Part 13 (1/2)

”Yes, do it.”

But at that point there was another call from the Lady Blue. ”The ogres are closing on us, my Lord,” she said worriedly. ”I was not sure before that we were the object of their quest, but now that seems likely. I mislike bothe ing thee, but-”

”I'm on my way!” Stile cried. ”Sheen, reroute this tub to the nearest intersection with the curtain. Forget about the call to the Citizen; I'll tackle that later.”

”Yes, sir,” she said. The capsule s.h.i.+fted motion.

CHAPTER 7.

The image of the Lady Blue remained. Stile worked his unit controls to survey the area, looking outward from the West Pole. In a moment he spied an ogre. It was a large, hugely muscled humanoid creature, strongly reminiscent of Stile's late friend Hulk. Stile felt a pang at the memory; Hulk had been an intelligent, sensitive, considerate man, a Gamesman like Stile himself-but he had been betrayed and murdered by Stile's enemy. Stile had sworn an oath of vengeance, which he had implemented in his fas.h.i.+on-but that had not restored his friend. In any event, the resemblance was superficial; the ogre's face was a gross muddy mora.s.s of nose and mouth, with two little eyes perched slightly above. The ears dangled down like deflated tires.

Clip changed to man-form and approached the creature.

”Ogre, why dost thou come here?” the unicorn inquired.

”Blue be mine enemy,” the creature croaked. Its open mouth was like that of a frog with triangular teeth. ”Blue is not thine enemy!” the Lady called. ”Blue had a friend who was very like an ogre. Blue never harmed thy kind. Why dost thou believe ill of him now?”

”The Oracle says.”

Another Oracular message? Stile distrusted this. So did the Lady Blue. ”Another message was altered, methinks, to make Blue seem villain. Art thou sure-” But the ogre, dim of wit, roared and charged, making the ground tremble by the fall of its feet. Its hamfist swung forward like a wrecking ball. Ogres simply were not much for dialogue.

”I've got to get there!” Stile cried.

”We are not yet at the curtain, sir,” Sheen said. ”It will be another ten minutes.”

Stile clenched his teeth and fists, watching the scene in Phaze.

Clip s.h.i.+fted back to his natural form and launched him self after the ogre. The Lady Blue, no fainting flower in a crisis, stepped nimbly aside. Ogre and unicorn lunged past her. Clip placing himself between the other two. The ogre braked, its huge hairy feet literally screeching against the turf. But as it reoriented on the Lady, the unicorn barred the way.

The ogre ma.s.sed perhaps a thousand pounds. The unicorn, small for his species, was about the same. The ogre's hamfists were deadly-but so was the unicorn's pointed horn. It was a momentary stand-off.

Then a second ogre appeared. ”Look out behind thee, Lady!” Stile cried. She heard him and whirled. The second ogre's two hamhands were descending on her head. The Lady ducked down and scooted between the monster's legs. The curtain was now just ahead of her. As the ogre turned, she straddled the curtain and stood racing it.

But other ogres were appearing. Two converged on the Lady from either side of the curtain. Clip charged to help her-but that permitted the first ogre to converge also. As the two pounced, the Lady spelled herself across the curtain, holding her breath. The ogres crashed into each other where she had been. Stile could not see her in the image; it was difficult to see across the curtain anyway, and the holo pickup was oriented on the fantasy side. But he knew she was in extreme discomfort, with the thin, polluted air of Proton and the barren terrain. But in a moment she reappeared, just beyond the brutes. She had avoided them by using the curtain. Clip spied her and rushed to join her again.

Two more ogres came into view. The five lumbered down upon the woman and unicorn. Clip launched himself at the closest, lowering his horn, skewering the monster through the center.

The ogre was so heavy the unicorn could not lift it; Clip had to back away, extricating his horn, shaking the monster's blood from it. But the ogre was mortally wounded; brown pus welled from the wound, front and back, and the creature staggered and fell with a crash like that of an uprooted tree.

Meanwhile, the remaining creatures had reconverged on the Lady. ”Here to me, Hinblue!” she called, and stepped back across the curtain.

”Aren't we there yet?” Stile demanded. ”She can't hold out much longer!”

”Sir, there seems to be a power interruption,” Sheen said. ”This pa.s.sage needs repair; we must detour.”

