Clear air to inhale did not, however, solve the problem of the wind. He had automatically grabbed for the railing—thank goodness, there was a railing—beside which he was climbing. The powerful gusting nearly tore his hand off before he could bring his other arm around to help, and it took him what felt like a long time to brace his feet against the opposite wall.
“I’m going to have to pull in help again,” the jini informed him from its ridiculous perch on his nose.
Mikal could not answer. He was too busy fighting just to remain more or less motionless on the staircase.
Then the oddest thing happened.
The reeking wind was suddenly gone. He was leaning on the stone wall against which he had been bracing himself, surrounded by light and calm.
“What just happened?” he asked, assuming that the jini would answer, even though he was not certain if he had spoken out loud.
“I think that we just tapped into some planetary reserve of positive energy,” the jini replied. “I think it’ll hold around you until you can make it into the upper world, if you hurry. It’s still dark there; I’ll return to my post with the other three—and yes, I’ll take care with the girl in the Mage’s rooms.”
The jini, too, seemed more energized, more aware, perhaps, than it had been. As it disappeared downwards, Mikal sprang into action, and began to climb the stairs, two at a time, in the eerie, if benign light, and calm. These psychic manifestations could be unsettling even when they were working in his favour! Was this the kind of events Kati had been experiencing, or was this something special intended just for him?
He stepped out of that special atmosphere into the normal world, tainted with the cellar creature’s murk, but less so than the Citadel itself, through a door which had an elaborate locking system that no-one had bothered to secure. He mentally hooted to see that:
“Gorsh has got too big for his britches, in spite of his off-world problems! He must figure that nobody will dare to touch him here, on his home world, in the city, half of which he owns! Mind you, with him having all those weapons stored in the basement—we’ll have to figure out a way to wall them in there so that neither he, nor his minions can get at them. Where’s Kati when you need her to come up with a good, crazy idea?”
At the thought her sleeping face swam into his mind’s eye, and he knew that he could contact her with his new ESP, but it was not a good time for that. She was asleep, and safe; that was enough for him right now. He had guards to avoid (assuming that Gorsh was not so arrogant as to believe that he needed no watchmen), and associates to contact and find. How was he going to go about the second thing? Could he use his PSI powers to find Lank, or this Chrysalia, or perhaps Seleni, the Wise Woman?
*****
“Halt! Who goes there?”
Shit! He had nearly made it out of the building complex surrounding the Citadel, when Mikal was stopped by the officious voice. So Gorsh had not left the place completely unguarded, only almost! He felt around him with his psi-sense, to locate the invisible watchman, and found him sitting in a little guardhouse, at one side of an arch he had intended to slip through, to get into the open city. The man was bleary; it had been a boring night. There was a deck of cards on the small table in front of him, and the remains of a simple meal: bread crusts, cheese rind, and fruit pits.
The fellow needed a jolting cup of Paradisan coffee, Mikal thought, glad that it was a luxury far beyond the man’s means. Nevertheless, he had seen Mikal sneaking about, and would drag him in without hesitation, for questioning or worse. Of course, Mikal could probably take him easily in a fair fight, but he had no illusions that any fight with Gorsh’s guards would be fair. He had seen the weapons storage.
But... what if he took a page from Kati’s book? The place was supposed to be running over with chattels! What if, for a few minutes he became Mik, Lady Katerina’s clever but shuffling servant, and crossed the barrier on some errand for the kitchens? Yes, the kitchens, they must be starting to operate about now; there were lots of mouths to feed on the premises!
Taking on the persona of Mik was like a walk down the memory lane. His steps became more halting as he neared the guard station, his pose more obsequious. It was a transformation he remembered making before, when his employer, the Lady Katerina, approached, after he had been bantering with Jocan and/or some River City local on the Drowned Planet. Fortunately the clothes that Murra had found for him were pretty nondescript, and fit him well into the role.
