Jarel stood looking down at the girl, wondering for the hundredth time what it was about her that seemed so special. There was something behind those unfathomable dark eyes, something that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Not just intelligence; the tall blond man who was captured at the same time was intelligent, too, even more so, on the surface. But with this girl, he couldn’t help feeling that there was more beneath the surface than there appeared to be. It was almost as if—well, as if those eyes were deliberately veiled!
The psychologists at the Research Center would, of course, crack her open very quickly; if there was anything to be found, they would find it in short order. And undoubtedly some guy who had never set foot on an alien planet would get publication credits out of it that would establish him as the authority on this primitive species. Logic told Jarel that he ought to be looking forward to that. He was curious, wasn’t he? Curious enough to have been haunted by the thought of this girl ever since she was brought in?
But he was not looking forward to it. The thought of her mental privacy being stripped away seemed indecent somehow, just as it had suddenly seemed indecent not to give her the physical privacy he would accord an ordinary patient. Besides, wasn’t it possible that if she were approached with genuine kindness, as you’d approach a kid, perhaps, the girl might prove to be educable? If he had a little more time, he might be able to teach her to speak a few words of Basic. Or he might even learn her language; presumably she had one, though he hadn’t been able to get her to open her mouth so far.
If only he could make her trust him. He focused on her eyes, willing them to signal some trace of comprehension—and, to his amazement, they did. In one brief instant of transition the veil was removed and those eyes came alive, alive with power and assurance and a very evident understanding not only of his wish but of many other things. At the same time the girl spoke to him in a soft, steady voice; it seemed almost as if she was saying, “Would you really like to give this world back to the natives, Jarel? Are you willing to prove it?” But of course, she couldn’t actually have said that! The words she used were of a strange language, just so much gibberish as far as he was concerned.
“Say, you can talk!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I sure wish I could understand you!”
“But you can, just as I can understand you. Can’t you?” For a moment she wavered, as if she were no longer quite sure.
Jarel blinked. He was losing his grip! Too much senseless worry over these natives. He’d started to imagine things. Or maybe it was only wishful thinking.
“We haven’t any time to waste, Jarel. Must I draw pictures? I could diagram your Empire’s chief solar systems, point out your colonies, and all that; but the natives don’t need such proof. They hear me speak and they answer, that’s all there is to it.”
He stared at her, overwhelmed. If he were imagining a conversation with the girl, she would not have said that. “Telepathy?” he asked incredulously. “We’re reading each other’s minds?”
“Not exactly ‘reading.’ I only get what you direct toward me; you have control over it. And of course, you only get what I choose to tell you. Keep on talking out loud; that’s easiest.”
“Who are you? You’re not a native at all!”
“No. Who I am and how I got here needn’t concern you. My name is Elana.” The syllables of the name itself came from her spoken words.
Jarel sat down on the edge of the cot on which she was lying. She was still immobilized, of course, but it didn’t seem to bother her; he had the feeling that the fright she’d shown before had been no less a mask than the lack of comprehension. “If you can do this, Elana,” he said slowly, “why did you keep quiet so long? You were faking, weren’t you? You understood all along?”
“I understood.”
Suddenly realizing what that meant, he let out a horrified gasp. “All of it? About the Research Center, too?”
“That especially!”
“But that’s awful! You’re on our level!”
“Not exactly,” she said calmly.
“You’re above our level? More advanced?”
“Quite a bit above, Jarel. My civilization, I mean, not me personally. I tell you this because you must know, to understand what I’m going to ask of you.”
Jarel shook his head sadly. “I can guess what you’re going to ask. And I can’t do it. Oh, I’d be happy to set you free, but I just couldn’t get away with it. You’d never get out of camp.”
“I know that. You’d have let me go before now if you could have.”
“Yes, I think I would. You have me figured pretty well, haven’t you? But look, it won’t be so bad now. When I tell them what you are, they’ll treat you differently. They’ll roll out the red carpet for you back home.”
She broke in quickly, “That’s just what you mustn’t do, Jarel! You’ve got to promise right now that you won’t tell anyone that I’m other than what I seem—or you will not hear one more word from me! I’ll go back to faking, and I’ll stick to it. I can, you know.”
He looked at her with astonishment. “But why? What are you hiding?” Frankly, he came out with the only possibility that occurred to him. “Are your people hostile to the Empire? You’re not a spy or anything, are you? Because if you are, you’ll never get away with it, not at the Research Center.”
She laughed. “I’m not a spy, and my people are not hostile to yours, I swear they’re not! Oh, that’s funny! If only you knew!”
Her amusement was genuine, Jarel realized. In any case, it was impossible to imagine this girl as an agent of some alien power. She was too young, too innocent. Her involvement in this must surely be accidental, though what sort of accident could have stranded her on this planet, he couldn’t begin to guess. “But look,” he protested, “you can’t fake at the Research Center! You don’t know—”
“Yes, I do,” she said seriously. “I have a way of dealing with that problem, Jarel. So long as you don’t tell, the secret will be safe.”
Well, no doubt anyone who had command of telepathy had other abilities beyond anything he could ever imagine. Still, the Center’s methods were very efficient; and physiologically, she was humanoid. “It’ll be pretty rough, you know, for anybody with a mind like yours,” he said with concern.
