silver melee. "Here come their
masters."

The knights were riding back full-tilt, and those broadswords rose
and flailed down at their own men. They hit ...

And broke.

Snapped clean across, just as if each sword had been a brittle
antique. The knights stared at the remnants of blade attached to
their hilts, then roared and pulled out their maces.

The heads flew off on the first swing.

The tankers' arms shot up, presumably with a cheer; then their
pikes raised and stabbed, some finding chinks in armor, some jabbing
between saddle and tin pants, levers to tip knights out of
saddleswhich they did. Then each knight disappeared in a cluster of
soldiers, and pikes rose and fell.

Gilbert was pale-faced. "Soldiers striking down their own
knights!" It was the ultimate threat to him.

"Suettay's harvest," I told him, knowing it would be
reassuring.

"She's trained her army to get everything they can for themselves
and prey upon the weaker, killing off anybody who gets in their
way.

She forgot that she might not always be the stronger."

But the queen's side hadn't dispensed with all its strong-arms
yet; a sorcerer in a midnight robe banded with gray stood up, waving
his arms.

"A man of the second rank." Frisson frowned. "This may be their
undoing, poor devils,"

"Maybe not," I said. "Don't underestimate the Gremlin's capacity
for making things go wrong," Suddenly, a rain fell-a very localized
rain; it seemed to envelop only the sorcerer. He clutched his hat and
ran, but the storm followed him.

I frowned. "What kind of rain is that? It looks yellow-no, brown,
when there's enough of it! And it foams "Ale!" Frisson cried.

The sorcerer fled, pursued by foot soldiers who stopped every few
paces to dip up the puddles he left behind him.

But they were already growing smaller in the gazing pool; the
field dwindled, forests leaning in from the sides to hide it. Then
the treetops began to look like waves in a pool as they shrank away,
and kept shrinking. A patchwork quilt of farmland moved in around the
edges, still shrinking until it became a plain flat area of yellowish
green with dark-green masses of forest and clots of dots that were
towns made of houses. The blue shimmer of the Baltic appeared at the
top of the pool, with the white beard of the Alps below. Ribbons of
blue marked the boundaries, and I found myself looking down at
Germany as I knew it. But the picture kept on expanding, including
Austria, Hungary ...

"The Holy Roman Empire," I whispered.

"Holy no longer," Friar Ignatius said grimly, and 'tis odd that
you should couple the empire with Rome, for Hardishane refused to
accept the crown the pope would have given him. He did revere the
pope and his bishops, for he was a man of faith-but he held that the
churchmen should no more partake of governance, than he should of
ministry, and that 'twould be as great a catastrophe for the one as
for the other."

I whistled. "Brave words, for the time! How did he avoid being
excommunicated?

Brother Ignatius shrugged, and Gilbert said softly, "Who would
have dared excommunicate Hardishane?

I took it that Hardishane was this universe's answer to
Charlemagne, and had been just a little more deft than the Frankish
king-or a little more paranoid. I decided I wanted to learn more
about him-but now wasn't quite the time.

An area of the map was growing in the screen-the southeast, here
the Alps gave some security to the smaller kingdoms and
principalities that would someday be Switzerland, in my universe.

We seemed to be going in for a close look at the sector that would
have been the Dauphin-the bridge between France and Germany.

I wondered why-but as the view swelled, we saw a long dark line
snaking out of the mountains into Allustria. The line was moving-and
as it swelled, I could make out the gleams of armor and spear heads,
then individual knights and soldiers. It was an army on the move.

"The army of Merovence!" Gilbert cried. "Praise Heaven!"

But the view went past them, a pair of mountains swelling, then
their tops flanking the screen. There the view steadied, and I saw
soldiers in the same colors as the marchers below standing on crags,
bows in hand. Among them stood men in homespun tunics, looking as
hard as the rocks they stood on, bearded and booted against the
cold.

"The montagnards have thrown in with Merovence!" Gilbert cried,
"and the Free Folk with them!"

"The Free Folk?" I frowned.

"Behind the soldiers," Friar Ignatius prompted.

I looked, and realized that the gray-green wall I had taken for
rock had a head and a tail-and wings! So help me, it was a
dragon!

But it was growing smaller in the pool, and the scene blurred as
we swept along the line of the army. It steadied again, and a dragon
floated by, filling the pool for a moment, its wingspan vast but
still nowhere near enough to support such a huge body. Was magic in
the air, here?

Yes, of course. If Friar Ignatius was right, raw magical power
filled all of space, like the hypothetical ether of early
electronics. I mentally kicked myself-I had known that! And if there
were a magic field that surrounded the whole Earth, why wouldn't
life-forms have evolved to take advantage of it?

I resolved to keep a closer eye on the local fauna.

But the view was narrowing again, the individual soldiers growing
larger as the view swept on to the head of the file-and I saw a sight
that stung like a slap in the face. At the head of the column rode a
knight whose long blonde hair streamed out from under a steel cap
with a crown around it.

" 'Tis Queen Alisande!" Gilbert yelped. "The queen of Merovence
herself! " My heart leapt into my throat. "Isn't that a little
dangerous?"

"Nay." Gilbert pointed. "See who rides beside her."

On the lady's right hand rode a man in midnight blue, emblazoned
with stars and crescent moons and comets, though he wore a steel cap
instead of a pointed one. "A sorcerer?"

"Nay, the Lord Wizard!"

"I notice he's riding a dragon," I said. "Thought you said they
were the Free Folk."

"They are, and the fabled Stegoman is the Lord Wizard's friend,
not his slave. And, see! " Gilbert pointed; on the other side of the
Queen rode a knight all in black, on a midnight charger.

"Sir Guy de Toutarien!" Gilbert crowed. "I know his blank
shield."

"Black armor and a blank shield are pretty anonymous," I
demurred.

"Aye, but what other Black Knight would ride beside Queen Alisande
of Merovence? Nay, all do know of that blank-shield knight, Wizard
Saul! 'Tis he who aided the Lord Wizard to overthrow the vile usurper
Astaulf and his sorcerer Malingo, to set Queen Alisande again upon
her ancestral throne!"

I could see there was a lot of old news I was going to have to
catch up on.

"Thereafter," Frisson said, his eyes glowing, "they two worked
among the folk of lbile and shook the throne so sorely that Queen
Alisande could ride in, depose the false sorcerer who had taken the
crown, and restore the rightful heir."

I was beginning to see a pattern here. "Who is the rightful heir
to the throne of Allustria?"

"None," Frisson mourned. "Suettay's ancestor slew them all, root
and branch, when she usurped the throne."

"All?" I stated. That didn't equate with the medieval
tradition.

"You sure there wasn't maybe a baby hidden someplace? Raised as a
peasant, possibly?"

"Three, but the sorcerer-queen found them all out and slew them in
cold blood. Then her daughter slew her mother before the whole court,
took the throne, and sent knights straightaway after the last babe of
the cadet branch, and his mother."

"So. No heirs." I frowned. "That gives us a problem, doesn't
it?"

"We shall find a fit monarch," Friar Ignatius said with
certainty.

I wished I'd shared his confidence.

The scene dwindled, and the Alps sank out of the picture. A long
river swam to the center of the pool, then grew larger until we saw a
battle going on at the eastern end of a bridge. The space around the
bridge grew larger and larger as the invaders pushed back the
defenders, and a steady stream of reinforcements poured across the
span. In the thick of the fighting rode a silver knight with a golden
circlet about his helm.

"King Rinaldo of lbile!" Gilbert cried.

But the battle was already shrinking; soon we were watching a blur
of greenery speed by. it steadied and swelled; we found ourselves
watching a thread of brown emerge from the mass of leaves, growing
until we saw a road through a forest, blocked by a tollgate. There
were five carts drawn up, waiting to get through, but four of the
drivers were gone, and the fifth walked the line, soothing the
mules.

Then the other four men came out of the tollhouse, shaking their
heads. Together, all five men put their shoulders to the tollgate,
heaved, and forced it up. Then they mounted their carts and drove on
through.

"How is this?" Gilbert frowned. "Have they overpowered the
witch-clerk and gone their way? How so? And know they not what will
hap to them when they are caught?"

"Nothing," Frisson said slowly, "if the witch-clerk was gone."

I stared, then remembered the sick toll-witch I'd cured.

"Shall not bandits fall upon them?" Gilbert asked.

The trees blurred, but the road remained clear; we were looking at
something happening farther down-a cloud of dust, with struggling men
and swords and staves dimly visible though it, slamming and hacking
in rage at one another.

"Two mobs of bandits!" Gilbert cried. "They fight to see who shall
have the right to despoil the merchants!"

"And they're making enough noise so travelers will have sense
enough to stay away." I nodded. "The winner will probably be so
weakened that he won't try to ambush any five who have sense enough
to band together."

"But do they not fear the magistrate?" Frisson asked.

The scene shifted to show a magistrate's house with a dozen men
standing about impatiently, waiting for the door to open. Finally,
they knocked, then knocked again, then pounded incessantly.

"Magistrate's not home," I said.

"Is he out hunting bandits?" Frisson wondered.

"Nay," Gilbert answered, "for his stables are full, and his men
stand idle."

I looked at the area behind the courthouse. Sure enough, there
were a dozen men in leather armor, shooting at big round targets and
taking halfhearted swipes at one another with oaken staves.

"How shall the merchants resolve their disputes now?" Friar
Ignatius murmured.

Apparently, the merchants were wondering that, too, because they
were talking among themselves with a lot of gesturing. Finally, they
gave up and walked away, discussing matters among themselves.

They sat down in the village square, ten of them watching while
two stood up and began to argue.

"They have set up their own court!" Frisson cried.

"Sure," I said. "Who needs the magistrate, anyway?"

"Only the queen," Gilbert murmured.

The pool showed us a few more such scenes-borders with people
crossing freely, ignoring the watch house nearby; farmers selling
produce off the back of their carts, with no tax-gatherer in sight; a
mob breaking into a courthouse and burning the records. All these
official buildings were empty.

"Where are the clerks?" Frisson breathed.

There they were, stumbling down the road, propping themselves up
with staffs, meeting one another and going along in company, holding
one another up.

"They are all sick!" Friar Ignatius said.

"So many of them, all at once?" Frisson was wide-eyed.

"Of course!" I crowed. "The Gremlin-he's an expert at disrupting
systems! He spread a plague among them, that attacks only
bureaucrats! " So it seemed. Half the witches in the land had gone
off, sick and stumbling. Their skin was yellow, their faces
disfigured with pustules and pockmarks, their hands with open
sores.

"Why aren't they staying in bed?" I asked.

"To wait for death and Hell?" Friar Ignatius shook his head.
"Better to force themselves to search."

"Search?" I asked. "What are they looking for?"

The file of witches in the pool suddenly paused, everyone
straightening. Then they were pelting pell-mell down the road, or
rather, hobbling as fast as they could. The ones in front fell at the
feet of a tinker who had been coming toward them, ragged and
clattering with pots hung about him. The impact of two or three
people bumping onto his shins and grabbing at his cloak was enough to
knock off his broad-brimmed straw hat ...

And to reveal his tonsure.

"He is a priest!" Friar Ignatius breathed, "a holy man who goes in
disguise, for fear of the queen and her men!"

"Her men have found him," I said. "Apparently, they know the
signs. " But they weren't arresting him-they were babbling,
gesticulating.

The priest recovered from his shock, his face turning from
frightened to grave, and he held up a hand. The sick ones fell
silent, and he pulled out a piece of cloth four inches wide and six
feet long-a stole, the priest's badge of office. He hung it about his
neck, then stepped around to the far side of the cart, beckoning to
the first witch. The woman hobbled after him.

The others began to line up in front of the improvised
confessional. There was some struggling for place, but it was rather
halfhearted. They just didn't have the energy.

"They don't think he can cure them, do they?" I asked.

"He can cure their souls," Friar Ignatius answered. "They may
suffer for hundreds of years in Purgatory, mayhap even thousands,
through all the tortures they have wrought in this world, and more;
they may burn in fires as hot as those of Hell-but some day, they
shall be released, purified, to rise to Heaven. They will not e
damned for eternity, when the priest has heard their confessions and
given them God's forgiveness of their sins."

"Ironic," I said, "when you stop to think that these very men and
women were probably hunting him only yesterday."

Then I heard the echo of my own words and stilled, amazed, as I
realized how much courage that wandering priest must have. He had
been going about secretly ministering the Sacraments for years,
knowing he might be arrested any day, taken away to die in
torture.

But he had kept on, because the few good souls there still
depended on him.

He needed that courage more than ever, now. He was rocking back
and forth as if he were receiving punch after punch, but he held on
to the side of the cart, grimly hearing the long tale of the witch's
sins.

"What's hurting him?" I asked.

"Devils unseen," Friar Ignatius said, lips thin. "They will not
give up their prey easily."

The confessing witch began to jerk about with blows from unseen
hands, too-and talons; streaks of red began to appear on her cheeks
and hands. On the other side of the cart, the line of witches was
beginning to rock, too.

"We must aid them." Friar Ignatius joined his hands, bowing his
head and closing his eyes.

"What ... ?" I started to ask, but Frisson touched my arm, and I
fell silent.

In the pool, the invisible punches stopped. The witches cowered
together, looking about them, wide-eyed.

"Angels fight the devils," Frisson murmured.

Friar Ignatius made the sign of the cross and looked up.

"The angels won," I said.

"Of course," Friar Ignatius answered with a glowing smile.

On the far side of the cart, the priest was able to finish hearing
confession in peace. He bowed his head in prayer, then made the sign
of the cross over the penitent, no longer a witch. The woman rose and
tottered away, face upraised-and transfigured, shining with relief
and joy.