“The Cook said, we need some spices, some dried berries from town,” he muttered, looking down at the ground when he had shuffled to the guardhouse door.
He clinked together the coin that someone had forgotten in his pants pocket with the nail that he had used to unlock the first door. The sound might have been slightly convincing.
“Well, damn that woman!” the guard exclaimed. “Does she never learn to prepare things before hand? I’m always seeing people coming and going because The Cook forgot something again! Jeez!”
He gestured Mikal to move on, and he did, keeping to the shuffle until he was well out of sight. Then he straightened, and broke into a lope, a fierce grin on his face.
“Methinks that I’m not the first to use that ploy to get past the guardhouse,” he said aloud to the air around him. “That poor woman of a Cook gets the blame for a lot, I suspect!”
He set off towards the south, at an easy run, the motion of which was pure pleasure after so much time lying in a coma. He thanked his good fortune for having had the jini and Murra present when he was banged up by the Cellar Creature; without them he would not have been running, now. The sky in the east had begun to lighten up, and his psi-sense was telling him to head south. The Nature Spirits would be found in the southward direction, he knew, and that reminded him that Jaqui and Shyla had told Murra, when they, too, had been locked in the cellar, that the Wise woman’s cottage was in the river valley which they had found by walking south. The thought of finding Seleni energized him further—as if he needed more of that after the work the jini had done on his body, and the lovely little encounter with—who knew what—on the Citadel stairs.
He was slightly drunk on freedom, and the ability to be physically active, he realized, even as he loped along. It was probably good that he could be running towards his destination, instead of having caught a flyer, or a flit ride. Funny, it was as if the thought of a flying machine made him see one; a flit to the south of him, flying from west to east, more or less from the direction of the lake towards inland. Following the river upstream, maybe?
He laughed to himself, wondering what amazing things his new senses would be opening up for him. Right now he did not even want to probe to see if he could mentally locate Lank, and influence him somehow to find him; he had decided that he would trace Shyla and Jaqui’s route to Seleni’s, and take things from there. In the meantime he would enjoy being alive, looking around at this new (to him) world, Wayward, and having a few fantasies about Kati who was sleeping peacefully somewhere on the planet. For a few early morning hours life would be good, and he would take pleasure in it. After the short respite he would be ready to begin work again, and, damn it, he was going to get some results in the matter of nabbing Gorsh, as soon as he could!
*****
“My cottage has become as busy a spot as a tribal meeting place,” the Wise Woman said when she welcomed Mikal at her door.
It was getting on to mid-morning, and she had set a large pot of nut-porridge to bubble on the stove, having had a premonition that she would be receiving another hungry visitor, besides Shyla, for breakfast. She greeted Mikal with pleasure, delighted to see the animal exuberance he was showing now that he was again complete in his physical form. Seleni had worried about him when the jini had sent updates about the Agent; a man of action, he clearly had been uncomfortable in his role as a disembodied spirit. She admired him for having taken on a role, even for a time, which clearly was on the fringes of his comfort zone.
“Had a lot o
f traffic lately?” Mikal asked, breathing in the aroma of the porridge.
He had liked what he had sensed of the Wise Woman through the jini, and he liked her even better in person. She could be trusted, he understood, and she wanted what was the best for the land and every creature in it. A worthy custodian of the river valley, and a friend to the Nature Spirit which was ensconced in it.
“Your young friend, Lank, brought Shyla here early this morning,” Seleni said. “Chrysalia managed to remove the tracer from her flesh, insert it into a rodent, which was then encouraged to drown itself in the lake waters.”
Mikal could tell that she had reservations about the method which had been chosen for saving Shyla. With his new sensitivity, he understood it; sacrificing even a rat did not sit well with Nature Spirits. Little lapses like that were what created the cracks through which negativity could slither its way into living systems, there to twist them into forms which, if not controlled, could become the like of the Cellar Creature. And the Cellar Creature’s energy was what Gorsh had been using to power his own greedy takeover of as much of Wayward, and the Space Trade Lanes as he had succeeded in grabbing.
