Piers Anthony - Unicorn Point

“Thou dost sound as if thou dost not like this business,” he said boldly.

“Aye, wolf-boy. I second my side, o* course, but it was in my mind to forward our cause by dealing fairly. I blame the rovot not for changing sides; he had cause. It be an irony, for we were close to winning, legitimately; we needed only a fraction what Blue needed. Had the lad just been allowed to work for Blue, we had been fair and with the victory anyway. Now we be foul, and victory be problematical.”

Forel looked at Barel. “Aye,” Barel said. “Translucent be e’er fair; it were Purple put the geis on me.”

“We gain one smidgeon o’ this mess,” Translucent said. “I be the one to salvage some, and the bad ploy failed, so my word regains its power. Be thankful it were not Purple caught ye two.”

Forel realized that they were indeed relatively well off. It would have been better to escape, but evidently they would not be mistreated.

“So my dam escaped?” Barel inquired.

“Aye, lad. She and Tania. The water be my domain. The search o’ air was done by others, who mayhap lacked the wit to trace the pairs.”

The globe was now traveling briskly north, returning to the Translucent Demesnes. Forel saw the sea and shore passing below, much as he had seen the land from the rovot’s cloud. He realized that the cloud would not be there any longer; now that Translucent had wrested its secret from him, the rovot would have to make his camp elsewhere. At least part of the mission had been accomplished!

They returned to the isle. “This be secure now,” the Adept said. “All effort to escape be futile.”

“Aye,” Barel said with resignation.

The Adept deposited them, then floated away in his watery globe. The two boys hugged each other, glad for this reunion despite the circumstances. “I thank thee for coming, oath friend,” Barel said. “At least it freed my dam.”

“What happens now?” Forel asked.

“Much depends on how it turns out in Proton. An all escape there, they will have no use for me, and mayhap we will be freed. But I fear it be not so.”

“Why?”

“Because o’ the parallel o’ the frames. What happens in the one, happens in the other, by seeming coincidence. Mayhap our failure to escape will lead to Nepe being captive, or mayhap her failure led to ours. I know not exactly the means o’ it, but it be nigh impossible to do a thing in one frame that be not parallel in the other.”

“Nepe has a wolf-friend?”

Barel laughed. “Nay, but she has a rovot-friend. Same thing, mayhap. Not to diminish thee, but the parallels be strongest among the strongest; the Adepts have more impact than the little folk.”

“I be little enough,” Forel agreed ruefully. “But now we can do naught. Let’s revert to wolves and see what we can hunt.”

“There be hunting here on this small isle?” Forel asked, surprised.

“Aye. It be a nice isle. Translucent be a kind captor.” Barel changed, and Forel followed. Sure enough, there were rabbits, and before long Forel had caught and killed one.

“First Kill!” he growled, delighted. “My first Kill!”

“Aye,” Barel agreed, seeming unsurprised. “Now canst watch for what Terel does!”

“But she be free, and I be captive!”

“Mayhap not fore’er,” Barel said optimistically. They shared the rabbit, as there was no chance to drag it back to the Pack from here. Forel knew that Barel would give witness to the kill, at such time as this was possible. He was right: this was a nice isle.

Three days later the water globe returned. “It be like this,” Translucent said. “Thy girl-self in Proton be captive too, but not the alien female. Bane changed sides, same’s Mach did here. Dost know this?”

“Aye,” Barel said. “Nepe told me.”

Forel was surprised; he hadn’t realized that the situation had been confirmed. But of course Barel could commune with his other self without showing it to others. “It be in our minds to use thee and the girl-child in lieu o’ thy sires, as thy powers be similar—or, methinks, moreso.”

“We will work not for thy side!” Barel protested.

“That be not the question; an it come to that. Tan will make thee perform. Nay, the question be how to do it when the other side still controls Book and Oracle. We can send thee no longer to visit thy grandsire in return for that access.”

Barel nodded. “So it be impasse, again.”

“Impasse,” the Adept agreed. “Yet we wish still to gain power, and thy sire and grandsire wish to be united with thee. So we be dealing: double or nothing, here and in Proton frame. An my side win, we gain Book and Oracle and the service o’ your sires to exploit them. An the other side win, we turn over our hostages and our drive for power be finished.”

Forel, listening, was amazed at the scale of the dealings. The ultimate power in the frames was about to be decided all because he had not quite succeeded in freeing Barel! “Why be ye telling us?” Barel asked.

“Commune with thine other self, and tell me what thou dost learn.”

Barel was silent, evidently concentrating. After a bit he said: “Nepe says thou dost mean to set up six big contests, three in each frame, to determine who wins. Dost need us to verify the decisions o’ the other frame.”

“That be so, lad. Thou knowst we can allow all communications to be in the hands o’ the enemy not. Thou hast now demonstrated thy proficiency at this; certainly it will do for the contests.”

Forel saw that it would work; Barel would have to tell the truth, because only that would match what the other side presented. The Citizens of Proton-frame would not tell her anything they knew to be false, knowing it had to match the Phaze information.

“Why be ye taking all this trouble to explain to me?” Barel asked. “Surely must needs I go along, whate’er mine own preference.”

“It be easier on all o’ us an thou hast motivation,” the Adept said. “Must needs I take thee to the negotiations, but also must needs I keep thee closely guarded, that thou be not taken from me.”

“An I give mine oath, I will not flee thee,” Barel said stiffly. “Nor would those o’ my grandsire’s side take me thus.”

Translucent smiled grimly. “Not them. Ours.”

Both boys looked at him, perplexed.

“Purple would take thee, and deal his way,” Translucent clarified.

Suddenly it was clear. Translucent had to watch out for his side as much as for the other, because his allies lacked honor. “Then be I satisfied to be under thy guard,” Barel said. “I thought thou mightest feel thus. Now will I make thee a small side deal: cooperate in what we ask, and provide me with aught I needs must know, and I will provide thee a modest reward.”

“I need no reward from thee!” Barel said, affronted. “I do what needs I must.”

“E’en so. Now board my bubble, the two of ye, and we go to deal.”

They stepped into his water globe. It floated up, through the top of the curtain that contained the air of the isle, and on through the water. It lifted into the air above, gained el evation, then coursed west.

Their speed did not seem great, but it must have been, because soon Forel saw them coming down at the old Oracle’s palace, halfway across the main continent of Phaze. Adepts really knew how to travel when they wanted to! “Now here there be truce,” the Adept said. “We be here to negotiate. Only the leaders o’ each Demesne be here, and all be on honor to provoke naught. Ne’ertheless Flach must needs be confined; Forel be messenger.”

“Me?” Forel asked, astonished. He had not thought the Adept even knew his name!

“I will be within,” Translucent explained. “My bubble will be without, as will be the conveyances o’ the others. Flach will verify for our side, and thou, pup, willst carry the news. Understand?”