Part 31 (1/2)
”Anything but that. I'm glad that you've told me these things, answering questions that I wouldn't have presumed to ask. Now I begin to know you a little.”
”We began to know one another long before tonight, and not through words,” he said deliberately.
”You feel that?” Her breath caught.
”Yes. Am I mistaken?”
”No,” she whispered. He was standing very near her. Their eyes met and merged, her pulses throbbed, and she wondered confusedly whether he would try to kiss her, and even more confusedly whether she would let him. Of course she shouldn't, no respectable woman would allow it outside of marriage, not even with her own betrothed, much less a near stranger, a rival, a Grewzian. But the magnetism was powerful, the starlight compelling, and her own impulses chaotic. If he took her in his arms and kissed her now, she would not resist him, she would not even try.
His hands closed on her shoulders, and her blood sang. Letting her eyes close, she swayed toward him. For a moment the hands remained, then he released her and stepped back. Bewildered and suddenly chilled, Luzelle opened her eyes to stare up at him.
”Forgive me. I take advantage,” Karsler told her. ”This is reprehensible.”
”What do you mean, take advantage?” She frowned, scenting condescension. ”Take advantage of what?”
”Your warm heart and your generous nature. I realize now that I exploit them, although without design.”
”You exploit nothing, Karsler. Do you think so little of me? I am neither a fool nor a child, and I am not so easily manipulated as that.” She spoke a trifle tartly, as pride dictated, but inwardly she glowed. He'd said she had a warm heart and a generous nature.
”I stand corrected. You are right, you are neither gull nor victim. You may perhaps concede that you are somewhat reckless, and disinclined to consider possible complications. We both compete in the same race. Tomorrow morning I must be ready to leave you behind without hesitation and without a backward glance. You must be prepared to do the same to me, should the opportunity arise. Neither of us may pause to offer the other help in time of trouble or care in time of illness. How difficult does this become when a friends.h.i.+p or connection between the two of us forges invisible chains?”
”Difficult, but not impossible,” Luzelle returned. ”I mean to win, and friends.h.i.+p or no, I'll do whatever I must.”
”You think so now, but somewhere along the way you may find the price higher than you expect.”
”I will pay it nonetheless.”
”It may be that you cannot. There are some compromises too degrading for self-respect to sustain.”
”My self-respect will thrive, provided I win.”
”I wonder. You cannot truly know what you will do until the moment of choice arrives, and then you may surprise yourself.”
”We'll see.” There would be no kissing now, the moment had definitely pa.s.sed. Relief and disappointment swirled through her.
A moment's silence followed, and Karsler observed, ”It is quiet down there now. I believe it is safe to return.”
He escorted her down the slope and back to Xoxo's town square, where a few lights glowing from neighboring windows illumined broken pavement, fallen lampposts, and scattered wreckage. A number of shaken citizens tarried there, conversing in hushed tones, but most had already returned to their homes or lodgings.
At the door of the inn they paused, and Luzelle remarked, ”Time for another farewell. They seem so frequent.”
”For now. But there is life after the Grand Ellipse, is there not?”
Yes, and by that time Vonahr and Grewzland will probably be at war, she thought.
”And even war is finite, although often it seems otherwise,” he said.
”Telepathy again?” She smiled. ”Well, that insight of yours saved me from a good shaking or worse tonight. Now I'll know to run for the hills if I hear those voices again before morning.”
”You will not hear them. They have achieved their objective. Look there.” Karsler pointed.
Her eyes followed his finger to the center of the town square, where the pillory stood empty and abandoned. The four prisoners were gone.
13.
”WHAT BECAME OF YOU LAST NIGHT?” asked Girays. ”When that ground tremor shook me out of bed, I went down the hall to your room, there to confront a gaggle of hysterical Grewzian women. No sign of you among them, so I thought you must already have left the building. I went out into the square, but didn't see you.”
”Oh, I was about,” Luzelle replied vaguely.
”I quartered that square like a bird dog. I don't understand how I could have missed you.”
”Well, it was dark, and there was a lot of confusion,” she evaded, unwilling to reveal the circ.u.mstances of her encounter with Karsler Stornzof. ”I'm just glad you weren't hurt.”
”Judging by what I've heard, n.o.body was. It's quite remarkable.”
”Almost magical.”
”And providential for those poor wretches in the pillory. Somehow in the midst of the confusion they escaped, or else someone released them. In any case, the four of them are gone. Had you noticed?”
”Yes. That empty platform was a welcome sight. But perhaps this isn't the best place to speak of it.” She glanced toward the Grewzian sentry stationed a few feet away at the entrance to the city hall.
”Whom do we offend in discussing a natural phenomenon? But the timing was extraordinary, wasn't it? Seismic activity is unusual in this part of the world, yet that quake occurred at exactly the right moment to a.s.sist the escape of-”
”An extraordinary coincidence.” Anxious to change the subject, Luzelle climbed the brick steps to address the sentry in Grewzian. ”It is now please the time to admit us.”
”City hall opens at eight o'clock.” The sentry consulted his watch. ”It is now seven fifty-eight.”
Breathing a sigh, Luzelle returned to Girays. ”His watch is slow, I just know it,” she complained. ”I hate this waiting, there's nothing worse.”
”I can think of a few things.”
”Have your map ready?”
”Yes, but we won't need it. I've got our route memorized.”
”You sure? I mean, this town has streets with as many twists and turns as-as a plateful of Blue Aennorvermis.”
”Don't worry.”
She did worry, but there was no point in harping on it. She let her eyes wander the square, where the native workmen, directed by Grewzian overseers, were at work removing wreckage and righting fallen lampposts. Several Ygahris loitered inquisitively about the empty pillory, and an angry grey-clad soldier chased them away. In front of the countinghouse a gang of naked copper-skinned children skipped and hopped in intricate sequences over the new cracks in the pavement.
Her eyes returned to Girays. For almost the first time since she had known him, he was less than flawlessly groomed. His dark hair, in need of a trim, had grown appealingly s.h.a.ggy. His khaki garments were clean but heavily wrinkled, and a b.u.t.ton was missing from his s.h.i.+rt. But none of these small imperfections could truly impair his bred-in-the-bone Vonahrish elegance. Girays v'Alisante might dive headfirst into a heap of manure, and somehow he would still be M. the Marquis. The shadows under his eyes were darker than usual, the lines in his face deeper-he could not have had much sleep last night-but he was looking alert, confident, downright cheerful.
”Girays,” she ventured, ”you really don't mind all this, do you?”
”Mind?” He considered. ”You know, these past weeks I've experienced more discomfort, annoyance, tedium, inconvenience, and frustration than I've known in all my lifetime. There's also been more novelty, diversion, and discovery than I've ever known. There's a great deal that I mind, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.”