“Let’s not talk about it.”
“Okay,” Jarel agreed reluctantly. “You’ve got nerve, I’ll say that. More than I’d have. I don’t see why you’ve got to keep up the pose, though. I don’t even see why you were posing to begin with.”
The girl said urgently, “Jarel, did you mean what you said about wanting to make the Empire give up this world?”
“Yes, I did.” It was disloyal, traitorous even, Jarel thought. He could be court-martialed if Dulard knew, yet he did mean it.
“Well, my people want that, too. We don’t want the planet for ourselves. I’ve been told you might think that we do, but you’re just going to have to trust my word that we will let the natives have it, if we can get your colonists to leave.”
“Get us to leave? You? How?”
“By playing a little trick on you. Nothing that will hurt anyone, I promise you.”
Jarel frowned. “But look, if you’re more advanced than we are, you must have superior weapons, so why don’t you just—”
“Lay down an ultimatum? Use force? Is that your definition of advancement, Jarel?”
“Not mine, but … you’re really beyond that? Is any civilization beyond it?”
“Yes! We have other ways. But they’re not foolproof, sometimes they fall through. And this one is about to, unless you help.”
Aside from his desire to see the natives come out on top, Jarel was not at all adverse to the idea of a trick being played on Dulard. It was a rather intriguing notion, in fact. And besides, he would never be able to live with himself if he were unwilling to stand behind what he’d been saying all this time. He drew a deep breath. “I’m probably out of my mind, but I’ll help, so long as I don’t have to get my shipmates killed in the process.”
“You don’t. They won’t be harmed. Now listen, would you be able to release one of the captives? Not me, but the man who was caught at the same time I was?”
To set him free temporarily? Yes, Jarel thought. It would be easy enough to cook up a story about having discovered a physical defect that made the man unfit for the Research Center—a bad heart, or something—to explain having to replace him; to Dulard, one native was like another, except for this girl. But what good would it do? He would only be recaptured or perhaps killed. “This man’s not one of your kind,” he said, puzzled.
“No. He’s a real native.”
Then they were people, Jarel thought triumphantly. To a race that was far, far ahead of the Empire, even, the natives were people. For he couldn’t have been mistaken about the way she looked at him.
“But he’s the key to our plan,” the girl went on. “Jarel, have you ever heard of psychokinesis?”
“Psychokinesis—PK? Like the experiments they do with dice?” Jarel nodded numbly.
“It’s more than just influencing dice. Would you like to see a demonstration?”
“Now I am out of my mind.”
She didn’t answer, but the stunner that he had laid on the table rose, drifted across the room, and hovered in the air above the paralyzed girl. Jarel didn’t say anything; he was speechless.
“Does it frighten you, Jarel?”
“Yes, I guess it does, a little. Not the way it would most people, though. It’s funny—we were actually talking about ESP the other day; I was saying that some races might have developed paranormal abilities instead of technology. Except I didn’t mean it, really. The other guys laughed, and Dulard said that if those natives ever started doing anything of that nature, he’d pull out so fast—” Breaking off with a sudden gasp of excitement, Jarel exclaimed, “Oh … I think I see!”
“I’m glad you do; it saves a lot of explanations.”
“But you can’t fool Dulard, Elana! He’s no anthropologist, but he’s sharp enough to be suspicious if you try anything like that, when you’re obviously of a different race than the others.”
The girl said, “Do you suppose we didn’t think of that? That’s why we trained the native to do it, the man I want you to free.”
“You mean they do have such abilities?”
“Not normally. It’s an advanced thing, Jarel. But it can be awakened sometimes. You see why no one must know about me; if they guessed I’d arranged it, it wouldn’t work any better than if I did it myself. There are other reasons, too, reasons that have to do with protecting your people; but those are pretty complicated.”
She’s right, Jarel thought. If she were to let her abilities be discovered, Dulard would smell a rat for sure. But that means she’s sacrificing herself for the natives, the same natives that turned her over to us. And she talks about the other reasons being for our benefit, which is even worse, considering what we’re doing to her.
“I won’t give you away,” he promised soberly. “And I’ll get your key man released, somehow. This man—you taught him? Elana, the implications of that …”
“It’s not as easy as it may seem, to teach, I mean. I probably couldn’t teach you.”
“Because we’re not good enough?” he asked unhappily. “We haven’t the capacity for anything beyond gadgetry?”
“No, whatever gave you an idea like that? You’ve progressed far above these people, haven’t you? But you see, I wouldn’t be able to give you a Stone.”
“A stone?” Jarel suddenly remembered something, something that had seemed strange to him when he’d prepared the native who was now to be freed. There had indeed been a stone, and when he had taken it he had noticed inexplicable anguish on the man’s face. It had surprised him, not only because it was such an odd thing in itself but because the man had reacted so stoically to everything else that had been done to him. He had displayed no fear at all, although he had been alert rather than apathetic. And the stone itself was extraordinary; Jarel had kept it, thinking that it might make a good paperweight.
He pulled it out of his pocket, while the girl stared as if the thing were a priceless jewel. Mystified, Jarel protested, “What does a stone have to do with psychokinesis? It’s just ordinary river rock; it can’t possibly have any special properties.”
