The Far Side Of Forever Part 45

This time I was surrounded by silence as I led my gray toward the pasture, and that silence continued through the unsaddling and turning out of all of the horses. Dranna stood with her arms wrapped around herself while Zail saw to her mount, and I knew the pallor in her face had been caused by what I'd said. Even people who are prepared to die or go through h.e.l.lfire for a cause tend to hesitate when it's madness they face, which is perfectly understandable.

When you're dead there are no two ways about it, but when you're mad you might not know what you are.

"If there was no way to get through without going insane, the wizard wouldn't have wasted his time sending us," Rik said at last, obviously voicing the conclusion he'd reached. "He also repeated the fact that we had to stay together, so sending Lacie! on alone is out, even if we hadn't already decided that. I think we can make it, no matter what they try to throw at us."

By that time he was looking around at everyone, his bronze eyes daring anyone to be silly enough to disagree with him, and of course none of them could. His strong, real belief was infecting them the way it had in Graythor's house, and even Dranna was getting her color back. What he believed they believed, and all I could do was hope they weren't all kidding themselves.

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"I think it's time we used that gate now," he said to me, the expedition leader giving a no-arguments order to one of his followers. There was really very little choice in what had to be done if they weren't going to be staying behind after all, but Rikkan Addis was trying to reinforce a point he thought Graythor had already made for him.

"Of course, Rik, anything you say,'* I agreed at once, gesturing to Su and Kadrim to join me at the gate. As soon as we were there and holding hands, I glanced over my shoulder and added, "We're starting now, just the way you wanted-0 beloved leader," then immediately stepped into the gate with Su. I'd promised not to call him "fear- less leader" and I'd keep that promise, but he'd find there were a lot of variations to be used in place of that t.i.tle.

That ought to keep him from constantly stressing what Graythor had said, and also produced an unexpected side effect.

That might have been the first time in the history of gate-using that people pa.s.sed through one laughing.

CHAPTER 1 1.

Without the horses, pa.s.sing through the gate took no time at all. When Kadrim and I joined everyone else, we found them gazing around at the new world we'd entered, a world that looked more like an ill.u.s.tration in a child's storybook than like a real world. The sky was very blue and had neat white clouds pasted on it here and there, the gra.s.s under our feet was very green, and a patch of flowers a short way ahead and to the "right was colored in vivid yellow, red and pink. Every color *in sight was bright and intense, and there was no overlapping in the scene. Every- thing had its own neat place, and nothing seemed prepared to stray out of it.

"If this is what they mean to use to make us crazy, I'm all for it," Dranna said as she looked around in delight, taking a deep breath of perfumed air. "This is the first world we've come to that hasn't scared the daylights out of me."

"I'll say," Zail agreed with equally delighted enthusi- asm from where he stood not far from Dranna. "Let's stop and have a picnic."

"Perhaps taking a few moments of leisure would not be entirely without benefit," Kadrim said, leaving me to walk toward the others. "The time lost will be easily made up in more hostile surroundings."

"Don't see why the trail can't wait a little while," Su agreed with a glance for Kadrim as he stopped beside her,

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her own attention mostly on the landscape. "Hunting ought to be great in these parts, and easy, too. Bet the deer all lie down as soon as you get near them."

"Have all of you gone crazy?" Rik demanded of them, the only one of the group who wasn't smiling. "We don't have time to stop for a picnic, and you should all know that. We'll stop to make camp at sundown the way we usually do, and you can enjoy yourselves then. Right now we have a trail to follow." ,

"Oh, don't be so stuffy, Rik," Dranna laughed, leaving Zail to undulate toward the other man. "It's only early morning here, so sundown's a long way off. If we stop for a while now we can all have some fun, with the promise of more to come later. Won't that be a great incentive for moving on?"

She was standing in front of Rik by then, and when she finished speaking she put her arms around his neck and stood on her toes, at the same time pulling his head down for her kiss. The others laughed at that, still delighted, but since I knew what was really happening, there was no reason for me to watch it. I turned away to look for InThig, and found the demon seated only a few steps to the right.

"My, my, Dranna must be stronger than she appears,"

it commented in a low voice when I walked over to. it, its blazing red eyes staring past me to the left. "Rik seems to be having trouble getting away from her, and can't stop the way she's kissing him. She seems to be really enjoying that kiss."

"That's because she really likes him," I told InThig, feeling no urge to turn around and see it for myself. "And I'm pretty sure he likes her quite a bit, too. He was very concerned about her when we first started this journey. Do you have any idea about what I can do to pull them out from under this spell?''

