by Doris Egan
"How much?" he said, at once.
I told him. His face fell. "Well," he said politely, "I'm sure it's a fine amount for the purposes of one person."
"You always told me I was saving too much and spending too little!"
"Naturally I said that, I didn't want you to buy a ticket offplanet.''
Here we were both silent, for different reasons. I was thinking of the ticket registered in my name, waiting with the Port Authority. The Queen Emily was due to touch down the next day, not that that should hold any relevance for me.
Ran said, "But you've got a banker. Presumably you've both checked on each other.''
"I can't speak for him. But I asked around, and he was okayed by the Merchants' Association. And Irsa said he had a good reputation. That's all these unregistered bankers have to go on, their reputation; they don't play around with it if they want to last in the business."
He nodded, and held out a hand. "Come on," he said. "I want you to introduce us."
"You want me to introduce you to my banker?"
He pulled me up, and we left the house and went off toward the Street of Gold Coins. I said, as we walked through a spring evening in the capital, breathing in the scent of cinnablossom from every gutter, "Why the sudden obsession with coin? I thought we were doing all right."
"We need backing," he said. "More backing than you've got in your personal account, and more than Kar-las or Halet have to give—or anyway, are willing to give, if they're sane."
"Just what is it you've got in mind? And why should my banker be willing to contribute?"
"They do loans."
"Yes, but the loans they do aren't anything we want to be involved with. I don't consider my body as collateral, Ran."
He smiled. "Relax, tymon. Under the right circumstances, they do loans on a noninterest basis—business loans, for a percent of the profit. Let's say, Theodora, that we wanted to rob that little office at the foot of Marsh Street that does Athenan-Ivory money exchange. And let's say that the office wasn't insured by the Merchants' Protective Group. We'd go to your banker, then, and show him all our plans, and if he thought they were feasible he'd put up the money to carry it out. Simple as that."
"And if he didn't think it was feasible? Why shouldn't he turn us in?"
"As you say, tymon—their reputation is all these people have." He laughed. "That, and a whole lot of money."
We reached my banker's office in the Street of Gold Coins. There was no emblem on the door, nothing to say this building was any different from the houses on either side. Ran knocked. He said to me, "After you introduce us, wait out here while I talk to him."
I said, "You're willing to tell your plans to a perfect stranger, and not to me?''
He looked surprised. "He has the money," he said reasonably.
Chapter Seventeen
"What we want you to do," said Ran to me," is break into the house at Cormallon.''
We were sitting in the parlor: Karlas, Tyl, Halet, and Samanta, the wife and partner of my banker. I gathered she was here to safeguard their investment and see if we showed signs of doing anything stupid. I was tempted to behave stupidly then and there, but I managed to hold it back.
"Uh," I said, "are you craz—I mean—what do you mean?''
Ran said, "This is how I see it. We need to access Eln's information. Now, I can't go through the barrier, I've been ritually disowned. Nobody else here can go through the barrier, they're all strangers to it. That only leaves you, Theodora."
"It's always possible the barrier was set against me, too," I pointed out.
"Not likely," he said. "It's not set anew each time someone passes—it recognizes what's been defined as a friend, that's all. My definition changed when they read the disownment ritual. Your definition could have been changed. I'll admit it, but it's a lot of trouble to go to; and for what? To stop one little tymon from coming on the grounds? The goldbands could put you out just as well."
I saw the reason in that. And Eln didn't think me much of a threat anyway. He probably expected me to be on the Queen Emily any day now.
I said, "The goldbands certainly will put me out. Assuming they don't kill me on the spot."
"It's not probable." He gave me a level look. "Eln likes you."
"How long will he like me when he finds me breaking into his house?"
"Yes. Well, it's not without danger."
I said, "And the barrier isn't the only thing in the defense arsenal."
"True," he said, surprised. "How did you know?"
"I know the Cormallons."
Ran leaned over. "I guarantee that I can coach you through the rest of the ground defenses. If you're caught, it won't be through them."
