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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f1491c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50566 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50566) diff --git a/old/50566-h.zip b/old/50566-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index fcbe31b..0000000 --- a/old/50566-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/50566-h/50566-h.htm b/old/50566-h/50566-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 93fedab..0000000 --- a/old/50566-h/50566-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3433 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Falcons of Narabedla, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1, .ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: xx-large; margin: .67em auto; } -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Falcons of Narabedla, by Marion Zimmer Bradley - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Falcons of Narabedla - -Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley - -Release Date: November 28, 2015 [EBook #50566] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FALCONS OF NARABEDLA *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="359" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - - -<p>Somewhere on the Time Ellipse Mike Kenscott became Adric;<br /> -and the only way to return to his own identity was to find<br /> -the Keep of the Dreamer, and loose the terrible</p> - -<h1>FALCONS of NARABEDLA</h1> - -<p>By Marion Zimmer Bradley</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Other Worlds<br /> -May 1957. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph3">Contents</p> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_ONE">CHAPTER ONE</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWO">CHAPTER TWO</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_THREE">CHAPTER THREE</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_FOUR">CHAPTER FOUR</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_FIVE">CHAPTER FIVE</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_SIX">CHAPTER SIX</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_SEVEN">CHAPTER SEVEN</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHT">CHAPTER EIGHT</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_NINE">CHAPTER NINE</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_TEN">CHAPTER TEN</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_ELEVEN">CHAPTER ELEVEN</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_ONE" id="CHAPTER_ONE">CHAPTER ONE</a><br /> -<small>Voltage—from Nowhere!</small></h2> - - -<p>Somewhere on the crags above us I heard a big bird scream.</p> - -<p>I turned to Andy, knee-deep in the icy stream beside me. "There's your -eagle. Probably smells that cougar I shot yesterday." I started to reel -in my line, knowing what my brother's next move would be. "Get the -camera, and we'll try for a picture."</p> - -<p>We crouched together in the underbrush, watching, as the big bird -of prey wheeled down in a slow spiral toward the dead cougar. Andy -was trembling with excitement, the camera poised against his chest, -his eyes glued in the image-finder. "Golly—" he whispered, almost -prayerfully, "six foot wing spread—maybe more—"</p> - -<p>The bird screamed again, warily, head cocked into the wind. We were to -leeward; the scent of the carrion masked our enemy smell from him. The -eagle failed to scent or to see us, swooping down and dropping on the -cougar's head. Andy's camera clicked twice. The eagle thrust in its -beak—</p> - -<p>A red-hot wire flared in my brain. The bird—the bird—I leaped out of -cover, running swiftly across the ten-foot clearing that separated us -from the attacking eagle, my hand tugging automatically at the hunting -knife in my belt. Andy's shout of surprised anger was a faraway noise -in my ears as the eagle started away with flapping, angry wings—then, -in fury, swept down at me, pinions beating around my head. I heard and -felt the wicked beak dart in, and thrust blindly upward with the knife, -ripped, slashing, hearing the bird's scream of pain and the flapping of -wide wings. A red haze spun around me—</p> - -<p>Then the screaming eagle was gone and Andy's angry grip was on my -shoulder, shaking me roughly. His voice, furious and frightened, was -hardly recognizable. "Mike! Mike, you darned idiot, are you all right? -You must be crazy!"</p> - -<p>I blinked, rubbing my hand across my eyes. The hand came away wet. I -was standing in the clearing, the knife in my hand red with blood. Bird -blood. I heard myself ask, stupidly, "What happened?"</p> - -<p>My brother's face came clear out of the thickness in my mind, scowling -wrathfully. "You tell <b>me</b> what happened! Mike, what in the devil -were you thinking about? You told me yourself that an eagle will attack -a man if he's bothered. I had him square in the camera when you jumped -out of there like a bat out of a belfry and went for the eagle with -your knife! You must be clean crazy!"</p> - -<p>I let the knife drop out of my hand. "Yeah—" I said heavily, "Yeah, -I guess I spoiled your picture, Andy. I'm sorry—I didn't—" my voice -trailed off, helpless. The boy's hand was still on my shoulder; he let -it drop and knelt in the grass, groping there for his camera. "That's -all right, Mike," he said in a dead voice, "you scared the daylights -out of me, that's all." He stood up swiftly, looking straight into my -face. "Darn it, Mike, you've been acting crazy for a week! I don't mind -the blamed camera, but when you start going for eagles with your bare -hands—" abruptly he flung the camera away, turned and began to run -down the slope in the direction of the cabin.</p> - -<p>I took a step to follow, then stopped, bending to retrieve the broken -pieces of Andy's cherished camera. The kid must have hit the eagle with -it. Lucky thing for me; an eagle can be a mean bird. But why, why in -the living hell had I done a thing like that? I'd warned Andy time -and time again to stay clear of the big birds. Now that the urgency -of action had deserted me, I felt stupid and a little lightheaded. I -didn't wonder Andy thought I was crazy. I thought so myself more than -half the time. I stowed the broken camera in my tackle box, mentally -promising Andy a better one; hunted up the abandoned lines and poles, -carefully stowed them, cleaned our day's catch. It was dark before I -started for the cabin; I could hear the hum of the electric dynamo I'd -rigged up and see the electric light across the dusk of the Sierras. A -smell of bacon greeted me as I crossed into the glare of the unshielded -bulb. Andy was standing at the cookstove, his back stubbornly to me. He -did not turn.</p> - -<p>"Andy—" I said.</p> - -<p>"It's okay, Mike. Sit down and eat your supper. I didn't wait for the -fish."</p> - -<p>"Andy—I'll get you another camera—"</p> - -<p>"I said, it's okay. Now, damn it, eat."</p> - -<p>He didn't speak again for a long time; but as I stretched back for a -second mug of coffee, he got up and began to walk around the room, -restlessly. "Mike—" he said entreatingly, "you came here for a rest! -Why can't you lay off your everlasting work for a while and relax?" He -looked disgustedly over his shoulder at the work table where the light -spilled over a confused litter of wires and magnets and coils. "You've -turned this place into a branch office of General Electric!"</p> - -<p>"I can't stop now!" I said violently. "I'm on the track of -something—and if I stop I'll never find it!"</p> - -<p>"Must be real important," Andy said sourly, "if it makes you act like -bughouse bait."</p> - -<p>I shrugged without answering. We'd been over that before. I'd known -it when they threw me out of the government lab, just after the big -blowup. I thought, angrily. I'm heading for another one, but I don't -care.</p> - -<p>"Sit down, Andy," I told him. "You don't know what happened down there. -Now that the war's over, it's no military secret, and I'll tell you -what happened."</p> - -<p>I paused, swallowing down the coffee, not knowing that it scalded my -mouth. "That is—I will if I can."</p> - -<p>Six months before they settled the war in Korea, I was working in a -government radio lab, on some new communications equipment. Since I -never finished it, there's no point in going into details; it's enough -to say it would have made radar as obsolete as the stagecoach. I'd -built a special supersonic condenser, and had had trouble with a set -of magnetic coils that wouldn't wind properly. When the thing blew up -I hadn't had any sleep for three nights, but that wasn't the reason. I -was normal then; just another communications man, intent on radio and -this new equipment and without any of the crazy impractical notions -that had lost me my job later. They called it overwork, but I knew they -thought the explosion had disturbed my brain. I didn't blame them. I -would have liked to think so.</p> - -<p>It started one day in the lab with a shadow on the sun and an elusive -short circuit that gave me shock after shock until I was jittery. By -the time I had it fixed, the oscillator had gone out of control. I got -a series of low-frequency waves that were like nothing I'd ever seen -before. Then there was something like a voice speaking out of a very -old, jerry-built amateur radio set. Except that there wasn't a receiver -in the lab, and no one else had heard it. I wasn't sure myself, because -right then every instrument in the place went haywire and five minutes -later, part of the ceiling hit the floor and the floor went up through -the roof. They found me, they say, lying half-crushed under a beam, and -I woke up eighteen hours later in a hospital with four cracked ribs, -and a feeling as if I'd had a lot of voltage poured into me. It went in -the report that I'd been struck by lightning.</p> - -<p>It took me a long time to get well. The ribs healed fast—faster -than the doctor liked. I didn't mind the hospital part, except -that I couldn't walk without shaking, or light a cigarette without -burning myself, for months. The thing I minded was what I remembered -<b>before</b> I woke up. Delirium; that was what they told me. But -the <b>kind</b> and <b>type</b> of scars on my body didn't ring true. -Electricity—even freak lightning—doesn't make that kind of burns. And -my corner of the world doesn't make a habit of branding people.</p> - -<p>But before I could show the scars to anybody outside the hospital, they -were gone. Not healed; just gone. I remembered the look on the medic's -face when I showed him the place where the scars had been. He didn't -think I was crazy; he thought <b>he</b> was.</p> - -<p>I knew the lab hadn't been struck by lightning. The Major knew it -too; I found that out the day I reported back to work. All the time -we talked, his big pen moved in stubby circles across the page of his -log-book, and he talked without raising his head to look at me.</p> - -<p>"I know all that, Kenscott. No electrical storms reported in the -vicinity; no radio disturbance within a thousand miles. But—" his jaw -grew stubborn, "the lab was wrecked and you were hurt. We've got to -have something for the record."</p> - -<p>I could understand all that. What I resented was the way they treated -me after I went back to work. They transferred me to another division -and another line of work. They turned down my request to follow up -those nontypical waves. My private notes were ripped out of my notebook -while I was at lunch and I never saw them again. And as soon as they -could, they shipped me to Fairbanks, Alaska, and that was the end of -that.</p> - -<p>The Major told me all I needed to know, the day before I took the plane -to Alaska. His scowl said more than his words, and they said plenty. -"I'd let it alone, Kenscott. No sense stirring up more trouble. We -can't bother with side alleys, anyhow. Next time you monkey with it, -you might get your head blown off, not just a dose of stray voltage -out of the blue. We've done everything but stand on our heads trying -to find out where that spare energy came from—and where it went. But -we've marked that whole line of research <b>closed</b>, Kenscott. If I -were you, I'd keep my mouth shut about it."</p> - -<p>"It wasn't a message from Mars," I suggested unsmiling, and he didn't -think that was funny either. But there was relief on his face as I left -the office and went to clean out my drawer.</p> - -<p>I got along all right in Alaska, for a while. But I wasn't the same. -The armistice had hardly been signed when they sent me back to the -States with a recommendation of overwork. I tried to explain it to -Andy. "They said I needed a rest. Maybe so. The shock did something -funny to me ... tore me open ... like the electric shock treatments -they give catatonic patients. I know a lot of things I never learned. -Ordinary radio work doesn't mean anything to me any more. It doesn't -make sense. When people out west were talking about flying saucers or -whatever they were—and when they talked about weather disturbances -after the atomic tests, things did make sense for a while. And when -we came down here—" I paused, trying to fit confused impressions -together. He wasn't going to believe me, anyhow, but I wanted him to. A -tree slapped against the cabin window; I jumped. "It started up again -the day we came up in the mountains. Energy out of nowhere, following -me around. It can't knock me out. Have you noticed I let you turn the -lights on and off? The day we came up, I shorted my electric razor and -blew out five fuses trying to change one."</p> - -<p>"Yeah, I remember, you had to drive to town for them—" My brother's -eyes watched me, uneasy. "Mike, you're kidding—"</p> - -<p>"I wish I were," I said. "That energy just drains into me, and nothing -happens. I'm immune." I shrugged, rose and walked across to the -radio I'd put in here, so carefully, before the war. I picked up the -disconnected plug; thrust it into the socket. I snapped the dial on. -"I'll show you," I told him.</p> - -<p>The panel flashed and darkened; confused static came cracking from the -speaker, erratic. I took my hand away.</p> - -<p>"Turn it up—" Andy said uneasily.</p> - -<p>My hand twiddled the dial. "It's already up."</p> - -<p>"Try another station;" the kid insisted stubbornly. I pushed all the -buttons in succession; the static crackled and buzzed, the panel -light flickered on and off in little cryptic flashes. I sighed. "And -reception was perfect at noon," I told him, "You were listening to the -news." I took my hand away again. "I don't want to blow the thing up."</p> - -<p>Andy came over and switched the button back on. The little panel light -glowed steadily, and the mellow voice of Milton Cross filled the -room ... "now conduct the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra in the Fifth -or 'Fate' symphony of Ludwig von Beethoven ..." the noise of mixed -applause, and then the majestic chords of the symphony, thundering -through the rooms of the cabin.</p> - -<p>"Ta-da-da-dumm——Ta-da-da-DUMM!"</p> - -<p>My brother stared at me as racing woodwinds caught up with the brasses. -There was nothing wrong with the radio. "Mike. What did you do to it?"</p> - -<p>"I wish I knew," I told him. Reaching, I touched the volume button -again.</p> - -<p>Beethoven died in a muttering static like a thousand drums.</p> - -<p>I swore and Andy sucked in his breath between his teeth, edging warily -backward. He touched the dials again; once more the smoothness of the -"Fate" symphony rolled out and swallowed us. I shivered.</p> - -<p>"You'd better let it alone!" Andy said shakily.</p> - -<p>The kid turned in early, but I stayed in the main room, smoking -restlessly and wishing I could get a drink without driving eighty miles -over bad mountain roads. Neither of us had thought to turn off the -radio; it was moaning out some interminable throbbing jazz. I turned -over my notes, restlessly, not really seeing them. Once Andy's voice -came sleepily from the alcove.</p> - -<p>"Going to read all night, Mike?"</p> - -<p>"If I feel like it," I said tersely and began walking up and down again.</p> - -<p>"Michael! For the luvvagod stop it and let me get some sleep!" Andy -exploded, and I sank down in the chair again. "Sorry, Andy."</p> - -<p>Where had the intangible part of me been, those eighteen hours when -I first lay crushed under a fallen beam, then under morphine in the -hospital? Where had those scars come from? More important, what had -made a radio lab blow up in the first place? Electricity sets fires; it -shocks men into insensibility or death. It doesn't explode. Radio waves -are in themselves harmless. Most important of all, what maniac freak of -lightning was I carrying in my body that made me immune to electrical -current? I hadn't told Andy about the time I'd deliberately grounded -the electric dynamo in the cellar and taken the whole voltage in my -body. I was still alive. It would have been a hell of a way to commit -suicide—but I hadn't.</p> - -<p>I swore, slamming down the window. I was going to bed. Andy was right. -Either I was crazy or there was something wrong; in any case, sitting -here wouldn't help. If it didn't let up, I'd take the first train home -and see a good electrician—or a psychiatrist. But right now, I was -going to hit the sack.</p> - -<p>My hand went out automatically and switched the light off.</p> - -<p>"Damn!" I thought incredulously. I'd shorted the dynamo again. The -radio stopped as if the whole orchestra had dropped dead; every light -in the cabin winked swiftly out, but my hand on the switch crackled -with a phosphorescent glow as the entire house current poured into my -body. I tingled with weird shock; I heard my own teeth chattering.</p> - -<p>And something snapped wide open in my brain. I heard, suddenly, an -excited voice, shouting.</p> - -<p>"Rhys! <b>Rhys!</b> That is the man!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWO" id="CHAPTER_TWO">CHAPTER TWO</a><br /> -<small>Rainbow City</small></h2> - - -<p>"<b>You are mad</b>," said the man with the tired voice.</p> - -<p>I was drifting. I was swaying, bodiless, over a huge abyss of caverned -space; chasmed, immense, limitless. Vaguely, through a sleeping -distance, I heard two voices. This one was old and very tired.</p> - -<p>"You are mad. They will know. Narayan will know."</p> - -<p>"Narayan is a fool," said the second voice.</p> - -<p>"Narayan is the Dreamer," the tired voice said. "He is the Dreamer, and -where the Dreamer walks he will know. But have it your way. I am very -old and it does not matter. I give you this power, freely—to spare -you. But Gamine—"</p> - -<p>"Gamine—" the second voice stopped. After a long time, "You are old, -and a fool, Rhys," it said. "What is Gamine to me?"</p> - -<p>Bodiless, blind, I drifted and swayed and swung in the sound of the -voices. The humming, like a million high-tension wires, sang around -me and I felt myself cradled in the pull of a great magnet that -held me suspended surely on nothingness and drew me down into the -field of some force beneath. Far below me the voices faded. I swung -free—fell—plunged downward in sickening motion, head over heels, into -the abyss....</p> - -<p>My feet struck hard flooring. I wrenched back to consciousness with a -jolt. Winds blew coldly in my face; the cabin walls had been flung back -to the high-lying stars. I was standing at a barred window at the very -pinnacle of a tall tower, in the lap of a weird blueness that arched -flickeringly in the night. I caught a glimpse of a startled face, a -lean tired old face beneath a peaked hood, in the moment before my -knees gave way and I fell, striking my head against the bars of the -window.</p> - -<p>I was lying on a narrow, high bed in a room filled with doors and bars. -I could see the edge of a carved mirror set in a frame, and the top -of a chest of some kind. On a bench at the edge of my field of vision -there were two figures sitting. One was the old grey man, hunched -wearily beneath his robe, wearing robes like a Tibetan Lama's, somber -black, and a peaked hood of grey. The other was a slimmer younger -figure, swathed in silken silvery veiling, with a thin opacity where -the face should have been, and a sort of opalescent shine of flesh -through the silvery-sapphire silks. The figure was that of a boy or a -slim immature girl; it sat erect, motionless, and for a long time I -studied it, curious, between half-opened lids. But when I blinked, it -rose and passed through one of the multitudinous doors; at once a soft -sibilance of draperies announced return. I sat up, getting my feet to -the floor, or almost there; the bed was higher than a hospital bed. The -blue-robe held a handled mug, like a baby's drinking-cup, at me. I took -it in my hand hesitated—</p> - -<p>"Neither drug nor poison," said the blue-robe mockingly, and the voice -was as noncommittal as the veiled body; a sexless voice, soft alto, a -woman's or a boy's. "Drink and be glad it is none of Karamy's brewing."</p> - -<p>I tasted the liquid in the mug; it had an indeterminate greenish look -and a faint pungent taste I could not identify, although it reminded me -variously of anise and garlic. It seemed to remove the last traces of -shock. I handed the cup back empty and looked sharply at the old man in -the Lama costume.</p> - -<p>"You're—Rhys?" I said. "Where in hell have I gotten to?" At least, -that's what I meant to say. Imagine my surprise when I found myself -asking—in a language I'd never heard, but understood perfectly—"To -which of the domains of Zandru have I been consigned now?" At the same -moment I became conscious of what I was wearing. It seemed to be an -old-fashioned nightshirt, chopped off at the loins, deep crimson in -color. "Red flannels yet!" I thought with a gulp of dismay. I checked -my impulse to get out of bed. Who could act sane in a red nightshirt?</p> - -<p>"You might have the decency to explain where I am," I said. "If you -know."</p> - -<p>The tiredness seemed part of Rhys voice. "Adric," he said wearily. "Try -to remember." He shrugged his lean shoulders. "You are in your own -Tower. And you have been under restraint again. I am sorry." His voice -sounded futile. I felt prickling shivers run down my backbone. In spite -of the weird surroundings, the phrase "under restraint" had struck -home. I was a lunatic in an asylum.</p> - -<p>The blue-robed one cut in in that smooth, sexless, faint-sarcastic -voice. "While Karamy holds the amnesia-ray, Rhys, you will be -explaining it to him a dozen times a cycle. He will never be of use -to us again. This time Karamy won. Adric; try to remember. You are at -home, in Narabedla."</p> - -<p>I shook my head. Nightshirt or no nightshirt, I'd face this on my feet. -I walked to Rhys; put my clenched hands on his shoulders. "Explain -this! Who am I supposed to be? You called me Adric. I'm no more Adric -than you are!"</p> - -<p>"Adric, you are not amusing!" The blue-robe's voice was edged with -anger. "Use what intelligence you have left! You have had enough -<b>sharig</b> antidote to cure a <b>tharl</b>. Now. Who are you?"</p> - -<p>The words were meaningless. I stared, trapped. I clung to hold on to -identity. "Adric—" I said, bewildered. That was my name. Was it? -Wasn't it? No. I was Mike Kenscott. Hang on to that. Two and two are -four. The circumference equals the radius squared times pi. Four rulls -is the chemming of twilp—<b>stop that!</b> Mike Kenscott. Summer -1954. Army serial number 13-48746. Karamy. I cradled my bursting head -in my hands. "I'm crazy. Or you are. Or we're both sane and this -monkey-business is all real."</p> - -<p>"It is real," said Rhys, compassion in his tired face. "He has been -very far on the Time Ellipse, Gamine. Adric, try to understand. This -was Karamy's work. She sent you out on a time line, far, very far into -the past. Into a time when the Earth was different—she hoped you would -come back changed, or mad." His eyes brooded. "I think she succeeded. -Gamine, I have long outstayed my leave. I must return to my own -tower—or die. Will you explain?"</p> - -<p>"I will." A hint of emotion flickered in the voice of Gamine. "Go, -Master."</p> - -<p>Rhys left the room, through one of the doors. Gamine turned impatiently -to me again. "We waste time this way. Fool, look at yourself!"</p> - -<p>I strode to a mirror that lined one of the doors. Above the crimson -nightshirt I saw a face—not my own. The sight rocked my mind. Out of -the mirror a man's face looked anxiously; a face eagle-thin, darkly -moustached, with sharp green eyes. The body belonging to the face that -was <b>not</b> mine was lean and long and strongly muscled—and not -quite human. I squeezed my eyes shut. This couldn't be—I opened my -eyes. The man in the red nightshirt I was wearing was still reflected -there.</p> - -<p>I turned my back on the mirror, walking to one of the barred windows -to look down on the familiar outline of the Sierra Madre, about a -hundred miles away. I couldn't have been mistaken. I knew that ridge -of mountains. But between me and the mountains lay a thickly forested -expanse of land which looked like no scenery I had ever seen in my -life. I was standing near the pinnacle of a high tower; I dimly saw the -curve of another, just out of my line of vision. The whole landscape -was bathed in a curiously pinkish light; through an overcast sky I -could just make out, dimly, the shadowy disk of a watery red sun. -Then—no, I wasn't dreaming, I really did see it—beyond it, a second -sun; blue-white, shining brilliantly, pallid through the clouds, but -brighter than any sunlight I had ever seen.</p> - -<p>It was proof enough for me. I turned desperately to Gamine behind me. -"Where have I gotten, to? Where—<b>when</b> am I? Two suns—those -mountains—"</p> - -<p>The change in Gamine's voice was swift; the veiled face lifted -questioningly to mine. What I had thought a veil was not that; it -seemed to be more like a shimmering screen wrapped around the features -so that Gamine was faceless, an invisible person with substance but -no apprehensible characteristics. Yes, it was like that; as if there -was an invisible person wearing the curious silken draperies. But the -invisible flesh was solid enough. Hands like cold steel gripped my -shoulders. "You have been back? Back to the days before the second sun? -Adric, tell me; did Earth truly have but one sun?"</p> - -<p>"Wait—" I begged. "You mean I've travelled in time?"</p> - -<p>The exultation faded from Gamine's voice imperceptibly. "Never mind. It -is improbable in any case. No, Adric; not really travelling. You were -only sent out on the Time Ellipse, till you contacted some one in that -other Time. Perhaps you stayed in contact with his mind so long that -you think you are he?"</p> - -<p>"I'm not Adric—" I raged. "Adric sent me here—"</p> - -<p>I saw the blurring around Gamine's invisible features twitch in a -headshake. "It's never been proven that two minds can be interchanged -like that. Adric's body. Adric's brain. The brain convolutions, the -memory centers, the habit patterns—you'd still be Adric. The idea that -you are someone else is only an illusion of your conscious mind. It -will wear off."</p> - -<p>I shook my head, puzzled. "I still don't believe it. Where am I?"</p> - -<p>Gamine moved impatiently. "Oh, very well. You are Adric of Narabedla; -and if you are sane again, Lord of the Crimson Tower. I am Gamine." -The swathed shoulders moved a little. "You don't remember? I am a -spell-singer."</p> - -<p>I jerked my elbow toward the window. "Those are my own mountains out -there," I said roughly. "I'm not Adric, whoever he is. My name's Mike -Kenscott, and your hanky-panky doesn't impress me. Take off that veil -and let me see your face."</p> - -<p>"I wish you meant that—" a mournfulness breathed in the soft -contralto. A sudden fury blazed up in me from nowhere. "And what right -have you to pry for that old fool Rhys? Get back to your own place, -then, spell-singer—" I broke off, appalled. What was I saying? Worse, -what did I mean by it? Gamine turned. The sexless voice was coldly -amused. "Adric spoke then. Whoever sits in the seat of your soul, you -are the same—and past redemption!" The robes whispered sibilantly on -the floor as Gamine moved to the door. "Karamy is welcome to her slave!"</p> - -<p>The door slammed.</p> - -<p>Left alone, I flung myself down on the high bed, stubbornly -concentrating on Mike Kenscott, shutting out the vague blurred mystery -in my mind that was Adric impinging on consciousness. I was not Adric. -I would <b>not</b> be. I dared not go to the window and look out at the -terrifying two suns, even to see the reassurance of the familiar Sierra -Madre skyline. A homesick terror was hurting in me.</p> - -<p>But persistently the Adric memories came, a guilty feeling of a -shirked duty, and a frightened face—a real face, not a blurred -nothingness—beneath Gamine's blue veils. Memories of strange hunts and -a big bird on the pommel of a high saddle. A bird hooded like a falcon, -in crimson.</p> - -<p>Consciousness of dress made me remember the—nightshirt—I still wore. -Moving swiftly, without conscious thought, I went to a door and slid -it open; pulled out some garments and dressed in them. Every garment -in the closet was the same color; deep-hued crimson. I glanced in the -mirror and a phrase Gamine had used broke the surface of my mind like -a leaping fish. "Lord of the Crimson Tower." Well, I looked it. There -had been knives and swords in the closet; I took out one to look at it, -and before I realized what I was doing I had belted it across my hip. I -stared, decided to let it remain. It looked all right with the rest of -the costume. It felt right, too. Another door folded back noiselessly -and a man stood looking at me.</p> - -<p>He was young and would have been handsome in an effeminate way if his -face had not been so arrogant. Lean, somehow catlike, it was easy to -determine that he was akin to Adric, or me, even before the automatic -habit of memory fitted name and identity to him. "Evarin," I said, -warily.</p> - -<p>He came forward, moving so softly that for an uneasy moment I wondered -if he had pads like a cat's on his feet. He wore deep green from head -to foot, similar to the crimson garments that clothed me. His face had -a flickering, as if he could at a moment's notice raise a barrier of -invisibility like Gamine's about himself. He didn't look as human as I.</p> - -<p>"I have seen Gamine," he said. "She says you are awake, and as sane as -you ever were. We of Narabedla are not so strong that we can afford to -waste even a broken tool like you."</p> - -<p>Wrath—Adric's wrath—boiled up in me; but Evarin moved lithely -backward. "I am not Gamine," he warned. "And I will not be served like -Gamine has been served. Take care."</p> - -<p>"Take care yourself," I muttered, knowing little else I could have -said. Evarin drew back thin lips. "Why? You have been sent out on the -Time Ellipse till you are only a shadow of yourself. But all this is -beside the point. Karamy says you are to be freed, so the seals are off -all the doors, and the Crimson Tower is no longer a prison to you. Come -and go as you please. Karamy—" his lips formed a sneer. "If you call -<b>that</b> freedom!"</p> - -<p>I said slowly, "You think I'm not crazy?"</p> - -<p>Evarin snorted. "Except where Karamy is concerned, you never were. What -is that to me? I have everything I need. The Dreamer gives me good -hunting and slaves enough to do my bidding. For the rest, I am the -Toymaker. I need little. But you—" his voice leaped with contempt, -"you ride time at Karamy's bidding—and your Dreamer walks—waiting the -coming of his power that he may destroy us all one day!"</p> - -<p>I stared somberly at Evarin, standing still near the door. The words -seemed to wake an almost personal shame in me. The boy watched and his -face lost some of his bitterness. He said more quietly, "The falcon -flown cannot be recalled. I came only to tell you that you are free." -He turned, shrugging his thin shoulders, and walked to the window. "As -I say, if you call that freedom."</p> - -<p>I followed him to the window. The clouds were clearing; the two suns -shone with a blinding brilliance. By looking far to the left I could -see a line of rainbow-tinted towers that rose into the sky, tall and -capped with slender spires. I could distinguish five clearly; one, the -nearest, seemed made of a jewelled blue; one, clear emerald green; -golden, flame-colored, violet. There were more beyond, but the colors -were blurred and dim. They made a semicircle about a wooded park; -beyond them the familiar skyline of the mountains tugged old memories -in my brain. The suns swung high in a sky that held no tint of blue, -that was as clear and colorless as ice. Abruptly I turned my back on it -all. Evarin murmured, "Narabedla. Last of the Rainbow Cities. Adric—how -long now?"</p> - -<p>I did not answer. "Karamy wants me?"</p> - -<p>Evarin's laugh was only a soundless shaking of his thin shoulders. -"Karamy can wait. Better for you if she waited forever. Come along with -me, or Gamine will be back. You don't want to see Gamine, do you?" He -sounded anxious; I shook my head. Emphatically, I did <b>not</b> want -to see that insidious spook again. "No. Why? Should I?"</p> - -<p>Evarin looked relieved. "Come along, then. If I know Gamine, you're -pretty well muddled. Amnesiac. I'll explain. After all—" his voice -mocked, "you <b>are</b> my brother!"</p> - -<p>He thrust open the door and motioned me through. Instinctively I drew -back, gesturing him to lead the way; he laughed soundlessly and went, -and I followed, letting it slide shut behind me.</p> - -<p>We went down stairs and more stairs. I walked at Evarin's side, one -part of me wondering why I was not more panicky. I was a stranger in a -world gone insane, yet I had that outrageous calmness with which men -do fantastic things in a dream. I was simply taking one step after -another; knowing what to do with that part of me that was Adric. Gamine -had spoken of habit patterns, the convolutions of the brain. I had -Adric's body. Only a superficial me, an outer ego, was still a strange, -muddled Mike Kenscott. The subconscious Adric was guiding me. I let him -ride. I felt it would be wise to be very much Adric around Evarin. We -stepped into an elevator shaft which went down, curved around corners -with a speed that threw me against the wall, then began, slowly, to -rise. I had long since lost all sense of direction. Abruptly the door -of the shaft opened and we began to walk along a long, brilliantly -illuminated passage. From somewhere we heard singing; a voice somewhere -in the range of a trained boy's voice or a woman's mature contralto. -Gamine's voice. I could make no sense of the words; but Evarin halted -to listen, swearing in a whisper. I thought the faraway voice sang my -name and Evarin's, but I could not tell. "What is it, Evarin?"</p> - -<p>He gave a short exclamation, the sense of which was lost on me.</p> - -<p>"Come along," he said irritably, "It is only the spell-singer, singing -old Rhys back to sleep. You waked him this time, did you not? I wonder -Gamine permitted it. He is very near his last sleep—old Rhys. I -think you will send him there soon." Without giving me a chance to -answer—and for that matter, I had no answer ready—he pulled me aside -between recessed walls and again the shaft in which we stood began to -ride. Eventually we stepped into a room at the top of another tower, a -room lavishly, even garishly furnished. Evarin flung himself carelessly -on a divan embroidered in silken purple and gestured me to follow his -example. "Well, now tell me. Where in Time has Karamy sent you now?"</p> - -<p>"Karamy?" I asked tentatively. Evarin's raucous laugh rang out again. -He said with seeming irrelevance, but with an odd air of confiding, "My -one demand of the Dreamer is—freedom from that witch's spells. Some -day I shall fashion a Toy for her. I am not the Toymaker of Narabedla -for nothing. I demand little enough of the Dreamers, Zandru knows! I -do not like to pay their price, but Karamy does not care what she pays. -So—" he made a spreading movement of his hands, "she has power over -everyone, except me. Yes; assuredly I must make her a Toy. She sent you -out on the Time Ellipse. I wonder who brought you back?"</p> - -<p>I shook my head. "I've been out of my body too long. I can't remember -much."</p> - -<p>"You remember me," Evarin said. "I wonder why she left you that? -Karamy's amnesia-rays took the rest of your memory. She never trusted -me that far before."</p> - -<p>But I caught the crafty look in his face. I knew only this about -Evarin; Karamy was right not to trust him. I said, "I only remember your -name. Nothing more."</p> - -<p>Because Evarin—I knew—was never ten minutes the same. He would -profess friendship and mean friendship; ten minutes later, still in -friendship, he would flay the skin from my body and count it only an -exquisite joke. I did not like those perverted and subtle eyes. He -seemed to read my thought. "Good, we will be strangers. Brothers are -too—" he let the word trail off, unfinished. "What have you forgotten?"</p> - -<p>Could I trust him with my terrible puzzlement? How much could I, as -Adric—and I <b>must</b> be Adric to him—get along without knowing? -What was even more to the point, how many questions could I dare ask -without betraying my own helplessness? I compromised. "What are the -Dreamers?"</p> - -<p>That <b>had</b> been the wrong question.</p> - -<p>"Zandru. Adric, you have been far indeed! You must have been back -before the Cataclysm! Well—our forefathers, after the Cataclysm, -ruled this planet and built the Rainbow Cities. That was before the -Compact that killed machines. Some people say the Dreamers were born -from the dead machines."