The Sword of Aldones

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

  Dio stood holding her cheek where I had slapped her, staring open-mouthed; but she threw herself forward on me now. "Wait," she begged, "Wait, you don't understand--"

  I thrust her aside, swearing. Regis kept pace with me. Finally he breathed, "But who would dare? A Keeper, remember--actually to lay hands on her?"

  I stopped. "Dyan," I said at last, quietly. "What did she say, in council? No man lives to maul me three times. If that were the first--"

  We were in light surface contact. Abruptly I stopped him; he looked at me grimly and the touch of his mind fell from mine as clasped hands loosen.

  "I thought so," I said. "When we touch, all the strength drains out of us both. They've smuggled some trap-matrix in there, eighth or ninth level, the kind that picks up vital energy--" My jaw fell. "Sharra!"

  "Lew, are we feeding that damned thing?"

  "We'll hope not," I said!"Can you touch Callina?"

  I felt Regis, almost instinctively, grope for contact again; quickly, I barricaded myself. "Don't ever do that!" I commanded. The fumbling touch was raw agony; yet endure it I must, danger or no, at least once more. "Regis, when I say the word, link with me--for about a thousandth of a second. But whatever you do, don't freeze into rapport with me! If you do, we'll both burn out. Remember, you're Hastur and I'm Alton!"

  He swallowed, convulsively. "You'd better do the linking. I can't control it yet."

  For the barest instant, then, we contacted, in a scanning that sifted the whole diameter of the crowd. It was not a hundredth of a second, but even that flung us apart in a shock of blinding pain. A full tenth of a second would have burned out every spark of vital energy in our bodies. To who-ever controlled the hidden matrix, it must have flamed like a starship on a radar screen.

  But I knew what I wanted. Somewhere in the castle, a trap-matrix--not Sharra this time--was focused, with obscene intensity, on the weakest link in the Comyn: Derik Elhalyn.

  And I had thought him only drunk!

  The thick, inarticulate speech; the irritable confusion of brain, the fumbling limbs-- all symptoms of a mind under an unmonitored matrix. And whoever set it, had a mind both perverted and sadistic--that this complex revenge on Callina should be carried out by Linnell's lover!

  I reached for Callina, but only emptiness greeted my seeking mind. It is a horrifying thing to feel only an empty place in the fluid mechanism of space, where once there was a living mind. Could even death blank her away so completely?

  Regis turned a strained, heartbroken face to me.

  "Lew, if he's touched her--"

  "Easy. Derik doesn't know, he never will know what he's doing, you know. Listen; I need your help. I'm going straight into Derik's mind and try to lift the matrix trap." For the first time in my life I was grateful for the Alton Gift, which could force rapport--and which could go into a matrix without the half-dozen monitors and dampers an ordinary matrix mech would need. "Those things are plain hell, Regis. Now, when I get it lifted, you try to break it up. But don't you touch me--or Derik--or you'll kill all three of us."

  It was a desperate chance. No sane person will go into a mind controlled by a trap-matrix; it is walking into a blind alley which may be filled with monsters ready to spring. And I would have to drop all my barriers, and trust the untried strength of a newly-Zaran Hastur who could kill me with a random touch.

  Every instinct screamed no; but I reached out and focused on Derik.

  And knew, at once, I had touched that thing before; when I tried to probe Lerrys.

  Derik, like a man who feels the sting of a knife through an incomplete anesthetic, twisted to escape; but this time I held fast, grimly- forcing- my focused strength as a wedge between mind and the trick matrix that held it in submission.

  Behind me, as a man may look at mirrored light he dares not face, I sensed Regis; he had seized on that alien force, and he was tearing it to bits; destroying each strand of force as I lifted that telepathic web, thread by thread, out of the nerves of Derik's brain.

  But now it was being forced on me, too. As a man at a screen may watch two starships battle, so the holder of this unholy matrix was watching the three-way duel, perhaps ready with a new weapon. Necessity and the need for haste made me careless how I tortured Derik; but I knew, too, if Derik were himself, he would thank me for this.

  As I forced down barrier after barrier, something fought me, a grotesque parody of the real Derik; but I won. I felt it flicker, vanish like a trace of smoke, burnt away. The compulsion was gone, the trap-matrix destroyed--and Derik, at least, was clean.

