Part 15 (1/2)
The Herd Stallion was back in man-form. He put forth his large hand to take the horn. His eyes were blazing like the windows of a furnace, and steam was rising from him. ”They dare I” he rasped, staring at the member.
”For this will I visit a conflagration on the Demesnes of every Adept involved!” Stile said, finding his voice at last. ”On every creature who cooperated. I will level mountains to get at them. What the Blue Adept did to the trolls and jackals shall be as nothing.” Already the air was becoming charged with the force of his developing oath; dark coils of fog were swirling. ”Only let me make my music, find my rhyme-”
”Nay, Adept,” the Herd Stallion said gruffly. ”He is of my herd. Not thine but mine is this vengeance.”
”But thou canst not leave thy herd unguarded,” Stile protested.
”Another Stallion will a.s.sist, for this occasion.”
”And thou canst not face Adepts alone. Only an Adept can oppose an Adept.”
The Stallion snorted smoke from his human nostrils, heeding Stile's caution through his fury. ”True. Not alone can I accomplish it. Only half the vengeance is mine to claim.”
”Just give me a steed, and I will-”
”I will be thy steed!” the Stallion said. Neysa, on the ground, perked up her ears. The Lady Blue's eyes widened as she recognized the possibilities. No human being had ever ridden a Herd Stallion, virtually a breed apart. Yet if the power of an Adept coordinated with that of a unicorn Stallion- Stile could not decline. They shared a vengeance.
CHAPTER 8 - Wager.
”So I have most of twenty-four hours in Proton,” Stile said to Sheen, ”before the Stallion and I commence our mission of rescue and vengeance. I'll have to spend some of that time in sleep, gathering my strength. I trust you have my business here well organized.”
”We do,” she agreed brightly. ”Mellon has lined up a number of wealthy Citizens who are eager to wipe you out financially. My friends have worked out a way to trace the original message to Citizen Kalder-but only you, an interested Citizen, can implement it. And there is reaction approaching suppressed riot to the news of the designation of your heir.”
”That's enough to start on,” Stile said. ”Maybe it will distract me for the moment from my real concern in Phaze. Let's see how much we can sandwich in. I don't know how long my next adventure in Phaze will hold me.”
”Perhaps forever,” she said darkly. Then, mechanically, she reverted to immediate business. ”Start on which, sir? You can't do everything at once.”
”Why not?”
”The bettors are in the Stellar Lounge, as before. The panel for your heir-designation hearing is in another dome, a hundred kilometers distant. And the first obscurity in the message chain is at a dome fifty kilometers beyond that, in the private property of a Citizen. Any one of these situations can monopolize your available time.”
”You think too much like a machine,” he chided her. ”Take me to the hearing. Meanwhile, call the Stellar Lounge.”
Frowning, she set the travel capsule in motion and placed the call. Mellon appeared in three-dimensional image. ”So good to see you, sir. May I notify the Citizens that you are ready for action?”
”Do so,” Stile said. ”But advise them that I have unusual and challenging bets in mind and will welcome them at the site of my heir-designation hearing. You be there too.”
”Yes, sir.” Mellon faded out.
Immediately there was an incoming call. It was Citizen Merle. ”My intercept notified me you were back in town,” she said brightly. ”Have you considered my invitation of the morning?”
Not this again! ”Merle, I remain flattered. But there are things you should know.”
”About your lovely wife in the other frame? Stile, that has no force in Proton.”
”About my engagement to the serf Sheen, here,” Stile said, unpleased about Merle's conversance with his private life. Too many Citizens were learning too much about him.
”Yes, I mean to place a bet on the outcome of your hearing,” Merle agreed. ”I'm rooting for you. Stile; I'm betting you will gain approval, after a struggle. Citizens are by no means limited in their liaisons. I have gifted my husband with a number of fine concubines, and he has sent me whichever males he suspects will appeal to my tastes. In any event, you need have no concern about the feelings of a serf.”
Stile suffered an explosive reaction of anger. Sheen made an urgent signal: do not offend this Citizen! Then Stile had a tactical inspiration. ”Merle, I do care about the feelings of this serf. I was until very recently a serf myself. Until I have a better notion of her willingness to share, I can not give you a decision.”
Merle smiled. ”Oh, I do like you, little man! You are like a splendid fish, fighting the line. I shall be in touch with you anon.” She faded.
”Sir, I never denied you the right to-” Sheen began.
”Secure our privacy!” he snapped.
She adjusted the communication controls. ”Secure, sir.”
'Then why are you calling me sir?”
”Stile, our relations.h.i.+p has changed. We are no longer even nominally members of the same society, and I prefer to recognize that in the established way. Sir.”
”You're mad at me?”
”A machine can not be angry, sir.”
Fat chance! ”Sheen, you know that our marriage is one of convenience. I'm doing it to give your friends leverage in their suit for recognition. The upcoming hearing will be a crucial step. If we prevail there, it will be a big stride forward for your kind. I do like you, in fact I love you-but the Lady Blue will always hold the final key to my heart.”
”I understand, sir.” Her face was composed. ”So being faithful to you, in this frame, is moot,” he continued, wis.h.i.+ng she would show more of the emotion he knew she felt. ”It is the Lady Blue I am faithful to. But aside from that, there is the matter of appearances. If I am engaged to you, but have liaisons with fleshly women-especially Citizens-that could be taken as evidence that I am marrying you in name only, to designate a convenient heir, and that could destroy the leverage we hope to gain.”
”Yes, sir,” she agreed noncommittally.
”So there is no way I will make an a.s.signation with Merle. If I do that with anyone in this frame, it will be you. Because you are my fiancee, and because there is no one in this frame I would rather do it with. So, in that sense, I am true to you. I wanted to be sure you under stand.”
”I understand, sir. There is no need to review it.”
So he hadn't persuaded her. ”Yes, I needed to review it. Because now I have it in mind to do something extremely cynical. An act worthy of a true Citizen. And I need your help.”
”You have it, sir.”
”I want you to have your friends arrange a blind bet on the outcome of Merle's suit. An anonymous, coded bet amounting to my entire available net worth at the time of decision-that I will not complete that liaison. I will of course deny any intent to make that liaison, but I may at times seem to waver. You and I know the outcome, but other Citizens may wish to bet the other way. It would be a foolish bet for them-but they seem to like such foolishness.”
Sheen smiled. ”That is indeed cynical, sir. I shall see to it.”
”And it would not hurt if you permitted yourself some trifling show of jealousy, even if you feel none.”
She paused. ”You are devious, sir.”
”I have joined a devious society. Meanwhile, I shall remain on the fence with Merle, in all but words, as long as I can stimulate interest. See that Mellon is privately notified; he definitely has the need to know.” The capsule arrived at the dome of the hearing. They emerged into a white-columned court, floored with marble, s.p.a.cious and airy as a Greek ruin. Three Citizens sat be hind an elevated desk. A fourth Citizen stood before the desk, evidently with another case; Stile's turn had not yet come.
The betting Citizens were arriving. A rotund man garbed like a Roman senator approached, hand extended. ”Greeting, Stile. I am Waldens, and I'm interested in your offer. What is its nature?”
”Thank you, Waldens. I am about to face a hearing on the validity of my designation of my fiancee, a humanoid robot, as my heir to Citizens.h.i.+p. I proffer a wager as to the panel's decision.”
”Most interesting!” Waldens agreed. ”I doubt they will approve the designation.”