"Yes, of course, but-"
"We don"t know that he"s there," John said. "But there"s a chance that he might be."
"You"ll bring him back?" Heeto asked. "For punishment?"
"If we can. If we don"t have to destroy him ourselves," Rowforth"s look-alike said.
"We"ll be back in any case," John Knight said. "Not to stay, you understand, but just to visit and let you know what happened."
"When?"
"As soon as our problem is cleared."
"I still think I should come."
"No!"
Kian looked relieved in spite of himself. Jac, who had been fidgeting throughout the exchange, now said: "If need be, we will both go to their rescue, Kian."
"And if need be you can have all of Hud"s armed forces and all the fighting men our treasury will buy," Queen Zanaan added.
It seemed a satisfactory solution. Once again, and then several more times, everyone said goodbye.
Then it was time to travel fast, and without mistake in the transporter.
CHAPTER 27.
Return
Kelvin sat in the middle of the boat, rowing with the help of the gauntlets while King Rufurt filled the stern seat and John Knight sat at the bow. It was just as well that his brother hadn"t returned with them, he thought, or they"d have been overloaded.
They pa.s.sed the roaring falls into star-filled s.p.a.ces, the Flaw. The gauntlets rowed through the turbulent water without difficulty. Then around the bend, past eerily glowing walls, their boat and themselves lit by the lichen"s radiance. A swirl in the water that Kelvin had noticed on previous trips-a sort of dimple, actually-and then finally the boat landing.
"I think we"d better be cautious," John Knight said. "There could be enemies waiting for us here."
"I"m very cautious," Kelvin agreed, drawing the Mouvar weapon. That would handle magic, and the gauntlets and his sword were ready to tackle anything else. After the adventures he had just undergone, a possible sc.r.a.p with armed men or even an attack by magic could hold few terrors!
"Perhaps you"d better stay hidden down here," Kelvin suggested to the king. "Until after we see how things are above."
King Rufurt looked up the stairs and a set of stubborn lines appeared at the corners of his mouth. "I"m still ruler."
"Yes, that"s why we don"t want you to fall into the hands of Rowforth again."
"Rowforth and Zoanna. d.a.m.n Zoanna! My former queen!"
"We"re all subject to sorcery," John Knight said soothingly. "Even those of us who never wanted to believe it possible."
"I"ll go check," Kelvin said, touching his belt. He rose above the boat landing. In his right hand was the Mouvar weapon. Strapped on his left side was his sword, while strapped between his shoulder blades was the lightweight sting the chimaera had given him. He was as armed, he thought, as a human being had ever been.
They had brought King Rufurt back here through the transporter. Kelvin had been alert for any warning tingle from the gauntlets, but there had been none. Did that mean that Rufurt"s surgically rounded ears made him eligible to use Mouvar"s system, or was the prohibition against pointears a bluff? Maybe he should make Jon happy and bring her here, and see whether the gauntlets tingled for her. Her life must have been relatively dull, recently, far from the action, helping Heln prepare for the baby.
He nudged the lever forward with his finger, keeping the Mouvar weapon in his hand. He rose above the first flight, and then the second flight of dusty, ancient stairs, Finally he was at the hole that let in daylight to mingle with the softer radiance of the lichens. He accelerated and shot outside fast, in case someone was waiting there.
He paused in midair. Two men in guardsman uniforms sat at a block of masonry playing cards. One of them looked up with open mouth while the other played a card.
"Kelvin, you can really fly that thing!"
"Practice," Kelvin said. "You are waiting for me?"
"King"s orders. You are to go directly to the palace, now that you"re back. Your brother get married all right?"
"Yes, after some delays. Nice wedding. Everyone was there."
"Your father return with you?"
Kelvin hesitated. He didn"t want to reveal too much to these guardsmen, good men though they were. His brother, he knew, would simply have lied, but somehow lying for him was not natural. "He"s not with me," he temporized. That was true, as far as it went. John Knight and the genuine king had remained below, letting Kelvin scout the territory alone.
"We have a horse for you. Do you want to ride?"
"I thought I"d fly and surprise someone," Kelvin said. He reholstered the Mouvar weapon, placed his hand over his central buckle, and accelerated out of their sight.
What do I do now? he thought, looking down at blurring farmland. Do I just go to the palace? I should have asked questions. Why didn"t I think of that?
Because he really wasn"t a hero, he knew. He had all kinds of limitations and inadequacies. If it weren"t for the magic and science devices he happened to have, he"d be n.o.body. Others might be fooled about him, but he didn"t fool himself.
Down below was a troop of hors.e.m.e.n and men on foot wearing Kelvinia"s gra.s.s-green uniforms. He lowered and hovered, while shouts went up and fingers pointed at him. No missiles followed, so he was still the Roundear of Prophecy as far as these men were concerned.
