Back in the windowless house, we snatched a hurried meal, cared for
our slashed cuts, and tried to plan further. The others had not been
idle while we fought the falcons. All day Narayan's vaunted army had
been accumulating, I could hardly say assembling, in that great bowl of
land between Narabedla and the Dreamer's Keep. There were perhaps four
thousand men, armed with clumsy powder weapons, with worn swords that
looked as if they had been long buried, with pitchforks, scythes, even
with rude clubs viciously knobbed. I had been put to it to conceal my
contempt for this ragtag and bobtail of an army. And Narayan proposed
to storm Rainbow City--with this! I was flabbergasted at the confidence
these men had in their young leader. So much the better, I thought,
take him from them and they'll scatter to their rat-holes and crofts
again! I felt my lips twisting in a bitter smile. They trusted Adric,
too. When I had shown myself to them, their shouts had made the very
trees echo. Well--again the ironic smile came unbidden, that was just
as well, too. When Narayan was re-prisoned, I could use the power of
their lost leader to tear down what he himself had built. The thought
was exquisitely funny.
"What are you laughing about," Narayan asked. We were lounging on the
steps of the house, watching the men thronging around the camp. His
slumberous grey eyes held deep sparks of fire, and without waiting
for my answer he went on, "Think of it! The curse of the Dreamer's
magic lifted--what would it mean to this land, Adric? It means
life--hope--for millions of people!"
In a way, Narayan was right. I could remember when I had shared that
dream; when it had seemed somehow more worthy than a dream of personal
power. Cynara came down the steps, bent and slipped her soft arms
around my shoulder, and I drew her down. A volcano of hate so great I
must turn my face away burned up in me. This man was my equal--no, I
admitted grudgingly, my superior--and I hated him for it. I hated him
because I knew that in his dream of power no one must suffer. I hated
him because, once, I had been weak enough to share his feelings.
I said abruptly, "Your plans are good, Narayan. There's just one thing
wrong with them; they won't work. Storming Rainbow City won't get you
anywhere. You could kill Karamy's slaves by the thousands, or the
millions, or the billions. But you couldn't kill Karamy, and you'd
only leave her free to enslave others. You've got to strike at them
when they're in the Dreamer's Keep. When the Dreamers wake is the only
moment when they are vulnerable."
"But how can we get to the Dreamer's Keep, Adric? They go guarded a
hundred times over, there."
"What's your army for?" I asked him roughly, "To knock down hay-cocks?
Send your men to chase off the guards. I told you I could handle Rhys,
if it came to that. He'll get us through to the Dreamer's Keep, if need
be."
"What about Gamine?" Cynara asked practically. Gamine was the least
of my worries, but I did not tell Cynara that. I listened to their
comments and suggestions a little contemptuously. Didn't they know
that when the Dreamers woke, the Narabedlans were vulnerable--to the
Dreamers alone? If I were there with Narayan, there was no question
about who would win.
Cynara scowled at the rip of talons across my face. "You're hurt and
you never told me!" she accused. "Come this minute and let me take care
of it!" I almost laughed. Me--Adric of the Crimson Tower--being ordered
around by a little country girl! I snorted, but spoke pleasantly. "I'll
live, I expect. Come and sit here with us." I pulled her down at my
side, but she leaned her head on her brother's knee, an unquietness
in her face. She was a pretty thing, although the cause of all my
troubles. When I redeemed her from Karamy's slaves, for a whim, I had
not known she was Narayan's sister--Zandru's hells, but I had made a
ghastly slip! I had told Narayan there was no help for those touched by
the birds, when I myself had redeemed his own sister! Had he noticed?
Would he attribute it to Karamy's meddling with my mind? I smothered
an exclamation, and Cynara and Narayan looked up anxiously. "You
_are_ hurt, Adric!"
I shook my head. I fancied Narayan looking at me with suspicion, but
I controlled myself. I reached out to draw Cynara to me, but she had
drawn back, rising lithely to her feet, like a dove poised for flight;
only her hands, small darting hands like candle-flames, remained in
mine to pull me lightly to my feet. I tried to hold her, but she
protested, "There is so much to be done--" and I raised the slim hands
to my lips before I let her go. The gesture pleased her, I could see;
so much that I watched with contempt as she tripped away. Silly, simple
girl! It _would_ please her!
