Chapter 9: The City

Chad sat tailorfashion in the center of a small clearing amidst ancient trees, his muscles relaxed, his eyelids drooping nearly closed. Facing him, Charis and Ahlenya sat side by side, similarly intent. Between the three of them a fistsized lump of gold lifted inch by inch into the air, creeping steadily higher under perfect control until at last it came to rest several feet above their heads.

Chad could feel the nugget's massive presence in the new way that he was still learning to recognize and appreciate from his exercises. He smoothly applied pressure to the lump in one direction, then another.

Without looking up, he could sense the massive chunk's movements as it swung back and forth from one edge of the clearing to the other, could somehow feel the watchful presence of the two women's minds as they withdrew their supporting energies and left him to hold it up by himself. The lump swung more freely now, looping and diving exuberantly as it circled the clearing with everincreasing speed.

The first part of his practice finished, he brought the nugget to an abrupt halt above his head, not looking directly at it as he held it steady, applying pressure to one part of its surface after another. Chad absently noted once more that it took more effort as the metal grew colder, as though he was drawing on the thermal energy of the lump's molecules for power. When he was done he opened his eyes, lowering the gold to the ground to study the end result of his efforts.

No longer a rough lump of metal, torn fresh from its source deep beneath the ground, it was now a larger replica of Ahlenya's amulet. Cleaned and smoothly polished, it lacked only a pair of red gems for eyes to make it complete.

Charis reached out as though to touch it, then drew her hand back as the metal coated over with a sudden frost, an almost palpable chill spreading out from it to blacken the golden vines where it rested.

"Each day The Goddess gives you more strength," she breathed. "How far can your mind reach out?"

Chad let his eyes droop shut as he saw... as he felt what lay around him. No, it wasn't sight, nor was it touch, but a new sense that combined elements of both. The two women were crowned with pulsing, flickering light, their bodies appearing as luminous, semitransparent figures above the denser soil as the nerves throughout their bodies burned with living energy. For miles in all directions trees and vines showed as delicate traceries of faintly glowing lines, their living roots reaching deep into the ground for sustenance.

Then, somehow, he focused on past them. Far away, in level fields beyond the edge of the forest, insects and small animals were darting glimmers of witchfire under a steadily glowing pale haze of ripening crops. All life was revealed as a steady glow of energy, animals brightest, then insects, but all far brighter than plants.

All else faded from his mind as he probed the massive walls of a city that lay close to the far edge of his range. The ramparts of the city were dark, only a faint skim of life energy betrayed the presence of mosses that fed upon the dirt adhering to the unliving stone.

The walls enclosed a roughly oval area of several square miles. Inside was a network of streets lined with almost modernlooking houses, each dwelling set in the midst of a tiny glowing garden. Scattered almost randomly about the city were darker blocks of warehouses and business buildings. Nearer the center of the city, he could sense larger and more impressive buildings set amidst tall trees and parklike grounds.

He had noticed a faint zone of resistance that had to be pushed through as his point of view crossed the outer wall of the city. Now, as he tried to approach the cluster of central buildings, this drag grew stronger. That first check to his progress had been passive, as though he pushed against a curtain that merely had to be gently thrust aside. Now, he sensed that this new pressure was fed by a living mind. Any move to overcome it would be instantly detected. Reluctantly, he brought his consciousness back to that spot just above and behind the eyes where all of us live.

"What did you see?" Ahlenya asked, eagerly.

"A city. Out that way," he pointed. "A high wall surrounded by fields. Inside, a lot of streets and houses. It looked like it could be a nice enough place to live, if you like cities."

"You could see past the wall?" Charis gasped her surprise. "But, wasn't there a barrier?"

"I felt something there, but it was easy enough to push on past. The buildings at the center of the city had a much stronger barrier, and I didn't even try to get through it. The one at the wall felt like it had been put up by a machine of some kind, but I'm sure that the other one came from a living mind. I backed away from it in a hurry."

"It was the right thing to do, you aren't ready yet for a meeting with a strong and hostile mind." Charis seemed faintly troubled at the thought. "You could be hurt, hurt badly in any such battle of wills. The Dark God numbers many powerful minds among His followers."

Chad got up stiffly from where he'd been sitting, then froze in an attitude of listening. "Uhoh. Sounds like we've got company coming."

