Phaze Doubt Part 24

"Then we had better steer around the goblin camp to our west," Echo said.

They steered around, cutting north. But as they followed a path beside a streamlet, they heard a commotion ahead. There was a crash and a yipe, as of an animal getting snared.

"Sirel!" Nepe exclaimed, as Flach recognized the sound. "She's in trouble!"

They charged forward, and soon were there. Sure enough, the werewolf was caught in a raised net, that had evidently been set to spring up around anyone who stepped where it was hidden across the trail. This was goblin mischief!

The net had formed a bag, that gave Sirel no purchase for escape. It closed into a rope above, that pa.s.sed over a fork in a medium small tree and back down to the ground. The tree had been tied down, and when released had carried up the net, closing it about the prey. It was a clever enough device, the kind that goblins had been proficient at for centuries. All that was required for release was to untie the knot at ground level.

But the goblins were as fast as their party had been. Five of the tough little creatures charged up from the opposite extension of the path. "Dinner!" one cried exultantly. "b.i.t.c.h stew!"

"Keep quiet, 'Sander," Nepe warned. "Echo, you talk." She hoped they understood: the goblins must not learn the full nature of this party.

"No you don't!" Echo cried. "That's my wolf!"

The squat goblin chief paused, looking at her. "Thy wolf be at thy side," he said.

"Both be mine. Cut the b.i.t.c.h loose, or we shall have a reckoning."

The four other goblins began to move forward, hefting their k.n.o.bby clubs. "Methinks we shall eat e'en better than we thought," the chief said.

"I will use my talent to hurt you," Echo threatened.

"Ye be Protonite," the chief replied. "No magic." Meanwhile, the four were coming close.

Echo pointed at the chief's head. "Hurt!" she cried.

Something struck the big head. The goblin blinked, but seemed surprised rather than hurt. He brought his club around.

"Hurt!" Echo repeated, pointing to his feet.

Something crunched down on the chief's big toes. This time he reacted more vehemently. "Ooooff!" He danced on one foot, holding the other.

Now Nepe understood what was happening. Invisible Lysander had gotten close, and was striking the goblin at Echo's command. First on the head, which was relatively impervious, then stomping a foot, which wasn't.

"Now cut down my wolf, or it will go hard with you," Echo said.

"Listen, b.i.t.c.h-" the goblin started, and since his kind had no respect for wolves, this was no compliment.

Then his eyes goggled. He squirmed a moment, as if suffering some kind of seizure. Lysander was putting some kind of hold on him.

"Let her go," the chief wheezed.

The four, about to attack Echo, were puzzled. "But Chief-"

"I changed my mind," the chief said, wincing. "We want b.i.t.c.h stew not." He winced again. "We'll hunt for something else."

"Well, I want b.i.t.c.h stew!" one of the four said. He took a step forward.

But Nepe, standing quietly, had extended a tendril along the path, making it the same shade of brown as the forest floor. It had reached the goblin's foot and fastened to it. When he took his step, she yanked-and he crashed down on his ugly face.

Echo strode forward herself, brus.h.i.+ng past the three surprised goblins. One tried to swing at her, and she touched his shoulder with her hand, seemingly lightly. But there was the force and hardness of metal in that soft-looking hand, and the goblin jumped, bruised.

Echo caught the rope that supported the net. She started to untie it.

"Hey, thou canst not-" the chief started. Then he winced again, and was silent.

Echo completed the job, and the rope separated. She clung to it, so that her weight counterbalanced the smaller weight of the wolf, and let Sirel down gently to the ground. The net fell open, and Sirel got to her feet and scrambled out.

The chief made one more effort to protest, but failed again. They walked past him and on down the path. When they were at a bend, the goblin gave an exclamation and crashed into the brush. They heard feet pounding.

"Let's get away from here!" Nepe said. They ran, and the pounding feet ran after them, gaining. None of them wanted to be close when the goblin chief recovered his composure. He surely had not lost his taste for b.i.t.c.h stew.

A shape loomed ahead. It was a bat. It flew down to the path, and took the form of a boy Nepe's age. "If I'd known thou wast having so much fun, Nepe, I'd have hurried!" he said, running with them.