</p> - -<p>He began to pace the floor restlessly. "They were men—once," he said. -"They are born from men and women. Mendel knows what caused them. But -one in every ten million men is such a freak—a Dreamer. Some say they -came out of the Cataclysm; some say they are the souls of the dead -Machines. They are human—and not human. They were telepaths. They -could control everything—things, minds, people. They could throw -illusions around things and men—they contested our rules."</p> - -<p>He sat down; his voice became brooding, quiet. "One of us, here -in Rainbow City, a dozen generations ago, found a way to bind the -Dreamers," he said. "We could not kill them; they were deathless, -normally. But we could bind them in sleep. As they slept, under a -forced stasis, we could make them give up their powers—to us. So that -we controlled the things <b>they</b> controlled. For a price." There -was a glimpse of horror behind his eyes. "You know the price. It is -high."</p> - -<p>I kept silent. I wanted Evarin to go on.</p> - -<p>He shivered a little, shook his head and the horror vanished. "So each -of us has a Dreamer of his own who can grant him power to do as he -wills. And after years and years, as the Dreamers grow old, they grow -mortal. They can be killed. And fewer are born, now; fewer to each -generation. As they grow older and weaker, it is safe to let them wake; -but never too strongly, or too long." He laughed, bitterly. A fury -came from nowhere into his face.</p> - -<p>"And you loosed a Dreamer!" he cried. "A Dreamer with all his power -hardly come upon him! He is harmless as yet—but he wakes, and he -walks! And one day the power will come upon him—and he will destroy -us all!" Evarin's thin features were drawn with despair; not arrogant, -now, but full of suffering. "A Dreamer—", he sighed. "A Dreamer, and -you had been made one with him already! Can you see now why we do not -trust you—brother?"</p> - -<p>Without answering I rose and went to the window. This window did not -look on the neat little park, but on a vast tract of wild country. Far -away, curious trails of smoke spiralled up into the sunlight and a -wispy fog lay in the bottomlands.</p> - -<p>"Down there," said Evarin in a low voice, "Down there the Dreamer walks -and waits! Down there—"</p> - -<p>But I did not hear the rest, for my mind completed it. Down there—</p> - -<p>Down there is my lost memory. Down there was my life.</p> - -<p>Somewhere down there I had left my soul.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THREE" id="CHAPTER_THREE">CHAPTER THREE</a><br /> -<small>Flowers of Danger</small></h2> - - -<p>I turned my back on the window. "Rhys is a Dreamer," I said with slow -certainty. "What is Gamine?"</p> - -<p>Evarin nodded slowly, ignoring the question. "Rhys is a Dreamer, yes. -He is old—so old he is almost mortal now; so he wakes, and he too -walks. But he was one of us once—the only Dreamer ever born within the -Rainbow City. His loyalty is double; but he will never harm Narabedla, -because he is of our blood." Evarin cleared his throat. "So Gamine -takes what knowledge can be had from his old, old mind. And does not -pay."</p> - -<p>"Who is Gamine?" I asked again. Evarin still hesitated.</p> - -<p>"Karamy hates Gamine," he said, after minutes. "So no man sees Gamine's -face. I would not ask too many questions—unless you ask them of -Karamy." A smile flickered on the mobile features. "Ask Karamy," he -said gleefully, "She will tell!"</p> - -<p>"She will?" I said stupidly, because I could think of nothing else to -say. Evarin's grin was delicately malicious. "Oh, I am sure of that! -Karamy is quick to strike. Gamine and I have little love lost, but we -agree on one thing; that Karamy's procession of slaves is monstrous. -And that you are a fool to help Karamy pay for her—desires. Karamy is -far too fond of power in her own hands, to pay to put it into yours."</p> - -<p>Karamy. Karamy who took my memory—</p> - -<p>"She did." Evarin murmured, and I realized I had spoken aloud. The room -seemed full of a weighty silence. Evarin's prowling footsteps made no -noise as he came to my side. "I can give it back to you, though. I have -made you a Toy." His effete voice rather disgusted me, and I moved -away, but he followed. "Look here, and find your memory."</p> - -<p>And he put something small and hard into my hand; something wrapped in -silvery silks.</p> - -<p>I raised my hand curiously, untwisting the wrappings. They were smooth -and shining and colorless, with a bluish cast, like Gamine's veils; -no fabric I had ever seen. Evarin backed slowly away from me. For an -instant all I could see was a blurred invisibility—like Gamine's face -behind the veils—then a sort of mirror became slowly visible. It did -not seem to reflect anything; rather, it was a coldly shining surface, -cloudy, glittering from within. I bent to examine the pattern of the -shadows that moved on the surface. There was a curious pull from the -mirror, a cold that crept sluggishly from my hand. A familiar, soothing -cold. As if drawn by a magnet, my eyes bent closer—</p> - -<p>Recognition crashed in my mind. Evarin—and his gilt deadly Toys.... I -dashed the colorless thing to the floor, giving it a savage kick. The -blurred invisibility wavered; I caught a glimpse of a tiny jewelled -mechanism, before it sprang back to gray ice again. Evarin had backed -halfway across the room; I leaped at him, collaring the dandy and -wrenching him close. "I've a good mind to tie the thing across your -throat!" I grated.</p> - -<p>Evarin's lip twisted up. Suddenly his whole face melted in a blurring -invisibility and I felt his whole substance evaporate from between -my hands. He writhed like smoke, and I leaped backward just as he -materialized, whole and deadly, too close. "I am always—guarded!" he -jerked out at me, "I might have known—"</p> - -<p>He stooped, reaching for the fallen toy. I kicked the little mirror -out of his reach, bent to retrieve it. "I'll keep this," I said, and -wadding the insulated silk around it, I thrust it into a pocket. -Evarin's eyes glared at me helplessly. "You'll stay solid for awhile -now," I jeered. "<b>Toymaker!</b> Damned freak—" I stormed out of the -room, leaving him rubbing his bruised shoulder.</p> - -<p>Now that Adric was back in control, I had no trouble discovering -where I wanted to go. Some blind instinct led me through the maze -of elevators and staircases; I stepped into servant's quarters, -kitchens, a roomful of buzzing machinery I dismissed with a glance of -familiarity; and finally found myself in the open, the semicircle of -rainbow towers around me.</p> - -<p>Overhead the suns, red and white, sent a curious, double-shadowed -light downward through the neatly-trimmed trees. A little day moon, -smaller than any moon I had known, peeped, a curious crescent, over the -edge of a mountain. The grass under my feet was just grass, but the -brightly-tinted flowers in mathematically regular beds were strange to -me. Paths, bordered by narrow ditches to keep the pedestrian off the -flowers, wandered in and out of this strange pleasaunce; I accepted all -this without conscious thought, but some unconscious scrap of memory -gave me a vague practical reason for the ditches. I carefully avoided -them.</p> - -<p>Faint shrill music tugged siren-like at my ears; wordless, like -Gamine's crooning. Staring, I realized that the flowers themselves -sang. The singing flowers of Karamy's garden—I remembered their lotus -song. A song of welcome? Or of danger?</p> - -<p>I was not alone in the garden. Men, kilted and belted in the same gaudy -red and gold as the flowers, passed and repassed restlessly, unquiet -as chained flames. For a moment the old vanity turned upper-most in my -mind. For all her slaves, all her—lovers, Karamy paid tribute to the -Lord of the Crimson Tower! Paid—would continue to pay!</p> - -<p>The men passed me, silent. They were sworded, but their swords were -blunt, like children's toys; they were a regiment of corpses, of -zombies. Their salutes as I passed were jerky, mechanical.</p> - -<p>A high note sang suddenly in the flowers; I felt, not heard, their -empty parading cease. In a weird ballet they ranged themselves into -blind lines that filed away nowhere; toy soldiers, all alike.</p> - -<p>And between the backs of the toy-soldiers and the patterned, painted -flowers, I saw a man running. Another me, from another world, thought -briefly of the card-soldiers, flat on their faces in the Red Queen's -garden. Wonderland. I heard myself say, with half-conscious amusement, -"They all look so alike until you turn them over!"</p> - -<p>The man running between the ditched flower-beds was no dummy from a -pack of cards. I saw him beckon, still running. He called to me; to -Adric.</p> - -<p>"Adric! Karamy walks here—just listen to the flowers! I was afraid -I'd have to get all the way into the tower to find you!" His voice was -urgent, breathless; he slid to a stop not three feet from me. "Narayan -<b>knew</b> they'd freed you! He's outside the gates. He sent me to -help. Come on!"</p> - -<p>The sight of the man touched another of those live-wires in my brain; -the name of <b>Narayan</b>, another still. "Narayan—" I said in dull -recognition. The word, on my lips, hit a chord of fear, of dread and -danger—</p> - -<p>But I had come straight from Evarin. I knew the man; I knew the -response he expected, but the brief glimpse into Evarin's mirror had -set up a chain of actions I could not control. I tried to put out my -hand in friendly greeting; instead I felt, with horror, my fingers -at my belt and tried, without success, to halt the sword that flew -without volition from its sheath. The man backed away, his eyes full -of terror. "Adric—no—the Sign—" he held up one arm, deprecatingly, -then howled with agony, clutching the severed fingers. I heard my own -voice, savage, inhuman, the thin laughter of Evarin snarling through -it. "Sign?? There's a sign for you!"</p> - -<p>The man threw himself out of range; but his face, convulsed with pain, -held a stunned bewilderment. "Adric—Narayan promised—you were sane—" -he breathed.</p> - -<p>I forced my sword back into the scabbard, staring without comprehension -at the blood from the wound I had inflicted, and at the darting heads -of the flowers. I could not kill this man who carried the name of -Narayan on his tongue.</p> - -<p>The flowers twitched—stirred—threw tendrils at the man's bleeding -hand. A quick nausea tightened my throat; I motioned urgently to him.</p> - -<p>"Run!" I begged, "Quick, or I can't—"</p> - -<p>The flowers shrilled. The man threw back his head, his eyes wide with -panic, and screamed.</p> - -<p>"Karamy! Aiiieeeee—!" he staggered back wildly, teetering on the -edge of the ditch. I cried another warning, incoherent—but too -late. He trod on the flowers—stumbled across the little ditch. The -writhing flower-heads shot up shoulder-high. They screamed a wild -paean of flower-music, and he fell among them, sprawling, floundering -helplessly. I heard him scream, hoarsely, horribly—I turned my eyes -away. There was a wild thrashing, a flailing, a yell that died and -echoed among the brilliant towers. There was a sort of purring murmur -from the blossoms.</p> - -<p>Then the flowers stilled and were quiet, waving innocently behind their -ditches.</p> - -<p>Karamy, gold and fire, walked along the winding path through the trees. -And in the space of a second I forgot the man who lay lifeless in the -bed of the terrible flowers.</p> - -<p>Karamy was all gold. From her glowing crown of hair to the tips of her -little slippers, she was one sunny shimmer; there was amber on her -brows and at her throat, and an amber rod twisted lightly between her -fingers, its delicate movement outlining my face. Karamy's smile of -welcome was a dream which made me know I could be well content if this -were my world.</p> - -<p>But old habit made me turn my face away; her eyes, cat-eyes of wide -yellow, watched me slyly, but her face was turned to the sprawled man -in the flowers. "So? I thought I heard—something." Without taking her -eyes from my face, she spun the lucent rod. The flower-song rose again, -a soft keening wail. Two of the silent guards moved noiselessly through -the garden, and at an expressive movement of the rod, they lifted the -corpse and bore it away. The music died. The woman's hands went out to -pull me close.</p> - -<p>"Adric, Adric! As soon as you are free, they pursue you! That is not -what you want, is it?"</p> - -<p>"Isn't it?" I asked shortly. I still could not look full at the -cat-eyes, the caressing face. A memory scuttled, rabbit-fashion, across -my mind, giving name and identity to the man I had betrayed to the -flowers.</p> - -<p>Karamy slid in front of me so I had to look at her, and the lovely lazy -voice murmured the name I was beginning to know. "You are angry," the -soft voice caressed me, "I knew it was not right to let Evarin near -you! Adric, we need you, Narabedla needs you! We felt betrayed when -you left us, when you shut yourself up alone with your stars! Have you -forgotten, or are you still—my lover?"</p> - -<p>It rang phony! Phony, was the way I put it to myself. Part of me felt -like calling her a lying she-devil and having that much, at least, on -record. But I was fast acquiring a double cunning. The animal cunning -of Adric's old habit—and a desperate, trapped cunning of my own, born -of a desperate fear of this unfamiliar world. There was nothing I could -do except ride on the surface and let my hunches take me where they -would. Karamy was very soft and sweet and something more than lovely -in my arms and I held her crushingly close while I struggled with a -memory. Who was Karamy? Who—and what—was I?</p> - -<p>Karamy dropped her arms. The mantle of lazy seductiveness dropped with -them. She spoke with eager annoyance. "You are still angry because -I sent you on the Time Ellipse! You do not know it was for your own -good—you haven't learned your lesson yet—"</p> - -<p>That talk meant danger for me. I could think of only one way to silence -it. She seemed to like it; but even with her lips acquiescent under -mine, I was wary. Was I fooling her—or was she only playing my own -game, and playing it a little better?</p> - -<p>"Now we can make plans," she said a little later, "First, Gamine." -She looked sharply at me, but I kept my face expressionless. "Gamine -is always with the old Dreamer; she lets him wake; he will grow too -strong. We must send Rhys away from Narabedla. Gamine may stay or -follow him to exile. But Rhys must go."</p> - -<p>"Rhys must go," I conceded.</p> - -<p>"He should be slain, but Gamine will never do it," said Karamy with -a shrug that disposed of Rhys. "Evarin—" she snapped her jewelled -fingers. "His Dreamer sleeps sound! Evarin fears even his own power! -My Dreamer grows strong—but he serves me!" The beautiful face looked -ruthless and savage. "Your Dreamer walks—free in the forest! Only you -can re-bind him. You, with my help—Adric of the Crimson Tower!"</p> - -<p>Her eyes smoldered. "Yes, and my Dreamer shall serve you as well, till -then!" She breathed. "I will pay to put power in your hands!"</p> - -<p>The very phrase Evarin had used! A shudder stung me briefly.</p> - -<p>Her glowing face burned through my sting of fear. "I go to the Dreamer -this night, Adric! Ride with me, and he shall lead you where the -Dreamer walks—and lead you back to power! I have said enough—" the -lambent eyes tilted at me, "Have I not?"</p> - -<p>She had, and too much. For I knew now how the Dreamer must be paid. And -the small part of me that was still Mike Kenscott cowered; the rest of -me accepted the memory with a shrug. It was this Adric part that spoke. -"I'll go. And afterward, I'll go into the forest where the Dreamer -walks—and bring him back to you!"</p> - -<p>But even as I swept Karamy into my arms and bent her head back roughly -under my mouth, a warning prickle iced my spine. I said, insinuatingly -"And then, Karamy—" but my eyes narrowed over her golden head.</p> - -<p>Karamy had tricked me before this.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FOUR" id="CHAPTER_FOUR">CHAPTER FOUR</a><br /> -<small>Trapped!</small></h2> - - -<p>Afterward, when I had found my way back to the Crimson Tower, I -searched for hours for something that might give a clue to Adric's -mystifying past. I was puzzled about this Adric who came and went as he -pleased in the chambers of my memory. But I found nothing; whoever had -stolen Adric's memory, had made sure that nothing in his surroundings -should clear up the puzzle in his mind. I knew only one thing. Adric -was feared, disliked, distrusted by all the Narabedlans, and all except -Gamine had something to gain by feigning friendship. I could not decide -whether Karamy's attitude was love that pretended contempt to mold -Adric, or me, to her will, or contempt that pretended love for the same -reason. And although habit found affection for Evarin, I could not -trust him long. Trust a cyclone sooner than that half-mad effeminate! -The name, <b>Narayan</b>, stuck burr-like in my mind. Friend, or enemy? -I sat at the barred window of Adric's high room, trying to force memory -from the alien mind in which I was prisoner. And whether it was sheer -effort of will, or the result of the fragmentary look in Evarin's -mirror, or whether, as Gamine insisted, I was really Adric and Mike -Kenscott was a mere superficial illusion of my conscious mind, memory -did begin to pulse back.</p> - -<p>In the early days....</p> - -<p>In the early days, before the vagueness came on my mind, I, Adric of -the Crimson Tower, had been a power in the Rainbow City. The memories -of that time were not the kind Mike Kenscott would have cared to own, -but I, as Adric, found them vastly pleasing. Unlike Gamine, who loved -only knowledge, or Evarin, who toyed with pleasure and trickery, I had -wanted power. I had it, unlimited, from a Dreamer who stirred only -vaguely in sleep. Half the known portions of this world had known the -Crimson Tower as lord. And Karamy—</p> - -<p>Some memories were triumphant. Some were humorous in Adric's cynical -mind. Some were terrible beyond guessing—for Adric had not counted -cost, and even he shuddered from the price the Dreamer had exacted.</p> - -<p>Then, to this wilful and wild man, something had happened. I had no -idea what; Karamy had reached that far back and blurred, though not -entirely erased, my memory. It had something to do with a blond boy's -face, lifted in incredulous terror—or joy; and a fleeing form, veiled, -that retreated down the long corridor of my mind, averting its face -as I followed. Whatever had happened, it had come when Adric was sick -with blood and horror, when he was surfeited, even if momentarily, with -conquest, and sickened at the price the Dreamer extorted. The power, -forced through the mind of the Dreamer, called for energy; kinetic -energy, available from one source and one only. Adric had fed the -Dreamer with that power. For a while.</p> - -<p>One day, as a whim, I had redeemed a young woman slave—then the -vagueness came and choked me. I might think; I might burst my brain, -but so far and no farther my memories would carry me. I <b>could -not</b> force memory of that chain of events. But after that, Adric's -reign had collapsed like the unstable arch it had been. His armies -scattered, and he had shut himself up or been imprisoned in his Tower; -his memories had been stolen and he had gone, or been sent, spinning -along a time line forward, or perhaps back, until somewhere in the -abyss of time he touched Mike Kenscott.</p> - -<p>It had been then, perhaps, that Adric had escaped. He had reached, -drawn Mike Kenscott back—and switched the two. It was a perfect escape -from a life Adric had come to hate.</p> - -<p>But I <b>was</b> Adric. There was an explanation for that, too. The -physical body could not make the transit in time. I had Adric's body; -the convolutions of his brain, the synaptic links of habit. His memory -banks. Only the Ego, the super-imposed pattern of the conscious -identity, insisted I was Mike Kenscott. In Adric's body, the old -patterns ruled, and to all intents and purposes, I <b>was</b> Adric. -And back in my own time, I thought, Adric was living in my body—living -Mike Kenscott's life, going through the motions, with only the same -queer lapses I was making here. And after a while, even these would -stop. I was wholly trapped. Here, living Adric's life, the part of me -that was Adric would grow stronger and stronger till—he?—unseated the -other identity wholly. And he, in my body? Andy, I thought with a wild -swift fear, <b>what will he do to Andy</b>?</p> - -<p>Nothing. He could not hurt Andy—not in my pattern—any more than I -could hate Evarin. Or could he?</p> - -<p>I had to get back! God, I <b>had</b> to get back!</p> - -<p>When the white sun had set and the red sun glowed a darkening ember -across the Sierra, a summons came, brought by one of Karamy's -toy-soldier cohorts. I dressed—in crimson again, for there was no -other clothing anywhere—and followed the voiceless sentry down through -a labyrinth of elevators, finally emerging into a long corridor. I -strode down it, hearing my own steps echo; a second rhythm joined them -imperceptibly, and Gamine stole out of the darkness, swathed in the -luminous veiling, creeping noiselessly as a ghost behind me. Later I -became conscious of Evarin's padding cat-steps behind Gamine, trailing -us, single-file. And other figures came from darkened recesses to -stretch the silent parade; a slim girl in a winged cloak, flame color; -a dwarfed man who walked beneath the amethyst huddle of purple cap and -furs. Memory fitted names to them, but I did not speak to them, or they -to me.</p> - -<p>After a long time, the immense corridor began to tilt upward, climbing -toward a glimmer of light at the end. Without realizing it I had swung -into an arrogant, loping stride; now I brushed away the slave-soldier -who headed the column and took the lead myself. Behind me the others -fell into place as if I had bidden them; the flame-clothed girl in the -winged cloak, the cat-footed Evarin, the dwarf bent in his jester's -cap, Gamine in the blue shroud. Without warning, we came out into a -vast court; an enclosed space, yet wide as the outdoors, a yard, a -plaza, a place of imposing grandeur. A place of memory.</p> - -<p>The red sun above us glowed like a lurid coal. There were tall pillars -on three sides of the courtyard, and at the far end, a vaulted archway -led into a treelined drive that stretched away for miles into the -twilight. Between two pillars, Karamy waited; slim, shimmering golden -from head to foot. A hungry impatience sparked in her cat's eyes. -"You're late."</p> - -<p>"I'm ready," I said. What I was ready for, I was not sure.</p> - -<p>Karamy waved an impatient signal to the Narabedlans who were coming up. -"Adric is with us again," she said in her curious lazy voice, "Your -allegiance to Adric—children of the Rainbow!"</p> - -<p>I stood at her side, mute, waiting; a guard of silent men behind us. -"Lord Idris;" Karamy summoned. The hunchback came to bow jerkily before -us. "Welcome home—Lord!"</p> - -<p>The girl in flame-color darted to where we stood and her dipping curtsy -was like the waver of a moth toward a flame. "Adric—" she murmured. -The wings of her cloak lifted and fluttered across her shoulders as if -they would fly of themselves. She was a shy thing, and her dark hair -waved softly as if it too were winged. I touched her fingers lightly, -but under the smolder of Karamy's gaze I let her go. She watched me, -shyly, with averted face.</p> - -<p>Evarin's face was slyly malicious, but his voice was pure silk. "It -is—pleasure to follow you again, my brother," he almost purred, and I -scowled at the mockery at his face and refused his offered hand. Only -Gamine said nothing, coming forward on gliding feet to bow briefly -and retire; but the silver-sweet, sexless voice of the spell-singer -murmured in a singing, almost wordless, croon.</p> - -<p>"Save your spells, Gamine," said Karamy savagely, and Evarin jerked -round at the shrouded form, but Gamine heeded neither of them, and the -sweet contralto chanting went on.</p> - -<p>From somewhere the silent men brought horses. Horses—here, in this -nightmare world? I had never been on a horse in my life. I found myself -vaulting, with a nice co-ordination of movement, into the saddle. The -courtyard, for all the bustle of department, seemed to hold the silence -of a grave. Karamy kept me close to her. When we were all mounted, she -threw the amber rod upward, and the last rays of the red sun caught -its rays and sent a pure shaft of light down the darkened alleyway -lined with trees. At the sight of that gleam, a curiously familiar -emotion stole through me. I threw up one arm over my head, mimicking -Karamy's gesture. "Ride!" I shouted.</p> - -<p>And the flying steeds kept pace with mine.</p> - -<p>The driveway under the arch of trees led for miles under the thick -boughs. Through the easy drumming of hooves, I could still hear the -sweet distant sound of Gamine's singing, which floated on the wind, -keeping pace with the rise and fall of the rolling road, in a quick -cadence. The wind whipped Karamy's golden hair like a halo about -her head. I glanced over my shoulder to where the rainbow towers -stood, now black, silhouetted against the greater darkness of the -mountains. Overhead in the pink sky, the crescent of the tiny moon was -brightening, and lower in the sky I saw another, wider disc, nearly at -full. Cold air was stinging my cheeks and nipping my bones with frost, -and I felt the sparks struck from hooves beating on the frozen ground.</p> - -<p><b>Cold!</b> Yet in Karamy's garden flowers had glowed in a tropical -glory—</p> - -<p>And for a moment, it was entirely Mike Kenscott—sick, bewildered and -panicky—who glanced about him with horror, feeling the swirling cold -and a colder chill from the golden sorceress at my side. It was Mike -Kenscott's will that jerked at the reins of the big gelding to end this -farce now—</p> - -<p>"What is it?" Karamy cried, over the noise of the hooves.</p> - -<p>And I heard my own voice, raised above the galloping rhythm, cry back -"Nothing!" and call out a command to the horse.</p> - -<p>Good God! I was Mike Kenscott—but prisoner in a body that would -not obey me—a mind that persisted in thoughts and habits I could -not share, a—soul?—that would carry me to destruction! I was Mike -Kenscott—trapped on a nightmare ride through hell!</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FIVE" id="CHAPTER_FIVE">CHAPTER FIVE</a><br /> -<small>Where the Dreamer Walks</small></h2> - - -<p>I had been scared before. Now I was panicked, wild with a -nerve-destroying fright. I'm not a coward. I set up a radar transmitter -in Okinawa within ninety feet of a nest of Japs. That was something -real. I could face it. But under two suns and a pair of little moons, -with weird people I knew were not human—all right; I was a coward. I -steadied myself in the saddle, trying with every scrap of my will to -calm myself. If this was a nightmare, well, I'd had some beauties—</p> - -<p>But it wasn't. I knew that. The frost hurting my face, the sound of -shod steel on stones, the vivid colors around me, told me I was wide -awake. Dreams are not techni-colored. And through all this I was riding -hell-for-leather, my knees gripped on the saddle, guiding the horse -with the grip of my thighs—and I'd never been on a horse's back in my -life. Rode—and rode—</p> - -<p>We had ridden about seven miles, and stopped twice to breathe the -horses, but we were still beneath the great archway of trees. The -sky's pink sunset light had faded; the land was flooded with a blue, -fluorescent starlight, a light I'd never seen before. I strained my -eyes upward through the black foliage. I suppose I had some confused -idea of guessing <b>when</b> I was by the stars. But the view to the -North was hidden by mountains, and I don't know one constellation -from another, with that single exception. A glance at Karamy, in this -fright, un-nerved me; I touched the reins, dropped back till I rode -between Gamine and the girl in flame-color. "Adric," the spell-singer -saluted coolly, and the girl in the winged cloak threw back her hood; -I saw dark eyes watching me from a pure, sweet young face. Before the -luminous innocence of those eyes I wanted to cry out in protest. I was -not Adric, warlock of Narabedla. I was just a poor guy named Mike, I -was just—me. I rode beside Gamine for minutes, trying to think what I -would say.</p> - -<p>Gamine's musical voice was not raised, yet it carried perfectly to my -ears. "You seem wholly yourself again."</p> - -<p>I didn't answer. What was there to say? Still, there seemed to be -sympathy in the sharply-edged tones. "You will remember—perhaps too -much—at the Dreamer's Keep."</p> - -<p>"Gamine," I asked, "Who is <b>Narayan</b>?"</p> - -<p>I saw the blue robes quiver a little; across from Gamine, I saw a -curious flickering look pass across the face of the girl in the orange -winged cloak. But Gamine's answer was perfectly even and disinterested. -"The name is not familiar to me. Have you heard it, Cynara?"</p> - -<p>The girl did not answer, only moved her dark head a little.</p> - -<p>"I should know," I mused. But the name <b>Cynara</b> had touched -another of those live wires within my mind. Narayan. Cynara. Cynara and -Narayan! If I could only remember! Suddenly I turned. "Gamine—who are -you?" Gamine sat quiet, eerily motionless on the tall horse. The robed -figure seemed to blend into the starlit shadows around us. I had the -sudden feeling of having re-lived this moment before, then the veiled -shoulders twitched impatiently.</p> - -<p>"Is this an inquisition?"</p> - -<p>Rebuked, and stung by the arrogant voice, I touched my heel to my -horse's flank and rode forward to rejoin Karamy. Gamine! The hell with -Gamine!</p> - -<p>For several minutes the road had been climbing, and now we topped the -summit of a little rise and abruptly the trees came to an end. By tacit -consent we all drew our horses to a walk. We stood atop the lip of a -broad bowl of land, perhaps thirty miles across, filled to the brim -with thick dark forest. Far out in this valley lay a cleared space, and -in the center of that space lay a great tower; but not a slender and -fairylike spire like the Towers of Rainbow City. This was a massive -donjon thrusting heavy shoulders upward into the moon-washed sky.</p> - -<p>The Keep of the Dreamers.</p> - -<p>Something in me murmured, "This is the forest where the Dreamer -walks!"—or had the murmured voice come from Gamine, motionless -behind me? Karamy rode eagerly, her face drawn tautly together, her -slim tanned hands clenched on the reins. All this while I was Mike -Kenscott—but a Mike who watched himself without knowing what he would -do next, like those puzzling nightmares where a man is both actor and -audience to some mummery being played. I watched myself say and do -things as if I were two men at once. In effect, I suppose I was.... -Karamy turned in her saddle, facing me.</p> - -<p>"Adric," she murmured, "Lead me where the Dreamer walks!"</p> - -<p>I knew, with a sudden surety, that because of some bond between the -freed Dreamer and myself, I could do this. But again, something outside -myself told me what to say. "That bond is broken, Karamy. Did you -not break it yourself? How can I guide you then?" And for my reward -I saw unsureness leap in her cat's eyes. That shot had told. Karamy -<b>had</b> been guessing, then!</p> - -<p>The answer had shaken her. But this woman was a past mistress at -subtlety. She murmured, "It can be forged again. That I swear."</p> - -<p>Ah, but I knew how far to trust even Karamy's oaths!</p> - -<p>We had dipped down into the bowl of forest and we were riding through -thick woods, along a road that struggled windingly, with many curves -and sharp corners. Adric knew this country; his knowledge made Mike -Kenscott shiver. He had hunted here, and for no fourlegged game. As if -Karamy read my thoughts I hear her low laughter. "So. My wrist aches -for the feel of a falcon. We'll hunt here again—soon, you and I!" -I was partly bewildered by her words, but they gave me a shivering -excitement, an insidious thrill.</p> - -<p>Behind me, I heard Gamine's chanting take on a new note. The words were -still indistinguishable, but the very tune screamed warning. A pulse -began to twitch jerkily in my neck.</p> - -<p>Without any warning, the road twisted. Karamy and I spurred our horses -and rounded the curve in one swift, racing burst of speed—and were -fairly in the trap before we knew it.</p> - -<p>It was the agonized whinny of my horse, and the jolt of my body -righting itself automatically from the plunging animal beneath me, -that made me realize we had ridden straight on a chevaux-de-frise. I -yelled, cursing, shouting to Karamy to get back, get back, but her own -momentum carried her on; I saw her light body fly out of the saddle and -disappear. The others, rounding the curve in a wild dash, were fairly -on the barrier already, and the place was a bedlam, a scramble, with -riderless horses milling in a melee of curses and the screaming of -women and the threshing of feet. I was out of my saddle in an instant, -thrusting Gamine's mount back from the stabbing points fixed invisibly -against the dark barrier in the road, shouting to Evarin and Idris. -Evarin leaped to my side, catching at Karamy's wild horse, while I -tore madly at the barrier where the woman had been thrown. Idris -bore down on me, mounted. "Go round!" he shouted. I plunged through -the underbrush at the side of the road, with hasty feet twice snaked -by long creepers. Past the barrier, the road lay open and deserted, -and Karamy lay in a shimmer of crumpled silk, motionless. "Gamine, -Evarin—" I bellowed, "No one's here! Quick, Karamy is hurt—"</p> - -<p>The head and shoulders of Idris' horse thrust through the thick -brushwood. "Is she dead?" the dwarf muttered. I bent, thrusting my -hand to her breasts. "Her heart's beating. Only stunned. Get down," I -ordered. Idris scrambled, monkey-fashion, from the saddle. I lifted the -woman in my arms, but she did not move or open her eyes. Idris touched -my arm.</p> - -<p>"Put her on the saddle," he suggested, and together we laid her across -the pommel. Suddenly, the dwarf cried out.</p> - -<p>"What?" I asked sharply.</p> - -<p>"I hear—"</p> - -<p>I never knew what Idris heard. His head vanished, as if snatched away -by a giant's hand; a rough grip collared me, choking fingers clawed at -my throat, a thousand rockets went off in my head and I lay sprawling -in the brushwood, eating dust, with an elephant sitting on my chest and -threatening hands gouging my throat. My last coherent thought before -the breath went out of me, was—</p> - -<p>"I'm waking up!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SIX" id="CHAPTER_SIX">CHAPTER SIX</a><br /> -<small>Narayan</small></h2> - - -<p>But I wasn't. When I came to—it could only have been a few seconds -that I was unconscious—it was to hear Evarin snarling curses and Idris -barking incoherently with rage. I heard Karamy screaming my name, and -started to answer, but the steely fingers were still at my throat -and with that weight on top of me, I hadn't a chance. The fall, or -something, had knocked Adric clean out of me. I was fuzzy-brained, but -sane. I was an innocent bystander again.</p> - -<p>I could see Evarin and Idris in the road, casting wary glances at -the brushwood all around them. I could just make out the face of the -man who was holding me pinned to the earth with his body. He had the -general build of a hippopotamus and a face to match. I squirmed, but -the threatening face came closer and I subsided. The man could have -broken me in two like a match.</p> - -<p>Around me in the thicket were dozens of crouching forms, fantastic -snipers with weapons at their shoulders. Weapons that could have been -crossbows or disintegrators, or both. "Enter Buck Rogers," I thought -wearily. I was beginning to feel faint again, and old welter-weight -on my stomach didn't help any. Abruptly he moved, delicate fingers -knotting a gag in my gasping mouth; then the intolerable weight on -my chest was suddenly gone and I sucked in air with relief. The fat -man eased himself cautiously up, and I felt a steel point caress my -lowest rib. The threat didn't need words. I could see the Narabedlans -gathered, a tight little knot in the road. The snipers around me were -still holding their weapons, but the fat man commanded in a low voice -"Don't fire! They're sure to have guards riding behind them—" the -voice died to a rasping mutter, and I lay motionless, trying to dredge -up some of Adric's memories that might help; but the only thing I got -was a fleeting memory of my own football days and a flying tackle by a -Penn State halfback that had knocked me ten feet. Adric was gone; clean -gone.</p> - -<p>The Narabedlans were talking in low tones, Gamine the rallying-point -round which they clustered. Evarin had his sword out, but even he did -not step toward the mantling thicket. Cynara was holding Evarin's arm, -protesting wildly. "No, no, no, no! They'll kill Adric—"</p> - -<p>Suddenly, between two breaths, the road was alive with mounted men. Who -they were, I never knew; I was quickly dragged to my feet and jerked -away. Behind me I heard shouting, and steel, and saw thin flashes of -colored flame. Spots of black danced before my eyes as I stumbled along -between two captors. I felt my sword dragged from my scabbard. Oh well, -I thought wryly, now that Adric's run out on the party I don't know how -to use it anyway.</p> - -<p>Under the impetus of a knife I found myself clambering awkwardly into -a saddle, felt the horse running beneath me. There wasn't a chance of -getting away, and the frying pan couldn't be much worse than the fire, -anyway.</p> - -<p>Behind us the noises of battle died away. The horse I rode raced, -sure-footed, into the darkness. I hung on with both hands to keep -from falling; only Adric's habitual reflexes kept me from tumbling -ignominiously to the ground. I don't think I had any more coherent -thoughts until the jolting rhythm broke and we came out of the forest -into full moonlight and a glare of open fires.