“None that you would understand, Jarel. But to the man you took it from, it’s magic. With it, he has power; without it, he does not.”
“You mean he’s superstitious about it?”
“I guess you could say so. I don’t think that’s exactly the way to express it, though.”
Jarel fingered the smooth surface of the stone. There was so much, so very much, that he did not understand. But if he was to free the man, he must do it now. He would be sticking his neck out, certainly. Yet he was willing to play along with this fantastic girl to that extent; in fact he’d known right from the beginning that he was going to do whatever she asked. He only wished that it could be something that would save her. Helplessly he asked, “Isn’t there anything I can do—for you, I mean?”
She hesitated, and for the first time since she had revealed herself she averted her eyes. Finally she said, “Well, there is one thing.”
“What?”
“Don’t leave me stunned. Don’t let them carry me aboard that ship; I’ve got to walk under my own power.”
He smiled. “That’s a small request. You won’t be able to escape unless you can fly like a bird, but if by some miracle you could, I’d be glad of it!”
“Thanks,” she whispered. “It’s—important, Jarel.” He administered the neutralizer; she sat up. “Jarel? I’ll tell you one thing more, since I’ve gone this far. The road you spoke of—it is worth traveling! There’s something beyond what you know, something hundreds of years in your Empire’s future, that justifies ‘faith in human destiny’ as you put it. Only you aren’t permitted to see, that is your people aren’t, because the seeing would interfere with the traveling. Do you get what I mean?”
“Not at all,” he said slowly. “Only if you say so, I’m just crazy enough to take your word for it. Can’t you explain it a little more?”
“I’d better not.”
“But we’ll find some of your people’s worlds, maybe soon—”
“No, you won’t.”
“Why are you so sure?” Jarel demanded.
“Because we don’t want you to find them.”
“Elana, you can’t just leave it there! Am I to hear, to know, that there’s a civilization existing somewhere, a civilization that has answers, and then never find it? That’s no easier than the other way. It’s harder, even. Don’t I deserve better than that?”
“It isn’t supposed to be easy. It isn’t a matter of deserving, either. Someone, a very wise man, once told me that to make things easier for the most deserving would be the surest way to mess up the whole business. Well, I may already have messed it up; if you break your word and tell, I surely have.”
“I don’t understand!”
“I don’t expect you to. I don’t either, very well. Not yet. I’m not really educated yet, you see. But I guess it’s that if your people don’t find the answers for themselves, they won’t find them at all. Or else if they do, those answers won’t be what they ought to be.”
Jarel said softly, “And this future, it’s really worth all of what leads up to it? Our history isn’t very pretty, Elana. You don’t know! Your people probably don’t have all the black marks against them that mine do—”
“I do know. It’s the same for all worlds.”
All worlds … she’s so casual, he thought. How many worlds have her people seen? Apparently they haven’t found star roving an empty dream. “Worth all the sorry mistakes that’ve been made in the name of progress?” he persisted. “Worth men and women dying for?”
“Oh yes,” she told him. “Certainly worth dying for.” And then, with surprising intensity, she added, “It had better be.”
It must be a fine future at that, Jarel reflected, if she’s any sample of it! Idealism may even come back in style. He smiled at her. “I’m going to wake up in my own bunk pretty soon and find that I’ve been dreaming all this. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody. They’d lock me up if I admitted that a girl I met on a primitive planet, a girl barely out of her teens, had been giving me the inside dope on human destiny—and that I believed her! And you’re going to be the docile, uncomprehending captive again, aren’t you? Your eyes are going to be dull and blank, just as they were before. What proof will I ever have for myself that you even pretend to know anything about what’s back of things, about what’s in the future or what’s worth dying for?”
She returned the smile, though hers was a rather grim smile, he thought. “Oh, you’ll have proof,” she assured him, “very soon.”
Black indeed was the dread and the despair into which Georyn was now plunged. In the dead of night he had been turned to stone, had been jabbed with sharp needles, and had undergone other fell ministrations that were unquestionably concerned with the casting of spells upon him. Yet because many of these terrors had not been unlike those toward which the Lady’s own spell had hardened him, he had borne up valiantly. Once the Stone had been taken from him, however, he had fully believed himself to be beyond hope of deliverance. Worse, the cause for which he had been brought to this pass was now totally and irredeemably lost. Georyn was well aware that although the Enchantress might have been right in her promise that he would not be subjected to physical pain, his captors would have plenty of other ways of making him suffer; she had, after all, warned that his imprisonment would be unending. And not the least of his torments would be the knowledge that she too was at their mercy, and that should the Dragon indeed consume the world, she might perish utterly.
Why he felt called upon to meet his fate bravely, Georyn could not have said, for what purpose would be served now that all hope was quenched? Yet somehow not to do so seemed a betrayal, a betrayal of something that he could never willfully abandon. It seemed near to being sorry that he had chosen to pursue the quest, and he was not sorry. He had failed, but that which to him was represented by the Enchantress still existed; there was yet the Emblem, hidden though it was, and some good would therefore surely abide. So as the long night wore away he endured, and mastered his failing spirits; and he told himself that he could withstand any trial the Dragon’s slaves might devise for him, save only one.
