Soul Rider #01: Spirits of Flux and Anchor

by Jack L. Chalker

  She looked up at him sharply. "Watch it!"

  He shrugged. "No moral judgments, remember? Besides, there's a lot worse places to wind up than Pericles. But you watch it from now on. He may try anything at any time,, and if he is our man and if he's also what he claims to be, he's one of the most powerful wizards on all World. He'd have to be just to reach First Minister in Persellus." He thought it over. "Still, if I were him, I wouldn't touch you at all. It'd give him away, where all we have now are strong and unsupported suspicions."

  She suddenly remembered the goddess's comments on her. "Matson? What exactly is'a Soul Rider?"

  The question took him by surprise. "Huh? Where'd you hear about them?"

  "The goddess said I had one inside me." His mouth dropped and a light seemed to dawn in his head. "So that explains it! I was wondering if I was too long in this job or what. Uh huh. A Soul Rider. Well I'll be…"

  "You do know, then!"

  He nodded. "More or less. They are—creatures. Not much is known about them, except that they're parasites of some kind and they hate the Seven so much they get their hosts in a whole lot of trouble. One picked you, probably back in the Anchor, and most of what happened after that was at least partly its doing."

  She grew nervous. "Parasite. Will it—hurt me?" He chuckled. "Well, depends on how you look at it. Supposedly they pick people, ordinary people, and get inside them, and all of a sudden those people get into a whole lot of trouble. Things happen to them that wouldn't happen to most folks in a lifetime. Now I know you're on to something here with this Haldayne fellow."

  She felt very uncomfortable. "Then, it might have been this Soul Rider that caused me to find the Sister General fixing the lottery in the first place? And the reason Dar took me and only me when he ran?"

  Matson nodded. "Probably. But, remember, it's also responsible for somehow getting me to put my string on you so we could follow your trail and find the pocket. And I don't think it was coincidence that Montagne was stopped just before he changed you into one of his—creatures, or, maybe, that Dar had an attack of conscience and freed you. In fact, the odds of us finding you first were pretty slim, but we did. And now you've drawn the attention of somebody who at least thinks he's one of the Seven."

  She thought it over. "I'm not sure I like being a puppet of a—thing." She shivered slightly.

  "Well, they're not human, whatever they are, but they're on our side. You can't expect them to act like people would, but they're not all bad. In a pinch, they're supposedly stronger than the strongest wizard, which is why, I think, the goddess won't shed any tears when you leave."

  "Still, this makes what happened to Dar even less excusable. I mean, if this thing caused him to do what he did…"

  "Nope. You miss the point there. He did that himself. Taking you along might have been the Soul Rider's idea, but not him running out or anything else he did. In fact, he was completely on their side until it was either kill you or let you escape, in which case he had to go, too, or his neck would have been chopped. You see, it's the goddess's opinion that he only saved you because he was forced by your protector to do so."

  "Oh. I see. I'm not sure I agree with it, but I at least can understand it a little better now. I—"

  She was about to continue when Dar returned, and all conversation in that direction ceased.

  "Thank you for your help," Haldayne told them, sounding sincere. "The judgment will be rendered some time this afternoon or evening. I think he's far too insane for any appropriate punishment, but we'll see. You may all go now."

  They got up and left quickly, Matson following them down to the street. "Remember—move quickly," he cautioned Cass. "If he's as good as I think he is, you can't even depend on the goddess for help in a pinch."

  "I'll remember," she assured him. Dar looked bewildered, and she added, to him, "I'll explain later— Let's get back to the hotel—we're getting out of here as quickly as possible."

  By the time they'd packed their meager belongings, bargained for horses, saddles, and riding gear, picked up what supplies they thought they would need, and checked out with Government House, it was close to dark. Matson had been right on one thing, though—everybody concerned seemed unnaturally glad to see both of them leave.

