Why?" "Perfect. You fantasized based on what you saw. Well, that's all we're going to have you do again, my dear. And we're going to let that young woman in the redoubt there in on that fantasy. Oh, yes, we are. . . ." The Storm Princess awoke suddenly with a series <)f very odd sensations, most of them unpleasant. First was the con- vincing feeling that she had suffered some kind of major menstrual flow and that her bed was now wet with a thin, yet WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 333 mucousy substance she could still feel draining from within her. Almost immediately, she felt the muscles deep within her contract in spasmodic fashion. Alida and Botea, her two female slave consorts who gener- ally shared her bed, stirred into wakefulness as she abruptly sat up. "Alida! Botea! Awaken and switch on the lights!" she commanded, even as she was pulling the covers from the bed and examining the satin sheets for any signs of wetness. She found none, which troubled her even more than if she'd found it, nor did anything seem amiss in and around her vagina. The lights, when they went on, confirmed it. There was nothing there. Nothing. A dream? A vision? Or another of those shared things? She felt intermittent short bursts of weakening powers within her, not serious but more frequent than she'd ever known, and that, tied to the nightmare, gave her alarm. She got up, pushing one of her consorts out of the way, and went immediately to the wall intercom and pushed the red button. Even Klittichom slept—everyone assured her of it— but he somehow was never asleep when she had to see or talk to him. "Yes, Princess?" his voice came back, clear and awake. Quickly she described the vision and the sensations to him, and he was not pleased, but also not easily panicked. "Sense the child, the source of the interference. If your duplicate is close by, then such a thing could be transmitted to force us into hasty action." "No," she assured him. "It is far away, still distant, remote. The interference I felt there was real, but it was still far away and easily handled." "Hmmmm. . . . Very well. Get dressed and meet me in the War Room as soon as possible. And, if you feel any more of those muscle spasms down there, let me know and tell me how far apart they might be." "Lord Klittichom—if this is no trick, then what might it be?" She was genuinely worried about herself now. "Silly fool! First the water breaks, and the amniotic fluid drains out. Contractions start either a bit before or almost immediately after that, leading to the birth. Either my guess as to impregnation was wrong or the child is coming early, 314 jack L. Chalker which is not unprecedented. This is the first time that psychic link has worked to our advantage in warning us. We must seize the initiative now. You may feel no more contractions, but if the link still is sending them, the time between is critical. Once the babe is bom and the umbilical cord severed and she takes in her first air and cries out to the world her existence, your power and control is diminished by at least half, and that's far too much. Get dressed and hurry down to the War Room. I will summon the others. Take any of the elixirs I provided depending on your wakefulness and physi- cal strength, but eat nothing." "I shall do as you ask," she responded, then turned and looked at the two waiting slave girls. "The brown and red saffron ensemble," she told them. "Now!" She went over to the dresser, sat on the seat, and began to comb her hair and make herself presentable to the world. The slaves came back with the outfit she wanted, which was comfortable yet imposing, the trim on the dress just touching the knee, but with matching leggings and short, comfortable boots. The pair helped her on with it. then one fixed her earrings while the other brushed her long, flowing hair. She was not fully satisfied, but it would have to do. She got up, examined herself in the dressing mirrors, decided that she could go out like this, slipped the gold ring with the huge ruby on her ring finger, kissed the girls, and walked out, up a short flight of stairs, then down a main hall. She had not touched the elixirs; if she needed any chemical help to do this, then she was not up to it in any case. She was almost to the main doors of the War Room when she felt another slight twinge down there. She hadn't timed it, but guessed it could be no more than fifteen or twenty min- utes from the initial one. The big red double doors opened before her automatically and she strode into the center of the fortress, the War Room, with its tiered layers leading down to the central circular floor and the great suspended