"Alien!" she exclaimed. "You found us!"

"How could I miss thee? As a wolf thou be laughable!"

They slowed, satisfied that the goblins were not in close pursuit. "Echo, Sirel, 'Sander, this is Alien, the next of our party," Nepe gasped. "The Red Adept's son, and"-she paused, not just for breath-"my boyfriend, when Troubot is not around."

"We've met," Sirel said. Troubot was her other self, in Proton. "But mine accounting be with Flach, an my season come."

Nepe changed the subject. "Some of us can't travel well at night, so we must find a place to camp. We'll have to forage for some food, and maybe Alien can keep watch-"

"So long as I get to sleep by day," Alien agreed.

Echo a.s.sumed her harpy form again and flew ahead to scout for a good camping site. The others walked at a relatively sedate pace. "What happened?" Nepe asked Sirel.

Sirel a.s.sumed human form again. "I spied the goblin camp, so circled around, and had almost completed the loop. Became I careless then." She flushed in the human fas.h.i.+on; it was most embarra.s.sing, even for a half-grown pup.

Soon Oche returned. "There be fruit trees near," she screeched. "And a field full o' rabbits."

"Excellent!" Nepe said. Her legs were so tired now that she could hardly wait to dissolve into a relaxed puddle.

In the morning, somewhat refreshed, they set off anew. Nepe a.s.sumed her human form, with an especially thick ma.s.s of hair, and Alien clung to it and slept. He preferred to hang upside down, but could manage in any position when the need arose. Sirel and Echo, both in human form, walked beside each other, and Lysander brought up the rear, still invisible. At the rate they were going, they would never make it to the West Pole in time, but Nepe wasn't concerned about that. Their rate would change.

Then the last two members of their party intercepted them. A blue heron flew slowly overhead, and immediately Echo turned harpy and flapped up to hail it. The heron followed her down, and manifested as Belle, the purple unicorn with the iridescent mane. There was a healing scar on her rump. From her back a firefly flew, and manifested as Neysa, the black unicorn with white socks.

"Grandam Neysa!" Nepe exclaimed happily, hardly caring about the technicality that she was Flach's grandam.

Now Nepe rode Neysa, and Lysander rode Belle, whom he had met before. Oche perched on Belle's rump, careful not to dig in her claws, and Alien continued to snooze on Nepe's hair. Sirel resumed wolf form and ranged beside them. Their party of seven was complete, and ready to move swiftly.

The two unicorn mares were old, but were ready for this effort; their strength and endurance had been magically enhanced. They set off like fillies, achieving a hard gallop that covered the ground in a manner few other creatures could match. Nepe relaxed; they knew where they were going, and they knew the terrain. There should be no problems.

The unicorns were indeed prepared. They pounded ahead not only through the day, but through the night, pausing only for natural-function breaks. Sirel was unable to maintain the pace; she a.s.sumed girl form and joined Nepe on Neysa; the two together weighed about what Lysander did, so the unicorn was not overburdened.

It was not dull, riding for hours without surcease. The unicorns played music to the beat of their hooves, Neysa's harmonica and Belle's bells merging in extemporaneous melodies and harmonies. Along their route the little animals came out to listen and watch, for the sound and sight of traveling unicorns was always special. These mares might be old, but they remained glorious in their motion.

So it was that on the third day, in plenty of time, they approached the West Pole. There was nothing fancy about it; it was just a place on an island. The water had posed a small problem, but four of them had flying forms, and the other three simply swam across. The two unicorns could have taken to the water to spear any creature who threatened the swimmers; perhaps aware of that, the predators had stayed clear. It was also possible that even the predators realized that this was a very special party, on a very special mission that would benefit every creature of Phaze.

But as they came to the Pole, they had an ugly shock. There was a Hectare guarding it. Nepe had been ready to handle a golem; the wooden things were not smart, and simple illusion could do a lot. But a BEM-this was disaster!