</p> - -<p>I raised my head and looked around me. We were in a grove, tree-ringed -like a Druid temple, lit by watch-fires and the waver of torches. Tents -sprouted in the clearing, giving it an untidy, gypsy appearance; at the -back was a white frame house with a flat roof and wide doors, but no -windows.</p> - -<p>Men and women were coming out of the tents everywhere. The talk was -a Pentecost of tongues, but I heard one name, repeated over and over -again.</p> - -<p>"Narayan! Narayan!" the shouts clamored.</p> - -<p>A slim young man, blond, dressed in rough brown, came from one of -the larger tents and walked deliberately toward me. The crowd drew -back, widening to let him approach; before he came within twenty -yards he made a signal to one of the men to untie my gag and let me -down. I stood, clinging to the saddle, exhausted; the young man came -forward until he could almost have touched me, and studied my face -dispassionately. At last he raised his head, turning to the fat man, my -captor.</p> - -<p>"This isn't Adric," he said. "This man is a stranger."</p> - -<p>I should have been relieved; I don't know why I wasn't. Instead, my -first reaction was bewilderment and angry annoyance. How could he tell -that? I was as furiously embarrassed as if I'd been accused of wearing -stolen clothing. My beefy captor was as angry as I was. "What do you -mean, this isn't Adric?" he demanded belligerently, "We took him right -out of their accursed cavalcade! If it isn't Adric, who is it?"</p> - -<p>"I wish I knew," Narayan muttered under his breath. His eyes, still -fixed on my face, were level, disconcerting. He was tall and straightly -built, with pale blond hair cut square around his shoulders like a -squire from a Provencal ballad, and grey eyes that looked grave, -but friendly. I liked his looks, but he had a trace of the uncanny -stillness I'd noticed in old Rhys, in Gamine. For a moment I decided to -tell my whole fantastic story to this man with the grave eyes. He would -surely believe it. But to my surprise, he spoke and called me Adric; -definitely, as if he had forgotten his doubts.</p> - -<p>"Adric," he said, "Do you still remember me? Or did Karamy take that -too?"</p> - -<p>I sighed. I didn't dare tell the truth, and I felt too chilled and -exhausted and disoriented to lie convincingly. Yet lie I must, and do -it well.</p> - -<p>The fat man scowled and fronted Narayan. "Karamy—Zandru's eyelashes!" -he growled. "Look you, did Brennan come back this afternoon? He knows -his way around Rainbow City. Ask Adric what happened to Brennan!"</p> - -<p>The clamoring broke out around us again, but Narayan never took his -eyes from my face as he answered gently, "There is always danger, Raif. -Blame no man unjustly. Brennan knew he faced all the dangers of Rainbow -City. And even Adric is not to blame if a she-witch has him under her -spells."</p> - -<p>"Traitor!" Raif snarled at me and spat.</p> - -<p>I loosed the saddle-horn and stepped dizzily forward. "You might try -asking me," I said with a weary anger.</p> - -<p>"Are you Adric of the Crimson Tower?" fat Raif snapped.</p> - -<p>"I don't know—" I said tiredly. "I don't know, I don't know!"</p> - -<p>Narayan's eyes met mine in skeptical puzzlement. Abruptly he put out -one hand and took my wrist in a firm grip. "We can't talk here, whoever -you are," he said, "Come along."</p> - -<p>He led me through the thinning crowd into the frame house at the -grove's edge; Raif and one other man trailed after us, the rest -clustering hive-fashion around the door. Inside, in a great timbered -room, a fire burned and glowing globes chased away darkness. I went -gratefully toward the fire; I was stiff with riding and I felt chilled -and stupid and empty with the cold. From a wood settle near the fire, -a woman rose. She was slight and dark and around her shoulders the -luminescent shimmer of her winged cloak flowed like another flame. -Cynara.</p> - -<p>"Adric—" she said half-aloud, holding out her hands. I took them, -partly because she seemed to expect it, partly because the girl seemed -the only thing real in a world gone haywire. She flung her arms -suddenly around my neck and held herself to me with a shy deliberation. -"Adric, Adric, Adric—" she begged, "I slipped away in the dark—I -suppose Gamine knows—but they'll never find me here, no, never—"</p> - -<p>Narayan's hand pulled the girl sternly away from me; she shrank before -the annoyance in his eyes. "Please—Narayan, no—"</p> - -<p>The blond man looked at her without speaking for long moments. At last -he said gravely, "Sister, you must go back to Narabedla. I would not -make you go if there was another way; but you must, for a time." He -beckoned to one of the men. "Kerrel—" he commanded, "Take Cynara back -to Rainbow City, but don't get caught. Cynara; tell them you were lost -in the woods, or that you were caught and escaped."</p> - -<p>The childish mouth trembled, and she turned to me appealingly, but I -gave a little shrug. What was I supposed to do? Narayan gave Cynara a -gentle push. "Go with Kerrel, little sister," he ordered in a quiet -voice; Kerrel took her arm and they hurried out of the room, the winged -cloak she wore fluttering on her shoulders. Narayan motioned to Raif to -follow them through the door. "I'll talk with him alone."</p> - -<p>Raif's thick lips set stubbornly. He looked as if he'd be nasty in a -fight. "If he's Adric, and if he's under Karamy's devilments, then—"</p> - -<p>"I have faced Adric, and Karamy too," said Narayan with a friendly grin -at the man. "Get out, Raif; you're not my bodyguard, or even my nurse!"</p> - -<p>The fat man accepted dismissal reluctantly, and Narayan came to my -side. There was real friendliness in his grin. "Well," he said, "Now we -will talk. You cannot kill me, any more than I could kill you, so we -may as well be truthful with each other. Why did you leave us, Adric? -What has Karamy done to you this time?"</p> - -<p>The room reeled around me. I put out a hand to steady myself—when the -dizziness cleared, Narayan's arm was around my shoulders and he was -holding me up with a strength surprising in his slight frame. He let -me settle down on the seat Cynara had left. "You have been roughly -handled," he said in apology, "Just sit still a minute. My men—" he -made a deprecating little gesture, "have had orders. And if I know -Karamy's ways, you've been heavily drugged for a long time." His eyes -studied me intently. "Better come and have a drink. And—when did you -eat last? You look half starved. That's the way of the <b>sharig</b>—"</p> - -<p>I rubbed my forehead. "I can't remember," I told him honestly.</p> - -<p>"I thought so. Come along." Narayan went into the next room, assuming -that I would follow and that I knew my way around. After the insanely -furnished rooms in Rainbow City, I was a little surprised when the next -room proved to be a strictly functional and ordinary kitchen, equipped -with the usual items. Out of a relatively un-extraordinary icebox he -assembled something that looked rather like the food I was accustomed -to from the 20th century, and poured some kind of liquid into an -oddly shaped glass. He motioned me into a chair and set the things on -the table. "Here, eat this. I know the drugs they give you; you'll -have more sense when you've eaten. We've plenty of time to talk, all -night if we choose." He saw me glance side-wise at the glass, laughed -sketchily, and from the same bottle poured himself a drink and sat down -opposite me, sipping it slowly. "Go ahead. I won't poison you till I -find out what Karamy's up to."</p> - -<p>I laughed apologetically and started eating, with a mental shrug. It -had been at least forty-eight hours since I had last tasted food, and I -did justice to the plateful before me. Narayan sipped his drink—which, -when I tasted mine, appeared to be excellent cognac—and watched me; -and when I finally pushed the empty plate aside, he put back his glass -and said "Now. Who are you, and what happened?"</p> - -<p>I felt better and stronger; more like myself than I'd felt since Rhys -had catapulted me into this world. But now that I was on the carpet, I -felt I must talk fast and convincingly before those searching grey eyes.</p> - -<p>"Karamy had me shut in the Tower," I told him, "I was freed today, and -we were on our way to the Dreamers Keep. Then your men came along. -I didn't know if I was being rescued or captured. I still don't." I -stared with purposeful blankness at Narayan; he stared back and I could -feel him debating what to do and say. Obviously, an Adric sane and -glib and possibly untruthful was a different thing than an Adric too -bewildered and shaken to tell anything but the truth. Finally Narayan -said, "I'm not sure what I ought to do or say, Adric. The bond between -us isn't as strong as it was. You know that."</p> - -<p>I nodded, perturbed. Adric's thoughts seemed to be surging back, -insidiously, as if Narayan held the key to unlock them. What crazy -drama was going to be unfolded in my mind now?</p> - -<p>Narayan said, low; "Karamy did it, I think."</p> - -<p>"Yes." My own voice was as quiet as his own. "Karamy sent me on the -Time Ellipse. She knew I'd come back changed—or mad—or not at all. I -think—I think she wanted me to betray you again."</p> - -<p>"Adric!" Narayan reached out quickly and grabbed my arm, hard, above -the elbow, till I cried out with the pain of that steely grip and -twisted away, rubbing numbed flesh. "Adric—" Narayan repeated, -unsteadily, "Why do you say—betray me again? Betray me? Adric—it was -your hand that freed me! Zandru! Adric—" he begged, "<b>How much</b> -have you forgotten?"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SEVEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVEN">CHAPTER SEVEN</a><br /> -<small>Battle in my Brain</small></h2> - - -<p>The fire in the other room had burned down to an ember. Without a -glance my way, Narayan mended the fire; sat down, his legs stretched -toward the little blaze, his shin in his hands; waiting. I could not -stand still. I walked, restless, around the room, speaking in little -jerks and half-sentences.</p> - -<p>"You are the Dreamer," I said, "I—I remember a little. I remember -being bound to you. I remem-member when I—freed you. Not knowing what -it might mean, not knowing you could have slain me on the ground of -sacrifice."</p> - -<p>"No!" Narayan was as motionless as Gamine's veils, but his voice was -harsh, strident. "No, Adric, never that! We cannot—kill each other, -you and I. I could order you killed, I suppose, but I—I would never do -that unless there was no other way. Adric—is there any other way for -me, for you?"</p> - -<p>A bitterness spoke in my voice; neither side trusted Adric, both wanted -his allegiance. I tried to trim my words carefully between the two -personalities that were battling for mastery in me.</p> - -<p>"It was Karamy," I said, "who took Adric from you, and sent him, -half-mad, back to the Crimson Tower. Karamy's magic stripped him of -power, and sent him, gone mad, back to stargazing in Narabedla. But it -was <b>not</b> Karamy's—" the voice that was not quite mine shook, -suddenly, with my own weariness and the blank terror I'd been keeping -at bay, "It wasn't Karamy who sent <b>me</b> here, I'm not Adric. You -were perfectly right. I'm no more Adric than—than you are. I'm in -Adric's body, yes. He moves me like a puppet! I have his memories, -his—some of his thoughts—but he—" my voice cracked suddenly on a -note of panic; I knew I sounded like a hysterical kid, but I couldn't -stop my own crackup once it had broken loose. "I'm not Adric, I'm not! -I don't belong here at all! I don't—"</p> - -<p>Narayan jumped up from the bench and I heard his hurrying steps, then -his steel hands were hard on my shoulders, swinging me around to face -him. "All right," he said, "Steady. It's all right."</p> - -<p>I drew a long breath and let it out again. "Thanks," I said briefly, -shamed. "I'll be all right now."</p> - -<p>Narayan shrugged wearily. "It's all right. I guessed you weren't Adric, -of course, from the beginning. But I didn't think Adric, when it came -to the test, would really do that to me. I had his promise. I suppose, -for him, it was an easy way out. A perfect way of escape." He sank down -on the bench again, dropping his head in his hands. After a little, -he looked up, and his voice sounded tired. "This is difficult," he -said. "My men think you are Adric. I'd never be able to convince them -you aren't. Would you mind—pretending? You'll have to; otherwise—" -he paused, and I saw disquiet in his face. He was not a man who would -enjoy threatening, but I could understand his situation. They didn't -know me from Adam; I was just an outsider who messed things up by -resembling Adric. Well, I was stuck. I hadn't liked the Narabedlans -enough to give a hang what Narayan meant to do to them. Narayan, by -comparison, looked pretty decent. And there was no other way to save my -skin. Adric wasn't too popular, it seemed and in Adric's body I hadn't -a chance. I laughed. "I'll try," I told him. "But what's this all -about?"</p> - -<p>Narayan looked up again. "That's right. You wouldn't know. You have -some of Adric's memory, I suppose, but not all. You remember who I am?"</p> - -<p>"Not entirely—" I told him. I remembered some things. Narayan had been -born, some thirty years ago, into a respectable country family who were -appalled to discover they had given birth to a mutant Dreamer, and -were only too glad to deliver him to the Narabedlans for the enforced -stasis. I told Narayan.</p> - -<p>"You remember the old Dreamer who served your House?"</p> - -<p>I nodded. He had become old, mortal, weak—and had been eliminated. I -bowed my head, although I had no personal guilt.</p> - -<p>Afterward, Narayan and I had been bound. "I slept in the Dreamer's -Keep—" Narayan sounded reflective, almost guilty, "I was wakened, -and—given sacrifice. I learned to use my power and to give it up to -Adric." A brooding horror was in the grey eyes; I realized that Narayan -dwelt in his own personal private hell with the memory of what he had -done under the spell of Narabedla. "Adric was—strong."</p> - -<p>Yes, I thought; Adric had called on Narayan's new power without -counting cost. What wonder the memory maddened Narayan? The young -Dreamer seemed to win his silent fight for self-control. "Well, -you—Adric, I mean—freed me. I found my sister again; Cynara. I was -like a child; I had to learn to live, to be alive again. I had been -trained to use my power only through the Sacrifice. I had to learn to -use it without. It wasn't easy."</p> - -<p>"Why?" I asked thoughtlessly. Narayan's eyes froze me. "To use that -power," he said in a tense, controlled voice, "Took human life."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Outside the door I could hear the noises of the camp; the light of -their watch-fires crept in through the cracks. It was too dark to see -Narayan's face now, but I heard him moving restlessly about the room. -"I have harnessed the power somewhat," he said, "I can use it, myself, -a little. Not much. Adric helped me; so did my sister. She had been -taken for Sacrifice, but you—Adric—redeemed her. Then—we were able -to throw an illusion around Cynara. She is not of Narabedla; but we -made it seem as if she had always been there, in Rainbow City. We could -do that because Evarin is weak, and because Karamy did not care. It was -Rhys who made the Illusion."</p> - -<p>"Rhys!" The old Dreamer, the only one born in Narabedla—</p> - -<p>"Yes; Gamine is careless with Rhys and lets him wake too long. Rhys and -I have been in contact for a long time."</p> - -<p>I was hearing scraps of conversation from a vast abyss of time and -space, when I had been drawn in electric coma through Karamy's Time -Ellipse. <b>They will know, Narayan will know.</b> That had been old -Rhys. And Adric; <b>What have I to do with Narayan?</b> Adric had -been—still was—playing a fancy double game with Narayan; I started -to open my lips to tell the young Dreamer about it, but he was still -talking. "Rhys will not act, not directly, against Rainbow City. But he -did that much for us, and Gamine and Cynara are friends. We forgot—we -all forgot—that Adric's allegiance belonged to Narabedla first. Until -he vanished." I heard the brooding heaviness in Narayan's voice. These -men had been friends. Narayan went on, "I sent Brennan today, to find -out. He didn't come back."</p> - -<p>I lowered my head and miserably told him what had happened to Brennan. -Narayan's face in a flicker of firelight looked drawn and haggard. "He -was a—brave man," Narayan said at last. "But I don't blame you. After -the interchange, I think, there was a time when you went on living -Adric's life. Thinking his thoughts. But now, I think, he will grow -weaker in you. I <b>hope</b>. You—who are you, in your own world?"</p> - -<p>I shrugged. The words would have meant nothing to Narayan. "My name's -Mike Kenscott."</p> - -<p>"Mi-ek," Narayan repeated, turning the strange word on his tongue. -"The men will call you Adric. I'd better, too. Later—" he shrugged. I -didn't say anything; I was still convinced that I hadn't seen the last -of Adric. But I didn't want to tell Narayan this. I liked the man.</p> - -<p>Without warning, Narayan switched on lights. "It's near dawn, and you -must be worn out. We've taught them to stay clear of the forests at -night, so we're safe enough here. They can't do much till they've been -to the Dreamers Keep, in any case." With a sudden boyish friendliness -he put out his hand and I took it. "I'm glad you're not Adric. He might -be hard to handle now—if he's changed so much."</p> - -<p>As if the lights had been a signal, fat Raif came without knocking into -the room. Narayan crossed his hostile stare at me. "He's all right, -Raif," the Dreamer said. The fat face broke into a sudden, elephantine -smile. "I'd better apologize, Adric. I had orders."</p> - -<p>"Find him a place to sleep," Narayan suggested, and I followed Raif -up a flight of low stairs into an inner room. There was a bed there, -clean, but tumbled as if it had had another occupant not long ago. Raif -said, "Kerrel's gone with Cynara. You can sleep here."</p> - -<p>I kicked off my boots and crawled between the blankets, suddenly too -weary even to answer. I had been two days without sleep, and most of -that time I had been under exhausting physical and mental strain. I saw -Raif cautiously finger his weapons and sensed that whatever Narayan -said, he was reserving judgment. He didn't take chances, this outside -lieutenant of Narayan's. Sleepily I said, "You can put that up, my -friend. I'm not going to move till I've had a good, long—"</p> - -<p>I didn't even finish the sentence to myself. Instead I went to sleep.</p> - -<p>I had slept for hours. I came abruptly out of confused dreams to hear a -shrill voice and to feel small hands pulling me upright. Cynara! "Wake -up, Adric—" she wailed, "Karamy and Evarin are riding today—hunting -<b>you</b>!"</p> - -<p>I sat up, dizzy-brained, far from alert. "Cynara! How—"</p> - -<p>"Oh, never mind that—" her voice was impatient, "What can we -<b>do</b>?"</p> - -<p>I didn't know. I was still stupid with sleep, but I put a reassuring -arm around her shoulders. "Don't be afraid," I told her, then, -releasing her, bent and began to pull on my boots. I heard the swift -pound of steps on the stairs, and Narayan shoved open the door, -dragging a brown tunic over his head as he came. He stopped short at -the door, staring at his sister. "Cynara, what are you doing here?"</p> - -<p>She repeated her news, and he sighed. He looked as if he hadn't slept -at all. "Well, never mind," he told her, "The game was almost over, -anyhow. Sooner or later they would have broken through the Illusion; -Rhys is too old now for that. You were lucky to get away. We'll have to -storm the Keep to-night—unless they have too-good hunting." He fumbled -with the laces of his shirt. A dead weariness was in his grey eyes; -they looked flat, almost glazed. He met my questioning stare and smiled -ruefully. "The Dreamers stir," he told me, "I am not yet free of—their -need. So I must be careful." Cynara shuddered and threw her arms around -her brother's neck, clutching him with a fiercely sheltering clasp. -"Narayan, no—oh, no—don't—"</p> - -<p>But he was already deep in thought again. He freed her arms without -impatience. "We'll meet that when the time comes, little sister. So -Karamy and Evarin ride hunting. Who else. Idris?" At her nod, his -brows contracted. "All of them—but Gamine," he mused, and turned to -me. "Could you conceivably get through to Rhys? I don't dare—not with -that—that stirring."</p> - -<p>I understood, Narayan was still attuned to the terrible need of the -sleeping Dreamers in the Keep. But I reminded him that only Gamine -could control old Rhys. He looked at me with a strange curious question -in his eyes, but made no comment. My own mind was working strong. I -was unsure how I had gotten here in the house of the freed Dreamer. -Just what had happened last night? I had thought Narayan would never -trust me again; but now, when I needed it most, I seemed to be in his -complete confidence. Damn Karamy anyhow, meddling with my memory! -And she had the audacity to fly Evarin's devil-birds after me—Adric, -lord of the Crimson Tower! She should have a lesson she would not -forget—and so should the presumptuous Gamine—and so should this -walking zombie who was staring at me stupidly, as if I were his equal! -I said with a slow savagery, "I think I can manage Gamine!"</p> - -<p>Narayan was watching me anxiously. Gods of the Rainbow, what -preposterous things had I said and done last night? I said, "We'll take -them at the Dreamer's Keep," and saw his face clear.</p> - -<p><b>But what you do not know, Narayan</b>, I added to myself with a -secret satisfaction, <b>is that you will join them there!</b></p> - -<p>It never occurred to them to question, to wonder if Adric today were -the Adric of last night. We went downstairs and snatched a quick -breakfast; Cynara tore off her winged flame-color cloak and stuffed it -wrathfully into the fireplace. Her coarse grey dress beneath it made -her shy prettiness more striking than ever; Cynara was not Karamy, but -she was a pretty thing; and Narayan could hardly fail to trust me when -Cynara perched on the arm of my chair and ran her dainty fingers over -the bruises on my face. "Your roughs nearly killed him!" she pouted at -her brother.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I'm not hurt," I smiled at her, making my voice gentle for her -ear alone. But I scowled darkly into my plate; pushed the food away -and strode out into the camp. Narayan shouted quickly, jumping up, -sending his chair crashing to the floor, and he ran after me so that we -went down the steps together. "Wait," he commanded in my ear, softly, -"Don't forget, to them you're still a traitor!" He took my arm, and -we walked through every row of tents together, Narayan's expression -almost belligerent. I saw the faces of the men as they came from their -improvised shelter, saw suspicion gradually give way to tolerance and -then casual acceptance. Finally Narayan called to Raif. "Stick to him, -will you, Raif? He's all right, but the men don't know it yet."</p> - -<p>I glanced at Narayan. "Raif," I said tentatively, "Can you find me -twelve men who know the way to Rainbow City and aren't afraid to come -close to it?"</p> - -<p>"I can," Raif said, and went to do it. I had to hide a smile. Before -long I would win back the place my foolishness had lost. The idiot -whose body I had shared briefly had almost put it beyond recovery, but -in a way he had helped, too. His weakness had won Narayan's confidence. -Well, one thing I knew, that futile idiot should not share the coming -triumph. Nor should Narayan.</p> - -<p>Narayan—fumbling in my pocket, I touched something smooth and hard. -Evarin's mirror. Narayan, looking over my shoulder as I dragged it out, -asked curiously, "What's that?"</p> - -<p>I pulled it out with a secret smile. "One of Evarin's toys. Look at it, -if you like."</p> - -<p>Narayan took it in his hand for a moment, without, however, untwisting -the silk. "Go ahead," I urged, "Unwrap it."</p> - -<p>I might have sounded too eager. Abruptly Narayan handed it back. "Here. -I don't know anything about Evarin."</p> - -<p>I had to conceal my disappointment. With a feigned indifference I -thrust it back into the pocket. It did not matter. One way or another, -Narayan would lose. For Evarin and Karamy rode a-hunting today—and I -knew what their game would be!</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHT" id="CHAPTER_EIGHT">CHAPTER EIGHT</a><br /> -<small>Falcons of Evarin</small></h2> - - -<p>I pulled my cloak closer about me, prickling with excitement, as I -knelt between Raif and Kerrel in the tree-platform. Just beneath me, -Narayan clung to a lower branch. My ears picked up the ring of distant -hooves on frozen ground, and I smiled; I knew every nuance of this -hunt, and Evarin might find his deadly birds not so obedient to his -call today. Not a scrap of me remembered another world where a dazed -and bewildered man had flown at a living bird with his pocketknife.</p> - -<p>Coldly I found myself considering possibilities. A snare there must -be; but who: Narayan himself? No; he was my only protection until I -got clear of this riffraff. Besides, if he ever unsheathed his power, -unguarded like this, he could drain me as a spider sucks a trapped -fly. No; it would have to be Raif. I had a grudge against the fat man, -anyway. I pulled at his sleeve. "Wait here for me," I said cunningly, -and made as if to leave the platform. Raif walked smiling into the -trap. "Here, Adric! Narayan gave orders you weren't to run into any -danger!"</p> - -<p>Good, good! I didn't even have to order the man to his death; he -volunteered. "Well," I protested, "We want a scout out, to carry word -when they come." <b>As if we wouldn't know!</b></p> - -<p>"I'll go," Raif said laconically, and leaned past me, touching -Narayan's shoulder. He explained in a whisper—we were all whispering, -although there was no reason for it—and Narayan nodded. "Good idea. -Don't show yourself."</p> - -<p>I held back laughter. <b>As if that would matter!</b></p> - -<p>The man swung down into the road. I heard his footsteps ring on the -rock; heard them diminish, die in distance. Then—</p> - -<p>A clamoring, bestial cry ripped the air; a cry that seemed to ring and -echo up out of hell, a cry no human throat could compass—but I knew -who had screamed. That settled the fat man. Narayan jerked around, his -blond face whiter. "<b>Raif!</b>" The word was a prayer.</p> - -<p>We half-scrambled, half-leaped into the road. Side by side, we ran down -the road together.</p> - -<p>The screaming of a bird warned me. I looked up—dodged quickly—over -my head a huge scarlet falcon, wide-winged, wheeled and darted in at -me. Narayan's yell cut the air and I ducked, flinging a fold of cloak -over my head. I ripped a knife from my belt; slashed upward, ducking my -head, keeping one arm before my eyes. The bird wavered away, hung in -the air, watching me with live green eyes that shifted with my every -movement. The falcon's trappings were green, bright against the scarlet -wings.</p> - -<p>I knew who had flown this bird.</p> - -<p>The falcon wheeled, banking like a plane, and rushed in again. No -egg had hatched these birds! I knew who had shaped these slapping -pinions! Over one corner of my cloak I saw Narayan pull his pistol-like -electrorod, and screamed warning. "Drop it—quick!" The birds could -turn gunfire as easily as could Evarin himself, and if the falcon drew -one drop of my blood, then I was lost forever, slave to whoever had -flown the bird. I thrust upward with the knife, dodging between the -bird's wings. Men leaped toward us, knives out and ready. The bird -screamed wildly, flew upward a little ways, and hung watching us with -those curiously intelligent eyes. Another falcon and another winged -across the road, and a thin, uncanny screeing echoed in the icy air. -I heard the jingle of little bells. Three birds, golden-trapped and -green-trapped and harnessed in royal purple, swung above us; three -pairs of unwinking jewel-eyes hung motionless in a row. Beyond them -the darkening red sun made a line of blackening trees and silhouetted -three figures, a horse, motionless against the background of red sky. -Evarin—Idris—and Karamy, intent on the falcon-play, three traitors -baiting the one who had escaped their hands.</p> - -<p>The falcons poised—swept inward in massed attack. They darted between -my knife and Narayan's. Behind me a bestial scream rang out and I -knew one of the falcons, at least, had drawn blood—that one of the -men behind us was not—ours! Turning and stumbling, the stricken man -ran blindly through the clearing, down the road—halfway to those -silhouetted figures he reeled, tripping across the body of a man who -lay beneath his feet. Narayan gave a gasping, retching sound, and I -whirled in time to see him jerk out his electrorod, spasmodically, and -fire shot after wild shot at the stumbling figure that had been our -man. "Fire—" he panted to me, "Don't let him—he wouldn't want to get -to—them—"</p> - -<p>I struck the weapon down. "Idiot!" I said savagely, "Some hunting they -<b>must</b> have!" Narayan began protesting, and I wrenched the rod -from his hand. The man was far beyond firing range now. At Narayan's -convulsed face I nearly swore aloud. This weak fool would ruin -everything! I said hastily, "Don't waste your fire! We can take care of -<b>them</b> later—" I waved a quick hand at the three on the ridge. -"There is no help for those caught by Evarin's birds."</p> - -<p>Narayan breathed hard, bracing himself in the road. I beckoned the -others close. "Don't fire on the birds," I cautioned, tensely; "It -only energizes them; they drain the energy from your fire! Use knives; -cut their wings—<b>look out!</b>" The falcons, like chain-lightning, -traced thin orbits down in a slapping confusion of wings and darting -beaks. I backed away from the purple-harnessed birds, flicking up my -cloak, beating at the flapping wings. Our men, standing in a closed -circle back to back, fought them off with knives and with the ends of -their cloaks thrown up, swatting them off; and three times I heard -the inhuman scream, three times I heard the lurching footsteps as a -man—not human any more—broke from us and ran blindly to the distant -ridge. I heard Narayan shouting, whirled swiftly to face him—he ran -to me, beating back the green-trapped bird that darted in and out on -swift agile wings. The screeing of the falcons, the flapping of cloaks, -the panting of men hard-pressed, gave the whole scene a nightmare -unrealness in which the only real thing was Narayan, fighting at my -side. His gasp of inhuman effort made me whirl, by instinct, flinging -up my cloak to protect my back, my knife thrust out to cover his -throat. He raked a long gash across the down-turned head of the falcon, -was rewarded with an unbirdlike scream of agony and the spasmodic -open-and-shut of the razor talons. They raked out—clawing. They -furrowed a slash in the Dreamer's arm. The razor beak darted in, ready -to cut. I threw myself forward, unprotected, off balance, ready to -strike.</p> - -<p>At the last minute talons and beak turned aside—drew back—darted -swiftly, straight at me. And my knife was turned aside, guarding -Narayan!</p> - -<p>But Narayan jerked aside. His knife fell in the road, and his arm -shot out—grabbed the bird behind the head, twisting convulsively so -the stabbing needle of a beak could not reach him. The darting head -lunged, pecking at the cloak that wrapped his forearm; thrown forward, -I stumbled against Narayan, carried by my own momentum, and we fell in -a tangle of cloaks and knives and thrashing legs and wings, asprawl in -the road. The deadly talons raked my face and his, but Narayan hung on -grimly, holding the deadly beak away. I thrust with the knife again -and again; thin yellow blood spurted in great gushes, splattering us -both with burning venom; I snatched the wounded bird from the Dreamer's -weakening hands twisted till I heard the lithe neck snap in my fingers. -The bird slumped, whatever had given it life—gone!</p> - -<p>And high on the ridge the dwarfed figure of Idris threw up his -hands—fell—collapsed across the pommel of his saddle!</p> - -<p>Narayan's breath went out limply in a long sigh as we untangled our -twisted bodies. Our eyes met as we mopped away the blood. We grinned -spontaneously. I liked this man! Almost I wished I need not send him -back to tranced dream—what a waste!</p> - -<p>He said, quietly, "There is a life between us now."</p> - -<p>I twisted my face into a smile matching his. "That's only one," I said. -"The rest—" I turned, watching for a moment as the falcons tore at -the ring of men. "Come on," Narayan shouted, and we flung ourselves -into the breach. I flung down my knife, snatched a sword from someone -and swung it in great arcs which seemed somehow right and natural to -me. The men scattered before the sword like scared chickens, and I went -mad with hate, sweeping the sword in vicious semi-circles against the -lashing birds ... the sword cut empty air, and I realized startlingly -that both birds lay cut to ribbons at my feet, their blood staining the -dead leaves. Narayan's eyes swam, through a red haze, into my field of -vision. They were watching me, trouble and fright in their greyness. I -forced myself to sanity; dropped the sword atop the dead birds. I wiped -my forehead.</p> - -<p>"That's that," I said banally.</p> - -<p>We took toll of our losses, silently. Narayan, gasping with pain, -rubbed a spot of the yellow blood from his face. "That stuff burns!" he -grimaced. I laughed tightly; he didn't have to tell me. We'd both have -badly festered burns to deal with tomorrow. But now, there was work—</p> - -<p>"Look!" One of the men stared and pointed upward, his face tense with -fright. Another great bird of prey hung on poised pinions above us, -sapphire eyes intent; but as we watched, it wheeled and swiftly winged -toward the Rainbow City. Not, however, before I had caught the azure -shimmer of the bells and harness. A thin, sweet tinkling came from the -flying bells, like a mocking echo of the spell-singer's voice.</p> - -<p><b>Gamine!</b></p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_NINE" id="CHAPTER_NINE">CHAPTER NINE</a><br /> -<small>The Return of Adric</small></h2> - - -<p>Back in the windowless house, we snatched a hurried meal, cared for -our slashed cuts, and tried to plan further. The others had not been -idle while we fought the falcons. All day Narayan's vaunted army had -been accumulating, I could hardly say assembling, in that great bowl of -land between Narabedla and the Dreamer's Keep. There were perhaps four -thousand men, armed with clumsy powder weapons, with worn swords that -looked as if they had been long buried, with pitchforks, scythes, even -with rude clubs viciously knobbed. I had been put to it to conceal my -contempt for this ragtag and bobtail of an army. And Narayan proposed -to storm Rainbow City—with this! I was flabbergasted at the confidence -these men had in their young leader. So much the better, I thought, -take him from them and they'll scatter to their rat-holes and crofts -again! I felt my lips twisting in a bitter smile. They trusted Adric, -too. When I had shown myself to them, their shouts had made the very -trees echo. Well—again the ironic smile came unbidden, that was just -as well, too. When Narayan was re-prisoned, I could use the power of -their lost leader to tear down what he himself had built. The thought -was exquisitely funny.</p> - -<p>"What are you laughing about," Narayan asked. We were lounging on the -steps of the house, watching the men thronging around the camp. His -slumberous grey eyes held deep sparks of fire, and without waiting -for my answer he went on, "Think of it! The curse of the Dreamer's -magic lifted—what would it mean to this land, Adric? It means -life—hope—for millions of people!"</p> - -<p>In a way, Narayan was right. I could remember when I had shared that -dream; when it had seemed somehow more worthy than a dream of personal -power. Cynara came down the steps, bent and slipped her soft arms -around my shoulder, and I drew her down. A volcano of hate so great I -must turn my face away burned up in me. This man was my equal—no, I -admitted grudgingly, my superior—and I hated him for it. I hated him -because I knew that in his dream of power no one must suffer. I hated -him because, once, I had been weak enough to share his feelings.</p> - -<p>I said abruptly, "Your plans are good, Narayan. There's just one thing -wrong with them; they won't work. Storming Rainbow City won't get you -anywhere. You could kill Karamy's slaves by the thousands, or the -millions, or the billions. But you couldn't kill Karamy, and you'd -only leave her free to enslave others. You've got to strike at them -when they're in the Dreamer's Keep. When the Dreamers wake is the only -moment when they are vulnerable."</p> - -<p>"But how can we get to the Dreamer's Keep, Adric? They go guarded a -hundred times over, there."</p> - -<p>"What's your army for?" I asked him roughly, "To knock down hay-cocks? -Send your men to chase off the guards. I told you I could handle Rhys, -if it came to that. He'll get us through to the Dreamer's Keep, if need -be."</p> - -<p>"What about Gamine?" Cynara asked practically. Gamine was the least -of my worries, but I did not tell Cynara that. I listened to their -comments and suggestions a little contemptuously. Didn't they know -that when the Dreamers woke, the Narabedlans were vulnerable—to the -Dreamers alone? If I were there with Narayan, there was no question -about who would win.