Season of Passage, The (53 page)

the pool of lava. 'You wil continue your explanation and pay less heed to your false deeds.'

Kratine looked shocked. 'So you do threaten me?'

'Perhaps.'

Kratine spoke hastily. 'You know what happened. Rankar came instead of sending a male and female. He came to this very altar, and by a means I

can only respect, figured out my plan. I have no idea how he did that.'

'I'm sure it was not difficult. You're careless with your mouth. Continue!'

I was surprised,' Kratine said. 'But my greatest shock was yet to come. He dropped his guard. He set aside al his powers, al his armor. The King

of the Garden invited extinction! Of course, seeing the opportunity, I slew him.

I was overjoyed. My greatest enemy was gone. My plan could go forward without obstacle. Unknown to you I captured several Sastra, males and

females both. Yet here I was met with another surprise. My plan would not work. My spirit refused to enter their blood. When I kil ed them, they

remained dead.

I was dismayed. Yet I no longer had Rankar to worry about. I decided to take your Garden outright. I landed my warriors upon your deserts. If I could

not have my youth back, I thought, I would enjoy my old age in fair lands. I was certain of victory.

'You know this part of the story. Your warriors were losing. I was

winning. The Garden would have been mine but for your invocation of the Fire Messenger. Earlier I said that I recognized you from the beginning as

a worthy adversary. If the truth be known, I only suspected your powers, and gave them little heed. Unlike Rankar's, I had never seen them used

before. I underestimated your strength and that was a grave mistake. Through your sister you kil ed more of my people than I had lost in the previous

year. Janier was merciless. Few escaped her wrath. Plus already Rankar had robbed me of my special plan. Al appeared in ruins. Yet, strangely

enough, it was Janier who saved the day.

'Eventual y I figured out how Rankar had upset the spel I was trying to cast. I began to see the intimate relationship that exists between you two as

guardians, and your children. The same bond does not exist between me and my people. Because he was the King of Sastra, Rankar's choice

became your children's choice. He could have lived through the ages, with you by his side, and your children around you. But he died, he chose to

die. It was no wonder when I began to experiment with your females that they just passed away. Rankar had taken away their immortality.

'Understanding this, I devised a scheme to bypass his continuing influence. I decided to take one of your children and have her forsake Rankar's

protection, and then have her stand so close to death that she could feel its real terror. With these conditions met, I believed I could cast my spel .

'At this time Janier was storming across your desert toward my bridge. I studied her from afar. She was fil ed with vengeance. She was not

behaving the way you would. I noticed a rift between her actions and your support. I decided to use that rift and lure her into a trap where I could test

my theories.

'My original plan had since undergone major changes. By the time Janier reached here, there were too few left on either side to carry it out. My

hope was for the future. I knew the Garden's soil was rich, and that your children would survive, although they would be short-lived because of what

Rankar had done. Stil , I could see they would flourish across your lands. I knew that one day they would come here. They wil have to - I wil invite

them here. And on that day the Asurian spirit wil be reawakened, and I wil be reborn in your world.

'I wil have little to add. Your sister forsook her people. I imagine ·you wil remember her with contempt.'

When Kratine's explanation was finished, Chaneen stood silent for a long time and pondered his words. Much of what he had told her, she already

knew. When Kratine had lectured Janier, she had heard him, for in the end Janier had remembered her Queen and replaced the ring on her finger.

Janier had done so without Kratine's knowledge.

Chaneen believed that could be a weakness in his spel .

She pointed to the boiling mud. 'You haven't told me how you tortured my sister.'

Kratine sniffed the air, trying to know her intentions. I told you, I wished to spare you the details.'

I think you didn't want to anger me.'

Kratine fel silent. Chaneen began to circle him. He fol owed her careful y, turning as she moved, until his back was to the pool of lava. Then

Chaneen began to walk toward him, forcing him to move back.

'But I know Kratine,' she said. I know everything you did.'