Cautiously he descended until his feet touched the ground. Soldiers who had been drooping from fatigue now ran forward with joyous and triumphant cries.
"He"s back! He"s back! The Roundear"s back!"
Kelvin waited. Soon a man with what seemed a bad burn on his arm was pumping his hand and shouting loudly: "General Broughtner! General Broughtner! Someone get the general!"
In due course, after much handshaking and incomprehensible expressions on the part of the soldiers, General Broughtner was there. The pointed-ear general who had fought so valiantly in the war with Aratex drooped in his saddle and looked almost as though he had lost a campaign. Kelvin remembered that he had been a village drunk before the formation of the Knights and the Rud Revolution. It was possible, looking at him now, to think that he had regressed.
But when Broughtner spoke it was not with slurred speech, and no fumes of wine were on his breath. "Kelvin! Thank the G.o.ds!"
"I just got back," Kelvin explained. "From my brother"s wedding."
"I know. Now we"re saved."
"I don"t know what has been happening. Has there been fighting?"
"Has there been!" Broughtner dismounted with the help of a private. He staggered over to Kelvin, shook his hand, and grabbed his shoulders. "Kelvin, we are at war! We"ve been losing, thanks to that witch! But now that you"re back that will change. Now that you"re here with that weapon."
Kelvin thought: So Zoanna is fighting with magic! So she really is a witch that I have to destroy. Thank the G.o.ds Kian stayed behind!
"See these burns?" Broughtner said, pointing. "Witch"s fire did that! She"s using witch"s fire! What chance has an ordinary man against that?"
Kelvin looked at the scorched faces and arms. None had been fatal or even very bad, but maybe others were. The general was right, there was no way the ordinary soldier could fight against witch"s fire.
"You"ll burn her, won"t you? The way you did with that witch in Aratex. Send her d.a.m.ned fire back to her. Burn her up!"
"I"ll burn her," Kelvin promised. It seemed a dreadful fate to inflict on anyone. But then all that the Mouvar weapon did was send the magic back on the sender. If Zoanna was burning her one-time subjects then she deserved to burn.
"She"s back behind the Klingland and Kance borders, way back to the twin capitals. She"s got plenty of men fighting for her-Klinglanders and Kancians. If you don"t stop her she"ll take over Kelvinia!"
"I"ll stop her," Kelvin promised again. His hands went to his belt.
"There"s some of our own still fighting near the caps. At least there were. Take care. Witches can be dangerous."
"I know." Kelvin lifted off and cruised toward the border. He wished now that he hadn"t slept through history cla.s.s. He knew that Klingland and Kance bordered what had been the kingdom of Rud on its eastern side. He remembered that there were twin boys born on a once-every-four-years bonus day. The boy rulers were young in body but aged, thanks to a bit of prenatal magic, only one year for a normal person"s four. But he had always heard the infants terrible, as they were called, were but mischievous perpetual boys. There was always something about a caretaker who had allegedly administered the calendar spell as they were born. But to the best of his recollection they were not bad boys, and their guardian mostly minded her own business. Certainly Rud had never fought with these lands, of had not fought with any other with the possible exception of Hermandy. If Zoanna had gone there with Rowforth seeking allies to get him a throne, then the situation was at least as serious as had been the affair with Aratex. Everyone seemed to think the witch was simply a guardian, but if Zoanna enlisted her as an ally then it was she who was hurling the fire.
Roads and hills and forests and rivers later he neared the caps. Down below he spied a dust cloud of battle, and in the sky was a ball of fire.
It"s time to act! he thought, lowering himself to the ground. It"s time to crisp a witch as I crisped Melbah.
He landed on a knoll, drew the Mouvar weapon from its hip holster, and prepared to intercept and turn back the witch"s fire.
Charlain concentrated hard on the crystal as she guided the fireball. It was easier now. She had better control. No longer did she destroy men and horses with the witch"s fire, but merely frightened them. If need be, she knew she would do more with it, deliberately.
In the crystal, men wearing the Kelvinian uniform were looking skyward as she danced the ball. Why didn"t they give up? Why didn"t they leave them alone? Was it because of magic Zoanna commanded, that sent them back? That must be it! They had no choice! It was the only explanation for these suicidal charges.
Below the fireball she knew there were men who were only boys. Perhaps that Phillip lad, and perhaps her own son-in-law. Perhaps big, hearty Mor Crumb who had so cheered her spirits the one time they had met. That had been after the wedding of Kelvin and Heln, and of Jon and Lester. She had been feeling sad because she knew there was so much more to the prophecy than just ridding Rud of its evil ruler. And now, now that evil ruler was back, so what actually had been accomplished?