</p> - -<p>Cynara scowled at the rip of talons across my face. "You're hurt and -you never told me!" she accused. "Come this minute and let me take care -of it!" I almost laughed. Me—Adric of the Crimson Tower—being ordered -around by a little country girl! I snorted, but spoke pleasantly. "I'll -live, I expect. Come and sit here with us." I pulled her down at my -side, but she leaned her head on her brother's knee, an unquietness -in her face. She was a pretty thing, although the cause of all my -troubles. When I redeemed her from Karamy's slaves, for a whim, I had -not known she was Narayan's sister—Zandru's hells, but I had made a -ghastly slip! I had told Narayan there was no help for those touched by -the birds, when I myself had redeemed his own sister! Had he noticed? -Would he attribute it to Karamy's meddling with my mind? I smothered -an exclamation, and Cynara and Narayan looked up anxiously. "You -<b>are</b> hurt, Adric!"</p> - -<p>I shook my head. I fancied Narayan looking at me with suspicion, but -I controlled myself. I reached out to draw Cynara to me, but she had -drawn back, rising lithely to her feet, like a dove poised for flight; -only her hands, small darting hands like candle-flames, remained in -mine to pull me lightly to my feet. I tried to hold her, but she -protested, "There is so much to be done—" and I raised the slim hands -to my lips before I let her go. The gesture pleased her, I could see; -so much that I watched with contempt as she tripped away. Silly, simple -girl! It <b>would</b> please her!</p> - -<p>In the end it was only Narayan and Cynara who rode with me to Rainbow -City. Kerrel had taken the army, in sections, to set an ambush for -Karamy's guards; we rode in the opposite direction, by a twisting side -road. Cynara rode beside me, her dark eyes glowing. There was dainty -witchery in Cynara, and a pretty trust that made me smile and promise -recklessly, "We will win." It pleased me to think that I could comfort -Cynara for her brother's downfall. Once conditioned to Rainbow City, -she would forget her silly fancies and be a fair and lovely comrade. If -she continued to please me, it would be amusing to see this unformed -country girl wield the power that had belonged to Karamy the Golden!</p> - -<p>It took us an hour of hard riding to reach the lip of the great cup of -land, where we paused, looking down the dark, almost-straight avenue -of trees that led to the walls of Rainbow City. I whistled tunelessly -between my teeth. "Whatever we do, it will be wrong. We'd be taking -quite a chance to ride up to the main gate; at the same time, they'll -be expecting us to sneak in the back way. They'd never expect us to -come by the front avenue."</p> - -<p>"The deer walks safest at the hunter's door," Narayan quoted laughing. -"But won't they be expecting us to use that kind of logic?"</p> - -<p>Cynara giggled, subsided at my frown. "At that rate," I said, "We could -go on all night."</p> - -<p>Narayan reached overhead, snatching down a crackling sheaf of -frost-berries; selected one narrow pod. He held it between finger and -thumb. "Chance. Two seeds, we go around. Three, we ride straight up -the main gate. Agreed?" I nodded, and he crushed the dry husk. One, -two—three seeds rolled into my outstretched palm.</p> - -<p>"Fate," Narayan said with a shrug. "Ready, then?"</p> - -<p>I jounced the seeds in my palm. "One for Evarin, and one for Idris, and -one for Karamy," I said contemptuously, and flung the little black -balls into the road. "We'll scatter them like that!"</p> - -<p>We were lucky; the drive was deserted. If there were guards out for us -at all, they had been posted somewhere on the secret paths. Straight -toward the towers we rode, under the westering red sun, and just before -dusk we checked our horses and tethered them within a mile of the -Rainbow City, going forward cautiously on foot.</p> - -<p>I objected to this arrangement. "I'll get in alone," I told them. "If -anything happens to me, we mustn't lose you as well!"</p> - -<p>"I'll stay," said Narayan briefly. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be -here to help." Silently I damned the man's loyalty, but there was -nothing I could say without spoiling the illusion I had worked so hard -to create. I took his hand for a minute. "Thank you." His voice was -equally abrupt. "Good luck, Adric." Cynara glanced at me briefly and -away again. I walked away from them without looking back.</p> - -<p>It was easy enough to find my way into the labyrinthine towers. I was -not Lord of the Crimson Tower without knowing its secrets. I climbed -the stairs swiftly, ransacked the place. To no avail. When she took my -memories, Karamy had also been careful to take everything which could -conceivably give me any power over any of the Dreamers, even old Rhys. -I went up more stairs till I stood at the very pinnacle of the tower, -in Adric's star-room into which I had been catapulted—was it less than -three days ago? I stood at the high window, vaguely thinking of an -older Adric, an Adric who had watched the stars here, and not alone. I -traced back through the years, diving down deep into the seas of sudden -memory, and brought up the knowledge of—</p> - -<p>"Mike Kenscott!" said a voice behind me, and I whirled to look into the -face of a man I had never seen before.</p> - -<p>He had the primitive look of a man out of some forgotten past. I had -seen such men as I swam in the light of the Time Ellipse. He was tall -and clean-shaven; he looked athletic; his eyes were a ridiculous color, -dark brown. He had hair. He looked angry, if he could be said to have -an expression.</p> - -<p>But he spoke, clearly and with a deliberate calm. "Well, Mike -Kenscott," he said, in a language I had never heard, but found myself -understanding perfectly, "You have taken my place very nicely. I -suppose I should thank you. You've given me freedom, and Narayan's -trust—the rest I can do for myself!" He laughed. "In fact, you're so -much <b>me</b> that I'm not much of myself. But I <b>can</b> force you -back into your own body—"</p> - -<p>The man must be mad! At any rate, he'd insulted the Lord Adric, in his -own Tower, and by Zandru's eyelashes, he'd pay for it! I flung myself -at him with a yell of rage. My fingers dug into his throat—</p> - -<p>And I cried out in the stifling clutch of lean fingers grabbing at me, -biting at my neck, my shoulders—an agonizing wrench shuddered over my -body—</p> - -<p>I faced—</p> - -<p><b>Adric!</b></p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TEN" id="CHAPTER_TEN">CHAPTER TEN</a><br /> -<small>When the Dreamers Wake</small></h2> - - -<p>Of course I understood, even while I fought, dizzy and reeling, to -loose the deathgrip I had put on my own body. I was—back, I was Mike -Kenscott again—Adric loosed his hands of his own will, and stepped -away, breathing hard. "Thank you," he said in the raw voice that had -been mine for so long, "I myself could hardly have done better." With -a swift movement he snatched something from a little recess in the -wall—pointed—and fired point-blank. A lance of grey mist stabbed out -at me—</p> - -<p>To my amazement, only a pleasant heat warmed me. I had enough -split-second reasoning reflex left to fall in a slumped huddle to the -ground. I knew that was what he expected. Adric fumbled in his pockets, -took out the little mirror I had taken from Evarin, still wrapped in -its protective silk. I watched, breathless, between narrowed eyelids. -If he would only open it—but instead he gave a shudder of disgust and -flung it straight at me. With a braced, agonizing effort I made myself -lie perfectly still, without flinching to avoid the blow. The mirror -struck my forehead. I felt blood break to the surface and trickle wetly -down my face. I heard Adric moving; heard receding steps and the risp -of a closing door. He was gone.</p> - -<p>I moved. To this day I am not sure how I escaped death from Adric's -weapon; but I think it was because I was in my own body. After I had -touched Adric the first time, I was immune to Earth electricity. In -this world, I think, I was immune to their force. I wiped the blood -from my temple. Good Lord, there was Narayan—waiting with Cynara—I -forgot that I had plotted against Narayan, remembering only that I had -liked the man. I couldn't let Adric get to them—</p> - -<p>I grabbed the mirror, crammed it into a pocket. Against the nightmare -haste that drove me I ran to the closet, quickly, from the racks of -weapons, chose a short ugly knife. I didn't need swordsman's training -to use that. Thank God, I knew my way around, I could remember -everything I'd done when I was Adric—but wait! I could also "remember" -what he had done when <b>he</b> was <b>me</b>! That meant Adric could -"remember" everything I had done and planned with Narayan! This crazy -business of Identity! Even now, could I be sure which of us was who?</p> - -<p>I dashed out of the room, ran down the endless stairs three at a time. -At the entrance to Gamine's blue tower, a dangerous whirring of wings -beat around me; I staggered, almost fell backward. One of the murderous -falcons—the one in blue—darted, hanging poised in the stair-well -above me. I backed against the wall, hoping the bird would not attack. -Gamine had not flown falcon with the others.</p> - -<p>The strong wings flapped in the closed space; I saw the dart of the -vicious little beak. Blindly I struck upward with the knife, shielding -my eyes with the other hand, and was rewarded with a splatter of thin -burning blood and a scream of unbirdlike agony. I ducked beneath the -thrashing wings, and ran on up the stairs; behind me the dying falcon -flapped, threshed and rolled down the stairs, a tangle of wings, -landing far below with a flailing thump.</p> - -<p>I was not quite sure what I meant to do. As I climbed, I thought -swiftly. Gamine was no friend to Adric, I knew that. Adric had known -much of Gamine and Rhys, and I drew on that knowledge, but even Adric -had not known much of the Spell-singer cloaked in that blurred halo of -invisibility. Had he ever seen Gamine?</p> - -<p>What was Adric doing now? I had served him well; won him Narayan's -trust, then turned him loose again in his own body, to destroy, betray -them! I hated Adric as I hope I may never hate again.</p> - -<p>And yet, I could not hate him wholly. To know all is to forgive much, -and I had lived for three days and nights in Adric's body and brain; -knowing his strengths and his weaknesses, his dreams and torments, I -could not condemn him utterly. A man may be forgiven much that he does -for a woman's bewitchments, and few men could be blamed for allowing -Karamy to enslave them. Adric had done good, once, too; he had freed -the Dreamer, he had loved—but he had trapped me here, and for that, my -hate would make him pay—thoroughly!</p> - -<p>A shadow flitted across my sight; the robed Gamine barred my way, an -air of cold amusement around the poise of the hood and the blurred -invisible head. The Spell-singer laughed, mocking. "How like you this -body, Adric? You are beaten now, for sure! The stranger works with -Narayan—in <b>your</b> body, Adric!"</p> - -<p>"I'm not Adric," I shouted. "Adric's in his own body again! He's going -after Narayan—"</p> - -<p>"You expect me to believe that?" Contempt stung me in Gamine's clear, -sexless voice.</p> - -<p>"Let me to Rhys," I begged. "He'll know I'm telling the truth—damn -it, let me by!" Infuriated by the mocking laughter, I thrust my arm to -move Gamine forcibly from my path. Whatever Gamine was—man, woman, -imp or boy—it was not human. Steel wires writhed between my hands. -I struggled impotently in that bone-breaking grip; then with a swift -impulse thrust my hand quickly at the blurred invisibility where -Gamine's face should have been.</p> - -<p>Gamine screamed—a thin cry of horror. Suddenly I knew where I had been -those two weeks I lay in the hospital,—when Adric lay, in my body, -gone mad, in the hospital in my place. An instinct I had grown to trust -warned me to pull away sharply from Gamine's relaxed grip. I shouldered -by and ran like hell.</p> - -<p>Halfway up the stairs I heard the Spell-singer's feet running behind -me, and I quickened my stride and sprinted for the heavy door that -barred my way. I could feel Rhys' presence behind the door. I threw my -weight against the door, twisting the handle frantically.</p> - -<p>The door was locked.</p> - -<p>Behind me, I heard the padding tread of Gamine. Hopelessly, I put my -back to the door, pulling my knife out again, and defied the creature.</p> - -<p>Behind me the door suddenly opened and I was flung backward, sprawling, -into the room within. "Well, Mike," the old tired voice of Rhys said, -"Gamine is a fool, but you are no better. Yes, I knew you were coming, -I knew Adric is going, I know where Narayan is and I know what they -plan to do. There is only one person who can stop all this, Mike -Kenscott. You."</p> - -<p>Gaping stupidly, I picked myself up from the floor. The old Dreamer, -his wrinkled face serene under the peaked hood, watched me placidly. -"What—how—" I stammered.</p> - -<p>"Gamine is a prescient. And I am not a complete fool." Rhys smiled -wearily. The dreamy look of the very old or the very young was on his -face. "I cannot help you; but I will make Gamine help."</p> - -<p>The spell-singer came into the room, and I could almost see resentment -through that strange halo of nothingness. "Gamine," Rhys said. "It is -time. You, and Narayan, must go with him to the Dreamer's Keep."</p> - -<p>"No—" Gamine whispered in protest, "Narayan—cannot go! -His—his—talisman was destroyed! Only outside the tower—he cannot go -in!"</p> - -<p>"There is still—mine. Give it to him." At Gamine's cry of dismay, -Rhys' voice was suddenly a whip-lash. "Give it to him, Gamine! I still -have power to—compel that! What does it matter what happens to me? I -am old; it is Narayan's turn; your turn."</p> - -<p>"I'll—keep it for Narayan—" Gamine faltered.</p> - -<p>"No!" Rhys spoke sharply. "While you keep it—and I am bound to -you—there is still the bondage. Give it to him!"</p> - -<p>Gamine sobbed harshly. From the silken veils she drew forth a small -jewelled thing; wrapped in insulating silk like Evarin's mirror. She -untwisted the silk. It was a tiny sword; not a dagger, but a perfectly -modelled sword, a Toy. Evarin's too; but different. I recalled that -Evarin had called himself Toymaker. Gamine clung to it, the robed -shoulders bent.</p> - -<p>"Mike must take it," Rhys' voice was gentler. "If you keep it, I am -still bound to you. If Adric had it, it would bind Narayan again. If -Mike keeps it—<b>near</b> Narayan—Narayan is free. Free to go where -he will, even in the Dreamer's Keep. Give it to him, Gamine." Rhys sat -down, wearily, as if the effort of speech had tired him past bearing. -I stood and listened with a rebellious patience; I was eager to be -gone. But my eyes were on the little jewelled Toy in Gamine's hands. -It winked blue. It shimmered. It pulsed with a curious heartbeat, -hypnotic. Rhys watched, too, his tired face intent and almost eager. -"Gamine; if Adric had seen you, had remembered—"</p> - -<p>"I want him to remember!" Gamine's low wail keened weirdly in the -silent room. Rhys sighed.</p> - -<p>"I am Narabedlan," he said at last, "I could not destroy my own people. -Gamine is not bound—nor you, Mike Kenscott. I suppose I am a traitor; -but when I was born Narabedla was a fair city—without so many crimes -on its head. Go and warn Narayan, Mike."</p> - -<p>Gamine hovered near me, intent, jealous, the shrouded eyes fixed on -Rhys. The old man spoke on in a fading voice. "My poor city—now, -Gamine. Now. Give it to him and let me rest. Stand away from me, Mike; -well away; I do not want the bondage again from you."</p> - -<p>I did not understand and stood stupidly still. Gamine gave me an angry -push. "Over there, you fool!" I reeled, recovered my balance, stood -about six feet from the couch where Rhys half-sat, half-lay. The old -man laid one wrinkled hand on the toy sword Gamine held. He took his -hand away.</p> - -<p>"Now," he said quietly.</p> - -<p>Gamine thrust the sword into my hand, and I felt a sudden stinging -shock, like electric current, jolt my whole body. I saw Gamine's robed -body shiver with the same jolt. The Toy in my hand was suddenly heavy; -heavy as if it were made of lead, and the tiny winking in the hilt was -darkened. The peaked hood of Rhys drooped until it covered the face.</p> - -<p>Gamine caught my arm roughly and the steel of those narrow fingers bit -to the bone as they hauled me almost bodily from the room. I heard the -echo of a sob in the Spell-singer's whispering croon.</p> - -<p><b>Rhys—Farewell!</b></p> - -<p>The next thing I knew we were racing side by side down flight after -flight of stairs. Together we fled through the subterranean passages of -Rainbow City. Outside, in the pillared court, a man ran toward us. His -brown tunic was ripped and torn; his blond hair was rumpled. A smudge -of blood reddened his forehead. I gasped, "Narayan!"</p> - -<p>The man whirled—saw us—pulled his weapon from his belt. There was no -time for explanations. I threw myself at his knees in a flying tackle -no football coach would approve, but it did the trick. Narayan went -down under me, kicking. Gamine was not one to stand aside in a fight; -the robed figure rocketed forward, flung itself on the prone Narayan, -holding him motionless with that steely strength. I wrenched the -electrorod from Narayan's relaxed fingers. "Listen—" I urged, "I'm not -one of Karamy's men—Gamine, let him up!"</p> - -<p>"He's got Cynara—" the Dreamer muttered dizzily, "Cynara—who in -Zandru's hells are you?" He picked himself up, gazing at me with a -stunned, blank look. "My name's Kenscott," I said briefly. Suddenly, -feeling it was the best way to establish my good-faith, I pulled out -the Toy Gamine had put in my hand. "I've seen Rhys. He sent—this."</p> - -<p>Narayan stared at the thing in my hand, a double grief in his young -face. "Rhys—" he muttered, "I felt he was—gone!" With bent head, he -reached out to take the small thing from me.</p> - -<p>In his hand it came alive. The small jewelled Toy seemed suddenly -brilliant, flaring, dazzling with a wild burst of faceted light, blue, -golden, crimson, flame-color. Gamine's low sweet voice breathed, "In -the Dreamer's hands!"</p> - -<p>"In my hands," Narayan murmured in a choked, almost a tranced ecstasy. -I broke in on their raptures rudely. "Here, Narayan! Is it Adric who's -got Cynara?"</p> - -<p>He gulped; swallowed hard; thrust the Toy into a pocket and came back -to himself, but that light was still in his eyes. He spoke with a -hard restraint. "Yes. Adric surprised me—knocked me out. When I came -to, they were gone." He blinked once or twice; rubbed his eyes; then, -resolutely fumbled for the little Toy and extended it to me. "Here. -Keep this till we get to the Dreamer's Keep."</p> - -<p>I took it without comment. Gamine slipped away; came back, leading -horses. "I couldn't find a single guard," the cold voice murmured, "I -wonder where they are?"</p> - -<p>"Adric knows," said Narayan, tight-lipped.</p> - -<p>We mounted.</p> - -<p>The wind was rising. Above us the moons swung slowly in an indigo -sky. Sparks flew from our hooves against the frosty stones. We were -racing against time, and a nightmare panic had me while I gripped the -saddle of my racing horse. It took all my concentration to stick on -the animal's back, but I was acquiring balance and a feel for riding. -The ill wind was blowing some good, I thought inanely. Narayan's blond -hair was frosty pale in the moonlight, and the eerie Gamine was a -nightmare ghost, a phantom from nowhere. Far away we heard the spatter -of gunfire, the screams of dying men, the ring of swords and spears. -Thinly Gamine chanted in the night. Narayan's face looked haunted. -"There are the guards—attacking—" he jerked out over the hoof-noises.</p> - -<p>The scream of falcons rang swiftly above Gamine's chant. The -too-familiar beat of wings slapped around my head, and I flung up my -arm to knock away one serpentine neck. My terrified horse plunged and -I rocked in the saddle nearly falling. Another bird swooped down on -Narayan—another—then there were swarms of them, gold and purple and -green, crimson, blue, flame-color. The air was thick with their wings. -Gamine screamed; I saw Narayan beat the air with his cloak. The veiled -Spell-singer, crouched in the saddle, was lashing at them with the whip -from her saddle. The lash kept the falcons at bay, but the razor talons -caught at the blue shroudings. Narayan, whip in one hand, sword in the -other, beat round him in great arcs, and I heard one bird's death-cry -sending ringing echoes to the sky. I flung round me with my knife—</p> - -<p>"The mirror—" screamed Gamine, "Evarin's mirror! Quick, they're coming -by millions!"</p> - -<p>They were coming in scores—hundreds, whirling and screeing. These -were not the soul-falcons, belled and elaborately endowed with the -intelligence and cunning of their launcher. These were—machines. -Alive, yes, but not a life we knew. Only the nightmare freak of a -science gone mad could produce—or control—these hateful things that -were filling the clean air, groping for us with needle beaks and talons -and wild wings. Only Evarin—</p> - -<p>I fumbled blindly for the mirror, clumsily stripping the silks. A -needle-talon raked at my wrist, and by sheerest instinct I struck -upward, turning the face of the mirror toward the bird.</p> - -<p>The bird reeled in mid-air—flapped—fell. A tingling shock rattled -through my arm. I dropped the mirror—leaped to catch it. The thing was -a perfect conductor. It—drained energy. I knew now why Evarin had -been so anxious to have me—or Adric—look into its depths. It could -have touched the energy waves of my brain through my eyes. The birds -were brainless; all energy. I grabbed the mirror and held it upright; I -caught a half-glimpse, from the tail of my eye, of the weird lightnings -coiled inside it, but even that glimpse coiled my stomach in nervous -knots. Shielding my face, I held it upward. The birds flew toward it -like a moth to the candle. Shock after shock flowed along my arm. Three -more of the horrible falcons fell limp, lifeless—drained.</p> - -<p>A strange exhilaration began to buoy me up. The force from the birds -was not electricity but a kindred force, which my nerves drank -greedily. I thrust the mirror out; was rewarded again by the surge of -power, and again the birds, this time by dozens, flapped and fell.</p> - -<p>Then, as if whatever had loosed the army of falcons had realized their -uselessness, the whole remaining force of the birds wheeled and fled, -winging swiftly over the land to the distant donjon that rose high and -far into the black midnight.</p> - -<p>Recalled—to the Dreamer's Keep!</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_ELEVEN" id="CHAPTER_ELEVEN">CHAPTER ELEVEN</a><br /> -<small>The Last Sacrifice</small></h2> - - -<p>The flow of strength had renewed me; I felt that I could face whatever -came. I thrust Evarin's mirror into my pocket; flung a word to Narayan -and we were riding again, Gamine racing behind us. The blue shroudings -had been torn to ribbons by the snappings of falcon-claws; I could see -the pallid gleam of naked flesh through the torn veils. The noise of -battle behind us grew more distinct; I could make out the explosions -and the distant flashes of colored flame. I shuddered; even now that -frightful army of falcons might be winging to join Adric and Evarin. -The rebels could kill some of them, but for every falcon dead there -would be twenty more slaves for Narabedla! What could Narayan's men -with their scythes and pitchforks and rude rusty guns do against the -incredible science of a Toymaker? Narayan's strained face was ghastly -in the moonlight; I needed no telepathy to read his thoughts. Slaughter -for his men—what for his sister? Our horses seemed to lag, to drag -through a mire of motionless, yet they were at the full gallop of their -endurance. The sound of fighting grew closer. Everything in me cried -out that I was an utter fool, riding full tilt into a battle in which I -had no stake. Yet something else told me, coldly and with a grim truth, -that all I possessed was what I might win today, for this was the only -world I would ever know; that I would never see my own world again.</p> - -<p>Never! And Adric should rot in a hell of his own choosing for that!</p> - -<p>The sounds of fighting seemed very close. Narayan pulled up his horse -so quickly that it nearly sent Gamine plunging into his back. He -said in a low, concentrated voice, "Adric isn't at the battle! This -way—quick!" He whirled the horse and dashed down a side road at right -angles to the way we had been riding. If we had raced before, now our -horses seemed to fly. The battle raged behind us; I heard dim screams, -the neighing of wounded horses, the muffled sound of earth flying -upward, exploded in fire. But it had a dreamy unreal quality, like -noises through a nightmare. We had left the forest and were riding -across a dark and hummocky plain. Moss padded our hoof-noises; now -and then some small furry thing skittered across the track we were -following and twice my horse shied at swooping birds and my heart -stopped until I saw they were not the falcons of Evarin.</p> - -<p>Stark and black against a treeless horizon I could see the Dreamer's -Keep, between the small crescents of the two lesser moons. The largest -one rode a golden orbit over my head. I rode hunched in the saddle, my -eyes on the vast cairn only a few miles away.</p> - -<p>Suddenly a vast arch of lightning spanned the sky above the -Dreamer's Keep. Blue lightning. I heard Narayan groan like a man -in his death-agony. Twisting in my saddle, I saw brooding horror -on his face—mingled with pain—and a terrified satisfaction. "The -sacrifice—I still—feel it," he breathed in labored gasps, "I -still—take from it—Mike! Mike—" His voice held unbearable torture, -and the veins in the fair face stood out, black and congested with -effort. "If I start to work for—them—promise—promise to shoot me—"</p> - -<p>"Oh God—" I gasped.</p> - -<p>"Mike, promise! Gamine!"</p> - -<p>Gamine spurred the horse to his side; I heard the low voice, sweet, -almost crooning. Again the vast arch of blueness spanned the sky. -Narayan dug spurs savagely into the side of his horse and raced ahead -of us. On the plain, limned starkly against the sky, a horseman -appeared. He rode low in the saddle, his horse carrying a double -burden, but racing fleetly—to the Keep of the Dreamers. I cursed—I -knew that lean crouched figure, knew it as well as my own! Adric rode -to the sacrifice—and before him, limp across his saddle, he bore -Cynara!</p> - -<p>The rest of that nightmare ride is a blank in my mind. The next thing -I remember clearly is reining up beneath the lee of the gaunt pile of -rocks-on-rocks that was the Dreamer's Keep. There was no sign of Adric -or Cynara, no sign of any living person, nothing but the incandescent -blue lightning that rayed out now every four seconds or so; Narayan's -face was a white death-mask, and Gamine's breathing came in short -sobbing pants. I alone was free from the effect. My body throbbed and -tingled with the weird energy set free in the night. We flung ourselves -from our horses. Gamine tugged futilely at the torn veilings to conceal -her face, and for the first time the blurred invisibility wavered and I -caught a glimpse of one blue eye, blue as the sky lightnings that rose -and flared and died.</p> - -<p>The lee of the tower dwarfed us with its massive bulk. Gamine clutched -my arm, the cruel fingers digging bruisingly into my flesh. "Listen!"</p> - -<p>I strained my ears. All I could hear was a low, not unpleasant humming, -like the singing drone of great bees or high-tension wires; but the -sound struck both aliens with horror. Narayan opened his lips—</p> - -<p>I dug frantically in my other pocket; brought out the Toy Rhys had -given me. At sight of it Narayan's haggard face relaxed a little. He -caught it from me with quick hands. "Free of Adric—" he breathed -with that swift erasure of tension I had seen before. He drew a long, -moaning sigh. He closed his eyes for a moment.</p> - -<p>Somewhere above us a scream rang out; a cry bestial in its mad appeal. -It broke the static immobility that held us, and Narayan, sliding the -Toy inside his shirt, turned and began to run around the Tower, Gamine -and I panting at his heels.</p> - -<p>We came around the corner beneath an arching outcrop of stone-work. -No one needed to give orders; as one, we scrambled up on the ledge, -crowding close together.</p> - -<p>I gripped my hand on the knife in my belt. It had a comforting feel. I -needed that.</p> - -<p>A framed archway let us look down into the inside of the Keep. Below -us a voice cried out despairingly—unbelievingly. "Adric—" we heard -Cynara cry out, "Adric, no—oh, no—" Under our combined weight the -glass shattered; we hurled inward. We found ourselves standing on a -great shelf, about ten feet above the interior floor of the Keep, -looking down at a scene framed in stark horror. Golden Karamy, dwarfed -Idris, Evarin—stood in a close circle about a ring of coffins which -gleamed crystal—glowed with scintillant radiance. In the hand of each -of them was a tiny, jewelled, faceted Toy, and in the coffins—</p> - -<p>Gamine screamed.</p> - -<p>"The Dreamers—"</p> - -<p>Not till then did we see Adric and what he was doing. In the center -of the ring of coffins a dais rose upright, horribly altar-like, and -a line of the mindless slaves, nude, vacant-eyed, defiled before the -altar. As each slave stepped forward there was a shuddering moan from -the others, the tiny swords rose and fell and in a brilliant flame of -blue light, the slave—was not! And Adric—Cynara struggling between -his hands—was thrusting her forward, into the space between the -coffins, toward the nexus of the blue light—toward the Sacrifice-stone -of the Dreamers!</p> - -<p>The sight put us beyond caution. We threw ourselves from the ledge—and -went down into a writhing, sprawling mass of living flesh. A barked -command from Idris, and the slaves swarmed on us, drowning us in -smothering bodies. I kicked and sprawled and thrashed and scratched and -bit my way to the top of the heap and somehow for a second, I rolled -free. That instant was enough. I was on my feet, the knife in my hand. -Dragging bodies clung at my heels; I kicked out savagely, felt my boot -strike naked flesh, felt and heard the pulpy sound of a skull crushing -under the impact of my heel. The sound rocked my stomach, but I was -not in a position to be fastidious. My eyes were swimming in trickling -blood. Gamine clawed and thrust free and together we elbowed out of the -press.</p> - -<p>Evarin sprang at me. I thrust blindly with the knife in my hand, ripped -into his shoulder, missing the throat by inches. I caught the Toy from -his hand as it fell free. A moment of the clinging, tearing melee—then -we three—Gamine and Narayan and I were standing back to back in the -centre of the ring of coffins. There was a long howl of pain and terror -from Evarin and the four Narabedlans flung themselves backward in a -panic terror. For within the coffins the Dreamers were waking!</p> - -<p>But Adric was no coward. He threw himself quickly forward—caught -at Cynara again, and with all the force in his lean arms he flung -her—straight toward the nexus of blue light! Narayan and Gamine stood -frozen, bound by the Toys in their hands against the light, but I broke -free—I passed straight across the cone of blue lightning—</p> - -<p><b>Unharmed!</b> The blasting energy tingled pleasantly in my body as -I caught Cynara in mid-air and reeled away from the force that would -have meant annihilation for her. Narayan broke away from the paralysis -momentarily and caught Cynara's staggering body from my arms. Then I -felt the impact as Adric's tall, heavy body crashed against me, felt -the shock as my fist smashed against his jaw and heard him grunt as we -locked into a clinch that carried us nearer—and nearer to that center -of blue energy. A moment we swayed there, at the very edge of the -lightning—then Evarin's tensed cat-body hit in the centre of my back—</p> - -<p>Again the heat thrust needles through me. Adric was flung clear, but -there was an arch of blue that spanned the vault, a wild scream like -the death-cry of a panther, and the Toymaker was—</p> - -<p><b>Gone!</b></p> - -<p>Within the coffins the blue lights wakened, as if the last flare of -energy had freed them. Quickly Idris and Karamy ran forward, quickly -Adric leaped to join them, thrusting the Talisman Toys against the very -lids of the coffins—but too late. The Toys in the hands of Narayan -and Gamine spat glaring blue fire, and step by step the Narabedlans -retreated; farther, farther, farther—</p> - -<p>The coffins were suddenly empty. As if by magic, three old men and a -woman of surpassing beauty materialized about Narayan and Gamine. In -their faces I could distinguish a curious likeness to Narayan and to -old Rhys—and Narayan, within the circle of the Dreamers, reached out -and flung the tattered veils from Gamine. A triumphant chant rushed -sweetly from the lips of the Spell-singer as the veils came away and -in the center of the mutants stood Gamine the Dreamer, dwarfing them -all by a pure majesty; the majesty of a Dreamer who had never slept! -A woman she was, slender and fair and very beautiful and as like to -Narayan as a twin sister, and I thought of Isis and the young Osiris -as the blue eyes blazed out and the lovely body arched upward in tall -freedom from the shrouding veils. Blue lightning swirled and faded -and the Dreamer's tower was bathed in trembling irridescent rainbows. -Karamy and Idris retreated step by step, slinking back into the -shadows. Only Adric stood his ground.</p> - -<p>The Rainbows died. The air was void and empty of energy. The Dreamers -stood looking on the crouching Karamy with her hidden face, on the -bent, gnarled dwarf, on Cynara, kneeling white and radiant, on Adric, -who stood with his lips parted, staring at Gamine like a man released -from a spell. It was Gamine who spoke, her eyes resting on Karamy.</p> - -<p>"She has done much evil."</p> - -<p>The others clamored, but Gamine shook her head, long pale hair lifting -electrically around her face. "No," she disclaimed softly, "Why should -they die? They are only an old dwarf—a silly fool who could not make -up his own mind—" her eyes dwelt disquietingly on Adric. "And Karamy. -They have no power, now we are freed. Pity them—now we are freed."</p> - -<p>Adric, slowly, drew himself upright. His slackly-parted lips set -firmly and he looked at Narayan with a dispassionate, stubborn shrug. -"Kill me, if you like."</p> - -<p>"No, Gamine." Narayan stepped toward the man in crimson, "Adric," he -said in a strange, half-choked excitement, "I want to see what you saw -before—to see what sent you away—to see the thing that drove you mad. -Gamine's veils—Gamine, let him see! Show him, Gamine! Show him what he -saw then!"</p> - -<p>Gamine came forward slowly to where Karamy knelt. "Stand up!"</p> - -<p>Slowly Karamy rose to her feet. There was no hope in her eyes; no mercy -in Gamine's. The two pairs of eyes, cat-yellow and blue, fought for a -moment; it was Karamy's that fell. The Dreamer woman smiled faintly. -"My brothers and my sisters," she said at last, "Karamy is beautiful, -is she not?"</p> - -<p>I suppose no woman on earth has ever been or ever will be as beautiful -as Karamy the Golden. She stood proudly, turning to Adric, and I saw -longing and love break forth in the man's eyes. He gazed and gazed, and -Karamy laughed and held out her arms, and Adric, bemused, went toward -her—</p> - -<p>"Hold him," commanded Narayan tersely.</p> - -<p>One of the Dreamers made a curious sign with his left hand and Adric -was arrested; stood gripped in a vise of invisible force.</p> - -<p>"See?" Gamine said in a ringing voice, "But now see Karamy—shorn of -the Illusion her Dreamer threw! See the form of Karamy that she made -<b>me</b> wear! <b>This!</b>" She reached out and touched Karamy with -the little Talisman she held.</p> - -<p>There was a gasp of horror from many throats. Karamy—Karamy the -Golden—there are no words for the change that took place before our -eyes. I was sick and retching with horror before the metamorphosis was -half complete, and turned away my eyes; Cynara was sobbing softly into -her skirt; but Adric, frozen, could not look away.</p> - -<p>Gamine's laugh—low and sweet and doubly deadly for its -sweetness—reached my ears. "Shall I lend you my veils—sister?" She -murmured, mocking, and again the horrible laugh. "NO? Go <b>forth</b>!" -Her voice was a lashing whip, and with a broken wail, the thing that -had been Karamy threw up an arm across the staring sockets and fled -away into the night. And we never saw it again.</p> - -<p>So that was the end of Karamy the Golden—the end—</p> - -<p>A little later I found that Adric and I were staring stupidly at one -another, puzzled, but without animosity. Cynara came and slipped an arm -round Adric, and I turned away, embarrassed, for the man was sobbing -like a child. I was amazed and sick with the enormity of all that I -had seen and done. I stood and shivered and shook with deadly chill. I -suppose it was reaction.</p> - -<p>"Steady!" Narayan's steely hand on my shoulder kept me once again from -making an ass of myself. "You've done us a big favor," he said after -a few minutes. "I wish I had some adequate way of thanking you—not -for myself—for millions of people. Perhaps one day we'll find a way -of sending you back to your own world, but—" his shoulders moved -negatively, "I can't say—"</p> - -<p>Adric's lean non-human face peered over Narayan's shoulder. He looked -subdued, and spoke with a curious humility. He sounded sane. "There -<b>will</b> be a way, some day. It will take time to find it, now, -but—there will be."</p> - -<p>Spontaneously we grinned at each other. I could not hate this man. I -knew him too well. I knew, suddenly, that we would be friends. Which, -indeed, is what happened.