But at first light of dawn that one seemed all too likely to confront him, for he was taken again into the presence of the Enchantress; and at once he perceived that she faced some new and overpowering jeopardy. Pale and drawn was she now, and her eyes were distant; Georyn felt that in her mind, perhaps, she lived again in the enchanted realm, that fair realm from which she had exiled herself for the sake of this ill-starred venture. She was clad in a simple tunic of white, the collar of which lay open, and her neck was bare of any chain. He dared not think that she might have been deprived of the Emblem, even as he of the Stone. Yet her terror was now painfully evident: she shivered, and when she greeted him her voice trembled. He resisted the desire to question her, for the guard stood by; but he had little doubt as to the purpose for which he had been brought here. And indeed, his suspicion was soon confirmed, for behold! That guard held forth the Stone temptingly, and as he did so he smiled an ominous smile.
Georyn gazed at it with longing, yet stayed his hand. He was aware that his mere imprisonment or death would not satisfy the Dragon’s minions; they could have killed him long ago had that been their sole interest. Rather, the free surrender of his will was wanted, and that it should be sought through threat to the Lady had long been his most harrowing fear. He saw now the full measure of the submission that they would attempt to force. Much evil could be wrought by its misuse, the Enchantress had warned when first she bestowed the Stone upon him. And had she not said that those who served the Dragon were but men bewitched? This one was now smiling upon him as if to say that such thralldom was not really so bad; and that if he would but consent, he could win the fellow’s friendship! Well convinced was Georyn that the Stone would be given back on no terms save as the instrument of his enslavement, and that he would refuse not at his own peril alone, but at the Lady’s also.
“You hesitate, Georyn,” she said softly. “There is nothing to fear; take the Stone.”
He turned to her, perplexed. She would not counsel him to yield, even to save herself; of that he was certain. “It is not to be thought that this henchman of the Dragon, whether he be demon or merely bewitched, offers me power out of love for good,” he demurred.
“Is it not?” the Enchantress answered. “Perhaps you can scarce believe so. But no matter, for the Stone is regained, and you are free now.” Seeing that he made no move toward it, she took it into her own hand; and by that token he knew that the thing itself was unsullied.
“Free? To what end am I free, with the fell creature’s eye upon us both?” Georyn protested. “There are terms, Lady, and I cannot accept until you name them.”
“They are beyond your understanding. Go now, Georyn! You are to be released; go while you have the chance.”
“I shall not leave you in their hands.”
“You must, or all the quest is vain. There is very little time.”
The quest? Had hope been born anew, then, that the defeat of the Dragon could be accomplished? Perhaps he could yet turn the Stone to good if he took it with that purpose! But more terrible would be the penalty if he defied them thus; looking upon the Enchantress, Georyn was sure that she had resigned herself to some dire fate of which she was desperately afraid. For he knew her mind; and although her eyes were resolute, he sensed much that lay behind them; and his heart forebode that her confidence was feigned. Thus was he convinced that the prophesied doom was indeed upon him, whereby he must give up either that which he most valued or the quest itself.
“Lady,” he said slowly, “you have always spoken truth to me, save only in the matter of your own peril, which you have oft kept hidden. I must have the whole truth now: is your life forfeit if I continue this venture?”
A look of surprise crossed her face, and he saw from her wavering gaze that he had struck close to the mark. But she evaded it, saying, “We deal with graver matters than my life or yours, Georyn; we influence the futures of worlds.”
“You have not answered my question. Is it not true that if I challenge the Dragon now, either with or without the Stone, its servants will kill you to punish my defiance?”
Steadily the Enchantress replied, “To my certain knowledge, they will not kill me whether you succeed or fail, nor will they do me any other injury.”
Georyn could not believe that the Lady would tell him so direct a lie, yet it was obvious that she was concealing something. “You will be unharmed, though you remain hostage?” he persisted.
“That is not for you to choose. If you forsake the quest and go at once from this place, you may save yourself bitter sorrow; but you will not help me by it, and much that has been will go for naught. Oh, Georyn, do not lose courage now!”
Then Georyn bethought himself that should he in this evil hour fail to attempt the thing, he would betray the Lady’s goal as well as his own; if for her an ill fate was indeed appointed, she would suffer it to no purpose. There was thus but one course he could take. Yet how could the Dragon be vanquished when the final condition had not been met and the dark spell was still in force? If his worst fear was unfounded, and no action of his could seal the Lady’s doom, then the mysterious sacrifice was yet to be made; that it should be remitted was clearly impossible. The ways of enchantments were not so capricious as that!
He stretched forth his hand, and once again the Enchantress placed the Stone therein; but as she did so her fingers shook, and her eyes brimmed with tears. He was going now to a sure defeat, Georyn realized. He had not even any sword. All was in ruin, for the condition could never be fulfilled; yet if for a while the Stone would give him the power to oppose evil, then it was better to die thus than to submit.
“I know little of magic, Lady,” he said haltingly. “I am but a woodcutter’s son, and there is much that is not given to men to understand; but of this I am sure: there is more to things than we imagine. Beyond the stars are worlds without number, perhaps, and had I never sought to look beyond my own I should be the poorer for it. Is it not so with you also, that your spells have meaning whether the Dragon be killed or no? And mayhap there are other forces for good, which we do not see.”
