The River of Dancing Gods (28 page)

All three were sleepy and grumbling, but were ready to go by the time Marge had removed the window spell from their room.

She looked around at them. "I suppose it's too much to ask for there to be a bath in this place, but let's at least wash up and get breakfast..

Grogha yawned and scratched. "You ain't got no spell for fleas, have you?.

"Maybe we can find something," she replied. "A bath would be best—but I'm not too sure I want to expose myself around here..

"Bath?" the portly man repeated, as if it were a totally alien word.

"Yeah, you might try one sometime," Macore prodded playfully.

"You should do everything at least once in your life..

Marge washed herself off at the outside pump, as did Joe and the others. Then they went back inside the inn, almost deserted at this early hour. Strong coffee was available, though, and some fruit and pastries, which suited them all just fine.

When they had eaten, the stout woman who'd taken over the bar the night before came over to them.

"You owe eight for the rooms and two for the breakfast.

Jajur is on the house. Skimmin' like that's not proper. At least not so up front..

"Jajur?" Joe asked.

"The bartender. Though I should charge you for me havin' to work extra hours last night..

Marge thought a moment. "How about twelve and call it even?.

"Fair enough..

The money was counted out and paid, and they headed for the stables. The five-grain charge there seemed a bit stiff, but they paid it without complaint. Macore looked over at the moneybag. "How much more we got in there, anyway?.

in there, anyway?.

Marge shrugged. "About a hundred grains in various denominations, plus some gems..

"Let's see some of the gems..

She reached in, took out a few, and gave them to him. He Page 143 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods looked them over with an appraiser's eye, then whistled. "Not bad. These three ought to be enough." He kept them and handed her back the rest. Then he sought out the stablehand to ask about outfitting, and they went further into town, leading the horses, until they came to a weathered store. It wasn't open yet, but the owner was inside setting up, and it didn't take much to get him to start business a bit early.

By the time the little thief was done, they had a mule, pack, and harness, bedrolls, canteens, and a small camping outfit.

There was a lot of haggling, but, as Macore had predicted, the three stones proved sufficient.

Joe and Marge were impressed. "All that for three oithoseT Joe asked incredulously.

Macore nodded. "And he got the best of the bargain. One thing, our Master Ruddygore is not stingy, I'll say that for him..

Marge looked at the overloaded mule. "Is all this really necessary?.

Macore took out the map. "I think so. I doubt if we'll make it more than halfway today to Kidim, and that means a campout in the wastes. Tomorrow we'll be climbing and maybe we'll make it, maybe not. Besides, after Kidim we'll be fresh THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS 166 out of stores, anyway, so we had to buy some of this sooner or later. Why not now? It will only be a lot more expensive as we go further inland..

The next step was letting the horses and the mule drink and filling the canteens. By that time, the first of the open-air markets was open, and they were able to buy a fair amount of fruit and some dried meat, as well as coffee and tea. Checking the map once more and getting information from the fruitseller, Macore was able to lead them on the proper path, first back to the ferry junction road, then a bit north, where the shore road forked, one way following the river, the other turning first west, then south, into the mountains.

That road was clear, but it was obvious that it was not widely used, particularly from the approach to the Bald Mountains themselves. The mountains weren't high, but they were barren granite domes of some ancient volcanic origin, and a natural climatological barrier.

The trail led up to them, then began a series of switchbacks, taking the Company up a thousand feet or so in slow stages.

The summit was only thirteen or fourteen hundred feet high, but that was a lot when one was starting from the bottom.

Once the travelers were through the pass, the trail descended Page 144 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods much as it had brought them up, but the landscape had changed dramatically. Almost up to the foot of the Bald Mountains, the river-fed earth had been green and lush. Now it was mostly desert, a desolate yellow, purple, and orange landscape of dry beauty, marked with mesas and buttes wind-carved into fantastic shapes.

"Looks like the Badlands," Joe commented.

At the bottom of the descending trail, they hit another junction, unmarked as had been all the others in High Pothique.

"Inland route," Macore told them. "Used mostly by caravan traders who don't want to be that obvious. We go straight, though. Through that." He pointed at the desolation. "See those mountains in the distance, almost blending with the sky? Well, they're the really big mother mountains, and that's where we're heading..

"Lead on," Houma called to him. "You got the map..

The hot sun bore down on all of them as they went, and Joe cracked that he should have brought his suntan lotion from the truck, but he knew, somehow, that he would not bum. By JACK L. CHALKER 167 the evening, though, he was already several shades darker than when he began, and all their faces and hands showed weathering.

Dacaro was as good as his word to Marge. "If you are determined to master the art, then I will help you," he told her.

The theory of it was not all that esoteric—since they were talking applied rather than theoretical magic—but to move from doing presupplied spells to creating one's own to suit whatever purpose one wished was something else again, something not mastered in a day.

It was with some inward fascination that she couldn't help but think of it as being much the same as learning computer programming—something she'd once taken a course in at one of those fly-by-night business schools back when she was still looking for a job. Up to now she had been using pre-prepared "software"—the spells furnished by Huspeth or Dacaro. Now she was being taught, in slow steps, how to build them herself.

Of course, she'd graduated from the course, but not with any decent handle on programming. Her math was just a bit too slow—and so it was here, with no pocket calculators to help her out.

