Stealing the Elf-King's Roses

by Diane Duane

  Lee stood there trying to contain her anger, and turning and kneading the stone in her fingers, the way she kneaded pasta when she made it from scratch, to give her something to do while she was considering a problem. Do I go forward, or back? What I’ve got on the implant right now is enough to make a lot of trouble for these people. But if I—

  In her fingers, the stone went soft, and squished like dough.

  Lee gasped in terror and astonishment, and would have dropped it right on the floor if it had been out of her pocket. Even now she had to force herself to hold on to the stone; the feeling of what it was doing in her hand was bizarre. It was moving a little, squirming against her hand as if it was alive. I wish it would cut that out—

  It stopped.

  Lee’s eyes widened. It’s not just illusion they’re working with here. Things here can be changed. And not just by them!

  Lee gripped the stone in her fist harder.”—but he doesn’t have the support he needs in the Miraha,” the male voice was saying; “they’ve never trusted him—”

  No matter how solid this reality seems, Lee thought, it’s not that solid. Others plainly perceive this malleability, too, as a commonplace: a truth. And the truth that others can perceive, I can See, no matter where I am or how others try to prevent it… She took a long breath, preparing for the next experiment.

  Two things happened then. “They won’t have to trust him much longer,” said the female voice, getting louder by the second. “Kil, I’m for my couch. Comm me in the morning; we have some things to work out.” Away down the hall, near a wide archway of stone, Lee saw Dierrich dil’Estenv come out of another doorway, and saw her, without any fuss, seem simply to draw the air aside, and vanish through it and behind it, as if behind a curtain.

  The hair stood right up on the back of Lee’s neck. Suddenly she was standing at the comer of Eighteenth Street again, watching Omren dil’Sorden fall slowly past her, gasping out one of his last breaths; and that dark shape behind him, some Alfen male, pulled the air aside and was gone.

  Matt was right, she thought. The sonofabitch, he was right… But she had no more time to spend hating Mart’s guts, or making any further sense of what she’d seen—because the other thing happened.

  About two meters in front of her, one of the doors on the right hand side of the hall opened, and an Alfen came out, and looked straight at Lee in complete astonishment.

  In one of those frozen moments, Lee saw his mouth open to say she had no idea what. She didn’t wait around to discover. She took to her heels and ran back the way she’d come. Behind her, his shout echoed: “They’re out, the ephemerals are out!” As if we were in a kennel, or a hutch, Lee thought, running like a miler down that long hall, her fists pumping up and down as she ran. I could really begin to dislike these people if I didn’t need a door more!

  The blind wall a little way ahead of her began to ripple. The stone in her fist stung her hand, sharp-edged, a reminder or a warning. Lee hardly dared to slow, but there was no mistaking a sudden transparency of the wall, a doorway curtained in rippling air, leading somewhere else, anywhere but this hall—

  Worth a try, she thought, and threw herself through it. It brushed across her face and body like cobwebs that didn’t stop at clothes or skin but went straight through her. Lee shuddered, and came down clumsily on a stone floor, the jar of the landing shocking up into her knees. She looked around her in uncertainty and terror. Another hallway, in the modern part of the building this time. She saw someone come out a door at the far end of the hallway and head right for her—

  One more time! Lee said to the rock, looking at the nearest wall. And not just anywhere, this time!

  Our suite—

  The rippling melted into being, the texture of the stone moving with it. Lee jumped through it, once more enduring the cobwebs trailing across and through her, though they made her shiver—

  She was outside the door of the suite, which stood open. Lee stood there trembling for a moment, staring at it and finally understanding both the “fading” of Jok Chastelain’s psychospoor from the bus, and his strange vision that had looked to him like passing out. Someone had snatched him out of that bus through a gating just like this last one.

  But why’s the door open? “Gel?” she said, and went in.

  That was when the attacker hit her, slamming Lee against the wall to the right of the door.

  At another time, in another place where she hadn’t been so thrown by so many things at once, she might have done better. As it was, Lee went down under the weight of him, and wound up rolling around on the floor with him in an unseemly tangle of limbs, that being all she could do to avoid the knife. She didn’t avoid it entirely: once it scored down her left arm, and she couldn’t even get out a decent scream: he was weighing her down, pushing the breath out of her. All Lee could think was, Was it ever supposed to go this far? Was this just supposed to scare me into leaving? Well, guys, look, it worked—I’m scared!

  She was having a harder time breathing every second. But something white came flying over her, and the weight on top of her screamed hoarsely and rolled off her sideways. Lee managed to scramble to her feet again, gasping, and awarded her assailant at least one good kick in the kidney before he managed to shake loose of the white nightmare that had bitten him in the haunch and was now tearing at his legs. Grunting in pain, he stumbled out the door, a shape in dark clothes, down the stairs, gone.

  Gelert started to go after him. “No!” Lee said. Gel, we’ve got about a minute before they get here! If that long—

  “I can’t leave you alone for a moment, can I?” Gelert said. “Where have you been?”