"So soon?" Ahlenya cocked her head, trying to catch whatever he'd heard. "They weren't supposed to be here for a while yet. Are you sure it's them?"

"Yep. Soldiers, heading this way along the road." He put a tiny whistle to his lips, blowing a shrill, almost inaudible blast.

"What's up?" Mike popped up from behind a clump of brush where he'd been napping. "They coming?"

"It'll be another ten minutes or so before they get here. Spread your troops out along both sides of the trail like we figured, but tell them to hold their fire until I give the word."

There was subdued movement all around them as archers took their positions. Quiet returned for a bit, then the beat of cloven hooves on hardpacked ground could be heard. Down the narrow trail came five soldiers on heavy grahls, their armor making soft clashing sounds as their mounts trotted daintily along. Chad let them pass unhindered, waiting for the main body of the caravan to appear.

A short distance behind, a string of a dozen or so animals came into view, each pair led by a man on foot. They were smaller, sturdier versions of the riding grahls, but instead of bearing riders they were heavily laden with bulging packs. Behind them came four wagons, each team of four heavy grahls pulling as hard as they could be driven, trying to keep up with the pack animals. There was a slight rise here, and the caravan straggled out. The wagons fell farther behind, the packers whipping the draft grahls harder in a vain attempt to make them hurry.

Chad blew another patterned blast on his whistle. Pack animals bucked and danced as tiny arrows stung their sensitive flanks, and all was squealing confusion. The noise and violent movements died down as though by magic, the drug on the arrow points bringing deep sleep to the thrashing animals and shouting men. The noise brought the escorting soldiers charging back to the rescue, only to find that fallen trees hedged them away from the site of the ambush. A second hail of tiny arrows subdued them before they could launch a counterattack, and then the rear guard suffered the same fate as they came galloping up the trail.

Another shrill whistle echoed from the trees that lined the trail. Chad's force swarmed down into the cut, disarming any whose flaccid hands still grasped weapons and making sure that the grahls' loads hadn't come loose. As men and animals awakened, they were herded off the trail and into the woods. Nimble fingers stripped the men of their armor and remaining weapons before they recovered from the effect of the drugged arrows. The valuables from the wagons were quickly loaded onto the backs of animals. Within minutes, all that was left of the caravan was a group of dazed, unarmed men and a jumble of halfempty wagons.

"And we didn't lose a single man," Chad exulted as the prisoners were brought before him. "Nobody even hurt. Now, which of you is the caravan master?"

"I am he. I, Cardo." A burly character, his pale red hair faded to a sandy hue by approaching middle age, stepped forward. He was an impressive figure, dressed in the black leather of the Landsman's own household. "What kind of evil magic did you use on us? Don't you know that Khuran himself is the owner of this caravan? He'll have all of your heads for this day's work." His words were brave enough, but his bluster lacked conviction as he warily eyed Chad's black skin and alien features.

"Khuran should look to the safety of his own neck," Chad answered bluntly. "When you see him, tell him that he had better think twice before he gets himself into something that even his Dark God can't get him out of. Now, take your men and be off with you!"

"You're letting us go?" Cardo gasped in amazement. "All of us? Even me?"

"On your honor as a soldier," Chad told him. "We will expect the usual headprice left at one of our trading places. We seem to be collecting too many captives to take care of lately, but take this word back with you and tell it to your friends in the cities. The Followers of The Goddess wish but to live their own lives. If your leaders leave us alone, we shall be quite content to trade for the things we need. Since we are not allowed to trade freely, we are forced to raid your caravans, but any who come into the forests unarmed and bearing trade goods will be made most welcome."

"You would have us deal with the outlawed Followers of your foul Goddess? No honest man will have anything to do with the puppets of that shedevil. We value our own minds too much to want to lose them to Her subtle controls. We will have nothing to do with Her, or with the powers She gives to buy men's souls!" He spat defiantly at the ground by Chad's feet, then stood fearful but proud under the unfriendly eyes of his captors.

"Well said, Master Cardo," Chad laughed, breaking the tense silence as around him arrows were fitted to bows and swords were loosened in their scabbards. "I see that a few kind words are not enough to make you unlearn the teachings of a lifetime. But you and your men really should consider what I have said as you walk the long road home. Perhaps my words will sound better when your feet are hurting but your mind is no longer clouded by emotion."