  I withdrew;

  Regis leaned against a pillar, his face dead white. I asked, "Could you tell who was controlling it?"

  "Not a trace. When the matrix shattered, I felt Callina, but then--" Regis frowned, "she blanked again, and all I felt was Ashara! Why Ashara?"

  I didn't know. But if Ashara were aroused and aware, at least she would protect Callina.

  We had given ourselves away, Regis and I; we had lost vital strength; but for the moment, perhaps, we were safe. My main worry now was for Regis. I was mature, trained in the use of these powers, and I knew the limits of my own endurance. He didn't. Unless he learned caution, the next step would be nerve depletion and collapse.

  I tried to warn him, but he shrugged it off. "Don't worry about me. Who's that with Linnell?"

  I turned to see if he meant Kathie or the man in harlequin costume who had so disturbed me. Beside them was another masked figure, a man in a cowled robe which hid his face and body completely. But something about him reminded me, suddenly and horribly, of the hell in Derik's mind. Another victim--or the controller? I had to fight myself to keep from running across the room and pitching him bodily away from Linnell.

  I went toward them, slowly. Linnell asked, "Lew, where have you been?"

  "Outside, watching the eclipse," I said briefly.

  Linnell glanced up at me, timidly, troubled.

  "What is it, chiya?" The childish pet name still came easily.

  "Lew, who is Kathie, really? When I'm near her, I feel terribly strange. It's not just because she looks so like me, it's as if she were me. And then I feel--I don't know--as if I had to come close to her, touch her, embrace her. It's a kind of pain! I can't keep away from her! But if I do touch her, I want to pull away and scream--" Linnell was twisting her hands nervously, ready to burst into hysterical tears or laughter. I didn't know what to say. Linnell wasn't a girl to fret over trifles; if it affected her like this, it was no minor whim.

  Kathie had been dancing with Rafe Scott. As she came back, she smiled at Linnell; and almost without discernible volition, Linnell began to move in her direction. Was Kathie working some malicious mental trick on my little cousin? But no. Kathie had no awareness of Darkovan powers. I knew that. And nothing could get through that block I'd put on her.

  Linnell touched Kathie's hand, almost shyly; in immediate response, Kathie put an arm around Linnell's waist, and they walked for a minute like that, enlaced. Then, with a sudden lithe movement Linnell drew herself, free and came and caught at me.

  "There's Callina," I said.

  The Keeper, aloof in her starry draperies, threaded her way through the maze of dancers. "Where have you been, Callina?Linnell demanded. She looked at her sister's strange costume "with sorrowful puzzlement, but she did not comment; and Callina made no attempt to justify or explain herself.

  "Yes," I demanded, with an intent look at Callina, shading the words telepathically, "where have you been?"

  She seemed unaware of either overtone, and her careless words were devoid of any hidden message that I could read. "Talking with Derik. He drew me apart to hear some long confused drunken tale of his, but he never did get it told. I don't envy you, darling," she added, smiling at her sister. "Fortunately all the wine conquered him at last--may he never be defeated by a worse enemy." She shrugged daintily. "Hastur is signaling to me. Beltran is there, I suppose it's time for the ceremony."

  "Callina--" Li
nnell almost sobbed, but the woman moved away from her outstretched hands. "Don't pity me, Linne," she said, "I won't have it." And I could tell that what she meant was "I can't bear it."

  I don't know what I might have said or done, but she drew herself away; her eyes brooded, blue ice like Ashara's, past me into silence. Bitterly helpless, I watched her shrouded form move through the bright crowd.

  I should have guessed everything then, when she left us without a touch, silent and remote as Ashara's self, making a lonely island of her tragedy and cutting us all away from her. I listened, numbed, as Hastur made the formal announcement and locked the doubled marriage bracelets upon the arms of the pair. Callina was Beltran's consort from the moment Hastur released her hand.

  I glanced round at Regis and suddenly, appalled, sucked in air; the boy had turned ashen gray. I slid an arm around him and half-carried him to the archway. He drew a sobbing breath as the cold air reached his face, and muttered, "Thanks. Guess you were right." And abruptly he doubled up and collapsed on the floor. His lax hand was clammy and his breathing was shallow. I looked around for. help. Dio was crossing the floor, on Lerrys arm--

  Lerrys stopped dead in his tracks. He stared around wildly for a moment, his face convulsed; stiffened and clutched at Dio.

