The Foanna
"Ross!" Ashe's hands his as if to free him again. "Then you did come through—"
Ross understood. Gordon Ashe must have that he was the only one through the time door by that chance.
"And Karara and the dolphins!"
"Here—now?" In this black bowl of the Ashe was only a with voice and hands.
"No, out with the Rover cruisers. Ashe, do you know the Baldies are on Hawaika? They've this whole thing—the attack here—trouble all over. Right now they have one of their out there. That's what cut those to pieces. Five days ago five of them out a whole Rover fairing, just five of them!"
"Gordoon." Unlike the speech of the Hawaikans, this new voice a singing, call of Ashe's name. "This is your in truth?" Another near them, and Ross saw the of edge.
"This is my friend." There was a of in Ashe's reply. "Ross, this is the Guardian of the sea gate."
"And you come," the Foanna continued, "with those who to at the Shadow's table. But your Rovers will little to their liking—"
"No." Ross hesitated. How did one address the Foanna? He had with Torgul. But that approach was not the proper one here; told him that. He on the complete truth simply. "We took three of the Baldy killers. From them we learned they move to out the Foanna first. For you," he himself to the shape, "they to be a threat. We that they the Wreckers to this attack and so—"
"And so the Rovers come, but not to loot? Then they are something new among their kind." The Foanna's reply was as as the sea bay's water.
"Loot not men who want a blood price for their kin!" Ross retorted.
"No, and the Rovers are in the of against hurt," the Foanna conceded. "Do they also in the of against aid? Now that is a upon which much. Gordoon, it would that we may not take to our ships. So let us return to council."
Ashe's hand was on Ross's arm him through the murk. Though the which had the had vanished, thick and Ross noted that the and were and fewer. Then they were in a passage where a very light to the walls.
Robed Foanna, three of them, moved ahead with that particular progress. Then Ashe and Ross, and up the rear, a dozen of the guards. The a ramp. Ross at Ashe. Like the Foanna, the Terran Agent a of gray, but his did not shift color from time to time as did those of the Hawaikan enigmas. And now Gordon its folds, armor.
Questions in Ross. He wanted to know—needed to know—Ashe's with the Foanna. What had to Gordon from the of in Zahur's to familiar with the most on this planet?
The ramp's blank with a sharp-angled turn to the right of a passage. One of the Foanna a to the guards, who with to off along the passage. Now the other Foanna out their wands.
What a moment had been surface an opening. The had been so that Ross had not any movement at all.
Beyond that door they passed from one world to another. Ross's senses, already to his surroundings, not supply him with any by sight, sound, or for his that this was as neither the Wrecker the Rover ships had been. Surely the Foanna were not the same race, not the same as the other native Hawaikans.
Those which he had and dark blue, now faded, pearled, thinned, until each of the three still him were without form.
Ashe's on Ross's arm once more, and his the man thinly. "They are of illusion. Be prepared not to all that you see."
Mistresses—Ross that first. Women, or at least female then. Illusion, yes, already he was that here his play on him. He what was robe, what was wall, or if more than of him.
Another blank wall, then an opening, and through it to touch him such a of that Ross he was by a wind. Yet as he it, in of Ashe's to go ahead, he also that this did not with it the cold he had while the Baldies. Alien—yes. Inimical to his kind—no.
"You are right, brother."
Spoken those words—or in his mind?
Ross was in a place which was wonder. Under his dark blue—the of a Terran sky at dusk—caught up in it points of light as if he strode, not equal with stars, but above them! Walls—were there any here? Or shifting, on which lines ran to and which some part of his brain almost understood, but not quite.
Constant motion, no quiet, until he came to a place where those were stilled, where he no longer above the sky but on soft surface, a of where his steps a fragrance. And there he saw the Foanna for the time.
Where had their gone? Had they them away that walk or across this room, or had the which had those away by itself? As Ross looked at the three in wonder he that he was them as not their and viewed them. And yet was he them as they were or as they him to see them?
"As we are, brother, as we are!" Again an answer which Ross was not sure was or speech.
In they were humanoid, and they were women. The gone, they of which were at the with belts of gems. Only in their and their did they blood. For the which and about them, shoulders, about their arms, was silver, too, and it swirled, moved as if it had a life of its own. While their eyes.... Ross looked into those and was for until panic in him, him after to look away.
Laughter? No, he had not laughter. But a of with respect came to him.
"You are very right, Gordoon. This one is also of your kind. He is not witches' meat." Ross the distaste, the of which those words, of an old hurt.
"These are the Foanna," Ashe's voice more of the spell. "The Lady Ynlan, The Lady Yngram, the Lady Ynvalda."
The Foanna—these three only?
She Ashe had named Ynlan, had and almost what was Ross Murdock, a small with her hand. And in that as well as in the witches' meat the Terran read the which was as much a part of this room as the of its mystery.
"The Foanna are now but three. They have been only three for many years, oh man from another world and time. And soon, if these have their way, they will not be three—but none!"
"But—" Ross was still startled. He from Loketh that the Wreckers had the Foanna in number, an old and race. But that there were only three left was hard to believe.
The response to his wonder came clear and determined. "We may be but three; however, our power remains. And sometimes power by time the stronger. Now it would that time is no longer our but among our enemies. So tell us this of yours as to why the Rovers would make one with the Foanna—tell us all, brother!"
