The Witches of Karres

by James H. Schmiz

  “Then, of course, you’re a vatch-handler. A natural quality again, though a quite unusual one. Under the emergency conditions you encountered, you seem to have developed it close to its possible peak in a remarkably short time. A genuine klatha achievement, my friend, for which we can all be thankful!

  “However, vatch-handling remains a talent with limited usefulness, particularly because it’s practiced always at the risk of encountering the occasional vatch which cannot be handled. There is no way of distinguishing such entities from other vatches until the attempt to manipulate them is made — and when the attempt fails, the vatch will almost always destroy the unfortunate handler. So this ability is best kept in reserve, strictly as an emergency measure.”

  “Frankly,” remarked the captain, “I’ll be happiest if I never have to have anything to do with another vatch!”

  “I can hardly blame you. And the chances are good — under ordinary conditions that it will be a long time before you have more than passing contacts with another one. You’re sensitized now, of course, so you’ll be aware of the occasional presence of a vatch as you couldn’t have been formerly. But they rarely make more than a minor nuisance of themselves.

  “Now I noticed various indications here that you tend to be a lucky gambler…”

  The captain nodded. “I usually win a bet,” he said. “That comes natural, too, I suppose?”

  “Yes, in this case. Quite generally, in fact, you have a good natural predisposition for klatha manipulation. And you are, as we already know, an exceptionally strong conductor of the energies. But aside from the two categories we’ve mentioned, you have as yet no significant conscious control of them. That’s about the size of it at present…”

  The captain acknowledged it was also about what he’d expected. He had felt a minor isolated quiver or two of what might have been klatha force during the check run, but that was all.

  Threbus nodded, cut out the auto controls, swung the little ship around towards Emris. “We might as well be getting back down,” he said. “I understand from Goth, incidentally, that the two of you haven’t yet made any definite arrangements for the Venture’s next enterprise.”

  The captain glanced quickly over at him. This was the first indication either of Goth’s parents had given that they still had no objection to letting her travel about with him.

  “No,” he said. “The Chaladoor run set us up well enough — we can look around for the job we like best now.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve been wondering though how you and Toll really felt about Goth’s deciding to stay on the Venture with me.”

  “We’re not opposing it,” Goth’s father told him, “for at least two very good reasons, aside from the opinion we have of you as a person. One of the reasons is that, even now, it would be extremely difficult to keep Goth from doing whatever she really wanted to do.”

  “Yes,” nodded the captain. “I see that. But—”

  “The other reason,” continued Threbus, “is one Goth doesn’t know about and shouldn’t know about. Several of our most capable predictors agree she could have selected no more favorable course for herself than to remain in your company at present.”

  “At present?” asked the captain.

  Threbus shrugged. “Let’s say for approximately a year. Beyond that we don’t know. It’s very difficult for a predictor to be specific about individual destinies over a greater span of time — particularly when the individual in question is involved with klatha.”

  “I see,” said the captain.

  “No, not entirely, Pausert. Let me be frank about this. Goth’s interest in you is a good thing for her. We know that, though we don’t know precisely what part it is having in her development, in what way it will affect her future. However, you would find no probability calculator prepared to say it is a good thing for you. Your future — even of the next few months — is obscured by factors which cannot be understood. I’m not saying this means that Goth will bring you bad luck. But it might mean that. And it might be very bad luck.”

  “Well, I’ll take a chance on it!” said the captain, relievedly. “The fact is I’d have missed Goth very much if she weren’t going to be around the ship any more.” He chuckled. “Of course I’m not taking her idea of getting married to me when she grows up too seriously!”

  “Of course not,” said Threbus. “No more, my purblind great-nephew, than I took Toll’s ideas along those lines too seriously. Now, getting back to my original query about your plans—”

  * * *

  “Uh, yes…” The captain hesitated. “Well, we cleared up the disposition of the last of the Uldune cargo yesterday, and the interior repairs on the Venture should be finished in another four days. Since I’m being a problem to you people in Green Galaine, I thought we might move the ship then to some other civilized world where we can make arrangements for new commercial runs. Until I can stop being a problem, it looks as if I’ll simply have to keep away from Karres — or any place where witches are operating.”

  Threbus rubbed his chin. “There’s a world named Karres,” he remarked, “but Karres isn’t that world. Neither is it an organization of witches. You might say it comes closest to being a set of attitudes, a frame of mind.”

  The captain looked at him. “I don’t think I—”

  “On Uldune,” continued Threbus, “you discovered a bad and very dangerous situation. It was none of your business. Involving yourself in it would mean assuming the gravest sort of responsibility. It would also mean exposing yourself and Goth to the horrendous threat of the Nuris—”

  “Well, yes,” acknowledged the captain. “But we knew there was no one else around who could do it.”

  “No, there wasn’t,” Threbus agreed. “Now, in making the decision you did, you revealed yourself to be a member in good standing of the community of Karres, whether you were aware of the fact or not. It isn’t a question of witchcraft. Witchcraft is a tool. There are other tools. And keeping away from a world of that name does not mean dissociating yourself from Karres. Whether you do dissociate yourself or not will again be your decision.”