  That was the first shock-wave. Then hell broke loose. Suddenly the room was a distorted nightmare, warped out of all perspective, and Dio's scream died in shivering air that would not carry sound. Then she was struggling in the grip of something that shook her like a kitten. She took one faltering step-Then I saw two men standing together, the only calm figures in the distorted air. The harlequin and the horrible cowled man. Only now the cowl was flung back, and. it was Dyan's cruel thin-lipped face that glared bleakly at Dio. She moved, fighting, another step, another; slid to the floor and lay there without moving.

  I fought the paralysis of the warped space that held us in frozen stasis. Then harlequin and cowl turned--and caught Linnell between them.

  They did not physically touch her. But ;she was in then-grip as if they had bound her hand and foot. I think she screamed, but the very idea of sound had died. Linnell writhed, caught by some invisible force; a dark, flickering halo suddenly sprang up around them; Linnell sagged, held up hideously balanced on empty air; then fell, striking the floor with a crushing impact. I sobbed soundless curses; I could not move.

  Kathie flung herself down by Linnell. I think she was the only person capable of free motion in the entire hall. As she caught Linnell in her arms, I saw for a moment that the tortured face had gone smooth and free of horror; a moment Linnell lay quiet, soothed, then she struggled in a bone-wrenching spasm and slackened--a loose, limp, small thing with her head lolling on her twin's breast.

  And above them harlequin and cowled shadow swelled, took on height and power. For a moment, seeing clearly outside space, Kadarin's gaunt' features blazed through the harlequin mask. Then the faces swam together, coalesced-- and for a moment the beautiful, damnable face I had seen in Ashara's Tower reeled before my eyes; then the shadows closed down.

  Only seconds later the lights blazed back; but the world had changed. I heard Kathie's scream, and heard the crowd milling and crying out as I elbowed and thrust my way savagely to Linnell.

  She was lying, a tumbled, pathetic heap, across Kathie's knees. Behind her, only blackened and charred panels of wall and flooring showed where distortion and warp had faded to normal, and Kadarin and Dyan were gone--melted away, evaporated, not there.

  I knelt beside Linnell. She was dead, of course. I knew that, even before I laid my hand to the stilled breasts. Callina thrust Kathie aside, and I stood back, giving my place to Hastur, and put an arm around Callina; but though she leaned heavily on me, she took no notice of my presence.

  Around me I heard the stir of the crowd, sounds of command and entreaty, and that horrible curiosity of a crowd when tragedy strikes. Hastur said something, and the crowds began to thin out and clear away. I thought, this is the first time in forty generations that Festival Night has been interrupted.

  Callina had not shed a tear. She was leaning on my arm, so numbed with shock that there was not even grief in her eyes; simply, she looked dazed. My main worry was now for her; to get her away from the inquisitive. remnant of the crowd. It was strange I did not once think of Beltran, though the marriage bracelet about her arm lay cold against my wrist.

  Her lips moved.

  "So that was what Ashara intended…" she whispered.

  With a long, deep sigh, she went limp on my arm.

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The thin red sunlight of another dusk was filtering through the walls of my room when I woke; I lay still, wondering if the whole thing had been a delirious nightmare born of concussion. Then Andres came in, and the drawn face of the old Terran, grief deep in its ugliness, convinced me; it was all too real. I remembered nothing after Callina's collapse, but that wasn't surprising. I had been warned, after the head-wound, not to exert myself; instead I'd been throwing myself into battle with some of the strongest forces on Darkover.

  "Regis Hastur is here," Andres said. I tried to sit up; he pressed me flat with strong hands. "You young idiot, don't you know when you're done in? You'll be lucky to be on your feet again in a week!" Then his real feelings burst through the gruffness. "Boy, I've lost two of you! Don't send yourself after Marius and Linnell!"

  I yielded and lay quiet. Regis came in, and Andres turned to go--then abruptly went to the window and jerked the curtains shut, cutting the lurid sunlight.

  "The bloody sun!" he said, and it sounded like a curse. Then he went away.