With a wan smile, she replied, “The wisdom that you set out to find has been yours from the beginning. It is as you say, or so the Starwatcher has told me.”
“Then surely the Emblem will guard you, though you be forbidden to use it openly; I cannot believe otherwise!”
“You must not expect that,” she said in a low voice. “Believe rather that should I not be guarded, and should aught befall me that is a grief to you, there will be no cause for your trust in enchantments to falter. For I no longer have the Emblem, and its power will be no less for my misfortune.”
He stared at her, aghast. Small wonder she stood now in fear of darkness to come; the Emblem was in truth not hidden, but gone! “You have not given it to them?” he demanded.
“No, Georyn, I have not. You know, surely, that I would never do so; rather, it has passed beyond chance of their seeing,” she told him.
Then ere he could question her further, the guard came forward, speaking strange words to the Lady; and she answered in her own tongue, the tongue of the enchanted realm. With growing dismay Georyn perceived that no more was she feigning the manner of a simple village maid, and he cried out, exclaiming, “He knows you for what you are!”
“Yes,” she admitted slowly, “he, but no other. I have told him the truth; it was necessary, and it has not harmed our cause.”
“It was he who gave back the Stone,” Georyn whispered. “Lady, was that the price? Did you bargain thus for the Stone’s return?”
She did not answer. She had no need to answer; he knew. If neither the Lady nor the servants of the Dragon had the Emblem, then it was doubtless unmade, vanished into the very air after the manner of enchanted things. Had she not told him that should her enemies ever learn that she was an enchantress, she would cease to wield any magic? “You have lost it, lost it by revealing yourself,” he said sorrowfully. “You have bought back the Stone at the cost of your own power!”
“That was not quite the way it happened,” said the Lady, but she did not meet his eyes. “Let us speak no more of it, Georyn! It is nothing that need worry you.” But Georyn was sore distressed. She had given up her power for his sake, when he was so soon to die in any case. It seemed likely to break his heart.
And then suddenly a light burst forth upon him, and wonder took him, and a great resolve. This was the thing that had been foretold! The sacrifice had been not his to make, but hers. Naught had been specified as to who must break the spell that guarded the Dragon; it had been said only that the one who did so must give up whatever that person deemed most necessary to the triumph of good and must face an apparently grievous failure. To the Enchantress, what could be more necessary to good than the talisman from which all her magic sprang, and what failure more grievous than recognition by the servant of evil from whom she had vowed to hide her identity? Yet she had revealed herself and thereby lost the Emblem, and even so had the final condition been fulfilled.
Thus it came to pass that hope unlooked for surged through Georyn, and the Stone in his hand pulsed with a mighty strength; and he went forth in expectation not of defeat, but of victory. For he knew that the evil spell was now indeed broken after all, and the time for the slaying of the Dragon was come.
As soon as Georyn had been released, Jarel came back to escort me to the ship. After the hours of agonizing suspense it was a relief, I guess, to have the time run out. But I was scared all the same. Scared and a little rebellious. If something’s hard but necessary, well, you may have to do it, but you don’t have to like it.
Up until that moment I hadn’t been able to find any way to accomplish the thing demanded of me. The room was absolutely bare of possibilities, no sharp objects, nothing. I hadn’t contacted Father again; in fact when he’d tried to communicate, I’d withheld response, once I was sure it was not a rescue attempt. I couldn’t have borne an exchange of thoughts with him, now that I’d broken the Oath. And besides, it would have been too hard on him. Some things you have to take on alone.
Jarel smiled at me. “Your protégé’s free, for the moment,” he said quietly. “As far as the Research Center’s concerned, he’s off the hook. I told them his heart wouldn’t stand the liftoff. I’d have said the same about yours, but on that, they’d check me; we’d blow the whole deal.”
“Will he have any chance, do you think, to—”
“I just don’t know, Elana. Right now everybody’s wrapped up in getting that ship off, which is the only reason I got away with letting him go when it was assumed that I’d thrown him back with the other prisoners. But if he sticks around camp, he’ll be recaptured. And this isn’t going to work unless it’s timed just right; he’s got to make it pretty dramatic. I hope he’s aware of that.”
I fought down rising nausea. How could Georyn possibly be aware? I was fooling myself if I thought that I’d made the disclosure from a real hope of saving Andrecia by it. And even if by some miracle he did succeed, I would never know it.
“He seemed reluctant to take back the Stone,” Jarel remarked. “Is he afraid of the thing?”
“No! It’s sort of mixed up, Jarel. You wouldn’t be flattered by Georyn’s view of things, I’m afraid. He believed that you had tampered with the Stone, that you had sold out to the powers of evil and were trying to force him to do likewise.”