"Now she may die with a lighter heart," Friar Ignatius
murmured.

I stared at him. "Pretty heavy-duty magic you worked there, Friar!
" But Ignatius only shook his head. "No magic at all, Wizard Saul.
Only prayer."

"Only," I echoed dryly.

The shriven witch was shuffling slowly down the road now, joined
by a second. A third rose from confession and joined them.

"Where are they going now,"' I asked.

"To seek a physician, I doubt not," Friar Ignatius answered.
"Their souls being healed, they shall seek a cure for the ills of the
body."

"So they won't go back to their jobs?"

"Certainly not, Wizard. They cannot do so without once again
selling their souls."

Which pretty well did in the bureaucracy-at least for a few days,
until Suettay could find new recruits. But by that time, the combined
revolution and invasion would be over, and there might be no Suettay
to do the recruiting, The line of witches and the toiling priest were
already shrinking, the map blurring, until a band of bright blue
showed at the bottom of the pool-the Mediterranean. A belt of
greenery began to grow, separating into individual trees at the edge
of a meadow, then a silver line grew into a brook-with four men and a
troll at its edge, staring down at something.

"Why, that is ourselves!" Frisson cried.

"Hold on," I said. "I think we're about to get our marching
orders."

Because the scene was shrinking again, the blue band of sea
disappearing. The forest swam across our gazing pool and down, and we
found ourselves looking at the line of a road that swam up through
what I thought of as Yugoslavia. Little black dots were converging on
the road, black dots that resolved into men in homespun as the scene
expanded again-homespun tunics, with scythes and flails over their
shoulders.

"An ambush?" Gilbert frowned, tensing.

"No," I said. "I think they're recruits."

They were. We found it out even while we were in the forest. We
followed the trail around a huge old oak-and suddenly they were
there, a dozen peasants in green and brown, with bows and daggers
instead of scythes.

"Outlaws!" Gilbert scowled, reaching for his sword.

"Hold on." I caught his hand and held the sword in its sheath. "I
think they want to parley."

They did; the leader came forward, hard-faced and wary. "We wish
to return to our homes," he said, "but we cannot, whiles this brutal
queen and her henchmen rule."

"We could change that," I told him, "maybe."

"And what is it that may be?"

"An army," I said. "If we get enough men, we'd stand a very good
chance. The Spider King is helping us, and he's getting advice from
some experts."

So we went on down the road, but with a dozen armed men at our
back.

A little farther on, an old hag suddenly broke through onto the
trail and came tottering toward us, just barely keeping herself
upright with a makeshift crutch, one clawed and spotted hand reaching
out.

The outlaws shouted, "The Witch of the Rock!" and leapt into
defensive positions.

"I am Suettay's clerk no longer," the old woman wheezed as she
came closer. Then she erupted in a spasm of coughing. I caught a
whiff, and recoiled-what had she been eating for breakfast?
Silage?

And she was tottering toward me! I backed off, fast.

"Oh, withdraw not from me!" she cried, staggering forward a few
more steps. Then she went into another coughing fit, overbalanced,
and fell on her knees. That didn't stop her, though; she kept coming
on her kneecaps, hands uplifted, imploring. "Heal me! For are you not
he who dares to heal a witch?"

"Uh ... I've been known to do it." I glanced at Friar Ignatius.
"But only when the witch is ready to repent and abjure her
witchcraft. I mean, my cures don't work as long as you're sworn to
the Devil's service. Besides, what point is there in my healing a
person who's going to turn around and throw a whammy at me the next
minute?"

"Oh, I would not do so! She had to break off to cough again, deep
racking barks that shook her whole body. They passed, and she
wheezed. "I would the'er repay good with ill!"

"Then you're not much of a witch-"

"I am not! I wish to be no longer! I fear the gaping mouth of
Hell, with its leaping flames!" She coughed again, then turned to
Friar Ignatius. "Are you not a priest? Then shrive me, I pray! That
even if I die ere he doth cure me, my soul will not burn in Hell for
eternity!"

Friar Ignatius gazed at her for a long moment, then nodded. "Come
aside," She tried to get up to her feet to come after him, but ran
into another coughing spell and didn't make it. She fell back, and
his face turned somber. He waved the rest of us away and drew a stole
out of a pocket in his sleeve. Draping it around his neck, he went
over to the pitiful sobbing heap and knelt down by it. He made the
sign of the cross and recited, "In nomine Patris, et Filius, et
Spiritus Sanctus. What would you confess, my child?"

The word "child" rattled me-and so did the stole. I sidled over to
Frisson and said, "Guess he's more than a brother, eh?"

"He never said he was not a priest," the poet returned,
low-voiced.

"What illness does this witch have, Wizard?"

I studied the woman, who was muttering a mile a minute to Friar
Ignatius, between coughing spells. "Hard to say without asking her
and thumping her chest-but at a guess, I'd say it's tuberculosis.

Could be pneumonia, but I don't think she'd be able to move this
much if it were."

"Would not her demonic master give her wards against such?"

"Only if he had a good reason for keeping her alive-and she's just
an underling, not one of those who set policies that make thousands
miserable and tempted to resort to evil. Why prolong her life? This
way, he gets her soul that much sooner."

At least, that made the kind of sense Frisson could
understand.

Me, I didn't believe any of it-not the bit about the Devil, nor
the stuff about magic. But he did, and I needed to communicate in his
terms. "Her lungs are filled with fluid," I said, "and there are tiny
creatures in there that are making her body malfunction to keep the
goo pouring in. Think you could craft a verse that would kill them
off and dry up their habitat?"

Frisson's eyes lost focus. After a few moments, he pulled out
parchment and quill. I obligingly turned my back to give him a
writing surface and said, "Say it while you write it out-I think we
need quick work, here."

He began to mutter while he scribbled. I couldn't quite catch the
words, except for "sere" and "see" and just plain "dry" now and
then-but I could see what was happening to the hag.

The racking coughs that kept interrupting her confession grew
fewer, and even as I watched, her skin began to regain some
color.

The feverish glint faded from her eyes, but they didn't fade to
dullness-they brightened, with good health. She didn't begin to gain
weight, of course-that would take a few good meals. Every day. For a
couple of weeks.

Finally, she stopped talking and bowed her head, trembling. By
this time, she was looking so healthy that I figured the trembling
had to be remorse-or fear, that Friar Ignatius might withhold
forgiveness.

And he did look severe. No wonder, if half of the things he'd
heard were as bad as I was guessing. But he nodded slowly and began a
softvoiced dialogue with the witch. She nodded, answering him in
monosyllables, seeming to wilt even more with each answer. At last,
satisfied, he nodded and began a short monologue. I couldn't hear any
of it, but I guessed he was telling her what she had to do as
penance.

Give her credit, she didn't even wince. In fact, when he was done,
she looked up in surprise; then, at his admonition, she began to
mutter a prayer. Friar Ignatius closed his eyes, tilting his head
back, and muttered his own prayer. It lasted just a little longer
than hers; then he spoke a few final words, making the sign of the
cross toward herand, so help me, she made it, too, crossing herself
from forehead to abdomen, then from shoulder to shoulder. She bowed,
saying something, then pushed herself to her feet, turning away
...

And tottered.

Gilbert was there to catch her by the arm. "Stand still a moment;
let your limbs grow used to keeping you upright again."

"They do!" She stared, amazed. "I knew confession was good for the
soul-but for the body, too?" Then she realized what she had said and
turned to me. "

" 'Twas you, was it not? You healed my body as he healed my
soul!"

"Not this time," I said, and gestured toward Frisson. "This is the
man you want to thank. "

"I do, oh, I do!" She threw herself at Frisson's feet. "Thank you
a thousand times, good master, a thousand thousand! You have given me
back my life; you have given me a chance to atone!"

"I ... I rejoice," Frisson stammered, "yet 'twas done at his
behest!" He pointed to me. "I would never have thought of the manner
of it by myself! Praise Master Saul!"

"I shall, I shall!" She swiveled to me, salaaming, and I had to
move fast to get my boot out of kissing range. "I cannot thank you
enough, nor praise you enough! Oh, how can I ever repay you? "

"By helping other people," I said automatically. "Go through the
countryside as long as you can, and look for poor people to
help."

"But I have no magic to aid them with! Ah, would that I did!', "No
magic, no," I said, "but you may find that simple labor is enough.
Certainly you can listen to people's troubles and try to comfort
them. And if you meet any other witches, you might mention how much
better you feel for abjuring witchcraft."

The former witch looked up in surprise, then stood slowly, her
face firming with resolution. "Even so, then. While life and breath
remain, I shall do what little I may. Farewell, physician! Every
night and morn, I shall praise you in prayer!"

She turned away, moving off down the road, standing much
straighter than she had, and seeming to gain strength with every
step.

Friar Ignatius stepped up beside me, watching her go. "That was
well done, Master Saul. You have wrought well this day."

I shrugged. "I just don't like seeing somebody in pain, if I can
do something about it, Reverend. But you seem to have done pretty
well, too."

"Only the duties of my office." Friar Ignatius folded his stole
and put it away, shaking his head. "It was the fear of damnation that
brought her to me. Like so many, she had never really thought of the
tortures of Hell, never let them seem real to her, until she was nigh
death."

"Whereupon she came to me to prolong her life, to stave off
Hell."

"Aye, but once having thought of Hell as real, she knew the fear
would never leave her, for she would come to the flames and demons
someday." He shook his head. " 'Tis not the best of reasons for
abjuring Satan and witchcraft, but 'twill serve."

"You'd rather she wanted to confess out of sheer remorse, eh?"

"Aye-so I was at pains to remind her that Purgatory is just like
Hell. The fire is the same the agony is the same@ut the soul in
Purgatory will one day be freed and rise to Heaven, whereas the soul
in Hell will never have an end to his tortures. There is no hope in
Hell."

That reminded me of Dante's Hellmouth, with the slogan over the
door, "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here"-but it also reminded me
of Dante's version of Purgatory, which was much less drastic than
Friar Ignatius'. Either way, though, was better than torture that
never, never ended.

"I could understand why a witch would definitely prefer
Purgatory," I said, "no matter how long she had to stay there."

"A witch, or any sinner." Friar Ignatius nodded. "And all those
who govern this land, and all those who are their underlings, are
either witches or sinners."

I winced at the thought of all the people I would be sending to
Hell in the process of trying to stay alive myself. "All of a sudden,
I hope you become very busy, Reverend."



Chapter Twenty-nine


I changed my mind the next day. The bureaucrat witches and
warlocks started coming out of the hedgerows, quaking with the terror
of Hellfire and calling to Friar Ignatius to shrive them. Most of
them were sick, too, so I suggested gently that we handle it
methodically-he took them in for confession, then sent them on to me
for healing. Frisson quickly built up a catalog of verses; all I had
to do was describe the visible symptoms, and the shaken but joyful
penitent would describe the invisible ones, and Frisson would flip
through his booklet of verses, finding the Symptoms and handing me
the appropriate poems. Some of them were very odd, but they all
worked.

"It's amazing that you can keep coming up with so many verses that
exactly fit the situation," I told him during a lull.

He shrugged. "When the inspiration seizes me, Master Saul, I write
what it will have me scribble; I do not think of its use. Natheless,
I cannot help but think that this must be very poor poetry, if it
comes so readily, and is so utilitarian."

You've been listening to the critics too much," I grumbled. "Take
a look at your impact instead."

And we started out on the road again, with me wondering who was
the really important person in this party.

They came in groups of four and five, and by the second day, they
were showing up every four hours or so. In spite of anything Gilbert
or I might say, Friar Ignatius always insisted on stopping to hear
confession. "Aught else," he told me, "would be to forswear my vows.
I must not turn away a single sinner; 'tis a part of my vocation to
reconcile them with God."

"My vocation is staying alive, and it's definitely a part of that
to dethrone the queen," I retorted. "In the long run, that will save
a great number more souls! The more often you stop, the longer it
will take us to get to her capital, and the longer she'll have to
gather her forces and fortify her castle-not to mention preparing an
ambush with overwhelming power!"

Friar Ignatius shook his head serenely. "You still think in terms
of this world, Master Saul, and fail to see that this battle will
most truly be won in the domain of the spirit."

"That may be, Reverend, but a hail of spears and arrows in this
world can very effectively prevent us from joining battle in the
next."

"It shall not," he assured me, with amazing authority, "for the
strength that underlies those spears and arrows is the power of
evil.

If we counter that fell force, the spears will never be
thrown."

I would have argued, but the man had so confounded much charisma
that for the life of me, I couldn't think of a comeback. I thought
one up ten minutes later, of course, but it didn't do much good then.
I saved it for our next argument, but he had a comeback for my
comeback, and hit me with one more argument that I couldn't think up
an answer to just then. That was the way our exchanges went, all the
way to the capital-I was always one answer behind him.

And it was driving me crazy, because our progress was slowing to
ten miles a day.

"Is it my mistake," I asked Frisson, "or are we running into the
whole harvest of the Gremlin's epidemic of witch diseases?"

"It may be," Frisson said slowly, "or it may be simply that those
who are ill and in terror of death and Hellfire have begun to hear of
you and have come to seek you out. Those who fell ill would never
have thought to attempt to survive, if they had not heard of your
work; they would have died in despair, forgetting that they could
repent. " I stared. "Come on! Word can't have spread that fast!"

"You underestimate the power of rumor," he returned. "Yet there is
another explanation."

"Probably much more believable."

Frisson shrugged. "The witches were bound to Suettay's service by
their demonic master, and I would hazard the guess that some of the
power that maintained them came from her. Now, though, the land has
begun to rise against her, and she has withdrawn the power that
upheld them, gathering all her strength unto herself, for her final
battle with you."