"Charlain! Watch what you"re doing!" Helbah was scolding; she didn"t like it when her accomplice"s mind wandered. Without intending to, Charlain had let the fireball drift past the invaders and over the forest. Helbah naturally wanted the fireball exploding where it would at least pose a threat.
Carefully, watching the crystal in the tree bole, Charlain brought the ball back over the troops. She knew that Helbah"s look-alike, Melbah of Aratex, would have flung it right into their midst. Helbah was like Charlain herself in that she didn"t really want to maim and, destroy. The invaders had to be stopped, that was all, and if there was a way that would leave all intact, both favored it.
"Meow!" said Katbah, his dark paw touching the crystal over the men. "Meow!"
Oh, all right! Charlain thought, and exploded the fireball.
Phillip peeked cautiously out from behind a tree at the edge of the glen. He had stumbled about for days since running from his outfit. It hadn"t been that he was scared, exactly, but Lester had been trying to make him go home and then those fireb.a.l.l.s had started and all pandemonium had broken loose.
Now, having survived for some days on berries and a few bitter nuts, scared all the time that he would be caught, he had actually reached the glen. He had known something was going on here because he had seen the witch on the road walking slowly with a stick. He had wounded her properly once, he thought, but witches were notorious for surviving almost anything. Thus he had watched her and the cat from the woods, fearful that they would see, yet knowing that they had other things to think about. It had been luck that he had gotten into the woods and luck that he had remained undetected. With more luck still he might yet make up for the trouble he had caused.
There were two witches in that glen. He could not see them clearly there in the mist, but he knew there were two. He had been watching them while his belly growled from hunger and his arms and face smarted from their contacts with netishes and poison oavy plants. He would get her, he promised himself. He would get her.
Old witch Helbah was standing to one side of the tree, partially turned. The other witch and the cat were at the crystal. If he was very, very careful how he aimed he"d skewer old Helbah through the heart. After that he"d have to quickly kill the other witch and the cat. He didn"t like it, but he knew it was necessary. How much mercy, after all, did a witch have? He remembered too well how Melbah, his nurse and mentor, had cackled gleefully while burning alive someone she had thought troublesome.
He c.o.c.ked the crossbow carefully. Bolt in place, three others close at hand. Melbah had trained him in the art of crossbowing as well as in wood stealth and survival in the woods. Melbah had taught him well. Lester and St. Helens did not know how very much he had learned.
He rested the crossbow across a log, placed his cheek firmly against the stalk, and took infinitely careful aim. There would be but the one chance. This time he would get her right through the heart.
Blood! Mama! Blood! Blood!
Heln stifled a scream. It was the baby demanding that it be fed! That it be fed what was proper food for its growth and development and eventual birth.
"Heln, what"s the matter?" Jon asked. She was bending near, almost asking for it.
Jon is my friend! Jon is my friend! Heln reminded herself. She thought for herself this time, hoping that the baby would understand.
Food, Mama, food!
HUNGRY! WAHHHHH! A second thought, different from the other in tone. How many babies drifted in her womb? What kind?
GRRRRRWWWWW! HUNGER! HUNGER! G.o.ds, a third, and so unhuman!
"Heln, you"re scaring me," Jon said. "Why do you look like that?"
They were only food sources, after all. Hunger of a superior life-form superseded everything else.
"Heln!"
She had to get her teeth into that luscious throat! Nourishment pulsed hot and red just beneath that vein. She was strong, very strong, her teeth would rip and tear into that luscious flesh, her tongue would lap up the steaming blood- "Heln! Stop it!" The food source pushed at her head, holding her back, challenging her to use her full strength.
Food, Mama, Food!
Hungry, Mama, Hungry!
Gwrrrrrowth!
"Dr. Sterk!" Jon"s voice rose suddenly in fear. "DOCTOR STERK! HELP!"
Kildom nudged Kildee in the ribs. "Come on!"
"What?"
"She"s gone. Let"s do what we said we"d do!"
Kildee followed his brother around the palace wall, worrying. Kildom was always getting him into things! He"d agree out of frustration from Kildom"s challenging digs, and then he"d be hooked. This time he was really caught and he didn"t like it.
Kildom ran right up to the dungeon guard just as they had planned. "Trom! Trom! They"re coming, Trom! We just saw them run into the trees!"
"What are you two up to?"
"It"s true, Trom," Kildee said, playing his part. "We saw three of them in the woods. Soldiers, wearing the Hermandy uniforms! I don"t know how they got there, but-"
"d.a.m.n! If you"re lying to me I"ll hold you while Helbah soaps your mouths!"