“Sometimes, we less than perfect humans find it needful to use questionable methods to reach necessary goals,” he said carefully. “I think such acts ought to be avoided as a rule, and, whenever possible, even in exceptional circumstances. But, as a mentor of mine once said, there are times when they are, simply unavoidable. We choose the lesser of two evils, is what it amounts to. It is then, as this person added, that we have to be extra vigilant, and make sure that we don’t go down that path any farther than we absolutely must, because if we do go down that road... well, we see the results of that, around us, too often.”
“You’re right, of course,” Seleni agreed with a sigh. “We humans are imperfect creatures, and it isn’t in us to reach perfection—not in this existence, certainly. Yet, that woman, Chrysalia, makes me uneasy, whether I like it or not. I would certainly be more willing to trust you with the performance of a necessary evil than her; nevertheless, I understand that she comes from a peaceful people, and was sent here to help right what her folk saw as a blatant misuse of power. Besides which, she is very talented in the use of ESP powers.”
Mikal considered this for a moment.
“I guess I’ll have to meet her before I can offer an opinion,” he finally said. “It could be that she was sent precisely because she will perform the sort of acts that I spoke of, especially if others of her kind won’t. If that’s the case, then we will have to keep an eye on her, and make sure that she does, indeed, do more good than harm.”
Suddenly Seleni’s face broke into a grin.
“You talk sense, man of many worlds. You’re hungry, right? Let me get the table set for the nut-porridge and we will eat. I’ll get Shyla up for breakfast, as well.”
*****
“Mikal, what?”
He hadn’t intended to disturb her. She was in a flyer, seated next to a thin, middle-aged man who was piloting the craft over the blue water of an ocean. The two had not been talking; Kati had seemed lost in thought, almost asleep. He had hoped to have insinuated himself into her psychic atmosphere as if into a dream, perhaps, a welcome, if unexpected figure.
But he had disturbed her, and now she was completely alert, thoroughly aware of his mental presence, and full of questions.
“I don’t have much time, love, I have to get going, to figure out how we’re going to trap our quarry, without setting off the equivalent of a mountain of flash bombs and other nasty high explosives. Just wanted to let you know that I’ve scooted out of the trap—thanks to various people and Spirits—and am now physically a free man, and psychically something akin to what you are. We can communicate, although to do more than touch minds fleetingly takes the freedom to sit quietly for a while, with eyes closed. Which I’m afraid that I can’t do for long, right now.”
“Well, get in touch with me in the evening before sleep, then. That’s probably the best time for undisturbed communication. I’ve lots to tell you.”
“I’ll take your instruction to heart, Lady Katerina. I’ve scads to tell you, too. Later, then.”
“Lady Katerina? It’s Captain Katerina, now, dear, silly goose. What nonsense...?”
He was back in Seleni’s garden, seated comfortably on one of her wooden benches, the Wise Woman’s eyes upon him. The table held a pitcher of cold water and three glasses. Shyla was there, too, yawning in the midday heat.
They were waiting for Lank and Chrysalia to arrive. Seleni had been able to contact them through jini number two, which had finally decided that Jaqui was as safe as anybody, or anything, could make her, considering the role that she had chosen for herself.
Seleni smiled to see the goofy grin on Mikal’s face as he broke the contact and came back to the garden. It was obvious that this man loved his woman deeply. And she seemed to be well-liked and respected by the people who worked with her, including Lank, and the odd man, Llon, who was so adept at communicating with, and through, the Planetary Nature Spirits.