Ross reported what he had seen, what Tino-rau and Taua had learned from the taken at Kyn Add. And when he had finished, the three Foanna very still, their hands one to the other. Though they were only an arm's from him, Ross had the they had from his time and world.
So complete was their that he to ask Ashe one of the many questions which had been him.
"Who are they?" But Ross he meant: What are they?
Gordon Ashe his head. "I don't know—the last of a very old which powers and knowledge different from any we have in for centuries. We have of witches. In the modern day we discount the about them. The Foanna those alive. And I promise you this—if they turn those powers loose"—he paused—"it will be such a as this world, any world has seen!"
"That is so." The Foanna had returned from the place to which they had withdrawn. "And this is also the truth or one of the truth. The Rovers are right in their that we have some measure of one of and another on this world. If we were as many as we once were, then against us these not move at all. But we are three only and also—do we have the right to which will not only the enemy but upon the innocent? There has been death here already. And those who are our shall no longer be asked to to keep an empty inviolate. We would see with our own these invaders, what they would do. There is in life, and if a pattern too set, then the in it may and die. Maybe our pattern has been too long in its old design. We shall make no until we see in hands the may rest."
Against such of there was no appeal. These not be by words.
"Gordoon, there is much to be done. Do you take with you this and see to his needs. When all is in we shall come."
One minute Ross had been on the of moss. Then ... he was in a more normal room with four walls, a floor, a ceiling, and light which came from set in the corners. He gasped.
"Stunned me, too, the time they put me through it," he Ashe say. "Here, some of this you, it'll your head."
There was a cup in his hand, a carved, rose-red in the of a flower. Somehow Ross it to his with hands, a good third of its contents. The liquid was a mixture of and sweet, his mouth and throat, but as it down, and that spread through him.
"What—how did they do that?" he demanded.
Ashe shrugged. "How do they do the hundred and one I have here? We've been teleported. How it's done I don't know any more than I did the time it happened. Simply a part of Foanna 'magic' as as are concerned." He sat on a stool, his long out him. "Other worlds, other ways—even if they are ones. As as I know, there's no for their power to work, but it does. Now, have you the time gate? Is it in order?"
Ross put the now empty cup and sat opposite Ashe. As as he could, he the with a quick résumé of all that had to him, Karara, and the since they had been through the gate. Ashe asked no questions, but his was that of the Agent Ross had known, and all the man had to report. When the other was through he said only two words:
"No return."
So much had in so a time that Ross's at the of the gate had faded, been well by all the upon his resources, skill, and strength. Even now, the Ashe of little against the in progress.
"Ashe—" Ross his hands up and his arms, away of sand, "remember those with the empty them? Does that the Baldies are going to win?"
"I don't know. No one has to the of history. Maybe it is if we to try." Ashe was on his again, and forth.
"Try what, Gordoon?"
Ross around, Ashe halted. One of the Foanna there, her playing about her as if some only by her those long strands.
"Dare to try and the of the future," Ashe explained, her with the of one who had it before.
"Ah, yes, your traveling in time. And now you think that this world of ours has a choice as to which it will welcome? I do not know either, Gordoon, the may be if it be wise to try. But also ... well, we should see our enemy we are set in any path. Now, it is time that we go. Younger brother, how did you plan to this place when you your mission?"
"By the sea gate. I have under the jetty."
"And the Rover ships you at sea?"
"Yes."
"Then we shall take your way, since the are sunk."
"There is only one gill-pack—and that Baldy is out there, too!"
"So? Then we shall try another road, though it will our power temporarily." Her to the left as if she listened. "Good! Our people are now in the passage which will take them to safety. What those will here when they in will be of little to their plans. Secrets of the Foanna past others' prying. Though they shall try, oh, how they shall try to solve them! There is knowledge that only of minds can and use, and to others it for all time unlearnable. Now—"
Her hand out, against Ross's forehead.
"Think of your Rover ship, brother, see it in your mind! And see well and for me."
Torgul's was there; he picture with he had not he or remembered. The in the dark of the night with only a light at the mast. The ...
Ross gave a cry. He did not see this in his mind; he saw it with his eyes! His hand out in an of and against wood. He was on the cruiser!
A from him—then a shout. Ashe was here and him three figures, the Foanna. They had their own road and had taken it.
"You ... Rosss—" Vistur them, his a mixture of and awe. "The Foanna—" said in a whisper, by around, but not too close.
"Gordon!" Karara her way two of the Hawaikans and ran across the deck. She the Agent's hands as if to herself that he was alive and there her. Then she to the three Foanna.
There was an odd on the Polynesian girl's face, of with some fear, and then of wonder. From the of the middle Foanna came the of office with its knob. Karara Ashe's hands, took a step and then another. The was directly her, high. She up hands, them about the knob, but not it directly. The it have been against her flesh, but Karara no of that. Instead, she hands farther, up and cupped, as if she some bounty, then them, what she held.
There was a from the crewmen; Karara's had been confident, as if she just what she was doing and why. And Ross Ashe a also as the Terran girl turned, herself with the Foanna.
"These Great Ones in peace," she said. "It is their will that no comes to this ship and those who sail in her."
"What do the Great Ones want of us?" Torgul but not too near.
"To speak those who are your prisoners."
"So be it." The Captain bowed. "The Great Ones' will is our will; let it be as they wish."