</p> - -<p>Narayan looked from one to the other of us, troubled; then Gamine's -intent face was at his elbow.</p> - -<p>"I'll see to these men," she said quietly. "Narayan, they need you, and -it's your responsibility. They have to be told why they were wakened, -and how; there are slaves to be freed, armies—"</p> - -<p>Narayan glanced guiltily over his shoulder at the other Dreamers who -stood huddled together in a bewildered little knot. "That's so," he -acknowledged gravely, and went to his people. I watched him, feeling -as if my one friend here had deserted me; but it had to be that way. -Narayan was not our kind. He was the sort of man who could remodel a -world; but the look he sent us over his shoulder told Adric and I that -we should, if we liked, have a share in that work.</p> - -<p>"Now Mike Kenscott," said Gamine, "I want to talk to you."</p> - -<p>We left Adric and Cynara in that place, and I cast a wistful glance -back at them. Cynara was lovely, and very human, and I suppose I had -hoped that in some way she would compensate for my enforced stay in -this world. But there was Adric—</p> - -<p>Gamine and I stood on the steps of the Dreamer's Keep, and her voice, -soft and wistful, mourned in the grey dawn. "No one ever knew I had the -Dreamer powers—except old Rhys. Rhys and I were bound together—he -knew, and kept me close to him, hid me and helped me. One day Adric -found out. It—changed Adric. He—we freed Narayan together. Then -Karamy made me what I was—what you saw. It hurt Adric—hurt something -in him. I could have cured him, in time, but Karamy had him bewitched. -She stripped him of power, of memory. I do not know, but perhaps some -day, Adric may remember that I was—I was—"</p> - -<p>"Gamine! Gamine!" Adric's voice cried from within, and the next -moment he rushed forth—caught the Dreamer woman in his arms, and his -mouth met hers and she stood swaying in his arms, laughing and crying -together. Cynara, following slowly, smiled with gentle satisfaction. I -said, stunned, "What—"</p> - -<p>Over Adric's shoulder Gamine's blue eyes met mine in liquid -satisfaction and she finished her interrupted sentence. "I was Adric's -wife," she said, gently.</p> - -<p>Cynara's voice was tenderly humorous as we left them together in the -glory of the rising sun. "Poor Gamine," she said, "and poor Adric, too. -I was sorry for them both. But I wish these men would make up their -minds!"</p> - -<p>I had an idea.</p> - -<p>"Adric's made up his mind," I said, turning my head a little toward the -couple who stood, clasped, as if they could never let go. "I suppose—" -I came a little closer to Cynara, who stood looking up at me with wide, -innocent eyes and lips ingenuously parted, "I suppose that gives me the -right to make up my mind. Doesn't it?"</p> - -<p>She smiled. "Does it?" But her bright eyes had given me my answer, and -I never had to make up my mind again.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Falcons of Narabedla, by Marion Zimmer Bradley - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FALCONS OF NARABEDLA *** - -***** This file should be named 50566-h.htm or 50566-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/5/6/50566/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Falcons of Narabedla - -Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley - -Release Date: November 28, 2015 [EBook #50566] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FALCONS OF NARABEDLA *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Somewhere on the Time Ellipse Mike Kenscott became Adric; - and the only way to return to his own identity was to find - the Keep of the Dreamer, and loose the terrible - - FALCONS of NARABEDLA - - By Marion Zimmer Bradley - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Other Worlds - May 1957. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence - that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - -CHAPTER ONE - -Voltage--from Nowhere! - - -Somewhere on the crags above us I heard a big bird scream. - -I turned to Andy, knee-deep in the icy stream beside me. "There's your -eagle. Probably smells that cougar I shot yesterday." I started to reel -in my line, knowing what my brother's next move would be. "Get the -camera, and we'll try for a picture." - -We crouched together in the underbrush, watching, as the big bird -of prey wheeled down in a slow spiral toward the dead cougar. Andy -was trembling with excitement, the camera poised against his chest, -his eyes glued in the image-finder. "Golly--" he whispered, almost -prayerfully, "six foot wing spread--maybe more--" - -The bird screamed again, warily, head cocked into the wind. We were to -leeward; the scent of the carrion masked our enemy smell from him. The -eagle failed to scent or to see us, swooping down and dropping on the -cougar's head. Andy's camera clicked twice. The eagle thrust in its -beak-- - -A red-hot wire flared in my brain. The bird--the bird--I leaped out of -cover, running swiftly across the ten-foot clearing that separated us -from the attacking eagle, my hand tugging automatically at the hunting -knife in my belt. Andy's shout of surprised anger was a faraway noise -in my ears as the eagle started away with flapping, angry wings--then, -in fury, swept down at me, pinions beating around my head. I heard and -felt the wicked beak dart in, and thrust blindly upward with the knife, -ripped, slashing, hearing the bird's scream of pain and the flapping of -wide wings. A red haze spun around me-- - -Then the screaming eagle was gone and Andy's angry grip was on my -shoulder, shaking me roughly. His voice, furious and frightened, was -hardly recognizable. "Mike! Mike, you darned idiot, are you all right? -You must be crazy!" - -I blinked, rubbing my hand across my eyes. The hand came away wet. I -was standing in the clearing, the knife in my hand red with blood. Bird -blood. I heard myself ask, stupidly, "What happened?" - -My brother's face came clear out of the thickness in my mind, scowling -wrathfully. "You tell _me_ what happened! Mike, what in the devil -were you thinking about? You told me yourself that an eagle will attack -a man if he's bothered. I had him square in the camera when you jumped -out of there like a bat out of a belfry and went for the eagle with -your knife! You must be clean crazy!" - -I let the knife drop out of my hand. "Yeah--" I said heavily, "Yeah, -I guess I spoiled your picture, Andy. I'm sorry--I didn't--" my voice -trailed off, helpless. The boy's hand was still on my shoulder; he let -it drop and knelt in the grass, groping there for his camera. "That's -all right, Mike," he said in a dead voice, "you scared the daylights -out of me, that's all." He stood up swiftly, looking straight into my -face. "Darn it, Mike, you've been acting crazy for a week! I don't mind -the blamed camera, but when you start going for eagles with your bare -hands--" abruptly he flung the camera away, turned and began to run -down the slope in the direction of the cabin. - -I took a step to follow, then stopped, bending to retrieve the broken -pieces of Andy's cherished camera. The kid must have hit the eagle with -it. Lucky thing for me; an eagle can be a mean bird. But why, why in -the living hell had I done a thing like that? I'd warned Andy time -and time again to stay clear of the big birds. Now that the urgency -of action had deserted me, I felt stupid and a little lightheaded. I -didn't wonder Andy thought I was crazy. I thought so myself more than -half the time. I stowed the broken camera in my tackle box, mentally -promising Andy a better one; hunted up the abandoned lines and poles, -carefully stowed them, cleaned our day's catch. It was dark before I -started for the cabin; I could hear the hum of the electric dynamo I'd -rigged up and see the electric light across the dusk of the Sierras. A -smell of bacon greeted me as I crossed into the glare of the unshielded -bulb. Andy was standing at the cookstove, his back stubbornly to me. He -did not turn. - -"Andy--" I said. - -"It's okay, Mike. Sit down and eat your supper. I didn't wait for the -fish." - -"Andy--I'll get you another camera--" - -"I said, it's okay. Now, damn it, eat." - -He didn't speak again for a long time; but as I stretched back for a -second mug of coffee, he got up and began to walk around the room, -restlessly. "Mike--" he said entreatingly, "you came here for a rest! -Why can't you lay off your everlasting work for a while and relax?" He -looked disgustedly over his shoulder at the work table where the light -spilled over a confused litter of wires and magnets and coils. "You've -turned this place into a branch office of General Electric!" - -"I can't stop now!" I said violently. "I'm on the track of -something--and if I stop I'll never find it!" - -"Must be real important," Andy said sourly, "if it makes you act like -bughouse bait." - -I shrugged without answering. We'd been over that before. I'd known -it when they threw me out of the government lab, just after the big -blowup. I thought, angrily. I'm heading for another one, but I don't -care. - -"Sit down, Andy," I told him. "You don't know what happened down there. -Now that the war's over, it's no military secret, and I'll tell you -what happened." - -I paused, swallowing down the coffee, not knowing that it scalded my -mouth. "That is--I will if I can." - -Six months before they settled the war in Korea, I was working in a -government radio lab, on some new communications equipment. Since I -never finished it, there's no point in going into details; it's enough -to say it would have made radar as obsolete as the stagecoach. I'd -built a special supersonic condenser, and had had trouble with a set -of magnetic coils that wouldn't wind properly. When the thing blew up -I hadn't had any sleep for three nights, but that wasn't the reason. I -was normal then; just another communications man, intent on radio and -this new equipment and without any of the crazy impractical notions -that had lost me my job later. They called it overwork, but I knew they -thought the explosion had disturbed my brain. I didn't blame them. I -would have liked to think so. - -It started one day in the lab with a shadow on the sun and an elusive -short circuit that gave me shock after shock until I was jittery. By -the time I had it fixed, the oscillator had gone out of control. I got -a series of low-frequency waves that were like nothing I'd ever seen -before. Then there was something like a voice speaking out of a very -old, jerry-built amateur radio set. Except that there wasn't a receiver -in the lab, and no one else had heard it. I wasn't sure myself, because -right then every instrument in the place went haywire and five minutes -later, part of the ceiling hit the floor and the floor went up through -the roof. They found me, they say, lying half-crushed under a beam, and -I woke up eighteen hours later in a hospital with four cracked ribs, -and a feeling as if I'd had a lot of voltage poured into me. It went in -the report that I'd been struck by lightning. - -It took me a long time to get well. The ribs healed fast--faster -than the doctor liked. I didn't mind the hospital part, except -that I couldn't walk without shaking, or light a cigarette without -burning myself, for months. The thing I minded was what I remembered -_before_ I woke up. Delirium; that was what they told me. But -the _kind_ and _type_ of scars on my body didn't ring true. -Electricity--even freak lightning--doesn't make that kind of burns. And -my corner of the world doesn't make a habit of branding people. - -But before I could show the scars to anybody outside the hospital, they -were gone. Not healed; just gone. I remembered the look on the medic's -face when I showed him the place where the scars had been. He didn't -think I was crazy; he thought _he_ was. - -I knew the lab hadn't been struck by lightning. The Major knew it -too; I found that out the day I reported back to work. All the time -we talked, his big pen moved in stubby circles across the page of his -log-book, and he talked without raising his head to look at me. - -"I know all that, Kenscott. No electrical storms reported in the -vicinity; no radio disturbance within a thousand miles. But--" his jaw -grew stubborn, "the lab was wrecked and you were hurt. We've got to -have something for the record." - -I could understand all that. What I resented was the way they treated -me after I went back to work. They transferred me to another division -and another line of work. They turned down my request to follow up -those nontypical waves. My private notes were ripped out of my notebook -while I was at lunch and I never saw them again. And as soon as they -could, they shipped me to Fairbanks, Alaska, and that was the end of -that. - -The Major told me all I needed to know, the day before I took the plane -to Alaska. His scowl said more than his words, and they said plenty. -"I'd let it alone, Kenscott. No sense stirring up more trouble. We -can't bother with side alleys, anyhow. Next time you monkey with it, -you might get your head blown off, not just a dose of stray voltage -out of the blue. We've done everything but stand on our heads trying -to find out where that spare energy came from--and where it went. But -we've marked that whole line of research _closed_, Kenscott. If I -were you, I'd keep my mouth shut about it." - -"It wasn't a message from Mars," I suggested unsmiling, and he didn't -think that was funny either. But there was relief on his face as I left -the office and went to clean out my drawer. - -I got along all right in Alaska, for a while. But I wasn't the same. -The armistice had hardly been signed when they sent me back to the -States with a recommendation of overwork. I tried to explain it to -Andy. "They said I needed a rest. Maybe so. The shock did something -funny to me ... tore me open ... like the electric shock treatments -they give catatonic patients. I know a lot of things I never learned. -Ordinary radio work doesn't mean anything to me any more. It doesn't -make sense. When people out west were talking about flying saucers or -whatever they were--and when they talked about weather disturbances -after the atomic tests, things did make sense for a while. And when -we came down here--" I paused, trying to fit confused impressions -together. He wasn't going to believe me, anyhow, but I wanted him to. A -tree slapped against the cabin window; I jumped. "It started up again -the day we came up in the mountains. Energy out of nowhere, following -me around. It can't knock me out. Have you noticed I let you turn the -lights on and off? The day we came up, I shorted my electric razor and -blew out five fuses trying to change one." - -"Yeah, I remember, you had to drive to town for them--" My brother's -eyes watched me, uneasy. "Mike, you're kidding--" - -"I wish I were," I said. "That energy just drains into me, and nothing -happens. I'm immune." I shrugged, rose and walked across to the -radio I'd put in here, so carefully, before the war. I picked up the -disconnected plug; thrust it into the socket. I snapped the dial on. -"I'll show you," I told him. - -The panel flashed and darkened; confused static came cracking from the -speaker, erratic. I took my hand away. - -"Turn it up--" Andy said uneasily. - -My hand twiddled the dial. "It's already up." - -"Try another station;" the kid insisted stubbornly. I pushed all the -buttons in succession; the static crackled and buzzed, the panel -light flickered on and off in little cryptic flashes. I sighed. "And -reception was perfect at noon," I told him, "You were listening to the -news." I took my hand away again. "I don't want to blow the thing up." - -Andy came over and switched the button back on. The little panel light -glowed steadily, and the mellow voice of Milton Cross filled the -room ... "now conduct the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra in the Fifth -or 'Fate' symphony of Ludwig von Beethoven ..." the noise of mixed -applause, and then the majestic chords of the symphony, thundering -through the rooms of the cabin. - -"Ta-da-da-dumm----Ta-da-da-DUMM!" - -My brother stared at me as racing woodwinds caught up with the brasses. -There was nothing wrong with the radio. "Mike. What did you do to it?" - -"I wish I knew," I told him. Reaching, I touched the volume button -again. - -Beethoven died in a muttering static like a thousand drums. - -I swore and Andy sucked in his breath between his teeth, edging warily -backward. He touched the dials again; once more the smoothness of the -"Fate" symphony rolled out and swallowed us. I shivered. - -"You'd better let it alone!" Andy said shakily. - -The kid turned in early, but I stayed in the main room, smoking -restlessly and wishing I could get a drink without driving eighty miles -over bad mountain roads. Neither of us had thought to turn off the -radio; it was moaning out some interminable throbbing jazz. I turned -over my notes, restlessly, not really seeing them. Once Andy's voice -came sleepily from the alcove. - -"Going to read all night, Mike?" - -"If I feel like it," I said tersely and began walking up and down again. - -"Michael! For the luvvagod stop it and let me get some sleep!" Andy -exploded, and I sank down in the chair again. "Sorry, Andy." - -Where had the intangible part of me been, those eighteen hours when -I first lay crushed under a fallen beam, then under morphine in the -hospital? Where had those scars come from? More important, what had -made a radio lab blow up in the first place? Electricity sets fires; it -shocks men into insensibility or death. It doesn't explode. Radio waves -are in themselves harmless. Most important of all, what maniac freak of -lightning was I carrying in my body that made me immune to electrical -current? I hadn't told Andy about the time I'd deliberately grounded -the electric dynamo in the cellar and taken the whole voltage in my -body. I was still alive. It would have been a hell of a way to commit -suicide--but I hadn't. - -I swore, slamming down the window. I was going to bed. Andy was right. -Either I was crazy or there was something wrong; in any case, sitting -here wouldn't help. If it didn't let up, I'd take the first train home -and see a good electrician--or a psychiatrist. But right now, I was -going to hit the sack. - -My hand went out automatically and switched the light off. - -"Damn!" I thought incredulously. I'd shorted the dynamo again. The -radio stopped as if the whole orchestra had dropped dead; every light -in the cabin winked swiftly out, but my hand on the switch crackled -with a phosphorescent glow as the entire house current poured into my -body. I tingled with weird shock; I heard my own teeth chattering. - -And something snapped wide open in my brain. I heard, suddenly, an -excited voice, shouting. - -"Rhys! _Rhys!_ That is the man!" - - - - -CHAPTER TWO - -Rainbow City - - -"_You are mad_," said the man with the tired voice. - -I was drifting. I was swaying, bodiless, over a huge abyss of caverned -space; chasmed, immense, limitless. Vaguely, through a sleeping -distance, I heard two voices. This one was old and very tired. - -"You are mad. They will know. Narayan will know." - -"Narayan is a fool," said the second voice. - -"Narayan is the Dreamer," the tired voice said. "He is the Dreamer, and -where the Dreamer walks he will know. But have it your way. I am very -old and it does not matter. I give you this power, freely--to spare -you. But Gamine--" - -"Gamine--" the second voice stopped. After a long time, "You are old, -and a fool, Rhys," it said. "What is Gamine to me?" - -Bodiless, blind, I drifted and swayed and swung in the sound of the -voices. The humming, like a million high-tension wires, sang around -me and I felt myself cradled in the pull of a great magnet that -held me suspended surely on nothingness and drew me down into the -field of some force beneath. Far below me the voices faded. I swung -free--fell--plunged downward in sickening motion, head over heels, into -the abyss.... - -My feet struck hard flooring. I wrenched back to consciousness with a -jolt. Winds blew coldly in my face; the cabin walls had been flung back -to the high-lying stars. I was standing at a barred window at the very -pinnacle of a tall tower, in the lap of a weird blueness that arched -flickeringly in the night. I caught a glimpse of a startled face, a -lean tired old face beneath a peaked hood, in the moment before my -knees gave way and I fell, striking my head against the bars of the -window. - -I was lying on a narrow, high bed in a room filled with doors and bars. -I could see the edge of a carved mirror set in a frame, and the top -of a chest of some kind. On a bench at the edge of my field of vision -there were two figures sitting. One was the old grey man, hunched -wearily beneath his robe, wearing robes like a Tibetan Lama's, somber -black, and a peaked hood of grey. The other was a slimmer younger -figure, swathed in silken silvery veiling, with a thin opacity where -the face should have been, and a sort of opalescent shine of flesh -through the silvery-sapphire silks. The figure was that of a boy or a -slim immature girl; it sat erect, motionless, and for a long time I -studied it, curious, between half-opened lids. But when I blinked, it -rose and passed through one of the multitudinous doors; at once a soft -sibilance of draperies announced return. I sat up, getting my feet to -the floor, or almost there; the bed was higher than a hospital bed. The -blue-robe held a handled mug, like a baby's drinking-cup, at me. I took -it in my hand hesitated-- - -"Neither drug nor poison," said the blue-robe mockingly, and the voice -was as noncommittal as the veiled body; a sexless voice, soft alto, a -woman's or a boy's. "Drink and be glad it is none of Karamy's brewing." - -I tasted the liquid in the mug; it had an indeterminate greenish look -and a faint pungent taste I could not identify, although it reminded me -variously of anise and garlic. It seemed to remove the last traces of -shock. I handed the cup back empty and looked sharply at the old man in -the Lama costume. - -"You're--Rhys?" I said. "Where in hell have I gotten to?" At least, -that's what I meant to say. Imagine my surprise when I found myself -asking--in a language I'd never heard, but understood perfectly--"To -which of the domains of Zandru have I been consigned now?" At the same -moment I became conscious of what I was wearing. It seemed to be an -old-fashioned nightshirt, chopped off at the loins, deep crimson in -color. "Red flannels yet!" I thought with a gulp of dismay. I checked -my impulse to get out of bed. Who could act sane in a red nightshirt? - -"You might have the decency to explain where I am," I said. "If you -know." - -The tiredness seemed part of Rhys voice. "Adric," he said wearily. "Try -to remember." He shrugged his lean shoulders. "You are in your own -Tower. And you have been under restraint again. I am sorry." His voice -sounded futile. I felt prickling shivers run down my backbone. In spite -of the weird surroundings, the phrase "under restraint" had struck -home. I was a lunatic in an asylum. - -The blue-robed one cut in in that smooth, sexless, faint-sarcastic -voice. "While Karamy holds the amnesia-ray, Rhys, you will be -explaining it to him a dozen times a cycle. He will never be of use -to us again. This time Karamy won. Adric; try to remember. You are at -home, in Narabedla." - -I shook my head. Nightshirt or no nightshirt, I'd face this on my feet. -I walked to Rhys; put my clenched hands on his shoulders. "Explain -this! Who am I supposed to be? You called me Adric. I'm no more Adric -than you are!" - -"Adric, you are not amusing!" The blue-robe's voice was edged with -anger. "Use what intelligence you have left! You have had enough -_sharig_ antidote to cure a _tharl_. Now. Who are you?" - -The words were meaningless. I stared, trapped. I clung to hold on to -identity. "Adric--" I said, bewildered. That was my name. Was it? -Wasn't it? No. I was Mike Kenscott. Hang on to that. Two and two are -four. The circumference equals the radius squared times pi. Four rulls -is the chemming of twilp--_stop that!_ Mike Kenscott. Summer -1954. Army serial number 13-48746. Karamy. I cradled my bursting head -in my hands. "I'm crazy. Or you are. Or we're both sane and this -monkey-business is all real." - -"It is real," said Rhys, compassion in his tired face. "He has been -very far on the Time Ellipse, Gamine. Adric, try to understand. This -was Karamy's work. She sent you out on a time line, far, very far into -the past. Into a time when the Earth was different--she hoped you would -come back changed, or mad." His eyes brooded. "I think she succeeded. -Gamine, I have long outstayed my leave. I must return to my own -tower--or die. Will you explain?" - -"I will." A hint of emotion flickered in the voice of Gamine. "Go, -Master." - -Rhys left the room, through one of the doors. Gamine turned impatiently -to me again. "We waste time this way. Fool, look at yourself!" - -I strode to a mirror that lined one of the doors. Above the crimson -nightshirt I saw a face--not my own. The sight rocked my mind. Out of -the mirror a man's face looked anxiously; a face eagle-thin, darkly -moustached, with sharp green eyes. The body belonging to the face that -was _not_ mine was lean and long and strongly muscled--and not -quite human. I squeezed my eyes shut. This couldn't be--I opened my -eyes. The man in the red nightshirt I was wearing was still reflected -there. - -I turned my back on the mirror, walking to one of the barred windows -to look down on the familiar outline of the Sierra Madre, about a -hundred miles away. I couldn't have been mistaken. I knew that ridge -of mountains. But between me and the mountains lay a thickly forested -expanse of land which looked like no scenery I had ever seen in my -life. I was standing near the pinnacle of a high tower; I dimly saw the -curve of another, just out of my line of vision. The whole landscape -was bathed in a curiously pinkish light; through an overcast sky I -could just make out, dimly, the shadowy disk of a watery red sun. -Then--no, I wasn't dreaming, I really did see it--beyond it, a second -sun; blue-white, shining brilliantly, pallid through the clouds, but -brighter than any sunlight I had ever seen. - -It was proof enough for me. I turned desperately to Gamine behind me. -"Where have I gotten, to? Where--_when_ am I? Two suns--those -mountains--" - -The change in Gamine's voice was swift; the veiled face lifted -questioningly to mine. What I had thought a veil was not that; it -seemed to be more like a shimmering screen wrapped around the features -so that Gamine was faceless, an invisible person with substance but -no apprehensible characteristics. Yes, it was like that; as if there -was an invisible person wearing the curious silken draperies. But the -invisible flesh was solid enough. Hands like cold steel gripped my -shoulders. "You have been back? Back to the days before the second sun? -Adric, tell me; did Earth truly have but one sun?" - -"Wait--" I begged. "You mean I've travelled in time?" - -The exultation faded from Gamine's voice imperceptibly. "Never mind. It -is improbable in any case. No, Adric; not really travelling. You were -only sent out on the Time Ellipse, till you contacted some one in that -other Time. Perhaps you stayed in contact with his mind so long that -you think you are he?" - -"I'm not Adric--" I raged. "Adric sent me here--" - -I saw the blurring around Gamine's invisible features twitch in a -headshake. "It's never been proven that two minds can be interchanged -like that. Adric's body. Adric's brain. The brain convolutions, the -memory centers, the habit patterns--you'd still be Adric. The idea that -you are someone else is only an illusion of your conscious mind. It -will wear off." - -I shook my head, puzzled. "I still don't believe it. Where am I?" - -Gamine moved impatiently. "Oh, very well. You are Adric of Narabedla; -and if you are sane again, Lord of the Crimson Tower. I am Gamine." -The swathed shoulders moved a little. "You don't remember? I am a -spell-singer." - -I jerked my elbow toward the window. "Those are my own mountains out -there," I said roughly. "I'm not Adric, whoever he is. My name's Mike -Kenscott, and your hanky-panky doesn't impress me. Take off that veil -and let me see your face." - -"I wish you meant that--" a mournfulness breathed in the soft -contralto. A sudden fury blazed up in me from nowhere. "And what right -have you to pry for that old fool Rhys? Get back to your own place, -then, spell-singer--" I broke off, appalled. What was I saying? Worse, -what did I mean by it? Gamine turned. The sexless voice was coldly -amused. "Adric spoke then. Whoever sits in the seat of your soul, you -are the same--and past redemption!" The robes whispered sibilantly on -the floor as Gamine moved to the door. "Karamy is welcome to her slave!" - -The door slammed. - -Left alone, I flung myself down on the high bed, stubbornly -concentrating on Mike Kenscott, shutting out the vague blurred mystery -in my mind that was Adric impinging on consciousness. I was not Adric. -I would _not_ be. I dared not go to the window and look out at the -terrifying two suns, even to see the reassurance of the familiar Sierra -Madre skyline. A homesick terror was hurting in me. - -But persistently the Adric memories came, a guilty feeling of a -shirked duty, and a frightened face--a real face, not a blurred -nothingness--beneath Gamine's blue veils. Memories of strange hunts and -a big bird on the pommel of a high saddle. A bird hooded like a falcon, -in crimson. - -Consciousness of dress made me remember the--nightshirt--I still wore. -Moving swiftly, without conscious thought, I went to a door and slid -it open; pulled out some garments and dressed in them. Every garment -in the closet was the same color; deep-hued crimson. I glanced in the -mirror and a phrase Gamine had used broke the surface of my mind like -a leaping fish. "Lord of the Crimson Tower." Well, I looked it. There -had been knives and swords in the closet; I took out one to look at it, -and before I realized what I was doing I had belted it across my hip. I -stared, decided to let it remain. It looked all right with the rest of -the costume. It felt right, too. Another door folded back noiselessly -and a man stood looking at me. - -He was young and would have been handsome in an effeminate way if his -face had not been so arrogant. Lean, somehow catlike, it was easy to -determine that he was akin to Adric, or me, even before the automatic -habit of memory fitted name and identity to him. "Evarin," I said, -warily. - -He came forward, moving so softly that for an uneasy moment I wondered -if he had pads like a cat's on his feet. He wore deep green from head -to foot, similar to the crimson garments that clothed me. His face had -a flickering, as if he could at a moment's notice raise a barrier of -invisibility like Gamine's about himself. He didn't look as human as I. - -"I have seen Gamine," he said. "She says you are awake, and as sane as -you ever were. We of Narabedla are not so strong that we can afford to -waste even a broken tool like you." - -Wrath--Adric's wrath--boiled up in me; but Evarin moved lithely -backward. "I am not Gamine," he warned. "And I will not be served like -Gamine has been served. Take care." - -"Take care yourself," I muttered, knowing little else I could have -said. Evarin drew back thin lips. "Why? You have been sent out on the -Time Ellipse till you are only a shadow of yourself. But all this is -beside the point. Karamy says you are to be freed, so the seals are off -all the doors, and the Crimson Tower is no longer a prison to you. Come -and go as you please. Karamy--" his lips formed a sneer. "If you call -_that_ freedom!" - -I said slowly, "You think I'm not crazy?" - -Evarin snorted. "Except where Karamy is concerned, you never were. What -is that to me? I have everything I need. The Dreamer gives me good -hunting and slaves enough to do my bidding. For the rest, I am the -Toymaker. I need little. But you--" his voice leaped with contempt, -"you ride time at Karamy's bidding--and your Dreamer walks--waiting the -coming of his power that he may destroy us all one day!" - -I stared somberly at Evarin, standing still near the door. The words -seemed to wake an almost personal shame in me. The boy watched and his -face lost some of his bitterness. He said more quietly, "The falcon -flown cannot be recalled. I came only to tell you that you are free." -He turned, shrugging his thin shoulders, and walked to the window. "As -I say, if you call that freedom." - -I followed him to the window. The clouds were clearing; the two suns -shone with a blinding brilliance. By looking far to the left I could -see a line of rainbow-tinted towers that rose into the sky, tall and -capped with slender spires. I could distinguish five clearly; one, the -nearest, seemed made of a jewelled blue; one, clear emerald green; -golden, flame-colored, violet. There were more beyond, but the colors -were blurred and dim. They made a semicircle about a wooded park; -beyond them the familiar skyline of the mountains tugged old memories -in my brain. The suns swung high in a sky that held no tint of blue, -that was as clear and colorless as ice. Abruptly I turned my back on it -all. Evarin murmured, "Narabedla. Last of the Rainbow Cities. Adric--how -long now?" - -I did not answer. "Karamy wants me?" - -Evarin's laugh was only a soundless shaking of his thin shoulders. -"Karamy can wait. Better for you if she waited forever. Come along with -me, or Gamine will be back. You don't want to see Gamine, do you?" He -sounded anxious; I shook my head. Emphatically, I did _not_ want -to see that insidious spook again. "No. Why? Should I?" - -Evarin looked relieved. "Come along, then. If I know Gamine, you're -pretty well muddled. Amnesiac. I'll explain. After all--" his voice -mocked, "you _are_ my brother!" - -He thrust open the door and motioned me through. Instinctively I drew -back, gesturing him to lead the way; he laughed soundlessly and went, -and I followed, letting it slide shut behind me. - -We went down stairs and more stairs. I walked at Evarin's side, one -part of me wondering why I was not more panicky. I was a stranger in a -world gone insane, yet I had that outrageous calmness with which men -do fantastic things in a dream. I was simply taking one step after -another; knowing what to do with that part of me that was Adric. Gamine -had spoken of habit patterns, the convolutions of the brain. I had -Adric's body. Only a superficial me, an outer ego, was still a strange, -muddled Mike Kenscott. The subconscious Adric was guiding me. I let him -ride. I felt it would be wise to be very much Adric around Evarin. We -stepped into an elevator shaft which went down, curved around corners -with a speed that threw me against the wall, then began, slowly, to -rise. I had long since lost all sense of direction. Abruptly the door -of the shaft opened and we began to walk along a long, brilliantly -illuminated passage. From somewhere we heard singing; a voice somewhere -in the range of a trained boy's voice or a woman's mature contralto. -Gamine's voice. I could make no sense of the words; but Evarin halted -to listen, swearing in a whisper. I thought the faraway voice sang my -name and Evarin's, but I could not tell. "What is it, Evarin?" - -He gave a short exclamation, the sense of which was lost on me. - -"Come along," he said irritably, "It is only the spell-singer, singing -old Rhys back to sleep. You waked him this time, did you not? I wonder -Gamine permitted it. He is very near his last sleep--old Rhys. I -think you will send him there soon." Without giving me a chance to -answer--and for that matter, I had no answer ready--he pulled me aside -between recessed walls and again the shaft in which we stood began to -ride. Eventually we stepped into a room at the top of another tower, a -room lavishly, even garishly furnished. Evarin flung himself carelessly -on a divan embroidered in silken purple and gestured me to follow his -example. "Well, now tell me. Where in Time has Karamy sent you now?" - -"Karamy?" I asked tentatively. Evarin's raucous laugh rang out again. -He said with seeming irrelevance, but with an odd air of confiding, "My -one demand of the Dreamer is--freedom from that witch's spells. Some -day I shall fashion a Toy for her. I am not the Toymaker of Narabedla -for nothing. I demand little enough of the Dreamers, Zandru knows! I -do not like to pay their price, but Karamy does not care what she pays. -So--" he made a spreading movement of his hands, "she has power over -everyone, except me. Yes; assuredly I must make her a Toy. She sent you -out on the Time Ellipse. I wonder who brought you back?" - -I shook my head. "I've been out of my body too long. I can't remember -much." - -"You remember me," Evarin said. "I wonder why she left you that? -Karamy's amnesia-rays took the rest of your memory. She never trusted -me that far before." - -But I caught the crafty look in his face. I knew only this about -Evarin; Karamy was right not to trust him. I said, "I only remember your -name. Nothing more." - -Because Evarin--I knew--was never ten minutes the same. He would -profess friendship and mean friendship; ten minutes later, still in -friendship, he would flay the skin from my body and count it only an -exquisite joke. I did not like those perverted and subtle eyes. He -seemed to read my thought. "Good, we will be strangers. Brothers are -too--" he let the word trail off, unfinished. "What have you forgotten?" - -Could I trust him with my terrible puzzlement? How much could I, as -Adric--and I _must_ be Adric to him--get along without knowing? -What was even more to the point, how many questions could I dare ask -without betraying my own helplessness? I compromised. "What are the -Dreamers?" - -That _had_ been the wrong question. - -"Zandru. Adric, you have been far indeed! You must have been back -before the Cataclysm! Well--our