"Just what I wanted to hear," I muttered, "that she'll be worse
than ever, next time I meet her.', "It is a compliment, in its way,"
Frisson assured me.

"Then I think I could use a few insults. Well, let's move on."

We did, but they kept coming. I hadn't really registered the fact
that the whole bureaucracy here had been corrupted-or recruited from
corrupt individuals, all having sold their souls to Satan. And of
course, it took a lot of people to run a completely oppressive
totalitarian regime. They came in all shapes and sizes, some of them
young, some even young and beautiful, but most middle-aged or just
plain aged. Frisson explained it to me.

"Most despair late in life," he told me. "Till the middle of their
lives, they cling to the notion that God will give them worldly
success of one sort or another-whether they deserve it or not-even if
it be nothing more than the kind regard of other folk. But when they
do look back on their lives and realize that nothing has come of
their attempts to live virtuously, that they have not gained fame or
love, many then do turn 'gainst God in bitterness and swear
themselves to the Devil's service, if he will give them some
advantage over their fellows while they live,"

"And they stop aging", "Their bodies, aye. Few think to have their
lost youth back, and Satan will not give it to most who ask, for he
has their souls already; they yearn so strongly for power or wealth
that they will sell themselves to him even without the inducement of
youth or beauty. But some are tempted by no other lure than
that-though once corrupted, they turn to greed for power and wealth
quite easily, even to the illusion of strength that comes from
deliberate cruelty."

To me, of course, all this was just part of the massive
hallucination in which I found myself. But even in my terms, I was
beginning to understand that "selling your soul" could be more than a
metaphor, or even a literary image; it represented dedicating
yourself totally to yourself, to the gratification of your own drives
and urges, to getting what you wanted no matter what it took, no
matter who you had to hurt or betray or grind down-and no matter who
you had to flatter, or whose boots you had to lick. No matter,
indeed-you planned on getting back at them when you'd climbed over
their dead bodies to get their power. It made me shudder: I knew too
many people like that, even in my own world.

Not that any of our successful treatment cases were any great
argument for youth culture. There were a few women who must have
looked really beautiful before they were hit by the smallpox that
brought them to us-or the cancer, or the mild stroke-and there were a
few men, too, who still looked so good, even in the grip of
tuberculosis or syphilis, that they made me think of Dorian Gray. But
after they repented and recanted, they looked more like his
picturefor a few minutes. Then they aged rapidly, very rapidly.
Fortunately, the pretty ones usually made it out of sight before they
collapsed.

The others just turned to dust right before our eyes. It made me
shaky, I can tell you.

Most of them, though, just confessed and came over for healing,
which we usually managed before they'd aged too badly. Then they went
their way, jubilant if old and ugly. Beauty didn't matter to them
much by then-they knew they didn't have long to live and were only
interested in making amends.

Gilbert and I started getting very tired of fighting crabs, though
fortunately the giant crustaceans didn't get any smarter. Gruesome
didn't, either, but he developed quite a taste for crunching shells.
He almost developed a taste for shellfish, period, but I managed to
stop him in time and get him to realize that whatever the crabs had
been doing inside the sick people, they were apt to do inside
Gruesome.

He started getting really angry at them then, with very salutary
results.

Actually, I had to admire the repentant witches for their
courage.

To haul themselves for a week's stumbling journey, or more, took a
lot of determination in itself, even if most of them did use the
tatters of their authority to press peasants into giving them rides;
some even managed to intimidate the gentry into express trips with
horse-drawn vehicles. Some had to come on foot, though, and they
did-but no matter how they traveled, they made the journey with their
private demons hounding them every inch of the way. It must have
taken enormous grit-though the fear of Hellfire may have helped
there.

The devils never showed themselves to anybody but the remorseful
witches, though, after those first few encounters with my guardian
angel. They knew that, as soon as one of the Heavenly Host stepped
into the picture, they were bound to lose.

So the devils' only real chance of keeping the frightened witches
to their contract was to intimidate them into staying away from
priests and healers-or to hit them with so much despair that they
would figure they couldn't possibly be forgiven, or had no way out of
the contract, that they were going to Hell and there was nothing, but
nothing, they could do about it. I suppose that worked on quite a few
of them, but of course we never saw any. We heard about it, though,
from the ones who lasted.

The witches weren't the only ones who showed up. The first
nonoutlaw volunteer showed up our second morning. All he carried was
a flail and a pack of journey rations, but he looked grim and told us
he had come to fight the queen. Turned out the local warlock had
ruined his family with taxes, debauched his sisters, and driven
himself and his parents into living in a shelter that was basically a
large basket, working from sunup to sundown to pay the taxes he
claimed they still owed-and they didn't dare fight back.

"With you, however, I dare," he told me. "I may die, but I will at
least bring down a soldier of evil before I do."

" 'Twas not the fear of death that held your arm, then?" Gilbert
demanded.

"Nay, but the thought that my death would accomplish nothing, What
have I to live for? But I would die for a purpose!"

"Come with us," Gilbert said.

There were three more waiting at the outskirts of the next
village.

By evening, two more groups had joined us.

After that, they came in constantly. At every traffic circle,
every milestone, there was another group of three or four, waiting to
join us with scythes, flails, and stony expressions. Gilbert
cross-examined them while Frisson muttered spells that tested them
for truth. We found a few ringers, sent in by Suettay's ministers to
infiltrate us, of course. They didn't last long.

"Don't kill him!" I shouted as a dozen peasants fell on the
spy.

"You can't fight evil with evil-you'll just be selling out to
it!"

But the spy pulled out a knife as long as your arm and lunged at
the nearest peasant, shouting a spell. The knife took the peasant in
the chest, and the spell sent the rest of them writhing on the ground
in agony.

Gilbert stepped in and chopped the man's head off.

After that, I didn't argue.

The next day, a peasant came in, doffed his cap, and showed us his
tonsure. This time it was Friar Ignatius who did the cross
examination, including handing the man a crucifix and listening to
him say the Apostles' Creed. He passed the test, then helped hear
confessions. The next day, another showed up, and by the end of the
week, we had six monks. They saw the chance to unseat Suettay and
came to add the strength of their prayers to our magic and Gilbert's
army. Friar Ignatius assured me that they would multiply our effects
tenfold. Given the crazy set of natural laws at work-or should I say,
supernatural-I didn't doubt him.

Then a peasant showed up, wild-eyed and white-lipped. "They come,
my masters, they come!"

"What do you speak of, man?" Gilbert grasped the man by both
shoulders, holding him still. "Who comes?"

"The Army of Evil!" he cried. "Footmen and knights! There are too
many to count, and they have two sorcerers to strengthen them!

My ragtag army broke into a hullabaloo-but I didn't see anybody
who looked like running. They were all grim, most eager-even a few
who were trembling with fear but determined.

There were only a few hundred of them, though.

"How many is 'too many to count'?" I asked Gilbert.

"For a peasant?" He shrugged. "It could be a few hundred, or many
thousand." He turned back to the man. "Were they on the road?"

"Aye! I heard them coming afar off and hid in the bracken to
watch! They came on and on and on, four abreast! I waited till they
passed, counted as high as I could, yet still they came on!"

Gilbert nodded. "How long was it till they passed?"

"How long?" The peasant looked startled; he hadn't really thought
about it.

"As long as it takes you to go from your hovel to your field' Or
as long as a Mass?"

"Between." The peasant's brow furrowed. "Not so long as the Mass,
but longer than the journey to my field."

"A thousand at least." Gilbert released him. "You have done
well.

How have you managed to come to us before them? "

"They go by the road. I know the land and have come across the
fields. They march; I ran."

Gilbert nodded. "They will be here within the hour, surelyprobably
far sooner. You have done well, fellow. Go whet your scythe among the
others; we will need it to be sharp ere long."

"I will!" Battle lust gleamed in the youth's eye-enough to make me
shudder. He hurried away to join the others.

I stepped into a quick huddle with Frisson, Gilbert, and Friar
Ignatius. "We knew this was coming, I suppose."

Aye," Frisson said, looking as scared as a cat who has used up
eight lives. "We set out to march 'gainst the queen, did we not?

"And we knew we would face her army, soon or late," Gilbert
said.

"In truth, 'tis amazing they have not come upon us before; I have
expected them with each nightfall."

"Nightfall?" I looked around. "Yeah, it's almost sunset, isn't
it?"

"Assuredly," Friar Ignatius said. "The Army of Evil is at its
strongest in the hours of darkness."

"So we have to hit them hard and fast and roll them up before
night." I looked around at our peasant encampment, frowning.

"You have an idea," Frisson stated.

"Well," I said, "if they're being so polite as to come straight
down the road, they must be expecting an ambush, mustn't they?"

"They would not fear it," Gilbert said grimly, "not with their
numbers."

I nodded. "All the more reason to give them what they're
expecting. What's the best kind of ambush you could prepare under the
circumstances, Gilbert? " The squire frowned, thinking for a few
minutes, then turned away to the peasants. "Ho! How many among you
can strike a bird on the wing with a sling?"

"I," a dozen men said at once, and fifty more were only half a
beat behind them. By that time, all the rest caught up, and the word
"I" rolled through the whole camp.

Gilbert nodded, satisfied. "So I had thought; small birds are the
only game that is not forbidden to a peasant." He raised his
voice.

"Seek out sling-stones, and be sure your pouches are full! Then
get you up into the trees on either side of the road, and hide you
well!"

The excited murmur rose to a surf roar as the peasants got busy
hunting up pebbles.

"Good idea." I nodded. "Put them where the troopers can't come to
grips with them."

"Aye," Gilbert said darkly, "but they are sure to have archers. It
would take but a volley or two to fell all my men."

I/Oh, I think we can provide them some measure of protection.

just have a squad ready to block the road in front of them. That's
where it's apt to get messy."

Frisson stared. "What manner of protection can you craft
thus?"

"An invisible shield," I said. "Let them batter themselves against
it and wear themselves out."

"A good thought!" Gilbert looked surprised. "Whence came that
notion, Master Saul,"' "Oh, just a kind of fable I heard once." I
didn't think I should try explaining about television and toothpaste
commercials.

"But not for long." Frisson looked disappointed. "Surely their
sorcerer will dissolve it."

"Yes," I said, "but we could build a wall within a wall within a
wall.

Now Frisson looked startled. "That could hold-yet not long enough
for the whole of the battle."

"Yes, but I think it'll keep their sorcerer busy long enough for
us to get the drop on them."

Frisson frowned. " 'Get the drop""

"Take them by surprise," I said. "Sneak in an extra punch. Gain an
advantage. "

"All!" Frisson nodded. "And how shall you do that?"

"Too complicated to explain. I'll have to show you-after we've
finished making the shield." I turned away. "So let's get busy-we
need to stake out a very long perimeter."

it turned out we had just the boys for the job; somebody ran and
borrowed a plow, and Gruesome pulled it -,vhile another fellow
guided, following Gilbert. He paced off a line five hundred feet
long, which didn't seem like enough for an army that took fifteen
minutes to walk past, but he assured me they'd all come cramming in
at the first sign of action. When they had plowed up one side of the
road and down the other, then across to make an H, I took a verse
Frisson had started some time before, but that had stayed in my mind
rather oddly-probably because the rhythm of its meter was the kind of
thing you can't get out of your mind for an hour, and when you do, it
keeps coming back. I had scrounged up six feet of string while they'd
been plowing, and now I sat down by the camp fire and wove a cat's
cradle while I chanted:


    "From this furrow, let there rise
    A wall unseen, invisible
    But proof against the foeman's cries
    And weapons, but divisible
    By all my allies, who may pass
    When outward bound. Be as mica,
    Or a sheet of one-way glass,
    Hard but clear to light, or like a
    Membrane semipermeable,
    Warding stench and halitosis,
    Admitting none, though unseeable.
    Let objects out, though, like osmosis!"


I didn't like working magic myself, mind you, hallucination or
not-but these were concepts Frisson just didn't have. He was helping
with the weaving, though, so I didn't have to admit it was all my
doing.

"I see naught." Gilbert was peering anxiously into the
darkness.

"Of a certainty," Frisson said, grinning. "He said it would be
invisible, did he not? But look yonder!" He pointed up at the stars.
"See you not how they twinkle?"

Stars do ever twinkle! They forever have!"

"Aye, but growing larger and smaller? Surely there is something
between them, like to the haze that rises from a hot rock in
midsummet!

Well, he had the concept, anyway. Call it what you will, a force
field is a force field.

"Now comes the tricky part." I put my hands together and dropped
the cat's cradle. "Gilbert, send men out to charge the wall and see
if it's still there."

Suddenly, the squire looked scared. He turned to the peasants.

"Ho, Willem! Kurt! Baden! Take you each a band of men, and set out
for the furrow!"

They did, not asking.

I turned to Frisson. "When did he learn their names?"

As soon as they came in," Frisson answered. "I do not think he
knows them all by name, but he has picked out the leaders, and
certainly knows each of them."

I decided the Father-General had sent me a live one. Not bad, for
an eighteen-year-old kid.

The peasants went out-and came back real fast, looking
spooked.

They conferred with Gilbert in low voices. He nodded, satisfied,
and came back to me. "The wall holds. Kurt was able to leave it, but
not to come back."

"Good," I said. "Send him a hundred men and tell him to send them
up into the trees to either side of the road. They'll have to go
around behind, of course-the invisible wall is rooted all along the
furrow, and if they try to climb in from the road, they'll just
bounce back. Get another fifty men in the trees on this side of the
crosshar, ready to pick off anybody who gets through. Not that I
think anybody will, you understand-but just in case. Keep another
fifty ready to charge out between us and them, and the rest hidden in
the forest ready to pounce."

