David Gerrold - The Flying Sorcerers

“Spell? Oh, no, Shoogar —”

“I will be free of my oath when we leave this locality. But I will need you for a witness that I have killed him. You are the Speaker. Your word is law.”

“Shoogar, can you not leave well enough alone? Purple is leaving. You will be the only magician here — and this is the greatest village of all! There may be as many as 5,000 men living here, maybe more! Never has there been a village of such size! Why must you risk it all be starting another foolish duel?”

But at that Shoogar snarled and left me. He grumbled off down the dark slope, scattering villagers and women alike.

Later, after the blue sun had winked out, Wilville and Orbur came to see me. As soon as I saw them, I said, “What nonsense have you been telling Purple? He says that you want me to come along on this fantastic journey.”

They nodded. “Father, you must! You are the only one who can control Shoogar. Surely you must know that he is planning another duel as soon as we are out of this region.”

“Yes. He’s mentioned it.”

“Well then, you must come along to stop it. We will never return if you don’t; even if we should be lucky enough to survive this time. He’ll insist that we put on the sails again. He’s still not convinced! Father, you must come or we’ll never get home.”

“I’m sure you can manage without me, sons — you did all right on your test flight —”

“Yes, but that was only a test. Shoogar knew no more about the flying machine than anyone else. Now that he has been up in it once, he is convinced that he is an expert. Surely you have heard the tales he has been telling of his exploit.”

I nodded. “But you have all been telling tales — and no two of your tales agree. The villagers don’t believe any of you. That fact alone should keep Shoogar from dueling. If he has no credible witness along —”

“Father, he is not interested so much in a credible witness as he is in killing Purple.” Orbur lowered his voice. “You don’t know, do you, what he tried to do on our test flight?”

“Huh?” I shook my head. “I have not heard —”

“That is because Wilville and I have kept it quiet. We do not want to start even the hint of a rumor that there is trouble between our magicians.”

Wilville nodded in agreement and said, “Shortly after we took off, they got into an argument about whether or not we needed sails. Shoogar got so mad that he tried to throw a ball of fire at Purple —”

“A ball of fire?!! But — the airboat? The hydrogen?”

“We were lucky,” said Orbur. Purple screamed when he saw it. I thought he would jump out of the boat-; but Wilville was thinking fast, and he threw a bucket of water on Shoogar.”

Wilville said, “And then Orbur jumped on Shoogar and held him down. We drenched him all over with another bucket of water and then made him strip. We made him throw away all of his fire-making devices. Purple was as white as a cloud —”

“I can imagine.” I was thinking of a blackened stump of a housetree.

“But that’s not all,” said Orbur. “Later, he tried to push Purple out. Purple was climbing on the rigging — you know, father, for a man like that, he is remarkably brave; he climbed across those ropes as if he had not the slightest fear of falling.”

“He did slip once, though,” said Wilville. “Fortunately, it was only a few feet, and he fell into the boat.”

“Well, we all had to get used to it,” Orbur said to him. “Nobody has ever been in an airboat before. There is no one to teach us what to do —”

“Except Shoogar,” said Wilville. He looked at me imploringly, “Father, Shoogar is convinced that only he knows the vagaries of Musk-Watz the wind god, but somehow his magic doesn’t seem to work right in the upper sky. His sails didn’t work, his fireballs almost killed us —”

“My sons, you survived that experience, didn’t you?”

They nodded reluctantly.

“Good, then I have faith that you can survive another. From what you have just told me I am all the more sure that I am not getting into that airboat.”

I returned to my nest tired and irritated.

It wasn’t just the way everyone badgered me. It was the crowds. By now every family in the five villages were here on the Heights. The nearly bare rock was a maze of tents, practically edge to edge, the meager gaps filled by a swarm of sprats and women and strangers. The sea had swallowed the rest of the island.

The only clear spots were on Idiot’s Peak, around the launching cradle, and the wide servicing area that now led all the way down to the water. Keeping those areas clear enough to work in only made the rest of the Heights more crowded.

My tree, like a few others, still reached partway above the waters. We still used the nest and thus avoided some of the crowding; but we had to wade waist deep between nest and Heights.

The sea was tepid and very wet. I was still bristling from the need to push my way between the tents and among the hordes of strangers when I climbed into my nest, my fur dripping. I sank gratefully onto my cot.

“Wives,” I called, “I am ready for a hot brushing. I have had such a day as to try even the greatest of men!”

“Oh, our poor Lant,” they mourned. “Surely even the greatest of tribulations is only child’s play to a man so brave as you —”

“Naturally, but the effort is tiring. Purple wants me to come on the airboat with him; so do Wilville and Orbur —”

“Oh, no, not my brave Lant! Not in the airboat! You might fall!” cried one Missa.

“You mustn’t, my husband! You will never return! What would we do if we lost you?” said the other whose non-name was Kate.

“Of course, you told them that you wouldn’t!” said the first.

“You have your carving to tend to,” said the second. “And there are other things besides. The nestwalls are leaking and must be repaired —”

“Wait a minute,” I cuffed them into silence. “What is this noise you make? You dare to tell me what I should do?”

“Oh, no —” They flung themselves at my feet.

Missa, the second, looked up and said, “It is just that we love you so much, we do not want you to go —”

Missa, the first, said, “It is such a dangerous thing to do — maybe even too dangerous for such a brave man as our Lant.”

I looked down at them, “How dare you even suggest such a thing. I am the Speaker of my village — I have tamed two of the wildest magicians ever known, and, I kept them from killing each other. I have guided the construction of an actual flying machine —”

“Yes, my husband, but that does not mean that you should fly in it!”

“Yes — leave that honor for somebody else —”

“And why should I?” I demanded. “I have as much right as anybody to voyage on the Cathawk , perhaps even more.”

“Oh, but we are so afraid for you —”

“You think I am afraid of the dangers?”

“Oh, no, my brave Lant — but we are —”

“You think too much, wives — it has addled your brains. I am fully aware of the dangers of such a voyage. You think I am not? Let me tell you this though: if I did not think it was a safe journey, I would not be planning to go.”

“Oh, my husband, my brave, brave husband, you do not need to prove it to us. We know you are the greatest of all husbands. Just stay with us, and we will not even protest your purchase of a third wife —”

“You will not what — What makes you think you have even the right to do so? If I want a third wife, I will buy one. If I want to go flying in a flying machine, I will do that too! And I am going to do both! And neither one of you will say another word about it or I will beat you! Now bring me my supper! And be grateful that I am not yet too angry to do the family-making thing tonight!”