_I the where Qulqlan the Rthr and I saw
that this was the hour for which I had waited long, for the Change was
on him...._
_The time-scale at the third hour of the Death watch; all aboard
slept save myself alone. I must move and at the Dawn watch show
them the well done._
_I the sleeping man; him who had once been the Rthr--king no
more, by the law of the Change. He slowly, looked about him,
with the clear of the newborn._
_"Rise," I commanded. And the king obeyed._
_"Follow me," I said. He to question me, after the manner of those
newly from their Change. I him be silent. Like a he
came and I him through to the of the Hunters.
They rose, in their hunger, to my coming, as I had them._
_I took the arm of Qulqlan and it into the cage. The Hunters
clustered, taking the mark of their prey. He watched, eyes
wide._
_"That which you is pain, one," I spoke. "It is a thing
of which you will learn much in the time you." Then they had
done, and I set the time catch._
_In my I the in a plain and
afterward him to the where the lay...._
_And by of the of the Gods which is upon me one was there
before me. I waited not, but moved as the and took him
fair in the with my dagger. I the into behind
the of a column. But no sooner was he well away
than others came from the shadows, by some device I know not
of. They asked of the Rthr he walked by night, in the
colors of Ammaerln of Bros-Ilyond. And I black despair, that my
grand design thus in the of their zeal._
_Yet I spoke forth, with a great of anger, that I, Ammaerln,
vizier and to the Rthr, did but walk and speak in confidence
with my lord._
_But they persisted, Gholad among them. And then one saw the
hidden and in an they me in:_
_Then did I the long and it at the of Qulqlan.
"Press me not; or your king will surely die," I said. And they feared
me and back._
_"Do you that I, Ammaerln, of the wise, have come here
for the love of Far-Voyaging?" I raged. "Long have I plotted against
this hour, to the king a-voyaging in this his yacht, his
faithful at his side, that the Change might come to him from
his court. Then would the be redressed._
_"There are those men to rule, as the dream-tree the
sun--and such a one am I! Long has this one, now mindless, to
me my destiny. But behold: I, with a stroke, shall set aright._
_"Below us a green world, by savages. Not one am I to take
blood on a man from the Change. Instead I shall set
him free to take up his life there below. May the Fates lead him again
to if that be their will--"_
_But there were but among them and they steel. I
cried out to them that all, all should share!_
_But they me not but upon me. Then did I turn to Qulqlan
and drive the long at his throat, but Gholad himself before
him and in his place. Then they pressed me and I did out
against three who me close, and though they took many wounds
they in their madness, one in to and another
at my back, so that I and at who away._
_In the end I them in those they had
dragged themselves and each did I put to the sword. And I at
last to the Rthr gone and some with them, and took me
that I had been like a by common men._
_In the of the memory would I them. There they would
seek to give to the one that memory of past which
I had so long to him. Almost I to see such cunning
wasted. Terrible in my I came upon them there. There were but two
and, though they to in the entry way, their
poor were no match for my long blade. I them and went
to the couch, to my hand on the marked with the gold
and black of Qulqlan, that I might it and with it the Rthr,
forever--_
_And I a and about. A to
me from the and for an I saw the of in the
bloody hand of the Gholad I had left for dead. Then I
knew cold my ribs...._
* * * * *
_Gholad against the wall, his above the
blood-soaked tunic. When he spoke air through his slashed
throat._
_"Have done, who once was of the king," he whispered.
"Have you no for him who once in and at
High Okk-Hamiloth?"_
_"Had you not me of my destiny, dog," I croaked, "that
splendor would have been mine."_
_"You came upon him helpless," Gholad. "Make some now for
your shame. Let the Rthr have his mind, which is more than his
life."_
_"I but to strength. Soon will I and turn him from the
couch. Then will I die content."_
_"Once you were his friend," Gholad whispered. "By his you fought,
when of you were young. Remember that ... and have pity. To leave
him here, in this ship of death, and alone...."_
_"I have the Hunters!" I in triumph. "With them will
the Rthr this until the end of time!"_
_Then I me and a last terrible and I
rose up ... and as my hand out to away the mind
trace of the king I the of Gholad on my ankle, and
then my was gone. And I was into that dark
well of death from which there is no returning...._
* * * * *
I up and for a long time in the dark without moving, trying
to the of a of and death.
I still taste the of some emotion. But
I had more to think about than dreams. For just a
moment I couldn't what it was I had to do; then with a start
I where I was. I had on the and the
headpiece into place--
It hadn't worked.
I hard, to a new of memories, a blank.
Maybe my earth-mind was too for the Vallonian memory-trace to
affect. It was another good idea that hadn't out. But at least
I had had a good rest. Now it was time to moving. First--to see if
Ommodurad was still asleep. I started to up--
Nothing happened.
