Changewinds 03 - War of the Maelstrom

by Jack L. Chalker

  "This is Akahlar," he reminded her, trying to sound like he believed what he was going to say. "Anything's possible here, you know. You're not like the peasants or low-class riffraff of the entertainment districts and courts. You have powerful friends, with real power. There is a way out for you. There is always a way out. Not everybody has the connections or the patience or the will to find it, but it's always there. Don't give up until the last possibility is explored. Never give up."

  "Yeah, a way out. Find one of those Changewinds and walk into it. Come out some kind of monster or hybrid or something. I don't know those powerful friends you're talking about. Boolean's no friend. He's cowered for years from his enemies and subjected us to this, and he's so busy with his plots he doesn't give a damn about the discards. If I could be released from this compulsion to go to him, and not have to, that's all I would want as a gift. I'd like my sight back. yes, but neither you nor he nor any other magician has normal sight yourselves, so I figure if you can't heal yourselves you're not likely to be able to do it for anybody else, either. Oh, I know, your magic lets you see not only normally but all over, but I don't have that magic and you can't give it to me— With that in mind, the last thing I want is to see Boolean."

  "But he'd lift all the spells, all the compulsions'"

  She chuckled. "Dorion, I didn't look like this when I grew up or when I got here. I was frumpy, buck-toothed, and I was in the process of growing thunder thighs. Boolean made me look like this, and I believe you that he's a man of his word, so he'll remove the spell when I get to him and I'll go back the way I looked before. Dorion, this body's all I got in Akahlar. The only payoff this trip'11 have for me is to take away the last and only thing that I want or can use. I won't even be desirable. I'll be a nothing. And that's even worse than what I am now."

  They were asleep when Halagar returned and bedded down himself, but in the morning Shadowcat was there, with no real indication as to where he'd gone, nor could Charley get much indication. She fell asleep as Charley but awoke as Shari and stayed that way through the day and, it turned out, the night to come and several after, since after the first night Halagar did indeed take her with him when he went off to feed and water the animals, confident now that they weren't being trapped or trailed.

  Indeed, to the null that separated the entire kingdom of Covanti from the hub and satellite worlds of Tishbaal, they were inseparable, and, at least for now, Dorion felt a little better about it.

  Even so, he spent most of this time trying to figure out a way through her arguments and her brooding pessimism. As long as she had it, she'd have this modified death wish, which would become a self-fulfilling threat if it went on.

  Damn it. He would take Charley in a moment, even if she changed outwardly into a rather ordinary-looking young woman. That wasn't what had attracted him so much to her; he'd seen enough Sharis made gorgeous by sorcery or alchemy and reduced then to mere sex objects. In fact, he almost preferred her to be less attractive. That didn't mean less sexy, but it sure meant a little more security.

  Halagar sure wouldn't be interested in her any more, not then. But, damn it, he was no classical male god himself. He had a sort of cherubic look but was by no means handsome, and carried a bit of fat himself. Women had never exactly fallen groveling at his feet and never would. Oh, he could buy a potion or cast one of the standard spells, but what the hell did that mean? Lust fulfilled. But if he didn't love her for her body, then her body without her will wasn't at all attractive.

  Guys who looked less than great, or were anything but Mister Masculine, and didn't have the benefit of family-arranged marriages, still did attract women, of course, but by other routes. By being rich, or powerful, or famous, or super-talented, or super-heroic. He had no money, and Boday had pointed out that Charley had the ability to make it if she wanted to and Charley had shot that down.

  He was a magician, yes, but one who hoped that nobody found out how lousy a magician he really was. Oh, he could use The Sight and all the other basic tricks, but you were either born with that or you weren't and he was. But he wasn't just Third Rank, he was third rate, and he knew he'd never get much beyond that. Give him a book of formulae ' and spells and good instructions and he could work all the classical things, do amazing stuff: amazing, that is, to somebody who neither had the power nor knew what it really was capable of. A competent Third Rank magician could create spells in his head, invent some new ones, maybe, and certainly do all the classical stuff without needing reference books and instructions for all but the most incredibly complex work. Without his books, like now, his magic was pretty damned poor and erratic, and usually unpredictably awful.