  Although he had taken her word for the urgency and gone along, it wasn't until they were on the road out of Persellus that she felt safe enough to explain to Dar what was going on. He thought about his own brief contact with the goat-man, and admitted there were some similarities, although he was by no means as certain as she about it.

  It was well into night when they passed through the small farming village, and they were grateful for the paved road as the stars gave very little light. They stopped to rest the horses, though, in a grass field near a small creek, and while just sitting there, silently, they heard sounds from the direction they'd just come, the sounds of several horses riding steadily towards them.

  Cass frowned. "This is too dead a place to have that kind of traffic."

  Dar nodded. "Maybe it's Matson with some others."

  "I doubt it. He said he had just a little business and he said nothing about horses or passengers." She thought a minute. "Get the horses and let's beep very quiet and still off the road here. We can't outrun them, but they don't have to see us, either."

  He nodded and did as instructed. There was nothing particular to hide behind, but it was a very dark night and they couldn't make out the road from where they were, which was down in a slight indentation made by the creek. A small wooden bridge over the creek was not far.

  The riders reached the area but did not hesitate, and they could hear the hollow sounds of hooves hitting the wood, echoing hollowly across the landscape, and then they were gone.

  Dar breathed. "Could you make out anything about them?"

  "Not a thing. Just a blur. There were at least four of them, though." She sighed. "I wish we knew more about weapons and had some around."

  "If they reach the train and we're not there, they'll be back," Dar pointed out.

  "Maybe. But they'll have to have some excuse when they get to the train, and that should bog them down. No, I think they'll get close to the train, then lay ambush for us just up from it. It would make sense, and if any of them's a wizard they won't attract the duggers, either."

  "We could stay here until daylight. That might make it a little easier. There may be people around, and Matson'll be on his way back."

  She considered it. "I don't think it'll work. For one thing, down this far there weren't many people. I don't remember any, do you? And they're not going to stay all night. When we don't show after a while they're going to come back slow and sneaky."

  "Well, what then? If we get off the road we're lost good and proper and you know it."

  "It's mostly unfenced this far along, and I guess it's not more than another seven or eight kilometers to the border and the train. The river's over there, maybe a few hundred meters. Let's follow it down. It's going pretty much the same place but it's less likely to be covered, particularly by only four people."

  Having no other suggestion, Dar agreed— They followed the creek down to the river, then nervously waded the small creek just up from its joining with the larger body of water. It was fairly deep, but not deep enough to be a problem to two riders used to horses.

  The ground, however, was pretty wet, and the depth of the creek told them that the river would be an obstacle in case of any sort of attack, almost certainly too deep to cross. Fortunately, this far down there were few tributaries to worry about, and each one seemed to be shallower than the one before, telling them they were getting close to the border. They thought they were going to make it easily when the river suddenly curved away into the dark hills after making a bend bringing them close enough to actually make out the road.

  They stopped to consider what to do next, and there was an ominous rumbling from off to their right. Dar looked over in that direction and saw the hills suddenly light up a
s clouds rolled in impossibly fast. "Thunderstorm," he remarked.

  "Looks pretty odd for a real one," Cass responded uneasily. "A good wizard could whip one up, though, and light up the whole landscape and us with it. I'd say we'd better make for the road and just make a run for it as fast as we can."

  "I'm with you," Dar told her, and they kicked their horses into action. Suddenly a great roaring wall of fire rose up in front of them, spooking the horses and causing them to stop and rear. Less experienced riders would have been thrown, but both Dar and Cass managed to stay in the saddle, if barely. The wall of fire spread, until it encircled them on three sides. With the horses already near panic, they had no choice but to take the one exit, even though they knew they were being forced into a trap.

  They cleared the fire, then halted as they saw four riders on horseback ahead, spread out to receive them, guns in the hands of all four. The wall of fire vanished abruptly, and Cass cursed herself for not betting that it was an illusion and urging her horse to jump through it, but the four riders were still somehow illuminated, as were Cass and Dar.

