The Far Side Of Forever Part 46

He then strode away without looking at me again, and I honestly didn't know why he seemed so angry. After a minute I decided it had to do with me spell he was under, so understanding wasn't worth pursuing, not when there was something else I wanted to do, I was intent on trying to forget how happy and satisfied Dranna had looked while she was kissing Rik, and I didn't need anything distracting me.

Su followed the trail through the very neat landscape, but only for about ten minutes before the landscape changed.

The neat road began to angle downward, and between one step and the next, as though we'd crossed an invisible threshold, the storybook land was gone. Beyond it was a gray-blue sky with a diffuse sun hidden somewhere in it, slate-gray rocks and boulders decorating the ground below scattered stone mesas and ranges, and red-gray soil sup- porting spa.r.s.e, clumpy, hungry-looking gra.s.s. There were no roads or buildings or any signs of settlements or civili- zation, but as inhospitable as the land felt, it also didn't feel empty. We weren't alone on that world, but we were all a lot happier not seeing any overt proof of the fact.

InThig dropped back briefly to tell me that we were no longer being pursued by the trap-setter, and in fact hadn't

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SHARON- GREEN.

been since I'd caused us to be surrounded by our own air.

It had seemed to the demon that the trap-setter had hesi- tated noticeably at that time, but it hadn't said anything until it was sure. 1 listened to InThig's information without comment, but once it had gone back to keeping Su com- pany, it came to me that what had happened made sense.

The trap-setter was after those who were unSighted, and didn't care to tangle with anyone who could break its victims out of the trap. Someone below sorcerer .grade might have been able to bring some unSighted through the gate, but probably couldn't have gotten them out of the trap. With the victims out, the trap-setter had chosen prudence over pursuit.

"1 wonder if I might interrupt your thoughts for a short while," a voice said from my right, and I looked up to see that Kadrim had moved back to walk beside me. His big hand rested on the hilt of the sword that hung between us, and his blue eyes looked down at me with their usual calm.

"I wasn't deep in anything particularly earth-shattering,"

1 answered with a faint smile, taking my eyes from the backs of the others as they trudged through me barren landscape. "Was there something specific you wanted to talk about?"

"Indeed," he said with a nod, but without returning my smile. "I wished to speak with you as a friend, and perhaps also as the father I sometimes feel myself to be to you. Will you accept my words in such a way, and under- stand that I do not speak merely to give you hurt?"

"Welt, you've been right in everything you've told me so far," I said, wondering why he was looking so somber.

"If you want to speak as a friend, that's the way 1*11 listen."

"Good," he said with another nod, and his eyes wanned even if he still wasn't smiling. "1 hesitated to say this to you, not only for the pain I knew it would bring, but also in fear that you would think I lied and our friends.h.i.+p would be no more. 1 pondered the matter a short while, and then understood that it was necessary for you to be told no matter the cost. Girl-while we awaited your

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return from that city from which Rik took you-Zail- pa.s.sed the time-in company with Dranna."

I was about to ask how Zail could have avoided being in Dranna's company without leaving the group-and then I understood what Kadrim meant. Zail hadn't just been near her, he'd done considerably more, and I didn't know what to say. Hearing about it embarra.s.sed me a little, but aside from that it didn't seem to be the end of the worlds. I continued to hesitate, wondering how you said something like that without sounding awkward and maybe even heart- less, and Kadrim misinterpreted my silence.

"You must know that this may not indicate what it appears to," he said quickly, putting a supporting arm around my shoulders. "In truth there are those men who speak of giving all they possess to the woman in their arms, even unto their names, yet have interest only in taking rather than giving. 1 had thought Zaii to be one such as that, yet may it be no more than a matter of the needs of a man. Some men may wish to be true to the woman of their choice, yet do their bodies drive them to seek other women when their own is unavailable. Zail may indeed possess deep feeling for you, yet did I deem it necessary that you know that facet of his^nature. Should you accept his pet.i.tion, you must know what it is you accept."

"And now, thanks to you, I do know," 1 said, looking up at my friend with a smile. "I promise to think about it very carefully before I do anything permanent to commit myself, which I probably won't do anyway, at least until this quest is over. But I would like to ask a favor: if you haven't said anything to anyone about this, please keep it dial way. If anyone found out, I think I'd feel rather- foolish."

"1 have not spoken, and now give my word that I shall not," he answered, this time adding the smile that had been missing. "Su became aware of the situation as I did, yet have I learned that she is one who will say nothing under any circ.u.mstances. It pleases me that you have taken mis so well, and now I may continue our journey with a lighter heart."

He took his arm back with the relief he had mentioned,

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and we walked on together in silence. I didn't want him to know that 1 felt just as relieved, now that I knew I wouldn't be hurting Zail by refusing him once the quest was over.

He probably wouldn't have been hurt long, only until the spell was canceled, but I still felt better about it.

