Fractal Mode

CHAPTER 14—DEAL

DARIUS watched Nona neatly cage the pseudo-Darius, winning her duel. “So now we are free,” she “All of us have won our duels.”

“Until tomorrow,” the rabble man said.

Then it was clear: this was not a duel to eliminate their obligation to breed, it was only for the first of a thousand required breedings. They had won the day—and only the day. Nona looked chagrined: a feeling Darius understood. What were they to do?

He looked at the woman he had tied, who now exactly resembled Colene. But she was not, and that made the difference. He had won his own match—but had to endure the rest of the day and night, assuming that they had night here, before being done. He looked across at Stave, who had Keli similarly tied. And at Seqiro, who was now ignoring his dragon. All of them had won—but what difference did it make, with years of similar contests to follow? They couldn’t even get free of their four separate daises unless they agreed to breed; only a breeding finished a duel.

If they were to do anything, they would have to do it together. They would have to consult and organize. But they could not get physically together, or have privacy.

But they didn’t need to. Seqiro’s mind-magic sufficed. All they needed was someone to take the initiative.

“Stave,” he murmured subvocally. “Nona. Seqiro. We must consider our options.”

“What options?” Stave asked. “We are confined here whether we fight or breed, a thousand days.”

“We do not have a thousand days!” Nona protested. “Colene and Provos will return in just a few days, and if we are not there to join them, what will happen?”

“Seqiro can tell them where we are,” Darius suggested.

Only if I am close to the anchor, the horse thought. I can not reach that far from here.

“I could conjure you to the spot where we entered this realm,” Darius said. “But I fear that would not be wise. The despots may have a trap set there, awaiting our return.”

“I might verify that,” Nona said. “If I could tame a familiar there. But I don’t think my magic reaches beyond this place. There is some sort of barrier that prevents the surface folk from seeing into this realm, and surely I will not be able to see out.”

“Then we must find some other way out,” Darius said. “We must escape the rabble and emerge where the despots are not watching. At exactly the right time.”

“But we can not even leave our daises,” Stave said. “We will forfeit our duels when we do.”

“That is why we need to consult and plan strategy,” Darius said. “We must decide exactly what we are going to do, then do it swiftly, so that the rabble can not stop us.”

“And with wonderful Seqiro, we can consult without moving,” Nona said, momentarily pleased.

“Yes. I think we had better settle down for the day and night, waiting out our victories. We can ask for food, and use the pots.” This reminded Darius of his time in Colene’s shack, keeping out of sight. He had had to use a pot there and let her empty it. It had been a somewhat humiliating necessity. But she had taken good care of him, and taught him her language, and he had come to love her.

They do not know that we can commune mentally, Seqiro thought. Keli does not suspect, and so the others do not.

“And that is our strength,” Darius agreed. “They now know of our other powers, but must think they have us isolated, so that in time we must do their bidding.”

Yes.

“But even if we can plan, what can we do?” Nona asked. “It is too soon to return to the surface, and we can not hide from the rabble while we remain in their realm.”

“Could we hide farther inside the world?” Stave asked.

“Is there any space there? Isn’t it solid to the core?”

“Not according to our legend,” Stave said. “There should be caves below each rad, extending ultimately to the center. If you can conjure us through the wall, as you did to get us into this chamber.”

“But this is a network of chambers,” Darius said.

“Oh, it is not,” Nona said. “It is one big chamber, which the rabble have adapted, just as we surface folk have adapted the natural contours to fit our needs.”

“Like ants making nests?” Now he realized that the small chambers had indeed been artificial rather than natural; there had been no stalactites. “This big chamber is the natural one?” He gazed up at the rounded ceiling.

“Yes. Above it should be the much larger central chamber at the heart of the world.”

“Above it? Above it is the surface of the planet!”

“No. Our heads are toward the center, not the surface.”

“That is not possible! Gravity doesn’t—” Then he remembered the other impossible things about this reality: gravity the same no matter what size the world, giants on big planets and midgets on little ones, all perfectly human. Starlight from fernlike patterns that ranged in size from global down to infinitesimal. At the same time he was receiving confirmation from Seqiro: this was the world-view of these folk, and they had more experience with it than he.

He shook his head, bemused. “Hollow planet,” he said. “At least that explains why gravity doesn’t change with size, by my logic. The mass I thought was there wasn’t. This is one strange universe!”