  The captain considered him for some seconds. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

  “As I’ve indicated, it’s a question of what you’ll want to do,” Threbus told him. “However, I might suggest various possibilities. I’ve admired your ship. It has speed, range, capacity, adequate armament. An almost perfect trader, freight and passenger carrier. You could turn it to nearly any purpose you chose.”

  The captain nodded. “That was the idea.”

  “Such a ship is a valuable tool,” Threbus observed. “Particularly in combination with a skipper like yourself and the touch of audacious magic which is my daughter Goth. If you were operating in the Regency of Hailie, as a start, you would find profitable standard consignments coming your way almost automatically. Along with them would come nonstandard items, which must be taken from one place to another without attracting attention or at least without being intercepted. Sometimes these would be persons, sometimes documents or other materials.”

  “The Venture would be working on Karres business?” asked the captain.

  “On the business of the Empress Hailie, which is also the business of Karres. You’d be a special courier, carrying the Seal of Hailie. Of course the Empire’s internal politics is a game that’s being played with considerable ferocity… you couldn’t afford to get careless.”

  “No, I can see that. As a matter of fact,” remarked the captain, “I’d intended avoiding the Empire for a while. Apparently a good many people are aware by now that the Venture has a special drive on board they feel would be worth acquiring. Changing her name and ours doesn’t seem to have fooled them much.”

  “That part of it shouldn’t be a problem much longer, Pausert. We’re letting it become known that Karres has the Sheewash Drive and what it is. Simultaneously the word is spreading that Karres has destroyed the Worm World. We’re borrowing your glory for a good purpos
e. The net effect will be that people informed enough to suspect the Venture possesses the Sheewash Drive will also be informed enough to feel no one in their senses would meddle with such a ship… Well, great-nephew, what do you think?”

  “I think, great-uncle,” said the captain, “that the Empress has acquired a new special courier.”

  * * *

  There had been a question of what should be done about the Nuri globes left behind after Manaret vanished from the universe. Many of the swarms which engaged Karres in the Tark Nembi cluster had been destroyed; but others slipped away into the Chaladoor, and the number of globes scattered about the galactic sector which had not been involved in the conflict was difficult to estimate. However, evidence came in within a few days that the problem was resolving itself in unexpected fashion. Globes had been observed here and there; and all drifted aimlessly through space, apparently in a process of rapid dissolution. In what manner they had drawn on the Worm World’s energies to sustain them wherever they went never became known. But with Manaret gone the Nuri remnants died quickly. They might remain a frightful legend for centuries to come, but the last actual sighting of a globe was recorded a scant four days after the Venture’s landing on Emris. It was a darkened, feebly flickering thing then, barely recognizable.

  Satisfactory progress was being made, the captain heard, in establishing contact with Olimy in his disminded condition, though the Karres experts in such matters felt it still would be a lengthy, painstaking procedure to restore him fully to the here-and-now. Meanwhile, with the Venture’s future role settled, and an early departure date indicated to get him out of the hair of his politely patient witch friends here, the captain had his time fully taken up with consultations, appointments, and supervision of assorted preparations involved with the lift-off. One day, coming through the lobby of a hotel off the province’s main port, to which the Venture had been transferred after completion of the internal repair work, he found himself walking towards the slender elegance of Hulik do Eldel. They had a drink together for old times’ sake, and Hulik told him she hadn’t decided yet what her next move would be. Presently she inquired about Vezzarn. The captain said he’d paid off the old spacer, adding a bonus to the risk run money, and that Vezzarn had seemed reluctant to leave the Venture, which surprised the captain, considering the kind of trip they’d had.

  “It was an unusual one,” Hulik agreed. “But you brought us through in the end. How I’ll never understand.” She looked at him a moment. “And you told me you weren’t a witch!”

  “I’m not really,” said the captain.

  “Well, perhaps not. But Vezzarn may feel now you’re a skipper the crew can depend on in any circumstances. For that matter, if you plan any more risk runs in a direction I might be interested in, be sure to let me know!”

  The captain thanked her, said he wasn’t planning any at present, and they parted pleasantly. He had another encounter, a rather curious one, some hours later. He was hurrying along one of the upper halls of the governor’s palace, looking for an office Threbus maintained there. When the Venture left, two days from now, she would have two unlisted passengers on board to be carried secretly to the Regency of Hailie; and he was to be introduced to them in the office in a few minutes. So far he’d been unable to locate it. Deciding finally that he must have passed it in the maze of spacious hallways which made up the business section of the palace, he turned to retrace his steps. Coming up to a comer, he moved aside to let a small, slender lady wearing a huge hat and a lustrous fur jacket walk past, trailed by a stocky dog. The captain went on around the comer, then checked abruptly and came back to stare after the two.

  What had caught his notice first was that the lady’s jacket was made up of the fabulously expensive tozzami furs of Karres, of which he’d sold a hundred and twenty-five on Uldune. Then there’d been something familiar about that chunky, yellow, sour-faced dog -

  Yes, of course! He hurried after them, grinning. “Just a moment!” he said as he came up.