“He may be right,” Jarel said unhappily. “About my selling out, I mean. I talk a lot about what’s wrong with the Empire. Yet I stand by and watch, while—”
“You haven’t a choice! And if you weren’t standing by, how could you help when there’s a chance to? Oh, Jarel, you’re as naive as he is in some ways, I think; you’ve just got a different framework for it.” I broke off; I was not in any mood for a philosophic discussion! But I’ve thought about it since. Poor Jarel, his dragons were less concrete than Georyn’s but no less menacing; and he wasn’t nearly so confident that they could be successfully fought. Of all the stages Youngling peoples have to go through, I do believe the age of disenchantment must be the hardest. To see so much, by methods you think are scientific, that you’ve no faith in there being anything you don’t see—it must be awful.
“Look, we’ve got to go aboard now,” Jarel was saying. “I’ve delayed as long as I can; they’ll be coming after us in a minute. I’m sorry, Elana. I know it’s going to be rough for you.”
He doesn’t know the half of it, I thought grimly. And when he finds out, he’ll feel worse than ever; he’ll blame himself.
I knew what I was going to try. I’d watched out the window, desperate for an idea, and I’d gotten one; needless to say I was not enthusiastic about it, but it was the best that could be managed. Carrying it out might be a problem, though. To drop the Shield was possible for me; I’d proved that with the stunners. But to drop it in this case—well, I just hoped that my nerve would hold.
Jarel took my arm. “I’ll come to see you often during the trip,” he promised. “And later, at the Center, too. I’ll tell them I’ve got a scientific interest in you. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone catch on.”
I didn’t dare to answer, I was so afraid I’d give him a hint of the truth. He’d feel bound to stop me, of course, if he knew what I was planning. And underneath I knew I wanted him to. We went outdoors into the dazzling sunlight of the clearing. Ahead, between us and the ship, was the “dragon.” It did look rather as if it were alive; I had noticed that from the window. And certainly the racket it made would have done credit to the most ferocious of beasts! The colonists had finished burning off vegetation for the time being and were now using the machine to dig a foundation for their first permanent building; it was scooping up tremendous gulps of dirt and rock, crunching them to rubble, and heaping that rubble in what had once been a grassy valley, but which was now almost level with the grade of the clearing. I watched for a few moments, then averted my eyes.
It’s funny what you recall when you look back on a thing. I remember how brightly the sun shone, and how the light streaming through the leafy wall beyond the blackened rim of the clearing reminded me of the way it had been in that other place, the place by the river where Georyn and I had spent those few happy days. I remember how I thought of my first moment on Andrecia, of the way I’d looked out at the shimmering green meadow from the door of our landing craft and seen visions of thrilling, glorious adventure. Thrilling? Glorious? That was a laugh. Maybe when a character in a book or a film gives his life for some noble cause, it seems that way. But if you’ve been through it, you know that when you are about to die you don’t feel glorious, you just feel sick. You are not looking for glory; you are looking for a way out—or, if you’re past that, you are just numb, and are not looking for anything at all.
I raised my hand, unconsciously, to where the Emblem had once hung, and of course it was not there. What was more, I no longer even had what it stood for. Georyn, not for the first time, had seen clearer than I: You have lost it by revealing yourself, he had said to me. You have bought back the Stone at the cost of your own power! Yet when you lose a thing, that doesn’t mean you stop believing in it. I’m not doing this because of the Oath at all! I realized. I’ve already broken that. I am already forsworn. So why am I doing it? I guess just because underneath the ritual there’s a goal, and the goal’s worth backing all the way.
I looked up, and across the clearing I saw Georyn. My heart lifted for a moment. He was free! Free to walk off into the forest. If only I could go with him. If only I were really the Andrecian girl the Imperials thought me! If I ran to Georyn, would they vaporize me? That would be the easiest way. But they would not; they would only stun me again, and I’d have lost my chance.
And of course Georyn did not walk off into the forest. Instead, heroically, he approached the “dragon.” He still had hope, I realized, of “killing” it! I should have clarified that, at least. Again, I wondered what he’d made of my paradoxical warning; it was unlike him to ignore what I said, and he might very well have put a disconcertingly literal interpretation on it. He might even believe that the magic wouldn’t work unless he made some sort of sacrifice!
For once in my life I was not acting impulsively; I had thought the situation through very, very thoroughly, until I was dizzy with thinking. Yet its implications weren’t evident. Sometimes I marvel at the way things work out, beyond all logic. It’s something the Federation doesn’t know any more about than the Younglings do.
It all happened quickly and yet, looking back, I see it in slow motion; time stretches when you believe that you haven’t any to spare. I was pretty shaky, and for a moment I was afraid I wouldn’t be strong enough to go through with the thing. Then suddenly Jarel’s hand tightened on mine. I held my breath. Several Imperials had now confronted Georyn and stunned him, but one of their weapons was moving slowly through the air toward his motionless hand! He was doing it, the mission might succeed after all! If only I’d explained that “final condition” better so that in the end, when the monster didn’t die, he would remember and be comforted.
Every invader in the clearing froze, eyes held by the unbelievable thing that was taking place. Only the machine worked on; whoever was running it apparently had not seen. I realized that since most of the men were helmeted they could speak to each other only via their radios; I would not hear even the tone of the reaction. Tell me what they’re saying! I urged Jarel.
He stared at me, startled, but had the good sense to know that he could answer silently. They’re incredulous, frightened … but not frightened enough yet, I’m afraid. His thought broke off, to be replaced by a stronger one driven by anger. Oh no! That fool—not again, not now!
