The Nonborn King (43 page)

The inflatable skimmed up to the accommodation ladder Cloud made the painter fast and mounted "Owen's still sleep ing," she noted, after sending a fleeting redactive touch belowdecks

"Good He wore himself out working with you on Jill Thank heavens he didn't insist on coming ashore for the bunal " He rummaged in the portable cooler and brought out a flagon of coconut punch and two of their dwindling supply of gamma chicken-salad sandwiches from Ocala "Funeral baked meats Relax, babe Take a break before the King of the Elves shows up"

They sal in canvas chairs in the cockpit, sheltered from the sun by an awning stretched between the mainmast and backstay

THE GiGANTOMALHY

31?

Cloud chewed the sandwich rapturously "Civilized food' God I'm sick of fish and roast waterfowl and those insipid palm fruits It's breakfast time back in Florida, do you realize inat? Bacon and scrambled eggs Gnts and honey Orange juice and sweet iced tea "

"Heartless broad," Eiaby accused He refilled her beaker with the milky-colored rum drink "Sorry you carne^'

She shook her head "I had to All of us did Even the gang Papa shunted off to Africa aren't sorry they left home We're a little closer to the time-gate, anyhow We ve forced Papa to take us and our needs seriously " She hesitated "He'll come to Europe, you know "

"You're certain?"

"I know him better than anyone "

"Will he help or oppose us^'

"He may not have decided I can't say " She set aside the remains of the meal A cloud of sulfur-yellow butterflies flul tered by the port rait, heading toward the Gulf of Guadalquivir She caged one briefly with her PK, watched it tremble and flail its tiny knobbed antennae, then set it free It flapped off after the others "Papa doesn't want to kill us I was nghl about that He won't do it unless we force him to Unless we deliberately put him and his people in jeopardy by our opening of the gate, or if we try to kill him "

"Some of us wouldn't scruple at it "

"I know " Her expression was tranquil "Hagen You "

"But not you^" The young man swirled the ice cubes in his dnnk, frowning at them When Cloud did not answer, he posed another query "Would you stand in the way of the rest of us, if there seems no other way to handle it?"

"I want us all to be free," she said "if we could only work together, both generations, instead of at opposite poles' Building the apparatus and siting it properly in the midst of this barbarian circus will be difficult enough Maybe impossible "

"Don't wash us out too soon, babe We've lost some ground, but we may have gained some as well Our element of secrecy is gone now that Marc's guessed our intention, and your hothead brother's threats have made Marc the teensiest bit skeptical of our loyally But your father isn't the only big gun in the fight Don'I forget the Nonbom King If things keep going downhill here in the Many-Colored Land. hejusl might start seeking wider horizons "

Cloud was dubious "Here, Alken's a large fish in a small pond What would he be in the Milieu, compared to the Coadunate Mind? Besides, Papa seems to have him quite overawed as a result of the metaconcert teaching "

Elaby gave a quiet chuckle "Don't you believe it This head's young Onty about twenty-two Yet he's managed to take over an establishment that dominated the Pliocene for forty years, using just his own naked brain "

"Alken simply picked up the pieces after catastrophe He's king of the ruins' A demigod in Gotterdammerung "

"Maybe yes. maybe no I see him chock-full of nuts and eager to howl And a first-class power, babe, don't forget that Your father may just have a fish on his hook this time that's more than he can handle "

Cloud bit her lower tip, looking toward the gorgeous heap of blossoms and the upright stone slab on shore Finally, she said, "Do you think Alken will actually be able to handle this massive synergy^ Papa could be planning to seize the executive from him at a critical moment "

"If Marc doesn't, if he can's, then there may be a chance for us to enlist Alken on our side later on I still find it amazing that Marc agreed to let Alken focus the psychozap It implies confidence in Golden Boy's abilities or a nasty piece of manipulation "

"It's hard to think that someone else in this world might just be a match for Papa " Cloud's thought-tone was full of perplexity

"He's played God too damn long," said Elaby bitterly "We've forgotten that Marc's human That he's a loser He lost it alt in the Milieu, and now he's lost us And he obviously feels threatened by both Felice and Alken "

"Papa is still a Paramount Grand Master farsensor, coercer, and creator," said Cloud quietly "And he's limited here in the Pliocene mainly because there are so few suitable minds for him to work with Don't ever forget that he was one of the two greatest mental coordinators in the Galaxy Only his brother Jon was better "