forefathers, after the Cataclysm, -ruled this planet and built the Rainbow Cities. That was before the -Compact that killed machines. Some people say the Dreamers were born -from the dead machines." - -He began to pace the floor restlessly. "They were men--once," he said. -"They are born from men and women. Mendel knows what caused them. But -one in every ten million men is such a freak--a Dreamer. Some say they -came out of the Cataclysm; some say they are the souls of the dead -Machines. They are human--and not human. They were telepaths. They -could control everything--things, minds, people. They could throw -illusions around things and men--they contested our rules." - -He sat down; his voice became brooding, quiet. "One of us, here -in Rainbow City, a dozen generations ago, found a way to bind the -Dreamers," he said. "We could not kill them; they were deathless, -normally. But we could bind them in sleep. As they slept, under a -forced stasis, we could make them give up their powers--to us. So that -we controlled the things _they_ controlled. For a price." There -was a glimpse of horror behind his eyes. "You know the price. It is -high." - -I kept silent. I wanted Evarin to go on. - -He shivered a little, shook his head and the horror vanished. "So each -of us has a Dreamer of his own who can grant him power to do as he -wills. And after years and years, as the Dreamers grow old, they grow -mortal. They can be killed. And fewer are born, now; fewer to each -generation. As they grow older and weaker, it is safe to let them wake; -but never too strongly, or too long." He laughed, bitterly. A fury -came from nowhere into his face. - -"And you loosed a Dreamer!" he cried. "A Dreamer with all his power -hardly come upon him! He is harmless as yet--but he wakes, and he -walks! And one day the power will come upon him--and he will destroy -us all!" Evarin's thin features were drawn with despair; not arrogant, -now, but full of suffering. "A Dreamer--", he sighed. "A Dreamer, and -you had been made one with him already! Can you see now why we do not -trust you--brother?" - -Without answering I rose and went to the window. This window did not -look on the neat little park, but on a vast tract of wild country. Far -away, curious trails of smoke spiralled up into the sunlight and a -wispy fog lay in the bottomlands. - -"Down there," said Evarin in a low voice, "Down there the Dreamer walks -and waits! Down there--" - -But I did not hear the rest, for my mind completed it. Down there-- - -Down there is my lost memory. Down there was my life. - -Somewhere down there I had left my soul. - - - - -CHAPTER THREE - -Flowers of Danger - - -I turned my back on the window. "Rhys is a Dreamer," I said with slow -certainty. "What is Gamine?" - -Evarin nodded slowly, ignoring the question. "Rhys is a Dreamer, yes. -He is old--so old he is almost mortal now; so he wakes, and he too -walks. But he was one of us once--the only Dreamer ever born within the -Rainbow City. His loyalty is double; but he will never harm Narabedla, -because he is of our blood." Evarin cleared his throat. "So Gamine -takes what knowledge can be had from his old, old mind. And does not -pay." - -"Who is Gamine?" I asked again. Evarin still hesitated. - -"Karamy hates Gamine," he said, after minutes. "So no man sees Gamine's -face. I would not ask too many questions--unless you ask them of -Karamy." A smile flickered on the mobile features. "Ask Karamy," he -said gleefully, "She will tell!" - -"She will?" I said stupidly, because I could think of nothing else to -say. Evarin's grin was delicately malicious. "Oh, I am sure of that! -Karamy is quick to strike. Gamine and I have little love lost, but we -agree on one thing; that Karamy's procession of slaves is monstrous. -And that you are a fool to help Karamy pay for her--desires. Karamy is -far too fond of power in her own hands, to pay to put it into yours." - -Karamy. Karamy who took my memory-- - -"She did." Evarin murmured, and I realized I had spoken aloud. The room -seemed full of a weighty silence. Evarin's prowling footsteps made no -noise as he came to my side. "I can give it back to you, though. I have -made you a Toy." His effete voice rather disgusted me, and I moved -away, but he followed. "Look here, and find your memory." - -And he put something small and hard into my hand; something wrapped in -silvery silks. - -I raised my hand curiously, untwisting the wrappings. They were smooth -and shining and colorless, with a bluish cast, like Gamine's veils; -no fabric I had ever seen. Evarin backed slowly away from me. For an -instant all I could see was a blurred invisibility--like Gamine's face -behind the veils--then a sort of mirror became slowly visible. It did -not seem to reflect anything; rather, it was a coldly shining surface, -cloudy, glittering from within. I bent to examine the pattern of the -shadows that moved on the surface. There was a curious pull from the -mirror, a cold that crept sluggishly from my hand. A familiar, soothing -cold. As if drawn by a magnet, my eyes bent closer-- - -Recognition crashed in my mind. Evarin--and his gilt deadly Toys.... I -dashed the colorless thing to the floor, giving it a savage kick. The -blurred invisibility wavered; I caught a glimpse of a tiny jewelled -mechanism, before it sprang back to gray ice again. Evarin had backed -halfway across the room; I leaped at him, collaring the dandy and -wrenching him close. "I've a good mind to tie the thing across your -throat!" I grated. - -Evarin's lip twisted up. Suddenly his whole face melted in a blurring -invisibility and I felt his whole substance evaporate from between -my hands. He writhed like smoke, and I leaped backward just as he -materialized, whole and deadly, too close. "I am always--guarded!" he -jerked out at me, "I might have known--" - -He stooped, reaching for the fallen toy. I kicked the little mirror -out of his reach, bent to retrieve it. "I'll keep this," I said, and -wadding the insulated silk around it, I thrust it into a pocket. -Evarin's eyes glared at me helplessly. "You'll stay solid for awhile -now," I jeered. "_Toymaker!_ Damned freak--" I stormed out of the -room, leaving him rubbing his bruised shoulder. - -Now that Adric was back in control, I had no trouble discovering -where I wanted to go. Some blind instinct led me through the maze -of elevators and staircases; I stepped into servant's quarters, -kitchens, a roomful of buzzing machinery I dismissed with a glance of -familiarity; and finally found myself in the open, the semicircle of -rainbow towers around me. - -Overhead the suns, red and white, sent a curious, double-shadowed -light downward through the neatly-trimmed trees. A little day moon, -smaller than any moon I had known, peeped, a curious crescent, over the -edge of a mountain. The grass under my feet was just grass, but the -brightly-tinted flowers in mathematically regular beds were strange to -me. Paths, bordered by narrow ditches to keep the pedestrian off the -flowers, wandered in and out of this strange pleasaunce; I accepted all -this without conscious thought, but some unconscious scrap of memory -gave me a vague practical reason for the ditches. I carefully avoided -them. - -Faint shrill music tugged siren-like at my ears; wordless, like -Gamine's crooning. Staring, I realized that the flowers themselves -sang. The singing flowers of Karamy's garden--I remembered their lotus -song. A song of welcome? Or of danger? - -I was not alone in the garden. Men, kilted and belted in the same gaudy -red and gold as the flowers, passed and repassed restlessly, unquiet -as chained flames. For a moment the old vanity turned upper-most in my -mind. For all her slaves, all her--lovers, Karamy paid tribute to the -Lord of the Crimson Tower! Paid--would continue to pay! - -The men passed me, silent. They were sworded, but their swords were -blunt, like children's toys; they were a regiment of corpses, of -zombies. Their salutes as I passed were jerky, mechanical. - -A high note sang suddenly in the flowers; I felt, not heard, their -empty parading cease. In a weird ballet they ranged themselves into -blind lines that filed away nowhere; toy soldiers, all alike. - -And between the backs of the toy-soldiers and the patterned, painted -flowers, I saw a man running. Another me, from another world, thought -briefly of the card-soldiers, flat on their faces in the Red Queen's -garden. Wonderland. I heard myself say, with half-conscious amusement, -"They all look so alike until you turn them over!" - -The man running between the ditched flower-beds was no dummy from a -pack of cards. I saw him beckon, still running. He called to me; to -Adric. - -"Adric! Karamy walks here--just listen to the flowers! I was afraid -I'd have to get all the way into the tower to find you!" His voice was -urgent, breathless; he slid to a stop not three feet from me. "Narayan -_knew_ they'd freed you! He's outside the gates. He sent me to -help. Come on!" - -The sight of the man touched another of those live-wires in my brain; -the name of _Narayan_, another still. "Narayan--" I said in dull -recognition. The word, on my lips, hit a chord of fear, of dread and -danger-- - -But I had come straight from Evarin. I knew the man; I knew the -response he expected, but the brief glimpse into Evarin's mirror had -set up a chain of actions I could not control. I tried to put out my -hand in friendly greeting; instead I felt, with horror, my fingers -at my belt and tried, without success, to halt the sword that flew -without volition from its sheath. The man backed away, his eyes full -of terror. "Adric--no--the Sign--" he held up one arm, deprecatingly, -then howled with agony, clutching the severed fingers. I heard my own -voice, savage, inhuman, the thin laughter of Evarin snarling through -it. "Sign?? There's a sign for you!" - -The man threw himself out of range; but his face, convulsed with pain, -held a stunned bewilderment. "Adric--Narayan promised--you were sane--" -he breathed. - -I forced my sword back into the scabbard, staring without comprehension -at the blood from the wound I had inflicted, and at the darting heads -of the flowers. I could not kill this man who carried the name of -Narayan on his tongue. - -The flowers twitched--stirred--threw tendrils at the man's bleeding -hand. A quick nausea tightened my throat; I motioned urgently to him. - -"Run!" I begged, "Quick, or I can't--" - -The flowers shrilled. The man threw back his head, his eyes wide with -panic, and screamed. - -"Karamy! Aiiieeeee--!" he staggered back wildly, teetering on the -edge of the ditch. I cried another warning, incoherent--but too -late. He trod on the flowers--stumbled across the little ditch. The -writhing flower-heads shot up shoulder-high. They screamed a wild -paean of flower-music, and he fell among them, sprawling, floundering -helplessly. I heard him scream, hoarsely, horribly--I turned my eyes -away. There was a wild thrashing, a flailing, a yell that died and -echoed among the brilliant towers. There was a sort of purring murmur -from the blossoms. - -Then the flowers stilled and were quiet, waving innocently behind their -ditches. - -Karamy, gold and fire, walked along the winding path through the trees. -And in the space of a second I forgot the man who lay lifeless in the -bed of the terrible flowers. - -Karamy was all gold. From her glowing crown of hair to the tips of her -little slippers, she was one sunny shimmer; there was amber on her -brows and at her throat, and an amber rod twisted lightly between her -fingers, its delicate movement outlining my face. Karamy's smile of -welcome was a dream which made me know I could be well content if this -were my world. - -But old habit made me turn my face away; her eyes, cat-eyes of wide -yellow, watched me slyly, but her face was turned to the sprawled man -in the flowers. "So? I thought I heard--something." Without taking her -eyes from my face, she spun the lucent rod. The flower-song rose again, -a soft keening wail. Two of the silent guards moved noiselessly through -the garden, and at an expressive movement of the rod, they lifted the -corpse and bore it away. The music died. The woman's hands went out to -pull me close. - -"Adric, Adric! As soon as you are free, they pursue you! That is not -what you want, is it?" - -"Isn't it?" I asked shortly. I still could not look full at the -cat-eyes, the caressing face. A memory scuttled, rabbit-fashion, across -my mind, giving name and identity to the man I had betrayed to the -flowers. - -Karamy slid in front of me so I had to look at her, and the lovely lazy -voice murmured the name I was beginning to know. "You are angry," the -soft voice caressed me, "I knew it was not right to let Evarin near -you! Adric, we need you, Narabedla needs you! We felt betrayed when -you left us, when you shut yourself up alone with your stars! Have you -forgotten, or are you still--my lover?" - -It rang phony! Phony, was the way I put it to myself. Part of me felt -like calling her a lying she-devil and having that much, at least, on -record. But I was fast acquiring a double cunning. The animal cunning -of Adric's old habit--and a desperate, trapped cunning of my own, born -of a desperate fear of this unfamiliar world. There was nothing I could -do except ride on the surface and let my hunches take me where they -would. Karamy was very soft and sweet and something more than lovely -in my arms and I held her crushingly close while I struggled with a -memory. Who was Karamy? Who--and what--was I? - -Karamy dropped her arms. The mantle of lazy seductiveness dropped with -them. She spoke with eager annoyance. "You are still angry because -I sent you on the Time Ellipse! You do not know it was for your own -good--you haven't learned your lesson yet--" - -That talk meant danger for me. I could think of only one way to silence -it. She seemed to like it; but even with her lips acquiescent under -mine, I was wary. Was I fooling her--or was she only playing my own -game, and playing it a little better? - -"Now we can make plans," she said a little later, "First, Gamine." -She looked sharply at me, but I kept my face expressionless. "Gamine -is always with the old Dreamer; she lets him wake; he will grow too -strong. We must send Rhys away from Narabedla. Gamine may stay or -follow him to exile. But Rhys must go." - -"Rhys must go," I conceded. - -"He should be slain, but Gamine will never do it," said Karamy with -a shrug that disposed of Rhys. "Evarin--" she snapped her jewelled -fingers. "His Dreamer sleeps sound! Evarin fears even his own power! -My Dreamer grows strong--but he serves me!" The beautiful face looked -ruthless and savage. "Your Dreamer walks--free in the forest! Only you -can re-bind him. You, with my help--Adric of the Crimson Tower!" - -Her eyes smoldered. "Yes, and my Dreamer shall serve you as well, till -then!" She breathed. "I will pay to put power in your hands!" - -The very phrase Evarin had used! A shudder stung me briefly. - -Her glowing face burned through my sting of fear. "I go to the Dreamer -this night, Adric! Ride with me, and he shall lead you where the -Dreamer walks--and lead you back to power! I have said enough--" the -lambent eyes tilted at me, "Have I not?" - -She had, and too much. For I knew now how the Dreamer must be paid. And -the small part of me that was still Mike Kenscott cowered; the rest of -me accepted the memory with a shrug. It was this Adric part that spoke. -"I'll go. And afterward, I'll go into the forest where the Dreamer -walks--and bring him back to you!" - -But even as I swept Karamy into my arms and bent her head back roughly -under my mouth, a warning prickle iced my spine. I said, insinuatingly -"And then, Karamy--" but my eyes narrowed over her golden head. - -Karamy had tricked me before this. - - - - -CHAPTER FOUR - -Trapped! - - -Afterward, when I had found my way back to the Crimson Tower, I -searched for hours for something that might give a clue to Adric's -mystifying past. I was puzzled about this Adric who came and went as he -pleased in the chambers of my memory. But I found nothing; whoever had -stolen Adric's memory, had made sure that nothing in his surroundings -should clear up the puzzle in his mind. I knew only one thing. Adric -was feared, disliked, distrusted by all the Narabedlans, and all except -Gamine had something to gain by feigning friendship. I could not decide -whether Karamy's attitude was love that pretended contempt to mold -Adric, or me, to her will, or contempt that pretended love for the same -reason. And although habit found affection for Evarin, I could not -trust him long. Trust a cyclone sooner than that half-mad effeminate! -The name, _Narayan_, stuck burr-like in my mind. Friend, or enemy? -I sat at the barred window of Adric's high room, trying to force memory -from the alien mind in which I was prisoner. And whether it was sheer -effort of will, or the result of the fragmentary look in Evarin's -mirror, or whether, as Gamine insisted, I was really Adric and Mike -Kenscott was a mere superficial illusion of my conscious mind, memory -did begin to pulse back. - -In the early days.... - -In the early days, before the vagueness came on my mind, I, Adric of -the Crimson Tower, had been a power in the Rainbow City. The memories -of that time were not the kind Mike Kenscott would have cared to own, -but I, as Adric, found them vastly pleasing. Unlike Gamine, who loved -only knowledge, or Evarin, who toyed with pleasure and trickery, I had -wanted power. I had it, unlimited, from a Dreamer who stirred only -vaguely in sleep. Half the known portions of this world had known the -Crimson Tower as lord. And Karamy-- - -Some memories were triumphant. Some were humorous in Adric's cynical -mind. Some were terrible beyond guessing--for Adric had not counted -cost, and even he shuddered from the price the Dreamer had exacted. - -Then, to this wilful and wild man, something had happened. I had no -idea what; Karamy had reached that far back and blurred, though not -entirely erased, my memory. It had something to do with a blond boy's -face, lifted in incredulous terror--or joy; and a fleeing form, veiled, -that retreated down the long corridor of my mind, averting its face -as I followed. Whatever had happened, it had come when Adric was sick -with blood and horror, when he was surfeited, even if momentarily, with -conquest, and sickened at the price the Dreamer extorted. The power, -forced through the mind of the Dreamer, called for energy; kinetic -energy, available from one source and one only. Adric had fed the -Dreamer with that power. For a while. - -One day, as a whim, I had redeemed a young woman slave--then the -vagueness came and choked me. I might think; I might burst my brain, -but so far and no farther my memories would carry me. I _could -not_ force memory of that chain of events. But after that, Adric's -reign had collapsed like the unstable arch it had been. His armies -scattered, and he had shut himself up or been imprisoned in his Tower; -his memories had been stolen and he had gone, or been sent, spinning -along a time line forward, or perhaps back, until somewhere in the -abyss of time he touched Mike Kenscott. - -It had been then, perhaps, that Adric had escaped. He had reached, -drawn Mike Kenscott back--and switched the two. It was a perfect escape -from a life Adric had come to hate. - -But I _was_ Adric. There was an explanation for that, too. The -physical body could not make the transit in time. I had Adric's body; -the convolutions of his brain, the synaptic links of habit. His memory -banks. Only the Ego, the super-imposed pattern of the conscious -identity, insisted I was Mike Kenscott. In Adric's body, the old -patterns ruled, and to all intents and purposes, I _was_ Adric. -And back in my own time, I thought, Adric was living in my body--living -Mike Kenscott's life, going through the motions, with only the same -queer lapses I was making here. And after a while, even these would -stop. I was wholly trapped. Here, living Adric's life, the part of me -that was Adric would grow stronger and stronger till--he?--unseated the -other identity wholly. And he, in my body? Andy, I thought with a wild -swift fear, _what will he do to Andy_? - -Nothing. He could not hurt Andy--not in my pattern--any more than I -could hate Evarin. Or could he? - -I had to get back! God, I _had_ to get back! - -When the white sun had set and the red sun glowed a darkening ember -across the Sierra, a summons came, brought by one of Karamy's -toy-soldier cohorts. I dressed--in crimson again, for there was no -other clothing anywhere--and followed the voiceless sentry down through -a labyrinth of elevators, finally emerging into a long corridor. I -strode down it, hearing my own steps echo; a second rhythm joined them -imperceptibly, and Gamine stole out of the darkness, swathed in the -luminous veiling, creeping noiselessly as a ghost behind me. Later I -became conscious of Evarin's padding cat-steps behind Gamine, trailing -us, single-file. And other figures came from darkened recesses to -stretch the silent parade; a slim girl in a winged cloak, flame color; -a dwarfed man who walked beneath the amethyst huddle of purple cap and -furs. Memory fitted names to them, but I did not speak to them, or they -to me. - -After a long time, the immense corridor began to tilt upward, climbing -toward a glimmer of light at the end. Without realizing it I had swung -into an arrogant, loping stride; now I brushed away the slave-soldier -who headed the column and took the lead myself. Behind me the others -fell into place as if I had bidden them; the flame-clothed girl in the -winged cloak, the cat-footed Evarin, the dwarf bent in his jester's -cap, Gamine in the blue shroud. Without warning, we came out into a -vast court; an enclosed space, yet wide as the outdoors, a yard, a -plaza, a place of imposing grandeur. A place of memory. - -The red sun above us glowed like a lurid coal. There were tall pillars -on three sides of the courtyard, and at the far end, a vaulted archway -led into a treelined drive that stretched away for miles into the -twilight. Between two pillars, Karamy waited; slim, shimmering golden -from head to foot. A hungry impatience sparked in her cat's eyes. -"You're late." - -"I'm ready," I said. What I was ready for, I was not sure. - -Karamy waved an impatient signal to the Narabedlans who were coming up. -"Adric is with us again," she said in her curious lazy voice, "Your -allegiance to Adric--children of the Rainbow!" - -I stood at her side, mute, waiting; a guard of silent men behind us. -"Lord Idris;" Karamy summoned. The hunchback came to bow jerkily before -us. "Welcome home--Lord!" - -The girl in flame-color darted to where we stood and her dipping curtsy -was like the waver of a moth toward a flame. "Adric--" she murmured. -The wings of her cloak lifted and fluttered across her shoulders as if -they would fly of themselves. She was a shy thing, and her dark hair -waved softly as if it too were winged. I touched her fingers lightly, -but under the smolder of Karamy's gaze I let her go. She watched me, -shyly, with averted face. - -Evarin's face was slyly malicious, but his voice was pure silk. "It -is--pleasure to follow you again, my brother," he almost purred, and I -scowled at the mockery at his face and refused his offered hand. Only -Gamine said nothing, coming forward on gliding feet to bow briefly -and retire; but the silver-sweet, sexless voice of the spell-singer -murmured in a singing, almost wordless, croon. - -"Save your spells, Gamine," said Karamy savagely, and Evarin jerked -round at the shrouded form, but Gamine heeded neither of them, and the -sweet contralto chanting went on. - -From somewhere the silent men brought horses. Horses--here, in this -nightmare world? I had never been on a horse in my life. I found myself -vaulting, with a nice co-ordination of movement, into the saddle. The -courtyard, for all the bustle of department, seemed to hold the silence -of a grave. Karamy kept me close to her. When we were all mounted, she -threw the amber rod upward, and the last rays of the red sun caught -its rays and sent a pure shaft of light down the darkened alleyway -lined with trees. At the sight of that gleam, a curiously familiar -emotion stole through me. I threw up one arm over my head, mimicking -Karamy's gesture. "Ride!" I shouted. - -And the flying steeds kept pace with mine. - -The driveway under the arch of trees led for miles under the thick -boughs. Through the easy drumming of hooves, I could still hear the -sweet distant sound of Gamine's singing, which floated on the wind, -keeping pace with the rise and fall of the rolling road, in a quick -cadence. The wind whipped Karamy's golden hair like a halo about -her head. I glanced over my shoulder to where the rainbow towers -stood, now black, silhouetted against the greater darkness of the -mountains. Overhead in the pink sky, the crescent of the tiny moon was -brightening, and lower in the sky I saw another, wider disc, nearly at -full. Cold air was stinging my cheeks and nipping my bones with frost, -and I felt the sparks struck from hooves beating on the frozen ground. - -_Cold!_ Yet in Karamy's garden flowers had glowed in a tropical -glory-- - -And for a moment, it was entirely Mike Kenscott--sick, bewildered and -panicky--who glanced about him with horror, feeling the swirling cold -and a colder chill from the golden sorceress at my side. It was Mike -Kenscott's will that jerked at the reins of the big gelding to end this -farce now-- - -"What is it?" Karamy cried, over the noise of the hooves. - -And I heard my own voice, raised above the galloping rhythm, cry back -"Nothing!" and call out a command to the horse. - -Good God! I was Mike Kenscott--but prisoner in a body that would -not obey me--a mind that persisted in thoughts and habits I could -not share, a--soul?--that would carry me to destruction! I was Mike -Kenscott--trapped on a nightmare ride through hell! - - - - -CHAPTER FIVE - -Where the Dreamer Walks - - -I had been scared before. Now I was panicked, wild with a -nerve-destroying fright. I'm not a coward. I set up a radar transmitter -in Okinawa within ninety feet of a nest of Japs. That was something -real. I could face it. But under two suns and a pair of little moons, -with weird people I knew were not human--all right; I was a coward. I -steadied myself in the saddle, trying with every scrap of my will to -calm myself. If this was a nightmare, well, I'd had some beauties-- - -But it wasn't. I knew that. The frost hurting my face, the sound of -shod steel on stones, the vivid colors around me, told me I was wide -awake. Dreams are not techni-colored. And through all this I was riding -hell-for-leather, my knees gripped on the saddle, guiding the horse -with the grip of my thighs--and I'd never been on a horse's back in my -life. Rode--and rode-- - -We had ridden about seven miles, and stopped twice to breathe the -horses, but we were still beneath the great archway of trees. The -sky's pink sunset light had faded; the land was flooded with a blue, -fluorescent starlight, a light I'd never seen before. I strained my -eyes upward through the black foliage. I suppose I had some confused -idea of guessing _when_ I was by the stars. But the view to the -North was hidden by mountains, and I don't know one constellation -from another, with that single exception. A glance at Karamy, in this -fright, un-nerved me; I touched the reins, dropped back till I rode -between Gamine and the girl in flame-color. "Adric," the spell-singer -saluted coolly, and the girl in the winged cloak threw back her hood; -I saw dark eyes watching me from a pure, sweet young face. Before the -luminous innocence of those eyes I wanted to cry out in protest. I was -not Adric, warlock of Narabedla. I was just a poor guy named Mike, I -was just--me. I rode beside Gamine for minutes, trying to think what I -would say. - -Gamine's musical voice was not raised, yet it carried perfectly to my -ears. "You seem wholly yourself again." - -I didn't answer. What was there to say? Still, there seemed to be -sympathy in the sharply-edged tones. "You will remember--perhaps too -much--at the Dreamer's Keep." - -"Gamine," I asked, "Who is _Narayan_?" - -I saw the blue robes quiver a little; across from Gamine, I saw a -curious flickering look pass across the face of the girl in the orange -winged cloak. But Gamine's answer was perfectly even and disinterested. -"The name is not familiar to me. Have you heard it, Cynara?" - -The girl did not answer, only moved her dark head a little. - -"I should know," I mused. But the name _Cynara_ had touched -another of those live wires within my mind. Narayan. Cynara. Cynara and -Narayan! If I could only remember! Suddenly I turned. "Gamine--who are -you?" Gamine sat quiet, eerily motionless on the tall horse. The robed -figure seemed to blend into the starlit shadows around us. I had the -sudden feeling of having re-lived this moment before, then the veiled -shoulders twitched impatiently. - -"Is this an inquisition?" - -Rebuked, and stung by the arrogant voice, I touched my heel to my -horse's flank and rode forward to rejoin Karamy. Gamine! The hell with -Gamine! - -For several minutes the road had been climbing, and now we topped the -summit of a little rise and abruptly the trees came to an end. By tacit -consent we all drew our horses to a walk. We stood atop the lip of a -broad bowl of land, perhaps thirty miles across, filled to the brim -with thick dark forest. Far out in this valley lay a cleared space, and -in the center of that space lay a great tower; but not a slender and -fairylike spire like the Towers of Rainbow City. This was a massive -donjon thrusting heavy shoulders upward into the moon-washed sky. - -The Keep of the Dreamers. - -Something in me murmured, "This is the forest where the Dreamer -walks!"--or had the murmured voice come from Gamine, motionless -behind me? Karamy rode eagerly, her face drawn tautly together, her -slim tanned hands clenched on the reins. All this while I was Mike -Kenscott--but a Mike who watched himself without knowing what he would -do next, like those puzzling nightmares where a man is both actor and -audience to some mummery being played. I watched myself say and do -things as if I were two men at once. In effect, I suppose I was.... -Karamy turned in her saddle, facing me. - -"Adric," she murmured, "Lead me where the Dreamer walks!" - -I knew, with a sudden surety, that because of some bond between the -freed Dreamer and myself, I could do this. But again, something outside -myself told me what to say. "That bond is broken, Karamy. Did you -not break it yourself? How can I guide you then?" And for my reward -I saw unsureness leap in her cat's eyes. That shot had told. Karamy -_had_ been guessing, then! - -The answer had shaken her. But this woman was a past mistress at -subtlety. She murmured, "It can be forged again. That I swear." - -Ah, but I knew how far to trust even Karamy's oaths! - -We had dipped down into the bowl of forest and we were riding through -thick woods, along a road that struggled windingly, with many curves -and sharp corners. Adric knew this country; his knowledge made Mike -Kenscott shiver. He had hunted here, and for no fourlegged game. As if -Karamy read my thoughts I hear her low laughter. "So. My wrist aches -for the feel of a falcon. We'll hunt here again--soon, you and I!" -I was partly bewildered by her words, but they gave me a shivering -excitement, an insidious thrill. - -Behind me, I heard Gamine's chanting take on a new note. The words were -still indistinguishable, but the very tune screamed warning. A pulse -began to twitch jerkily in my neck. - -Without any warning, the road twisted. Karamy and I spurred our horses -and rounded the curve in one swift, racing burst of speed--and were -fairly in the trap before we knew it. - -It was the agonized whinny of my horse, and the jolt of my body -righting itself automatically from the plunging animal beneath me, -that made me realize we had ridden straight on a chevaux-de-frise. I -yelled, cursing, shouting to Karamy to get back, get back, but her own -momentum carried her on; I saw her light body fly out of the saddle and -disappear. The others, rounding the curve in a wild dash, were fairly -on the barrier already, and the place was a bedlam, a scramble, with -riderless horses milling in a melee of curses and the screaming of -women and the threshing of feet. I was out of my saddle in an instant, -thrusting Gamine's mount back from the stabbing points fixed invisibly -against the dark barrier in the road, shouting to Evarin and Idris. -Evarin leaped to my side, catching at Karamy's wild horse, while I -tore madly at the barrier where the woman had been thrown. Idris -bore down on me, mounted. "Go round!" he shouted. I plunged through -the underbrush at the side of the road, with hasty feet twice snaked -by long creepers. Past the barrier, the road lay open and deserted, -and Karamy lay in a shimmer of crumpled silk, motionless. "Gamine, -Evarin--" I bellowed, "No one's here! Quick, Karamy is hurt--" - -The head and shoulders of Idris' horse thrust through the thick -brushwood. "Is she dead?" the dwarf muttered. I bent, thrusting my -hand to her breasts. "Her heart's beating. Only stunned. Get down," I -ordered. Idris scrambled, monkey-fashion, from the saddle. I lifted the -woman in my arms, but she did not move or open her eyes. Idris touched -my arm. - -"Put her on the saddle," he suggested, and together we laid her across -the pommel. Suddenly, the dwarf cried out. - -"What?" I asked sharply. - -"I hear--" - -I never knew what Idris heard. His head vanished, as if snatched away -by a giant's hand; a rough grip collared me, choking fingers clawed at -my throat, a thousand rockets went off in my head and I lay sprawling -in the brushwood, eating dust, with an elephant sitting on my chest and -threatening hands gouging my throat. My last coherent thought before -the breath went out of me, was-- - -"I'm waking up!" - - - - -CHAPTER SIX - -Narayan - - -But I wasn't. When I came to--it could only have been a few seconds -that I was unconscious--it was to hear Evarin snarling curses and Idris -barking incoherently with rage. I heard Karamy screaming my name, and -started to answer, but the steely fingers were still at my throat -and with that weight on top of me, I hadn't a chance. The fall, or -something, had knocked Adric clean out of me. I was fuzzy-brained, but -sane. I was an innocent bystander again. - -I could see Evarin and Idris in the road, casting wary glances at -the brushwood all around them. I could just make out the face of the -man who was holding me pinned to the earth with his body. He had the -general build of a hippopotamus and a face to match. I squirmed, but -the threatening face came closer and I subsided. The man could have -broken me in two like a match. - -Around me in the thicket were dozens of crouching forms, fantastic -snipers with weapons at their shoulders. Weapons that could have been -crossbows or disintegrators, or both. "Enter Buck Rogers," I thought -wearily. I was beginning to feel faint again, and old welter-weight -on my stomach didn't help any. Abruptly he moved, delicate fingers -knotting a gag in my gasping mouth; then the intolerable weight on -my chest was suddenly gone and I sucked in air with relief. The fat -man eased himself cautiously up, and I felt a steel point caress my -lowest rib. The threat didn't need words. I could see the Narabedlans -gathered, a tight little knot in the road. The snipers around me were -still holding their weapons, but the fat man commanded in a low voice -"Don't fire! They're sure to have guards riding behind them--" the -voice died to a rasping mutter, and I lay motionless, trying to dredge -up some of Adric's memories that might help; but the only thing I got -was a fleeting memory of my own football days and a flying tackle by a -Penn State halfback that had knocked me ten feet. Adric was gone; clean -gone. - -The Narabedlans were talking in low tones, Gamine the rallying-point -round which they clustered. Evarin had his sword out, but even he did -not step toward the mantling thicket. Cynara was holding Evarin's arm, -protesting wildly. "No, no, no, no! They'll kill Adric--" - -Suddenly, between two breaths, the road was alive with mounted men. Who -they were, I never knew; I was quickly dragged to my feet and jerked -away. Behind me I heard shouting, and steel, and saw thin flashes of -colored flame. Spots of black danced before my eyes as I stumbled along -between two captors. I felt my sword dragged from my scabbard. Oh well, -I thought wryly, now that Adric's run out on the party I don't know how -to use it anyway. - -Under the impetus of a knife I found myself clambering awkwardly into -a saddle, felt the horse running beneath me. There wasn't a chance of -getting away, and the frying pan couldn't be much worse than the fire, -anyway. - -Behind us the noises of battle died away. The horse I rode raced, -sure-footed, into the darkness. I hung on with both hands to keep -from falling; only Adric's habitual reflexes kept me from tumbling -ignominiously to the ground. I don't think I had any more coherent -thoughts until the jolting rhythm broke and we came out of the forest -into full moonlight and a glare of open fires. - -I raised my head and looked around me. We were in a grove, tree-ringed -like a Druid temple, lit by watch-fires and the waver of torches. Tents -sprouted in the clearing, giving it an untidy, gypsy appearance; at the -back was a white frame house with a flat roof and wide doors, but no -windows. - -Men and women were coming out of the tents everywhere. The talk was -a Pentecost of tongues, but I heard one name, repeated over and over -again. - -"Narayan! Narayan!" the shouts clamored. - -A slim young man, blond, dressed in rough brown, came from one of -the larger tents and walked deliberately toward me. The crowd drew -back, widening to let him approach; before he came within twenty -yards