  “Never mind.” She was shaking, and the tremors got worse by the moment; but also growing in her, irrationally, was a sense of tremendous amusement, even excitement. I’m the Tooth Fairy! Lee thought. I’ve myself reproduced the effect that I came here to investigate. I’ve even got it saved to the implant. The only problem is that by the time I’m scheduled to testify, I may be dead. “I want a hug,” Lee said.

  “What?” Gelert looked at her as if she was mad, but he came over to her regardless and reared up on his hind legs. Lee hugged him, pulling his huge head close over her chest with one arm, and making sure that no one could possibly see what her concealed hand was sticking into his mouth with the other. Gel, she said, they’re going to send us home.

  Ow! Well, after this, I think we should go! This is the second time someone’s gone after you, Lee.

  It’s no accident.

  You’re damn right it isn’t. Somebody wants me at least, if not both of us, out of the way of something else we’re not supposed to See or Scent, because it’ll make even bigger trouble for them than has already been caused by the presence of the UN committee here. But I don’t care about the setup. Something more important’s going on.

  Than your life?

  Much. And it’s important to our case, too. Something happens here the day after tomorrow, Gel, and I’m not leaving.

  Something happens? What happens?

  Someone’s going to try to kill the Elf-King.

  What, an assassination?

  Not exactly, Lee said. It’s some kind of duel.

  Gelert stared at her as if she were insane. But the Elf-Kings rule for hundreds or even thousands of years at a time. Why haven’t we ever heard anything about this kind of thing before?

  Because we don’t hear a tenth of a percent of anything about what goes on in this place! Lee said. That’s why we still don’t know who’s behind Omren dil’Sorden’s murder. And if I leave now, we’re not going to find out anything else. But these people who’re after the Elf-King know something about the murders. If we can stop what they’re planning—

  There was sound from down the stairs: their hosts were faking the use of the stairs in the “residence tower,” for the benefit of the other residents. Oh, come on, Lee! How, exactly? You going to get between them and tell them it’s not nice to fight? Why should we care wh
at they do, one way or another?

  I’m not sure, Lee said. But I care! And I have to do something.

  Like what? Stay here and get yourself—

  Someone’s had two tries at me already, Lee said. Sitting still anywhere, either here or at home, I’m just a target. Let’s see how well they do if the target’s moving around a little.

  You’re completely crazy!

  That’s what you told me while on the Migrin case, Lee said, and you saw how that turned out.

  The Migrin case was in our own universe, where we knew what the hell was going on, and where we could run for help if we needed it! Gelert shouted at her down his implant. Whereas here we don’t know who the hell we can trust, we don’t know how to get in or out, we don’t know whether even Justice is working the way She ought to.

  But we do know how to get in and out, Lee said, very softly.

  Gelert stared.

  Remember Eighteenth Street? Lee said. Remember the Tooth Fairy?

  Gelert turned his head just a little to one side, giving Lee a sidewise look.

  An Elf did that, Lee said. An Elf did it from here. And I did it. Because here—if you know what to do—you don’t need a gate complex. You don’t need a particle accelerator, or a ring; at least not a built one.

  You did it. Did you make a recording?

  Huh? It’s in the implant, yes—

  Dump it to me! Hurry!

  She activated the implant, and did so. I don’t know if it’ll help—

  I’ll take a look at it.

  They came in the door, then, a group of male Alfen in one-piece uniforms, ExAff’s livery. One of them went straight to Lee, holding a spray injector. “What’s that?” Lee cried.

  “It shouldn’t hurt you,” the man said, bland, as he pulled her sleeve up and injected her before she could pull away. “Our physiologies are like enough. But you won’t be walking where you’re not wanted for a while.”

  He let Lee go, and she stood there rubbing her arm, while one of the other Alfen produced a locking module. “Until we can find you adequate security to stop whoever’s trying to hurt you,” the ExAff officer said, “you’ll need to stay here. Have a quiet night.”

  They closed the door, and Lee heard the lock solenoids activate. She glanced down toward the terrace, and saw that what had been an open doorway was now a solid wall.

  Gelert gave Lee what was intended to be taken by their watchers as an angry look. “I don’t know what trouble you’ve gotten us into now,” he said, “but I had a long day, and I want to go back to sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning.” After I’ve reviewed this. He stalked off.

  In the dimness, Lee sat down in the big chair again, her hands empty now, nothing left to fiddle with. All she could do now was close her eyes, and see what she could See—and wait for her time.

  *11*

  Lee was up early that morning. She’d found it difficult to get any sleep for fear of the possible actions of whatever had been injected into her. It had certainly not been a soporific, but it had also certainly done what the Alfen who administered it had claimed. She quickly found that she couldn’t any longer See anything of the building that surrounded them, and she couldn’t make any of her surroundings change as she’d forced the walls to do.

  Gelert was up fairly early as well. He ate a good breakfast from the sideboard while holding a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger conversation with Lee about the events of the night before. She held up her end of it, but it was a desultory business for both of them; the more important conversation was going on silently, encrypted, in Palmerrand.

  That was some little jaunt you took, partner. One of these days your impulsiveness is going to get you killed.

  If I’d stayed in last night, the same thing might have happened! There’s no security around here, Gel, when these guys have the keys to all the locks.