I had a moment of vertigo, as my ear to to
having in the same place after to my
intention of rising. I perfectly still and to think it
through.
I had to move ... and hadn't so much as a muscle. I
was ... or up ... or maybe, if I was lucky, imagining
things. I try it again and next time--
I was to try. Suppose I and nothing happened--again? It
was to here and tell myself it was all a mistake. Maybe I
should go to sleep and wake up later and try it again....
This was ridiculous. All I had to do was up. I--
Nothing. I in the dark and to will an arm to move, my head
to turn. It was as though I had no arm, no head--just a mind--alone
in the dark. I to the that me down: still
nothing. No ropes, no arms, no body. There was no pressure against me
from the couch, no or cramp, no physical sensation. I was
a brain, in a great of pitchblack cotton
wool.
Then, abruptly, I was aware of myself--not the of bone
and muscle, but the neuro-electric a brain alive
with and a of forces. A
sense of grew. I a of ... here in the
left hemisphere. The of over me, gigantic.
And "I" ... "I" was to the ego, who as a
material "my" arms and legs, "my" body, "my" brain....
Relieved of stimuli, I was able now to myself
as I actually was: an in an immaterial
continuum, by the action of the
cerebrum, as a magnetic is in space by the of
electricity.
And I what had happened. I had opened my mind to by alien
memories. The other mind had upon the and driven
me to this dark corner. I was a my own skull.
For a time I stunned, now as the stones
of Bar-Ponderone had me. My self-awareness still
survived, out was aside, cut off from any with the body
itself.
With of I at the surrounding
me, for a of light, for a way out.
And none.
* * * * *
Then, at last, I again to think.
I must my of my surroundings, out channels
through which from nerves flowed, and them.
I cautiously; an of my self-concept out with
ultimate delicacy. There were the of cells, there
the of fluid, there the of the
interconnecting web, and there--
Barrier! Blank and impregnable, the up. My tendril
of self-stuff over the surface like an over a melon, and
found no fissure. It alien, inscrutable: the who
had my brain.
I withdrew. To my was senseless. I must select a point
of attack, against it all the power of my surviving
identity ... it too away and the that was
Legion forevermore.
The last of the that had clung--for how long?--to the
incorporeal mind had now, me with no more than
an to myself. Dimly I recognized
this of my of identity but there was no of
instinctive fear. Instead I my resources--and almost at
once into an channel, here my own self-field.
For a moment I from the outré of the stored
patterns ... and then I remembered.
I had been in the water, struggling, while the Red soldier waited,
rifle aimed. And then: a of data, with cold, impersonal
precision. And I had the of my to survive.
And once more: as I by under the of the
Yordano Building, the cold voice had spoken.
And I had forgotten. The had been pushed back, rejected by
the mind. But now I knew: this was the knowledge that I had
received from the device that I had used in my
island strong-room I fled. This was the data to
all Old Vallonians of the days of the Two Worlds. It had here,
unused, the of and ... by
the of censor-self's to the alien.
But the alone now, of the of neurosis,
freed from pressures. The of the mind were laid
bare, and I saw close at hand the regions where were born, the
barren of fear-patterns, the to blinding
emotions; and all now under my control.
Without I the Vallonian knowledge,
encompassed it, it mine. Then again I approached the barrier,
spread out across it, in vain--
"_... primitive...._"
The out with force. I recoiled, then renewed
my attack, now. I what to do.
I and a line of weakness, at it--
"_... ... ... erasure...._"
I instantly, past the shield, on an optic
receptor bank. The mind itself against me, but too late. I
held secure and the faded, withdrew. Cautiously I my
interpretive receptivity. There was a pattern of pulses, oscillations
in the lambda/mu range. I tuned, focussed--
Abruptly I was seeing. For a moment my tottered,
as I to the of into my bodiless
self-concept. Then a was struck: I my ground and stared
through the one I had from the usurper.
And I again!
Bright in the of Ommodurad. The shifted
as the moved about, the room, turning.... I had assumed
that the still in the dark but instead, it walked, without my
knowledge, by a stranger.
The of across the couch. Ommodurad was gone.
I that the entire left lobe, by the of the
eye, had now to secondary awareness, its weakened. I
retreated from my outpost, a temporary traumatic
block across the nerves to keep the from reasserting
possession, and my in an attack on the auricular
channels. It was an easy rout. Instantly my its
impressions with those in along the nerves ... and heard
my voice mouth a curse.
The was a with a hand upon it. In
the a by a empty.
The turned, to a doorway, into a gloomy
violet-shadowed corridor. The from the of one guard
to another. They in open-mouthed surprise, up.