I glanced around at them all, waiting; at Karlas and his relatives, looking tense, at Samanta, looking unin-volved.
"All right," I said.
Karlas smiled. Halet bowed his head to me. Tyl frowned.
Ran said, "There's still the lock on the terminal data."
"There's a lot more than that," I said. "But it's all right, we'll work it out."
Right, here we go—warrior queen Theodora of Pyrene sets out with lance and steed to storm the castle of the green knight. I felt stupid quite often the next few days, wondering how I could have agreed. I found I was checking off the days the Emily was in port, too, adding fantasy treachery to fantasy heroism. And while I was wandering around the house in mental turmoil, Ran was always out buying things.
"You're running through that loan like water," I said, when he came home with the aircar. We were standing on the roof.
"Just get a tarpaulin," he said. As I helped him to cover it, he added, "Wait till you see the other one."
"Other what?"
"Other car."
He didn't sound as if he were joking. "I beg your par-don?" Aircars are enormously expensive on Ivory because of the tax. They're still trying to get back what they had to pay to Tellys for the first model.
"We'll need two, Theodora, this and a one-seater for you to take through the barrier. It'll be easier to maneuver, and Karlas and I will be just outside Cormallon territory in the larger one."
I stopped fooling with the tarpaulin. "Ran, I don't drive."
He stopped, too. "What do you mean, you don't drive? You come from a highly industrialized planet."
"Yes, it is highly industrialized—with big, crowded cities. If everybody had their own aircar it would be chaos. That's why we use mass transportation." He kept staring at me. "I've never had to fly one of these in my life."
"I don't believe it." He said down on the rim of the aircar.
"I hope you're starting to see why it's better to let me in on your plans at the beginning."
He said, "Never? In your life?"
"Never."
He stood up. "Get in," he said.
"Look, Ran, it's a little late to start teaching me now—"
He said, grimly, "Our bankers will understand failure— intellectually—but they won't understand it if we back out now. Unless you want our bodies used as collateral after all—get in."
I got in. He sat in the other front seat. He'd named half a dozen controls and their functions when he stopped and said, "If I weren't letting you in on my plans at the beginning, this would be the night of the break-in, and it really would be too late.''
"You're right. For you this is an improvement. I beg your pardon.''
He nodded, and went back to the controls.
The ground defenses were next on my worry list, but Ran refused to talk about them. "There's no need," he'd say, whenever I brought it up. "They're very simple."
Fine, if that was the way he wanted to play it. Meanwhile I was becoming a real whiz at the aircar; Ran had to dive on the controls twice to keep us from crash landing in the meadow outside town. He didn't yell at me, though, he just got very pale.
The Queen Emily touched down in port, and we set the date for my exercise in thievery. Ran gave me lists of potential passwords to try
on Eln's data lock, and at my insistence Tyl took apart a couple of my robes and made me a pair of new trousers. "You look like a provincial," said Ran when he saw them. "You're not going fishing, you know."
"I'm the one doing this," I said. "I'll set the dress code."
I thought, I'll bet he never gave Kylla a hard time about her hunting trousers. But then, Kylla is the sort of person who gets away with a lot.
The day came. Ran made a big point about not allowing there to be any witnesses for the operation; we didn't want the Cormallon council officially on our backs. I didn't ask him what I was supposed to do if there was a witness—I had a feeling he expected me to know.
We'd fixed on two hours after midnight as the proper time. Cormallon wasn't really an armed camp, despite indications to the contrary; basically it was a country home, and practically everybody went to sleep at night. There were no patrols, no guards as such—they left the defenses to sorcery and their reputation. And why not? No one had been silly enough to try to break in for at least two centuries.
"Eln might very well be awake," I said. Ran and Kar-las were sitting with me in the kitchen after sunset, checking their gear and finishing up the bowl of rice and vegetables that Tyl had just made. I couldn't eat more than a couple of mouthfuls, and they lay like lumps of mud in my stomach. "Either I'm very nervous, or Tyl should stick to fried bread."
