Part 24 (1/2)

”Well, she may want a ride on a unicorn,” Stile said, wondering whether he could believe this abrupt change of heart on her part. ”But you still deserve to know-”

”About your secret bet,” Merle said. ”That's what made it such a challenge. Stile. But if you lose your fortune and can't do what you need to, that brown-eyed child will suffer, and I don't want that on my withered conscience. I'll show you to my comer of the curtain; that will get you neatly past the ambush awaiting you outside.”

Stile stood, taking her hand. ”I really appreciate this, Merle.”

She drew him in for a kiss. ”I think it was that child's thee's and thy's. You did it too, when you answered her. Somehow that melts me. I haven't been this foolish in decades.”

They were before the curtain. It scintillated across Merle's huge round bouncy bed. No coincidence, that; she probably had a demon lover in the other frame. Beyond, Stile could discern the slope of a wooded hillside. ”How will I rejoin you?” Sheen asked.

”You'll come with me,” Stile decided. ”By now the enemy Citizens know how useful you are; they'll be trying to take you out too.” He picked her up, strode across the bed, and willed himself through the curtain. He stood on the forest slope, the inert robot in his arms. In Phaze, she was defunct.

”Take this form of Sheen's to the wolves' demesnes,” he sang. This was simplified; what he intended was for them both to travel there. They arrived in good order. The wolves were snoozing in the vicinity of a recent kill, while several of the cubs growled at a golem they had treed. Half a dozen roused and charged Stile, converting to men and women as they drew near.

”Greetings, Blue Adept,” Kurrelgyre exclaimed, recognizing him. ”I see thou hast found a defective golem.”

Stile glanced down at Sheen, startled. ”I suppose I have, friend. In the other frame she is my fiancee.”

”Ah, a b.i.t.c.h in every frame! Dost thou bring her here for animation by the Brown Adept?”

Again Stile was startled. Would such magic work? He would have to inquire. ”I came to advise thee that I am at odds with the other Adepts, who seek to slay me. Thus I cannot stay here long, lest they discover me and strike. Only the Brown Adept is with me, and I have asked her to spread warning to the tribes of the creatures of Phaze, whose help I may be needing soon.”

”Oooowwl” Kurrelgyre howled, glancing at the tree. ”I turned her down-”

”I know,” Stile cut in. ”I should have prepared better. Things have been very rushed. Now must I beg thee to help me by helping her. If thy wolves will go with her golems, to give them credence-”

”Aye, immediately,” Kurrelgyre agreed. He made a signal at the tree, and the cubs quickly retreated, allowing the golem to come down. ”Had I but realized before-”

Stile clapped him on the shoulder. ”I thank thee. Now must I flee.”

There was a wrenching. Oops-he had made an inadvertent rhyme, with Sheen leaning against him. Quickly he took better hold of her and willed himself to the Brown Demesnes. It worked; he landed neatly in the foyer of the wooden castle. The giant golem on guard did a double take, but managed to recognize him before clubbing him, and in a moment the Brown Adept was there. ”That's not one of mine!” she exclaimed, seeing the inert Sheen in his arms.

”This is Sheen, my Proton fiancee. She was with me when thou didst call a little while ago. She'll be all right when we cross the curtain. I just talked to Kurrelgyre, and the wolves will cooperate. Instruct thy golems; a wolf will go with each.”

”Oh, goody!” But her attention was focused on Sheen. ”I don't usually animate metal, but I can when I try. Of course her personality might not be the same-”

Stile had not intended to get into this now, but again he was intrigued. ”Sheen always wanted to come to Phaze, but she's scientific. Thy golems are magic, and won't operate in Proton. I don't think it could work.”

”Let me try. Blue. If I animate her, thou wilt not have to carry her.”

”I'm in a hurry. Brown. The hostile Adepts could spot me at any moment. There isn't time-”

”Why dost thou not want to animate her here?” she asked with the direct naivete of a child. That stopped Stile. The Lady Blue, his wife, was in Phaze, yet she could cross to Proton, where she had met Sheen. There really was no conflict.

”How fast canst thou do it?”

”She is full-formed.” Brown squinted at Sheen's torso critically. ”Very full-formed. I have only to lay on my hands and concentrate. Most of the time I spend fas.h.i.+oning a golem is carving it to shape before animation.”

”Try it, then. But if she is not herself-I mean, the golems can be-”

”Then will I deanimate her.” Brown leaned over Sheen, where Stile placed her on the ground, and ran her hands over the body. Then she pressed her fingers across the face.

Sheen stirred. Her eyes opened.

Stile stood back, abruptly nervous. Golems were nonliving things, soulless ones animated only by magic, Brown's ability to make them function was phenomenal but what monster in Sheen's image might rouse here?

Sheen sat up, shaking her head. She saw Stile. ”Oh, we're back,” she said. ”I must have been set back by the deactivation. I feel funny.”

She was herself! ”Thou dost know me?” Stile asked, hardly daring to believe. A new golem would not have knowledge of him.

”Of course I know you, Stile! I'm not that forgetful, unless my memory banks get erased. And this child is the one who called you on holo. She-” Sheen broke off, surprised. ”What is she doing here?”

”This is Phaze,” Stile said. ”The Brown Demesnes.”

Sheen blinked. ”I don't believe that is possible. I can't function across the curtain; you know that.”

”I animated thee,” the child said. ”Thou art now a golem.”

Sheen looked around, taking in the scene. She saw the wooden walls of the castle, and the golems standing near. ”May I inspect this region?”

Stile was becoming nervous about the time. ”Do it quickly. Sheen. Thou wilt be inert again if the enemy Adepts discover our presence here and attack.” He was almost fidgeting.

”I think they are distracted by other events,” Brown said. ”They know not what my golems are doing.”

Sheen completed her survey extremely quickly. ”There is no dome. The air is natural. This is the other world. Will I remain animate? I feel no different.”

”Yes,” the Brown Adept said. ”My golems never die, unless they are destroyed.” Tactfully, she did not mention her ability to turn them off.

”Yet I am not alive,” Sheen concluded sadly.

”That is beyond the power of magic,” Brown agreed.

”And of science,” Stile added. ”Now must we go.” He took Sheen's hand and sang a spell to take them to a private section of the curtain. One thing he had done during his honeymoon was survey likely crossing places. They landed in a secluded glade in the Purple Mountain foothills.

”Now that's an experience!” Sheen exclaimed. ”It really is a magic land.”

”It really is,” Stile agreed. ”Art thou able to cross the curtain by thyself now?”

Sheen tried, but could not. ”I am not alive,” she repeated. ”I have no power to do what living creatures do.” Stile took her hand again and willed them across. They stood in a vehicle storage garage. ”Do you remember?” he asked.

”I remember Phaze,” she said. ”I have not changed. Only your language has changed.”

”So there is no loss of continuity as you s.h.i.+ft from magic to science.”

”None at all. I am the same. I wish I were not.”

”Now let's get that book of magic before we are diverted again. We're close to a Game Annex terminal, by no coincidence. I can contact the Game Computer privately there.”

”Let me do it,” Sheen said. ”There may be another ambush.”

”You're my fiancee. I shouldn't let you take all the risks.”