Kirlian Quest (6 page)

"Please produce the subject for exorcism," Herald said, still faintly bemused by the way his words emerged in quotes. No doubt he would grow accustomed to this, as he would to the other oddities of this situation.

But it was not to be so easy. "I am Duke of Kade," the man said, extending his right hand.

Herald took that hand with his own right, honoring the custom of digital contact common to many species, and a boon to those checking on aura. The Duke's aura was a strong one of seventy-five. The man was of middle human age, with pale blue-green hide color and orange disks around the black pupils of his two eyes. Since the Solarian base-stock had been black, white, yellow, or shadings between, Herald knew that this was a galactic offshoot, modified by generations of life aboard other planets. Most sapients suffered similar variations as they settled on alien worlds; local conditions inevitably had their effect.

"There are things you must know before you proceed," the Duke said. "Your presence was imposed on this house. I shall grant you the amenities of guest status, but it is my wish to be rid of you as soon as possible. Do not allow my politeness in company to mislead you about my basic attitude. Do we understand one another?"

Now Herald felt the hostility that permeated the man's aura, worse than that of Bore of Metamorphic. He was at the same time aware of a fundamental integrity and strength of purpose that he had to admire.

"I am not always welcome, but I always perform proper service for my fee," Herald said. This entity's animosity did not appear to be rooted in anti-Slash prejudice, but in some local matter of principle. Could it be similar to Herald's own refusal to mate with Flame of Furnace?

"I do not desire your service," Kade said bluntly. "I regard you as a charlatan. But I have made a covenant with my enemies that requires your participation. I shall now summon the enemy representative, who shall serve witness to the fact of your presence. Upon his arrival, you shall proceed to your ritual. I shall be pleased if it is brief."

"I appreciate your candor, and shall be as brief as possible." This fitted nicely with Herald's own preference; the mission should be over soon.

Kade made a snap with his fingers. A servant-Solarian appeared, garbed in a plain tunic: a contrast to the ornately embroidered robe of the master. Clothing, in this culture, made the entity. "Fetch the Witness," the Duke said.

The servant disappeared. Kade turned to Herald with grim formality. "Now, as befits a good host, I shall show you the grounds," he announced.

Herald was momentarily startled by the use of the word "host," but realized that in this context it lacked the usual connotations. To those who did not Transfer, a host simply meant the proprietor of a domicile. "It is not necessary," he said.

"One does not permit the agent of a malign influence to wander the premises unattended."

The antipathy was strong indeed! But there was no element of hypocrisy in it. This man hated him, but Herald knew he was quite safe from molestation in this residence. This was heraldic honor of the old style.

Herald shrugged, hoping the enemy witness would arrive promptly. "May I say, sir, that I feel better at ease with an enemy of your integrity than I would feel with a friendly hypocrite."

Kade gave him a bleakly appraising glance. "Thank you."

Kastle Kade was an impressive fortress. It was roughly circular, as befitted an artifact of a Disk culture (though this was still an oddity, since this was evidently a Sword-culture enclave within the Disk-culture Sphere), with outer walls about eighty feet high. These were braced by a triangular pattern of towers extending upward another twenty feet. Within this large enclosure was the keep: a massive stronghold substantially taller than the main wall, overlooking an entire lake—for the castle was an island in a lake formed by the damming of the River Donnybrook. Beyond the lovely water the mountains rose into the sky, their peaks snow-girt. To the east the ascent was virtually vertical, with cliffs the height of the castle plunging into the water. Only to the south, where the dam was, and to the north where the narrow river emerged, was there room for a level road.

"The stables," said Kade. He showed the way through a passage lined with chambers containing multiply wheeled creatures. "Planet Keep is within the old Sphere Sador, as reflected in the Shield of Arms. Sadors are wheeled entities, from the sapients to the sentients. But these are good steeds, as strong and responsive as the horses of ancient Earth." His suppressed ire could not conceal his pride in his stock.

Herald was unable to visualize how such creatures might be ridden, as their wheels projected in six directions. But he nodded affirmatively. The remainder of the premises were similarly intriguing, but he really was impatient to complete the mission.