"Both," said Ran, as he slid a pistol into the holster on his belt.
"Eln has a reputation for roaming the halls at night," I said.
"He used to," said Ran. "But that was before he became the—before he had to handle all these new administrative duties. No doubt he keeps more normal hours now."
"You used to leave the administrative duties for days on end."
"Grandmother and Kylla could pick up the slack then." He handed a pack to Karlas.
"But if he is awake, he's very likely to be…"
"Right in the room with his Net terminal. Yes, I was going to mention before you left that you ought to enter that room very carefully. Thank you for reminding me." He glanced at Karlas. "Have you got the material?"
Karlas said, "Right here." He took a small vial from his robe. "Took the last of the money," he added.
"Reliable?" asked Ran.
"Believe me," said Karlas, "I checked very carefully."
"All right," said Ran.
He put his elbows on the table and leaned over toward me. "The ground defenses," he began.
"Oh, the oracle speaks," I said.
"Do you want to hear this before you go in? The ground defenses. There aren't any."
"Now, wait a minute—that isn't what—"
"Not any that are really there. The defenses are strictly illusory. There are set traps at various places on the property, and they're tripped by trespassers. They present sensory illusions of danger—things that inspire fear in the person receiving the illusion. The victim's fear is then fed back into the trap on a positive circuit, projected back at the victim at a higher intensity, and so on until they lose their mind. With me so far?"
"More than I want to be. But look, if they aren't really there, why can't I just ignore them and walk straight into the house?"
"The feedback circuit," he said. "You're walking through some trees at night, you hear a roar just behind you—your first reaction is panic. A second later, true, you'd say to yourself that it's just a trick. But it's a second too late, you're already hooked into the circuit."
I thought it through. "Then why are we contemplating this merry expedition? It sounds impossible."
"Not impossible. For instance, if you could turn off the fear first at your end, not let the circuit start, there would be no danger. Unfortunately, you're not na' telleth enough."
"Who says? I'm as na' telleth as anybody here."
They exchanged looks. "So that's why," said Ran, "we got this for you."
He handed me the vial. It contained a great many little white pills. I inspected it, then Ran and Karlas, with narrowed eyes. "I don't know what this stuff is."
"Anarine," said Karlas. "Very good quality. I used to deal in some of it in Teshin—not as good as this, though."
Tyl came in then, carrying a bottle. "Is this what you wanted?" he asked Ran.
"Ducort ninety-nine," said Ran, pleasantly. "If this doesn't work, we'll have gone out in style." He took down glasses from a shelf and set one in front of me. "It has more of a kick with alcohol."
"I'm sure. Will I wake up tomorrow?"
He poured one for himself, then filled glasses for the others. "Concentrate on getting through tonight," he said. "We'll worry about tomorrow then."
A half hour and a half dozen little pills later, things were pretty fuzzy around the edges. There were only two glasses of wine, though; I think. Anyway, when Karlas tried to fill my glass again, I glared at him and said, "Do you want me to stop in the middle of this highly complex robbery and ask to use the toilet?"
"No," Ran answered, "we wouldn't want that." He took the bottle away from Karlas. "I think she has the basic concept," he said. "We'd better get into the car. Anarine is supposed to wear off quickly, isn't it?"
"The alcohol will keep it going a little longer," said Karlas.
We all went up to the roof. "Are you coming, too?" I asked Tyl.
"Sure I am," he said, and went over to the one-seater parked in the corner. There wasn't much room left on the roof.
"Hey!" I yelled. "You don't know how to pilot these things either."
Tyl grinned and went on. Ran said, "Get in the car, Theodora."
I did so, and said, "He doesn't know how to work that thing, Ran!"
We took off, Tyl following perfectly. I don't recall most of the trip, except that periodically someone would hand me another little white pill. We must have been cruising at extremely high speed, though, because I remember going "Wooooh!" at one point, when we were crossing over a village.
