Part 3 (1/2)

His internal struggle was interrupted by the realization that the clouds.h.i.+p no longer moved. Looking carefully, Zalazar could see that it had come to rest upon an almost insubstantial plain.

Straight ahead of him now, the bases of the walls of Cloudholm rose. And there was a towering gate.

Je was addressing him almost calmly again. ”If your latent power, old mortal, is neither of healing nor of seeing, then perhaps it lies in the realm of war. That is the way we now must pa.s.s. Kneel down.”

Zalazar knelt. The right hand of the G.o.ddess closed on his and drew him to his feet again. He arose on lithely muscular legs, and saw that the old clothing in which he had walked the high pasturelands had been transformed. He was clad now in silver cloth, a fabric worked with a fine brocade. His garments hung on him as solidly as chain mail yet felt as soft and light as silk. They were at once the clothing and the armor of a G.o.d. In Zalazar's right hand, grown young and muscular, a short sword had appeared. The weapon was of some metal vastly different from that of his garments, and yet he could feel that its power was at least their equal. On his left arm now hung a s.h.i.+eld of dazzling brightness, but seemingly of no more than a bracelet's weight.

The front of the clouds.h.i.+p divided and opened a way for the man who had been the old herdsman Zalazar. The thin cloudstuff of the magic plain swirled and rippled round his boots of silver-gray. His feet were firmly planted, and though he could plainly see the sunlit Earth below, he knew no fear that he might fall.

He glanced behind him once, and saw the cloud-s.h.i.+p altering, disintegrating, and knew that the nameless demon who had sustained it had come out now at Je's command, to serve her in some other way.

Then Zalazar faced ahead. He could see, now, how much damage the great walls of Cloudholm had sustained, and what had caused the damage. Other clouds.h.i.+ps, their insubstantial wreckage mixed with that of the walls they had a.s.sailed, lay scattered across the plain and piled at the feet of those enduring, fragile-looking towers. Nor were the wrecked s.h.i.+ps empty. With vision somehow granted him by Je, Zalazar could see that each of them held at least one sleep-bound figure of the stature of a G.o.d or demiG.o.d. They were male or female, old-looking or young, of divers attributes. All were caught and held, like Phaethon, by some powerful magic that imposed a quiet if not always a peaceful slumber.

Now, where was Je herself? Zalazar realized suddenly that he could see neither the G.o.ddess nor her attendant demon. He called her name aloud.

Do not seek me,her voice replied, whispering just at his ear.Make your way across the plain, and force the castle gates. With my help you can do it, and I shall be with you when my help is needed.

Zalazar shrugged his shoulders. With part of his mind he knew that his present feelings of power and confidence were unnatural, given him by the G.o.ddess for her own purposes. But at the same time he could not deny those feelings-nor did he really want to. Feeling enormously capable, driven by an urge to prove what this divine weapon in his new right hand could do, he shrugged his shoulders again, loosening tight new muscles for action. Beside him, Borma.n.u.s, who had not been changed, was looking about in all directions alertly. With one hand the lad gripped tightly the small lyre at his belt, but he gave no other sign of fear. Then suddenly he raised his other hand and pointed.

Coming from the gates of Cloudholm, which now stood open, already halfway across the wide plain between, a challenger was treading thin white cloud in great white boots.

Zalazar,watching, raised his sword a little. Still the G.o.ddess was letting him know no fear. He who approached was a red-bearded man, wearing what looked like a winged Nordik helm, and other equipment to match. He was of no remarkable height for a hero, but as he drew near Zalazar saw that his arms and shoulders under a tight battle-harness were of enormous thickness. He balanced a monstrous war-hammer like a feather in one hand.

I should know who this is,Zalazar thought. But then the thought was gone, as quickly as it had come. Je manages her tools too well, he thought again, and then that idea too was swept from his mind.

The one approaching came to a halt, no more than three quick strides away. ”Return to Earth, old Zalazar,” he called out, jovially enough. ”My bones already ache with a full age of combat. I yearn to let little brother Hypnos whisper in my ear, so I can lie down and rest. I don't know why Je bothered to bring you here; the proper time for humans to visit Cloudholm is long gone, and again, is not yet come.”

”Save your riddles,”Zalazar advised him fear-lessly. This, he thought, in a moment of great glory and pride, this is what it is like to be a G.o.d. And in his heart he thanked Je for this moment, and cared not what might happen in the next.

”Oho,” Red-beard remarked good-humoredly. ”Well then, it seems we must.” And the sword and hammer leapt together of themselves, with a blare as of all war-trumpets in the world, and a clash as of all arms. It lasted endlessly, and at the same time it seemed to take no time at all. Zalazar thought that he saw Red-beard fall, but when he bent with some intention of dealing a finis.h.i.+ng stroke, the figure of his opponent had vanished. Save for Borma.n.u.s, who had prudently stepped back from the clash, he was apparently alone.

Well fought!Je's voice, from invisible lips, whispered beside his ear. There was new excitement in the words, an undertone of savage triumph.

Zalazar,triumphant too-and at the same time knowing an undercurrent of dissatisfaction, for these deeds were not his of his own right-moved on toward the open gate. He had gone a dozen strides when something-he thought not Je-urged him to look back. When he did, he could now see Red-beard, hammer still in hand, stretched out upon the cloud. There was no sign of blood or injury. At Red-beard's ear a winged head was hovering, whispering a compulsion from divine lips. And on the face of the fallen warrior there was peace.

Why do you pause?Je demanded in her hidden voice. She required no answer, but Zalazar must go on.

All Je's attention, and Zalazar's too, was bent now upon the open castle gate. It slammed shut of itself when he was still a hundred strides away. Now he could see that what he had taken for carved dragon heads on either side of the portal were alive, turning fanged jaws toward him.

