The Gandalara Cycle I (30 page)

We couldn't hold the meld for long and as it faded. I sensed Keeshah falling hack into sleep.

*Good night, Keeshah,*
I said softly, not expecting him to hear me. But he roused again and answered me sleepily.

*Good night . . . Rikardon.*

***

**

*

INPUT SESSION ONE

Enough, you are tiring. We will withdraw together from the All-Mind. . . .

The Recording is complete for now. I will detach my mind from yours. . . .

How do you feel?

I am exhausted.

As it should be for the work you have done.

There is more:

When you have rested, we will Record again. For now, sleep. . . .

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The Glass of Dyskornis

Book Two of the Gandalara Cycle

For Ricardo Carillo, taking over the life of the swordsman Markasset on the desert world of Gandalara had its compensations: a strong young body, a beautiful fiancee, and a mighty telepathic warcat named Keeshah, who obeyed his every command. It also had its problems. Markasset had many enemies, and one was out for blood. So Ricardo and Keeshah left Raithskar to join the Sharith (the warrior brotherhood of warcat riders). But trouble followed, and he soon found himself in the company of a jealous lieutenant and a lovely but treacherous illusionist, on the track of the murderer who had stolen Gandalara's most precious gemstone.

INPUT SESSION TWO

Ah, you have awakened. And eaten well, I see. Do you feel well enough refreshed to begin again?

Yes, Recorder. I am ready.

Good. Before we start, let me review the material already entered into the Record of the All-Mind. Then you may continue. Agreed?

Agreed, Recorder.

You have told of your previous identity outside our world of Gandalara. Your name was Ricardo Carillo. You were an instructor of languages, sixty years of age, and a veteran of your world's wars. You had been told you would die soon of internal disorders. You were . . . “sailing”? Is the word correct?

Yes. I was traveling in a structure which floated on a large body of water, the Mediterranean Sea.

Sailing then, in the company of a woman named Antonia Alderuccio, when you saw a bright light in the sky which seemed to fall directly toward you. You thought it was a skybolt, is that not true?

My word for that is meteor. I thought it was a meteor.

When the bright light struck, you were unconscious for a time. Then you awoke in Gandalara wearing the body of a native named Markasset alone except for a dead man and Markasset's sha'um, Keeshah. There was a creature in your own world like Keeshah, it was called....

A cat. But there was nothing in my world quite like the Gandalaran sha'um. Most of our cats weren't half big enough. There was a prehistoric breed, the sabertooth that might have come close to Keeshah's size. All the mammals in Gandalara, including the men and women, have enlarged canine teeth, but Keeshah's tusks do not resemble the outsize fangs of earth's sabertooth.

May I ask you a question, Recorder?

Yes.

You seem uncertain of the material already recorded.

The All-Mind has perfect memory. I do not. May I go on?

Of course. My apologies.

You awoke in the Kapiral desert, and Keeshah saved your life by carrying you to a Refreshment House. There you learned of your new identity and first heard the name of Thanasset, Markasset's father.

Later, you discovered that Thanasset and his son were implicated in the theft of the Ra'ira, a beautiful jewel which had become a symbol of power in Gandalara. It had played a role in the destruction of the an
cient Kingdom, had it not?

In a way. The Ra'ira had been sent from Raithskar to one of the Kings as tribute. It had become a symbol of authority for the rulers of Gandalara.

As the sea called the Great Pleth had diminished, other cities had sent tribute in the form of slaves to work the fields and fight a losing battle against the salty desert that was closing in on K
ä
. Raithskar's contribution to K
ä
’s support was water.

Markasset's ancestor, Serkajon, realized that the Kings had ceased to rule Gandalara, and were merely exploiting it.

So Serkajon stole the symbol of their power.

Yes, Recorder. He took the Ra’ira back to Raithskar. The King's Guard followed him and demanded the return of the Ra'ira. But he persuaded them that he was right. They abandoned the last King of Gandalara and took a vow to support their Captain's plan to keep the jewel surrounded and protected by honest men.

The protective system Serkajon set up, a ruling Council of twelve Supervisors, continued until Gharlas stole the gem.

Gharlas was the master of the caravan which had departed Raithskar the day of the theft.

After an attack by the Sharith, the sha'um riders descended from the King's Guard, the remnants of the caravan told the Chief of Peace and Security that Markasset (under the name he had given) had left his guard post on the night before the attack occurred - which gave Zaddorn good cause to confine you for questioning.

It was fortunate, for me, that Illia had time to warn me.

I couldn’t help Thanasset by staying in Raithskar, and I truly didn’t know where Markasset had been when the Sharith attacked. If the Ra'ira had been with the caravan, and if the Sharith had attacked the caravan....

So you set out for Thagorn, killing a man, during your escape, whom you thought to be one of Zaddorn's officers. You entered Thagorn in disguise, and met Dharak, the Lieutenant of the Sharith, and his son, Thymas.

