The River of Dancing Gods (17 page)

97 JACK L. CHALKER The water rippled where he'd broken it, then slowly settled and re-formed once more into his image. But it was not only his image he saw.

He turned, both startled and embarrassed, to see a beautiful woman standing behind him, fully one of the most beautiful and voluptuous women he'd ever seen. She was also as totally naked as he, which didn't stave off his initial embarrassed feelings one bit.

"Oh, I'm sorry I startled you," she said in a soft, musical voice. "I so seldom get visitors here that I often forget politeness..

He gulped. "Uh, um, I'm sorry myself. I didn't know this was anybody's land..

She laughed. "Oh, it's not my land. It is my pond. I am Irium..

He hesitated a moment, trying to sort it out. For the first time it penetrated that her skin was a pale bluish green, much like the waters of the pond itself. Aside from that and a bit of webbing between her fingers and toes, though, she looked Page 83 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods extremely human.

"Uh—•yovapondT he said questioningly. Something inside him rejected all considerations of her color, webbing, or anything else. She was beautiful... gorgeous... nothing else in the world mattered but her. Considering his nakedness, his emotions were pretty hard to hide from her.

She smiled at him, and he melted completely. "It's so nice to see someone again. Few ever venture this way these days except cows, and they are poor company..

With that she moved in and closed with him, and all he could think of was her. He didn't even realize that, as she clung to him, she was also edging him close to and then into the cool pond. Waist-deep, then still going in, now neck-deep.

"Hold\" The shout was a woman's voice, icy, cutting, and commanding. "Bring him to me or, by Sathanas and Doharic, you shall have no pond at all!.

The threat caused the blue-green beauty to hesitate; then slowly, still without his realizing what was happening, they rose to the surface and moved as if on currents of force back toward the shore.

He was aware only that somebody was butting in, coming between him and consummation with Irium, and this angered 98 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS him. He let loose his grip from his lady love and turned to see a handsome, striking woman, dressed in long slit skirt and faded brown blouse, standing there, holding a crooked stick of some kind out toward them. "Go away!" he shouted at her.

"We don't need you!.

"We don't, but you do," the stranger responded coldly. Her brow furrowed, and she seemed to be looking beyond just his physical appearance. It was done in a flash, but she nodded to herself. "You have been victimized by some mischievous cherubs who almost killed you." She made a sign in the air, and he felt a sudden deep chill shoot through him. He turned again to his newfound lady love and screamed in horror, pushing away from her and scrambling, splashing all the way, to the nearby land.

The beauty who had so smitten him was a beauty no more, but an ugly, hideous thing, the stuff of long-rotted corpses.

"Flee, wicked sprite of the water, for you shall not have him!" his rescuer called, and the rotting thing gave a gurgling cry and vanished beneath the waters of the pond.

Satisfied, the newcomer approached him as he lay gasping on the beach and looked down on him with a mixture of scom and contempt. Although a beauty herself, she exuded a strong, Page 84 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods confident, powerful aura that was unmistakable. This was a woman used to command.

"Wha—what was it?" he gasped.

"A water sprite. She got trapped in here during a major hurricane and flood, and there's been no getting rid of her.

She's really pretty much of an incompetent, anyway—she was rushing to drown you without even the preliminaries. You wouldn't have been such an easy mark if you didn't have that spell cast on you..

He sighed. "Those bastards. Couldn't resist a parting shot..

She shrugged. "It is their nature. They are so childlike they probably don't even remember you now." She looked down and sighed. "Well, you're a real mess. Pick yourself up and come with me. You look as if you could use a meal..

He got up, suddenly conscious of some aches and bruises, and followed her meekly.

Her farm wasn't far away, and it looked very pretty and well tended.

The farmhouse itself was set in an isolated grove of trees, r JACK L. CHALKER 99 but all around, the land had been cleared and tilled. Over in the far fields he could see large animals, perhaps oxen, pulling plows—apparently by themselves. Other animals turned irrigation wheels, while over in an uncultivated pasture cows grazed.

Animals, he realized, didn't work without supervision under normal circumstances, but this strange woman had already proved herself a witch or sorceress of some son. He owed her his life, so he decided not to comment or pry.

The farmhouse was a simple wooden affair with a thatched roof, but it had a good hardwood floor and seemed pretty cozy inside. It was clear, though, that the woman lived alone.

He was acutely aware of his nakedness once more and apologized for it, but she just laughed it away. "Don't worry. I've seen a lot in my life, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

If it bothers you, I suppose I could rig up something, but it would take time. Just sit over there, relax, and I'll see about getting you something to eat..

He sank wearily into the wooden chair offered, finally feeling a little bit more human again. She went into another room and returned with a bunch of home-baked pastries, bread, fresh butter, and a jug of cold milk. "This will at least get you started," she told him, sitting down opposite. He noticed that she never let go of the strange, crooked walking stick she Page 85 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods carried, although she didn't seem to need it and hadn't used it at all to support herself. "So," she asked, "how'd you happen to be around the old pond, anyway?.

He sighed. "I'm a little new to everything around here, it seems." Quickly, as he wolfed down the bread and pastries, he told her of having been brought from his own world by Ruddygore, then trained and tested. She nodded, taking it all in.

When he'd finished, she said, "The old boy's off his block, bringing in outsiders. Nothing personal, but from what you've told me just today, you're no match for Husaquahr. Here most humans fall into two classes: the majority—the bulk, really— who do all the work in exchange for protection from all the magical forces around them; and the few who are smart enough or lucky enough to have the power, so they don't fear those forces. The few others like you, adventurers and misfits, mostly, who wander around getting into trouble, were born into this world and know their way around the magic and the politics.