  Regis asked me gently, "How are you feeling?"

  "How do you think?" My jaw set. "I have some killing to do."

  "Less than you think, maybe." The boy's face was grim. "Two of the Ridenow brothers are dead. Lerrys will live, I think, but he won't be good for much, not for months."

  I had expected that. The Ridenow were hypersensitive even to ordinary telepathic assault; he would probably lie in a semicoma for months. He was fortunate to have survived at all. "Dio?"

  "Stunned, but she's all right. Zandru's hells, Lew, if I'd only been stronger--"

  I quieted him with a gesture. "Don't blame yourself. It's incredible that you're not completely burnt out; the Hasturs must be hardier than I ever thought. Callina?"

  "Dazed. They took her to the Keeper's Tower."

  "Tell me the rest. All at once, don't dribble out the bad news!"

  "This may not be bad. Beltran's gone; he left the castle that night, as if all Zandru's scorpions were chasing after him. That leaves Callina free."

  I felt sourly amused. Beltran could have stepped in, with the Comyn in disorder and shock, and seized the reins of power as Callina's consort. That had, no doubt, been the idea. But in Beltran of Aldaran--superstitious, Cahuenga of the Hellers--they had relied on the weakest of tools, and it had broken in their hand.

  "This is bad. There are Terrans here, and they've put an embargo on the castle. And--" he stopped, but he was keeping something back.

  "Derik--is he dead too?"

  Regis shut his eyes. "I wish he was," he whispered, "I wish he was."

  I understood. Under terrible need, we had cut into Derik's mind. We could not have foreseen that greater forces would be loosed so soon after. Corus and Auster Ridenow were the fortunate ones; their bodies had died when their minds were Stripped bare.

  Derik Elhalyn lived. Hopelessly, permanently insane.

  Outside I heard a strange voice, a Terran, protesting, "How the devil does one knock when there's no door?" Then the curtains parted and four men came into the room.

  Two were strangers, in the uniform of Terran Spaceforce. One was Dan Lawton, Legate from Thendara.

  The fourth was Rafe Scott, and he was wearing the uniform of the Terran service.

  Regis rose and faced them angrily. "Lew Alton has been hurt! He's in no shape to be--interrogated--as you questioned my grand
father!"

  "What do you want here?" I demanded.

  "Only the answers to a few questions," said Lawton politely. "Young Hastur, we warned you before; stay in your own quarters. Kendricks, take the Hastur kid back to his grandfather, and see that he stays there."

  The bigger of the Terrans put a hand on Regis' shoulder. "Come along, sonny," he said kindly.

  Regis twisted away. "Hands off!" His hand, flashing to his boot, whipped out a narrow skean. He faced them across the naked steel, saying with soft, cold fury, "I will go when the vai Dam Alton bids me--unless you think you can carry me out."

  I said, "I prefer him to stay. And you won't get anywhere with violence in the Comyn Castle, Lawton."

  He almost smiled. "I know," he said. "Perhaps I wanted them to see that. Captain Scott told me--"

  Captain Scott.

  "Traitor!" said Regis, and spat.

  Lawton ignored that, looking down at me.

  "Your mother was a Terran--"

  "Black shame to me that I must admit it--yes!"

  "Look," Lawton said quietly, "I don't like this any more than you do. I'm here on business; let me do it and get out. Your mother was--"

  "Elaine Aldaran Montray."

  "Then you are kin to-- How well do you know Beltran of Aldaran?"

  "I spent a year or so in the Hellers, mostly as his guest. Why?"

  He countered with another question, this time to Rafe. "Exactly what relation are you two, anyhow?"

  "On the Aldaran side, it's too complicated to explain," said Rafe, "Distant cousins. But he married my sister Marjorie. You could say--brother-in-law."

  "No spy for Terra can claim kin here!" I sat up, my head exploding painfully, but too much at a disadvantage flat on my back. "The Comyn will look after the law in this zone. You go and attend to your affairs in the Terran Zone! Since that was your choice!"

  "That is exactly what we're doing," Lawton said. "Lerrys was working for us, so his brothers are our business; and they're dead."

  "And Marrus," said Rafe. "You never had a chance to hear it, Lew; but Marius had been working for Terra--"