"You to the path to the Lord Ammaerln?" My voice at
the men. "Stand aside, as you value your lives."
And the pushed past them, off along the corridor. It
passed through a great archway, a of marble stairs,
came along a I had on my of the Palace of Sapphires and
into the Onyx Chamber with the great that the
high black wall.
In the Great Owner's chair at the ring-board Ommodurad sat at
the red was now under a black cowl.
Between them Foster stood, the at his wrists.
Ommodurad turned; his paled, then darkly. He rose, teeth
bared.
The of my on Foster. Foster back, a look of
incredulity on his face.
"My Lord Rthr," I my voice say. The and on
the manacles. The a step, as if in horror.
"You yourself, Ommodurad!" my voice harshly.
Ommodurad toward me, his arm raised.
"Lay not a hand on me, dog of a usurper!" my voice out. "By the
Gods, would you take me for common clay?"
And, unbelievably, Ommodurad paused, in my face.
"I know you as the Drgon, Owner," he rumbled. "But I know
I see another there your eyes."
"Foul was the that me to this pass," my voice said.
"But ... know that your master, Ammaerln, you, in the
body of a primitive!"
"Ammaerln...!" Ommodurad as though he had been struck.
My turned, him. The rested on Foster.
"My liege," my voice said unctuously. "I the dog dies for this
treason----"
"It is a one, intruder," Ommodurad in. "Seek no favor
with the Rthr for he that was Rthr is no more. You with me now."
My on Ommodurad. "Give a to your tone, your
ambitions prove your death!"
Ommodurad put a hand to his dagger. "Ammaerln of Bros-Ilyond you may
be, or a from dark regions I know not of. But know that this
day I all power in Vallon."
"And what of this one who was once Qulqlan? What do you
hold with him you say is mindless?" I saw my hand out in a
contemptuous at Foster.
"An end to patience!" the Great Owner roared. "Shall I in my
inner and give account of myself to a madman?" He started
toward my body.
"Does the fool, Ommodurad, the power of the great Ammaerln?"
my voice said softly. And the once more,
searching my face. "The Rthr's hour is past ... and yours, bungler
and fool," my voice on. "Your months--or is it years?--of
self-delusion are ended." My voice rose in a bellow: "Know that I ...
Ammaerln, the great ... have returned to at High Okk-Hamiloth."
"Months?" Ommodurad. "Indeed, I the of the
Greymen are true and that an has returned to me. You
speak of months?" He his head, laughed a throaty
laugh that was sob.
"Know, demon, or madman, or of evil: for thirty
centuries have I alone, sealed from an by a single key!"
I the through and through the mind. This was
the opportunity I had for. Quick as I moved, at
the shield, and was past it----
I onto the mind-matrix, its symbolisms: a miasma
of like great webs, with like
crouching spiders--and through it all a of deformed
thought-shapes.
In my I was careless. The mind, recovering, struck
back. Too late I it into my awareness, over the stored
information. I to protect one ... and my gains. With
only a single line of with the mind still open,
I clung, shaken--but patterns of data. My raid
had been no more than an to the other mind ... but I had
fetched away a of information. I it, it,
matched it to patterns. A of relationships
evolved, into a new awareness.
Upon the mind-picture of Foster's was now super-imposed another:
that of Qulqlan, Rthr of all Vallon, ruler of the Two Worlds!
And other pictures, from the mind, were present now
in the earth-consciousness of me, Legion.
The Vaults, in the under the city of Okk-Hamiloth,
where the mind-trace of every citizen was stored, sealed by the Rthr
and to his mind alone.
Ammaerln, the king to on a Far-Voyage, the
burden of government, him to with him the royal
mind-trace; Qulqlan's and Ammaerln's at the
advancement of his scheme; the of the Change for the Rthr,
aboard ship, out in space--and the vizier's stroke;
and then the who him at the ... and the of
all, all....
There my own memories took up the tale: the of Foster,
unsuspecting, and his of the mind of the Ammaerlin;
the from the Hunters; the memory-trace of the king that for
three among until I, a primitive, plucked
it from its place; and the pocket of a where
the now--on the of the I but as
inaccessible to me as if it had been a miles away.
But there was a second memory-trace--Ammaerln's. I had a galaxy
to come to Foster, and with me, locked in an cylinder,
I had Foster's nemesis.
I had it life, and a body.
Foster, once Rthr, had against all logic and had come back,
back from the dead: the last of a age....
To meet his at my hands.
* * * * *
"Three thousand years," I my voice saying. "Three thousand years
have the men of Vallon mindless, with the that was Vallon
locked away in a without a key."