These people had taken on a task of heroic proportions in trying to wrest Gorsh from his position, and into a Federation jail. And, in the process, cleanse Wayward of the taint that Gorsh had allowed and promoted, in and around the Citadel, and from where it had spread to other parts of the city, the continent, and the planet. Seleni had been aware of the problem, of course; how could she not have been, wedded to the Nature Spirit of the River Valley as she was? But the Nature Spirits, though certainly on the side of life, growth, and nurturance, could also be strangely tolerant of negativity, as long as the thinking creatures of the world did not rise up against it. It was part of the process of allowing the sentients to exercise free will, she believed; the Nature Spirits would not deny humans the freedom to choose the circumstances of their lives, and putting up with their bad choices was a part of that. But now these strangers had come among the people of Wayward, determined to bring Gorsh to justice for the crimes that he had committed outside of Wayward, and befriending the Spirits while they were at it. And the Spirits obviously liked them! Witness how one of them had helped Mikal escape on the Citadel cellar stairs, without even having been asked!
Perhaps the population of Wayward, or at least of the Continent Nord, had reached a turning point when they had voted (city by city, village by village, and estate by estate) to create a new representative Government to replace the old, corrupt Council of the Families. Llon had implied to her that it was that change which had allowed him to come to Wayward to meddle in its affairs. (Who was he that he seemed to think that he could meddle in planetary affairs, anyway?) And since the Waywardians had changed their government peacefully, after spending considerable time forging a compromise which was more or less acceptable to the great majority of the people on the Continent Nord, Gorsh’s ill-doings would be put to an end without any more blood-shed than was absolutely unavoidable. Or that was what Llon had, more or less, told her, during one of their communications, although he had cautioned her that he was not in control of events, so it was certainly possible that things could go awry at any time.
“That was a short communication,” Seleni said to Mikal.
“Yeah. I just wanted to touch base with Kati; let her know that we now can communicate. She did say that she had a lot to tell me, so we’ll compare notes later, tonight, probably.”
Mikal stretched his body luxuriously, after the moment of motionlessness. It was such a delight to be able to move physically!
“Where is that young rascal, Lank?” he asked. “I want to start making plans to deal with Gorsh, at the earliest.”
“He and Chrysalia are on their way,” Seleni said mildly. “That’s the word from jini number two.”
“Are you going to kill Gorsh?” Shyla suddenly asked, turning a pair of wide eyes on Mikal.
Mikal shook his head.
“No. But I am going to drag him to face justice in a Federation Court on the Space Stat
ion orbiting the planet Lamania, my home world.”
He gave Shyla a searching look.
“Was it so bad, being Gorsh’s slave that is, that you want to see him dead?”
Shyla stared at the table top in front of her.
“No-o-o,” she said. “Since I got away before he gave me to that old goat who sounded awful. But he’s still got Jaqui, and from what she said, he’s gotten quite enthusiastic about her, now that her hair is dyed brown.”
“And Jaqui—according to the jini number two—is playing him like a pro,” interjected Seleni. “That girl is almost frighteningly capable for one so young.”
“Yeah, and what she’s doing is going to bite her in the butt, eventually,” Mikal added, his expression turning grim. “In this town, what she’s doing is called whoring, and looked down upon. Not an unusual state of affairs. She knows that, but keeps on doing it anyway, because she thinks that it’s useful to our mission of nabbing Gorsh. And she’s right, it is useful! But once this is all over, she won’t be feeling triumphant for long; instead she’ll start seeing herself as the whore that others think that she is.
“I know that Kati will want to wrap her in her arms, and take her to Lamania with us. In The Second City nobody will think the worse of her for what she’s done; they’ll think that she’s something of a heroine, as a matter of fact.”
Abruptly his face broke into a disarming grin.
“And if I know my boss, Maryse, she’ll be following her progress through school, just waiting to hire her on as an operative, and send her to The Peace Officer Academy!”
“Do you think that I could come to Lamania, too?” Shyla asked.
“Actually, I’d already decided that The Second City is the best option for you,” Mikal replied. “Opportunities for schooling abound, and the Lamanian Social Services will take care of you.”
Showdown on the Planet of the Slavers Page 44