Chad's warriors faded back into the underbrush, leaving a sorely perplexed caravan master to lead his badly shaken men home as best he could.

"I still don't see why you just let them all go free," Charis complained plaintively as they trotted lightly through the woods toward the tent city. "They would have killed or enslaved all of us, if they had been in our place. Khuran will never let himself be shamed into paying us the headprice, either."

"Doranthe said about the same thing when I first suggested that we do it this way," he replied patiently. "We're already using too many fighters just to guard captives, and what good would it do to kill them? Even if we could defeat them completely, we would just end up with the same setup we've got now. The only difference would be that we'd be running the cities and they'd be out in the woods. The fighting would still go on. The way it is now we kill them, they kill us, and there are always more of them than there are of us. If we're ever going to win, we have got to find a way to change the rules so they're in our favor for a change."

"I guess so." Charis shook her head until her hair flowed freely around her shoulders, scowling as she retied the band that held it back from her face. "But I hate to just let them go like that!"

"Down, girl," he laughed at her fierce expression. "And you used to be so calm and peaceable."

"Things have gotten a lot more interesting lately." She grinned back, her eyes sparkling. "Why are we hurrying so fast?"

Chad glanced around, noticing for the first time that they were well ahead of everyone else. "Sorry, didn't realize that we were. Now that you mention it, I've got a feeling that something's going to happen. Good or bad, I don't know. You and Ahlenya stay with the gang. Take this stuff on in to Doranthe. Mike and I'll go on ahead. Mike! C'mon with me, an' we'll head back. I've gotta hunch sumpin's haywire!"

"Any idea what's wrong," Mike asked as they quickly pulled away from the laden column.

"Nope, not a clue. You know how my hunches work. I've just got a feelin' we're needed back at the camp, but I'll be damned if I know what's up."

They ran on in silence, their Earthtempered muscles sending them ahead at a pace that local athletes might have envied. The sun had set long ago, but Gardhe's largest moon was high in the sky. The forest glades were lanes of silver light between pools of inky shadow from the trees that lined the path. As they drew nearer to the tent city, Chad's uneasiness grew. At last he called out to Mike, whose longer legs had let him draw slightly ahead.

"Hey, Mike! Slow down, and we'll..."

He didn't even glimpse the black rope whose stretched length brought him down. All he knew was that he was suddenly sprawling awkwardly across the yielding turf. He was struggling to his feet, dragging his sword from its scabbard to slash at the hooded blackclad figures who closed in on him, when the fight came to an abrupt end. Something hard and heavy took him behind the ear. He fell through an endless shaft of blackness, sprinkled with streaks and flashes of multicolored light.

Eons later, Chad fought his way back to consciousness against the pounding of a gargantuan headache. He opened his eyes to find himself sprawled out on a cold stone floor. For a moment, he thought he was back in a Chicago jail, but a quick glance around got rid of that notion in a hurry.

He was in some kind of a cell, all right. That was for sure, though it was like none he'd ever seen. Its black walls and ceiling drank in the dim light, and even the floor was coated with some dark substance. Heavy folds of black netting hung across a door that opened into a torchlit corridor. A clashing of metal greeted his attempt to sit up, fighting his body for mastery of his queasy stomach, and he saw that a couple of feet of rusty but serviceable chain tethered his ankle to a ring in the center of the black floor. As soon as his stomach had settled, he took hold of the chain and pulled. No use, it was too firmly set into the floor to be moved, even by his Earth-trained muscles.

"Chad? Is that you?" Mike's voice echoed from behind another curtained doorway on the far side of the corridor. "Hey, Kid! You all right?"

"I think so, but I ain't bettin' on it either way. Ohh, my poor head! How long we been here, and where the Hell are we, anyhow?"

"I dunno how long it's been. I've been awake a couple of hours now, and nobody's been along. They must of really conked you a good one to put you out this long. I'd guess we're in a city someplace, but since I ain't got none of your new talents, It's just a guess. Hey, is your cell all lined with some kinda black stuff, too?"

"Yeah. I wonder what it's for." By this time, Chad was able to struggle to his feet, but even in this tiny cell his chain was far too short for him to reach any of its walls. He narrowed down the focus of his mind the way he'd been taught, trying to probe beyond the confines of his cell, only to jerk back, appalled. His new perceptions were stopped cold, exactly at what his eyes told him was the surface of the black material!