'It was necessary,' he said anxiously. 'You would have done the same in my position.'

Chaneen pressed him within inches of the pit. The il usion of his human form quivered as his fear mounted.

'You survive at another's expense,' she said. 'You delight in causing pain. Where is your throng of brides that witnessed my sister's torment?'

'I had them kil ed.' He glanced over his shoulder. He had nowhere left to go. For a moment his head was much larger, his teeth sharper. I knew you

were coming.'

'You're lying. You murdered them in your despair, for they no longer pleased you, not after my sister.'

'You cannot threaten me here, Chaneen.'

She raised the hand that held Rankar's ring. 'Can't I?'

'You cannot stop my curse, ' he said, as a sickly yel ow fluid began to col ect on the floor at his feet. 'I wil be young again, and live forever.'

'If that lime should ever come,' Chaneen swore, 'the joys you believe you 're going to recapture wil be like poisons to your soul. The sunlight you

long for wil bum you. The fresh waters you crave wil blind you wherever you go. You wil buy your youth at a bitter price.'

'I'l drink of your children's blood.'

'Nothing you drink wil take away your thirst.'

'You are beaten, Chaneen. Face it.'

She al owed herself a soft laugh and watched him tremble. His face ran like melting wax. A gaping hole appeared where his mouth had been. His

nose turned into a dripping snout.

'You are a fool,' she said. 'You have your spel , true, and your spirit may one day crawl again. But you have been tricked. You have been used,

Kratine. Those gods you invoked who gave you your plan, those respectful to Asure. They're nothing more than demons from the deep. You think

you wil possess others. You are already possessed, and al because you are a coward. You shake at the thought of what is behind you. One more

step Kratine, and you wil burn. And I can make you take that step!'

I meant your sister no harm,' he pleaded as his human clothing vanished completely. 'It was necessary.'

Chaneen grabbed his scaly neck and held him above the lava. 'Always with you it is necessary!'

'Spare me, Chaneen!'

'How does it feel, devil?'

'Please?' he begged, trembling in her hands.

She loosened her grip, ready to drop him in the pit. 'She was my sister!'

'You can't do this!'

'You murdered her!'

'She made me. Please, Chaneen! No!'

Chaneen heard Janier's cry in his cry.

'No,' she whispered. She pul ed him back from the pit and released

him. I won't harm you. Perhaps that wil mean something to you, after

al that you've done to me. I don't hale you, Kratine. I only feel sorry for

you. Live a few more days, if you must. You are old. You wil die soon,

anyway.'

Kratine bowed low at her feet. 'You are merciful.' He stood and went to touch her hair, but then lost his nerve. 'May I ask what your intentions are

now?'

'You may not.' Chaneen stepped to his throne and raised her arms. Once again the sunlight fil ed her body and she began to dissolve. 'This curse of

yours is indeed powerful, but so am I.' She smiled. 'It wil be wel met.'

Only when the shadows of twilight began to cross the trees was Chaneen found walking in her Garden again. What remained of her children had

gathered at the foot of the steps that led into her palace, awaiting her return. The sight of their beautiful faces fil ed her with love as she approached.

But she knew such love would only make her goodbye more difficult. Pastel, guided by a friend, greeted her with a handful of flowers. He knelt at her

feet.

'My Queen,' he said. 'We have heard rumor that janier has crossed into Asure with our army. Then in the morning sky we al saw a huge flame fly

across the heavens. We beg to know what these things mean.'

Chaneen motioned for her children to sit comfortably beside the steps. Then she spoke. I have sad news. The remainder of our warriors are dead.

They perished in Asure, along with your Princess, Janier.'

Heads were bowed. Pastel took her hand and there were tears on his face. 'Did Janier disobey your commands?' he asked. 'Is that why they al

died?'

'No,' Chaneen said truthful y. 'Janier was with me in the end. Our warriors died protecting us, and none of their deaths were in vain. The mighty

flame you saw leap from the sun hit Asure and destroyed it. The flame was the payment the Asurians suffered for attacking us.'

