The River of Dancing Gods (33 page)

The drink was strong, but it tasted good to both Joe and Marge after the chill on the ledge, and the fire was particularly welcome.

Finally feeling relaxed, Algongua took a stiff drink and sat in front of them. "Now, then—what's this all about? You're not here for your health. Not from Malthasor..

"Who?" Joe responded.

"Ah—Ruddygore, I think you said he was calling himself now..

Marge grew interested. "I've heard another name for him, too, but it wasn't that one. How many names does he have?.

"Probably hundreds," the hairy man responded, cackling a bit. "None of them his real one, of course. Sorcerers never tell their real names to anybody—it can cost them. But he's basically a good man and a strong wizard as well..

"You knew him well?" she pressed.

"Long ago, as I said, we both had the same—er—-employer, let's say. That was long ago and far from here. So— if I may be so bold—where are you headed in his service?.

Joe thought about his answer. He didn't want to alienate THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS 196 the strange man, but he had only Algongua's word that they were on the same side—and, come to think of it, the Old Man had never as much as said that, either. Only that he knew Ruddygore. "We go up the Vale of Kashogi," Joe said at last.

"There is something in Starmount that was stolen from Ruddy- Page 171 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods gore and which he wants us to retrieve..

The hairy man whistled. "Starmount! I'm sure the Xota will not be pleased. I wouldn't like to take an army into there!.

"The Dark Baron might—he wants what we want," Marge put in, sensing Joe's caution and understanding it. "We are a small Company—we hope to sneak in..

Algongua laughed. "Sneak in! Well, perhaps it can be done.

But this Baron, you say, may march on it? That should be most interesting..

It was obvious he had no idea who the Dark Baron was, and Marge decided to tell him, giving as much detail as she herself knew.

The strange man sighed. "Always another arch villain! The Dark This and the Black That and the Prince of Something Else. They're all the same. Ridiculous. No sooner do you beat one than another comes along. I long ago gave that up as nonproductive. I am beyond these petty temporal battles and wars." He sighed. "But that doesn't help you, does it? Here— let me think a moment. Starmount... hmmm... Yes, I think I can remember a few things..

"Can you tell us what the Xota people are?" Marge asked him. "That alone would be a great help..

"They're a degenerate race of fairies. Ugly brutes, with bat's wings. More animal than anything else. Expect no mercy or quarter from them! They'll eat people, other fairies, even themselves.

They sacrifice to primitive, bloody gods. Still, my dear, I'd kill myself if I were you, rather than let them capture me.

You they won't kill. You're a halfling, and they'll just complete the process and keep you as a slave—and they do terrible things to women slaves..

"I'll keep that in mind," she assured him. "Still—since we're on the subject, you said they'd 'complete the process.' I'm a little curious and nervous as to what I'm turning into even now. Can you tell?.

He looked at her with his big eyes and cackled again. "Too JACK L. CHALKER 197 soon to tell, really. Depends on what your fairy parent was. I gather you don't know..

She decided not to go into her true origins—or Joe's. "No, I have no idea. It began when I served an apprenticeship with the witch queen Huspeth..

"Huspeth!" He made a sound that was definitely derisive and sounded something like bleah. "Who knows, indeed? But, I assure you, she didn't start the process, Halflings are born, not created—and remain human, and occasionally ignorant of their nature, unless heavily exposed to faerie or given to dab- Page 172 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods bling in sorcery. Since I see you're well along and he certainly is human enough, I assume you're an adept of some sort..

"A rank beginner. Otherwise I wouldn't have been surprised in the hotel tub, knocked out, and carried out to that overlook..

"Still—enough. From your looks, I'd say you were probably in the nymph family, which is common for changelings, but there are a hundred types and tribes of nymphs, all different.

Well, you'll find out soon enough." He thought a moment.

"Starmount. Hmm..." He got up, went over to the bookshelves, opened an old book and took out a small piece of yellowed paper, then returned to them. "This is, if memory serves, a map of the Vale and the Starmount Gateway." He unfolded it. "Yep. As I thought. There's an old high trail. Real narrow—single file for horses a lot of the way, and a long way down if you slip—but at the three-thousand-foot level most of the way. See?.

He laid it out for them and they looked at it. They couldn't read the script, but the trail and many natural features were well marked.

"Once you're in Starmount you're on your own, but this should get you there—if you're plucky enough to use it. Also, I can't vouch that the trail's maintained at all. This map's two hundred years old. But you have a fighting chance if it is..

Joe felt a sense of excitement rising within him. What was it Ruddygore had said? Luck rode with the barbarian hero.

And here was just what they needed—handed to them.

"I don't want to be ungrateful, but we'd better be getting back," he told the strange hairy man. "We've had a long travel day and a longer night—and no sleep as yet..

"Of course, of course. I was just enjoying conversation 198 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER 199 again. But—how well will those meddling fools receive you down there?.

Joe thought about it. "I don't know. They can't be too friendly—after all, I did beat up two of 'em and take one's hand off right in the hotel lobby. But they kidnapped Marge.

I figure they better hadn't do anything..

"Come, then. I have a small complex of caves here that tie into theirs. I'll get you back..

He was as good as his word, although the route was even more tortuous and confusing than Joe's had been on the way out. Still, once more they stepped into the bath level of the hotel. When they turned around to thank Algongua, he was already gone.

"Wait a minute," Marge told Joe. "Let's see if they left me my clothes." They checked the bath room, but it had been Page 173 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods drained and cleaned. There wasn't a sign of anything that was hers. It wasn't just me clothes—her kit had been there as well.