globe of Akahlar in the center. Klittichom and two of the others, as well as a few slave attendants and the Adjutant, were all there. She felt curiously awake and excited, as if this'was the moment she had waited for and prayed for all her life. Soon, ghost of my mother, soon, she thought with some satisfaction. WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 335 Now, this very day. the empire of the Akhbreed who kilted you and destroyed our beloved people will be no more. Etanalon snapped her fingers and Sam came out of it with a start. "Huh? What?" She clearly remembered the vision but not being put under. "Mission accomplished, I believe," Boolean announced, "although I thought you were taking a big chance going that close in to Klittichom, Etanaton." "Well, I wanted to see what the place looked like. It's quite impressive, you know. I'll attend to the makeover of Sam, here. The rest of you be fully prepared to move just as soon as we sense full radiated power from that contraption of his. Once they are committed, we want to move as swiftly as possible. The sooner we get in and get to them, the more hubs and lives we'll save." She turned back to Sam. "Ready?" "I guess. Won't he sense your use of sorcery, though?" "I think old Klittichom's got more on his mind than us right now, dear. and so long as he still thinks you're far away and the power use is slight, what matter now? Stand by. This will tingle for just a wee bit, and then you'll have to depend on me for major warmth until we are inside. It is cozy, but it is not an outdoor outfit." She felt the tingle, but felt no different—only slightly chillier. She looked down, though, and saw that she now wore the outfit, right down to the cute boots, that the Storm Princess had put on in the vision. She felt her ears and found earrings there, and her hair was longer, softer, and fuller than it had been. She, too. felt a bit fuller, and she noticed that her ring finger now had a duplicate of that mega-ring the Storm Princess had put on. She understood now that Etanalon had somehow shared that vision and manipulated it, and had made her over into as close a double of the real Storm Princess as possible. Crim and Boday checked their weapons and ammunition belts, and Boday clapped her whip to its strap brace on the side of her belt. To top it all, both had quivers full of crossbow bolts on their backs and very fine-looking cross- bows in hand. "Not the machine guns at the start?" Sam asked Crim "Uh-uh. We talked it over. If there are any routine guards 316 Jack L. Chalker out there, we want to take them out silently. Leave the machine guns until the alarms go off." Boolean looked approvingly at Sam. "A perfect double. Incredible. My genetic spell was right on the money, proving at least that I am a genius. One thing, though—it's unlikely you'll get close enough to get the chance, but by no means should you touch the Storm Princess. Anything else is okay, and. remember, she's as mortal as you are. That goes both ways." . "Huh? Why no touching?" "Just a feeling. There's an old legend, back home as well as here and elsewhere, about what the Germans in my native world deemed doppel gangers. It was said that everyone in the world had, somewhere, an exact duplicate, and if the two ever met and made contact, they would both cease to exist. It's unlikely that there really are many doubles, but people have fallen through outplanes to ones below—it's happened many times, enough to be recorded. There's a possibility that there is some kind of difference at the atomic or molecular level that would in fact cause two duplicates from different worlds to cancel one another out. I'm not positive, but why take chances? If we can get that close to her we can nail her a hundred ways. Why sacrifice yourself?" She nodded. "Well, I'm in favor of that sentiment. Now, how long do we have to wait?'' "Who knows? Not long, I hope. We've started his clock counting down and he wants to attack before the explosion. We all shared the vision of that room, which pretty well confirmed our deductions of what it must look like. I noted the pentagrams, too. Cromil. Some of your buddies are playing in this on his side." "Aw—he's always had the prohjjn—the Stormriders—with him, and their Sudog pets. Probably just gonna use them to confirm his kills, that's all- They can't do much damage now." Yobi's great, hooded head shook slightly. "I would like to know the importance of the small red dots in the hubs on that globe of his," she commented. "They weren't regular enough to be aim points." Nobody else had noticed them, including Sam. k Nothing we can do or know about it until we're there," Boolean WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 317 pointed out. "Still, didn't underestimate the bastard. Whoops! On your marks, ladies and gentleman' Looks like they switched on the juice!" "Give it a couple of minutes to make certain it's not a test, or not some ploy to draw out potential attackers," Yobi responded nervously. "Hey! Don't I get a gun or a sword or something?" Sam asked, more nervous than they were, and maybe a lot more now that she saw these high-power sorcerers were scared, too. Crim gave a half-smile. "You never could shoot worth a damn. We had you on the rifle coming along, but a rifle wouldn't be much use there and would blow the disguise. And your arm strength now isn't what it used to be. Your looks and the probable ignorance of most of the staff in there as to what's going on inside the War Room is your best defense. If you need a weapon, Boday or I will get you one somehow." "Yeah, thanks. I think." "I think it's on for real," Yobi pronounced at last. "That is one hellish amount of power being pumped out of there and in to there as well. Thinking time is done, people. Let us go, and may the gods of Akahlar and the misdirected prayers of its foolish people ride with us!" This time Sam rode in front of Etanalon, who provided some kind of shield that kept out the wind chill and preserved at least some warmth. Still, it was cold and she was cold and she wasn't sure whether she'd like to freeze to death or go into the jaws of that fortress. They fanned out; Crim on the left, then Yobi, Boolean in the center and slightly forward, then she and Etanalon on the right, and finally Boday on their right. A sort of V-shaped flying wedge, going over the glaciers and snowy peaks. One more rise, and then it was before them, looking very much as Boday had drawn it only bigger than Sam had imagined it. She had also thought that Boday had exaggerated the smooth, almost plastic-looking appearance, but it really did look un- real, like some humongous giant kid's lost toy. She, too, felt curiously unreal at this point. From a trou- bled teenager back in the land of television, cars, rock and roll, and shopping malls, to a fugitive running from storms 318 jack L. Chalker that chased her and bad dreams that plagued her, to the descent through the maelstrom to Tubikosa, the initial safe haven and then, betrayal by Zenchur, the strange spell of Boolean's, the kidnapping of Charley and her sale to Boday, the love potion that turned Boday into her lover, the strange life they'd led in which she'd grown fat and bored, the demon of the Jewel of Omak, the wagon train, Hude, the great storm and flood, the torture-rape, rescue by Charley and the demon, the fleeing from the mercenaries, Pasedo's and a strange new peasant's life as Misa, then Crim and Kira, Yobi, the great overland journey and her mental breakdown on it, Etanalon and her magic mirrors, then the unexpected life with four husbands and an extended family in a primitive place, the attack by Zamofir, the rescue, the body switching ploy, and all the rest—it all seemed, somehow, like something in a dream, a panorama, that had a few good parts but was mostly nightmare. All forcing her here, forcing her to this place in this time, going against the cause of her suffering and the suffering of millions. Yet. somehow, even as they closed on the place, she felt curiously distanced, more observer than key partici- pant and guest of honor. Guest of honor at a funeral, anyway. Suddenly, just in front of them, there was a great rumble and roar and they halted almost immediately. She knew what was coming, felt it coming, and was the only one among them who did not fear it; in fact, she had to shout to the others to close in and not to break ranks. The great central maelstrom of the Changewind burst through ahead of them, a tremendous, tubular gray-white funnel reach- ing from the outer perimeter of the "saucer" upwards until it gathered and reached the clouds. The air rumbled and it grew suddenly quite dark, and lightning and thunder began to fill the frozen skies. Instantly, Sam seemed to know what to do. What was a terrible nightmare to the others was to her a source of power, of strength. "Etanalon! Let me take the lead and everybody come as close as you can to us!" she shouted above the rising winds and sudden blizzardlike snows stirred up by the greai white thing before them. "Boolean! It's okay in the middle, re- WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 329 member? You told me that! They're still there! They're keep- ing this one right where it is, feeding on it. using its power!" "Yeah, fine," he responded nervously, "but while I could