Part 40 (1/2)
Pirro Velesz was in worse case than Mona Luki or either of her sorry crew
MIDDAY AT DIABLO'S Too far fro Too close to the port to see anything but outworlders, half of them drunk and the other half out of luck, hunched over the bar like their last hope of salvation, eyes blurred like the middle of Jump
Not one of the terrified-the uilt that ca, had her in a state already The bar filled with chancy spacers wired her even higher
Pirro Velesz was nowhere to be seen
Cly Nelbern found us a ringside table, ordered up a round of drinks and leaned back She sipped frolass now and then, and her hands were steady when she did, but for all of that I thought she looked tense and I tried not to think what she'd do, if she were forced into hunting hih, assed and Nelbern had all but finished her own
She had just waved her hand for the waiter when there was a flicker at the doorway and a ripple of city-clothes in the corner ofthrough the knot of patrons
Lil charged to her feet the next second, wailing so inarticulate under her breath
”Lillian!” I cried as she went by, but her eyes were full of anguish and she never heard me at all
A circle had opened around them-Cly Nelbern and Pirro Velesz-a circle of the dead-eyed incurious, who turned back to drinking after a glance determined the business was none of theirs
”Well?” I heard her say, as Lil pushed a way to his side
”Well” He looked tired, his shabby blue tunic draggled and dirty He swayed where he stood and Lil put a hand under his elbow to steady hio on his face, like a whisper of ht-have-been; then he reached in his sleeve and pulled out a thin white envelope of the kind used for dirtsider's mail and handed it to Cly Nelbern
She shook her head toward a table and we ht in the reflection of the man's wan smile
”So” A purr of satisfaction as Nelbern opened the folder and pulled out a strip of filhtful And I have payesture chilledwhite at the edges
It was then that I saw Her, in life as in drea into that place in Her cleanness and her power, as if nothing evil could ever touch Her
”Witch!” screalass, which fell, stone-heavy, and broke on the floor at Her feet
She turned Her head and there was silence at the bar; raised a hand and drew a sign in the fetid air The silence shi+lass lay his head upon the bar top and wailed
She turned back then, fixed us with those eyes, which saw us and saw through us
”Pirro Velesz” Her voice was deep, not ungentle; I heard it in my heartHe licked his lips ”Mercy, Lady”
”Return what you have stolen”
”Lady, I cannot”
The s Cly Nelbern
”Return what you have stolen”
The older woman smiled, and bowed a trifle, one hand over her heart ”Why certainly, child,” she said agreeably, and reached into her sleeve
Lil cried out-a single wild shriek of protest Theout a hand, too late, to stop the throw I jumped half-forward, not sure if ht, straight for Moonhawk's breast
It fell, as had the glass; there was a clatter of shards where it struck Cly Nelbern was alreadyfor an undercut that would take the girl out as Nelbern charged on- ”STOP!”
The world rocked and the stars shook in their places I froze where I was, unable to do otherwise, my muscles commanded by Her will, not mine I saw Cly Nelbern fall, and Lil I saw Pirro frozen upright like myself, and heard the silence; wondered if everyone in the bar were like froze
Moonhawk lifted a hand, bangles tinkling like carnival, and pointed a slender finger at Pirro
”Return what you have stolen”
He moved, wooden-like, and went to his knees at Nelbern's side He pulled the envelope fro to her wrist Slowly, he stood and bowed to the girl
”Lady, this woirl through the Goddess; frightened by what she had done, and saddened She bent her head and when she raised it again, the girl was gone
Pirro bowed, offered the envelope with its strip of film
She took it and slipped it away, her eyes, black and brilliant, boring into his In alike attention toover my soul; felt Her touch onof Her will and blurted out: ”My sister is dead!”
The black eyes seared into me ”Your sister is alive, Fiona Betany Give thanks to the Goddess and honor your gifts All of them”
She went to Lil then, and spoke tords which my ears somehow refused to hear Then she reached down Her own hand to help my sister rise, and stepped back to survey the three of us
”You will return to your shi+p and you will leave this world You are forbidden to return, on pain of punishns within the air ”Go now! Be prosperous and true” A tip of a handtohat had been Cly Nelbern ”Leave that one here”
She paused, looking at us with those eyes, that saw us and saw through us and forgave everything they saw
”Goddess bless,” she said ”Now run!”
It ht have been that easy, had the others not co faces that woke the echo of ”Recant!” within ics so shi+mmered air and truth that I could not count the nuroup, and, perforce, we did