An Imperial was coming up behind Georyn with weapon raised. I could see that it was not a stunner. Oh, Jarel, do something! I implored.
Jarel’s face darkened. For a moment he seemed torn by indecision; then, without hesitating, he pulled out his own stunner and fired. Not at Georyn, but at the man who in the next instant would have dealt with this strange and unwelcome phenomenon by vaporizing the native responsible for it. And that man was abruptly immobilized, the lethal weapon falling harmlessly from his extended hand.
Several other men started toward us, their momentary awe of Georyn forgotten in the shock of seeing one of their number attacked by a shipmate. This was something they could cope with, and they were no doubt telling themselves that while they were coping, the other problem would go away. Jarel dropped my arm; there was barely time for him to turn the neutralizer on Georyn, freeing him from paralysis, before he himself was stunned.
There was no hope then, not for the mission, not even for Georyn’s escape. They were not sufficiently impressed; they would simply capture him again. The single demonstration was not enough. We’d always known, of course, that it depended on luck, on an opportunity to do something really spectacular.
But I had no time to worry about that, for what I myself had to do, I must do while the men were preoccupied, before anyone took it into his head to stun me. I ran forward, toward the “dragon” whose victim I was literally to be, and though I was sorry about a great many things, I was sorriest of all, I think, that Georyn was going to have to watch. He wouldn’t understand, I knew; in the face of his own failure, he would see me die, and he would think it an act of ultimate despair.
When Georyn at last beheld the Dragon, the sight was more fearful than anything of which he had ever dreamt. The monster’s bescaled body reflected the sun’s rays, dazzling his eyes, so that little could be made of its form; yet all too clearly did he see that the creature was of gigantic size. Even its mouth was large enough to swallow a man in one gulp. And that mouth was filled with jagged teeth, teeth that could bite into solid rock; for apparently, when no choicer morsels were available, this was what the beast fed upon.
It was feeding now, swinging its long neck from side to side, then swooping that neck down into a vast pit that it had eaten into the very earth itself. After each mouthful, it spit out a great mass of crushed rock, which it no doubt found indigestible; and that rubble had inundated a sizable valley. All the while it ate, its roaring continued, a dreadful sound at which even the ground trembled. This was a monster of awesome strength; to draw near to it would indeed require courage!
Georyn took a deep breath and strode steadfastly forward. He had no idea of how he could slay this evil thing. By all logic, such a feat was impossible. No longer was he troubled by his lack of a sword, for he perceived that no sword could penetrate the hard silvery scales with which the beast was covered. Nor was it likely that a man could get within sword’s length of the creature. At the moment, the Dragon was not breathing out fire; but all around the ground was charred, and the trees also, evidence enough that when it wanted to do so, it could.
Yet firmly did Georyn believe that victory was within his grasp, for had not all the conditions been brought to fulfillment? Thus surely some means must exist whereby the monster could be conquered. And even as he approached the beast, Georyn deemed that he knew the answer.
He was meant to face impossible odds. How could one expect them to be otherwise if one was to save the world not through battle but through magic? From the first, he had been tested for one thing only: not his prowess in the art of killing, but simply his ability to endure terror; and ever had that magic aided him according to the measure of his fear. If through defiance of fear alone could the Stone be wielded, then clearly to call forth such power as would overcome this creature, he would need to be terrified indeed. He saw now what was demanded: he must deliberately court terror; he must walk forward to meet the Dragon without any knowledge of the way to victory, in full expectation of death. If the Stone could save him, it would; and if it could not, then no other strategy would be of any avail.
But in order to reach the Dragon, he must first frighten away its awful servants. There were dozens of them in sight, and most were monstrous, bloated creatures with glistening skin and shiny faceless heads that had an evil look. Georyn wondered, with a shudder, whether they had been born so or whether this was the result of their bewitchment. Would he himself have been so transformed had he remained subject to their sorcery? Far better, in truth, would it be to die in battle.
Fortunately, as to his present course he had been given direction: he must take their mysterious magic wands from them by means of the charm that the Enchantress had taught him. In a steady voice all but drowned by the Dragon’s roars, he began to recite, fixing his will upon the nearest one; and behold!—the thing came easily to his hand! He stared at it in wonderment. It was made of a material like to silver, but surprisingly heavy, and odd-shaped knobs protruded from its sides. Unquestionably, this strange object possessed the dread power to turn men to stone—provided, of course, that he who held it knew the proper magic words. Georyn did not know them, nor had he any wish to; such knowledge, surely, would lead less to wisdom than to the dark sorcery he had rejected.
He dropped the wand at his feet and prepared to obtain another, striving desperately to quell his rising panic. The grotesque bewitched ones had not given way at his challenge, but were instead closing in around him. As they brought forth more wands and pointed them, Georyn’s heart quaked. They would turn him to stone! To be sure, he knew from experience that the charm would continue to work while he was immobile, but it was nevertheless an appalling prospect. If struck by the spell, he would have no choice as to his tactics in regard to the Dragon. He would have to wait for the monster to advance upon him, as it undoubtedly would do as soon as it noticed his helplessness.