”How long?” Stile cried.

”Another fifteen minutes, sir, I fear.”

Stile clapped his hands to his head in nonphysical pain.

”My Lady! My Lady!”

”I love her too, sir,” Sheen murmured.

Stile could only watch the unfolding sequence helplessly. He should never have left the Lady Blue so lightly guarded!

The Lady reappeared beyond the ogres as Hinblue arrived. ”Now you can catch me not!” she cried, vaulting on to her 5ne steed, The four ogres nevertheless started after her. Clip raced to join Hinblue.

But as they moved out, readily outdistancing the monsters, a small ravine appeared ahead. ”Watch out!” Stile cried.

Too late. The distracted horse put a foot in it. Instantly Hinblue went down and the Lady flew off and forward. Athlete that she was, she landed on her feet, running, unhurt.

But Hinblue was hurt. She got to her feet, but she was bruised and lame. She could only hobble, not run. The ogres were closing in again.

Clip a.s.sumed man-form. ”Lady, ride me! The mare can not carry thee.”

”Oh, no!” Stile breathed. ”I know what she will say.”

”And desert my horse, offspring of the Hinny and the Blue Stallion?” the Lady Blue demanded. ”Never!”

”She said it,” Stile said, suffering.

”Then must we guard her,” Clip said. He became unicorn again, and stood facing the four onrus.h.i.+ng brutes. They were no longer astride the curtain. The Lady could not use it to save herself-and in any event would not have left her horse. She drew a narrow, sharp knife and stood beside Clip, ready to fight.

The monsters came-but slowed. They had seen the fate of the first one to encounter the unicorn's horn. Still, they were four against two, and towered over their opposition. A hole opened in the ground. An ugly head poked out, swathed in bandages. For an instant Stile thought yet an other monster had joined the attack. But then he realized it was Trool the troll, the one who had helped them escape the Orange Demesnes. ”Here!” the troll croaked. The Lady recognized him. She was evidently uncertain of the creature's motive. Her Adept husband was no longer with her, and trolls liked human flesh. ”Escape,” Trool said, indicating his tunnel. He was offering a route out of the trap.

”I thank thee, Trool,” the Lady said. ”But my steed fits not in thy tunnel.”

The troll opened out another section of turf, and an other. There was a shallow cave there. ”This crisis was antic.i.p.ated,” he said, his voice becoming clearer, as if a long-disused faculty was being revived. ”I labored to prepare.”

The ogres were now very close. The Lady decided to risk the help of the troll. Without further protest, she led Hinblue into the cave, then stood at the entrance with her knife poised.

The ogres, outraged at this seeming escape, charged into the gully. But Clip charged too. His deadly horn punctured another ogre, this time from the side. The monster fell, squirting its brown juice, and again the others hesitated. There were only three of them now, and they evidently did not like dying. If any two had pounced on Clip together, they could have torn the unicorn apart-but they evidently lacked the wit or courage to do that. They also seemed nervous about Trool, who was a monster some what like themselves, though only half as stout. Why was he partic.i.p.ating?

”That is Neysa's brother, sir?” Sheen asked. The fact that she was now using ”sir” warned him that she was not sure they had complete privacy.

”Yes. He's one good unicorn.”

”And ogres eat people?”

”Yes. Trolls eat people, too, and horses. But Trool can be trusted-I think.”

Finally the ogres consulted, and came to the conclusion Stile had feared. Two of them stalked Clip together, while the third faced Trool, preventing the troll from interfering. Stile realized an ogre should have been able to demolish a troll on open ground, but not within a troll's tunnels, so this was merely interference rather than combat. The Lady Blue had to stay with the horse she guarded. Clip had to fight alone.

The unicorn could have changed into hawk-form and flown away, but he did not. He charged again. His horn skewered the left ogre-but the right one brought a ham fist down on the unicorn's rump. Clip's hindsection collapsed under the power of that blow. He was helpless, down on the ground, his hindlegs possibly crippled, his horn still wedged in the left ogre's torso. Now the Lady Blue leaped forward, knife flas.h.i.+ng. She sliced into the heavy arm of the right-hand ogre. Ichor welled out of a long slash, and the creature made a howl of pain.