Vengeance of the Dancing Gods (18 page)

"It is mortal? It can be killed?.

"Oh, yes. But it is quite large, and you will not meet it directly with swords or arrows. The only way to be certain is to bum it out..

"Bum it out," said the other.

The officer thought about it. "Well, if we do that, and the souls are in fact down there, won't we risk damaging or harming them?.

"That is a risk. If the souls are freed by melting the Page 93 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods cork or glass, then they will not return to the body but will pass on. Fairy souls will become disembodied spirits, doomed to wander..

"Doomed to wander," agreed her sister.

Marge thought a moment, then said, "Why not use electricity?.

They all stared at her. "It is a natural phenomenon, not something that can be used like a sword or tar pot,.

the captain noted.

"Perhaps it can, if the kind wizards here can help.

Copper is one of the best conductors of electricity. If we can get a large amount of copper wire, then a fierce thunderstorm overhead, we might be able to get the lightning to strike the wire." She suddenly stopped. "No, forget it.

The thing isn't going to sit still with copper wire shot into it while we wait for a strike..

"Oh, I think this can be arranged," Agie said calmly.

"Yes, this can be arranged," her sister agreed.

What they finally settled on was a mesh net made of copper and connected by a pure copper lead to the highest point on the old ruins. The net was quite nicely woven and even somewhat flexible, primarily because it was transmuted from some of the Master's camouflage netting by the sisters.

When all was ready, the troops were positioned around 121 JACK L. CHALKER the well, but not too close, and the sisters simply stood there, a bit to one side, eyes closed, hands linked. Almost immediately, it grew darker and there was a sudden chill in the air. Above, where there had been a nearly clear sky, clouds swirled in a frenzy of agitation, looking almost like paint in water. Then the very ground began to shake and tremble with the fearsome sound of thunder. Lightning licked from the clouds to the ground and danced in pencil-streams just above the treetops. Suddenly, Marge saw, one of the sisters took her mind off the storm and threw a basic nulling spell back into the well.

Almost immediately there was a roar like the sound of a rogue elephant, and from the well suddenly sprouted great squidlike tentacles, waving around and lashing out both at the air and at the ground around. The troopers tensed as a sudden violent rainstorm struck, but the sisters and the troops held their ground.

The creature in the well pushed upward, clearly striving now to get out, and the copper mesh lifted as the start of the body emerged, revealing two gigantic and evillooking but unnaturally human eyes.

Suddenly there was an enormous flash and a bolt came from the terrible storm and struck the rod atop the ancient Page 94 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods ruin. The charge was enormous, and was instantly carried along the line to the mesh.

The creature was suddenly thrashing about in agony, engulfed in a swirl of crawling electrical energy. It flashed and flailed against the mesh, but this only got it more snarled in the thing.

A second great bolt struck the rod and led to the creature, and this time there was a horrible smell of burning flesh mixed with the strong scent of ozone. Now yet another bolt struck, and another, and the great squidlike creature leaped up from the well until its massive body was clear and rolled on the ground. They retreated before it, but while the tentacles continued to lash out, and it continued to hop around, one look at the eyes and the 122 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS senseless motions told them it was in its death convulsions.

Now the troopers poured spears and arrows into the creature; as soon as the rain stopped, brave teams with buckets of foul-smelling liquid ran out, trying not to get trapped in the death-throes, and threw the contents of those buckets onto the creature wherever they could.

At least a dozen buckets were unloaded before the thrashing of a tentacle killed one man and wounded another, and Captain Kolos signaled for a halt and nodded to bowmen, who lit flame-tipped arrows and shot them into the mass.

The creature burst into flame, and for more than a half an hour they watched as it continued to bum and seemed almost to melt down, until, finally, it was nothing more than a bubbling mass.

The two sisters looked very tired, but also smug and satisfied.

"It's clean now, in the spell and creature sense of the word," Agie told them. "You may go down now..

"Yes, go down now," Magie echoed.

It took another hour to explore the three hundred yards or so of the tunnel, and to find the cache hidden in a small chamber off to one side, almost in the center of the tunnel.

The opening had a simple door, obviously rather recently installed, and a lock that didn't take much force to break.

It was made primarily to keep the pet watch-squid from fooling around with the merchandise.

Inside the chamber, lighted by torches and lanterns, they gasped at the contents. There were cartons upon cartons of bottles, each marked with a symbol code with some sort of crayon.

"It will take forever to figure out who these all are,.

Marge said, feeling hope fade. "How will we ever break Page 95 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods the code?.

There was a box that hadn't been sealed or labeled yet, and Kolos looked at it, reached in, and removed a bottle. "Well, maybe it won't be impossible. These bottles 123 JACK L. CHALKER seem to have labels with names on them, although a few have been screwed up. Looks like some water got into here today. See?" He took them out one at a time. "This one says Lucas something or something Lucas. This one says Jones. These two have been water-smeared. Kaz something on this one, and something 'berg' on this other.

With any luck we might get many of them matched. It's a good bet that most are dead, anyway, so we're just freeing them, but I hope we can find the ones for those six living assistants out there. They may know just who this fellow is..

There was a small group of bottles off by themselves on the floor near the door. Marge went over and saw that the water, or humidity, or whatever had caused the labels to drop off, but the corks, at least, looked new. She nervously reached down, picked up the labels, and handed them to the captain. "What names are these?" she asked him.

He looked at them. "Joe O," he read, "T of M, Cap, MM, MCR, and WDNYM," he read. "Not very helpful..

"Well, it is and it isn't," she responded, her heart sinking.