Alien was the one who spied it, flying ahead in the predawn darkness, scouting the way as he fed on insects. As 'Corn he had seen the Hectare, when his father turned himself in; 'Corn himself had been beneath notice, and promptly a.s.sumed his Phaze ident.i.ty so as to remain clear of the invader. The Hectare had been cognizant of the fact that operations would be smoother if households were allowed to maintain themselves, so only the dangerous individuals were impounded. Thus Trool, the Red Adept, was prisoner, his Book of Magic mysteriously missing. But his wife, the beautiful vampire woman Suchevane, and son Alien remained at the Red Demesnes. Similar was true elsewhere. The families remained scrupulously inactive-until this present mission with Nepe.

They halted as soon as Alien returned to give the alarm. None of them could afford to be spied in Nepe's company by a Hectare, and Nepe hardly dared show herself in recognizable form. But the Hectare was standing directly on the West Pole; there was no way to avoid it.

They took shelter in the lee of a great gnarly blue birch tree and consulted, all taking human forms except Belle, who had none. So she lay and rested in feline form, alert for any intrusion from without, while they focused their lesser human senses on the problem.

" 'Sander, you know about Hectare," Nepe said. "Maybe now is when you fulfill the prophecy. How do we get to the Pole? Can we lure the BEM away, distract it, or something?"

"You can't do that," Lysander said from seeming air. "No Hectare has any interest in anything local except its a.s.signment, which is obviously in this case to prevent any native from approaching the Pole. I presume that someone told them that the Pole was important, so they covered it."

"Mayhap they espied us coming here, so laid in wait," Sirel said.

"More likely they realized that there was activity at the North Pole, so set guards at all the Poles," Nepe said. "I think Purp made Brown send golems north, but the West Pole is temperate, so a Hec can handle it. But we have to reach that Pole by the end of today, or we fail."

"Fail in what?" Lysander asked.

"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you!" Nepe retorted.

"Now wait, Nepe," Echo protested. "You want his help, but he has to know how his expertise relates if he is to provide it. Maybe between what you know of the mission, and what he knows of the Hectare, you can find a way through."

She was right. Echo was a woman in love, but she had a good human mind. "I apologize, Lysander," Nepe said. "I'll tell you all I know, if you'll te!l us all you know that relates."

"It's a deal," he agreed.

"I have three messages, which I must listen to and implement in order, not even listening to the next until the first is done. The first was to go to the North Pole. So Flach went. He got the help of the snow demons, and used his magic to keep them from freezing him or him from melting them, and they took him to the North Pole. Under it was a chamber where the Black and Green Adepts were. They had planted a Magic Bomb which will destroy the planet if we don't stop it. We came back with them, and they gave themselves up to the Hec. My next message was to take a Hec seed to the West Pole, by the end of today, and to bring along whom the wolves sent. I don't know what's there, but maybe another chamber. Maybe that's where the Book of Magic is. So I have to take the seed there, and that's all I know."

"That must be all the Hectare know, too," Lysander said. "If there had been anything there to find, they would have found it. So they posted a guard and are waiting to see what your business here is, if there is any. They are probably guarding all the Poles as a matter of routine precaution, after discovering the activity at the North Pole; they may not know whether any other Poles have activity. So this is probably just a guard, not an administrator. But why haven't they dismantled the Bomb at the North Pole?"

Nepe smiled. "It's not possible. It turned out that it's frozen slow under the Pole. They actually set off the Bomb, but things are so slow there that it'll take six weeks for the blast to get out of the chamber. When it does it'll destroy the planet, and all of us with it. So the Hec will never get to exploit this world, no matter what. Maybe Clef is waiting with the Book of Magic to null the Bomb at the last moment after the Hec give up and go home; I don't know. I just know I have to do what I have to do, or it's all gone."

"The Adepts are playing hard!" Lysander remarked, and the others nodded agreement; this had been news to them too. "But it gives me a notion. There must be a similar chamber below the West Pole, that the Hectare can't enter because it would take them far too long to do so. Similarly, they can't nullify it from outside, because it is what's inside that has to be affected; they might destroy it from outside, but if it contains the spell to nullify the Magic Bomb, that would be disastrous. So they are waiting for you, to see how you approach it."

"But I don't know how to do that!" Nepe protested. "All I can do is drop the Hec seed in, and then listen to my third message."