Zalazar glanced at the lad who was walking so trustingly at his side, and for the first time since landing on the cloud-plain he knew anxiety. ”Lady Je,” he prayed in a whisper, ”I crave your protection for my grandson as well as for myself.”

Igive what protection I can, to those I need. And I foresee now that I will need him, later on...

The dragons guarding the gate stretched out their necks whenZalazar came near; fangs like bunched knives drove at him. The s.h.i.+eld raised upon his left arm took the blows. The sword flashed left, lashed right.

Zalazarstepped back, gasping; he looked to see that Borma.n.u.s, who had kept clear, was safe. Then Zalazar willed the swordblade at the great cruciform timbers of the gate itself. They splintered, shuddered, and swung back.

Je's triumph was a shrill scream, almost sound-less, inarticulate.

Zalazar knew that he must still go forward, now into Cloudholm itself. He balanced the s.h.i.+eld upon his left arm, hefted the sword again in his right hand. He drew a deep breath, of ample-seeming air, and entered the palace proper.

He came to door after door, each taller and more magnificent than the last, and each swung open of itself to let him in. Around him on every hand there towered shapes that should have been terrible, though he could see them only indistinctly. Something told him which way he must go. And he pressed on, through one royal hall and chamber after another...

...until he had entered that which he knew must be the greatest hall of all. At the far end of it, very distant from where he stood,Zalazar saw the Throne of the World. It was guarded by a wall of flame, and it was standing vacant.

As Zalazar's feet brought him closer to the fire, he saw that it was centered on a plinth of cloud, that supported another man-like figure, like that of tortured Phaethon but larger still.

It is Helios,said Je's disembodied whisper.Pull him from the flames, restore him to his throne, and manawill rain upon the Earth again.

The flame felt very hot. When Zalazar probed it with his sword, it pushed the swordblade back. ”But what power is this that imprisons him? Je?”

Donot ask questions, mortal. Act.

Zalazarstalked right and left, seeking a way around the flames or through them. The figure inside them did not seem to be burned or tormented by the terrible heat, but only bound. But Zalazar as he approached the tongues of fire had to raise first one hand, and then his s.h.i.+eld, to try to protect himself from radiance and glare. The only way to reach the bound G.o.d seemed to be to leap directly into the flames, or through them.

Zalazartried. Unbearable pain seared at him, and the tongues of flame seized him like hands and threw him back. The instant he was clear of the flames, their burning stopped; he was unharmed.

Je shrieked words of compulsion in his ear. Zalazar wrapped himself in his silvery cloak, raised his s.h.i.+eld, brandished his sword, and tried again. And was thrown back. And yet again, but all to no avail.

And still Je made him try. She stood near now in her full imaged presence.

And yet again the tongues of fire grippedZalazar, and hurled him flying, sprawling. WhenZalazar saw that the metal of his s.h.i.+eld was running now in molten drops, he cried aloud his agony: ”Spare me, great Je! What will you have from me? Only so much can you make of me, so much and no more.”

”I will make whatever I wish of you, mortal. We are so near, so very near to victory!” Her gaze turned to Borma.n.u.s, and she went on: ”There is a way in which we can augment our power, as I fore-saw.

Murder will feed great magic.”

Zalazar came crawling along -the floor, toward the G.o.ddess's feet. He made his hand let go the sword.

Only now he realized that no scabbard for it had ever been given him. ”G.o.ddess, do not demand of me that I kill my own flesh and blood. It will not bring you victory. I was never a great wizard, even in my youth. No Alhazred, no Vulcan the Shaper. Though even before I met you I had convinced myself of that. A warrior? Conqueror? No, I am not Trillion Mu either, though I have killed; and yours and your demon's power sustain me in combat for a time even against Thor Red-beard himself. But I cannot do more. Even murder will not give me power enough. And if it could, I will not-”

In fishwife rage, Je lost her self-control. ”What are you, thing of clay, to argue with me?” She grabbed Borma.n.u.s and forced him forward, bent down so that his neck was exposed for a sword-stroke. ”Earth is mine to deal with as I will, and you are no more than a clod of earth. Kill him!”

”Destroy me if you will, G.o.ddess. If you can. I will not kill him.”

Je's eyes glowed, orange fire from a volcano. ”I see that I have maddened you with my a.s.sistance, until you think you are a demiG.o.d at least. You are not worth destruction. If I only withdraw my sustaining power, you will both fall back to earth and be no more than bird-dung when you land. Where will you turn for help if I abandon you?”

Zalazar, on his feet again, turned physically, looking for help. The half-melted s.h.i.+eld now felt impossibly heavy, weighing his left arm down. The brocade of his G.o.d-garments hung on him now like lead. The last time the flames had thrown him, some of their pain had remained in his bones. At a thought from Je, the cloud-floor of the palace would open beneath his feet. He would have a long fall in which to think things over.

The Throne of the World was empty, waiting. No help there. But still he was not going to murder.

Je's voice surprised him in its altered tone. It was less threatening now. ”Zalazar, I see that I must tell you the truth. It need not be Helios that you place on the Throne when you have gained the power. It could be me.”

”You?”

”The truth is that it could even be yourself.”

”I?”Zalazar turned slowly. Looked at the Throne again, and thought, and shook his head. ”I am only a poor man, I tell you, G.o.ddess. Alone and almost lost. If it is true that I can choose the Ruler of the World, well, it must be some cruel joke, such as you say that even G.o.ds are subject to. But if the choice is truly mine to make, I will not give it you. As for taking it myself, I, I should not. I have no fitness, or powers, or wealth, or even family.”