Kirlian Quest

by Piers Anthony

  They searched through the chambers, right up into the highest turrets and parapets, while her aura climbed also, to 160. Now Herald had two reasons to want to be rid of the guests: to prevent alarm over her too-high aura—and to allow him occasion to make love to her. After all, it was their wedding night! But so long as the Prince remained hidden, the game was not over, and no one could go home. Any lesser entity could have been summoned in free—"ALLEE ALLEE CREATURES IN FREE!—but not the Prince. He had to be found, and no other entity could help.

  "The drunken wheelie," Herald complained. "I want him out of here before you fade again!"

  Psyche smiled knowingly. "I do, too, Herald. I wish I could always be high, for you. But from what you say, I will not peak for another hour. If we haven't found him by then, I'll sneak into a closet with you and rip off your clothes."

  "With our luck, we'd bump into the Prince in the back of that closet," Herald muttered darkly.

  "Oh, no!" she cried. "Making love to an alien Slash monster serpent is one thing, but I draw the line at Sador voyeurism!"

  Herald spanked her pert posterior. "Don't worry. He doesn't have any clothes to rip off. But he might tear a wheel off that wench who was serving him drinks."

  Psyche halted suddenly. "The wine cellar! That's where he would be!"

  "Of course!" Herald said, snapping his human fingers. "Where else for a drunk? We should have checked there first."

  They hurried down the curling stairs hand in hand, while her aura intensified more rapidly than ever. "It's accelerating!" Herald said. "It's up to one hundred and ninety already." One hundred and ninety—the level of Flame of Furnace. He didn't want it to stay there.

  "We'll never get the castle cleared in time," she said. "Come on, they won't miss us for a few more minutes." She tugged him toward the bedroom.

  "Few minutes, hell," he said. "I want the whole night."

  "You'll have the whole century, after tonight! Stolen moments are most precious." And she drew him back up the stairs.

  "I suppose so," he grumbled. Actually her mere presence, surrounded by an aura nearing two hundred, was a joy to him.

  Two hundred? "It's one hundred eighty," he said, surprised.

  "You mean I've peaked already? I somehow thought it would go as high as before." She curbed her disappointment. "Well, we'll just have to hurry." And she ran up the next flight of steps, her skirts flouncing up to give him nice flashes of her slender, shapely legs. Whoever had designed wedding dresses had known how to excite a man!

  In the bedroom she was down to 165. "Wait," he said. "There's something funny about this. First you shot up, then down. Come below with me."

  She paused, about to unsnap the assorted fastenings of her costume. "I thought you wanted—"

  "I'm not an absolute sex maniac," he said. "I'll suffer through lovemaking at zero aura if need be; it isn't as though you had no other attractions. There's your money, and this fine castle, and—"

  "Oh, I wouldn't want you to suffer," she said, making a moue.

  "Humor me. I'll make it up to you in a moment."

  She smiled. "I know you will. I'll deduct one gold coin and one brick of the castle for each modicum you are deficient in your performance."

  "There may not be any castle left!" he cried.

  She kicked him with her soft slipper. "It's not that much of a chore, serpent!"

  They trotted down two flights of stairs again. Just getting around this castle was good exercise! And her aura jumped to 190 again.

  "It's inversely proportional to elevation!" he exclaimed.

  "But it's been rising slowly as we climbed—until now," she said.

  "We seem to have two factors. It is cyclic, rising steadily at about a hundred intensities an hour until it levels off and fades at a similar rate. But it is also related to height; the farther you go from the ground, the weaker the effect."

  "Then I'd better bring a pillow for the cellar," she said with a lift of her eyebrow. "Knowing the way aura excites your—"

  "Not while the Prince is there!" He drew her in and kissed her. "Come on, let's rout him out right now. We can sneak back while your father is seeing them out the gate and keeping them from falling into the lake. Though the Duke of Qaval might frighten the alligators away if he fell in."

  "You're more interested in the enhancement pattern than you are in me," she pouted.

  There was just enough truth in that to hurt. "If he's not in the cellar, we'll do it there now," he said. "Standing up, if need be."