We set down near a stand of trees just outside the barrier. Karlas took out another pill, but Ran said, "We want this to wear off, don't we?" and he put it back. We got out and stood between the two cars. Ran said, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," I said.
"We're going to be right here," he said. "That's directly south of the house. Just aim in this direction when you take off. See those hills over there?"
"Sure."
"Use them to steer by if you have to. I mean, I've preset the auto to return here, but it's better to be ready in case anything goes wrong."
"Fine."
"You can fly for about five minutes after you cross the barrier. You don't want to have to walk too far. But you want to put down out of line of sight of the house."
"Right."
"You remember all the passwords I gave you?"
"Uh-huh."
He seemed worried, but I wasn't. "Well," he said. Then he kissed me and said, "Good luck, Theodora."
"Queen Theodora, to you," I said.
He frowned, confused. "Hand me my trusty lance," I said, gesturing to the back of the aircar. He took out my data-case and handed it to me. I strapped it over one shoulder. Then he paused and took off his holster and put it around my waist himself, pulling the belt taut. He stepped back.
"Do you know where you're going?" he asked uncertainly.
"North through the barrier. Straight arrow to the main house. Land out of direct line of sight. Be careful going in the Net link room. Use the auto when I take off or else line up with the two hills."
Karlas said, "I told you it doesn't affect intelligence. Much."
I started toward the barrier. Ran said, "Don't you think you should use the car?"
"Right," I said.
He was looking pale again.
The one-seater wasn't that hard to maneuver. I set down behind the south hill outside the main house, on the other side of the front garden. The front garden was a massive project of streams, tall hedges, tiny bridges, marble benches, and pavilions. I'd always preferred the back garden, where things
grew up wild and tangled, and the sa'ret equipment was set up. I started on the pathway through the maze that led up to the lawn. The night air was bracing, head-clearing, direct and sharp; all I didn't want to be at this particular moment. I noticed a little white pill caught in the cuff of my tunic. "What the hell," I decided, and swallowed it.
It was more enjoyable after that. I decided I was glad to be there. I was thinking how lovely the garden was by night, when I noticed that the entrance to the Crimson Bridge was blocked by a giant with a scimitar. It was eight meters tall, and stood waiting for me menacingly, tapping the blade on the wood of the bridge. It growled, low in the throat, as I came nearer. I started to giggle; it was clean out of period with the rest of the garden. "Atrocious taste," I commented as I walked through it and went on to the Center Maze of Flowers. Rooting among the flower beds, snuffling up the path toward me was a gray rat about the size of Ran's aircar. It followed me through the Center Maze, occasionally nipping at my heels, and when I reached the entrance to the Path of Many Stones I turned and pretended to thrust with an imaginary sword. "Take that," I said, but it vaporized. "Damn," I said.
I went down the Path of Many Stones, looking for the door Ran had told me about. Somewhere around the quartz boulders, wasn't it? I counted them off, lost track, and had to start again. Seven, eight, nine. That must be the one. Hell, there was another huge rat, sitting on the boulder and baring its teeth. How annoying. I began to declaim, in a louder voice than was wise, "Why are your traps so barren of new pride, so far from variation or quick change? —Hey, I didn't know I remembered that. It must be the pills." We regarded each other. I went on, "All your best is dressing old rats new, spending again what is already spent." It licked its neat white teeth. "Move," I added. It sat there. I took out my pistol and rapped it on the snout with the butt. It vanished. I pushed the boulder over, grunting, and examined the damp earth beneath. Using my forefinger I drew a pentacle in the ground, and covered it with the sorcery symbol. A second later there was a large hole in its place, with steps leading downward.
I descended into a dusty, foul-looking tunnel. The floor was lit with greenish luminescence, showing the cracked stone and remains of vermin. Ran said the emergency exit to Cormallon hadn't been used in generations, and it smelled like it. I followed the tunnel to a wooden door at the end, opened it, and found myself in the back of a garden-supply closet, among rakes and hoes. I opened the closet door very slowly.