  Something which will amuse the UN when they see your recording. Meantime, I looked at the rest of it. Interesting.

  What about the you know what? It seems to be the key. She was reluctant, even under encryption, to actually mention the stone by name.

  Maybe, maybe not. But it’s handled; put your mind at rest. Meanwhile, it’s now plain that Alfheim is at least potentially a lot more porous than they’ve been letting anyone think. All the Alfen’s noise, all these years, about their impenetrable security—

  Propaganda. Make everyone think Alfheim’s impenetrable, and sooner or later that becomes the perceived wisdom. And as for getting out—

  Lee had been breaking a piece of bread, eating it in small bits, one at a time. It seems at least possible that, if you know how, you can step out of Alfheim into another world, the way I saw Dierrich do last night, just from one place inside the world to another.

  That’s a possibility I’ve been considering, too. But it leaves you with one big problem. If they can do that, why would they spend all that money to build something like that huge array at Ys?

  For inbound traffic from other worlds. For data, too…and to eavesdrop on other people’s data, the way Sal wants to eavesdrop on theirs. But mostly to keep the secret, Gel; to make sure no one would suspect what they can do!

  Gelert thought about that. Those so-called free state rings…

  Maybe they exist elsewhere. Maybe even here. But here, they’re not absolutely necessary. Something else makes these personal gatings work.

  Something local to this space. Gelert flicked an ear forward. Why not? This space has other special qualities that we’ve known about for years.

  The reminder chime in Gelert’s doggie pack went off. “The financial committee meets in twenty minutes,” he said aloud. “I’d better get set.”

  “I have some things to talk over with dil’Estenv as well,” Lee said, and got up.

  Assuming she’ll still talk to you after what you were up to last night.

  Probably she won’t, but I have to try. Better to be proactive about this than sit around waiting for the axe to fall.

  You’re right. Meanwhile, when I get back, I’ll see if I can build some kind of bridge between your visual sense of how to ‘walk’ and my Scent-based way of perceiving things. If I can do this, too— Gelert grinned, and Lee understood why. With two sets of proof, no magistrate on Earth would be able to decline the evidence.

  You’re right, Lee said as she went into her bedroom to finish dressing. I just wish we could get a clearer sense of who that Alfen was. I’m betting it was the person who commissioned the murder…

  Gelert sighed at that. I doubt we’re going to get any information about that in the time we have left. Come on; let’s see what the day holds…

  *

  Ten minutes or so later, when Gelert spoke the door open to leave, he and Lee found themselves looking at two large Alfen from ExAff standing outside the door. “You can go ahead, madra,” one of them said. “But with regrets, Ms. Enfield, we’ve been instructed that you’re to remain here today.”

  “I need to see Dierrich dil’Estenv,” Lee said, putting a bold face on it.

  “I suspect her schedule is very full at the moment,” said one of the guards. “I’ll pass your request to her; but I wouldn’t set aside any other plans you might have.” He didn’t quite smirk.

  “That seems to have been done for me,” Lee said, being polite in spite of her private preferences. “Thank you anyway.” She spoke the door closed again, and went off to sit in her chair again, brooding.

  Lee spent all that day, and much of the early part of the evening, leaning her will against the fabric of things, pushing, straining, without result. There’s always the chance that they might have misjudged the dosage, she thought; that there’s something about our physiology that they don’t know. But the hope was vain.

  The door/window onto the terrace had cleared itself again, showing the “view” out to the mountains; but the forcefield had gone solid. Lee leaned against it for a while that afternoon, looking at the view as the sun swung westward, still trying to assert the p
ower that had been taken from her, even just to the extent of being able to See what was really there; but she had no success. She thought of the fairy tales, how there had been numerous references to magic ointments or talismans that Elves could give humans, enabling them to see the things happening in the secret realms, and how that vision could be withdrawn instantly if they chose. All very well. But my own Sight is a function of the perception of Truth, of the influence of Justice Herself. That shouldn’t be something they ought to be able to interfere with.

  Unless natural law here is different in other ways, too… Or unless they have other

  ‘instrumentalities’ like the roses…

  Finally, as day’s light died outside, Lee got tired of trying. She had just sat down in the big chair again, exhausted and rather depressed, when Gelert returned, surprisingly late. “Well,” he said, as he shouldered his doggie pack off inside the door as it closed behind him, “that’s it.”

  “What’s it?”

  “The Alfen government has formally notified the UN&ME that the committee’s time here is at an end. Sal had the timing judged practically to the minute.”

  It’s because of me, Lee said.

  Only partly, I think. I suspect you got it right; there’s something going on with the Elf-King, and these people want us out of here before it starts.

  “That’s depressing,” Lee said. “When are we supposed to leave?”

  “Tomorrow morning. It would have been today, except that Per stood up and was unusually eloquent, for him, in asking for a few hours extra to confer with the UN. They agreed, though they were reluctant.” But what I think he really wanted was time to make sure all the data we’ve gathered was sufficiently safely squirreled away for the Elves to be unable to sabotage or confiscate all of it before we leave.