  He'd been little more than a janitor for Boolean, but just a little experimentation, a little fooling around, and he'd caused a lot of disaster and wound up getting kicked out on his face. He remembered Boolean's rage, his yelling about some sorcerer's apprentice, and someone or something called a Mickey Mouse. You didn't need the references to understand the meaning. Exiled to the Kudaan, "where nobody will notice your disasters and mistakes," building fires for Yobi's cauldron, and straightening up the laboratory, because at least he knew the contents and uses of the various jars.

  No, he'd never be powerful, not in that sense.

  Famous? He hardly had a hope of becoming infamous, let alone famous. And as for talent—well, maybe he had one, but he hadn't found it yet. And while he wasn't a coward, or he'd never have gotten this far on this journey, he wasn't much of a fighter and he'd rather hide than battle if it could be arranged, and nobody gave medals for skulking.

  Although he had more freedom of action, in his own way he was just as much a loser at life as Charley, he thought. Worse, really, since her fall had come from attempting to do good above and beyond the call of friendship, and hadn't really been her fault, while he'd had all the opportunities and blown every single one.

  He had tried to promise her that there was a way out, that there was always a way out, but she hadn't believed him, and why should she, coming as it did from somebody who hadn't found a way out himself.

  There was little evidence of rebels anywhere in this desolate place, or anyone else, for that matter, but that changed when they reached the null that formed the border between Covanti and its colonial worlds and the outer colonial worlds of Tishbaal. There would be no hiding from Covantian forces here; at least two divisions of its army were deployed in specially prepared defensive lines just inside the null; the men, horses, and equipment, their tents with small pennants flying, sticking eerily out of the fog-enshrouded region.

  It certainly made sense to defend the kingdom from its side of the null; an attempt to guard the borders of hundreds of Covanti colonial worlds that might come up and interact with the null at any moment would have required a population many times that of the entire number of Akhbreed in all Akahlar. The question was, would they let travelers through at all, and, if so, did they have some orders about them in particular that would make this a short journey.

  Halagar surveyed the scene grimly, then lifted Charley down. and turned to the others. "I'm going to go down there and see what's what," he told them. "The odds are that I know some or most of the officers setting up here, and I might get both a pass and some information on why the army would be establishing such a frontier at this point. I hate to betray our otherwise successful exit it makes all the discomfort of the route meaningless, damn it! but unless they have warrants for us, I'm sure I can talk our way through to Tishbaal. I'm more concerned with what I'm talking us into, considering this size of fortification."

  He rode off, down into the null, while they got down and tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible. At least Charley was returned in mind for the first time in a week.

  "Looks like a war," she commented.

  Dorion was surprised. "You can see it?"

  "I can see the null, and I can see where there isn't any null, kind of like a shadow play against the brilliance. It's all in silhouette, but
it's not hard to see what's out there."

  "Halagar is more concerned with what is beyond, and Boday agrees," the artist commented worriedly. "Tubikosa has a small army that is mainly used to guard the crown jewels, the palace, march through the streets on parade days, and handle emergencies, but this is more uniforms than Boday has ever seen before in one spot. If they are also covering the other borders, then they must have half the men of Covanti ,, under arms."

  "I doubt if they have anything like this at the other borders," Dorion replied. "Maybe they should, though, if there's a threat this big. If I was a rebel with some way to get colonial fighters from one place to another, I'd do a big show of force in one area and then attack from the rear while the whole army's over here."