"I've been considering the matter since we came through," it said, moving those unblinking red eyes to me.

"This trap has caught us very much unawares, especially since neither you nor I are affected by it. It's designed to catch the unSighted and untalented, and seems to be a general spell rather than specifically directed at our com-

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panions. I also believe I detect the approach of something, most likely the something that created this trap. We have some time before it arrives, but not an unlimited amount.

My goodness, Dranna is still kissing Rik. Perhaps you ought to try it yourself, Laciel, to see what she Qnds so compelling."

"Why would I want to know what kissing Rik is like?"

I asked, looking around to see if I could spot whatever was coming to check on what had been caught in its trap.

"You know as well as I that he doesn't really like me, so why would I try to embarra.s.s him? Do you think it's the coloring of the landscape that's affecting them, or is it the air that's spelled?"

"Visual spells usually have a different appearance to them," InThig said, almost musing aloud. "Also, if it were visual you would probably be able to See through it without half trying. All things considered, it seems more likely that the air is at fault. . . . Laciel, about Rik and what he feels toward you. Perhaps you should be told what he said to me that night I stayed with him in his pavilion.

He doesn't . . ."

"Then all I have to do is change the air," I said, turning away from InThig to close a^ subject I didn't care to discuss. "At least I hope that's all! have to do."

Dranna was still holding tight to Rik. and even as I watched he managed to disengage her, only to have her come right back at him. He could force her away but couldn't keep her like that without hurting her, and the others all thought it was a riot. If my counterspell didn't work, a riot would be the least of what we had, and nothing that could be considered even remotely funny.

I raised my arms and spoke a brief spell, feeling a great deal of surprise at the instant surge of power that accompa- nied my effort. My talent seemed to be even stronger there than it was on other worlds, and the air I'd demanded the creation of formed immediately around all of us. I hadn't changed the air around the gate, I'd surrounded us with our own supply, a much easier thing to do and one that had fast, gratifying results.

"Oh!" Dranna exclaimed while the laughter of our

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other companions faltered, pushing herself quickly away from Rik. "What am I doing?"

"That's what I was wondering," Rik said, eyeing her strangely but with something like relief. "Are you all right now?''

"Yes, I'm-fine," she answered, one hand to her breast as she looked away from him, then she took herself hur- riedly back to the others. She seemed to be very embar- ra.s.sed over what had happened, and maybe even more than embarra.s.sed. What that more was I couldn't tell, but I also didn't have me time to think about it.

"If anyone is, still in the mood for a picnic, I think you should know that the ants are on their way," 1 announced, drawing all their attention- "If we don't move on now, we may not get another chance."

"I would know what occurred here," Kadrim said with a frown, looking as if he had just awakened from a bad dream. Su had her hands to her head and Zail was shaking his while he comforted a trembling Dranna with one arm around her shoulders, all four pairs of eyes filled with confusion.

"This whole area is trapped to catch the untalented," I told them, still looking around. "The spell wasn't set to snare our expedition, it was designed for any unSighted who happens to come through the gate. Since InThig says the designer of the trap is on its way, do you mink we can get going now and save the discussion for some other time?"

"The trail is here," Su said quickly, leading off as soon as she was sure everyone was following. InThig went from sitting to running in an eyeblink, obviously intending to keep Su company at point, and when I followed after everyone else I discovered I had company to my left.

"I can't imagine what got into Dranna," Rik said as we brought up the rear, this time sounding even more embar- ra.s.sed than she had. "I hope you know I wasn't encourag- ing her."

"Don't worry, Rik. everyone will understand it was the spell," I rea.s.sured him, privately wondering just how close the trap-setter was. "The others are too busy being upset to laugh at you."

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"I don't care about whether or not they laugh," he said, this time sounding impatient. "I just want you to know it wasn't my fault. 1 didn't go to her, she came to me."

"Why shouldn't she go to you?" I asked, finally glanc- ing up at him to see the vexation on his face. "She really likes you, you know, and has for some time. You won't hold it against her, will you? The way she acted under the spell, I mean."

"Laciel, I-I mean, don't you-I mean-" His words stumbled out as though they were trying to say something, but he didn't seem able to get them to go that far. The look in his bronze eyes was almost fierce, and then he shook his head, dismissing it all. "Since that's all that's bothering you, I might as well set your mind at ease," he said at last. "There's nothing at all that I'll be holding against Dranna."