"I think I can take a guess at them. Joe is the big barbarian and my old partner. T of M is probably Tiana ofMorikay, Cap is Captain Ely, MM is perhaps 'mermaid,' MCR is Macore, and the last probably stands for 'wood nymph.' Captain, I'm afraid that those bottles contain the souls of my company..

He looked at them, then at the labels. "Which is which?.

"I haven't the slightest idea. The labels had fallen off, and apparently our opening the door caused enough of a breeze to mix them all up. We know which bottles, but not who's in what!.

CHAPTER 9 MIXED DOUBLES Anything that can go wrong will. It's more fun that way.

—Sayings of Murphitus, ancient Husaquahrian philosopher THEY ASSEMBLED THE FIVE BODIES AND ONE STATUE IN the cabin of the Piebald Hippogryph, and the six bottles were set on the table in front of them. Agie and Magie, although very tired and looking very frail, had consented to advise on the restoration, but they really could help only with the technical procedures.

"One soul is identical to another in the pure state,.

Page 96 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods Agie told them. "Only when it is mated with the body does it become distinctively individual, although, of course, it contains the coded information on memory and such, which will reorganize the brain when it enters. The trouble is, we can't tell one from another unless they're in bodies and can tell us for themselves..

"Unless they can tell us," Magie agreed.

Marge and Kolos both frowned. "So," the Kauri said, "it's strictly luck in this case, and the odds of getting them all right are impossible." She had a sudden thought/'What if they are wrong? Can't you unmix them when we know who's who?.

"Oh, my, no," Agie said worriedly. "Once the soul and the body mate, we know of no way to undo them except through the same sort of process that caused this in the first place, and that requires a demon and a very serious bargain..

124 JACK L. CHALKER 125 "Very serious," Magie repeated ominously.

"What about transmutations, then?" Marge suggested, trying to figure a way out of this. "I mean, I've seen people changed into animals and vice versa..

"People into animals, yes," Agie replied. "That's no problem. But people into other people—that is different.

One can take on the appearance of another, but it is all illusion. Sorry—it's the Rules, you know..

"It's the Rules," Magie echoed.

Marge knew about the Rules all too well, but she wasn't ready to give up yet. "When Joe and I first came here from Earth, Ruddygore did something to change our appearance. That didn't mean much to me in the end, because I was a changeling, but Joe didn't look much like the man you see here..

"Oh, yes, but, you see, that was in the process of binding you to the Rules. Even then—was not a demon directly involved?.

She nodded. "I'm afraid so," she responded. "I'd forgotten..

"Then your only hope is for Ruddygore to call in some of his debts and get a demon to help them again, if Hell will do so. If the demons are directly involved in this plot, they will not be likely to help in any case..

"Not at all likely," Magie agreed.

Marge turned to Kolos. "You've reached Ruddygore?.

He nodded. "The problem was relayed to him. He said, in effect, that he was reasonably satisfied with the outcome and not to bother him unless either this Master Page 97 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods struck again or you'd seen the Oracle. He seemed to regard this problem as a minor matter, I'm afraid." Marge whistled. "It won't be minor to them. Still, that sounds like a go-ahead to me. We certainly can't keep them like this.

"Can we do it one at a time? At least we'll have a chance that way to get some right," she suggested, knowing she was clutching at straws.

"Oh, they'll be out cold for a day or so," Agie told 126 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER 127 her. "It takes more time to write information in than to remove it and erase it, particularly if it's going into a different body. Don't worry, though. The longer they're in a new body, the more they'll adjust to it. Hormones and such, you know, and the animal parts of the brain and all that..

"Hormones and animals," Magie repeated, sounding a little eager.

"You mean—if they're in new bodies long enough, they will become so wedded to them they won't want their old selves back?" Even Kolos was shocked at the idea.

"How—long before this happens?" Marge asked hesitantly.

"Oh, it varies tremendously. A few days with some, a few weeks with others, even longer with some—depends on the personality..

"It depends," Magie added for emphasis.

Marge looked at the bottles, then at the reclining bodies.

"Well, it has to be done. They can't do anything as they are. At least, Audra's won't be a worry. That's a fairy soul..

"Makes no difference," Agie told her. "A soul's a soul to this sort of thing..

"A soul's a soul," Magie agreed.

Marge took a deep breath. "Well, let's get this over with..

The process turned out to be something of an anticlimax.

A spell was placed on the cabin interior blocking exit by literally anything, so that the souls could not escape and perhaps find refuge in that zombie army still frozen out there. The four inside the room who already had souls were safe; given a choice, they were assured, freed souls always went for vacant bodies, if such were handy. Only when there was no alternative present was there a chance of possession.

Page 98 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods Agie stepped forward, took the first bottle, asked for a corkscrew, found one at the rather nicely stocked small bar, and opened the first bottle as if opening a bottle of wine.

Literally nothing could be seen, even on the fairy bands, but Marge felt a sudden added presence in the room, a presence very much alive and with an overwhelming feeling of confusion. It seemed to fly about the room, then settle on the forms and then sink into one, almost as if the body had absorbed it. Marge sensed that it had entered Joe's body.

One by one the process was repeated, with nearly identical results. It was interesting to note that none of the first five had gone to the pretty statue of the nymph Audra; all had gone into the still living bodies. That left Audra's form for number six, whoever or whatever it was. Marge hoped that it was in fact the nymph, and that at least a small percentage were correct from the start. Unfortunately, here, as on Earth, she knew that Murphy's Law seemed supreme even over the Rules.