  "Good point," Charley agreed. "As Boday said, most of the armies of these kingdoms are toy soldiers big on uniforms and brass but most of 'em never really had to fight anything big. They're used to marching into some colony and putting down some strike or local uprising by some poor natives without the weapons or organization to do much against them. They're not used to thinking in terms of armies against armies, both sides with weapons and generals and all the rest, and trained to fight, and they're sure not used to defending hubs. They depend on their sorcerers to keep the non-Akhbrceds out." She chuckled. "You know, while this all makes sense on paper, I guess, I kind'a wonder what the hell all those guys could do if Klittichom just sent a bunch of the Stormriders in here. They wouldn't even kill many of these guys. Just a bunch of 'em making passes and zapping a few tents and horses and big-mouthed sergeants, and the rest would run like hell for back here, leaving their equipment behind 'em."

  Dorion sighed. "This is ridiculous! We, a two-bit magician, an alchemical artist, and a courtesan who came from another world, are all able to sit here and figure out all the intricacies of what these professional military men are doing wrong and how to whip them easily. If the likes of us can see it, why can't they?"

  "Cockiness," Charley sighed. "That and arrogance. They been the bosses so long, taught from their mother's breast that they're the superior race, the lords of creation, that they just can't get it into their heads that maybe the only thing they're really superior at, is a few good sorcerers and the keys to the gun locker. How many colonial worlds intersect this null? Hundreds? Thousands? I dunno. But if ten thousand of those not-quite-right humans from those colonies showed up here, each with a gun, they'd grind these guys to pulp. These guys, though, just can't imagine such a thing happening."

  "And why should they?" Dorion asked her. "Even if the colonials somehow got together in the nulls and even if they hit and destroy this army out there, they still can't enter the hub. Grotag and his unknown number of acolytes and assistants have the spells sealing off entry to the hub from all non-Akhbreed locked up tight. So long as they sit in the hub, there's no way the rebels can enter."

  "Yeah, as long as they sit in the hub," Charley echoed. "So the Storm Princess brings a Changewind right into downtown Covanti, the one thing they're powerless against. Maybe it gets them; at least it scatters them and keeps 'em from thinking much about defensive spells. By the time they got regrouped you'd have thousands of organized troops inside the hub against an army still running. Besides, this isn't the hub it's the colonies. Jeez, I still remember from my high school history classes what a siege is. If they take the colonies and then put up a wall like this around the hub in all directions, the hub'll be cut off. It'll take a while, but no more raw materials, no more fresh fruit and vegetables…. They'll be eatin' their grapes before they crush 'em. The demon forces like the Stormriders will protect the rebels, and there won't be much of an army in there for a breakout."

  "Then the sorcerers would have to spearhead the breakout," Dorion pointed out.

  "Uh-huh. And that means they got to leave the hub, right? So they break out of any side and the other three sides get invaded. Neat. They'd slaughter every Akhbreed they found and leave the sorcerers with nothing to come back to. I bet some of these sorcerers would make deals with them when that happened. Besides, who says the rebels don't have some sorcerers, too? Isn't that what Covanti thinks Boolean's up to? And isn't Klittichom a full-fledged equal?"

  Dorion thought about that. "Urn…. Maybe I've got the same disease that those troops do. I can't see a hole in it, but you make this whole system sound so vulnerable. I can't believe that it's that easy to break through, or somebody would have done it by now."

  "They didn't have Akhbreed sorcerers on the rebel side before," Charley noted. "And they didn't have those sorcerers running messages and even troops between colonial worlds or coordinating things, and they never had anybody who could use the Changewind as a weapon before. No, it's gonna be a bloody, rotten mess now, and so many are gonna die it makes you want to puke just thinking about it. Still, if it wasn't for one thing, I'd just as soon see this rotten system fall."

  "What? Klittichom?"

  "Us. If the colonial races are all organized then the Akhbreed's outnumbered from a hundred to a thousand to one, and not a one of those other races has any reason to do anything but hate Akhbreed. If they win, bein' an Akhbreed is gonna be the worst thing you can be. And we're Akhbreed."

  That brought him up a bit short. "Urn, yeah. I hadn't thought of that."

