The River of Dancing Gods (31 page)

They were beautiful, erotic eyes—but they were not human eyes.

She thought of the fairies on the boat two days earlier. They had all been male—sort of, anyway—but they had this sort of ear and something subtly similar about their faces. Not the eyes, though, or the general facial shape she was developing.

It was not their kind that she was becoming.

She went back to the clothes on the bed and just lay there for a few moments, fingering them. Suddenly she stopped and looked at her hands, then sat up and looked closer. There was no doubt about it. Some sort of—webbing—was growing from the points between each of the fingers. It was only a tiny extra mass of very thin skin now, perhaps an eighth of an inch from the base of the hand, but there it was. Her fingernails, too, seemed extra hard, somewhat silvery in appearance, and were taking on a different nature, perhaps more—animallike? She couldn't decide.

Before she could think on it further, though, there was an officious knock at the door. Acutely aware, suddenly, of her nakedness, she called out, "Who's there?.

"Concierge, madam," came an equally officious reply. "You had asked at the desk if a bath could be arranged?.

She frowned. "Yes—but they told me it was too late in the day..

"A clerk checked with me, and I discovered that there was more than sufficient hot water. It won't keep, so we thought you might wish to use it tonight..

She smiled. A bath! A real bath! "Hold on, let me get something on," she called back and quickly got back into her dirty jerkin. Picking up the new clothes and a large towel, she walked to the door and opened it. Only then did she think how 184 JACK L. CHALKER THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS 185 trusting she had been—how she had only his word that he was the concierge.

Page 160 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods But he was the concierge. She had seen him at his desk in the lobby. "Follow me, please, madam," the little man said, and she followed him down the hall, down to the lobby level, and then below. The bathhouse was small—not even the wellto- do took many baths in Husaquahr, it seemed—but surprisingly modem. The sunken tub was steaming with clear, hot water brought in from coal-fired tanks that also provided some heat for the main floor, and there was a large bar of soap, a full supply of bath linen, and even a white towel-robe, imprinted with the symbol of the hotel.

"I will see that no one disturbs you, madam," the concierge assured her. "When finished, please stop by my desk in the lobby and let me know, so that we may drain the tub..

"I'll do that," she promised him, eager for the water. "And thanks!.

He left and shut the door behind him. She quickly laid out all her stuff, got undressed, and slipped into the tub. The water was quite hot, but that didn't matter at all. It wasn't too hot, and the warmth penetrated her body, eased her bruises and muscle tension, and just felt absolutely wonderful.

It was in the wee hours of the morning, after the last bar had closed, that Joe returned to the hotel. He felt tremendous, despite the long day, but he was really tired now. All he wanted was sleep.

He knocked on the door of the room, softly, just to warn Marge of his impending entrance, but then didn't hesitate to open the door and walk in.

He stood there for a moment, puzzled. She wasn't there.

The oil lamps were still on, and there were signs that she'd been lying on top of the bed at one time—but that was all.

Idly wondering if the Rules also specified boy virgins, he looked around for a clue. He dismissed his thought about the boy virgins in a minute. That wouldn't make sense. She had that celibacy thing. He stopped and thought a moment. Everything was closed now, he knew, so there was no place she could have gone to, except maybe to the wall to look at the night view—but that was unlikely. She'd had a hard day, and even her potions weren't a hundred percent effective. She'd been tired and achy when they'd first hit town, and she'd said after dinner that she was going to get some mountain clothes and then try for a bath and go to bed.

He snapped his fingers. A bath! Sure! He looked around, saw that the big towel was missing, and nodded to himself.

Then he stopped for a moment, puzzled. A bath at three in the morning? This wasn't like back home, where one just went into the bathroom...

He turned and walked back down to the lobby. He didn't immediately check with the desk, but saw a pictograph indicating baths on a floor below. The desk clerk and the concierge watched him but did not say or do anything as he went down the stairs.

Page 161 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods He checked both the small bathrooms. Nothing in the first, but the second showed signs that somebody had used it recently.

He went over and tested the water temperature of the bath.

Cool, like the other—but the other had been clear. This was soapy and still messed up. He glanced anxiously around, then found in a small pile her old clothes and the new ones she must have bought. Only the towel had been used.

Knowing now that something was terribly wrong, he bounded back up the stairs to the lobby and approached the night clerk first. The clerk smiled and looked up at the big man, nodding.

"Yes?.

"The woman who checked in with me—do you know where she is?.

The clerk shrugged. "Sorry. I haven't been on very long.

Try the concierge..

Joe went over to the little man at the concierge's desk, who also looked up expectantly. Joe noticed he seemed abnormally nervous and couldn't quite sit still.

"The young woman who checked in with me," Joe repeated.

"Have you seen her tonight?.

The concierge frowned and pretended to look thoughtful.

"Young woman? Sir, we have many. I can't be expected to remember everyone..

"Streaked hair, big eyes, pointy ears," Joe responded, getting a little steamed up.

The man seemed to think hard again, and was about to speak when Joe added, "She took a bath tonight—downstairs..

Sensing that he couldn't conceal obvious facts without 186 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALK.ER 187 sounding worse, the concierge brightened. "Ah, yes! But I do remember her! She went down to the baths hours ago. Why, is something wrong!.

"She's missing, that's what. You been here all night?.

"Except for a couple of calls, yes..

"Do you remember her coming back up from the baths?.

The concierge thought a moment more. Sweat was breaking out on his brow. "Uh—yes, I believe I do..