Gharlas had arranged for the attack, requesting that everyone on the caravan be killed. The Lieutenant had decided, instead, to sell the survivors to an Eddartan slaver. One of the prisoners, Hural, had been involved in the theft, and he answered your questions.

Don't forget that Zaddorn was present, too. He had made the trip to Thagorn in record time, the last few miles in the uncomfortable cargo net of a Sharith patrol. When he realized that I was about to uncover some information, he didn't reveal my identity to the Lieutenant.

And his presence was a good thing, because Hural died, of his own wish, at the end of his testimony. He described the madness of Gharlas, who believed obsessively that he should be King of Gandalara. Hural said that Gharlas carried a power, long rare, to read and to influence men's minds. Gharlas had compelled Thanasset to believe he had locked the door of the Ra'ira's vault when, in truth, he had left it quite open.

Dharak and Thymas assured Zaddorn that such power was possible. An illusionist, Tarani, claimed and used that power for the entertainment of the Sharith. Zaddorn was convinced of Thanasset's innocence.

Dharak had known who I was, the moment I had walked into Thagorn. He told me, privately, that as Serkajon's descendant - and because my loyalty to Thanasset had proved something to him - he regarded me as the new Captain of the Sharith, and would await my orders about the Ra’ira.

You sound as though this disturbed you.

It did. I had accepted Markasset's responsibilities toward his father, and his engagement to Illia, but my only interest in the Ra'ira lay in proving that Thanasset didn't steal it. I hated to disillusion Dharak, who had been more than fair with me, but I would have told him "no" right then, if he hadn't also told me that Thanasset was in danger.

So you and Zaddorn returned to Raithskar, after persuading Keeshah to accept Zaddorn as a second rider.

And after persuading Zaddorn to ride him. That was the hard part.

When you reached the city, Ferrathyn heard Zaddorn's story, and assured you that the Council would clear Thanasset of all involvement with the theft. But you inquired about the penalty for killing a peace officer, thereby alerting Zaddorn to the change in you.

I really should have known, Recorder, that all peace officers in Raithskar wore gray baldrics. But, as I explained earlier, Markasset's memories were not totally accessible to me. So I told everyone present what I had told Thanasset earlier. I said I was not Markasset.

Who was present at that time?

Zaddorn, Illia, and Ferrathyn; Markasset's great-aunt Milda; and, of course, Thanasset and myself. Illia agreed to postpone any wedding plans until she could get to know me better. Milda was most troubled by the fact that I didn't know what had happened to Markasset, or if he would ever return.

Which he wouldn't, as you found out when Thanasset presented you with the great treasure of his house, Serkajon's sword. Markasset's memories came to you and you knew that he had died in the desert, as he followed Gharlas away from the caravan, the night before the Sharith attack.

I assume that the third member of the team of thieves killed Markasset by hitting his head with a rock, thrown or slung from a distance.

Keeshah killed him, Markasset's murderer, but Gharlas simply went on his way, with the Ra'ira.

It was . . . difficult to tell Thanasset that his son was dead. But he accepted it well, and even offered to invoke the ancient custom of awarding a new name with the sword, so that I could be called by the more familiar name, Rikardon.

I believe that sums up your first entry into the Record. Has anything been omitted?

Yes, two things.

And these are . . . ?

First, the All-Mind. My understanding of it is imperfect, and somewhat different from the native
Gandalaran's viewpoint.

Then describe it in your own words, so that it may be clear in your mind before we begin this session.

Thanasset tried to explain it to me. I understood it to be a sort of group consciousness, accessible in different degrees to all Gandalarans. Two lines of thought prevail in Gandalara about the All-Mind: first, that it is composed of the surviving personalities of all men and women who have ever lived; and second, that only their memories have survived. In either case, the All-Mind is accepted as natural and useful, respected but not worshiped.

Thanasset explained your appearance within this framework, did he not?

He tried, and I thought it best to let him believe something he could accept. He said I was a Visitor, a personality of someone long dead, whom the All-Mind had sent into Markasset's body for some purpose which I might not even know. Such Visitations had occurred before, though rarely. He thought it an honor to Markasset, and I believe it brought some ease to the pain of losing his son. I could not take that from him.

Ferrathyn suggested that you might be Serkajon. A logical choice, certainly, since you were of his house, and were to carry his sword.

He did suggest it, but I told him he was wrong. As I said regarding the conversation with Dharak, Markasset's responsibilities were quite enough for me to handle.

There was another point overlooked?

Keeshah. You have mentioned him as an animal which carried Markasset, but you have not discussed the special bond between him and Markasset, and between him and me.

The nature of the telepathic link between sha'um and rider is well understood in the All-Mind.

But you asked me, in the first session, to tell everything as it happened, in the greatest detail possible, leaving nothing out. The bond may be routine in Gandalara, but it was new and wonderful to me, a sharing such as I had never known in my world. When he accepted me in Markasset's place. Keeshah became my first and strongest tie to Gandalara