Magics - Riddle Of The Seven Realms Part 55

"Yes, thirty-four," he shouted suddenly. The prattle of numbers he had used many times before when posing as a magician came easily to his mind. "Eight and twelve- eight and twelve are twenty and thirty-four minus twenty is fourteen, which is just two numbers from twelve. Two numbers, two-two is precisely the total to be chosen- as the calculations said they would be."

Milligan frowned but said nothing. He reached for the next ball. "Ninety-" he began, but Kestrel cut him off.

"Yes, in the nineties," he said. "Eight times twelve is ninety-six. The numbers emerged according to plan."

Another ball bounced up to the exit orifice, but before it could start its journey it suddenly fell backward into the rest. The whirl of random motion died away. In an instant, all the spheres were lying quietly in the bottom of the bowl.

Jeiilac emerged from the confines of his shelter. With

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a waddling gait he walked out to stand at Milligan's side.

"I have stopped the blower," Jelilac said as he glanced quickly at Myra's tally on the board. "If you truly be-iieve in the power of your calculation, I have another proposition to offer instead."

Myra tossed back her head and laughed, the tension suddenly gone. She glanced once at Kestrel and smiled. "You said that I would not cause doubt, Milligan," she wheezed, "but your master's words speak otherwise. Do not mind this old book. It does not really matter. It served, to pull a lucky number from the air. It means no more than! that."

"I am willing to up the stakes still further," Jelilacl said, "and give you better odds."

"You heard what my minion said," Myra answered.] "The flow of luck is in my direction. There is no incentive for me to change."

"If we employ instead the giant spinner, I will give you nine portions out of ten of the field," Jelilac said. "And in addition to the twelve, I propose that we become part of the prize pools ourselves."

"No, not the spinner," Milligan said. "It is not proper. We have agreed not to succ.u.mb to the temptation that was offered. Let us continue with the dancing spheres. Surely you will prevail."

Myra squinted. "Nine out often," she said, "and your body to probe with my pinchers as I see fit." She slapped the almanac at her side. "Why not?" she cackled. "Your luck is potent, but it cannot be that much greater than mine."

Jelilac grimaced and motioned back to his retainers. "I will be archon." He answered the question forming on their lips. "If we do not duel with the same tools, then how can we be sure?"

Milligan opened his mouth to protest, but Jelilac's stare turned him aside. He stood silent while two of the master aleator's retainers emerged from behind the tapestries carrying a large wooden frame into which a hundred pegs had been pounded in the outline of a great circle. With his head shaking, Milligan propped the panel

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right. He offered no more aid as the helpers affixed a

Tut shaft onto an axle that protruded through the

nter of the frame. Kestrel saw that a flap of stiff

father was affixed to one end of the shaft and protruded

just far enough to touch the circle of pegs.

"You may start the spinner into motion, Myra," Jelilac said with tension in his voice. "Then before it has completed its third spin, I will call out the ten numbers that I select as my own."

Myra stepped from the fortifications. With a flourish of her cape, she walked across the casino floor, avoiding the mines that remained. When she reached the frame, she bowed slightly toward each of the six sides of the casino. Then, with an elaborate gesture, she grasped the opposite end of the spinner from the one that held the leather flap. The few remaining murmurs of the crowd vanished in antic.i.p.ation.

"A moment." Jelilac held out his hand. "Please do not begin until I am ready." Moving as quickly as he could, he joggled back into the cover of his canvas-draped box. For a moment, there was silence. Myra scowled, but waited, a smile of antic.i.p.ation growing on her face.

Kestrel twisted uncomfortably. He had changed the contest slightly, but not enough to make any real difference. After one spin of the wheel, what hope did he and Phoebe have? If only there were some way to get a fire started before-

"I smell smoke." Phoebe suddenly sat up out of her slump at Kestrel's side. "There behind the tapestries, I am sure of it. Jelilac is starting a fire."

There was a sudden whoosh of wind that billowed from behind the tapestries, straining them against the hooks that held them to the frame. Kestrel felt a sudden rush of heat and then the odor of rotten carrion, like that he had detected before.

"Camonel," he said. "Phoebe, can it be? It smells just like Camonel." He shook his head, confused. "But Milligan said that the aleators avoided fire at all costs because of the second tenet."

Phoebe's answer was cut off by Jelilac's booming

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command. "Now," he shouted. "Perform your best calculation, Myra, because no matter what the method, I am the one who will win."

Myra gave the bar a mighty wrench to send it whirling about. Just as she did, a burst of yellow flame shot upward above the tapestries for everyone to see. In a sudden panic, Jelilac's retainers exploded out of the box, rus.h.i.+ng onto the casino floor. Two immediately stepped onto mines, and startled cries mingled with a spray of hurling limbs. The spectators in the stands astride the tunnel behind Jelilac's framework screamed in panic. Those in the rows nearest began climbing into the tiers above, trampling on those not fast enough to get out of their way.

"Mark," Camonel's deep voice rumbled above the din. The djinn pushed aside the canvas and stepped next to the rotating spinner. "It pa.s.sed vertical, master, just as I spoke."

"Jelilac, what is this?" Myra backed away from the demon that towered over her. "I saw this monster on the raft. You deal with the manipulator far more than have I."

"You stoop to using calculation. Then do not be surprised if it is employed by others." Jelilac followed the djinn into the open. A dark curl of smoke indicated that the fire that summoned Camonel still smouldered inside. "I will be archon, woman," he said. "Soon it all will be decided."

"Mark," Camonel shouted again. "I have timed the initial rate of rotation, master. You have said that that would be enough."

Kestrel grabbed Phoebe by the arm, lifting her up to standing. They had another chance to bind Camonel to her will, and this time there would be no water to douse the flame inadvertently. He started to leap over the barrier and run to the demon, but then hesitated. He glanced at the craters and twisted bodies between his fortification and Jelilac's canvas box. Scowling, he pulled her back down to safety.

"There is too much risk of the mines," he said. "Phoebe, you must try to control him from here."

"It is too far." Phoebe shook her head. "I have al-

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eady attempted the binding of his will, but the control of his master is too strong."

"Eighty-three through ninety-two," Camonel boomed for all to hear. "One tenth of the numbers but that is the region in which the spinner will finally reside. My master has calculated it and there can be no doubt."

"Calculation," someone shouted in the stands. "Not calculation! No!"

"Calculation," another echoed with a groan. "In the final battle, luck is pitted against calculation and skill."

Kestrel saw a wave of agitation radiate out from those nearest Jelilac's box. The aleators in the stands were mere spectators no longer. Even those scrambling to safety slowed and turned back to watch. On the side of the casino farthest away from the action, a low murmur tinged with despair began to build and grow.

"But if luck loses to some other method, then what is the purpose, what is the meaning?" Myra shrieked above all the rest.

The moaning of the crowd increased. Kestrel saw an entire section clasp hands and begin swaying back and forth to the cadence of a chant: "Calculation, calculation and skill."

Kestrel felt a twinge in his stomach. The ground under his feet suddenly felt less firm. He glanced up at one of the large windows in the far wall and saw that apparently the fog had begun to move back onsh.o.r.e. A subtle vibration began tickling the soles of his feet and migrating up his legs into his spine. Obviously, the use of something other than luck in the confrontation of Jelilac and Myra was deeply disturbing to all those who watched. And somehow the mood was contagious, affecting everything about them as well.

"Something is happening." Kestrel drew Phoebe close. Something, something-the thought suddenly hit him- something like two realms of symmetry starting to merge.