Joe reached out, temper flaring, and literally picked the little man out of his chair with one hand. "Liar! You forgot to remove her clothes! They're still down there! What have you done with her?" With one mighty move, he pulled the man across his Page 162 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods desk so that they were face to face, all the while keeping him suspended off the floor by the grip on his clothing.

The concierge, deathly afraid and sweating like mad, yelled, "Codoary! Help me!.

With an angry shove, Joe threw the concierge halfway across the lobby, where he struck a stuffed chair and toppled over.

In the same moment the big man whirled, his face a fury, to see, not just the desk clerk, but two other men, all with swords, coming at him.

In an instant his great sword leaped to his right hand and hummed brightly. "I hope none of you got any fairy blood,.

he growled at them, " 'cause I got to leave one of you alive to torture!.

The three advanced in a semicircle, threateningly but not very professionally. It was obvious that none of these men were hired thugs or assassins. They looked like shopkeepers, hotel clerks, accountants, that sort of thing—and they looked mighty uncomfortable facing a barbarian warrior.

He didn't wait for them to make up their minds. With a mighty yell, he leaped at them, and his sword hand moved with swift and terrible precision. He didn't even have time to think about it—it was as if the sword itself were alive and doing all the right things.

In an instant's time, or so it seemed, the humming sword slashed off the nearest assailant's sword hand at the wrist, then came back up under the next and knocked the sword away and into the air. With his left hand he punched the disarmed middle man in the stomach, and he fell back and collapsed on the floor.

This left only the desk clerk, who was aghast and scared to death. The shock of what had happened to the first two totally unnerved him. With a squeal, he dropped his sword, raised his hands, and cried, "Please! Don't hurt me!.

Joe approached him, then pushed him rudely against a pillar and brought the sword up to the frightened man's throat. The clerk made a noise and looked so close to pure terror that, for a moment, the big barbarian was afraid the fellow was having a heart attack. Still, he was the most conscious of the four, so it was best to start with him.

"You see my friend here? His name's Irving." Joe pushed the point to the throat so the clerk could really feel it.

Even so, the clerk managed to gasp back, "IrvingT' in a disbelieving tone.

The big man nodded. "Think it's a funny name, huh? He don't like it when he thinks people are makin' fun of his name..

Joe paused a moment, genuinely angry but thinking. "All right— you know what my friend Irving's good at? Cuttin'! How about it? Shall I let him cut off a hand, maybe, like your friend's there? Then another hand? Then maybe the legs—and what's between 'em?.

Page 163 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods The clerk whimpered.

"All right, you tell me what they've done with the girl, and now! I'm not a patient man!.

"Please! You got to understand!" The clerk was almost gibbering. "The dragon. It had to be appeased. Our daughters —.

"Dragon!" Joe stormed. "What the hell does this have to do with the dragon?.

"W-we saw that she was a virgin. Duoqua, who's the town elder, can see the magic. She was the first virgin stranger we'd seen! Honest! You gotta understand! My own sister's pregnant by some outland stranger because she was so scared! We had to!.

"What did you do with her—scumball?" Joe roared. "Where is she?.

"C-castle rock! They took her to castle rock! The altar there!.

"Where is it? How do I get to it?.

"I—I can't!.

"Either you can or you're dead," Joe snapped coldly, and 188 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER 189 he meant it. "I have no time for you to think about it. Your friends are coming around!.

"I'll take you! Let me loose!.

Joe let the clerk lead the way—down again toward the baths.

"If there's any trickery, just a little, anything, not only will you regret it but, I swear by all that's holy, so will your whole stinking town. Forget that she's an agent of the sorcerer Ruddygore! Forget that she's sister to the great sorceress Huspeth! She's my rider, damn it!.

At hearing the first two names, the clerk swallowed hard and muttered, "Oh, my god!" They were apparently sufficient to strike in the man the realization that, while armies could never conquer Kidim, enemies like those could cause terrible desolation and hardly feel it. The clerk gave Joe no more trouble.

Through a service door they went, then down again, into a maze of well-lighted tunnels with steps and railings, past rooms with symbols for various Kidim banks and merchants on them, others with pictographs for various kinds of foodstuffs, and even a whole chamber full of wine. Joe knew that this was the labyrinth in the mountain of which Macore had spoken. For a Page 164 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods moment he regretted not rousing the other three, but there wasn't time, really. Right now Marge could be staked out, with a horrible monster circling to strike...

"I'm surprised you don't have guards all over the place,.

Joe remarked as they went.

"Don't need 'em," the clerk told him. "There are spells and magic guardian beasts all over those rooms—and as for the labyrinth, once in—how would anybody find his way out? It's booby-trapped, too..

"It better hadn't spring any traps on me," Joe warned.

"It won't!" the clerk cried nervously. "Ruddygore...

Huspeth... God! Did we pick the wrong one! But you gotta understand....

"Cut the moral justifications! Just get me there as quick as you can!" Joe snapped. He was becoming increasingly irritated by both the dme it was taking to get where they were going— if the clerk was playing fair with him—and the growing knowledge that labyrinth was the right word and that he had very little idea of where they were and less of how to get out of there; Suddenly they emerged outside. The cold wind hit them in the face, and they were on a stone walkway along a mountain ledge. Joe and not been conscious of much upward movement in their walk, yet they were either above the town or on a different side of the mountain at about its level.

Someone had lighted torches all along the way, their flames whipped by the wind, but they showed the path. It wound sharply up, around a curve, then out to a lookout station that seemed suspended in space.

"Anybody guarding this path?" he asked nervously.

"With a dragon around? Are you kidding?.