  "Just stay where you are and make no sudden moves," one of them, a man, said. "The fire may have been a trick but the bullets are real. You two, get down slowly and walk towards us, real slow now."

  They did as instructed, until they were right in front of the four riders, all men of middle age, all bearded and wearing farm work clothes. Cass couldn't help but remember that the goat-man, according to Montagne, had had his "minions" move the dark priest from his old pocket to the new one. These, then, must be minions of the mad priest's boss.

  "What do we do now?" Cass asked them.

  The leader chuckled. "Now, ain't that something! Look at em, Eck! Two pieces of ass pretending they's men. Neither of 'em look like they'd be any fun a'tall. I sure don't want 'em. Any of you?"

  There were a few sniggers from the other three, but no takers.

  "Then I guess the answer to your question about what to do next is to pray," the leader said coldly, steadying his rifle.

  Yeah, sure—pray. Cass thought sourly, then hope soared for a moment. Yeah! Sure! Pray! She only hoped that Dar had enough sense to roll when she did, for there was no way to tip him off. And pray she did.

  "Oh, great and divine goddess, deliver us from evil!" she practically shouted, then dropped and rolled at the same time. The leader, caught off guard, fired, but neither target was there any more.

  Cass had just made for the grass, but Dar had other plans. While Cass just kept praying in a low tone, he leaped up from the side and pulled one of the men off his horse. The man fell, dropping his rifle, and Dar picked it up as the others were turning to meet the threat, then dropped and rolled once more, coming up in front of them, rifle pointed at them. The fact that he had only a vague idea of how it worked or how to hit anything with it was something he knew, but they did not.

  "Drop your weapons!" he commanded sharply.

  The leader turned and grinned at him. "Why?" Suddenly the whole area was brightly lit as if from a suspended floodlight, although no source was visible. Dar looked down and was startled to see that he was now pointing a stick at the men.

  While a second helped the fallen comrade to his feet, a third dismounted and walked over to where Cass was still lying, now fully exposed, and gestured with his rifle. She got up, but did not stop praying until ordered to shut up.

  "Who sent you?" she demanded to know.

  "What's it to you?" the leader asked. He thought a moment. "You know, boys, we could use a simple spell on 'em to make 'em easier to take, if you know what I mean."

  "Now you're talking, Crow," the one called Eck responded. "I always did hanker to screw that little milkmaid up at Corner's. You know who I mean."

  Crow made a pass at each of them with his hand. Cass looked over and was startled to see not Dar but the vision of a very pretty and much smaller dark-haired girl. She knew it was just Dar, and that it was all illusion, but it was still startling. She wondered what she looked like to them.

  "Get them clothes off now, and don't be too gentle about 'em. You won't be needing them afterwards," Crow said ominously.

  Suddenly there was a great flash of lightning, striking very near them and spooking the gunmen's horses a bit. Crow looked puzzled— "Now what the hell is that? I didn't do nothin'!"

  "Sinners! Blasphemers! Agents of Hell! You dare this in our domain!" came a familiar woman's voice, angry as they had not heard it before. "For this you shall pay beyond your imaginings!"

  "It's the goddess!" one of them cried, and Crow said, "But Haldayne promised she wouldn't—"

  "Haldayne!" thundered the goddess, and there was lightning all over the place. "So it is true! Well, first we will deal with you, and then we will deal with First Minister Haldayne, formerly of Persellus, soon of Hell." A lightning bolt came out of the sky, then split into four finger-like segments much like a ghostly hand, then struck all four riders simultaneously. All four, including the one newly remounted, toppled out of their saddles to the ground, screaming in agony as they continued to be enveloped by the electrical field. There was another flash at each of the four points, then silence.

  "You were right to call upon us," the goddess's disembodied voice told them. "We heard you accuse Haldayne in the witness room but could not believe it. We elected to go along with you and discover the truth and now we have."

