"I be the son of Blue," Bane said. "This be my friend, a shape-changer. I come to see my friends."
"Who be thy friends?" the man asked.
"Vanneflay," Bane said.
"Sorry, he be away these three days."
"Vidselud, then," Bane said.
"Him, too."
Bane considered. "Then Suchevane."
The man shrugged. "That be a coincidence! He, too."
"All away?" Bane asked, surprised.
"But thou"rt welcome to join us in a meal," the guard said. "Any son of Blue be welcome here."
"Uh, Bane-" Agape whispered uncomfortably.
Bane smiled. "My friend be nervous about vampire viands. Thank thee, but we shall move on."
The guard made a negligent wave of his hand.
They returned to the forest and walked on toward the west until they were well clear of the vampire"s mountain. Bane was deep in thought.
"I"m glad we didn"t stay there!" Agape said. "The thought of eating blood-"
"That bothers thee? Is blood not easier to imbibe than solid food?"
"We don"t consume flesh," she said.
"Actually, the vampires wouldn"t have offered us blood. It"s too valuable, and they always take it fresh. That isn"t what bothers me."
"What bothers you, Bane?"
"This be not Phaze."
She halted in place. "What?"
"When I changed the color of our clothing, there was a flash. My magic ne"er did that. Be there a way science could have done it?"
"Changed the color? Oh, yes; some material is sensitive to certain types of radiation, so that when it flashes-"
"Methought so. And true goblins bluff not so readily; must always destroy a few ere they give over. But mainly, the vampires. They were not."
"But the fact that we did not see them change form does not mean-"
"Oh, they might have changed form, by some device. But the friends I named-" He shook his head.
"But they really could be away," she said.
"The first, yes. But the second, Vidselud-he be the son of Vodlevile, for whom my father did a favor. Vidselud be six or seven years my senior, but we be friends because with me he can safely travel."
"He can"t with his own kind?"
"Nay. He has a problem with the a.s.similation of blood that crops up every so often. They keep a potion in the cave that cures it, and they never let that potion go out, because it cannot be replaced. So he flies ne"er beyond walking distance of the cave, unless with me, because I can conjure him home if need be."
"But then he should be home!" she said.
"He should be home. Yet the guard said he was not."
"Still, that"s not proof-"
"And the third one, Suchevane."
"He could also be-"
"She." Bane said succinctly.
"Female? But the guard said "he"-"
"Precisely."
"Maybe the guard forgot."
Bane smiled. "No male forgets Suchevane!"
Agape looked sharply at him. "She is-?"
"Almost as lovely as thee, in girl form. And still married, when I left Phaze. If there be any male he doth not turn when she goes by, that head be blind Even the werewolves howl for her."
"But how, then-"
"No way," Bane said with finality. "This cannot the vampire mountain I know, and since there be only one like this, these be other than vampires, and this be other than Phaze."
"But why would-"
A bat flew down from the sky. As it neared the ground, it changed abruptly into a beautiful woman. "Lovelier than I?" she demanded.
Bane gazed at her. "Nay." Then, after a pause, "Sir."
The woman changed appearance, becoming the young-seeming Citizen White, then a woman about twenty years older, still garbed in white. "So you cannot be fooled, young man," she said.
"No, sir."
"It is true; this is all a setting. I was able to make it authentic because when I was a child, I did visit Phaze, and knew the vampire colony. But in twenty years the personnel have evidently changed, and without contact, we cannot change with them."
"True, sir," Bane agreed.
"So this is pretense, agreed." She gazed hard at him. "But you are not. You really are from Phaze; you have demonstrated that."
"But sir, why?" Agape asked, disturbed. "Why bother to play such a cruel game with two serfs who intended you no harm?"
"That you are about to discover," the Citizen said. She snapped her fingers, and the entire setting disappeared, leaving a large empty chamber. She smiled, and it was not a pretty smile.
"I think we be in trouble," Bane murmured.
"Not necessarily," Citizen White said. But the cruel lines that manifested about her mouth gave her words the lie.
8 - Chase
How much time pa.s.sed Mach could not be sure, but it seemed to him that the sun had shifted in the sky by the time he emerged from his embrace with Fleta. "I suppose we should be on our way," he said.
"I can carry thee anywhere, rapidly," she said. "Now that thou dost know my nature."
"I would prefer to go slowly," he said.
"My natural form pleases thee not?"
"If you take me to the Blue Demesnes quickly, I shall have little further time with you. Let"s walk."
"Oh." She smiled. "Mayhap it will take two days to get there."
"I wish it were two years," he murmured.
"Sirrah?"
"Nothing. Of course we must go."
"Of course," she agreed. "But we can camp the night on the path."
He liked the notion of camping out with her.
They started out on the east path, the one they had not taken before. They made decent progress, and as night approached Mach judged they were parallel to the spot they had been on the Lattice. Had he realized that the demons would be roused, or what they were...
"Methinks we should camp now," Fleta said. "But there be something odd about the way the demons came at us. Best I check around ere we sleep."
"But you"ve been walking all day!" he protested.
She smiled. "In other form, an thou have no objection."
"Oh. Of course." As the unicorn, she could of course range far more widely before it got dark.
She vanished - but the black unicorn did not appear. Mach blinked.
There was a hummingbird, hovering in place. Just like the one who had helped him cross the river at the Harpy Demesnes.
"Fleta!" he exclaimed. "Another form!"
The hummingbird buzzed one loop around his head, then took off to the north.
Mach shook his head, bemused. He had never made the connection! Fleta had three forms, not two, and the bird was the third. She had a.s.sumed the flying form when that was needed to draw the thread across for the rope ladder over the river, then returned to her human form. Of course she hadn"t told him, because she was doubtful about his reaction to shape-changing women. But now that he knew her nature, she changed freely and openly.
And now that he knew her nature, he discovered that he liked it. In Proton he had a.s.sociated with human beings, and with robots, and cyborgs and androids of either s.e.x, thinking nothing of it. Even, briefly, an alien creature. All had looked human, but their internal operation had been entirely different, and he had known that and accepted it. Fleta"s overt forms differed widely, but she was the same person - and it was the person that counted. Was she called an animal? If so, he liked the animal better than the pseudopeople he had known in the other frame!
What, after all, was he? A machine! Who was he to quibble at whether a person was technically human, when he himself was not? At the moment he occupied a human body, and its chemistry was wreaking havoc with his emotional control, but in essence he knew he remained a robot. If Fleta could accept that, he could accept her.
He plucked fruit from the tree they had stopped at. He didn"t recognize the type, but it seemed to be juicy and sweet, and his living appet.i.te thrived on that sort of thing.
What did Fleta prefer to eat, really? Since her natural form was equine, did she usually graze? If so, she must be getting hungry by now. He would have to ask.
The hummingbird returned. Suddenly Fleta stood before him. "Mach, I fear trouble," she said breathlessly!
"More trouble?" He knew she wasn"t joking.
"There be goblins lying in ambush to the north."
"Goblins? Little men?"
She frowned. "The Little Folk be decent; they mostly mine and work their crafts. Goblins be something else."
"Why would they be lurking in ambush?"
"Methought it coincidence that the rope ladder was wrong. And that the demons were roused. Now do I wonder."
"You mean those were traps laid for us? But why?"
She shook her head. "I know not why. But I fear it."
"Maybe they"re just three types of mean creatures who like to eat human flesh?"
"They knew my nature."
"Then they must have known they couldn"t possibly catch you! That you could change form and fly away."
"Aye," she agreed pensively.
His logical mind began to work. "Then it must have been me they were after."
"Aye."