  "Oh, joy!" she snorted, laughing.

  "Lots of species breed on their feet."

  "Mintakans breed with their feet," she said. "But you can just keep your feet out of my—"

  He cut her off with a hasty kiss and squeeze. "Be assured I'll take my shoes off first."

  Her aura jumped again as they descended. At the level of the cellar it stood at 215. At this moment, the second-highest Kirlian in the Cluster.

  "Where are the lights?" Herald asked, blinking in the dark.

  "No lights for the wine cellar. Father says light damages the wine."

  "Then we'll just have to feel for the Prince," he said. He slid one hand along the cold stone wall, still holding onto her with the other.

  "Great Circle!" a voice exploded ahead, startling them both. "A ghost!"

  "Found you, Prince!" Herald cried.

  "Look at the Lady!" another voice said. It was the Duke of Qaval.

  Herald looked. Psyche was glowing in the dark.

  It was her aura, manifesting visibly. It pulsed gently with her life processes, its colors showing the stresses of differing functions. It extended in a nimbus, fading at the periphery in little sparkles. It was absolutely beautiful.

  But it was also disaster. "Possession!" the Prince cried in horror. "Dollar was right!"

  "No," Herald protested. "Her aura is variable. During certain periods it rises as high as mine, then fades again. But she is herself. There is no alien influence."

  "Then why does she illuminate?" Qaval demanded.

  "This occurs at times with strong auras in certain fields. That was how the aura was identified in System Sol over two thousand years ago, when the scientists who photographed it—"

  "Then why do ours not glow?"

  "Perhaps they are of different types. I assure you, this is not a supernatural manifestation. Come, touch her; verify that she is normal, the same girl you danced with anon."

  "Keep her away from me!" Circlet screamed. "She is possessed of a demon!"

  "In another light, perhaps our auras would glow, and hers not," Herald said. "She has a rare type—"

  "Kill her," the Prince said coldly.

  Herald's human hand snapped to his sword, but he carried none for this festive occasion. Nor did the Prince and the Duke.

  "We may not strike during truce," Qaval assured his liege lord. "Even were we armed."

  "She must die," the Prince insisted.

  Herald moved in front of Psyche. "She is my wife."

  "Come... we must depart," Qaval said. He sounded sad.

  The two moved past Herald, who remained tensely alert. But there was no attack. The Prince was trying to give Psyche as wide a berth as possible, and the Duke was intent on guarding him. It would have been tactically foolish of them to attack, for the knights of the Duke of Kade controlled this castle, and no guest could escape alive without Kade's consent.

  Herald and Psyche followed the Prince and Qaval to the main hall. The party ended swiftly. Iron-faced, the Duke of Kade stood by the front gate and mumbled empty pleasantries while the enemy guests filed out to the ferry.

  Psyche's aura had risen to about 240. But Herald was no longer interested in making love. He knew that chance had passed a sentence of death on her, when she had been so near to safety.

  "I regret I shall not be able to complete your therapy," Herald said. "It will not be safe for you to remain here."

  "But we are progressing," Hweeh protested. "I know it. Eac
h session I am better able to approach the shock subject. It concerns deep space, some manifestation beyond the Cluster itself, and it is extremely important. If only I can comprehend it without blowing out my mental fuse. Perhaps even this session...."

  "The other nobles of Planet Keep have decided that my wife, Psyche, is subject to Possession," Herald said. "They demand her execution. Since neither the Duke of Kade nor I will tolerate that, there will be war. It is not fair to keep you here, as this castle may be besieged, perhaps destroyed."

  "I appreciate your consideration," Hweeh said. "But I feel that the information I carry is worthy of the risk, and that only you can evoke that information in time. We are faced by some terrible threat and it will not abate merely because I ignore it. My intellect knows what my emotion does not; there is no escape from reality by hiding from it. And... I have developed a certain fondness for the Lady Kade, and for you, Herald. I would not feel right about departing in your period of stress."

  "This is very generous of you," Psyche said. "But there is no way you can help us."