"So they even steal my stuff!" she stormed, sounding really angry. She took off Joe's coat, which had almost reached the ground on her, and gave it back to him. "Well, I hope they're easily shocked!" And with that, stark naked, she marched up the stairs into the lobby, Joe following, curious to see what she was going to do. He was by no means certain of their reception and put his hand on his sword.

There was a new clerk and a new concierge on duty when they came up, and the mess from the fight had been cleaned up completely, but there was no question from the shock both men on duty showed at the sight of them that they knew full well whom they were facing.

She marched up to the concierge. "You! You'll get me my clothes and have them cleaned, neat, and ready when I call for them in the morning!" she commanded, then whirled on the clerk. "And you—we will be staying one more night. All five of us. On this hotel. That's just for starters. If you don't agree, I will cast a spell on this place that will make it fit only for worms like those miserable creatures who run it!" And with that, she stormed up the stairs.

Joe looked around, noted that neither man had so much as breathed during that, grinned, and said, "If anything is out of place while we're here, this hotel and all who work for it will be destroyed. Even so, I assure you its reputation for what was done tonight will be spread the length and breadth of Husaquahr..

He sniffed. "First-class, indeed!" Then he followed Marge upstairs.

There were snores coming from the room of the other three, so they didn't disturb them, but Marge insisted on putting a full protection spell on the room she and Joe were in. She collapsed on her bed and sighed. "Oh, god! I feel as if that dragon did eat me! Don't wake me, no matter what you do..

"Don't worry—I won't," he assured her and blew out the light.

The events of the previous evening were the talk of the town by morning. After the fight in the hotel lobby, there had been no real way to keep anything secret. Most of Kidim sympathized completely with the men who'd done the deed, but were now acutely embarrassed by it, particularly since it hadn't worked. A merchant and trade city like Kidim fed on reputation, and its reputation was for honorable transactions and a totally safe and secure haven in the midst of a barbaric country.

Thus, while Macore, Houma, and Grogha had no idea what < had gone on when they awakened, dressed, and went down to a late breakfast, they were more than pleasantly surprised to discover they could not pay for anything at all—whatever they wanted was theirs, with hopes that the "incident" would not be held against the whole town. They were so pleased by the reception that they took full advantage of it for several hours before they could find somebody to tell them what it was all about.

Joe and Marge did not appear until midday. Marge was Page 174 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods delighted to find outside the door both sets of clothes—the old ones laundered and neatly folded—and all her belongings from the bath. She donned the brown skin outfit and packed away the skimpy green one for better weather.

Grogha had come up every hour or so to check on them, and so they were just about ready to go out when the portly man, seeing the clothing taken in, had pounded on the door.

He quickly told them of their treatment by the town, which pleased Marge no end.

"Just remember, they're only being this way because they aren't sure they could kill all of us," Joe warned. "But I think they know it won't bottle up forever, regardless..

200 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER 201 They had a large brunch on the hotel and noted that they were being stared at again and again by various townsfolk.

This would be one those people would tell their grandchildren.

They decided to spend one more night, simply to get their systems back in order, and they supplemented their supplies and weapons—on the house, of course. Marge even had another bath the next night—although with full protection spells around this time. Joe, too, took advantage of the bath and got his meager regular clothing cleaned as well. The other three couldn't see the sense of it.

Still and all, the town was mighty happy to see them go the next morning.

"Maybe we should have told them that the dragon was no threat to them before we left," Marge suggested.

"No!" all four men responded in unison, then looked sheepish.

"Ah, that is," Macore added, "they don't deserve it. Let 'em worry. I doubt if they'll try this kind of trick again..

"Besides, finding out it was no threat might lose us our status—which is pretty nice—while increasing their sense of guilt," Joe continued smoothly. "They deserve to sweat." He was, however, amused by the frantic reactions of the other three. So he hadn't been the only one to have a full night, it seemed.

They reached the point where Algongua's map said that the higher trail branched off, but it took them a half hour to find what they hoped was it. It was overgrown, worn, and weathered and only hinted that it was a trail—but it went west at roughly the three-thousand-foot level, and that was what the map claimed.

There were several rocky stretches where any semblance of a trail just gave out, and they spent some time hunting to pick it up again, but it did not prove in the early going too difficult to follow. As it thinned and hugged the granite sides of the Page 175 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods mountains, it became more definite. But a trail that was no more than three or four feet wide on the side of a sheer cliff and that had a drop on the other side of more than fifteen hundred feet at the minimum was by no means comforting, and parts of it had been weathered uncertainly, while small streams and waterfalls crossed it and wore deep grooves in the face.

There were actually some clouds below them, but after a while they disappeared, and the main road up the Vale of Kashogi to Starmount and beyond could be clearly seen. It looked pretty deserted, but Macore thought at one time he saw the dust of some riders far ahead. It might have been a wisp of cloud or some optical illusion, he admitted both to them and to himself. But the enemy forces had been conspicuous by their absence so far, and there had been no real sign in Kidim, although even Ruddygore had thought they would be thickly represented there.

"Perhaps they were," Dacaro suggested to Marge. "Those are merchants and bankers, and most are educated men. Who stirred up the dragon fears? Who could read the Rules—and only those parts on dragons guaranteed to scare the hell out of people? And who suggested they do what they did to you? I suspect more than meets the eye there. Evil is often best when it is the most subtle, reasonable, and invisible..

"But they failed—if in fact it was them at all," she noted.

"That means we have to expect another try..