Clutching the Stone, he once again committed himself to its protection and turned his mind firmly to the employment of the charm. And alas, his fears were borne out. His limbs froze—whereupon the Dragon swung around, gnashing its teeth, and made a lunge toward the spot from which he was now powerless to move.
Georyn began to be horribly afraid, a circumstance in which he supposed he should rejoice; but he could not rejoice. A chill shook him, and he knew naught but a bitter, sick misery. He did not really expect that he would live to enjoy the Stone’s triumph, and it was torment to stand as he now must stand, in ignorance as to the manner of the approaching end. The downfall of this raging monster could scarce be imagined; was not its hide impenetrable? Perhaps despite the Lady’s assurances, the beast would devour him, Stone and all, and would be struck dead from within.
Giving an ominous snort, the Dragon halted its charge; still there could be, it seemed, no possible deliverance. Yet suddenly, at the blackest moment of Georyn’s terror, a thing past hope occurred: as he wrenched the fell wand from a second enemy’s grasp, there came an unlooked-for release from the spell that had bound him. He was frozen to stone no longer. Once more he had command of his body, although he was weak and trembling from fright. With resolution born anew, he started forward, but even as he did so, he caught sight of the Enchantress.
Now indeed it was well that he had been taught to use his magical powers without giving them his full attention, else he would surely have lost control. For a heart-stirring thing was taking place! The Lady had broken away from her guards and was running across the clearing, the white of her gown flashing in the sunlight. A thrill of hope pierced him. If she could but reach the forest while all eyes were on him, she might yet escape.
Then, to his horror, Georyn saw that the Enchantress ran not toward the forest, but toward the Dragon! Unarmed, unshielded by any magic, she was challenging the monster herself, to what purpose he could not guess, for she had told him from the beginning that she had not the power to do so. Even with the Emblem she had not; and now, without it, she could not possibly save herself from harm. And indeed, he realized in anguish, it could only be that she had no intent to save herself. In some mysterious fashion she was seeking to appease the evil creature after all.
The Dragon let forth a frightful roar, raised its head, and again prepared to spew out a tremendous mouthful of rock. Its fury did not abate, but rather grew more fearsome than ever. Without pause, the Lady advanced boldly into the region strewn with its gravelly vomit, only to stumble and fall to her knees directly beneath the jaws of the beast. She glanced up briefly, then with a cry of uncontrollable terror she buried her face in her arms. There was no doubt as to the outcome: within the next moment, when those jaws opened, she would be crushed.
Thereupon Georyn was struck with a fear greater than any that had hitherto been aroused in him, beside which his own fear of the Dragon was as nothing. In his wrath and desperation he did not wait to think the thing through; instantly, rather, he acted as he had been readied to act by the days of testing and preparation. All the strength of his will to oppose evil and of his love for the Enchantress was channeled to one end: he ran toward her, raising his fist containing the Stone in the direction of the Dragon’s threatening jaws, and threw the whole force of his mind into an invocation of the charm.
And lo! a great marvel came to pass, for the Dragon’s jaws gaped open and the rock indeed spewed forth, only to be arrested in midair! The Enchantress knelt stock-still beneath a hovering cloud of rock, once again gazing upward; and it seemed that even she was assailed by astonishment and by an overpowering awe.
A hush lay upon the clearing, broken by naught save the triumphant song of a solitary bird. Georyn walked forward. No one stopped him; those who were bewitched stood back, giving him a clear path. With the hazy fragment of his mind free for such trifles, he sensed that the Dragon had made no move to harm him; in truth the monster was now silent, motionless with outstretched neck as if it had itself been turned to stone.
Then, although the stillness remained undisturbed, he became aware of the Lady’s exultant voice: Oh, Georyn, Georyn! The power of the Stone is greater than I knew!
And his heart responded, Great was the need, Lady, for that you should perish as this Dragon’s victim was not to be borne!
He took her hand and led her back from the place; then slowly, gently he allowed the mass of rock to settle onto the ground. Still no sound was uttered by the Dragon nor by any of its slaves, who stood dumbfounded in the presence of so puissant an enchantment. A giddiness came upon Georyn; he opened his fist and stared at the Stone in wonder, aware that he had tapped a power that surpassed any he had previously used as vastly as sun surpasses firelight.
The mind of the Enchantress was now far away, listening as was her wont to the eerie voices of the enchanted realm. Suddenly with radiant countenance she turned back to him, crying with a glad voice, “Now truly have you vanquished these foes, and we have come beyond hope into a brighter morning than you know. For the spell that you have cast is stronger than their will. Their trust is in the might of dragons; they know naught of such magic, and are bewitched as is the way of men by fear of what they do not understand.”
Then a great rapture welled up in Georyn, and his heart seemed like to burst with the fullness of it. “I had not thought,” he said dazedly, “that even in victory my life would be spared.”
“Nor I mine,” she whispered. “It is strange that through my peril should have come so wondrous a success.”
“Less strange by far than if your peril served no end,” declared Georyn. And as he pondered this, the design that had been hidden became plain, and the long-sought reason for her captivity was laid bare. For he deemed that if the Stone’s powers had increased a hundredfold, it was because in the final extremity he had released them less through terror than through love.