  They turned to look at him. The lady’s face was concealed by a dark veil which hung from the brim of the hat, but the dog was giving him a cold, gray-eyed stare — and that, too, was familiar enough! The captain chuckled, reached out, took the tip of the big hat between thumb and finger and lifted it gently. Beneath it appeared the delicate nonhuman face, the grass-green eyes, the tousled red mane and pointed ears of the Nartheby Sprite image Goth had assumed in Moander’s stronghold.

  “Knew it!” he laughed. “Thought you could fool me with that silly hat, eh? What are you two up to now?”

  The Sprite face smiled politely. But a deep, gravelly voice inquired from behind the captain’s ankles, “Shall I mangle this churl’s leg, Hantis?” and a large mouth with sharp teeth in it closed on his calf, though the teeth didn’t dig in immediately.

  Mouth and teeth! he thought, startled. Tactile impressions were no part of the shape-changing process! Why, then -

  “No, Pul,” the Sprite said. “Let go his leg! This must be Captain Pausert…” It giggled suddenly. “Goth showed me the imitation she can do of me, Captain. It’s a very good one… May I have my hat back again?”

  So that was how he learned that Nartheby Sprites and grik-dogs really existed, that Goth had hastily copied the images of two old friends to produce fake shapes for the Leewit and herself when they were transported into Moander’s citadel, and that Hantis and Pul were the passengers they were to smuggle past the Imperial intelligence agents on the lookout for them to the Empress Hailie…

  * * *

  The Venture took off on schedule. The first six hours of the trip were uneventful -

  “Somebody to see you, Captain,” Goth’s voice announced laconically over the intercom. “I’ll send ’em forward!”

  “All right… HUH?”

  But the intercom had clicked off. He swung up from the control chair, came out of the room as Vezzarn and Hulik do Eldel walked into the control section from the passage. They smiled warily. The captain put his hands on his hips.

  “What-are-you-two-doing-on-this-ship?” he inquired between his teeth.

  “Blood in his eye!” Vezzarn muttered uneasily. He glanced at Hulik. “You do the talking!”

  “May I explain, Captain?” Hulik asked.

  “Yes!” said the captain.

  Both she and Vezzarn, the do Eldel said, had discovered they were in a somewhat precarious situation after the Venture landed on Emris. Somebody was keeping them under surveillance.

  “Oh!” the captain said. He shook his head. “Sit down, Miss do Eldel. You, too, Vezzarn. Yes, of course you were being watched. For your own protection, among other reasons—”

  The disappearance of Yango and his Sheem Robot, while en route through the Chaladoor on the Venture, had not required explanation to authorities anywhere. Pirate organizations did not complain to the authorities when one of their members disappeared in attempting an act of piracy. Nevertheless, the authorities of Green Galaine were informed that a man, who represented himself as the Agandar and very probably was that notorious pirate chieftain, had tried to take over the Venture and was now dead. It was valuable information. With the menace of Manaret removed, civilized worlds in the area could give primary consideration to removing the lesser but still serious menace of the Agandar’s pirates. When his organization learned the Venture had landed safely on Emris and that no one answering Yango’s description had come off it, they’d wanted to know what had happened.

  “…so we’ve all been under surveillance,” the captain concluded. “So was the ship until we took off. If pirate operators had started prowling around you or myself, they might have given Emris intelligence a definite lead to the organization.”

  Hulik shook her head. “We realized that, of course,” she said. “But it wasn’t only Emris intelligence who had us under surveillance. Those pirate operators have been prowling around. So far they’ve been a bit too clever to provide the intelligence people with leads.”

 
; “How do you know?” the captain asked.

  She hesitated, said, “An attempt was made to pick me up the night after I disembarked from the ship. It was unsuccessful. But I knew then it would be only a matter of time before they’d be questioning me about Yango. I don’t have as much trust as you do in the authorities, Captain Pausert. So I got together with Vezzarn who was in the same spot.”

  “Nobody’s been bothering me,” the captain said.

  “Of course nobody’s bothered you,” said Hulik. “That’s why we’re here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Captain, whether you’re a Karres witch or not, you were suspected of being one. Now that the Agandar has disappeared while trying to take your superdrive from you, there’ll be very little doubt left that you are, in fact, the kind of witch it’s best not to challenge. The Venture is at present the safest place for Vezzarn and myself to be. While we’re with you, the Agandar’s outfit won’t bother us either.”

  “I see,” the captain said after a moment. He considered again. “Well, under the circumstances I can’t blame you for stowing away on the ship. So you’ll get a ride to the Empire and we’ll let you off somewhere there. You’ll be far enough away from the Agandar’s pirates then.”

  “Perhaps,” said the do Eldel. “However, we have what we feel is a better idea.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We’re experienced agents. We’ve been doing some investigating, And we’ve concluded that the business which is taking you into the Empire is a kind that might make it very useful for you to have two experienced agents on hand. Meanwhile we could also be of general service around the ship.”