  "Perhaps I will find a way," the Weew said. "I have certain connections in my Segment. If a protest were lodged...."

  "The Duke of Kade feels this matter must be settled internally," Herald said. "If he cannot repulse the enemy forces, an extra-Segment protest would not avail. Distant politics cannot act as swiftly as a near arrow."

  "Perhaps some other way, then. At any rate, I shall remain—because I must stay with you, in the hope that you can evoke my information in time."

  In just a few days the enemy marched. Kade marshaled his own forces efficiently. Kade was the most powerful Dukedom of Keep, but its available forces could not match those of the Prince.

  "All this is unnecessary," Herald told Kade. "Let me take Psyche away to Andromeda, where they cannot follow."

  "She would not go," Kade said. "She is a creature of Keep, and of Kastle Kade. To remove her would be to destroy her. And the Transfer and mattermission facilities are in the control of the King."

  It had to be mattermission, of course. With a normal aura of twenty five, Psyche could not last indefinitely in Transfer. In less than a year she would fade to oblivion. And if her body remained here, it would be destroyed.

  "Can we hold them off?" Herald asked.

  "We must hold them off," Kade said. "If they cannot overwhelm us in the first month, they will desist for they must tend to their own households and keep the beasts at bay. Many are not too keen on this battle, after meeting my daughter on her wedding day and seeing her innocence. But now the honor of the Prince requires that the effort be made."

  The effort was made. Soon the Duke's lookouts reported the banners of the Prince's army to the south across the water of Lake Donny and beyond the dam. "They will not attack today," Kade said wisely. "First they will rendezvous their forces and make a base camp. Tomorrow shall be the initial action."

  He was correct. The enemy did not advance further. The banners had been shown, giving fair warning; that was part of the protocol. In due course the visible army removed to the south, out of sight of the castle.

  "I was not pleased to have you marry my daughter," Kade told Herald gruffly. "But you have stood up well, and she loves you. Will you consult on strategy?"

  "I am not expert in siege strategy," Herald said, flattered at this attention. The Duke's acceptance came slowly, but was worth having.

  "It is mainly common sense. You will take the part of the enemy commander."

  "As you will, sir."

  Kade walked to a wall-sized map. "Here is Kastle Kade," he said, pointing out the bulging triangle. "Set within Lake Donny, in turn formed by our dam across Donnybrook." He indicated the area south of the castle. "The main approach is up the valley from the south, since the northern front is ideal for defensive ambush. But we can release the water from our dam, flash-flooding that valley. This is well known to the enemy, of course. Such flooding would diminish our effective moat, but there would still be a bog for troops to cross while under fire from our parapets. How, then, would you approach with a siege force?"

  Herald considered. "It would be tedious and difficult, therefore improbable—so I would attempt to approach over the ridge-road to the west. I would send out skilled knights to eliminate the defensive sentries, then funnel the troops and siege machinery along the heights, debouching at the castle shore. I would set my catapults at the pass, so as to lob stones conveniently down."

  "And if I sent knights to block you off at the high pasture beyond the Ridge Road?"

  "I have—how many?—two thousand knights? You have perhaps two hundred. I would wipe out your entire force, if it were so foolish as to meet me in open battle away from the protection of the castle. It is true that the castle of the Baron of Magnet is in that vicinity, but he has few knights—in fact they are all here at Kastle Kade for the main defense—so there remain nothing but household troops to secure that castle. I would set a minor siege about it, not attacking it but merely preventing any access to it, so that there could be no interference from there." Herald glanced at Kade. "In fact, I don't see how you can stop me. The Prince, I mean. He will have his siege force by the castle despite all you can do. You can't flood a ridge, can you?"

  "I cannot flood a ridge. I could place troops in ambush—"

  "My knights might take losses of three or four to one, but very soon they would clean out your forces. And where could your knights hide—down the slope?"

  "So you see no way I can abate your thrust?" Kade said.

  "Frankly I don't, and it has me worried. Maybe you could dig a ditch, or throw up a wall, and guard it—"

  "In two days or less? When they have full-scale siege works?"