  They might have continued their conversation but there was the sound of a rider coming, and as soon as Halagar reached them and dismounted, Dorion could sense Charley vanishing before a wall of blank blandness. It was amazing how it happened every time.

  "There's no problem moving through," he reported to them, "but there might be big problems on the other side. The word is that somehow large numbers of infantry-like units and mounted units appear to be able to move out from the worlds of colonial Tishbaal as they come up, and they are doing so. It's irregular, but no one can tell if the main bodies are moving in towards Tishbaal hub, or if they are fortifying in the null, or in some assembly world. The odds are pretty good we'll have to make our way through some kind of colonial force to make it into the kingdom, and probably an enormous force surrounding the hub."

  "But we've got to get in and out of the hub to go west," Dorion pointed out. "And if Tishbaal is that bad, imagine what Masalur will be. And just what we might have to get through as well."

  They had long ago dropped any pretense of assumed names for the women and Boday was able to speak freely under Dorion's very loose leash.

  "Boday is ready," she proclaimed. "If it comes to a battle, she will do her part!"

  Dorion looked over at her, then back up at Halagar. "Uh-huh. So the three of us are going to take on a nurbreed army. The odds at best may be only a few hundred to one. The pair of you are mad!"

  "There will be gaps and weak points," Halagar responded confidently. "There always are in the best of formations, and the border there is quite long, and the guards might be good fighters but they have no experience. Come, my friends! It's not as bad as all that. We shall have to forego our pack animal, however, and that's too bad. Come, let us eat a little something and transfer what we can to our own mounts and get some rest. I want to cross entirely in the darkness, when most are asleep and guards are bored."

  "And jumpy and likely to shoot first and ask questions afterwards," Dorion added grumpily.

  Halagar shrugged. "There is grave risk from here on in, but you knew that going into this. I would certainly prefer being shot to being captured by these sort of people, though. There is still time to call this off, if you do not want to make the journey."

  Dorion sighed. "No, that's not really an option for us. All right."

  "Well, then, is there anything in your magic that might be of help? A spell to disguise us to look like whatever they look like, for example, or to charm us against bullet and sword?"

  "I don't think you can depend on magic," Dorion finessed as carefully as he could. "For one thing, those that you ask require much preparation and paraphernalia, long incantations, that sort of thing. Not to mention that I'd have
to know what we were supposed to look and act like. No, the odds arc I'll be far too busy dealing with any precautionary magicks on their side to also handle us. You'd need a true sorcerer to do it all."

  "Fair enough. I did not really expect much help from that quarter," Halagar responded, in a tone that made Dorion unsure whether he'd been insulted or not. "Very well," the mercenary continued, "we improvise."

  The Klutiin guarding the extreme western sector were spread thinly and certainly not expecting anything. They were tall, thin creatures, particularly ugly to Akhbreed eyes, with mottled yellow and olive skin resembling that of an exotic snake, a pair of deep-set black eyes, and a thin and very long proboscis that shot straight out from their faces and then angled down. They had forbidden, semi-automatic rifles slung over their backs, but seemed more comfortable and at the ready with their tribal spears, which they held in their hands.

  The stretch of border was as mist-covered as the rest of the null, perhaps a bit deeper as the border range was nearby, but it wasn't difficult for Klutiin sentries to see and hear horses coming towards them. They were a good thirty yards apart at this point, walking back and forth, more a warning line than a barrier, with a company encampment back near the true and "real" colonial border of Tishbaal, whose worlds changed slowly but with eerie regularity behind them. Clearly they weren't there in strength or with intent to build and attack Covanti; they were, rather, a psychological deterrent, visible through the telescopes and binoculars of the Covantian Akhbreed soldiers far across the eternal mists of the null, and intended to be. A deterrent, and if need be, a holding action in case Akhbreed troops from Tishbaal's neighbor should come to the aid of their sister kingdom to the northwest.