  "Those four men—what happened to them?" Dar asked her-

  "Transformed. Take them along as presents for your stringer. Use them to pay for what you need. I must now attend to their master. Do not fear the four, for they are imprisoned in their own minds, unable to act or do anything at all. They are property, and they are yours, and they will now see what the other side is like." And, with that, they sensed that the presence was gone.

  Cass and Dar approached the four figures nervously, and were struck by what they found. Both she and he looked themselves again now, and there was very little light but enough to see close up.

  "Well, she certainly has a single mind when it comes to punishing men," Dar remarked.

  All four men were now vacant-eyed and not very attractive but quite nude women with shaved heads and tattooed behinds. They seemed to be waiting for Cass to do something, so she finally said, "All right, you four—mount those horses and follow us." All four got up and obeyed their instructions exactly.

  "I think we'd better get moving," she told Dar. "There's going to be all Hell breaking loose, literally, around this land soon and I want to be in the void when it does."

  Dar nodded, and said, bitterly, "You know, this is the first time I really regret not being a man down below."

  "Huh? What do you mean?"

  "I'd love to show them exactly how it feels to be on the other end of things."

  Cass had to laugh. "Welcome to the world _I_ live in all the time!" she said.

  12

  MATURITY

  Even on the periphery of Persellus they could feel the giant struggle going on inside. In one sense, Cass, Dar, and the duggers had to fight back urges to return, at least for a small distance, to the reality of the land proper to see it for themselves, but they did not. They had their responsibilities to themselves and to the train, for one thing, and, for another, they did not want to be caught up in such a fight between two supremely powerful wizards. When the land changed just because of a lapse in the goddess's memory, what might be the changes when she was directing all her energies to fighting a powerful foe with neither combatant having either much thought or much regard for the people caught in the middle?

  Still, there was the sound of thunder and the ground beneath them shook like all of World, had suddenly come alive and revolted. The animals grew panicky and hard to control, and Jomo and his two new assistants struggled to keep them calm.

  "Maybe we'd better move completely into the void," Cass shouted over the roar.

  "Too late," Jomo yelled back. "We not be able to get them formed. Best just hold on!"
r />   And hold on they did, sometimes with the help of the Anchor Logh exiles, for what seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, though, very suddenly, it all stopped dead, and everything became quiet and still, After so long fighting scared animals and being in the midst of what felt like a great storm, it seemed almost unnatural to go back to the normal lifelessness they had so taken for granted.

  After sorting the mess out and settling down, Dar wiped his brow, sat down on a pack, and said, "Well, I guess somebody won. Wonder who?"

  That suddenly was uppermost on all their minds. For Cass, it was particularly unnerving, since if Haldayne was the victor he would waste no time coming after her, and perhaps the whole train, to keep the news secret as long as possible, and they were up against a wall. Without Matson, none of them could navigate the void, and even Kolada, the train's "point" or scout, could only take them back as far as the massacre or, perhaps, to Anchor Logh. That route would be pretty easy for Haldayne's people to trace.

  The duggers were particularly distressed that Matson had been in the midst of all the pyrotechnics. Some doubted that he was still alive at all, but others, particularly Jomo, held that he would come. Clearly, if anyone could have gotten through that stuff, Matson was the one.

  No matter how any of them thought, the decision to wait was easy. There simply wasn't anything else to do. Cass talked Jomo into finally reorganizing the train enough to move it completely into the void and beyond the reach of any ruler of Persellus. It was a difficult and time consuming procedure even though the total move was only a little more than a kilometer, but they agreed and, at least, it took their minds off anything else for a few hours.

  It struck not only Dar but their erstwhile comrades how very easily Cass was taking over, giving more orders than suggestions now—and being obeyed by the duggers. She set up the new camp in a defensive position, then posted riflemen both front and rear. This done, she ordered a general inventory of supplies and ammunition be taken, for they didn't know how long they would be stuck there.