"And what of the sorcerer, Master Saul?" Frisson asked.

"You saw that sculpture I was just making with the string?"

"Aye, though I would not term it art." Frisson frowned.

"Make up your mind whether you're an artist or a critic, will
you?

Okay, we'll call it a model. Have you ever played the two-person
version? "

"Aye, when I was a child."

"Well then, let's get childish." I picked up the string and
started weaving. "Here's how it goes

The army came marching down the road, singing a deep baritone
chant that somehow reeked of menace. We sat in the road ahead of
them, our hearts in our mouths, Frisson taking the cat's cradle from
me with trembling fingers. Gilbert stood behind us, ostensibly
watching the road, actually ready to signal his stingers. He was
netvous, too, but he had said he was more worried about some hothead
striking too early than about his own safety.

The vanguard saw us, raised a shout, and came running.

Gilbert waited until they were only fifty feet away from the
furrow lowed across the road, the pounding of their boots filling the
night, p before he signaled.

A hail of stones shot out of the trees to each side of the road.
Then fifty peasants pounded out into the road between us and the
oncoming soldiers, and started slinging.

Howls of anger and pain erupted from the army, but the soldiers in
front bellowed in rage and charged down on our bodyguard. Their
halberds swung down ...

... and bounced off a surface they couldn't sec.

They bounced hard; most of the weapons struck their owners, or the
men behind. They bellowed again, but this time, there was as much
fear as anger in the sound.

Their mates, back along the road, loosed a volley of arrows at the
trees along each shoulder. The arrows darted up ...

... and bounced.

They fell back, but they fell hard, with almost as much velocity
as they'd had when they hit; it was a resilient invisible wall. So
the points scratched and pierced soldiers, not peasants. The soldiers
howled in surprise and alarm-and another hail of sling-stones fell on
them, striking on foreheads and temples, denting helmets and breaking
collarbones. Soldiers fell with shouts of pain. More of them fell in
total silence, out cold.

The sorcerer reared up in their middle, shouting a chant and
making passes.

I took the cat's cradle from Frisson. He stuck his thumb up in the
middle, and I chanted,


    "Blest be the tie that binds
    That man who'd work us ill,
    By sore'rous spells unkind.
    Now, let his tongue be still!"


As I finished the last line, I pulled the strings tight,
imprisoning Frisson's thumb.

The sorcerer's chant ended in a frantic yell, as something
invisible pinned his arms to his sides. He struggled to free himself,
tripped over a fallen soldier, and rolled on the ground, squalling
and bellowing, inarticulate.

"Why can he not chant?" Frisson asked, huge-eyed.

"Because I paralyzed his tongue," I answered. "Hear how his
yelling keeps making vowels sounds? He's trying to chant a spell, but
he just can't form the consonants."

I kept the pressure on Frisson's thumb, only letting up a little
when it started turning blue. I waited, grinding my teeth, till the
yelling and rattle and clatter had diminished and turned into
groaning.

"They are all down," Gilbert told me. "Shall I send men among them
to kill those who still live?"

Still live! I hadn't stopped to think that those sling-stones had
probably killed a fair number, not just knocked them out. "No," I
said, then cleared my throat to stop my voice shaking. '/No, it's
more important that we get to the capital. Besides, most of them are
just peasant boys who were pressed into the army against their
wills.

They will probably be more than glad to run on home if they have
the chance."

"Like enough," Gilbert agreed, "but to have that chance, the
sorcerer must die."

The words hit my stomach hard enough to make it sink to my boots,
but I knew he was right. Leave the man alive, and he'd just rally the
remains of his army to strike at our backs. "Couldn't we give him a
chance to repent,"' "Aye, but even so, we must kill him then. If we
do not, he will likely renew his bargain with Satan as soon as we are
out of sight."

I knew he was right, but I still hated to give the go-ahead. "If
we kill in cold blood, we've started selling our own souls to
Satan."

"That is true of slaying the peasant soldiers," Gilbert said
inexorably, "but it is not true of their master. The knight and the
sorcerer must die, or they may find a way to murder us all."

"Yeah, I know you're right." I sighed. "Take Friar Ignatius and a
dozen men to guard him. And pass the word when you've got the
sorcerer hog-tied, so I can let up on Frisson's thumb."

Gilbert stared at the imprisoned digit, then said, "You are truly
amazing, Master Saul, and Master Frisson, too."

"Only because we don't do things the way we're supposed to," I
told him. "It throws everybody off stride-and makes 'em madder 'n
Hell when it works. Go send somebody to Purgatory, Gilbert."

He did.

That wasn't the last army we faced, of course, but it was the
easiest.

The next army got crafty and surrounded us on all four sides
before it marched in chopping. But we had the best intelligence in
the country-a couple of dozen local peasants I who knew the terrain
as well as they knew their dinner bowls. They came in unbidden, with
exact details of troop placement and strength-so when the army
swooped in on our camp, all they hit were a couple of hundred
simulacra that turned back into sticks of wood at the first
sword-stroke.

Then our tree-top peasants cut loose with their stings, and the
archers barely got off one volley before they were all felled by
flying pebbles. Of course, their sorcerers had dispelled my invisible
shield before they even charged, so we did lose a dozen men-but they
lost two thousand.

The third army tried to draw us into a trap by having a dozen
pretty maidens doing a fertility dance involving taking off their
clothes in the moonlight, but Friar Ignatius and his fellow monks
went through the camp quickly, telling the peasants in no uncertain
terms that in this case, at least, feminine pulchritude really was a
wile of the Devil. Our men kept ranks and marched on by, to the great
indignation of the young ladies, who yelled catcalls and insults
after them-until Frisson and I finally managed a spell that showed
them as they really were, without the demonic cosmetic spells.

When our peasant boys got a sight of the naked, withered old hags
and young but very ugly girls they really were, they all shuddered,
looked away, and praised Friar Ignatius at the tops of their
voices.

The army charged out in pursuit, of course, but they weren't
really trying-they knew they didn't have a chance. They were right,
tooFrisson and I changed the ground in front of them to bog, and they
all floundered down in the mire. Their sorcerers firmed the ground up
fast, of course, but they forgot to pull their men out first, and
most of them were trapped hip-deep in hardpan. A few unlucky ones
were completely underground, but I think their mates dug them out.
They didn't have anything better to do, after all-our army was long
gone.

Besides, we were two thousand strong by that time, with more
coming in every night-and older peasants constantly bringing in
baskets of provisions. I was having nightmares, remembering the
peasants of the First Crusade and all the burglaries they had
committed on the way to Constantinople, trying to keep themselves
fed. I talked to Gilbert about it, and he understood immediately. He
set up a system of command ranks, making each officer or NCO
responsible for the conduct of his men. Then he appointed a few MPs,
to patrol the perimeter of the vast mob and check to see if anyone
was getting out of line. A few did; he expelled them from the troop
and left them to the tender mercies of the peasants they'd
robbed.

Because a mob it was, even with Gilbert's impromptu chain of
command. There wasn't time to drill them, but he did manage to get
across the idea of marching in order, teaching his officers a few
marching songs to help. Frisson grew very thoughtful, was seized with
inspiration, and dashed off a few poems that he then proceeded to
sing to Gilbert. Gilbert loved them, gave them to the officers, and
we marched along singing. They could hear us a mile away, but we
weren't exactly any big secret, anyway.

After the second day of orderly marching, Gilbert was beginning to
look worried. I took him aside and asked why.

"They have not attacked again," he told me. "Surely the Army of
Evil does not intend to let us pass unchallenged!"

"Haven't you heard what your men are singing?" I asked.

He frowned. "Aye, but what has that . . ." There he broke off,
turning to stare out at his army as they marched past, singing:


    "Sons of Might and Magic,
    Will you let this tragic
    Moment pass from history?
    Hearts that know uniqueness,
    Will you let this weakness
    Daunt you with its mystery?
    onward, onward! Never shall the foe
    Dare come near, as in serried ranks we go!
    All step as one, unbending!
    Strength wells up, unending!
    Enemies shall distant be!
    Never shall we tire
    Until this sovereign dire
    Shall be hanging from a tree!"


"Why, they dispel attack!" Gilbert cried.

I nodded. "it would take an awful lot of black magic to squelch
that much enthusiastic spell casting. On top of which, they're giving
themselves constant energy input, and keeping themselves in
order."

"Amazing, Wizard!"

"Yes, isn't he?" I nodded at Frisson. "But don't try to convince
him of it; he thinks he's just writing what comes to him."

Still, I worried. Two thousand enthusiastic peasants were good
protection on the march and could be very useful for general
brawlingbut they weren't going to stand a chance against disciplined,
professional troops.

Which was exactly what we saw, when we came up to the top of the
ridge that overlooked the capital. There it lay, a half-mile-wide
town with a river flowing through it and a huge castle on the hill in
its center. It had a high, thick wall all around it, and between the
wall and us, a solid band of troops a hundred yards thick.

We stared, appalled, and I whispered, "How are we going to get
through this?



Chapter Thirty


"Surely we have strong enough numbers to force a passage." But
Frisson didn't sound too sure.

"We have not," Gilbert assured him. "They outnumber us by five
soldiers of theirs for every one of ours, at the least-and theirs are
trained and seasoned veterans, whiles ours are boys who have come
straight from the plow. "But our men believe in our cause!"

"And these soldiers believe in the profit they shall gain by
victory," Gilbert returned.

"Surely the love of money is not so strong as the will to be
free!"

"Perhaps not-but when 'tis coupled with skill and strength, it
will suffice." Gilbert turned a grim face to me. " 'Tis for you to
say, Master Saul. What may we do?"

"Why," I said slowly, "we'll just have to find some soldiers who
are even better than they are."

Gilbert smiled bleakly. "Well thought, if we could find such so
quickly. Yet even if we could, we would need very many, for greater
skill and strength mean little, in the end, 'gainst such
numbers."

"Not entirely true." I was thinking of Crecy and Agincourt.
"Besides, we don't have to wipe out the whole army-just force our way
through to the gates and knock them open."

"And how shall we do that?"

"It was one of the first verses Frisson wrote, and I've been
saving it for just such an occasion."

The poet looked up, startled. "Which ... Oh! My angry verse
Igainst the walls built by wealth and might, to pen the poor!"

"Yes, and the refrain about tearing down the walls-I think you
even made some references to Joshua and Jericho."

"I can only trust in you for such," Gilbert said slowly, "but if
you say it, Master Saul, I am sure it shall be done."

My heart sank. I hated the idea of having people depend on me-it
resulted in responsibility, and responsibility involved
commitment.

But there wasn't much choice, now.

A shout went up from my "army." Looking up, I saw a double file of
soldiers coming over the ridge a quarter of the way around the
valley, at least a mile distant, with knights at their head and rear.
Their armor and weapons clashed and clattered, and their chanting
came to us faintly over the distance too faintly to make out the
words, but I went cold at the sight of them. "Just what we need-enemy
reinforcements!

"And more coming in all the time, I doubt not." Frisson said, very
nervously. "What e'er we are to do, Master Saul, 'twere best if
'twere done quickly."

"Yet where are we to find these skilled soldiers you spoke of,"'
Gilbert asked-and, with a sardonic smile, "Have you a receipt for
such an one?"

" 'Receipt'?" I frowned-then I remembered that it was an old word
for "recipe." I could feel inspiration strike-or in this case,
memory, of an evening watching Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience. My
grin grew. "Yes, now that you mention it, I do." And I began to
pantomime taking ingredients off shelves and mixing them in a bowl,
as I recited:


    "If you want a receipt for that popular mystery
    Known to the world as a Heavy Dragoon,
    Take all the remarkable people in history,
    Rattle them off to a popular tune."


I proceeded to do so, running quickly through the first verse, and
putting in a quick chorus:


    "Take of these elements all that is fusible,
    Melt them all down in a pipkin or crucible,
    Set them to simmer and drain off the scum,
    And a heavy dragoon is the residuum!"


"Aye, guy'nor!" a beery voice said two feet above my head.

My buddies drew back with a moan, looking up. Even Gruesome
muttered with nervousness.

There he was, chestnut stallion and all-six feet plus of
resplendent dress uniform and ferocious mustache.

"Just in time!" I grinned. "Assault the enemy-they're down below
you! Cut me a way through to the gates of the city!"

"As you sye, Capting!" the dragoon bellowed, wheeling his horse
toward the nearest footman. "God save the Queen!"

And he rode full-tilt down the slope and into Suettay's infantry,
laying about him with his saber. Gilbert shouted and galloped to back
him up.

I would have, too, but I knew the enemy was too many for only
three men and a troll, even if one of those men was a dragoon. I
signaled Gruesome to wait, and before Gilbert even hit the first
rank, I chanted: "Let us have a thousand like him!

Appear here now, his taste to cater!

Multiply him; thousandfold, By ditto, Spirit Duplicator!"

They appeared with a huge shout, charging after their prototype
with flourishing sabers, and slammed into the enemy with a crash like
the meeting of two tidal waves. Gilbert churned back out of the
press, looking dazed. Somewhere at the front, a joyous Cockney voice
bellowed, "Just like Waterloo!"

Gilbert came panting up along their back trail. "They have no need
of me. A most amazing company, Master Saul!"

"Sure are." I grinned. "Forward the heavy brigade!"

