Demons of the Dancing Gods (40 page)

217

218

DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS

less ready, but he had wished for a night's sleep first. He was

dead tired, and that was no way to go into a fight.

He landed just outside the castle as he always did and quickly

Page 185

Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods

transformed himself from great bird to his normal self. He was

dressed now in his own formal clothes and he hoped for the

courtesy of a switch of robes, at least. Hesitating only for a

moment, he walked up and entered through the familiar gate

and then the front door.

All the torches were fully refueled and lighted, but there

was no sign of any large force. There was, however, the sound

of habitation from the main hall area, and he headed for it.

A lone, huge man sat at the dining table, which was littered

with the remains of a meal that might have fed four lesser men.

The big man looked up, smiled through his white beard, and

raised a wineglass to the haggard-looking newcomer. "Esmilio!

Please, do come in and have a seat. You look dead on your

feet!"

"Hello, Throckmorton. I see that you've made yourself at

home here."

Ruddy gore beamed and drained the wineglass. "I really must

compliment you on your wine cellar. It is surely the finest I

have ever seen, and certainly not what I expected in this remote

locale."

"Glad you enjoyed it. Did you leave a bottle for me?"

Ruddygore chuckled. "But of course! I couldn't help noticing

the Hobah '99. Really remarkable! I had thought I'd seen

the last of that enchanting vintage. I took the liberty of bringing

it up but wouldn't dream of touching it. Still, don't you agree

that this is a fitting occasion for it?"

Boquillas was forced to smile. "Yes, I believe it is. However,

I hope you will allow me the luxury of changing into

something more appropriate and perhaps even a shower first?"

"But of course, my old friend! Of course!"

Boquillas looked the big man over critically. "You seem

remarkably hale and hearty. I had thought that Esmerada would

give a better account of herself than that."

Ruddygore shrugged. "It just must have been my day. Actually,

I managed to get a little sleep through it all, so after

that, plus a good meal and fine wine, I've never felt better in

my life."

219

JACK L. CHALKER

"I wish I could say the same. I assume your young friends

are free?"

"Oh, yes. The blindness was a bitch to straighten out, though.

Nice piece of work."

Boquillas sighed. "I should have put them both in suspended

animation and have done with it. The result would have been

the same, but at least I'd get a decent night's sleep."

"I am a bit surprised that you arrived this evening, despite

seeing my boat. You could have waited until morning, after

Page 186

Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods

all. If it makes you feel any better, though, even the suspension

wouldn't have helped in the long run. Not only are they smart

and determined, the best I have, but one of them is a were."

Boquillas started to laugh at that, and then the laughter

became louder and more prolonged. It was a minute or so before

he got his self-control back. "A were! And last night was the

last of the full moon! That's very good, Ruddygore! No, it is

more than good. It is genius\"

"Yes, well, I wish I'd thought of it, but he managed to

catch the curse all by himself. It did come in useful, though.

Got him into the Dark Tower and out of your little jail. If you

have to have a curse, I think that's the one to have." Ruddygore

sighed. "I must say, however, Esmilio, that even with every

signpost pointing to you, I continued to refuse to believe until

the last moment that you, of all people, could be responsible

for such carnage, cruelty, and destruction. It wasn't just an

act. I'm sure of that. What changed you, Esmilio?"

"Frustration! Perhaps a little guilt, too, at having so much

while the masses were in bondage!"

"But what do you know of the masses, Esmilio? You were

born to wealth. Even had you not had the talent or the intelligence,

you still wouldn't have had to work a day in your life.

You're like every social revolutionary I've ever seen. You

know no more of the masses, what they're like, how they think,

act, and live, than a hereditary king."

"One does not have to be a woman to understand women's

oppression. One does not have to be a soldier to know the

horrors of war. Often I've gone out in full disguise, mingled

with people from all walks of life all over Husaquahr, lived

with the farmers and the merchants and the stevedores on the

docks. I know more of them than you!"

220

DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER 221

"Indeed? So the rich boy went off in disguise and played

at farming, or played at loading ships, all the time knowing

that at any time he could materialize what he needed or, if need

be, slink back to his family's banquet hall. You have never

felt, nor can you ever feel, the hunger that comes from having

no such fallbacks, no resources. You can never know the anguish

of being a continual victim of society, pushed and shoved,

without influential friends to bail you out or stay the whip's

cruel hand. Even your emotions arc intellectualized. The masses

are a conceptual model, a mathematical construct like a good

spell or an accountant's ledger. You can never know the human

individual, for you can never experience what he or she experienced.

As any actor, you can play the part, but you cannot

be the man."

"And you can?"

"My mother was a prostitute. My father, I was told, was a

common sailor, looking for a good time while in port in Todra.

I grew up in the filth and squalor of the docks of long ago,

which were worse then than now by quite a bit. I scrounged

through the garbage for scraps to eat, but I was ambitious. Oh,

yes. I could see the magic and I understood what that meant.

Page 187

Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods

Back in those days, Todra was a republic, and imported tutors

taught the very rich and powerful in small groups on the treelined

estates of the wealthy. One day, while still a mere lad,

I was casing one of those places for a possible robbery when

I happened on such a class. I was fascinated. I never did burgle

the place, but I came back, day after day, for weeks and months,

hiding in the trees and hearing the lessons. Basic mathematics.