"Remind me to light a candle to St Jack the Bodiless "

Cloud stood staring aft, her farsight wandering northward to the little islands off the mouth of the Genii where the forces of Celadeyr and Aluteyn and the other Spanish Tanu had been camped for two days, awaiting their rendezvous with Alken Drum's fleet She shifted her gaze, scanning westward toward the Atlantic "I still don't see Alken coming," she said nervously "How far out are they now, Elaby''"

"Fifteen hours, approx Their ETA at the base-camp on the Genii is still dawn, as Alken promised They've been saving their metaf acuities, using Ma Nature's winds most of the way from Bnttany But this morning when they finally rounded Cape St Vincent, Alken put his psychokinetics to work The fleet must be making twenty-six knots now We'll all be off to the Betics tomorrow on schedule "

"And maybe we'll all die " Cloud came over to him, laying her head on his shoulder and embracing him so tightly that her fingers dug into the muscles of his back like claws "Darting, I don't know why poor Jill this morning, and now this stupid dangerous thing we're being forced to do with Alken Drum why I should feel like this it's insane, but

"It's normal," he whispered in her ear "Normal to reach for life when the wortd seems ready to end Very common phenom, if you can believe the books in the library back on Ocala Plagues, wars, earthquakes, all disasters are keen incitements to venery "

"It's ridiculous "

He kissed her "Sex often is So what?" He led her to the compamonway stairs "What say we rock the boat. then make everything shipshape for the roya! visit?"

They disappeared. The breeze died and the jungle creatures were hushed in the afternoon hea.t Two ramas emerged briefly from the undergrowth to inspect the mound of flowers and finger the strange incisions on the rock slab. Then they melted back into the greenery, their curiosity satisfied.

In his cramped cabin on the great tern schooner that was the Tanu flagship, Culluket worked on the cuirass of his ruby armor resetting a few loose gemstones in the blazon, riveting a new strap in place of one that had weakened, then burnishing the whole so that the glass with its transfixed caput mortuum gleamed more nchly than a slick of fresh blood

You will die looking magnificent, at any rate, he told himself Too clever at last, Interrogator' If you should escape being devoured by your demonic sweetheart, then surely your overdevious brain will be reduced to charred meat after serving as d living buss-bar between Alken Drum and the Angel of the Abyss You wilt die for your King, a very martyr to the battlereligion of your ancestors A hero of the Host of Nontusvel could ask for no more glonous fate' What a pity you are a traitor to your blood, and an atheist, and so addicted to life that you would submit to any degradation now in order to be spared You would even appeal to her, were it not the ultimate in futility

"Culluket," said Mercy

He started, torn from his bitter revene Mercy's figure, clad in her silver-and-green parade armor, materialized out of invisibility She had interpenetrated his cabin door It was a violation of Tanu etiquette almost as senous as levitating without a steed

"Great Queen, what is it?" He hastened to pull the scattered pieces of armor together so that there would be room for her to stand

Her mind radiated a fearful intensity, impinging on his own thick barrier with a coercive force that blurred his sight "I need you to escort me to Lord Celadeyr now, while Atken is locked in mind-meld with that horrible Abaddon It may be the only chance I have Hurry, man' Enarm yourself This is no social call And I'll want the small sigma-field Alken's given you as a defense against Felice "

He harnessed up hurriedly The two of them. invisible,

THE GtGANTOMACHY

321

body-flew eastward above the Gulf of Guadalquivir, toward the deformed old moon rising late over the Andalusian Jungle, and the camp where the Lord of Afaliah and the Craftsmaster and the rest of the Koneyn nobility awaited the fleet's arrival The site of the rendezvous was carefully concealed, both physically and mentally The 3500 chalikos that would equip the raiding party had been penned in a mangrove swamp a full five kilometers from the camouflaged pavilions of the nobtes and their retainers

As Mercy and Culluket hovered just offshore, she commanded, "Farspeak your brother Kuhal on the intimate mode Tell him we have arrived "

"Kuhal is here^" Culluket was nonplussed "Surely he would not have been forced, "

"Do as I say," she snapped "It was I who saw to it that Celo brought him along You'll soon find out why Tell Kuhdl to call both Celo and Aluteyn Craftsmaster to his tent "