The enemy soldiers were trying to rally their men, but the
explosions of the dragoons' muskets had them spooked. They drove into
the press, clearing the way in front with musket blasts, then
widening the path with their sabers. Pole arms reached for them,
pikes stabbing and halberds slashing, but the dragoons mowed through
the shafts as if they'd been butter, and their horses struck out with
steelshod hooves. A few arrows found their marks, and a few dragoons
fell, but not many.

Then, suddenly, they were almost to the gate. The press of
dragoons began to part, leaving a clear path paved with fallen
pikes.

"Time to move," I pointed out, and Gruesome bellowed and waddled
forward. I turned to Gilbert. "Let's go!" He bawled to our
peasants.

The dragoons cleared before us to my shouted commands, and
Gruesome plowed through to take the point with Gilbert just behind
and to his right, a dragoon just behind and to Gruesome's left. They
bored into the enemy army like a diamond bit, fire and armor, and the
dragoons carried away the military detritus they churned up. It as a
mad quarter hour, with the enemy pulling back from Gruesome's roars
and teeth and trying to cut in from the sides, only to meet Gilbert's
and the dragoons' blades, before the dragoons pulled in to chew them
up. My head filled with shouting and the clash of steel ...

Then, suddenly, we were through, with the city gates in front of
US.

I pulled out Frisson's poem and chanted,


    "Really break, locks!
    And really break, bolts!
    And really break, gate that we come nigh!
    And as we come to this double door,
    'Twill break itself quite handing-ligh!"


The wood began to crumble even before I'd finished. Splinters
shredded loose, then kindling-size chunks, as gravel began to fall
from the great stone blocks to either side.

The Army of Evil let out a huge roar and crowded in behind us and
on all sides.

The peasants were in the center, shielded by eight hundred
surviving dragoons, and the medieval footmen weren't making much
progress against the case-hardened steel and flashing hooves of the
Victorian heavy cavalry-but for every one my horsemen killed, three
more popped up in his place. Dragoons went down-slowly, but steadily.
They chopped and stabbed frantically, desperately outnumbered. The
stones of the walls were flaking, but slowly; glancing back, I was
seized with the sudden overwhelming fear that the soldiers of
corruption would wipe us out before the wall crumbled. I turned,
pulling out my clasp knife for whatever it was worth, and readied
myself for a last-ditch fight.

Then, suddenly, a howl of fear and disgust erupted in the
distance.

"What comes?" Frisson gasped.

"If it can affront such soldiers of sin," Gilbert said, blanching,
"how can we stand against it?"

But Gruesome, looking out over the field from several more feet of
height, rumbled, "Old ones come."

"Old ones?" I frowned; it didn't make sense.

Then I began to hear the wailing that overrode the cries of
disgust, a wailing that came closer and closer as the wall above
turned into a trickle of sand-closer and closer, until I could make
out words.

"The Witch Doctor! Where is the Witch Doctor? Bring us to the
Witch Doctor.

"Witch doctor?" I turned to Frisson, staring.

The poet shook his head. "I know naught, Master Saul. I have never
heard of such a thing."

"Well, I've heard of it," I allowed. "A witch doctor is a
pejorative term for an African shaman, a sort of combination priest
and physician ... "

My peasant army parted with cries of fear, pressing back against
the dragoons and their horses, who were chopping gleefully at an
enemy who was shrinking away. A channel opened through my plowboys,
and down that corridor stumbled a pack of people horribly disfigured
by disease, some doubled over with pain, some limping on crutches,
but led by a dozen or more people with missing fingers, missing
hands, missing forearms, hobbling because of missing toes or
feet.

"Lepers!" Gilbert gasped.

And they cried, "Bring us to the Witch Doctor! We repent, we
abjure our witchcraft! We will no longer serve Satan! But bring us to
the priest who will shrive us, and the Witch Doctor who will heal
us!"

"We don't have a witch doctor!" I bleated. "No Africans at
all!

Maybe there's one in the city-I wouldn't know."

"But the priest, we have." Friar Ignatius stepped forward, and his
monks came up behind him with very purposeful strides.

"Friar!" I yelped. "We're in the middle of a battle!"

"Then we shall help you win it!" a tall, decaying man cried. "We
have magical powers no longer, but only shrive us, and we shall throw
our bodies against their swords!"

"I don't think they'll let you get close enough to stab." I eyed
them askance, then turned to Friar Ignatius. "But they might die
laughing.

Brother, can you spare some time? Some way to keep it down to a
minute or two?"

"Certes." Friar Ignatius stepped in front of me, calling out,
"Kneel, those of you who can!

Gruesome pointed over the ex-witches' heads, rumbling, "Sojers
come!

"Of course! The contagious cases opened a clear path for them!" I
groaned. "The wicked warriors are filling it in!"

"Do you all repent your evil works," Friar Ignatius cried.

The answer rolled forth from a hundred throats: "Aye!"

"Not queen's sojers," Gruesome insisted. "Them fight queen's
sojets."

"Hub?" I looked up, thunderstruck. "Reinforcements for our
side?

But how . . ."

"Never ask." Frisson's fingers bit into my arm. "The Spider King
said he would summon aid."

"Ego te absolvo!" Friar Ignatius cried. "I absolve you of your
sins!"

The ex-witches cheered with joy ...

... and with a roar, the gates collapsed.

Gruesome loosed one last blast and charged into the city, with
Gilbert hard on his claws.

"After him!" I cried. "Nobody will want to get close to you! If
you really want to help, here's your chance!"

The ex-witches cheered again and charged through the gates. It
wasn't a very fast charge, but it was good enough. I wiped a sodden
brow and breathed thanks that I'd managed to shake them.

My peasants shouted triumph and boiled through after the witches,
sweeping Frisson and me along in their wake.

The citizens got out of the way fast, and our bloodthirsty boys
were too bent on revenge to think about looting yet. They ran through
the streets bellowing, Gilbert leading them on toward the huge
turrets that rose ahead. Soldiers appeared in the streets, but they
couldn't muster more than a few dozen, and our plowboys just rolled
over them. I was in the middle of the mob, so I saw the results as I
strode on by-dead peasants, and dead soldiers, some of them trampled.
I ignored them and put them out of my mind. Time enough for remorse
later. There was no way to win a battle without killing men.

But did the battle have to be won?

I remembered how Suettay had tortured Angelique; I remembered the
squad of bullyboys that had tried to beat me up. I remembered the
peasants ground down by the vindictive warlock-bailiff, an I knew,
Yes. Suettay had to go.

Which meant this battle had to be fought.

And I could see, from the hard faces all around me, that all my
peasant men had just such memories to spur them on-many, I suspected,
worse than mine.

Then, suddenly, the walls of the castle were before us, and the
drawbridge was rising. The walls above bristled with the home guard's
pikes, and I knew crossbows were being leveled at us. Worse, I knew
that the army we'd broken through was on its way to take us in the
rear. We had to get into that castle, and get in fast. I had to kill
Suettay before her army caught us.

"Gremlin!" I shouted.

He was there suddenly, obscene and chuckling. "Fear not, Master
Saul. I have rusted the locks of the crossbows; I have blunted the
heads of the arrows. The mortar that holds that wall together is
parched and crumbling, and the great windlass that hauls the
drawbridge chain is crumbling, even as we speak, of dry rot."

Then he was gone, and my peasants started recovering their
nerve.

I locked my knees to keep them from collapsing and reflected that,
occasionally, it's nice to have the Spirit of Snafu around-if he's on
your side.

I heard a distant crack. The drawbridge halted its upward rise,
poised, then came thundering back down.

My army cheered and charged into the gatehouse tunnel. The first
dozen rammed scythe blades into the arrow slits. Screams echoed in
the tunnel behind, and we streamed through into the courtyard with
only a few arrows striking my men.

There, we met Suettay's army, drawn up and waiting.

My men bellowed with joy-at last, a chance to strike out at their
oppressors. They plowed into the army, and in seconds it had turned
into a melee of individual combat. Military discipline didn't amount
to much in that churning mob-and the plowboys turned out to be just
as expert with their scythes as any soldier with a halberd.

Frisson's hand bit into my shoulder. "We dare not tarry, Master
Saul! Valiant though they are, these peasants will be torn to
bitsespecially when the outer army finds them! "

"Right! We've got to hit their central Power source!"

Frisson frowned. "You speak of Suettay?ll "Yeah! She's in there
somewhere! But how do we get to her?

Air shimmered, and the Rat Raiser appeared before us. He became
solid and stumbled, reaching out to catch my arm, steadied himself,
and looked up, a bit wild-eyed. "The king has sent me to take you to
the witch!"

"Good idea!" I turned back to Frisson. "Change us all to
rats!"

"But ... but how are we to-"

"Never mind; let me try!

"Wee, sleekit, slinking, skulking beasties We shall become,
long-tailed and feisty!

Large rats, who scurry off so hasty, in hurrying hassle!

To run and chase through byways nasty, Within this castle!"

Sudden pains wracked me-Burns' revenge, no doubt. My vision
blurred, and I had a dim sight of things growing larger and larger
about me. Then, suddenly, the world stabilized, and there were huge
feet thundering toward me. I shouted with alarm, and raced for the
wall ... only it came out as a squeak, and I was running on all
fours.

Running pretty well, too-but I wasn't thinking very clearly. I was
only aware of my frantic fear.

Then I was up against the wall, and I turned at bay, terror
churning into savagery-but none of the huge feet were anywhere near.
Instead, I saw a bunch of giants duking it out, cutting each other up
with huge knives. it didn't make much sense to me, so I put it out of
my mind; all that mattered was getting to the evil queen, who had
sicced all those cats on us.

Cats?

I looked around, fear of felines stabbing through my entrails. I
relaxed with relief-there were no cats in sight, nor even their
terrible reek.

Reek?

Now that I had a few seconds respite, I realized that I was
wrapped in a world of aromas. For a minute, I was wrapt indeed,
spellbound at the richness and variety of the environment: horse's
sweat, men's sweat, fear scent and battle scent-and under them all,
the huge catalog of ordinary, everyday aromas: this morning's
breakfast, porridge and sausage and river fish; last night's dinner,
roast mutton and black bread; dung and lilacs and birds and more,
more and more. I was dazzled, frozen, entranced ...

... until I recognized the scent of dogs.

Dogs! Dogs chased rats! I was tense with fright in an instant. I
looked around me frantically-but I didn't see any dogs, and I
realized the smell was coming from far away, so I started to
relax.

Until I noticed the two huge rats a few feet away.

I whipped about, turning to run-and saw something long and
hairless. I froze, realizing that it was part of me. I had a
tail!

Then I remembered: I was a rat. Why, I wasn't sure, but that made
it okay to be with other rats. I turned back, and saw one of the
other rats just doing the same thing, only he was quivering. His coat
was dark brown, and he was smaller than the other one, who was huge,
as rats go-I guess. He was also mangy and moth-eaten and scarred,
with patches of fur missing. He was looking at the two of us with
definite contempt.

Suddenly, there was a huge din at the gate. I whirled, heart
beating a mile a minute-and there, high as a mountain, came riding a
knight in black armor, and beside him, a knight who had a sword in
one hand and a stick in the other, mounted on a dragon, an authentic,
actual, fire-breathing dragon! I squealed in terror and huddled back
against the wall.

Then, behind the two knights, came a knight with long golden hair
and a golden circlet around her helmet. Behind her, soldiers and
knights boiled through the gate.

The dragon roared, bellowing a thirty -foot tongue of flame. Enemy
soldiers howled with pain and turned to run. The knights rode after
them, chopping wherever a soldier or enemy knight turned to fight,
and the footmen pounded after them, spreading out and rolling up
Suettay's soldiers.

None of it made sense to me, though -I just cowered, looking
frantically for a hole to hide in. After all, I had no more brain
than a rat.

A stinging blow jolted me out of it, and I turned, instantly
angry-to see the big, mangy rat slapping the smaller brown rat.

Then he whirled back to me, baring his teeth. I hesitated and,
when the big rat saw he had our attention, he squeaked, "Follow!" and
turned to scamper away down the nearest drain.

I followed, numb with the realization that I had understood his
word; he was still speaking human language prebend it. -and I could
still corn

The drain led into a sewer. We scampered through increasing
darkness, lit occasionally by another drain. Then it grew almost
Pitch-black, but I was surprised to see that I could dimly make out
the form in front of me. I remembered there was supposed to be an
other one, and glanced back. Sure enough, the brown rat was still
following.

Then the tunnel opened out, and we were in a sort of round chain
her with other tunnels opening off it. The big rat in front of me was
squeaking up a storm. I edged to the side, so I could see around him,
and realized that he was facing three other rats, almost as mangy and
unkempt as he was-and smelling to high heaven! They regarded us with
eyes that were definitely unfriendly, but that turned almost
worshipful as they turned back to the big rat in front of us. They
squeaked something that must have been assent, because they took off
and led the way into one of the tunnels, single file, and the large
rat followed them.

We followed him. After all, there wasn't much choice.

I found out later that, while we were creeping through the sewers,
the good guys were conquering the capital. Behind them, the citizenry
broke loose in celebration-turns out there weren't very many of them
who'd been happy with the sorceress' rule. In fact, most of hadn't
suffered from her depredations in one way or another.

them had lived in fear and trembling, and there were very few
who

The good guys charged into the keep, their resident wizard
fending

Of course, Suettay wasn't really concentrating-by that time, she
off Suettay's spells with his own.

had other worries: me, and Frisson.

It took us a while to qualify as major headaches, though. First we
had to get done playing catch-the-tail with our leader, that being
the along through drainpipe, crack, and cranny. It was tough going,
but only way we could keep track of him in the total dark, as we ran
our rat bodies seemed built for it.