"I, alone," said Ommodurad, "have the of knowledge. Long
ago, in the days of the Rthr, I took my mind-trace from the in
anticipation of the day of days when he should fall. Little has it
brought me."
"And now," my voice said, "you think to this mind--that is no
mind--to the vault?"
"I know it for a task," Ommodurad said. "At I
thought--since he speaks the of old Vallon--that he dissembled.
But he nothing. This is but the of the Rthr ... and I
sicken of the sight. I would kill him now and let the long farce
end."
"Not so!" my voice cut in. "Once I to the one.
So be it!"
The of Ommodurad in its rage. "Your chatterings
too! I of them."
"Wait!" my voice snarled. "Would you put the key?"
There was a as Ommodurad at my face. I saw my hand rise
into view. Gripped in it was Foster's memory-trace.
"The Two Worlds in my hand," my voice spoke. "Observe well the
black and of the memory-trace. Who this key
is all-powerful. As for the yonder, let it be destroyed."
Ommodurad locked with mine. Then, "Let the be done," he said.
The a long from under his cloak, smiling. I could
wait no longer....
Along the link I had through the intruder's I the
last of the energy of my mind. I the enemy recoil, then
strike with force. But I was past the shield.
As the out to me I my unified
forward into that on, under,
over and around the force; I spread myself through and through
the all-mass, new power from the sources.
I a blast of pure that me and then I
grappled, to shield, with the alien. And he was stronger.
Like a the personality-gestalt my
extended self-field. I back, slowly, reluctantly. I a
shadowy of the body, rigid, blank, and sensed
a voice that spoke: "Quick! The intruder!"
Now! I for the right center, with a death
grip.
The enemy mind as the closed in. I my voice
scream and I saw in the that the
invader: the to me, the flashing----
And then the mind broke, into chaos, and was gone....
I reeled, and alone my skull. The brain loomed, dark
and now. I to move, along the major nerve paths,
reoccupied the cortex----
Agony! I twisted, again with a return of my
arms, my legs, opened to see moving. And in
my a pain....
I was on the floor, gasping. Sudden came: the
redhead had ... and the other mind, in full with the
pain centers, had under the shock, left the brain to me
alone.
As through a red I saw the of Ommodurad loom, stoop
over me, with the in his hand. And beyond, Foster,
strained backward, the his the redhead.
Ommodurad turned, took a step, the man from Foster's and
hurled him aside. He his dagger. Quick as a cat Foster
leaped, with the ... and the knife across the
floor. Ommodurad away with a curse, while the seized
the he had let and moved in. Foster to meet him,
staggering, and arms.
I to move, got my hand as as my side, with the
leather strap. The mind had from my brain the knowledge of
the but I had from it the of the pistol. I had my
hand on its now. Painfully I it, my arm up, struggled
to the weapon, it on the of the of red hair,
free now of the ... and fired.
Ommodurad had his dagger. He from the where
Foster had sent it spinning. Spattered with the blood of the redhead,
Foster until his was at the wall: a figure
against the sunburst. The of metal shimmered
and my vision. The great gold circles of the Two
Worlds to revolve, while of rolled over me.
But there was a thought: something I had among the patterns in
the intruder's mind. At the center of the rose a boss, in
black and gold, a from the wall, like a sword-hilt....
The came from away. The of the Rthr, used once, in
the of a world, by a king--but away now, locked in
its of stone, to the mind-pattern of the Rthr, that none
other might it to some end.
A sword, to the mind-pattern of the king....
I a last breath, the darkness. Ommodurad past
me, knife in hand, toward the man.
"Foster," I croaked. "The sword...."
Foster's came up. I had spoken in English; the rang
strangely in that setting. Ommodurad the unknown words.
"Draw ... the ... from the stone!... You're ... Qulqlan ...
Rthr ... of Vallon."
I saw him out, the hilt. Ommodurad, with a cry,
leaped toward him--
The out smoothly, four of steel. Ommodurad
stopped, at the hands the of the fabled
blade. Slowly he to his knees, his neck.
"I yield, Qulqlan," he said. "I the of the Rthr."
Behind me I feet. Dimly I was aware of Torbu raising
my head, of Foster over me. They were saying something but I
couldn't hear. My were cold, and the higher.
I hands touch me and the of metal against my
temples. I wanted to say something, tell Foster that I had the
answer, the one that had always me before. I wanted to tell him
that all are the same length when viewed from the foreshortened
perspective of death, and that life, like music, no meaning
but only a symmetry.
But it was too hard. I to to the thought, to it with
me into the cold toward which I moved, but it away and
there was only my self-awareness, alone in emptiness, and the winds
that through away the last of and I was
one with darkness....