In the end it was only Narayan and Cynara who rode with me to Rainbow
City. Kerrel had taken the army, in sections, to set an ambush for
Karamy's guards; we rode in the opposite direction, by a twisting side
road. Cynara rode beside me, her dark eyes glowing. There was dainty
witchery in Cynara, and a pretty trust that made me smile and promise
recklessly, "We will win." It pleased me to think that I could comfort
Cynara for her brother's downfall. Once conditioned to Rainbow City,
she would forget her silly fancies and be a fair and lovely comrade. If
she continued to please me, it would be amusing to see this unformed
country girl wield the power that had belonged to Karamy the Golden!
It took us an hour of hard riding to reach the lip of the great cup of
land, where we paused, looking down the dark, almost-straight avenue
of trees that led to the walls of Rainbow City. I whistled tunelessly
between my teeth. "Whatever we do, it will be wrong. We'd be taking
quite a chance to ride up to the main gate; at the same time, they'll
be expecting us to sneak in the back way. They'd never expect us to
come by the front avenue."
"The deer walks safest at the hunter's door," Narayan quoted laughing.
"But won't they be expecting us to use that kind of logic?"
Cynara giggled, subsided at my frown. "At that rate," I said, "We could
go on all night."
Narayan reached overhead, snatching down a crackling sheaf of
frost-berries; selected one narrow pod. He held it between finger and
thumb. "Chance. Two seeds, we go around. Three, we ride straight up
the main gate. Agreed?" I nodded, and he crushed the dry husk. One,
two--three seeds rolled into my outstretched palm.
"Fate," Narayan said with a shrug. "Ready, then?"
I jounced the seeds in my palm. "One for Evarin, and one for Idris, and
one for Karamy," I said contemptuously, and flung the little black
balls into the road. "We'll scatter them like that!"
We were lucky; the drive was deserted. If there were guards out for us
at all, they had been posted somewhere on the secret paths. Straight
toward the towers we rode, under the westering red sun, and just before
dusk we checked our horses and tethered them within a mile of the
Rainbow City, going forward cautiously on foot.
I objected to this arrangement. "I'll get in alone," I told them. "If
anything happens to me, we mustn't lose you as well!"
"I'll stay," said Narayan briefly. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be
here to help." Silently I damned the man's loyalty, but there was
nothing I could say without spoiling the illusion I had worked so hard
to create. I took his hand for a minute. "Thank you." His voice was
equally abrupt. "Good luck, Adric." Cynara glanced at me briefly and
away again. I walked away from them without looking back.
It was easy enough to find my way into the labyrinthine towers. I was
not Lord of the Crimson Tower without knowing its secrets. I climbed
the stairs swiftly, ransacked the place. To no avail. When she took my
memories, Karamy had also been careful to take everything which could
conceivably give me any power over any of the Dreamers, even old Rhys.
I went up more stairs till I stood at the very pinnacle of the tower,
in Adric's star-room into which I had been catapulted--was it less than
three days ago? I stood at the high window, vaguely thinking of an
older Adric, an Adric who had watched the stars here, and not alone. I
traced back through the years, diving down deep into the seas of sudden
memory, and brought up the knowledge of--
"Mike Kenscott!" said a voice behind me, and I whirled to look into the
face of a man I had never seen before.
He had the primitive look of a man out of some forgotten past. I had
seen such men as I swam in the light of the Time Ellipse. He was tall
and clean-shaven; he looked athletic; his eyes were a ridiculous color,
dark brown. He had hair. He looked angry, if he could be said to have
an expression.
But he spoke, clearly and with a deliberate calm. "Well, Mike
Kenscott," he said, in a language I had never heard, but found myself
understanding perfectly, "You have taken my place very nicely. I
suppose I should thank you. You've given me freedom, and Narayan's
trust--the rest I can do for myself!" He laughed. "In fact, you're so
much _me_ that I'm not much of myself. But I _can_ force you
back into your own body--"
The man must be mad! At any rate, he'd insulted the Lord Adric, in his
own Tower, and by Zandru's eyelashes, he'd pay for it! I flung myself
at him with a yell of rage. My fingers dug into his throat--
And I cried out in the stifling clutch of lean fingers grabbing at me,
biting at my neck, my shoulders--an agonizing wrench shuddered over my
body--