Culluket obeyed He and Mercy wafted into the encampment and became visible inside the dimly lamplit shelter of the convalescent Earthshaker Kuhal lay on a bunk. propped up with cushions Beside him stood the two Tanu heros, waiting in silence for Mercy's explanation Their antagonism for the in terrogator was unconcealed

She said, "Nodonn is alive "

"Glonous Goddess'" exclaimed Kuhal, and Cuiluket made haste to clap a crude redactive damper over the invalid's mind

"Erect the sigma-field," Mercy commanded "It will be enough protection for us so long as Alken and the others have no suspicions and don't deliberately try to poke into it "

Culluket took the device from his armored crumen set it upon Kuhal's mghtstand, and activated it The noises of the jungle night chopped off The tent and its inhabitants were isolated within a dynamic field virtually impervious to most energy and matter

"I've known about Nodonn since early in May,"Mercy said, responding to unspoken questions "He's been marooned on Kersic all this time, in a coma, tended by a Lowlite woman who kept him inside a cave- This is why none of us detected him. Not even I."

"Where is he now?" asked Celadeyr flatly- "What shape is he in?"

"He's hidden in Var-Mesk, cared for by Lord Moreyn, who is", she swept the Lord of Afaliah and the Craftsmaster with a trenchant glance, "a First Comer to the Many-Colored Land, just as you. And loyal to the old traditions- As you are."

"Now, hold on a minute!" Aluteyn protested. "I gave my oath of fealty, "

"To a foul usurper!" Kuhal interrupted "Under mortal duress and a sense of desperate inevitability, as we all did- Such an oath stinks before the Goddess! It demands repudiation!"

"Calm down before you strain something." the Craftsmaster advised. He pulled up a sturdy stool and lowered his bulk gingerly onto it The others also drew up seats close to the cot, and Mercy and Culluket removed their helmets. Aluteyn addressed his Queen. "Tell us exactly what happened to Nodonn, lass Don't leave out a thing "

She coordinated the data in her mind, then displayed it without comment, save for the shining backdrop of her own

JOY

When they had done studying, Kuhal beckoned her and took

her silver-gauntleted hand to kiss. His eyes overflowed for the first time since his rescue.

"You are truly one of us, Mercy-Rosmar," he said, "and worthy to be Queen."

Old Celo's reaction was bleaker, practical "Nodonn's still weak as a kitten. Not as badly off as you, Kuhal, but in no shape to take on Alken." He stared at Mercy. "You've waited this long to tell us... and perhaps it's true that you had no choice. But what do you expect us to do?"

"Abandon him," she said simply. "Leave him to Felice. We can alt of us fly except Kuhal. and Celo can carry him. Let's start for Var-Mesk now, flying within the sigma-field! Let's go via Aven and Kersic, where we can hide in wilderness when we tire, deep in sheltering caves secure from his golden wrath!

THE GtGANTOMACHY

323

Aiken has no long-distance psychoenergetic function. And he won't follow us, since that would mean abandoning his Quest "

Aluteyn groaned. "Lass. lass! Yourhappiness over Nodonn's deliverance has robbed you of your wits."

"How could we leave our fellow wamors behind, in peril of Felice?" Ceio demanded of her. "Would Nodonn want this?"

"The fleet is almost here," Kuhal said sadly "Our people are committed. Great Queen -. if only you had told us your news earlier."

"I didn't dare try to contact you through farspeech!" she cried. "I'm too clumsy still at far focusing. It was Nodonn who held the thin mind-beam secure between us. And he warned me, " Like a red-hot wire. her scorn lashed out at Culluket "You watched and listened! And now even Aiken suspects something, perhaps he even knows for certain that Nodonn lives! I was afraid my own farspeech would betray Nodonn completely. Or that Culluket would'"

The Interrogator bowed his head. "My former loyalty to the usurper has been shaken since his alliance with Abaddon. You know the role that those two have forced on me. -"

Aluteyn uttered a short laugh "And we also know what your loyalty' s worth compared to your own precious skin! Poor Culi Whipsawed yourself properly this time."

"I know Culluket hales Nodonn-" Mercy's mind was icy. "But they are Host Brothers. And Tanu. And now there's a fine expedient reason for Cull to turn his coat again! Isn't that so, Redactive Brother?"

"The Great Queen is wise," said Culluket, without emotion

"Well, then!" she exclaimed, the old wildfire in her eyes. "If we can't fly to Nodonn now, then let's think about how we might use Felice to kill Aiken! Shall we warn her of his impending raid on her treasure-trove?"