Still, Dacaro was patient and reassuring and seemed delighted to be able to do something finally with the knowledge he'd gained over his years as an adept.

At one point she asked him point-blank what he'd done to incur Ruddy gore's wrath.

"I went on a trip with him—to your world," he told her.

"A most smelly and confusing place, I must say, but one with a lot of things I thought would improve our situation here..

Page 145 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods She was surprised at this. "Does he go to our world often?.

"Fairly often. Two or three times a year, perhaps, for a week or so each time. He sees shows at theaters, mostly, and buys horrendous souvenirs of places—tacky stuff even by your world's standards. He did not show you his collection?.

"No..

"He will. You will be appalled. I argued with him that bringing back some of the technology of your world would ease a lot of misery here. He adamantly refused, even though he admitted it. He talked about intangibles, values this world had that had been bred out of yours by your technology. I did not agree with him then and I do not now. So I disobeyed him.

168 JACK L. CHALKER THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS 169 I brought back something which I thought could be useful here in our eternal fight against the enemy. I brought it back mostly to study and have copied. But he discovered it, sensing the iron in its construction, and so we had our bitter falling out that left me in this state..

She grew curious. "What was it you brought back?.

"A—revolver, I think you call it. Or is the word 'gun'.

And five hundred rounds of ammunition..

She whistled. "Why a gun?.

"I argued with him. I asked him to imagine our brave forces lined up against those of the Baron, armed with these or more efficient versions of these, instead of swords and spears and arrows..

"Sounds reasonable to me," she agreed. "What did he object to?.

"He told me that I was looking at the problem the wrong way. I was to imagine the Baron with such weapons. But we would have then first—and we could always improve upon them. It would end war as we know it!.

"Yes, it would, Dacaro," she said sadly. First one side would have pistols. Then some would be inevitably captured by the other side, and they would copy the design and make Page 146 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods their own—only better. Maybe scale them up. What was a revolver but a miniature cannon? And then the other side would... Was there uranium here.

She knew too much about that sort of pattern to be on any side but Ruddygore's, and she could understand why Dacaro so frightened him—and why poor Dacaro would never understand the reason. She gently changed the subject back to magical spells and did not refer to his problems again.

Although the sun was still up, they made camp at a small water hole right in the middle of nowhere. The horses and the mule had no hesitancy drinking from the stuff, even though it looked a little stale, so they didn't, either. It tasted odd, but they suffered no ill effects.

The watering hole hardly qualified as an oasis—the pool was barely ten feet around and looked to be a place where the bedrock had weathered away at a soft spot, allowing an underground river a small outlet. There were some bushes, but no trees, and it looked as if it were used, but seldom.

"As far as I know, this is the only water between here and Kidim," Macore told them. "Of course, all I know is the map.

I never actually crossed this way before." He frowned and looked southward. "Still, I'd say we should make the town before dark tomorrow." He sighed. "Man, I'm hot and tired!.

"We all are," Houma replied. "It is desolate country indeed.

Still, it is open country, too. Less likely to bump into funny things..

"Don't get too confident!" Macore shot back. "The last time I was real self-confident, I tried to sell sharpeners to a nice lady who ran a farm all by herself—remember?.

There seemed no way to reply to that. Joe looked around.

"We should build a small fire. I doubt if it will attract much attention, but it might make anything that lives out there think twice about us, not to mention keeping us from stumbling in the dark and drowning in the pool. It's gonna be mighty dark here soon..

"Good idea," Grogha said. "I think we can use some of this dead stuff in the thicket and maybe spare a couple of frame boards from the pack mule..

"Or you could use the wood in the gray pack in the middle there, as I intended when I bought it," Macore said laconically.

They all glared at him, but they had their fire going before darkness fell, as it did with amazing suddenness.

Grogha proved a pretty good field cook, considering the limited makings he had to work with. After cleaning up and putting everything away. Marge looked at the packs, and the mule. "Do you think I should put a spell on them—just in case?" she asked.

"Better to be safe than sorry," Joe responded. "Go ahead.

Be kinda hard to protect us, though, so we'll have to stand turns at watch..

Page 147 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods "Yeah, but how will we know when to change watch?.

Houma asked worriedly. "No town clocks in sight..

"Candles," Macore said. "Actually, I can't take credit for this. The merchant suggested them." He got them out of the pack and lighted one in the fire. "They take two hours to burn down. Simple, huh?.

"Good enough for me," Joe told him. "Who's first?.

"Me," Marge said. "I'd like a little time more or less to myself..

They started to protest, since none of them had even thought THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS 170 of her for the duty, but she silenced them, and they knew better than to press it.

Another hour or so was spent sitting around, talking about nothing in particular and watching the spectacular stars that appeared in the desert sky, then most were ready for bed. Marge helped them get their bedrolls settled, and Joe suggested a semicircular arrangement around the fire. Within two hours, all were asleep except her.

She first made the spell on the mule pack—removed, of course, from the mule—and on the all-important saddlebag, finding it easier and easier. Like writing her name with a pencil, she thought, pleased. Dacaro had told her that the more she practiced any magic, the easier it would all become.

It was deathly quiet, without any sort of breeze, and the air had not cooled off much at all. Idly, she started practicing some of the simple exercises Dacaro had taught her. So simple...

She could draw faces with the spell light, twirl it around like a lasso, and hurl the energies where she willed, at least within her line of sight.