Finally, we came out into dim light. Looking up, I saw rough rocks
projecting above us in a sort of ladder. I realized later that it was
a tunnel made by a series of cracks inside those walls, and the
"rungs" were the back ends of the stone blocks that made up those
walls. At the moment, I didn't have enough brain power for that, of
course-I just accepted it.

Our guides started hopping nimbly from one projection to another,
just as if they made up a rat's staircase.

My ratty heart quailed, but the big rat got behind me and snarled
and gnashed his teeth, and I jumped.

my breath came harder and harder. Finally, our guides crawled out
Up we went, rock after rock, as my heart beat faster and faster and
onto a sort of shelf and went scurrying away into some more darkness.
Trembling

Thick black closed around us again. I followed the scrabbling of
ng with exhaustion, I followed.

claws ahead. Then, suddenly, a reek hit me, one that went right
through my head. I recoiled, but the big rat behind me snarled, and I
forced myself to go forward again, trembling from sheer fear this
time, not exhaustion. What kind of unearthly smells were these? It
wasn't like the warm, homey effluvium of the sewers, or the musky,
delicious garbage-reek of the other rats, but a nose-searing,
braintearing mixture of smells that cut like saws and stabbed like
needles.

It got to our guide rats, too. They cowered away, quivering-but
between them, I saw the hole between two stones, with ruddy orange
light glowing on the other side.

I cowered away, too-that's where the horrible smells were coming
from.

The big rat behind me squeaked with angry menace. No go; I cowered
harder.

Then a searing pain shot through my behind, just above the tail,
and I shot forward with a squeak of agony. The bastard had nipped me!
I recovered, scrabbling on all claws just short of the hole-but
something soft and massive struck me, and I jammed into the hole with
an outraged squeal.

And I do mean into-it was as tight as a bottleneck around a
cork!

How the heck did the real rats expect me to get through this? But
I stretched, and found that my body suddenly became amazingly
slimmer; my ribs seemed to compress, and it was hard to breathe for a
moment, but with all four sets of claws pushing and pulling, I oozed
through that hole as though I'd been greased.

Out! At last! I leapt aside, to let the next one come out ...

A tearing yowl filled the world, and something huge and reeking
plummeted down at me.

I may not have known that smell, but my body sure did. Cat!



Chapter Thirty-one


I squealed in terror and ran.

The cat yowled with delight and leapt after me. I tried a quick
u-turn around a table leg, doubling back; the cat's claws scrabbled
on the stone, and I dashed for the next table leg and went up it like
a monkey up a tree. The cat spat in fury and leapt up after me,
knocking an alembic to the floor; it shattered, but I was already
running for the other end of the table, squealing in terror. The cat
gave a meow of delight and plunged after me. Beakers and thuribles
tipped and smashed; foul-smelling powders went flying. That slowed
the cat down a little; he sneezed several times, pausing for each. By
the time he got his nose clear, I was back on the floor, dashing for
the protection of a huge caldron. I shot between it and the wall, and
realized that it was hot-there was a fire under it! But the cat was
too angry to care; it shot through right behind me, and yowled in
pain and anger as its tail hit a burning ember.

Any distraction helped! I made another U-turn around the caldron,
hoping the cat would be a little more circumspect about the
circumference. It wasn't; it charged even faster for being all the
hotter.

Broom! And a shelf above it! I dashed up the broomstick. The cat
barreled into it with a snarl, but I leapt a split second before the
broomstick went flying. Up I soared, up and up, front claws
stretching for the shelf, it coming closer and closer ...

... then receding farther and farther. I fell. Panic surged
through me; I writhed in midair, saw the floor coming up at me,
struggled frantically to reach a chair five feet overAnd hit. Hard.
On stone.

I blacked out for a second; my ears rang, then filled with a
yowling that seemed to echo through all the world as the cat pounced.
My vision cleared just in time to see sharp teeth closing on me. Pain
stabbed through the back of my neck; the monster jerked me off the
floor, claws coming up to rip out my belly ...

The cat screamed, and I shot down to the floor again. I was no
fool; I landed running, glancing back ...

... to see the cat streaking after two other rats, with a spot of
blood on his tail.

I felt insanely grateful. I hadn't known a rat could.

These weren't your average rats, of course-they were very, very
smart. just before they got to the stone wall, they split apart,
dashing for opposite corners. The cat slammed on the brakes,
scrabbling to a halt, then paused a second, trying to decide which
rat to chase. She opted for the smaller one.

Definitely, those rats were as smart as humans.

Wait a minute-they were humans! And so was I! My minuscule rat
brain had lost track of that fact while I was being chased! Suddenly,
I remembered that I'd understood the big rat, that it had spoken
human words, If it could, I could, too. There wasn't much room for
memory in that little brain, but it did serve up the couplet I'd
prepared for just this occasion: "See as thou wast wont to see, Be as
thou wast wont to be!"

I couldn't remember the rest, but it didn't seem to matter-two
human beings suddenly shot up from the rubble in the corners, where
the two rats had hidden. The cat tried to pause in midpounce, yowling
frantically, heading right toward Frisson's navel.

He caught it, grinning, then murmured, "Poor tabby!" and stroked
its head.

The cat yowled in total bewilderment and struggled to be free.

The Rat Raiser advanced from the other corner, hands outstretched,
bloodlust in his eye.

Frisson let go, and the cat leapt down, dashing for cover. The
poet stepped in front of the Rat Raiser, holding up a hand. "No! She
was only doing her duty!"

The Rat Raiser narrowed his yellow eyes, lips drawing back to bare
his oversize, yellowed teeth.

"We have other game to hunt!" Frisson scolded. "You are human
again, and cats are the least of your worries!"

The Rat Raiser suddenly looked apprehensive. He looked about him
with quick, furtive glances, then stared, pointing. "There!"

Frisson looked, then turned to lance a finger at me, snapping,


    "See as thou wast wont to see,
    Be as thou wast wont to be!"


The room changed perspective amazingly. The furniture shrank
becoming only tables and chairs instead of a forest again. The cat
dwindled from a monster to a pet. of course, I just barely noticed
this-most of my mind was too busy feeling the pain as I suddenly grew
600 percent. I clenched my teeth against a minute's agony, as my body
stretched upward and filled out, mushrooming. Then only the
after-aches were left, and I was human again. I heaved a shaky sigh
and tried to pull my limp self back together, looking about me,
marveling at the fact that I was still dressed. Come to think of it,
so were Frisson and the Rat Raiser. Maybe the spell had changed our
clothing into fur?

I looked about me, taking in the shattered glassware on the top of
a table that was surely the alchemist's equivalent of a lab bench,
the array of powders and miscellaneous ingredients racked on shelves
against one wall-some of which I was sure I wouldn't want
identified-the fire under the caldron and the stench arising from it,
the long table against the other wall, with Angelique on it ...

Angelique!

She lay strapped down on the table, the marks of torture still
upon her, dress ripped open, the clotted blood still dark in the
center of her poor bruised bosom. The instruments of torture lay
ready, thumbscrews by each hand, the boot open and waiting near her
foot, and it wasn't a table she was strapped onto, it was a rack!

By her head was a small, clear bottle, within which churned a
mint-green mist. My stomach fell-could that be her soul, the ghost
with whom I was so ardently in love?

"We've got to get her out of there!" I was by her side in an
instant, fumbling with the straps on her wrists, but they were
riveted, not buckled. Exasperated, I pulled out my clasp knife and
started sawing. "How do we get her spirit back into her body,
Frisson? " The poet pulled out his sheaf of newest poems and leafed
through them, frowning. He pulled one out and recited,


    "Undivided the sundered rents!
    Unite the disparate elements!
    Churn into a bound Gestalt,
    Mind and spirit, blood and salt!
    Banished ghost, repatriate!
    Soul and corpse, reintegrate!"


Nothing happened.

"Nice try, but no cigar." I sawed at a leather bond. "What else
have you got?"

Frisson flipped through his scraps and pulled out another one.

"Tie the free And holy-day rejoicing spirit down To the
ever-haunting importunity Of business, where it should be bound And
has from birth-its body, lifelong city!"

He oo ed up from the verse and stared.

Nothing happened. The body lay still, the mint mist churned inside
its bottle.

"Pull the cork," the Rat Raiser suggested.

"Of course!" I slapped my forehead with the heel of my hand, then
grabbed the bottle.

It wouldn't move.

"A spell!" I stepped over to the bottle. But I wasn't about to
waste time trying to break it-it didn't matter where the bottle was,
as long as the ghost could get out. I twisted the cork.

It wouldn't twist.

I stuck the tip of my knife in it and levered. Nothing, not even a
chip.

" 'Tis enchanted," Frisson opined. "What luck with her
straps?"

"None at all; the knife doesn't even scar the leather." I looked
Up, frowning. "You mean .. ."

Doors slammed open, front and back, and guardsmen boiled in, hard
hands reaching for us, pikes stabbing, and behind them, Suettay
slammed the door closed, crowing, "Taken! Taken in my trap, like the
rats they are! Slay them, slay them out of hand!"

I grabbed up the boot and threw it at the nearest guardsman; he
fell. The Rat Raiser snapped out of his horrified trance and caught
up broken glassware off the lab table, hurling it at the soldiers. I
fell into fighting stance with my knife, my stomach sinking, knowing
I didn't have a chance, but Frisson was flipping through his
anthology, pulling out a scrap, and chanting,


    "Where are the friends to guard our backs,
    Coming strong, through wind and wrack?
    Where are the hearts who know no peer?
    Marching close! To us be near!
    But where are the friends of yesteryear?"


"Right here!" a muffled voice shouted on the other side of the
door, and the wood turned to powder. A dot of light shot in, so
brilliant that it hurt my eyes, and a voice straight out of a
synthesizer sang, "A rescue! A rescue, friend to friend!"

"Demon!" I cried in delight.

Behind it came Gilbert! And behind him, the Black Knight I'd seen
from a low angle just after I'd turned into a rat. After him strode
the knight with the long blonde hair and the golden circlet-I was
shocked anew to realize she was a woman!-and the blue-robed knight
who had been on the dragon. Outside, a roar filled the antechamber
with flames.

The guardsmen inside cried out in fear.

"It cannot come in!" Suettay sawed the air frantically with her
hands, chanting.

"We are in already!" the Blue Knight snapped, sword stabbing out
at her midriff-but one of her guards snapped out of his funk and beat
down the blade.

All about, the knights were taking on the footmen, chopping down
halberds and smiting down enemies. Sure, there were only three of
them and one squire, but they wore armor. And that confounded dot of
light was swooping from one soldier to another, and each one it
touched just fainted.

"Loose the corpse!" the Blue Knight shouted, and the spark swerved
off to settle on Angelique's bonds.

The Blue Knight disposed of Suettay's bodyguard with a chop and a
thrust, beat him off, and spun to Suettay again, chanting,


    "They that have power to hurt but do help none,
    That do not the thing they most do show,
    Who, hurting others, are themselves as stone,
    Unmoved, cold, and to remorse quite slow."


Suettay froze.

The Blue Knight spun to me. "That won't hold her for long, but
just enough to- Paul!"

I knew the voice, and a second later, the visor snapped up, and I
knew the face. "Matt! What the ... What are you doing here?"

"Saving your bacon, and just incidentally wiping out a depraved
and vicious usurper! My queen had a vision telling her to go help the
Witch Doctor, because he could cure Allustria of witchcraft!"

"Great! Can you find him? The cackling laugh of gloating triumph
snapped me out of my sentimental reunion. I whirled, to see Suettay
holding Angelique's freed corpse by the arm while she pulled a pink
flask out of her robes.

"Fool! 'Twas a captive sprite in the bottle, not the girl's
spirit! Her soul is here-and is now gone!"

"Max!" Matt yelled. "Stop her!"

"How?" the arc-spark sang, but Suettay was chanting something in
that obscene arcane language, making lewd gestures and turning
transparent.

So was Angelique's body.

Frisson shouted out,


    "Five hundred feet of beaten ground
    With walls and towers are girdled 'round.
    Within them, let this queen be bound!
    In a tower will she be found!"


The witch queen disappeared.

Her soldiers cried out in despair, stepped back, and threw down
their weapons. "Mercy! Quarter! Quarter!" I howled.

"I am sorry, sorry!" Frisson cried.

"I could think of at that moment!"

"I had to act, and 'twas all"

"You did very well," Matt assured him. "There wasn't exactly time
for a literature search; at least we know where she is."

"Do we?" The blonde woman stepped up, looking severe. Her voice
was a rich alto. "There are four towers. How shall we know to which
she has gone?"

"Bind them!" the Black Knight snapped to Gilbert, who set about
lashing soldiers with a will. The Black Knight stepped over to
us.

"There are four towers, and four of us. Do we each seek out one
turret! Matthew, take the east-your Majesty, the west, and I'll take
the south." He turned to me. "To you lies the north. Farewell!"

"Right!" Matt charged out the door, with the other two right
behind him.

"Hey, wait a minute!" I yelled after them. "We can get there muc
faster if ... nerts!" I was talking to an empty door frame. I turned
back to Frisson. "Quick! A new verse!"

"An old one!" Frisson flipped, pulled, and handed it to me.
"Cherchez la femme!"

I took the parchment and read the verse.

"Even from her bondage, my lady's voice cries; Even from the
gaol's jaws my frantic heart replies!

I ask, and have-I seek, and find The golden lass who fills my
mind!

I seek, and find-I've sought, and found!

Take me where my true love's bound!"

For some reason, the words held my attention more strongly than
they ever had-this in spite of the frantic crawling fear I had for
Angelique. Somehow, I knew she was in greater peril now than she had
been since the day she had died-but my gaze was riveted to the paper,
holding each word as I read it in a savage contrast of blackest black
and whitest white. I couldn't have torn my gaze away until I finished
chanting it. Then I could, and I did.