100 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS You can't be taught that kind of thing—you have to grow up with all this. And even if it's true that Hell can't handle you— which I most sincerely doubt—it makes no difference. The sorcery of Husaquahr alone is enough to do you in, in ten minutes on your own..

"After this morning, I have to agree with you," he admitted.

"Still, what choice do I have? I go along with it or I don't— and if I can't make it on my own in a simple thing like this, how could I make it on my own anyplace around here?" He sighed. "Brawn and common sense, they told me. Well, my brawn hasn't done me much good, and I've shown very little common sense today, for all the good it will do me..

"I think you know you could be of little use to Ruddygore, for all I care of his troubles, but you might be just what I need right now. Come with me—outside for a moment." She got up and went out the door, and he followed, curious.

She gestured with the crooked stick. "You see the farm here. It runs itself, pretty much. Animals are my field of study and my life. Everything I require is produced right here. The locals steer clear of this place, which is why our friend in the pond over there has so few victims. But there are certain husbandry problems I have. Chickens need roosters to lay regular eggs. Cows need a bull to keep the milk flowing. I lost my prize bull the other day to a stupid accident..

He nodded, wondering where she was leading.

"Tell me—have you ever heard of Circe?.

He thought a moment, then slowly shook his head. "I don't think so..

"The legends have Circe as a person, a sorceress. Actually, it is a place. An island, far from Husaquahr. An enchanted island, inhabited entirely by a race of women..

Page 86 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods "I seem to remember some old stories of places where only women lived," he told her. "Seems to me they'd die out after a while..

"That would be true," she admitted, "but men are occasionally lured there in collusion with sirens and other allies of the sea. They usually act as expected, waking up on an island of women, and the Circeans let them. In that way the population is renewed..

"Sounds like a fun place to be shipwrecked," he murmured.

"Think you so? I said it was an enchanted isle. After the JACK L. CHALKER 101 people are done with the men, the enchantment is brought into play. A piece of sacred wood, like this, is brought out, and the man is touched so." She touched him with the stick. "Then the man is useful in other ways, and Circe is all female once more..

He felt suddenly dizzy and dropped to all fours. "Hey! What—?" he exclaimed, but his talk turned into an outlandish bellow.

She stepped back and looked at him with satisfaction. "I am from that island," she told him. "Exiled for reasons that do not concern anyone but me. Eventually I came here with my enchanted wand and built this place from barren fields. I transform few, for sorcerers such as your Ruddygore could do as they willed with me. But you owe me your life. And you have no future here, as we both agreed. So now you are what you reminded me of the moment I saw you. You are my new bull, bound by my powers to do my bidding and bound, too, to the limits of my land. Your power and your horns will guard the land and herds from unseen interlopers, and you will keep my cows in milk. It's not so much to ask. No petty magic or sprites need you fear ever again, for you are under my protection..

With that she turned and went back into her house, leaving him there.

Vision and balance cleared in a bit, and he found what she said was impossibly true. He could turn his massive head enough to see his huge black body, and he could wag his barely seen tail. His vision, he discovered, was poor—after twenty feet or so, things started to blur—and he was totally color-blind, but his powe-s of hearing and smell were increased tremendously.

He turned and looked back at the house, but knew he could never fit through that door in any case. He needed time to think, he decided, and wandered off toward the fields where the cows were grazing, following—scent? Yes, that seemed to be it.

Almost without thinking, he found himself lowering his massive head and munching the tall grass, which tasted extremely good. But all he could think of was that he'd been suckered again.

He sulked most of the afternoon, munching grass and feeling rotten, and wandered across the farm without really realizing Page 87 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods 102 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS it. He was both shocked and startled late in the day to hear somebody addressing him.

"So you're the new bully boy," a thin, reedy, male voice said casually. "Welcome to the club..

His massive head came up, and he looked around with all the concentration his weak eyes could muster but saw no one. "Not there, bright eyes," came the voice. "Down here. And watch where you're stepping!.

He looked down and saw in front of him a handsome, strutting rooster.

"So what d'ya want, big boy? A bear?.

"But—you're a rooster!" he exclaimed in a deep series of snorts and grunts.

"And you're a bull. You wanna make something of it?.

"But—you can talk!.

"To you, anyway," the rooster admitted. "And to any of the other former men who are around here. Maybe a couple of dozen. The rest are real animals..

He hadn't considered this. Just the opportunity for two-way communication excited him. "I'm Joe. How long have you been here?.

"Macore's the name," the rooster responded. "Been here forever, it seems. You lose your sense of time, though. Don't much matter, anyway. We're all stuck here..

He didn't like the sound of that. "Nobody ever tries to escape?.

The rooster crowed derisively. "Escape? Man, you're bound to this land by that stick she's got. No need for fences. It's like hitting a stone wall..

"I'll take your word for it." Joe thought a moment. "Say— you say it's the stick that does it?.

"Yep. From her native island. She never is without it..

His mind was suddenly racing with even this tiny glimmer of hope. "But surely she sleeps?.

"Oh, sure. Oh, I see where you're headed. You figure to swipe the stick, maybe hide it or break it up, right?.

"Something like that," he admitted.

"Well, don't think it hasn't been thought of before. You want to risk her catching you and turning you into a snail or Page 88 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods worm or something, that's fine with me. Bein' a rooster maybe ain't so much, but it's lot better than the alternatives..