At last the Enemy Witness arrived. He was a sapient wheeler, who superficially resembled the wheeled horses, but he was smaller, and his wheels differed, being smoother and finer. The topmost wheel spun rapidly, making vibrations in the air as its angled spokes tuned in. "I am Whirl of Sador, Earl of Dollar," he said, poking one side wheel forward.

A "dollar," Herald remembered, had once been a circular unit of currency formed of metal. So this designation was consistent with the culture. He touched the rim of the wheel with one hand. This, too, was a strong Kirlian entity, with an aural intensity of about fifty. High-aural individuals tended to gravitate to positions of power or responsibility. "Herald the Healer, of Sphere Slash, Andromeda." Privately, he marveled at the similarity of name-concepts; he had not so long ago interviewed an entity called "Whorl." But this was a different planet, and a different species, and a different language. Only the coincidence of his recent experience in the other galaxy made the analogy apparent. Herald had a natural tendency to integrate diverse factors; that was part of his skill as a healer and developer of Shields of Arms. But he also had to recognize when a juxtaposition was meaningless, as in this case. Whirl... Whorl... perhaps a multilingual intellectual riddle could be fashioned from it.

"Now we shall meet the subject for exorcism," Kade said stiffly. He snapped his fingers again. "Advise the Lady of our approach," he said to the servant who appeared.

They proceeded to an upper room. Kade lifted a heavy fiber bar from its crude catch which freed the door to swing open. So the Lady was a captive!

Inside, a small figure stood facing the narrow window. She did not turn or react as they entered. To Herald she conveyed an impression of forlorn indifference rather than anger or fear. She wore a sleek tunic shaped to be subtly feminine, and light slippers on her dainty feet. A female child, reminiscent of Smallbore of Metamorphic, but somewhat older. Certainly no demon.

"My daughter, the Lady Kade," the Duke said.

The figure turned, and Herald saw that she was indeed a lady, albeit a young one, barely nubile by the standards of the species.

"Herald the Healer, the exorcist," Kade said tightly. "Whirl of Dollar, Enemy Witness." His irony verged on discourtesy, but no one took overt notice. "If I may now absent myself from these proceedings...."

Now the Lady reacted, albeit timorously. "Father...." Her voice was thin and sweet, tinged with fear. The breast of her tunic pulsed slightly with the beat of her human heart beneath it, another hint of the tension that gripped her.

"Herald is a Cluster-famous healer," the Duke told her, his voice abruptly softening. "He would not destroy his reputation by harming you. The Earl is a creature of honor; he rests in judgment of the proceedings, not of you. When these two entities ascertain that you are innocent, they will make their reports and depart, and all will be well again."

"It has never been well," she said. But she seemed reassured.

Kade turned an inscrutable look upon Herald and the Witness. Without further word, he spun on his feet and departed.

Whirl settled on his side wheels. "I merely witness," he said. "I do not interfere."

Herald understood that there was a great deal he had not been told. But he preferred to obtain his information in his own fashion.

"Lady, may I touch you?" he asked, unsmiling. A smile was a stretching of the human mouth to suggest happiness or good intent, but at this stage it would have been hypocritical. He had been presented as an agent of the enemy, tolerated only because of terms imposed. Already he knew that the social or political situation was a large part of the problem. This girl might be an innocent focus, attacked by the enemy because she was dear to the Duke.

She put out one delicate hand as though suffering its amputation, while averting her gaze. Herald extended his own hand slowly, so as not to startle her into flight, and touched the tips of her small fingers.

She had a respectable but not remarkable aura of twenty-five, its type typical of a rare but established aural family. It exhibited the patina of stress, but was essentially normal and healthy. She was certainly not possessed by any alien aura.

She felt the tremendous healing power of his own aura, like none known in the Cluster for three thousand years—and melted. Her face turned to him, the large eyes focusing. They were orange, like her father's. The sunrise of hope emerged from the vacant gaze and seemed to illuminate her golden hair. In that slow moment she expanded from the forlorn child into a shining young woman, a truly regal Lady.