"So if we do nothing," he said, "your mission will fail, and the planet will be lost. Presumably the nullification process involves the seed, and has to be started today or it will be too late. If your mission fails, so does the Hectare's mission, because in six weeks they will only have established the apparatus to exploit the planet; they can't do the job on any faster schedule. So I can appreciate the beauty of the Adept ploy, and I see that I have to help you succeed, for your side and mine."

"You have the idea," she agreed. "Now tell me how we can get by that Hec. Can we sneak up on it, or charge it and knock it out?"

"Hardly. The Hectare's eyes cover the full hemisphere that is the side of the planet where it stands. Those facets are the lenses for its thousand-plus eyes. Each covers one section of the hemisphere, and nothing is missed. It surely saw Alien fly by, but because bats are a normal part of the night it took no action. You can not approach it without being observed as soon as there is a line of sight, and you can not attack it, because the moment you tried to it would recognize the weapon and use one of its lasers to stop you. That single Hectare guard could simultaneously laser all seven of us, because it would orient several eyes on each and coordinate them with the weapons-tentacles. When it comes to observation and combat, no creature on this planet can match the Hectare."

She had suspected as much, because of the way the Adepts had yielded to the Hectare. The Hectare had their s.h.i.+ps threatening the planet, true, but they would not have been eager to destroy it; they wanted to exploit it. So they had to be good on the ground, too. They knew what they were doing, and they were individually sharp. "But there has to be a way!" she said.

"There may be. But it's a gamble-a big one."

"Go on. It can't be worse than the gamble of not getting through."

"It may be. You will have to approach the Hectare under a flag of neutrality and challenge it to a game."

"They are gameoholics!" she exclaimed, seeing it.

"And if it agrees, then you can bargain for the stakes. If you win, it must let you and your party through. But if you lose-"

"My left hand!" she said, feeling the pain of amputation, though she would be able to restore the hand from her body ma.s.s.

"And perhaps that of any member of your party who wants to pa.s.s with you," he said. "The Hectare like to game, but they like equivalent stakes, too. Since it can stun you and turn you in and gain a commendation for wrapping up the resistance, you will have to offer a lot to balance that out."

"More than my hand?"

"More than your capture, probably. Since it would know that it is wagering its own betrayal of its side..."

"More than my capture?" This was more serious than even she had imagined.

"Probably you would have to agree to serve the Hectare loyally, betraying all your former a.s.sociates."

Worse yet! "I don't think I can do that. I mean, the fate of the planet-"

"Yes. The fate of the planet, because it would terminate your mission and mine. But you have to bargain in good faith. If you expect it to do so. It will match your honor. The Hectare are creatures of honor; it is their specialty. So my advice to you, as a commonsense thing, is not to make that wager, because you stand to lose everything if you lose, while if you win, you gain only the chance to complete the second part of your mission."

"But if I do nothing, and don't complete my mission, we lose anyway!" she protested.

"Unless there is some other mission you don't know about."

"I don't think so," she said, troubled. "No, I have to go on with it. But I'm supposed to take Sire! and Alien with me, so the risk is theirs too." She looked at the werewolf and vampire bat. "What do you two say?"

"We must do it." Sirel said, looking uncomfortable.

"I agree," Alien said, evidently feeling no better.

"Then the three of us will approach the Hectare and bargain," Nepe said. "The rest of you will have to wait for us-if we win. If we lose, you must go back and tell the others to hide from us, because we will be your enemies. You must not delay, because the Hectare will be after you."

Neysa, in human form, nodded. Echo looked doubtful.

"If Nepe loses," Lysander said, "Echo joins me, and the unicorns take off. If Nepe wins, we will wait for her return, and continue helping her."

That seemed reasonable. Lysander was going along with the Hectare wager. This made it easy for Echo to remain with him, without having to betray her culture. "Then you four remain and watch. Lysander can watch without being seen. By the day's end you will know."

"We will know," Echo said grimly.

"I'm not sure what form to take," Nepe said. She hadn't thought of this aspect before, because she had never expected to encounter a Hectare here.

"It will know that this can not be an innocent encounter," Lysander's voice came. "Best to identify yourself clearly, and bargain honestly. If you try to deceive it. it will refuse to listen to anything else you say."