  "Duke, you make me nervous indeed! Kastle Kade is vulnerable!"

  "That seems to be a reasonable conclusion," Kade agreed.

  "We'll just have to stop them at the wall. Unless they are fool enough to march straight up the southern valley."

  "They are not such fools. They will march a small contingent up the valley, and should we drown those the major force would remain—and our defense would be weakened far more than their offense."

  "So they can move troops past the dam by doing it a little at a time, and we can't stop them."

  "Yes. We shall reserve our forces for the castle."

  "Damn it!" Herald exploded. "How could such a liability have been left so near the castle?"

  "Actually, the dam is guarded by bowmen, so a small force will find approach difficult—"

  "I mean the high trail!"

  "The Ridge Road is necessary for herding our cattle to and from the high pasture," Kade said patiently. "It is a good pasture, the best in this region, and our cattle are the finest and fattest wheelers available. You saw how our recent guests tore into that wheelbeef! Much of the wealth of the Dukedom derives from that herd."

  "And no one ever expected to go to war," Herald said glumly. "Who could have anticipated that a Lady of Kade would become haunted?" He touched the sword he now wore. "The whole thing is so foolish! This damned superstition that says anything new must be suspect! Anybody who really knew Psyche...."

  Kade smiled with one of the few touches of warmth Herald had seen in him. "You begin to echo me."

  "And why not? The truth bears echoing."

  Kade returned to the map. "I, too, objected to the vulnerability of the Ridge Road. One never considers one's defenses with the assumption that they will never be used. But in the end I left the ridge unfortified. Can you see why?"

  Herald studied the map again. "It is a mystery to me. I assume the certainty of inconvenience for your prime cattle outweighed the uncertainty of war. Why go to a lot of trouble and expense for something so theoretical?"

  "Why, indeed," Kade agreed. "So I am sure the Prince's strategists have pored over this same map and reached a similar conclusion."

  "Yes."

  "And thereby lies the Prince's fall—perhaps."

  Herald looked up sh
arply. "How so?"

  "Suppose these fine fat cattle should stampede from the high pasture?"

  Herald looked closely at the map a third time, seeing the high pasture and the way it channeled into the familiar—to cattle—ridge path. Slowly he smiled.

  Psyche caught him arming for battle. "Herald! You're not going to fight? Your host doesn't have the strength or training!"

  "All hosting is voluntary," Herald reminded her. "I could never take my host into danger without his permission and cooperation."

  "I don't know," she said. "We've seen strange things here on Keep, and with your aura—"

  "I'll let you speak to him directly," Herald said, and turned over the vocal apparatus.

  "It's true, ma'am," the host said. "I'm a nobody myself. I knew when I started that I had to choose between serfing and hosting, and if I went the host route I'd have to stay out of the way and let my Transferee do it his way. Mister Herald has exercised me and made me stronger and tougher than I ever was before, and his aura heals me all the time, making me feel real good, you know—"

  "I know," she agreed.

  "And I like having people admire what my body carries. Even if it's not exactly me. And—no offense, ma'am—I'd never get remotely close to a doll like you by myself. I'm nothing, and you're the Lady Kade. So I'll take my chances. Maybe I'll die with Mister Herald, but it's a sight better than living on my own."

  It didn't faze her. "Yes, I have been making love to two men, haven't I! But this is the nature of Transfer. Herald knows that I'll never love anyone but him in any form, ever."

  "He knows," the host agreed. "Thanks for the word, ma'am, and now I'll just submerge again, okay? I feel sort of out of place, you know, talking to you like this."

  " 'Bye, host," she said, making a cute little wave of her hand. Then, to Herald: "I still want you by me, husband. We haven't been married long, and I want to conceive Pleasure. If anything happened to you now—"

  "It is you they are after," Herald reminded her. "We have to defend the castle, and its main vulnerability is the dam. If the enemy holes the dam, the lake will drop, and they'll be able to cross to the very walls. The mud will slow them, but still—"