'Then Janier saved us,' Pastel said proudly.

'Yes,' Chaneen agreed. 'Asure was destroyed because of my sister.' She gazed into their faces for a while, seeing the many expressions from

which the character of mankind would be born. Then she bid them listen closely. 'What I have to say next is difficult. This war has changed your lives

in many ways. With Ranhar's death, your al otted days have been diminished. You wil now grow old and die. Your children wil do likewise, and their

children in turn. It may seem a great tragedy, but it is not. Something beautiful wil come of it. A bud dies but a flower blooms. Our people wil go on.

They wil multiply and become great. They wil cover this world, and one day they wil go to other worlds. That wil be a dangerous time for them. You

see, the enemy has laid a curse upon those times. It is a curse that must be met if our future children are to return to the stars and be with the gods.

With Rankar's passing, my days have also lessened. Therefore I must leave you now before I die, so that I may come again in that time of danger, in

the next, season of passage, and put a final end to this menace that tries to drag us down to its own path of despair. Tonight, when the stars are

bright, I wil go into the heavens. But I won't forget you. Although I am far away, I wil always watch over you.'

Pastel trembled. 'But we cannot survive without you!'

She stood. 'Yes, you can. You wil do more than survive. You wil become like the gods in the stars. And should your path ever stray from the goal,

Rankar wil return to show you there is nothing to fear. And when the threat of the enemy awakens, I wil be there. It is Chaneen who promises you

this.'

She walked about the circle of her children and touched each one on the head. Then she spoke to them for the last time. 'This is not the end but the

beginning. Go now and enjoy. One day, we wil be together again.'

A silent night. The stars shone bright in a clear sky. Alone by the pool of holy waters, Chaneen meditated. Suddenly there was a husk across the

whole Garden as faint pinpricks of light glowed on the liquid mirror, each representing a different god in the heavens. Slowly Chaneen began to

vanish. Her heart fil ed with the warmth that existed in the center of the sun. Her body became like golden rays of shimmering light, a light that could

be in many places at the same time. Fainter and more distant became that light as she expanded out across the universe.

Chaneen was gone, but she had not forgotten her promise. Sitting beside the holy waters was the ring.

THIRTY-FIVE

Terry Hayes threw back the curtains of his bedroom window, squinting in the bright sunlight. It was two in the afternoon, and he had just woken up.

He supposed he should get to work. Sitting down in front of his word processor, he opened the file that held his latest book -Whisper of Pain. He

was on page four hundred twenty-one and it was bril iant. He supposed the story would be classified as science fiction, but it was real y a modern-

day morality fable that just happened to take place forty years in the future. It was about a time when there were human clones, who were identical in

every aspect to their original counterparts, except that they were al tattooed on their wrists with special identification numbers. The clones suffered

from worldwide persecution for not being real. In fact, his first chapter started just as al the clones in the United States were being rounded up for

execution. His hero was a man whose wife had died two years earlier of cancer. His heroine was the clone of the man's wife. The two lived together

in fear of her true identity being discovered. The book was reminiscent of Pinocchio. More than anything else, more than even safety, his heroine

wished to be real. Terry was hopelessly in love with her. Her name was Lauren. But I just cal ed her that, Doctor. It doesn't mean a thing.

Before beginning work, Terry reached over on his desk and popped a few capsules of bee pol en in his mouth, swal owing them with the help of a

glass of water. His surgeon had turned him on to the stuff, the day after the doctor had cut out a third of his stomach to keep him from bleeding to

death.

Terry had had a bad time after the Hawk and Nova col ided.

Those were strange days. Patches of them occasional y returned to him with vivid clarity, but for the most part they were lost - even now - in a brown

blur that bore an uncanny resemblance to Scotch whisky. It was odd when Lauren died how he had turned to that particular drink. His drug of choice