Frisson was beside me. We were in a very large room with curving
walls-another laboratory, one far more elaborate than the first-and
there was Angelique's corpse, stretched out on a table, with the
little pink flask beside her rib cage and Suettay bending low over
her, hands outspread and moving in strange patterns as she chanted
slowly in a deep, heavy tone.

Her real laboratory! in a flash, I understood. The other one had
only been stage dressing, a trap to catch me-and I had walked right
into it!

Fortunately, so had Matt and his friends.

Suettay's mumblings were making the air dark with gathering
magical force. I could feel tremendous power brewing all about me; it
made my hair stand on end in more ways than one. It didn't take much
thinking to figure out what she was doing-pushing Angelique's soul
back into her body, but this time, without any chance of escaping.
The instruments of torture stood ready at hand, along with a long,
curving knife.

She was going to sacrifice Angelique all over again!

I snapped out of my daze. If ever I'd needed help, it was now!

But Frisson had beaten me to it. He was already chanting.


    "Come away, come away, Hark to the alarm!
    Come in your war array, Wizard-at-arms!
    Come with companions of magic and might!
    Come with the queen, and your friend the Black Knight!"


just as he finished, so did Suettay.

The magic field seemed to implode with a soundless concussion that
staggered both Frisson and me-and the bottle turned clear, the
corpse's eyes fluttered!

"Why!" I shouted at Suettay. "With a battle raging about you and a
kingdom falling-why stop to torment this one poor girl?"

"Because only thus may I snatch victory from the jaws of
disaster!" Suettay glared at me, a finger spearing out toward my
heartfortunately, ten feet away. "Even now, when I complete the
ceremony, he will grant me power sufficient to hurl you all to
perdition! Beware! " She raised the knife. I shouted, and would have
leapt at her-but just then, Angelique sat up as far as her bonds
would allow, blinking about her, bemused-and I caught my breath. Even
battered and bruised, her face was so lovely that it held me
spellbound. Oh, it was the same face that I'd been seeing all
along-but it was real now, made of flesh and bone, and vivid in a way
her ghost never had been, even in the darkest night.

Suettay screamed with triumph, snapping the knife up high in her
right hand, the left pressing Angelique back down as her scream
turned into a stream of syllables that I couldn't understand, and the
knife swept down ...

Behind me, a voice snapped, "Max! Destroy that knife with a sudden
case of metal fatigue!"

The dot of arc light shot over to the knife, touched it-and as it
slammed into Angelique's ribs, it turned to dust!

Suettay screamed in rage and frustration. She swatted at the arc
light, catching it in a fist-and screamed as the spark tore through
the flesh, shooting out to hover in front of her, spitting, "Foolish
mortal! " Beside me, Frisson was chanting,


    "Come as the winds come, when Forests are rended!
    Come as the waves come, when Navies are stranded!
    Come in your wisdom, scholar audacious!
    Come now to triumph, Friar Ignatius!" 

Suettay screamed in rage and frustration.

The air glittered; then Friar Ignatius was there, stumbling and
reaching out to brace himself against the lab table.

Suettay took one look at him and screamed again.

Sir Guy and Gilbert leapt from behind me to opposite sides of the
table, grabbing Suettay by the arms and shoving her back against the
wall. She shrieked in rage, then shouted a verse, and a million bits
of steel appeared, hovering over her-darts, to hurl at both knight
and squire!

But Matt stepped up beside me, chanting,


    "What whetted vision mocks my waking sense?
    Hence, sharp delusion! Enchanted points, hence!"


The bright field split and started to swoop toward knight and
squire-and disappeared.

Suettay shrieked another verse, hands twisting, fingers writhing,
and Gilbert and Sir Guy cried out, letting go of her and frantically
trying to loosen their armor, which began to glow with heat. Freed,
ph, stretching her arms-but the tall the witch crowed with trium
blonde knight stepped up, slamming her back against the wall and
pinioning her wrists, as Frisson yelled,


    "You must stay the cooling charm,
    Or you may burn out quite!
    Chilled be your metal, hot to warm,
    And cease to give out light!"


Sir Guy and Gilbert groaned with relief and stepped up to help the
blonde knight.

Suettay was on the ropes and she knew it. She screamed another
verse, in anguish ...

And something exploded in the middle of the laboratory. The cloud
of reeking smoke shrank in on itself, and a huge devil stood there,
hurling hot coals at the knights, leveling a giant pitchfork, and
bellowing, "As you have called, my master sends me! Get hence, feeble
mortals! Do not impede this emissary of the King of Evil!

The knights turned as pale as Angelique's ghost and ducked flying
coals, but they stood firm, the blonde crying, "You have no power
over us, minion of evil! Get hence!"

Suettay screamed, thrashing in their hold.

The devil growled and advanced, lifting his pitchfork.

"Angel!" I cried. "If ever you wanted to interfere, now is the
time! Appear! Help! Please!"

" I thought you would never ask, man."

I stared. It was my angel, all right-I recognized the basic face,
the glow, and the wings-but he was dressed in a chambray shirt, blue
jeans, and boots. He had always had long hair, of course, but now he
had a beard, too.

Matt darted a quick, incredulous look at me. I spread my hands and
shrugged.

The hippie-angel grinned, holding up a palm. "Get back where you
came from, pestiferous porter! Go back to Hellmouth, and don't ever
come up here again!"

The devil bellowed in rage, turning its pitchfork toward the angel
and hurling-but the points bounced off the angel's palm, and the
devil convulsed in sudden agony, screaming incoherently as he faded
away.

Suettay cried out, loud and long, but it was a howl of
despair.

"Even now, there is salvation for you." Friar Ignatius stepped up,
reaching out to her.

The angel turned toward them, beaming-literally. His light spread
out a ray toward the witch-queen, but she turned and hissed at him,
and the ray hovered just short of her.

"The grace of God will not be imposed upon they who wish it not,"
Friar Ignatius assured her, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Yet be
assured, even now God will forgive you, and save you from the fires
of Hell."

"Save me? Fool!" Suettay spat. "I have been a queen of witches,
and I shall be a queen in Hell, too! Kill me if you will, for my soul
will not writhe in torment, but quiver in delight at the cruelties it
imposes on those spirits too weak to do great evil!"

"Never believe such a lie!" Friar Ignatius' face turned severe.
"All human souls that go to Hell, go to eternal torment! Satan takes
delight in torturing those he seduces to his realm-delight, though no
joy, which he cannot feel!"

" 'Tis you who lie, pawn of Heaven !" she spat. "Do not seek to
dissuade me-I shall remain true to my master! "

"Turn away from him, I implore you!" Friar Ignatius reached
out.

"Repent while you can!" He touched her arm.

She screamed in rage and pain-he was so pure that his mere touch
sent her into agony. Seeing this, he yanked his hand away, but
Suettay shouted a verse and, with a titanic heave, shook off the
knights. They fell back, but they caught themselves against the wall
and scrambled to their feet, drawing their swords.

But Suett ay was growing, swelling, her form stretching upward,
higher, even as we watched.

The blonde knight shouted and leapt in, sword thrusting-straight
in under Suettay's breastbone, stabbing upward.

The witch screamed, twisting. Then the point must have burst the
reins to her heart, for her eyes dulled, and her body deflated,
shrinking back to its normal size, sagging down over the blade-but
the scream went on and on and on as the body sagged to the floor, too
heavy for the queen of Merovence to hold up. That screai-n turned
into a shriek of triumph, then faded away, crying, "Master! Master! I
come to your reward!"

The chamber was quiet a moment.

Friar Ignatius shook his head, face very sad. "I have lost another
soul, another of God's creations."

"It was not you who lost her, Friar, but herself," Frisson said
quietly. "She was so far gone in false pride that she would not admit
defeat, so saturated in evil that she would not reach out to God's
grace.

She had truly given up belief in goodness or in love, even as
simple fellowship-so there was no one through whom she could reach
out to God, and no one whom she would not wish to torment for her own
twisted pleasure."

"And so dedicated to deceit that she would not see the lie Satan
had foisted on her as blandishment." Friar Ignatius nodded
heavily.

Then, distant, faint, but very clear, a scream rang out, rang
through all that reeking chamber, through each of our minds, making
our hearts sink, for it was Suettay's voice in agony so intense that
it shook me to the core-agony, but with the shock of betrayal. It was
a scream that seemed to go on and on, and hadn't slackened a bit as
it faded from our hearing-and, I suspected with dread, would go on
for eternity.

it seemed still to ring through us for a very long time, but the
room had actually been quiet for several minutes before I looked up
at my guardian angel and said, in a last feeble attempt at protest,
"Eternity is a very long time."

He nodded sadly. "Yes, Paul. It is."



Chapter Thirty-two


"Look," I said, "you didn't have to show up as a hippie. Who do
you think you're kidding, anyway?"

I caressed Angelique's hand while I said it, though. She sat
beside me in the courtyard-anything to get away from the stench of
that laboratory-eyes glowing, head resting on my shoulder. She'd been
in a great deal of pain when she "woke"-not the sharp pains e'd
headed off, thank Heaven, but the of present torture, which w aches
of old ones. it was enough to make me mad at Suettay all over again,
and ...

"I shouldn't be glad she's suffering," I told the angel. "Suettay,
I mean. But I am-after what she did to my Angelique." I was able to
say 'my' with only a passing qualm, somehow.

"You should be above such sentiments," the angel murmured.

"I know," I said, "but I can't help how I feel-and it's better to
be honest about your feelings. Hey, man, I'm human, too!"

"Yeah, you are," the angel acknowledged. "But you're a good human.
" I frowned. "I said, you don't have to look and talk like a hippie.
I know you for what you really are, man."

"Yeah, sure," the angel said, "but if I didn't look like this, you
couldn't sit there and call me 'man.' " I took a deep breath. "Okay,
so it sets me more at ease, and I can relate to you better. But there
are times when it's more important to be looking up to an angel, than
to be comfortable."

"True, true-and when those times come, I'll be glad to show up the
way you expect, halo and wings and all. But for the moment, I think
we need to be able to get down and clear a little more."

"The way I expect?" I looked at him sharply. "What's your true
form? "

"I don't have one," he said right back. "I'm a spirit,
remember?"

"Okay," I said impatiently, "how would you look to me if I were a
spirit, too?"

"Like whatever you expected, man."

I bit down on my temper. Angelique reached over with her other
hand, stroking mine. I know she meant it to be soothing, but it was
anything but. it did serve as a nice distraction, though, and I
couldn't remember to keep being angry.

The angel smiled, proudly-and that irked me all over again.

"Look, I'm not a good man! So don't go smirking line that. "No,
you are," he contradicted. "At least, you're a I decent and humane
man. For example, you wouldn't really want Suettay to suffer for
eternity, would you?"

That gave me pause. I stopped to consider, consulting my inner
feelings. "No," I said at last. "A good long time, yes-long enough
for justice. But not forever."

Angelique stirred beside me, nestling a little more firmly against
my arm.

"You'll have to stop distracting me," I told her, "or I won't be
in any shape to talk to an angel."

She looked up to give me a heavy-lidded, pinfeather smile, then
closed her eyes, looking very content.

I/ so what happens now?" I asked the angel. "What do I do?"

He shrugged. "Whatever you want-and, I hope, whatever you really
believe is right. I don't run your life, Paul " Saul," I grated.

I only try to shield you from the Temper and sway you back to
God.

"You've been doing pretty well so far," I admitted. "Anybody who
can keep me on the straight and narrow . . ."

" '. . doesn't really have all that hard a job," he finished. Ask
your friend Matt."

"I'm asking you!"

"But there isn't any more need for me to stick around-at least,
not so you can see me. So long-but remember, I'm with you for life!"
And he disappeared.

"Cop-out," I snarled after him, then thought about the term. He
was sort of a Heavenly cop ...

"Your friend gone?" Matt came clanking up. I should ask

I looked up at him. "In a manner of speaking. He says YOU."

"Anything." Matt clapped me on the shoulder, looking straight into
my eyes with a grin. "But there are some boys over there who have a
question for you."

"Boys?" I looked around the courtyard, frowning. Queen Alisande's
knights were cleaning up the castle, rounding up evil stragglers,
with a dozen of Matt's junior sorcerers along to help. We head
honchos could take the weight off our feet for a while.

Not a very long while, though. A hundred yards away stood a small
army of heavy dragoons-at least five hundred. I winced at the
thought, hoping there were more still alive-if "alive" was really the
term for a magical construct. I certainly owed them. I went over to
see what they wanted. "Good afternoon, Sergeant. What can I do for
you? " "More work for us, Guy?"

I remembered looking up toward the dragoon's back trail during the
battle, seeing their dead lying fallen, fading even as I watched,
disappearing.

"No," I decided. "Return to quarters."

The dragoon saluted and whirled his horse, turning back to his
fellows, bawling orders. I chanted after him, "To whatever barracks
stores them,


    Let these soldiers now retreat to,
    With soft cots and pensions for them,
    And full store of beer and eats, too!"


A heat haze seemed to spring up, enveloping the dragoons,
thickening to mist, then London fog. When it cleared, they were gone,
leaving behind them only a cowering wreckage of moaning men-atarms
and fallen knights.

"As if they'd never been," Matt whispered.

"Retired," I corrected. "Maybe not to Heaven, but to one heck of a
Limbo!" I turned to him and caught his hand. "You found me in the
nick of time."

"I knew when you'd arrived in this world," he said, squeezing
back. "I talked Alisande into moving out the next day."

