Piers Anthony - Unicorn Point

Then had come the contest between Nepe’s mother Agape and the awful Tan Adept—Tan Citizen—wherein they had to make efforts to mate in much the fashion Sirel and Barel had. But there were differences. For one thing. Agape was per manently mated to Nepe’s father Bane, so didn’t want to do it with Tan. For another, it was a contest, with one wishing to mate and the other opposed, and so they had to negotiate. Barel and Sirel both found this process fascinating. But be cause there was no heat—it seemed that human beings had some other and less certain mechanism for breeding—nothing had come of it at first. But then at the end Agape must have come into heat after all—perhaps because she was really an alien creature—and Tan had come at her like any male who winded an available female in heat, and done it. In truth, it hadn’t looked like very much fun for Agape, perhaps because in acceding to it she lost the siege.

So now the enemy side had won two of the three Proton conflicts. That meant they got the Oracle and the service of Mach or Bane to use it in connection with the Book of Magic in Phaze. There was only one chance to stop them, and that was to have Stile’s side win the final siege in Phaze. Then the enemy would not have access to the Book, and would not be able to make the powerful magic that would enable them to prevail in their frame.

And that was why the wolves had to win against the goblins! They were the last good hope.

All of which led to the present need for Sirelmoba to rejoin her Pack. Kurrelgyre needed every wolf for this greatest of sieges, even the cubs!

“So must needs I leave thee, 0 mine oath-friend,” she said tearfully. “But when this be done, then will it change.”

“Well I know it, beloved bitch,” he agreed, hugging her. “I will watch thine every motion, hoping thy presence dost make the difference.”

They separated. She walked to the edge of the isle. ”I be ready to go, 0 Adept!” she called.

Translucent’s big water bubble appeared. “Aye, pup; I will conjure thee now to thy Pack.”

There was a splash around her, and she felt a wrench. Then the water faded into fog, and the fog dissipated, and she was standing outside of the old palace of the Oracle. The Oracle was no longer there, because it had been moved to Proton frame, but the palace remained.

She changed to wolf form and lifted her nose to sniff the wind. Sure enough, she caught the mixed scent of the Pack nearby. She loped toward it, and soon was in the circle of wolves.

She trotted up to Kurrelgyre. “Pack Leader, I be reporting for service with the Pack,” she growled. In growl-talk it was 3 more of an attitude and sniffing of noses, but the essence was precise.

He growled assent, and dismissed her. This, too, was Pack protocol. Now she was free to rejoin her companions. In a moment she was frisking with Forel (now Foreimo!) and Terel, sniffing noses and tails and growling reunion tokens. Her absence from them had not been long as such things went, but it was her first, and suddenly she felt its impact. It had been fun with Barelmosi, and she had regretted leaving him, but it was fun with her Pack and oath-friends too. Later Kurrelgyre summoned her for a private conference.

He assumed manform, so she assumed girlform. He asked her about the isle and what she had noted of the activities of the Translucent Adept, and she reported all that she could remember. Then he surprised her. “Sirelmoba, thou willst participate in the strategy session in the mom ing.”

“I?” she asked, astonished. “But I be but a pup!”

“Aye. Thou be not yet grown. In humanguise thou be very like a gobliness.”

Her human eyes rounded. Small, like a lady goblin! She might infiltrate the goblin ranks and get the flag! “Nay, not exactly,” he said. “Thou willst try for the flag, aye, but from hiding, while others distract. But an they see thee, then mayhap they will not realize thy nature. This be dangerous; be thou ready to risk it?”

“Aye.”

“Come to the session.”

“Aye,” she repeated faintly.

“Bruit this not about; we fear goblin ears.”

“Aye,” she said once more.

That was it. Awed by the importance of her mission, she changed back to cub form and returned to her friends. But all she could tell them was that she had been told to report to the strategy session.

The Pack strategy, it turned out, was direct and brutal. The main body of wolves would attack the goblins, attempting to take out as many as possible so that few would remain to defend the red flag. Meanwhile Sirel would circle around be hind the flag, hide under a bush, and wait. When she saw an opportunity she would assume girlform and walk slowly up and take the flag and hide it in her clothing. Then she would walk back the way she had come and hide again, concentrat ing on concealment rather than speed. If the goblins discovered her, she would assume wolf form and run for it. Sirel, uncertain, asked what would happen if she got caught. “I mean, who will carry the flag, then?” The wolves considered. Then they assigned her oath-friends to this mission also: Poreimo would lead, Sirelmoba would follow when he had found a safe way, and Terel would follow her and move up if Sirel were taken out. Meanwhile Terel would mount rear guard. The object of all of them was to remain unobserved, and to do what they had to to get Sirel to the flag.

“Mark well,” Kurrelgyre growled, “the harpies used a similar ploy ‘gainst the bats; the goblins will be on guard. But by similar token, they will assume we will not be so foolish as to try a known ploy. Ye three will masquerade as goblins, as the harpies could not, and that be the key we hope enables you to succeed. Only small folk can do this; other wise we would ne’er put a pup at such risk. Now when this session be o’er, come to me, that I may guard you from observation while you practice the goblin ways. Say naught elsewhere.”

They were glad to agree, appreciating the importance of secrecy. The Pack Leader had ways of guaranteeing privacy that others did not. If the gobs got any whiff of this, the ploy would be useless; the three of them would be ambushed and dispatched immediately.

After the main strategy was determined, the wolves dis cussed the likely goblin effort. Goblins were sneaky crea tures, sure to come up with bad tricks, and these had to be anticipated. One of the bitches, Hornirila, had been at one time a captive of goblins; they had tortured her and forced her to assume woman form as an object for their lust. She had in due course escaped by using her dull human teeth to gnaw through her bonds; the goblins had not expected that. She had returned to the Pack battered in body and spirit, and with an implacable hatred for goblins. But she also had a thorough knowledge of their ways. She had made it a point to range out alone and kill stray goblins, each kill being only a pittance of vengeance, but all she could do to mitigate her malaise of spirit.

Now she explained the likely goblin organization and ap proach. They would be armed with small spears and clubs, and each would have a knife. Some would have had military training, having served on one of their more disciplined cam paigns, and those would be the organizers. They were tough little fighters, fearless in combat, but tended to dissolve into mobs, each intent on grabbing loot for himself. Their females were relatively gentle and often quite pretty in the human style; these would be assigned noncombat duties as far as possible.

The goblins were good at tunneling, seeming to have some magic that facilitated this. It was Hornirila’s judgment that they would try to tunnel to the blue flag, and draw it under, collapsing the tunnel behind so that pursuit was awkward. But they would surely try any other stratagems they could devise, and the wolves would have to be constantly alert. “Ne’er assume a gob is dead unless you have killed him,” she warned. “Bite one and he will scream and fall and lie still—then stab you when you turn away. Stay clear o’ any bodies, or dump them in a ditch and guard it. No gob can be trusted, living or dead.”