It took less than an hour for us to reach the next gate, and the world beyond it had a deep purple sky and a red sun, cliffs of granite that rose high toward that sun, and numberless cave mouths breaking into those cliffs. The.

world's inhabitants became clearly visible very quickly, blocking the trail that Su had begun following again as soon as Kadrim and I stepped out of the gate. They appeared to be some sort of cross between animals and insects, covered in fur of every color there was, mouths full of fangs that literally dripped drool all over them, eyes multi-faceted and gleaming with a chilling kind of delight.

Most of them were twelve or fifteen feet tall, and when the four armed members of our party immediately drew their swords, one big specimen in front laughed louder man the rest.

"You think mem little stickers gonna do somethin' to us?" it bellowed happily, staring down at a group that had gone pale at the sudden appearance of the giant upright monsters. "Maybe a demon c'n get you through a gate, but it can't do nothin* to make those toothpicks hurt us.

They told us to watch out fer you an' t'be real careful, but I don* see no reason t'be careful. All you folks look is good feat."

"Maybe you'd better take another look," Rik said, stepping out in front of Su with his sword tight in his fist.

"We won't be going down without taking more than a fair share of you with us, so why not play it smart and just step out of our way? Take any other option, and you'll end up regretting it."

"You ain't gonna make n.o.body regret nothin*. s.h.i.+fter,"

me blue-furred spokesman grinned, showing even more in the way of teeth while its giant bands opened and closed in eager antic.i.p.ation. "The on'y thing that ain't to my iikin*

is how puny you are, no more'n a couple o* bites each.

Never did like gettin* no better'n a taste."

"And how puny do / look to you?" 1 asked, pus.h.i.+ng my way gently to the front of our group to look up at the spokesman. Rik immediately put his free arm up to keep me from pa.s.sing him. an idiotic gesture if I ever saw one, but there was really no need to pa.s.s him. I could See the beast clearly from where I was, and glittering, faceted eyes showed that me ease of inspection was mutual.

"You?" the thing asked with another laugh, but one mat was the least bit less sure of itself- "You ain't even as big as he is. Why would I mink you looked any different?"

"Oh, I don't know. just a silly, girlish fancy on my part, I guess," I answered in a drawl, then raised my left hand palm down and said, "Sph'eer-it." Again I could feel that great surge of power, and when I began lowering my hand, the size of the spokesman lowered with it, one foot of his height and heft for every inch my hand moved.

There was a groaning mutter and a slight backing away of the monsters behind the first as I shrank my victim down to about four and a half feet, and then added, "See anything different about me yet?"

"Okay, okay, you've made your point," the thing grum- bled as it looked up at me, its voice if not its complexion a good deal more on the pale" side. "We thought it was strange for a group of unSightefl to travel alone with a demon, but what the h.e.l.l, it was worth trying for them. If we'd known there was a wizard with them, you never would have seen us."

"Sorceress, not wizard," I corrected, looking at the tiling in curiosity. "And why is your grammar so suddenly unproved? My spell didn't even come close to covering that."

"We've learned from experience that the thicker we sound, me faster our-visitors-give up their weapons,"

(he creature said, glancing uneasily toward Rik. "They're usually too frightened to do us much damage, but every now and again there's one- Look, friend, that crack 1 made wasn't really meant in a derogatory way, and once 1 was really good friends with a s.h.i.+fter before I-ah- ended the friends.h.i.+p. No hard feelings, huh?"

The look Rik gave the creature couldn't be described as

anything less than pure disgust, and the now-small creature winced at the impact of those bronze eyes, then turned to me again.

"Really, do you think we can forget about this?" he asked anxiously, his fangs now almost dry. "We have a firm policy of nonintervention where the Sighted are con- cerned, which is undoubtedly why we were given that misinformation. We'd like to go back to what we were doing-if you don't mind?"

"I haven't yet decided whether I mind or not," I said, making sure I didn't blink as I stared at him. "What other surprise visits are waiting for us between here and the next nearest gate? Or between here and the gate used by your misinformants?"

"How would I know?" the thing asked plaintively, then gasped when 1 lowered my hand again just a little. "Okay, okay, my memory is suddenly clearing. A couple of just-in- case ambushes, some defensive boulders ready to come down off the cliffs, easy stuff, nothing you'd have any trouble with. They said they wanted us to make sure. but we never expected you to get past us, so why would we have gotten fancy on backups? I'll be glad to tell you all about it-show you, I mean. show you! Please don't lower that hand any more! If it's a guide you want, it's a guide you've got!"

"How good of you to offer," I said with something of a smile, gesturing a temporary halt to his shrinkage. "The rest of your people can run along now, but if we happen to see them again, you're the one who'll be in trouble. Does everyone understand that?"

"They understand," the creature answered, watching enviously as the others took hasty leave from the vicinity.

"I told you we know better than to mess with wizards, and I wasn't joking. All right, all right, sorceress, not wizard.

Have it any way you like. Who's leading out?"