I was amazed at how firm his clasp was-amazed at his having enough
strength to walk around in all that armor, in fact. "You've put on a
lot of muscle in the last three days."

"Three days to you." He turned, strolling back to Angelique and
the seats we'd found, by the wall of the keep. "Four years, for
me."

I stared. "Four years?"

"Time moves at a different rate here, I guess," he said, "or
there's a differential between our two universes."

I just stared at him for a moment, as he sat down, right where the
angel had been-or still was, for all I knew. The thought gave me a
chill, but I shook it off and said, "So what's been happenin',
man?"

He started telling me. It took a while.

When he was done, I just sat there, dazed.

" 'Tis a Most amazing tale," Angelique murmured by my
shoulder.

"We had heard some echo of it, we folk in Allustria, but not
all."

"You wouldn't," I said. "Suettay wouldn't have wanted it known
that evil sorcerers and usurpers could be beaten." Then, to Matt: "So
that tall blonde with the crown is the queen of Merovence-and your
wife?

" Finally," Matt affirmed.

"Yeah, after she kept you waiting three years." I felt indignation
for my old friend, but I tried to assure myself that long engagements
just meant more-solid marriages. "So you're the king?"

"No, just the royal consort-and Her Majesty's Wizard. She was very
insistent about that. So was I, in fact."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that much responsibility, either."

Angelique looked up at me, shocked.

"That doesn't mean I won't accept any," I hastened to assure her,
and she relaxed with her smug, lazy smile again.

"So how'd you get here, Paul?"

I grinned. "You first."

Matt returned the grin. "TOO much studying. I started
concentrating on that piece of parchment so much that it began to
make sense-and when I looked up, here I was."

"Same thing," I said. "I got worried about you, and I couldn't
find any trace, so ... "

He flushed. "Sorry, man."

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay-now. I ran out of leads, so I started
studying the new parchment that showed up . . ."

"New parchment?" He sat up straight, frowning, "What new
parchment? "

"You know, the one that said, 'Hey, Paul, drop me a line

"That one?" The frown deepened to a scowl. "I just wrote that out
when I was feeling homesick one night. When I went to throw it in the
wastebasket the next morning, it was gone. How'd it get to you?"

"Don't know," I said slowly, "but I could make a guess. There were
an awful lot of spiders in your apartment. One of them bit me while I
was translating the parchment. I blacked out, and woke up here. "

"The Spider King!" He stared. "I thought he was just a
legend!"

"Oh, he's real, all right, and he lives in some sort of
dimensional nexus. I think he wanted to clean up the situation here
in Allustria, so he . . ." I broke off as Matt's gaze drifted, his
eyes brooding.

"What's the matter?"

"The Archbishop," Matt said slowly. "A spider bit him, and he fell
ill. I had to go cure him-and while I was working on him, he grabbed
my sleeve and demanded to know if I had ever met a single man who had
a genuine sense of integrity."

I stared in horror. "You didn't give him my name!"

"Well, yeah," Matt said uncomfortably. "Funny thing is, when he
got well, he didn't remember a bit of it-not surprising, the
temperature he had."

"But I'm not a saint! I'm not a good guy!"

"No," Matt said slowly, "but you have a sense of self that won't
quit. You won't let anybody infringe on you, in any way. Makes you
pretty abrasive sometimes, in fact."

Angelique moved a little away from me, eyeing me warily again.

"Not true," I assured her. "He always did have too high an opinion
of me. "

"No," she said, "he did not."

I turned and frowned deeply into her eyes. "Then how come I'm in
love with you?"

"I ken not." She gazed back, and her eyes seemed to be all there
was in the world. "But I rejoice."

Then she broke the gaze, and her spell, by turning to Matt. "Can
you not explain this, Lord Wizard?"

"Only by logic," he said slowly, "which has its limits-but if he
is compulsively true to himself, and has nonetheless developed an
obsession for you, then there must be something about you that
fulfills some element of himself. Probably more than one."

"You traitor," I growled at him-but Angelique had gone heavylidded
and self-satisfied again, cuddling up to me, so I didn't really mean
it.

Matt knew that; he only smiled. "Don't blame me, Paul. It's not my
fault if you have an instinctive sense of psychic balance, some gut
drive for keeping the harmony between all the parts of your
personality. "

"Yeah," I admitted. "You claimed that was why I was attracted to
Zen. I kept telling you that it was Zen and Taoism that gave me that
sense of balance, not the other way around."

Matt shrugged. "Cause, effect, or a positive reinforcing cycle, it
doesn't matter. You've got it, and when it's threatened, you lash out
at whoever does the threatening." He nodded to Angelique. "Take care,
mademoiselle. He gets mean sometimes. He mellows out pretty quickly,
though."

"I thank you." But her equanimity didn't seem at all disturbed. "I
shall be mindful of it."

I think I might have felt a little easier if she'd seemed
worried.

"So you've got the instinct for walking the ethical tightrope,"
Matt summarized.

"Yeah," I said with chagrin. "Gave my guardian angel enough grief
with that. He kept trying to get me to commit myself to the side of
the angels, and whenever he did, I went out and committed a sin."

"At least, a sin by his rules," Matt amended. "I don't think you
ever really did anything all that bad."

I glared at him. "I keep telling you, I'm not a saint!"

"Yeah, and some day you'll get yourself to believe it, too. No,
no, I take it back." He held up a palm. "Let's just say you're only a
fundamentally decent, honest, and caring individual."

I was just beginning to get really sore about that, when Gruesome
came waddling up, grinning from car to ear-well, from side to
side.

"We won, huh?"

Matt scrambled back fast.

"No, no, he won't hurt you," I assured him. "This is Gruesome .
.

"He sure is!"

"No, that's what I nicknamed him. He's my friend." I was startled
to hear myself say it, but I guessed I was right. "If he has a name
in Trollish, I can't pronounce it."

"He doesn't." Matt still looked very nervous. "They don't have
enough intelligence."

"Oh, he has a name all right. Some fairies used it to enchant him
so that he wouldn't eat people anymore," I assured him, "and by the
time a nymph named Thyme removed the spell, he'd started thinking of
us as friends instead of snacks." I turned to Gruesome. "Tell you
what, old fellow-I can transport you back to the bridge where I met
you, and you'll fit in with your fellow trolls again."

"No! No!" Gruesome shook his head-well, upper half-from side to
side rapidly. "Goosum no like trolls no more! Well, maybe females,"
he added as an afterthought, "but only for little while, now in'
then. Goosum like people! "

"That's what I'm afraid of," Matt muttered.

"Goosum like people for friends! Goosum want stay with Saw 'n'
Fish'un! "

"I think that can be arranged," I said slowly, trying not to let
him see I was touched. "But you'll have to let me renew your
anti-peopleeating spell now and then."

"Sure, sure! Goosum no like sojer-taste, anyway!" He made spitting
noises.

I wondered how he had found out.

"I think," Matt said slowly, "that he has really begun to think of
you and your companions as friends."

I nodded. "All I have to do is broaden the scope, extend the
feeling to all mankind."

"I dunno," Matt said dubiously. "it hasn't worked on people."

"Yeah, but he's a little more direct," I said. "Somehow, his
trollish nature's been modified. He's basically pretty decent
now."

"As are you," Angelique murmured sleepily.

I bridled, then remembered that I didn't exactly want her to think
differently. "Fundamentally, maybe-but it's buried pretty deep."

"Then I shall delve," Angelique answered.

I turned to her. "I thought that was my job."

Matt began.

"Hey, that's what we were taught when we were kids, right? At
least, in our universe."

"Oh," Matt said brightly. "You've figured out this is all real,
eh?"

I backed fast. "Well, that's what the Spider King said. I still
think it makes more sense to declare this all to be one huge,
massive, hallucination."

"If it is," Matt said, "your subconscious is a great one for
details."

"I have run into a few things I didn't know about," I
admitted.

"That doesn't mean this is all real. "No," said Matt, "but that
isn't the question that matters."

I frowned. "Then what is?"

"Can you return to our native universe? If you can, then this
could

She blushed.

"If that's your idea of a sin all be a dream-but if you can't,
then you're stuck here, and whether it's real or not, you're going to
have to behave as if it were, or you're going to collect a lot of
pain."

"Good point," I said, frowning, "but it's true of our own
universe, too. No, the real question is: Do I want to go back?"

Angelique stirred against me, in just the wrong way. I turned to
her. "What do you think, Prime Distraction?"

For answer, she reached up and pulled my face down to hers, giving
me that long, long kiss I'd been dying for, but had been embarrassed
to go after in public. I sat stiff for a moment, taken by
surprise-but then I recovered, loosened up, and began to do a proper
job of it.

Finally, we came up for air, and I heard somebody whistling. I
glanced over and saw Matt surveying the courtyard, entirely too
casual about it.

Gruesome, though, was more direct, as usual. He was watching us
and grinning like a watermelon.

I turned back to Angelique, and her glowing eyes became my entire
universe again. Suddenly all that mattered was whether or not she was
real.

"Never leave me," she breathed, her voice husky but imperious.

"Never leave me, while I hold breath!"

"or Maybe not even after," I agreed. "I wouldn't even think of
itagain. "

She smiled and turned her face up for another kiss.

Some time later, I lifted my face an inch or so away from hers,
breathing hard and ignoring Gruesome's chuckling. "I warn you,
though-I'm not going to put up with any nonsense about postponing the
wedding for any three years."

"Neither," she said, "will I."

And her lips drifted up toward mine, parting, drawing mine down
toward them ...

Just then, a trumpet blew.

We got up, turning to look.

Queen Alisande was standing over Gilbert with a drawn swordand he
was kneeling, with his head bowed. Threat! I leapt for them, my heart
in my mouth.

But Matt clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Easy, easy. She means
honor, not harm."

I hesitated-and in the delay, the Black Knight, next to the Queen,
cried out, "Know ye all that this squire, hight Gilbert, of the Order
of Saint Moncaire, hath proven himself in combat! By striving and
arduous campaigning, he hath given evidence of his tenacity, of his
virtue, and of his dedication to goodness and God! Therefore on this
day, here in the place of battle, the queen of Merovence shall do him
honor! " Alisande laid the sword on his left shoulder, then on his
right, intoning, in that clear alto voice that made me realize what
Matt saw in her, "I hereby dub thee knight!" Then she lifted the
sword-and slugged him with a quick left hook. His head rocked, but he
held still.

I didn't. I almost leapt for her right then. Fortunately, Matt
still had hold of my shoulder-because she went on to cry out, "Rise,
Sir Gilbert! " My erstwhile squire rose, flushed with pleasure and
honor, and bowed low to his queen.

I relaxed and joined in the cheering.

When it slackened, the queen beckoned-and Frisson stepped up!

"Until we can find the last legitimate scion of your last
legitimate monarch," Queen Alisande called out, "I shall be your
queen!"

A huge massed cheer went up.

I wondered how long they would feel that way. What was the
dividing line between liberation and conquest, anyway?

"Yet I cannot stay to govern you in person!" she cried. "Therefore
I shall appoint for you a viceroy, to rule in my place, and the place
of your own king-one who has proved his wisdom in this long struggle
to displace the usurper, and proved his steadfastness and loyalty to
right. I give you the Viceroy Frisson!"

This time the yell was even more heartfelt than before. Frisson
looked about him, damn near panicking-then saw me and gave me the
most doleful, pleading look of his life. I smiled, nodding, hoping I
looked as reassuring as I intended, trying to make him realize I'd
stand by him-and it must have worked, because he relaxed, just a
little, recovered his composure, and turned to wave at the crowd. In
fact, I saw him straightening and seeming to grow larger and more
poised, even as they cheered.

The shouting died, Frisson stepped aside-with alacrity, if it must
be told-and Friar Ignatius stepped forward. He raised his hands,
crying, "Let the infirm of body, but affirmed of heart, step
forward!"

Everybody drew back, no one wanting to get in the way of the sick
ex-witches. They tottered forward and knelt.

"I shall hear all your sins and shrive you all one by one," Friar
Ignatius declared, "but for fear that some might die even while I
spoke, I conferred upon you all conditional absolution. Yet now we
must heal your bodies, that your pain may cease. Master Saul, come
forward! "

"What? Me? What for?" I demanded.

"Why, to heal them, of course!"

"Oh, yeah, sure! Come on, Frisson!"

I stepped forward-and the witches cheered, then began to chant,
"Hail the Doctor of Witches! Hail the Witches' Doctor!"

The crowd took it up. "The Witch Doctor! The Witch Doctor!"

I just stared, thunderstruck. "Not me!"

Matt frowned at me. "You mean you didn't know?"

And then he began to laugh.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR


    "A wandering Catholic, aye,
    A thing of texts and catches."


Early in life, Christopher Stasheff found a catch in almost every
point of Catholic dogma except the main ones, and has been
spiritually wandering ever since. He has a lot of doubts about the
Church, but only questions about the Faith.

one day, he realized that most of the medieval fantasies he read
seldom mentioned the Devil, and never God. He vehemently maintained
that wasn't the way medieval Christians really saw the world-they saw
God everywhere, in everything, and the Devil always lurking, looking
for an opening-and that authors really ought to write their fantasies
a little closer to reality. Then he realized that, being a fantasy
author, he was stuck with writing his next story that way.

He spent his early childhood in Mount Vernon, New York, but spent
the rest of his formative years in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has always
had difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality and has tried to
compromise by teaching college. He tends to prescript his life, but
can't understand why other people never get their lines right. This
causes a fair amount of misunderstanding with his wife and four
children. He seeks refuge in fantasy worlds of his own making and
hopes you enjoy them as much as he does.