Gordon Dickson - Wolfling

There was only one way out of this prison of flame with which Galyan was fencing him about. That was to outdo Galyan at the High-born’s strongest point. Jim must counter Galyan’s attack with an attack of his own, which would force Galyan first to halt, then to retreat in his turn. And in such an attack, there could be only one counter to Galyan’s advantage in reach—and that was speed. Jim would have to be quicker than the High-born.

There was no point in further hesitation. Jim came out of a disengage and attacked savagely. At the first fury of Jim’s onslaught, Galyan gave ground along three steps out of sheer, reflexive surprise. But then he stood his ground.

He laughed hoarsely, pantingly, and briefly. He seemed about to say something, but evidently decided against wasting his breath, of which neither he nor Jim had any to spare. For better than a dozen engages and disengages they stood essentially toe to toe on the gleaming floor, neither one giving an inch.

It was a murderous pace, one that neither man could keep up for another minute without dropping from exhaustion and breathlessness. But Jim did not slacken off, and slowly Galyan’s eyes began to widen. He stared at Jim across the twin, clashing streams of fire, through the showers of white sparks.

“You—can’t—do—” he gasped.

“I am—” panted Jim.

Galyan’s face unexpectedly contorted into a staring mask of fury. He disengaged from Jim’s current attack and went immediately into a sweeping circle with the fire from his instrument—almost the type of maneuver that singlestick fighters call a moulinet.

It was a simple, raw bid to outspeed the cone tip of flame from Jim’s weapon. If Galyan could get ahead of that guarding cone tip, he would have a fraction of a second in which to go back in over Jim’s guard and destroy him. Galyan’s flame whipped over and down, and Jim’s blurred along with it. For a full arc, the desperate race held, without Galyan’s weapon gaining—and then, it was Jim whose cone tip moved ahead.

He gained, coming up on the second arc, broke in over the line of Galyan’s weapon, and shot the full force of his flame into the taller man’s unprotected chest.

Galyan tottered and fell, his own weapon coming around and down, to tap its rod end against Jim’s right side just below the ribs before falling from his hand to the floor. Jim felt a sudden coldness and hollowness inside him. Then Galyan was slumped at his feet.

Jim lifted his head slowly, his lungs pumping heavily to restore oxygen to his exhausted body.

He saw, through sweat-blurred eyes, that Slothiel now held the rod that Ro had held earlier, covering Afuan. Not only that, but Slothiel was, amazingly, back on his feet, although he leaned heavily on Ro. As soon as he had breath left to spare for walking, Jim moved slowly from Galyan’s dead body over toward Ro and Slothiel.

“Jim…” said Slothiel wonderingly, looking at him and slowly putting the rod he held back into his belt. Now he ignored Afuan, as Jim came up, “what are you?”

“A Wolfling,” said Jim. “What’re you doing back on your feet?”

Slothiel laughed, not entirely cheerfully.

“We heal fast, with the help of our power sources, we High-born,” he said. “How about you?”

“I’ll do,” said Jim. He kept his right elbow pressed close against his side. “But I’ve left another body for you to clean up. I think it’s time for me to go home.”

“Home?” Slothiel echoed.

“Back to Earth—the world I came from,” said Jim. “The more thoroughly this is hushed up, the better for the Emperor. Nobody will miss me if I disappear, and you can tell the other High-born that Galyan killed Vhotan and the Starkiens in a fit of madness, and you had to kill him in return to protect the Emperor.”

He glanced over at Afuan, who stood like a tall, white statue.

“That is,” Jim said, “if you can persuade the Princess to keep quiet.”

Slothiel looked at her only briefly.

“Afuan won’t disagree with me,” Slothiel said. “Galyan suggested that if I didn’t agree with him, the Emperor might decide I needed isolation and treatment. The same can apply to her.”

He turned, letting go of Ro, and walked, a little limpingly but completely under his own power, off the polished floor onto the carpet and up to the unmoving figure of the Emperor. Jim and Ro followed him.

Slothiel touched the Emperor lightly on the arm.

“Oran…” he said gently.

For a moment the Emperor did not move. Then, slowly, he straightened and turned about, breaking into a warm smile as he did so.

“Slothiel!” he said. “Good of you to come so quickly. Did you know that I can’t find Vhotan anywhere? He was here just a few minutes ago, and I could swear he hadn’t left the room, but he’s vanished completely.”

The Emperor looked down the long length of the polished floor, around the draperied walls, back up and around the lounge, at the carpet, and at the ceiling, over which the colored shapes still played. He looked everywhere but at the still shape down at his feet.

“You know, I had a dream, Slothiel,” the Emperor went on, wistfully looking back at the other High-born. “It was just last night—or at least, it was some time recently. I dreamed that Vhotan was dead, Galyan was dead, and all my Starkiens were dead. And when I went looking around the palace and the Throne World to find the other High-born to tell them about this, there was no one—not in the palace, not on the whole world. I was all alone. You don’t think I would ever be left alone like that, do you, Slothiel?”

“Not while I’m alive, Oran,” said Slothiel.

“Thank you, Slothiel,” said the Emperor. He looked around the room again, however, and his voice became a little fretful. “But I wish I knew what happened to Vhotan. Why isn’t he here?”

“He had to go away for a while, Oran,” said Slothiel. “He told me to stay with you until he gets back.”

The Emperor’s face lit up once more with his warm smile.

“Well, then, everything’s all right!” he said happily. He threw an arm around Slothiel’s shoulders and looked around the room. “Why, there’s Afuan—and little Ro and our little Wolfling. Ex-Wolfling, I should say.”

He gazed at Jim, and his smile slowly faded into a solemn, rather sad expression.

“You’re going away, aren’t you—Jim?” he said, plainly dredging up the name from some hidden corner of his memory. “I thought I heard you say something about that just now.”

“Yes, Oran,” said Jim. “I have to go now.”

The Emperor nodded, his face still sadly solemn.

“Yes, I heard it, all right,” he said, half to himself. His eyes fastened on Jim. “I hear things sometimes, you know, even when I’m not really listening. And I understand things, too; sometimes I understand them better than any of the other High-born. It’s a good thing you’re going back to your own world, Jim.”

The Emperor’s hand slipped from Slothiel’s shoulder. He took a step forward and stood looking down at Jim.

“You’re full of young energy out there, Jim,” he said. “And we’re tired here. Very tired, sometimes. It’s going to be all right for you and your Wolflings, Jim. I can see it, you know—very often I see things like that, quite clearly…”

His lemon-yellow eyes seemed to cloud, going a little out of focus, so that he stared through Jim rather than at him.

“I’ve seen you doing well, Jim,” he said. “You and the other Wolflings. And what’s well for you is well for all—all of us.” His eyes unclouded, and once more he was focused on Jim again. “Something tells me you’ve done me a signal service, Jim. I think before you go, I’d like to finish your adoption. Yes, from now on I declare you to be a High-born, Jim Keil.” He laughed, a little, suddenly. “… I’m not giving you anything you don’t already have.”