he made a signal to one of the men to untie my gag and let me -down. I stood, clinging to the saddle, exhausted; the young man came -forward until he could almost have touched me, and studied my face -dispassionately. At last he raised his head, turning to the fat man, my -captor. - -"This isn't Adric," he said. "This man is a stranger." - -I should have been relieved; I don't know why I wasn't. Instead, my -first reaction was bewilderment and angry annoyance. How could he tell -that? I was as furiously embarrassed as if I'd been accused of wearing -stolen clothing. My beefy captor was as angry as I was. "What do you -mean, this isn't Adric?" he demanded belligerently, "We took him right -out of their accursed cavalcade! If it isn't Adric, who is it?" - -"I wish I knew," Narayan muttered under his breath. His eyes, still -fixed on my face, were level, disconcerting. He was tall and straightly -built, with pale blond hair cut square around his shoulders like a -squire from a Provencal ballad, and grey eyes that looked grave, -but friendly. I liked his looks, but he had a trace of the uncanny -stillness I'd noticed in old Rhys, in Gamine. For a moment I decided to -tell my whole fantastic story to this man with the grave eyes. He would -surely believe it. But to my surprise, he spoke and called me Adric; -definitely, as if he had forgotten his doubts. - -"Adric," he said, "Do you still remember me? Or did Karamy take that -too?" - -I sighed. I didn't dare tell the truth, and I felt too chilled and -exhausted and disoriented to lie convincingly. Yet lie I must, and do -it well. - -The fat man scowled and fronted Narayan. "Karamy--Zandru's eyelashes!" -he growled. "Look you, did Brennan come back this afternoon? He knows -his way around Rainbow City. Ask Adric what happened to Brennan!" - -The clamoring broke out around us again, but Narayan never took his -eyes from my face as he answered gently, "There is always danger, Raif. -Blame no man unjustly. Brennan knew he faced all the dangers of Rainbow -City. And even Adric is not to blame if a she-witch has him under her -spells." - -"Traitor!" Raif snarled at me and spat. - -I loosed the saddle-horn and stepped dizzily forward. "You might try -asking me," I said with a weary anger. - -"Are you Adric of the Crimson Tower?" fat Raif snapped. - -"I don't know--" I said tiredly. "I don't know, I don't know!" - -Narayan's eyes met mine in skeptical puzzlement. Abruptly he put out -one hand and took my wrist in a firm grip. "We can't talk here, whoever -you are," he said, "Come along." - -He led me through the thinning crowd into the frame house at the -grove's edge; Raif and one other man trailed after us, the rest -clustering hive-fashion around the door. Inside, in a great timbered -room, a fire burned and glowing globes chased away darkness. I went -gratefully toward the fire; I was stiff with riding and I felt chilled -and stupid and empty with the cold. From a wood settle near the fire, -a woman rose. She was slight and dark and around her shoulders the -luminescent shimmer of her winged cloak flowed like another flame. -Cynara. - -"Adric--" she said half-aloud, holding out her hands. I took them, -partly because she seemed to expect it, partly because the girl seemed -the only thing real in a world gone haywire. She flung her arms -suddenly around my neck and held herself to me with a shy deliberation. -"Adric, Adric, Adric--" she begged, "I slipped away in the dark--I -suppose Gamine knows--but they'll never find me here, no, never--" - -Narayan's hand pulled the girl sternly away from me; she shrank before -the annoyance in his eyes. "Please--Narayan, no--" - -The blond man looked at her without speaking for long moments. At last -he said gravely, "Sister, you must go back to Narabedla. I would not -make you go if there was another way; but you must, for a time." He -beckoned to one of the men. "Kerrel--" he commanded, "Take Cynara back -to Rainbow City, but don't get caught. Cynara; tell them you were lost -in the woods, or that you were caught and escaped." - -The childish mouth trembled, and she turned to me appealingly, but I -gave a little shrug. What was I supposed to do? Narayan gave Cynara a -gentle push. "Go with Kerrel, little sister," he ordered in a quiet -voice; Kerrel took her arm and they hurried out of the room, the winged -cloak she wore fluttering on her shoulders. Narayan motioned to Raif to -follow them through the door. "I'll talk with him alone." - -Raif's thick lips set stubbornly. He looked as if he'd be nasty in a -fight. "If he's Adric, and if he's under Karamy's devilments, then--" - -"I have faced Adric, and Karamy too," said Narayan with a friendly grin -at the man. "Get out, Raif; you're not my bodyguard, or even my nurse!" - -The fat man accepted dismissal reluctantly, and Narayan came to my -side. There was real friendliness in his grin. "Well," he said, "Now we -will talk. You cannot kill me, any more than I could kill you, so we -may as well be truthful with each other. Why did you leave us, Adric? -What has Karamy done to you this time?" - -The room reeled around me. I put out a hand to steady myself--when the -dizziness cleared, Narayan's arm was around my shoulders and he was -holding me up with a strength surprising in his slight frame. He let -me settle down on the seat Cynara had left. "You have been roughly -handled," he said in apology, "Just sit still a minute. My men--" he -made a deprecating little gesture, "have had orders. And if I know -Karamy's ways, you've been heavily drugged for a long time." His eyes -studied me intently. "Better come and have a drink. And--when did you -eat last? You look half starved. That's the way of the _sharig_--" - -I rubbed my forehead. "I can't remember," I told him honestly. - -"I thought so. Come along." Narayan went into the next room, assuming -that I would follow and that I knew my way around. After the insanely -furnished rooms in Rainbow City, I was a little surprised when the next -room proved to be a strictly functional and ordinary kitchen, equipped -with the usual items. Out of a relatively un-extraordinary icebox he -assembled something that looked rather like the food I was accustomed -to from the 20th century, and poured some kind of liquid into an -oddly shaped glass. He motioned me into a chair and set the things on -the table. "Here, eat this. I know the drugs they give you; you'll -have more sense when you've eaten. We've plenty of time to talk, all -night if we choose." He saw me glance side-wise at the glass, laughed -sketchily, and from the same bottle poured himself a drink and sat down -opposite me, sipping it slowly. "Go ahead. I won't poison you till I -find out what Karamy's up to." - -I laughed apologetically and started eating, with a mental shrug. It -had been at least forty-eight hours since I had last tasted food, and I -did justice to the plateful before me. Narayan sipped his drink--which, -when I tasted mine, appeared to be excellent cognac--and watched me; -and when I finally pushed the empty plate aside, he put back his glass -and said "Now. Who are you, and what happened?" - -I felt better and stronger; more like myself than I'd felt since Rhys -had catapulted me into this world. But now that I was on the carpet, I -felt I must talk fast and convincingly before those searching grey eyes. - -"Karamy had me shut in the Tower," I told him, "I was freed today, and -we were on our way to the Dreamers Keep. Then your men came along. -I didn't know if I was being rescued or captured. I still don't." I -stared with purposeful blankness at Narayan; he stared back and I could -feel him debating what to do and say. Obviously, an Adric sane and -glib and possibly untruthful was a different thing than an Adric too -bewildered and shaken to tell anything but the truth. Finally Narayan -said, "I'm not sure what I ought to do or say, Adric. The bond between -us isn't as strong as it was. You know that." - -I nodded, perturbed. Adric's thoughts seemed to be surging back, -insidiously, as if Narayan held the key to unlock them. What crazy -drama was going to be unfolded in my mind now? - -Narayan said, low; "Karamy did it, I think." - -"Yes." My own voice was as quiet as his own. "Karamy sent me on the -Time Ellipse. She knew I'd come back changed--or mad--or not at all. I -think--I think she wanted me to betray you again." - -"Adric!" Narayan reached out quickly and grabbed my arm, hard, above -the elbow, till I cried out with the pain of that steely grip and -twisted away, rubbing numbed flesh. "Adric--" Narayan repeated, -unsteadily, "Why do you say--betray me again? Betray me? Adric--it was -your hand that freed me! Zandru! Adric--" he begged, "_How much_ -have you forgotten?" - - - - -CHAPTER SEVEN - -Battle in my Brain - - -The fire in the other room had burned down to an ember. Without a -glance my way, Narayan mended the fire; sat down, his legs stretched -toward the little blaze, his shin in his hands; waiting. I could not -stand still. I walked, restless, around the room, speaking in little -jerks and half-sentences. - -"You are the Dreamer," I said, "I--I remember a little. I remember -being bound to you. I remem-member when I--freed you. Not knowing what -it might mean, not knowing you could have slain me on the ground of -sacrifice." - -"No!" Narayan was as motionless as Gamine's veils, but his voice was -harsh, strident. "No, Adric, never that! We cannot--kill each other, -you and I. I could order you killed, I suppose, but I--I would never do -that unless there was no other way. Adric--is there any other way for -me, for you?" - -A bitterness spoke in my voice; neither side trusted Adric, both wanted -his allegiance. I tried to trim my words carefully between the two -personalities that were battling for mastery in me. - -"It was Karamy," I said, "who took Adric from you, and sent him, -half-mad, back to the Crimson Tower. Karamy's magic stripped him of -power, and sent him, gone mad, back to stargazing in Narabedla. But it -was _not_ Karamy's--" the voice that was not quite mine shook, -suddenly, with my own weariness and the blank terror I'd been keeping -at bay, "It wasn't Karamy who sent _me_ here, I'm not Adric. You -were perfectly right. I'm no more Adric than--than you are. I'm in -Adric's body, yes. He moves me like a puppet! I have his memories, -his--some of his thoughts--but he--" my voice cracked suddenly on a -note of panic; I knew I sounded like a hysterical kid, but I couldn't -stop my own crackup once it had broken loose. "I'm not Adric, I'm not! -I don't belong here at all! I don't--" - -Narayan jumped up from the bench and I heard his hurrying steps, then -his steel hands were hard on my shoulders, swinging me around to face -him. "All right," he said, "Steady. It's all right." - -I drew a long breath and let it out again. "Thanks," I said briefly, -shamed. "I'll be all right now." - -Narayan shrugged wearily. "It's all right. I guessed you weren't Adric, -of course, from the beginning. But I didn't think Adric, when it came -to the test, would really do that to me. I had his promise. I suppose, -for him, it was an easy way out. A perfect way of escape." He sank down -on the bench again, dropping his head in his hands. After a little, -he looked up, and his voice sounded tired. "This is difficult," he -said. "My men think you are Adric. I'd never be able to convince them -you aren't. Would you mind--pretending? You'll have to; otherwise--" -he paused, and I saw disquiet in his face. He was not a man who would -enjoy threatening, but I could understand his situation. They didn't -know me from Adam; I was just an outsider who messed things up by -resembling Adric. Well, I was stuck. I hadn't liked the Narabedlans -enough to give a hang what Narayan meant to do to them. Narayan, by -comparison, looked pretty decent. And there was no other way to save my -skin. Adric wasn't too popular, it seemed and in Adric's body I hadn't -a chance. I laughed. "I'll try," I told him. "But what's this all -about?" - -Narayan looked up again. "That's right. You wouldn't know. You have -some of Adric's memory, I suppose, but not all. You remember who I am?" - -"Not entirely--" I told him. I remembered some things. Narayan had been -born, some thirty years ago, into a respectable country family who were -appalled to discover they had given birth to a mutant Dreamer, and -were only too glad to deliver him to the Narabedlans for the enforced -stasis. I told Narayan. - -"You remember the old Dreamer who served your House?" - -I nodded. He had become old, mortal, weak--and had been eliminated. I -bowed my head, although I had no personal guilt. - -Afterward, Narayan and I had been bound. "I slept in the Dreamer's -Keep--" Narayan sounded reflective, almost guilty, "I was wakened, -and--given sacrifice. I learned to use my power and to give it up to -Adric." A brooding horror was in the grey eyes; I realized that Narayan -dwelt in his own personal private hell with the memory of what he had -done under the spell of Narabedla. "Adric was--strong." - -Yes, I thought; Adric had called on Narayan's new power without -counting cost. What wonder the memory maddened Narayan? The young -Dreamer seemed to win his silent fight for self-control. "Well, -you--Adric, I mean--freed me. I found my sister again; Cynara. I was -like a child; I had to learn to live, to be alive again. I had been -trained to use my power only through the Sacrifice. I had to learn to -use it without. It wasn't easy." - -"Why?" I asked thoughtlessly. Narayan's eyes froze me. "To use that -power," he said in a tense, controlled voice, "Took human life." - - * * * * * - -Outside the door I could hear the noises of the camp; the light of -their watch-fires crept in through the cracks. It was too dark to see -Narayan's face now, but I heard him moving restlessly about the room. -"I have harnessed the power somewhat," he said, "I can use it, myself, -a little. Not much. Adric helped me; so did my sister. She had been -taken for Sacrifice, but you--Adric--redeemed her. Then--we were able -to throw an illusion around Cynara. She is not of Narabedla; but we -made it seem as if she had always been there, in Rainbow City. We could -do that because Evarin is weak, and because Karamy did not care. It was -Rhys who made the Illusion." - -"Rhys!" The old Dreamer, the only one born in Narabedla-- - -"Yes; Gamine is careless with Rhys and lets him wake too long. Rhys and -I have been in contact for a long time." - -I was hearing scraps of conversation from a vast abyss of time and -space, when I had been drawn in electric coma through Karamy's Time -Ellipse. _They will know, Narayan will know._ That had been old -Rhys. And Adric; _What have I to do with Narayan?_ Adric had -been--still was--playing a fancy double game with Narayan; I started -to open my lips to tell the young Dreamer about it, but he was still -talking. "Rhys will not act, not directly, against Rainbow City. But he -did that much for us, and Gamine and Cynara are friends. We forgot--we -all forgot--that Adric's allegiance belonged to Narabedla first. Until -he vanished." I heard the brooding heaviness in Narayan's voice. These -men had been friends. Narayan went on, "I sent Brennan today, to find -out. He didn't come back." - -I lowered my head and miserably told him what had happened to Brennan. -Narayan's face in a flicker of firelight looked drawn and haggard. "He -was a--brave man," Narayan said at last. "But I don't blame you. After -the interchange, I think, there was a time when you went on living -Adric's life. Thinking his thoughts. But now, I think, he will grow -weaker in you. I _hope_. You--who are you, in your own world?" - -I shrugged. The words would have meant nothing to Narayan. "My name's -Mike Kenscott." - -"Mi-ek," Narayan repeated, turning the strange word on his tongue. -"The men will call you Adric. I'd better, too. Later--" he shrugged. I -didn't say anything; I was still convinced that I hadn't seen the last -of Adric. But I didn't want to tell Narayan this. I liked the man. - -Without warning, Narayan switched on lights. "It's near dawn, and you -must be worn out. We've taught them to stay clear of the forests at -night, so we're safe enough here. They can't do much till they've been -to the Dreamers Keep, in any case." With a sudden boyish friendliness -he put out his hand and I took it. "I'm glad you're not Adric. He might -be hard to handle now--if he's changed so much." - -As if the lights had been a signal, fat Raif came without knocking into -the room. Narayan crossed his hostile stare at me. "He's all right, -Raif," the Dreamer said. The fat face broke into a sudden, elephantine -smile. "I'd better apologize, Adric. I had orders." - -"Find him a place to sleep," Narayan suggested, and I followed Raif -up a flight of low stairs into an inner room. There was a bed there, -clean, but tumbled as if it had had another occupant not long ago. Raif -said, "Kerrel's gone with Cynara. You can sleep here." - -I kicked off my boots and crawled between the blankets, suddenly too -weary even to answer. I had been two days without sleep, and most of -that time I had been under exhausting physical and mental strain. I saw -Raif cautiously finger his weapons and sensed that whatever Narayan -said, he was reserving judgment. He didn't take chances, this outside -lieutenant of Narayan's. Sleepily I said, "You can put that up, my -friend. I'm not going to move till I've had a good, long--" - -I didn't even finish the sentence to myself. Instead I went to sleep. - -I had slept for hours. I came abruptly out of confused dreams to hear a -shrill voice and to feel small hands pulling me upright. Cynara! "Wake -up, Adric--" she wailed, "Karamy and Evarin are riding today--hunting -_you_!" - -I sat up, dizzy-brained, far from alert. "Cynara! How--" - -"Oh, never mind that--" her voice was impatient, "What can we -_do_?" - -I didn't know. I was still stupid with sleep, but I put a reassuring -arm around her shoulders. "Don't be afraid," I told her, then, -releasing her, bent and began to pull on my boots. I heard the swift -pound of steps on the stairs, and Narayan shoved open the door, -dragging a brown tunic over his head as he came. He stopped short at -the door, staring at his sister. "Cynara, what are you doing here?" - -She repeated her news, and he sighed. He looked as if he hadn't slept -at all. "Well, never mind," he told her, "The game was almost over, -anyhow. Sooner or later they would have broken through the Illusion; -Rhys is too old now for that. You were lucky to get away. We'll have to -storm the Keep to-night--unless they have too-good hunting." He fumbled -with the laces of his shirt. A dead weariness was in his grey eyes; -they looked flat, almost glazed. He met my questioning stare and smiled -ruefully. "The Dreamers stir," he told me, "I am not yet free of--their -need. So I must be careful." Cynara shuddered and threw her arms around -her brother's neck, clutching him with a fiercely sheltering clasp. -"Narayan, no--oh, no--don't--" - -But he was already deep in thought again. He freed her arms without -impatience. "We'll meet that when the time comes, little sister. So -Karamy and Evarin ride hunting. Who else. Idris?" At her nod, his -brows contracted. "All of them--but Gamine," he mused, and turned to -me. "Could you conceivably get through to Rhys? I don't dare--not with -that--that stirring." - -I understood, Narayan was still attuned to the terrible need of the -sleeping Dreamers in the Keep. But I reminded him that only Gamine -could control old Rhys. He looked at me with a strange curious question -in his eyes, but made no comment. My own mind was working strong. I -was unsure how I had gotten here in the house of the freed Dreamer. -Just what had happened last night? I had thought Narayan would never -trust me again; but now, when I needed it most, I seemed to be in his -complete confidence. Damn Karamy anyhow, meddling with my memory! -And she had the audacity to fly Evarin's devil-birds after me--Adric, -lord of the Crimson Tower! She should have a lesson she would not -forget--and so should the presumptuous Gamine--and so should this -walking zombie who was staring at me stupidly, as if I were his equal! -I said with a slow savagery, "I think I can manage Gamine!" - -Narayan was watching me anxiously. Gods of the Rainbow, what -preposterous things had I said and done last night? I said, "We'll take -them at the Dreamer's Keep," and saw his face clear. - -_But what you do not know, Narayan_, I added to myself with a -secret satisfaction, _is that you will join them there!_ - -It never occurred to them to question, to wonder if Adric today were -the Adric of last night. We went downstairs and snatched a quick -breakfast; Cynara tore off her winged flame-color cloak and stuffed it -wrathfully into the fireplace. Her coarse grey dress beneath it made -her shy prettiness more striking than ever; Cynara was not Karamy, but -she was a pretty thing; and Narayan could hardly fail to trust me when -Cynara perched on the arm of my chair and ran her dainty fingers over -the bruises on my face. "Your roughs nearly killed him!" she pouted at -her brother. - -"Oh, I'm not hurt," I smiled at her, making my voice gentle for her -ear alone. But I scowled darkly into my plate; pushed the food away -and strode out into the camp. Narayan shouted quickly, jumping up, -sending his chair crashing to the floor, and he ran after me so that we -went down the steps together. "Wait," he commanded in my ear, softly, -"Don't forget, to them you're still a traitor!" He took my arm, and -we walked through every row of tents together, Narayan's expression -almost belligerent. I saw the faces of the men as they came from their -improvised shelter, saw suspicion gradually give way to tolerance and -then casual acceptance. Finally Narayan called to Raif. "Stick to him, -will you, Raif? He's all right, but the men don't know it yet." - -I glanced at Narayan. "Raif," I said tentatively, "Can you find me -twelve men who know the way to Rainbow City and aren't afraid to come -close to it?" - -"I can," Raif said, and went to do it. I had to hide a smile. Before -long I would win back the place my foolishness had lost. The idiot -whose body I had shared briefly had almost put it beyond recovery, but -in a way he had helped, too. His weakness had won Narayan's confidence. -Well, one thing I knew, that futile idiot should not share the coming -triumph. Nor should Narayan. - -Narayan--fumbling in my pocket, I touched something smooth and hard. -Evarin's mirror. Narayan, looking over my shoulder as I dragged it out, -asked curiously, "What's that?" - -I pulled it out with a secret smile. "One of Evarin's toys. Look at it, -if you like." - -Narayan took it in his hand for a moment, without, however, untwisting -the silk. "Go ahead," I urged, "Unwrap it." - -I might have sounded too eager. Abruptly Narayan handed it back. "Here. -I don't know anything about Evarin." - -I had to conceal my disappointment. With a feigned indifference I -thrust it back into the pocket. It did not matter. One way or another, -Narayan would lose. For Evarin and Karamy rode a-hunting today--and I -knew what their game would be! - - - - -CHAPTER EIGHT - -Falcons of Evarin - - -I pulled my cloak closer about me, prickling with excitement, as I -knelt between Raif and Kerrel in the tree-platform. Just beneath me, -Narayan clung to a lower branch. My ears picked up the ring of distant -hooves on frozen ground, and I smiled; I knew every nuance of this -hunt, and Evarin might find his deadly birds not so obedient to his -call today. Not a scrap of me remembered another world where a dazed -and bewildered man had flown at a living bird with his pocketknife. - -Coldly I found myself considering possibilities. A snare there must -be; but who: Narayan himself? No; he was my only protection until I -got clear of this riffraff. Besides, if he ever unsheathed his power, -unguarded like this, he could drain me as a spider sucks a trapped -fly. No; it would have to be Raif. I had a grudge against the fat man, -anyway. I pulled at his sleeve. "Wait here for me," I said cunningly, -and made as if to leave the platform. Raif walked smiling into the -trap. "Here, Adric! Narayan gave orders you weren't to run into any -danger!" - -Good, good! I didn't even have to order the man to his death; he -volunteered. "Well," I protested, "We want a scout out, to carry word -when they come." _As if we wouldn't know!_ - -"I'll go," Raif said laconically, and leaned past me, touching -Narayan's shoulder. He explained in a whisper--we were all whispering, -although there was no reason for it--and Narayan nodded. "Good idea. -Don't show yourself." - -I held back laughter. _As if that would matter!_ - -The man swung down into the road. I heard his footsteps ring on the -rock; heard them diminish, die in distance. Then-- - -A clamoring, bestial cry ripped the air; a cry that seemed to ring and -echo up out of hell, a cry no human throat could compass--but I knew -who had screamed. That settled the fat man. Narayan jerked around, his -blond face whiter. "_Raif!_" The word was a prayer. - -We half-scrambled, half-leaped into the road. Side by side, we ran down -the road together. - -The screaming of a bird warned me. I looked up--dodged quickly--over -my head a huge scarlet falcon, wide-winged, wheeled and darted in at -me. Narayan's yell cut the air and I ducked, flinging a fold of cloak -over my head. I ripped a knife from my belt; slashed upward, ducking my -head, keeping one arm before my eyes. The bird wavered away, hung in -the air, watching me with live green eyes that shifted with my every -movement. The falcon's trappings were green, bright against the scarlet -wings. - -I knew who had flown this bird. - -The falcon wheeled, banking like a plane, and rushed in again. No -egg had hatched these birds! I knew who had shaped these slapping -pinions! Over one corner of my cloak I saw Narayan pull his pistol-like -electrorod, and screamed warning. "Drop it--quick!" The birds could -turn gunfire as easily as could Evarin himself, and if the falcon drew -one drop of my blood, then I was lost forever, slave to whoever had -flown the bird. I thrust upward with the knife, dodging between the -bird's wings. Men leaped toward us, knives out and ready. The bird -screamed wildly, flew upward a little ways, and hung watching us with -those curiously intelligent eyes. Another falcon and another winged -across the road, and a thin, uncanny screeing echoed in the icy air. -I heard the jingle of little bells. Three birds, golden-trapped and -green-trapped and harnessed in royal purple, swung above us; three -pairs of unwinking jewel-eyes hung motionless in a row. Beyond them -the darkening red sun made a line of blackening trees and silhouetted -three figures, a horse, motionless against the background of red sky. -Evarin--Idris--and Karamy, intent on the falcon-play, three traitors -baiting the one who had escaped their hands. - -The falcons poised--swept inward in massed attack. They darted between -my knife and Narayan's. Behind me a bestial scream rang out and I -knew one of the falcons, at least, had drawn blood--that one of the -men behind us was not--ours! Turning and stumbling, the stricken man -ran blindly through the clearing, down the road--halfway to those -silhouetted figures he reeled, tripping across the body of a man who -lay beneath his feet. Narayan gave a gasping, retching sound, and I -whirled in time to see him jerk out his electrorod, spasmodically, and -fire shot after wild shot at the stumbling figure that had been our -man. "Fire--" he panted to me, "Don't let him--he wouldn't want to get -to--them--" - -I struck the weapon down. "Idiot!" I said savagely, "Some hunting they -_must_ have!" Narayan began protesting, and I wrenched the rod -from his hand. The man was far beyond firing range now. At Narayan's -convulsed face I nearly swore aloud. This weak fool would ruin -everything! I said hastily, "Don't waste your fire! We can take care of -_them_ later--" I waved a quick hand at the three on the ridge. -"There is no help for those caught by Evarin's birds." - -Narayan breathed hard, bracing himself in the road. I beckoned the -others close. "Don't fire on the birds," I cautioned, tensely; "It -only energizes them; they drain the energy from your fire! Use knives; -cut their wings--_look out!_" The falcons, like chain-lightning, -traced thin orbits down in a slapping confusion of wings and darting -beaks. I backed away from the purple-harnessed birds, flicking up my -cloak, beating at the flapping wings. Our men, standing in a closed -circle back to back, fought them off with knives and with the ends of -their cloaks thrown up, swatting them off; and three times I heard -the inhuman scream, three times I heard the lurching footsteps as a -man--not human any more--broke from us and ran blindly to the distant -ridge. I heard Narayan shouting, whirled swiftly to face him--he ran -to me, beating back the green-trapped bird that darted in and out on -swift agile wings. The screeing of the falcons, the flapping of cloaks, -the panting of men hard-pressed, gave the whole scene a nightmare -unrealness in which the only real thing was Narayan, fighting at my -side. His gasp of inhuman effort made me whirl, by instinct, flinging -up my cloak to protect my back, my knife thrust out to cover his -throat. He raked a long gash across the down-turned head of the falcon, -was rewarded with an unbirdlike scream of agony and the spasmodic -open-and-shut of the razor talons. They raked out--clawing. They -furrowed a slash in the Dreamer's arm. The razor beak darted in, ready -to cut. I threw myself forward, unprotected, off balance, ready to -strike. - -At the last minute talons and beak turned aside--drew back--darted -swiftly, straight at me. And my knife was turned aside, guarding -Narayan! - -But Narayan jerked aside. His knife fell in the road, and his arm -shot out--grabbed the bird behind the head, twisting convulsively so -the stabbing needle of a beak could not reach him. The darting head -lunged, pecking at the cloak that wrapped his forearm; thrown forward, -I stumbled against Narayan, carried by my own momentum, and we fell in -a tangle of cloaks and knives and thrashing legs and wings, asprawl in -the road. The deadly talons raked my face and his, but Narayan hung on -grimly, holding the deadly beak away. I thrust with the knife again -and again; thin yellow blood spurted in great gushes, splattering us -both with burning venom; I snatched the wounded bird from the Dreamer's -weakening hands twisted till I heard the lithe neck snap in my fingers. -The bird slumped, whatever had given it life--gone! - -And high on the ridge the dwarfed figure of Idris threw up his -hands--fell--collapsed across the pommel of his saddle! - -Narayan's breath went out limply in a long sigh as we untangled our -twisted bodies. Our eyes met as we mopped away the blood. We grinned -spontaneously. I liked this man! Almost I wished I need not send him -back to tranced dream--what a waste! - -He said, quietly, "There is a life between us now." - -I twisted my face into a smile matching his. "That's only one," I said. -"The rest--" I turned, watching for a moment as the falcons tore at -the ring of men. "Come on," Narayan shouted, and we flung ourselves -into the breach. I flung down my knife, snatched a sword from someone -and swung it in great arcs which seemed somehow right and natural to -me. The men scattered before the sword like scared chickens, and I went -mad with hate, sweeping the sword in vicious semi-circles against the -lashing birds ... the sword cut empty air, and I realized startlingly -that both birds lay cut to ribbons at my feet, their blood staining the -dead leaves. Narayan's eyes swam, through a red haze, into my field of -vision. They were watching me, trouble and fright in their greyness. I -forced myself to sanity; dropped the sword atop the dead birds. I wiped -my forehead. - -"That's that," I said banally. - -We took toll of our losses, silently. Narayan, gasping with pain, -rubbed a spot of the yellow blood from his face. "That stuff burns!" he -grimaced. I laughed tightly; he didn't have to tell me. We'd both have -badly festered burns to deal with tomorrow. But now, there was work-- - -"Look!" One of the men stared and pointed upward, his face tense with -fright. Another great bird of prey hung on poised pinions above us, -sapphire eyes intent; but as we watched, it wheeled and swiftly winged -toward the Rainbow City. Not, however, before I had caught the azure -shimmer of the bells and harness. A thin, sweet tinkling came from the -flying bells, like a mocking echo of the spell-singer's voice. - -_Gamine!_ - - - - -CHAPTER NINE - -The Return of Adric - - -Back in the windowless house, we snatched a hurried meal, cared for -our slashed cuts, and tried to plan further. The others had not been -idle while we fought the falcons. All day Narayan's vaunted army had -been accumulating, I could hardly say assembling, in that great bowl of -land between Narabedla and the Dreamer's Keep. There were perhaps four -thousand men, armed with clumsy powder weapons, with worn swords that -looked as if they had been long buried, with pitchforks, scythes, even -with rude clubs viciously knobbed. I had been put to it to conceal my -contempt for this ragtag and bobtail of an army. And Narayan proposed -to storm Rainbow City--with this! I was flabbergasted at the confidence -these men had in their young leader. So much the better, I thought, -take him from them and they'll scatter to their rat-holes and crofts -again! I felt my lips twisting in a bitter smile. They trusted Adric, -too. When I had shown myself to them, their shouts had made the very -trees echo. Well--again the ironic smile came unbidden, that was just -as well, too. When Narayan was re-prisoned, I could use the power of -their lost leader to tear down what he himself had built. The thought -was exquisitely funny. - -"What are you laughing about," Narayan asked. We were lounging on the -steps of the house, watching the men thronging around the camp. His -slumberous grey eyes held deep sparks of fire, and without waiting -for my answer he went on, "Think of it! The curse of the Dreamer's -magic lifted--what would it mean to this land, Adric? It means -life--hope--for millions of people!" - -In a way, Narayan was right. I could remember when I had shared that -dream; when it had seemed somehow more worthy than a dream of personal -power. Cynara came down the steps, bent and slipped her soft arms -around my shoulder, and I drew her down. A volcano of hate so great I -must turn my face away burned up in me. This man was my equal--no, I -admitted grudgingly, my superior--and I hated him for it. I hated him -because I knew that in his dream of power no one must suffer. I hated -him because, once, I had been weak enough to share his feelings. - -I said abruptly, "Your plans are good, Narayan. There's just one thing -wrong with them; they won't work. Storming Rainbow City won't get you -anywhere. You could kill Karamy's slaves by the thousands, or the -millions, or the billions. But you couldn't kill Karamy, and you'd -only leave her free to enslave others. You've got to strike at them -when they're in the Dreamer's Keep. When the Dreamers wake is the only -moment when they are vulnerable." - -"But how can we get to the Dreamer's Keep, Adric? They go guarded a -hundred times over, there." - -"What's your army for?" I asked him roughly, "To knock down hay-cocks? -Send your men to chase off the guards. I told you I could handle Rhys, -if it came to that. He'll get us through to the Dreamer's Keep, if need -be." - -"What about Gamine?" Cynara asked practically. Gamine was the least -of my worries, but I did not tell Cynara that. I listened to their -comments and suggestions a little contemptuously. Didn't they know -that when the Dreamers woke, the Narabedlans were vulnerable--to the -Dreamers alone? If I were there with Narayan, there was no question -about who would win. - -Cynara scowled at the rip of talons across my face. "You're hurt and -you never told me!" she accused. "Come this minute and let me take care -of it!" I almost laughed. Me--Adric of the Crimson Tower--being ordered -around by a little country girl! I snorted, but spoke pleasantly. "I'll -live, I expect. Come and sit here with us." I pulled her down at my -side, but she leaned her head on her brother's knee, an unquietness -in her face. She was a pretty thing, although the cause of all my -troubles. When I redeemed her from Karamy's slaves, for a whim, I had -not known she was Narayan's sister--Zandru's hells, but I had made a -ghastly slip! I had told Narayan there was no help for those touched by -the birds, when I myself had redeemed his own sister! Had he noticed? -Would he attribute it to Karamy's meddling with my mind? I smothered -an exclamation, and Cynara and Narayan looked up anxiously. "You -_are_ hurt, Adric!" - -I shook my head. I fancied Narayan looking at me with suspicion, but -I controlled myself. I reached out to draw Cynara to me, but she had -drawn back, rising lithely to her feet, like a dove poised for flight; -only her hands, small darting hands like candle-flames, remained in -mine to pull me lightly to my feet. I tried to hold her, but she -protested, "There is so much to be done--" and I raised the slim hands -to my lips before I let her go. The gesture pleased her, I could see; -so much that I watched with contempt as she tripped away. Silly, simple -girl! It _would_ please her! - -In the end it was only Narayan and Cynara who rode with me to Rainbow -City. Kerrel had taken the army, in sections, to set an ambush for -Karamy's guards; we rode in the opposite direction, by a twisting side -road. Cynara rode beside me, her dark eyes glowing. There was dainty -witchery in Cynara, and a pretty trust that made me smile and promise -recklessly, "We will win." It pleased me to think that I could comfort -Cynara for her brother's downfall. Once conditioned to Rainbow City, -she would forget her silly fancies and be a fair and lovely comrade. If -she continued to please me, it would be amusing to see this unformed -country girl wield the power that had belonged to Karamy the Golden! - -It took us an hour of hard riding to reach the lip of the great cup of -land, where we paused, looking down the dark, almost-straight avenue -of trees that led to the walls of Rainbow City. I whistled tunelessly -between my teeth. "Whatever we do, it will be wrong. We'd be taking -quite a chance to ride up to the main gate; at the same time, they'll -be expecting us to sneak in the back way. They'd never expect us to -come by the front avenue." - -"The deer walks safest at the hunter's door," Narayan quoted laughing. -"But won't they be expecting us to use that kind of logic?" - -Cynara giggled, subsided at my frown. "At that rate," I said, "We could -go on all night." - -Narayan reached overhead, snatching down a crackling sheaf of -frost-berries; selected one narrow pod. He held it between finger and -thumb. "Chance. Two seeds, we go around. Three, we ride straight up -the main gate. Agreed?" I nodded, and he crushed the dry husk. One, -two--three seeds rolled into my outstretched palm. - -"Fate," Narayan said with a shrug. "Ready, then?" - -I jounced the seeds in my palm. "One for Evarin, and one for Idris, and -one for Karamy," I said contemptuously, and flung the little black -balls into the road. "We'll scatter them like that!" - -We were lucky; the drive was deserted. If there were guards out for us -at all, they had been posted somewhere on the secret paths. Straight -toward the towers we rode, under the westering red sun, and just before -dusk we checked our horses and tethered them within a mile of the -Rainbow City, going forward cautiously on foot. - -I objected to this arrangement. "I'll get in alone," I told them. "If -anything happens to me, we mustn't lose you as well!" - -"I'll stay," said Narayan briefly. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be -here to help." Silently I damned the man's loyalty, but there was -nothing I could say without spoiling the illusion I had worked so hard -to create. I took his hand for a minute. "Thank you." His voice was -equally abrupt. "Good luck, Adric." Cynara glanced at me briefly and -away again. I walked away from them without looking back. - -It was easy enough to find my way into the labyrinthine towers. I was -not Lord of the Crimson Tower without knowing its secrets. I climbed -the stairs swiftly, ransacked the place. To no avail. When she took my -memories, Karamy had also been careful to take everything which could -conceivably give me any power over any of the Dreamers, even old Rhys. -I went up more stairs till I stood at the very pinnacle of the tower, -in Adric's star-room into which I had been catapulted--was it less than -three days ago? I stood at the high window, vaguely thinking of an -older Adric, an Adric who had watched the stars here, and not alone. I -traced back through the years, diving down deep into the seas of sudden -memory, and brought up the knowledge of-- - -"Mike Kenscott!" said a voice behind me, and I whirled to look into the -face of a man I had never seen before. - -He had the primitive look of a man out of some forgotten past. I had -seen such men as I swam in the light of the Time Ellipse. He was tall -and clean-shaven; he looked athletic; his eyes were a ridiculous color, -dark brown. He had hair. He looked angry, if he could be said to have -an expression. - -But he spoke, clearly and with a deliberate calm. "Well, Mike -Kenscott," he said, in a language I had never heard, but found myself -understanding perfectly, "You have taken my place very nicely. I -suppose I should thank you. You've given me freedom, and Narayan's -trust--the rest I can do for myself!" He laughed. "In fact, you're so -much _me_ that I'm not much of myself. But I _can_ force you -back into your own body--" - -The man must be mad! At any rate, he'd insulted the Lord Adric, in his -own Tower, and by Zandru's eyelashes, he'd pay for it! I flung myself -at him with a yell of rage. My fingers dug into his throat-- - -And I cried out in the stifling clutch of lean fingers grabbing at me, -biting at my neck, my shoulders--an agonizing wrench shuddered over my -body-- - -I faced-- - -_Adric!_ - - - - -CHAPTER TEN - -When the Dreamers Wake - - -Of course I understood, even while I fought, dizzy and reeling, to -loose the deathgrip I had put on my own body. I was--back, I was Mike -Kenscott again--Adric loosed his hands of his own will, and stepped -away, breathing hard. "Thank you," he said in the raw voice that had -been mine for so long, "I myself could hardly have done better." With -a swift movement he snatched something from a little recess in the -wall--pointed--and fired point-blank. A lance of grey mist stabbed out -at me-- - -To my amazement, only a pleasant heat warmed me. I had enough -split-second reasoning reflex left to fall in a slumped huddle to the -ground. I knew that was what he expected. Adric fumbled in his pockets, -took out the little mirror I had taken from Evarin, still wrapped in -its protective silk. I watched, breathless, between narrowed eyelids. -If he would only open it--but instead he gave a shudder of disgust and -flung it straight at me. With a braced, agonizing effort I made myself -lie perfectly still, without flinching to avoid the blow. The mirror -struck my forehead. I felt blood break to the surface and trickle wetly -down my face. I heard Adric moving; heard receding steps and the risp -of a closing door. He was gone. - -I moved. To this day I am not sure how I escaped death from Adric's -weapon; but I think it was because I was in my own body. After I had -touched Adric the first time, I was immune to Earth electricity. In -this world, I think, I was immune to their force. I wiped the blood -from my temple. Good Lord, there was Narayan--waiting with Cynara--I -forgot that I had plotted against Narayan, remembering only that I had -liked the man. I couldn't let Adric get to them-- - -I grabbed the mirror, crammed it into a pocket. Against the nightmare -haste that drove me I ran to the closet, quickly, from the racks of -weapons, chose a short ugly knife. I didn't need swordsman's training -to use that. Thank God, I knew my way around, I could remember -everything I'd done when I was Adric--but wait! I could also "remember" -what he had done when _he_ was _me_! That meant Adric could -"remember" everything I had done and planned with Narayan! This crazy -business of Identity! Even now, could I be sure which of us was who? - -I dashed out of the room, ran down the endless stairs three at a time. -At the entrance to Gamine's blue tower, a dangerous whirring of wings -beat around me; I staggered, almost fell backward. One of the murderous -falcons--the one in blue--darted, hanging poised in the stair-well -above me. I backed against the wall, hoping the bird would not attack. -Gamine had not flown falcon with the others. - -The strong wings flapped in the closed space; I saw the dart of the -vicious little beak. Blindly I struck upward with the knife, shielding -my eyes with the other hand, and was rewarded with a splatter of thin -burning blood and a scream of unbirdlike agony. I ducked beneath the -thrashing wings, and ran on up the stairs; behind me the dying falcon -flapped, threshed and rolled down the stairs, a tangle of wings, -landing far below with a flailing thump. - -I was not quite sure what I meant to do. As I climbed, I thought -swiftly. Gamine was no friend to Adric, I knew that. Adric had known -much of Gamine and Rhys, and I drew on that knowledge, but even Adric -had not known much of the Spell-singer cloaked in that blurred halo of -invisibility. Had he ever seen Gamine? - -What was Adric doing now? I had served him well; won him Narayan's -trust, then turned him loose again in his own body, to destroy, betray -them! I hated Adric as I hope I may never hate again. - -And yet, I could not hate him wholly. To know all is to forgive much, -and I had lived for three days and nights in Adric's body and brain; -knowing his strengths and his weaknesses, his dreams and torments, I -could not condemn him utterly. A man may be forgiven much that he does -for a woman's bewitchments, and few men could be blamed for allowing -Karamy to enslave them. Adric had done good, once, too; he had freed -the Dreamer, he had loved--but he had trapped me here, and for that, my -hate would make him pay--thoroughly! - -A shadow flitted across my sight; the robed Gamine barred my way, an -air of cold amusement around the poise of the hood and the blurred -invisible head. The Spell-singer laughed, mocking. "How like you this -body, Adric? You are beaten now, for sure! The stranger works with -Narayan--in _your_ body, Adric!" - -"I'm not Adric," I shouted. "Adric's in his own body again! He's going -after Narayan--" - -"You expect me to believe that?" Contempt stung me in Gamine's clear, -sexless voice. - -"Let me to Rhys," I begged. "He'll know I'm telling the truth--damn -it, let me by!" Infuriated by the mocking laughter, I thrust my arm to -move Gamine forcibly from my path. Whatever Gamine was--man, woman, -imp or boy--it was not human. Steel wires writhed between my hands. -I struggled impotently in that bone-breaking grip; then with a swift -impulse thrust my hand quickly at the blurred invisibility where -Gamine's face should have been. - -Gamine screamed--a thin cry of horror. Suddenly I knew where I had been -those two weeks I lay in the hospital,--when Adric lay, in my body, -gone mad, in the hospital in my place. An instinct I had grown to trust -warned me to pull away sharply from Gamine's relaxed grip. I shouldered -by and ran like hell. - -Halfway up the stairs I heard the Spell-singer's feet running behind -me, and I quickened my stride and sprinted for the heavy door that -barred my way. I could feel Rhys' presence behind the door. I threw my -weight against the door, twisting the handle frantically. - -The door was locked. - -Behind me, I heard the padding tread of Gamine. Hopelessly, I put my -back to the door, pulling my knife out again, and defied the creature. - -Behind me the door suddenly opened and I was flung backward, sprawling, -into the room within. "Well, Mike," the old tired voice of Rhys said, -"Gamine is a fool, but you are no better. Yes, I knew you were coming, -I knew Adric is going, I know where Narayan is and I know what they -plan to do. There is only one person who can stop all this, Mike -Kenscott. You." - -Gaping stupidly, I picked myself up from the floor. The old Dreamer, -his wrinkled face serene under the peaked hood, watched me placidly. -"What--how--" I stammered. - -"Gamine is a prescient. And I am not a complete fool." Rhys smiled -wearily. The dreamy look of the very old or the very young was on his -face. "I cannot help you; but I will make Gamine help." - -The spell-singer came into the room, and I could almost see resentment -through that strange halo of nothingness. "Gamine," Rhys said. "It is -time. You, and Narayan, must go with him to the Dreamer's Keep." - -"No--" Gamine whispered in protest, "Narayan--cannot go! -His--his--talisman was destroyed! Only outside the tower--he cannot go -in!" - -"There is still--mine. Give it to him." At Gamine's cry of dismay, -Rhys' voice was suddenly a whip-lash. "Give it to him, Gamine! I still -have power to--compel that! What does it matter what happens to me? I -am old; it is Narayan's turn; your turn." - -"I'll--keep it for Narayan--" Gamine faltered. - -"No!" Rhys spoke sharply. "While you keep it--and I am bound to -you--there is still the bondage. Give it to him!" - -Gamine sobbed harshly. From the silken veils she drew forth a small -jewelled thing; wrapped in insulating silk like Evarin's mirror. She -untwisted the silk. It was a tiny sword; not a dagger, but a perfectly -modelled sword, a Toy. Evarin's too; but different. I recalled that -Evarin had called himself Toymaker. Gamine clung to it, the robed -shoulders bent. - -"Mike must take it," Rhys' voice was gentler. "If you keep it, I am -still bound to you. If Adric had it, it would bind Narayan again. If -Mike keeps it--_near_ Narayan--Narayan is free. Free to go where -he will, even in the Dreamer's Keep. Give it to him, Gamine." Rhys sat -down, wearily, as if the effort of speech had tired him past bearing. -I stood and listened with a rebellious patience; I was eager to be -gone. But my eyes were on the little jewelled Toy in Gamine's hands. -It winked blue. It shimmered. It pulsed with a curious heartbeat, -hypnotic. Rhys watched, too, his tired face intent and almost eager. -"Gamine; if Adric had seen you, had remembered--" - -"I want him to remember!" Gamine's low wail keened weirdly in the -silent room. Rhys sighed. - -"I am Narabedlan," he said at last, "I could not destroy my own people. -Gamine is not bound--nor you, Mike Kenscott. I suppose I am a traitor; -but when I was born Narabedla was a fair city--without so many crimes -on its head. Go and warn Narayan, Mike." - -Gamine hovered near me, intent, jealous, the shrouded eyes fixed on -Rhys. The old man spoke on in a fading voice. "My poor city--now, -Gamine. Now. Give it to him and let me rest. Stand away from me, Mike; -well away; I do not want the bondage again from you." - -I did not understand and stood stupidly still. Gamine gave me an angry -push. "Over there, you fool!" I reeled, recovered my balance, stood -about six feet from the couch where Rhys half-sat, half-lay. The old -man laid one wrinkled hand on the toy sword Gamine held. He took his -hand away. - -"Now," he said quietly. - -Gamine thrust the sword into my hand, and I felt a sudden stinging -shock, like electric current, jolt my whole body. I saw Gamine's robed -body shiver with the same jolt. The Toy in my hand was suddenly heavy; -heavy as if it were made of lead, and the tiny winking in the hilt was -darkened. The peaked hood of Rhys drooped until it covered the face. - -Gamine caught my arm roughly and the steel of those narrow fingers bit -to the bone as they hauled me almost bodily from the room. I heard the -echo of a sob in the Spell-singer's whispering croon. - -_Rhys--Farewell!_ - -The next thing I knew we were racing side by side down flight after -flight of stairs. Together we fled through the subterranean passages of -Rainbow City. Outside, in the pillared court, a man ran toward us. His -brown tunic was ripped and torn; his blond hair was rumpled. A smudge -of blood reddened his forehead. I gasped, "Narayan!" - -The man whirled--saw us--pulled his weapon from his belt. There was no -time for explanations. I threw myself at his knees in a flying tackle -no football coach would approve, but it did the trick. Narayan went -down under me, kicking. Gamine was not one to stand aside in a fight; -the robed figure rocketed forward, flung itself on the prone Narayan, -holding him motionless with that steely strength. I wrenched the -electrorod from Narayan's relaxed fingers. "Listen--" I urged, "I'm not -one of Karamy's men--Gamine, let him up!" - -"He's got Cynara--" the Dreamer muttered dizzily, "Cynara--who in -Zandru's hells are you?" He picked himself up, gazing at me with a -stunned, blank look. "My name's Kenscott," I said briefly. Suddenly, -feeling it was the best way to establish my good-faith, I pulled out -the Toy Gamine had put in my hand. "I've seen Rhys. He sent--this." - -Narayan stared at the thing in my hand, a double grief in his young -face. "Rhys--" he muttered, "I felt he was--gone!" With bent head, he -reached out to take the small thing from me. - -In his hand it came alive. The small jewelled Toy seemed suddenly -brilliant, flaring, dazzling with a wild burst of faceted light, blue, -golden, crimson, flame-color. Gamine's low sweet voice breathed, "In -the Dreamer's hands!" - -"In my hands," Narayan murmured in a choked, almost a tranced ecstasy. -I broke in on their raptures rudely. "Here, Narayan! Is it Adric who's -got Cynara?" - -He gulped; swallowed hard; thrust the Toy into a pocket and came back -to himself, but that light was still in his eyes. He spoke with a -hard restraint. "Yes. Adric surprised me--knocked me out. When I came -to, they were gone." He blinked once or twice; rubbed his eyes; then, -resolutely fumbled for the little Toy and extended it to me. "Here. -Keep this till we get to the Dreamer's Keep." - -I took it without comment. Gamine slipped away; came back, leading -horses. "I couldn't find a single guard," the cold voice murmured, "I -wonder where they are?" - -"Adric knows," said Narayan, tight-lipped. - -We mounted. - -The wind was rising. Above us the moons swung slowly in an indigo -sky. Sparks flew from our hooves against the frosty stones. We were -racing against time, and a nightmare panic had me while I gripped the -saddle of my racing horse. It took all my concentration to stick on -the animal's back, but I was acquiring balance and a feel for riding. -The ill wind was blowing some good, I thought inanely. Narayan's blond -hair was frosty pale in the moonlight, and the eerie Gamine was a -nightmare ghost, a phantom from nowhere. Far away we heard the spatter -of gunfire, the screams of dying men, the ring of swords and spears. -Thinly Gamine chanted in the night. Narayan's face looked haunted. -"There are the guards--attacking--" he jerked out over the hoof-noises. - -The scream of falcons rang swiftly above Gamine's chant. The -too-familiar beat of wings slapped around my head, and I flung up my -arm to knock away one serpentine neck. My terrified horse plunged and -I rocked in the saddle nearly falling. Another bird swooped down on -Narayan--another--then there were swarms of them, gold and purple and -green, crimson, blue, flame-color. The air was thick with their wings. -Gamine screamed; I saw Narayan beat the air with his cloak. The veiled -Spell-singer, crouched in the saddle, was lashing at them with the whip -from her saddle. The lash kept the falcons at bay, but the razor talons -caught at the blue shroudings. Narayan, whip in one hand, sword in the -other, beat round him in great arcs, and I heard one bird's death-cry -sending ringing echoes to the sky. I flung round me with my knife-- - -"The mirror--" screamed Gamine, "Evarin's mirror! Quick, they're coming -by millions!" - -They were coming in scores--hundreds, whirling and screeing. These -were not the soul-falcons, belled and elaborately endowed with the -intelligence and cunning of their launcher. These were--machines. -Alive, yes, but not a life we knew. Only the nightmare freak of a -science gone mad could produce--or control--these hateful things that -were filling the clean air, groping for us with needle beaks and talons -and wild wings. Only Evarin-- - -I fumbled blindly for the mirror, clumsily stripping the silks. A -needle-talon raked at my wrist, and by sheerest instinct I struck -upward, turning the face of the mirror toward the bird. - -The bird reeled in mid-air--flapped--fell. A tingling shock rattled -through my arm. I dropped the mirror--leaped to catch it. The thing was -a perfect conductor. It--drained energy. I knew now why Evarin had -been so anxious to have me--or Adric--look into its depths. It could -have touched the energy waves of my brain through my eyes. The birds -were brainless; all energy. I grabbed the mirror and held it upright; I -caught a half-glimpse, from the tail of my eye, of the weird lightnings -coiled inside it, but even that glimpse coiled my stomach in nervous -knots. Shielding my face, I held it upward. The birds flew toward it -like a moth to the candle. Shock after shock flowed along my arm. Three -more of the horrible falcons fell limp, lifeless--drained. - -A strange exhilaration began to buoy me up. The force from the birds -was not electricity but a kindred force, which my nerves drank -greedily. I thrust the mirror out; was rewarded again by the surge of -power, and again the birds, this time by dozens, flapped and fell. - -Then, as if whatever had loosed the army of falcons had realized their -uselessness, the whole remaining force of the birds wheeled and fled, -winging swiftly over the land to the distant donjon that rose high and -far into the black midnight. - -Recalled--to the Dreamer's Keep! - - - - -CHAPTER ELEVEN - -The Last Sacrifice - - -The flow of strength had renewed me; I felt that I could face whatever -came. I thrust Evarin's mirror into my pocket; flung a word to Narayan -and we were riding again, Gamine racing behind us. The blue shroudings -had been torn to ribbons by the snappings of falcon-claws; I could see -the pallid gleam of naked flesh through the torn veils. The noise of -battle behind us grew more distinct; I could make out the explosions -and the distant flashes of colored flame. I shuddered; even now that -frightful army of falcons might be winging to join Adric and Evarin. -The rebels could kill some of them, but for every falcon dead there -would be twenty more slaves for Narabedla! What could Narayan's men -with their scythes and pitchforks and rude rusty guns do against the -incredible science of a Toymaker? Narayan's strained face was ghastly -in the moonlight; I needed no telepathy to read his thoughts. Slaughter -for his men--what for his sister? Our horses seemed to lag, to drag -through a mire of motionless, yet they were at the full gallop of their -endurance. The sound of fighting grew closer. Everything in me cried -out that I was an utter fool, riding full tilt into a battle in which I -had no stake. Yet something else told me, coldly and with a grim truth, -that all I possessed was what I might win today, for this was the only -world I would ever know; that I would never see my own world again. - -Never! And Adric should rot in a hell of his own choosing for that! - -The sounds of fighting seemed very close. Narayan pulled up his horse -so quickly that it nearly sent Gamine plunging into his back. He -said in a low, concentrated voice, "Adric isn't at the battle! This -way--quick!" He whirled the horse and dashed down a side road at right -angles to the way we had been riding. If we had raced before, now our -horses seemed to fly. The battle raged behind us; I heard dim screams, -the neighing of wounded horses, the muffled sound of earth flying -upward, exploded in fire. But it had a dreamy unreal quality, like -noises through a nightmare. We had left the forest and were riding -across a dark and hummocky plain. Moss padded our hoof-noises; now -and then some small furry thing skittered across the track we were -following and twice my horse shied at swooping birds and my heart -stopped until I saw they were not the falcons of Evarin. - -Stark and black against a treeless horizon I could see the Dreamer's -Keep, between the small crescents of the two lesser moons. The largest -one rode a golden orbit over my head. I rode hunched in the saddle, my -eyes on the vast cairn only a few miles away. - -Suddenly a vast arch of lightning spanned the sky above the -Dreamer's Keep. Blue lightning. I heard Narayan groan like a man -in his death-agony. Twisting in my saddle, I saw brooding horror -on his face--mingled with pain--and a terrified satisfaction. "The -sacrifice--I still--feel it," he breathed in labored gasps, "I -still--take from it--Mike! Mike--" His voice held unbearable torture, -and the veins in the fair face stood out, black and congested with -effort. "If I start to work for--them--promise--promise to shoot me--" - -"Oh God--" I gasped. - -"Mike, promise! Gamine!" - -Gamine spurred the horse to his side; I heard the low voice, sweet, -almost crooning. Again the vast arch of blueness spanned the sky. -Narayan dug spurs savagely into the side of his horse and raced ahead -of us. On the plain, limned starkly against the sky, a horseman -appeared. He rode low in the saddle, his horse carrying a double -burden, but racing fleetly--to the Keep of the Dreamers. I cursed--I -knew that lean crouched figure, knew it as well as my own! Adric rode -to the sacrifice--and before him, limp across his saddle, he bore -Cynara! - -The rest of that nightmare ride is a blank in my mind. The next thing -I remember clearly is reining up beneath the lee of the gaunt pile of -rocks-on-rocks that was the Dreamer's Keep. There was no sign of Adric -or Cynara, no sign of any living person, nothing but the incandescent -blue lightning that rayed out now every four seconds or so; Narayan's -face was a white death-mask, and Gamine's breathing came in short -sobbing pants. I alone was free from the effect. My body throbbed and -tingled with the weird energy set free in the night. We flung ourselves -from our horses. Gamine tugged futilely at the torn veilings to conceal -her face, and for the first time the blurred invisibility wavered and I -caught a glimpse of one blue eye, blue as the sky lightnings that rose -and flared and died. - -The lee of the tower dwarfed us with its massive bulk. Gamine clutched -my arm, the cruel fingers digging bruisingly into my flesh. "Listen!" - -I strained my ears. All I could hear was a low, not unpleasant humming, -like the singing drone of great bees or high-tension wires; but the -sound struck both aliens with horror. Narayan opened his lips-- - -I dug frantically in my other pocket; brought out the Toy Rhys had -given me. At sight of it Narayan's haggard face relaxed a little. He -caught it from me with quick hands. "Free of Adric--" he breathed -with that swift erasure of tension I had seen before. He drew a long, -moaning sigh. He closed his eyes for a moment. - -Somewhere above us a scream rang out; a cry bestial in its mad appeal. -It broke the static immobility that held us, and Narayan, sliding the -Toy inside his shirt, turned and began to run around the Tower, Gamine -and I panting at his heels. - -We came around the corner beneath an arching outcrop of stone-work. -No one needed to give orders; as one, we scrambled up on the ledge, -crowding close together. - -I gripped my hand on the knife in my belt. It had a comforting feel. I -needed that. - -A framed archway let us look down into the inside of the Keep. Below -us a voice cried out despairingly--unbelievingly. "Adric--" we heard -Cynara cry out, "Adric, no--oh, no--" Under our combined weight the -glass shattered; we hurled inward. We found ourselves standing on a -great shelf, about ten feet above the interior floor of the Keep, -looking down at a scene framed in stark horror. Golden Karamy, dwarfed -Idris, Evarin--stood in a close circle about a ring of coffins which -gleamed crystal--glowed with scintillant radiance. In the hand of each -of them was a tiny, jewelled, faceted Toy, and in the coffins-- - -Gamine screamed. - -"The Dreamers--" - -Not till then did we see Adric and what he was doing. In the center -of the ring of coffins a dais rose upright, horribly altar-like, and -a line of the mindless slaves, nude, vacant-eyed, defiled before the -altar. As each slave stepped forward there was a shuddering moan from -the others, the tiny swords rose and fell and in a brilliant flame of -blue light, the slave--was not! And Adric--Cynara struggling between -his hands--was thrusting her forward, into the space between the -coffins, toward the nexus of the blue light--toward the Sacrifice-stone -of the Dreamers! - -The sight put us beyond caution. We threw ourselves from the ledge--and -went down into a writhing, sprawling mass of living flesh. A barked -command from Idris, and the slaves swarmed on us, drowning us in -smothering bodies. I kicked and sprawled and thrashed and scratched and -bit my way to the top of the heap and somehow for a second, I rolled -free. That instant was enough. I was on my feet, the knife in my hand. -Dragging bodies clung at my heels; I kicked out savagely, felt my boot -strike naked flesh, felt and heard the pulpy sound of a skull crushing -under the impact of my heel. The sound rocked my stomach, but I was -not in a position to be fastidious. My eyes were swimming in trickling -blood. Gamine clawed and thrust free and together we elbowed out of the -press. - -Evarin sprang at me. I thrust blindly with the knife in my hand, ripped -into his shoulder, missing the throat by inches. I caught the Toy from -his hand as it fell free. A moment of the clinging, tearing melee--then -we three--Gamine and Narayan and I were standing back to back in the -centre of the ring of coffins. There was a long howl of pain and terror -from Evarin and the four Narabedlans flung themselves backward in a -panic terror. For within the coffins the Dreamers were waking! - -But Adric was no coward. He threw himself quickly forward--caught -at Cynara again, and with all the force in his lean arms he flung -her--straight toward the nexus of blue light! Narayan and Gamine stood -frozen, bound by the Toys in their hands against the light, but I broke -free--I passed straight across the cone of blue lightning-- - -_Unharmed!_ The blasting energy tingled pleasantly in my body as -I caught Cynara in mid-air and reeled away from the force that would -have meant annihilation for her. Narayan broke away from the paralysis -momentarily and caught Cynara's staggering body from my arms. Then I -felt the impact as Adric's tall, heavy body crashed against me, felt -the shock as my fist smashed against his jaw and heard him grunt as we -locked into a clinch that carried us nearer--and nearer to that center -of blue energy. A moment we swayed there, at the very edge of the -lightning--then Evarin's tensed cat-body hit in the centre of my back-- - -Again the heat thrust needles through me. Adric was flung clear, but -there was an arch of blue that spanned the vault, a wild scream like -the death-cry of a panther, and the Toymaker was-- - -_Gone!_ - -Within the coffins the blue lights wakened, as if the last flare of -energy had freed them. Quickly Idris and Karamy ran forward, quickly -Adric leaped to join them, thrusting the Talisman Toys against the very -lids of the coffins--but too late. The Toys in the hands of Narayan -and Gamine spat glaring blue fire, and step by step the Narabedlans -retreated; farther, farther, farther-- - -The coffins were suddenly empty. As if by magic, three old men and a -woman of surpassing beauty materialized about Narayan and Gamine. In -their faces I could distinguish a curious likeness to Narayan and to -old Rhys--and Narayan, within the circle of the Dreamers, reached out -and flung the tattered veils from Gamine. A triumphant chant rushed -sweetly from the lips of the Spell-singer as the veils came away and -in the center of the mutants stood Gamine the Dreamer, dwarfing them -all by a pure majesty; the majesty of a Dreamer who had never slept! -A woman she was, slender and fair and very beautiful and as like to -Narayan as a twin sister, and I thought of Isis and the young Osiris -as the blue eyes blazed out and the lovely body arched upward in tall -freedom from the shrouding veils. Blue lightning swirled and faded -and the Dreamer's tower was bathed in trembling irridescent rainbows. -Karamy and Idris retreated step by step, slinking back into the -shadows. Only Adric stood his ground. - -The Rainbows died. The air was void and empty of energy. The Dreamers -stood looking on the crouching Karamy with her hidden face, on the -bent, gnarled dwarf, on Cynara, kneeling white and radiant, on Adric, -who stood with his lips parted, staring at Gamine like a man released -from a spell. It was Gamine who spoke, her eyes resting on Karamy. - -"She has done much evil." - -The others clamored, but Gamine shook her head, long pale hair lifting -electrically around her face. "No," she disclaimed softly, "Why should -they die? They are only an old dwarf--a silly fool who could not make -up his own mind--" her eyes dwelt disquietingly on Adric. "And Karamy. -They have no power, now we are freed. Pity them--now we are freed." - -Adric, slowly, drew himself upright. His slackly-parted lips set -firmly and he looked at Narayan with a dispassionate, stubborn shrug. -"Kill me, if you like." - -"No, Gamine." Narayan stepped toward the man in crimson, "Adric," he -said in a strange, half-choked excitement, "I want to see what you saw -before--to see what sent you away--to see the thing that drove you mad. -Gamine's veils--Gamine, let him see! Show him, Gamine! Show him what he -saw then!" - -Gamine came forward slowly to where Karamy knelt. "Stand up!" - -Slowly Karamy rose to her feet. There was no hope in her eyes; no mercy -in Gamine's. The two pairs of eyes, cat-yellow and blue, fought for a -moment; it was Karamy's that fell. The Dreamer woman smiled faintly. -"My brothers and my sisters," she said at last, "Karamy is beautiful, -is she not?" - -I suppose no woman on earth has ever been or ever will be as beautiful -as Karamy the Golden. She stood proudly, turning to Adric, and I saw -longing and love break forth in the man's eyes. He gazed and gazed, and -Karamy laughed and held out her arms, and Adric, bemused, went toward -her-- - -"Hold him," commanded Narayan tersely. - -One of the Dreamers made a curious sign with his left hand and Adric -was arrested; stood gripped in a vise of invisible force. - -"See?" Gamine said in a ringing voice, "But now see Karamy--shorn of -the Illusion her Dreamer threw! See the form of Karamy that she made -_me_ wear! _This!_" She reached out and touched Karamy with -the little Talisman she held. - -There was a gasp of horror from many throats. Karamy--Karamy the -Golden--there are no words for the change that took place before our -eyes. I was sick and retching with horror before the metamorphosis was -half complete, and turned away my eyes; Cynara was sobbing softly into -her skirt; but Adric, frozen, could not look away. - -Gamine's laugh--low and sweet and doubly deadly for its -sweetness--reached my ears. "Shall I lend you my veils--sister?" She -murmured, mocking, and again the horrible laugh. "NO? Go _forth_!" -Her voice was a lashing whip, and with a broken wail, the thing that -had been Karamy threw up an arm across the staring sockets and fled -away into the night. And we never saw it again. - -So that was the end of Karamy the Golden--the end-- - -A little later I found that Adric and I were staring stupidly at one -another, puzzled, but without animosity. Cynara came and slipped an arm -round Adric, and I turned away, embarrassed, for the man was sobbing -like a child. I was amazed and sick with the enormity of all that I -had seen and done. I stood and shivered and shook with deadly chill. I -suppose it was reaction. - -"Steady!" Narayan's steely hand on my shoulder kept me once again from -making an ass of myself. "You've done us a big favor," he said after -a few minutes. "I wish I had some adequate way of thanking you--not -for myself--for millions of people. Perhaps one day we'll find a way -of sending you back to your own world, but--" his shoulders moved -negatively, "I can't say--" - -Adric's lean non-human face peered over Narayan's shoulder. He looked -subdued, and spoke with a curious humility. He sounded sane. "There -_will_ be a way, some day. It will take time to find it, now, -but--there will be." - -Spontaneously we grinned at each other. I could not hate this man. I -knew him too well. I knew, suddenly, that we would be friends. Which, -indeed, is what happened. - -Narayan looked from one to the other of us, troubled; then Gamine's -intent face was at his elbow. - -"I'll see to these men," she said quietly. "Narayan, they need you, and -it's your responsibility. They have to be told why they were wakened, -and how; there are slaves to be freed, armies--" - -Narayan glanced guiltily over his shoulder at the other Dreamers who -stood huddled together in a bewildered little knot. "That's so," he -acknowledged gravely, and went to his people. I watched him, feeling -as if my one friend here had deserted me; but it had to be that way. -Narayan was not our kind. He was the sort of man who could remodel a -world; but the look he sent us over his shoulder told Adric and I that -we should, if we liked, have a share in that work. - -"Now Mike Kenscott," said Gamine, "I want to talk to you." - -We left Adric and Cynara in that place, and I cast a wistful glance -back at them. Cynara was lovely, and very human, and I suppose I had -hoped that in some way she would compensate for my enforced stay in -this world. But there was Adric-- - -Gamine and I stood on the steps of the Dreamer's Keep, and her voice, -soft and wistful, mourned in the grey dawn. "No one ever knew I had the -Dreamer powers--except old Rhys. Rhys and I were bound together--he -knew, and kept me close to him, hid me and helped me. One day Adric -found out. It--changed Adric. He--we freed Narayan together. Then -Karamy made me what I was--what you saw. It hurt Adric--hurt something -in him. I could have cured him, in time, but Karamy had him bewitched. -She stripped him of power, of memory. I do not know, but perhaps some -day, Adric may remember that I was--I was--" - -"Gamine! Gamine!" Adric's voice cried from within, and the next -moment he rushed forth--caught the Dreamer woman in his arms, and his -mouth met hers and she stood swaying in his arms, laughing and crying -together. Cynara, following slowly, smiled with gentle satisfaction. I -said, stunned, "What--" - -Over Adric's shoulder Gamine's blue eyes met mine in liquid -satisfaction and she finished her interrupted sentence. "I was Adric's -wife," she said, gently. - -Cynara's voice was tenderly humorous as we left them together in the -glory of the rising sun. "Poor Gamine," she said, "and poor Adric, too. -I was sorry for them both. But I wish these men would make up their -minds!" - -I had an idea. - -"Adric's made up his mind," I said, turning my head a little toward the -couple who stood, clasped, as if they could never let go. "I suppose--" -I came a little closer to Cynara, who stood looking up at me with wide, -innocent eyes and lips ingenuously parted, "I suppose that gives me the -right to make up my mind. Doesn't it?" - -She smiled. "Does it?" 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