The classics, frustratingly discussed but which I could not read.

Oh, yes, I can indeed, my friend, I can be such a man."

Boquillas was shocked. In all their conversations over the

years, he had never heard this before. "But—how did you

rise?"

"Every society requires one thing to keep it from exploding.

It requires a measure of social mobility. Surely you know that.

In some countries it is the degree of literacy, or some sort of

merit system within a political structure. For some,-it is money.

Here it is both money and magic, but you know that magic

brings wealth. By my tutorial eavesdropping, I was able to

manage and master some small spells. With that, I was able

to demonstrate the art to certain magicians in the bazaar, who

seemed impressed. They continued my education, as well as

taught me to read, and from this I attained membership in the

Society. From that point, I began truly to leam and to rise. I

really never regretted my origins, nor my pride in my attainments.

Perhaps my only regret is a lifetime of overcompensation

for those early days of near starvation."

"I never knew."

"It was very long ago."

"But—you should have been my natural ally, not my enemy

in this! Together we could have changed so much!"

Ruddy gore sighed. "I see now my mistake, one that must

be paid for. At some point I should have put aside my reservations

about taking a fellow ranking sorcerer across and given

you a tour of Earth."

"Is it so terrible?"

"Well, yes and no. But with all the modernities that technology

brought them, there is more true happiness there than

here, I would say. Many people yeam for our world and our

life. Some of what we have here comes across to them as

dreams, and they write glorious books with wizards and sorcerers,

and all have their fairy legends. Most would be very

disappointed with the reality here, I grant you, but as long as

we remain fantasy, we remain an ideal they yeam for. It is

ironic, I think, that they yeam for us, while just the opposite

has happened to you. No, old friend, it's not worse than here

over there, only very different. But, on balance, it is about

even in its good and bad points. Those two you held here were

from Earth, and from a particularly progressive part, and they

both seem to be doing better here than there."

"So that explains. . .Never mind. You talk of Earth, but

this is not Earth. Here we have magic! We need not fight,

Ruddy gore! Together we can blend technology and magic to

build a perfect world!"

Page 188

Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods

Sadly, Ruddygore shook his head. "No, it cannot be. You

would see it for yourself, were you not blinded by a beautiful

but impossible vision. Technology and magic do not mix. The

more of the former, the less powerful the latter becomes. There

were as many fairies on Earth at the start as here, you know.

They are mostly gone now—dead. They died from obsoles-

222

DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER

223

cence. Their forests were cut down, their rivers dammed, their

true work replaced by devices. You would kill them here as

well, for they cannot change. They are not meant to change.

And, with their going, our power, too, will vanish, for all new

magic-comes from faerie and its values and traditions and work.

It happened on Earth, which once also frolicked with the djinn

and had sorcerers and witches as great or greater than ours."

He sighed. "I will make you an offer. I will send you to Earth,

to a system run according to one of those books you got hold

of. Live there as a commoner and see how far you get and

whether you want it for Husaquahr."

It was Boquillas' turn to shake his head sadly. "It is much

too late for that, even if I believed you, and you have been

too full of tricks for me this day. I can neither give up my

dream nor abandon my people who believe in it. Surely you

must know that."

Ruddygore nodded. "Yes, I knew, but I had to try first.

Why don't you go upstairs, shower, and change? Then we'll

crack that fine old bottle and smoke a couple of good cigars.

I do have your word that you'll be back shortly?"

Boquillas smiled and nodded. "Yes, of course. There is no

purpose to prolonging this while good people are dying on both

sides." With that he arose wearily from the table and made his

way upstairs to his room. Ruddygore just stared after him, a

sad look in his eyes and perhaps just a glint of a tear.

They stood facing each other on the wall, the tall, handsome

Boquillas in brown velvet robes, trimmed in gold and silver,

Ruddygore in his sparkling golden robes. Below them, waves

lapped at the base of the cliffs several hundred feet down the

sheer drop. The sky was clear and star-filled, the nearly full

moon eerily illuminating the great lake.

Boquillas looked at the huge figure of Ruddygore and shook

his head. "This shouldn't have to be. If I win, I win it all. If

I lose, you merely abandon this world to Kaladon, who will

do it far worse than I."

"I think it does have to be," Ruddygore responded. "As for

Kaladon, I will tend to him at the proper time. Come. It is

time to put an end to this thing."

Boquillas bowed silently, his face grim, but he said nothing.

It began.

Page 189

Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods

There was a seamless growth in the Count's figure, until it

rose up and towered over Ruddygore, fluidly taking the form

of a great and ferocious beast that stank and howled and gibbered

and drooled. Ruddygore watched, but did not seem impressed.

"Magic tricks," he muttered. "Ghoulies and beasties.

No, Esmilio, we met this way on the fields of the Valley of

Decision and settled nothing. Now face the curses you would

bring to our land."

Massive explosions sounded all around the monstrous, gibbering

shape, the concussion from their charges echoing menacingly

against the castle walls and then out onto the lake like

some eerie thunder. The creature became confused, disoriented,

and began to swat at the explosions, then realized that

it was on the wrong tack. It leaped upon the form of Ruddygore

with a snarl, but he was not there. In his place was a massive,

horrible machine, all gaseous fumes and grinding gears, sucking