The Earl lifted on his wheels. "Supercircular!" he exclaimed. "With one touch you have transformed her! Even I, alien to your form, can perceive the miracle!" Then he broke off, stopping his communication wheel. And spun it again, momentarily. "Apology. I promised not to interfere."

The Lady turned to the Sador, but retained contact with Herald. "How is it that you, the Enemy Witness, react so positively to my pleasure? Do you not wish to burn me?"

"No, Lady, no!" the Earl exclaimed. "I wish you
cured
, that this unhealthy strife may be gone from fair Keep. Kastle Kade was ever the bulwark against deceit and oppression, the strongest and truest wheel of the King. Only this—this misfortune prevents it from being so again. I am enemy not to you or to your father, but to the demon possession that took your illustrious mother and threatens you. Be as you are at this instant, and we are all friends."

There was no mistaking the sincerity of the Earl's expression. Yet this was strange, for there should have been no need to summon a healer if the opposing factions were so eager to settle their differences.

"This girl suffers no possession," Herald said. "Her aura is rare but normal."

But now the Sador became adamant. "She is normal
now
, Healer. And perhaps with your help she will be normal always. But she has been possessed, and this is our concern."

"Perhaps we suffer a confusion of terms," Herald said. "By 'possession' I refer to the inhabitation of a host by a hostile, malevolent aura, what was historically termed 'hostaging.' "

"Precisely."

"This is not the case, here. Since an aura can be removed from a given host only by Transfer, the Lady cannot have been possessed—unless there is a Transfer unit in this castle. Then of course the hostile aura could have directed her to that instrument, and departed. But normally a good host is not given up so readily. And of course a foreign aura cannot control a host without the acquiescence of that host—"

"A demon can," Whirl said. "We of Keep know of cases."

Local superstition, Herald was sure. "Still, the other restrictions remain. Without a Transfer unit—"

"There is no Transfer unit here," the Earl said. "As Witness, I brought equipment to verify this."

"Exactly my point, sir. Since an alien aura could not have departed, and since there is none present now, possession cannot have been the case."

Still the Sador wheeled his ground. "It
has
been the case. I do not attempt to explain it, I merely affirm that it is so."

Herald returned to the girl, whose hand he still held. "Do you know whereof he speaks, Lady?"

"No, sir," she said. "I have never suffered siege by a hostile aura, though it is true that here on Keep such things can occur. My father believes that our enemies seek to harm him through me; to terminate the lineage of Kade, that they may accede to the spoils. Therefore this charge."

Herald nodded; the same suspicion had occurred to him. Heraldic manner often accompanied heraldic politics, the other face of the coin.

"False!" the Earl cried, his wheel seeming almost to fly off with his vehemence. "We are no part of such dishonor. We care only for the repute and welfare of our fine planet!"

Herald removed his hand from the Lady and stepped toward Whirl. "May I touch you again, Dollar?"

"I insist!" And the Sador extended his front wheel.

The contact showed considerable agitation of aura, but there was no deceit in it. The Earl was completely sincere.

"This is a problem," Herald said. "Your position seems unreasonable, yet you uphold it honestly. Is this typical of the forces you represent?"

"It is typical, Healer. It is not unreasonable. We have had experience. There is a demon among us, and the Lady Kade is now its focus. We do not profess to comprehend its mechanism; that is why we summoned you."

There might be a demon about, Herald thought, but it seemed to have possessed the enemy, not the Lady! He returned to her. "I cannot heal what needs no healing. Unless this demon manifests itself for me—"

"It will," the Sador said. "You have merely to remain here until it happens."

"I had expected to return within hours to my own Galaxy."

"If you do, and the demon manifests again, we shall have to burn the Lady," the Sador said. "Please do not force this course upon us; we regard it as an abomination."

"Burn her! In the Lady's presence, the Enemy Witness speaks thus!" Herald remarked with edged reproach. "Burning is characteristic of demons, not of Ladies."

"The Enemy Witness is a creature of honor," the girl said coldly. Much of her glow had faded when Herald's contact ceased, but she retained some spirit and now regarded him as an ally, not an alien technician. "They burned my mother."