“The one you hail from is different?” Nona asked. “I mean, in the underlying nature, as well as in its magic?”

“More different than I had appreciated,” he agreed. He glanced up again, knowing that the watching rabble would not understand why. In fact, most of them were departing, knowing that the excitement was over. But some remained to keep watch. They were not fools.

Nona asked for food and it was brought to her dais. She had them bring food also for her caged opponent, to whom she handed it in. Darius, guided by her, did the same, except that he actually had to spoon-feed Null-Colene. He didn’t dare release her arms. Stave did the same with Keli. Seqiro did not need to feed Bel; she was able to feed herself.

Night closed at the normal time. The light simply faded until the cavern was dark.

That was a relief to Darius, who was now able to use the pot in privacy. But he wasn’t sure what to do about Null-Colene. He didn’t feel right about leaving her tied, but did not dare untie her. Finally he brought the other pot, picked her up, set her on it, and left her there for a suitable interval. His memory of his experience in True-Colene’s reality returned, more strongly; this was turnabout.

True-Colene: he missed her, and hoped she was well. They had spent so little time together, since their first acquaintance and separation! Had he been correct to refrain from sexual relations with her? It was true that she was underage by the standard of her culture, but they were no longer in her culture. He would have to ask her how she felt about it, and try to judge the sincerity of her answer. It would certainly be nice if that barrier between them could be abolished. It was not that he desired sex, though he did, but that he regretted any problem between them, of any nature.

He wanted to sleep, but feared that Null-Colene would manage to work her way free in the night and tie him. The duel was not yet over! If he forgot that, he could lose, even now.

The others had similar misgivings. But Seqiro resolved the problem: he was now able to tune in on all their opponents’ minds, so that if something went on in the night, he would know and could rouse them with an imperative thought.

The rabble provided blankets and pillows. The duel was not supposed to be an act of privation, merely a contest of wills. The participants could have anything they wanted and agreed on. It was presumed that Darius would not agree to letting Null-Colene have a knife with which to cut her bonds. But he did agree to warmth. He spread a blanket over her and tucked a pillow under her head, then walked to the other side of the dais.

Darius settled down to sleep. “Darius,” Null-Colene called in that too-familiar voice. “Sleep with me. I will be soft and comfortable for you.”

“And try to tempt me to breed with you,” he retorted.

“Yes, of course. But if you can not resist that when I am tied and helpless, then you do not deserve to abstain.”

The funny thing was, that logic made sense to him. He knew what she was and what she wanted, and he had her helpless. The horse would warn him if she became a threat. He did not like leaving her tied and alone for the night. She might be a rabble woman, but she had intelligence and personality and deserved better. Also, she did remind him infernally of True-Colene, as she intended, and it was hard to treat her unkindly.

He went to join her. He lay beside her and put his arms around her, outside the blanket. He arranged his own blanket. He closed his eyes and relaxed.

“Thank you, Darius,” she said. “You are kind to me.” Somehow that made him feel guilty. But he stifled the feeling and slept.

HE woke as the light brightened with his head on her bare bosom. For a moment he was afraid she had gotten free and managed to tie him, but she remained secure. She had merely worked her way around so as to make of herself a pillow for him. He was now under both blankets with her.

“How did this happen?” he asked.

“I am able to move a little,” she said. “I am trying to seduce you.”

“If you can move enough to rearrange the blankets, why can’t you move enough to get out of your bonds?”

“I am not sure,” she confessed. “I did want to, and thought I could, but somehow I didn’t.”

I dissuaded her, Seqiro’s thought came. I dissuaded all of them. I thought it best.

“You were right,” Darius said, realizing that he would indeed have lost the duel had the horse not been on guard. He had been lulled by the rabble woman’s affectation of submission, and her Colene aspect. Colene he could trust, to a degree, because he had come to understand her; this one he could not.

“Oh, Darius,” she pleaded, tears in her eyes. “I did not do anything to you in the night. We are under the blankets. No one will see or know. It will cost you nothing. Please breed with me!”

This emulation was coming painfully close to the original! She had found the way to work on his desire.

Though he knew better, he treated her as he might have treated the real Colene. “I bear you no malice. I would not mind breeding with you. But I can not commit to a thousand days of this. I must leave this region in a few days, and return to my true friends. Therefore I may not do this with you or any of the others.”

“I understand,” she whispered. But her tears soaked her face. His feeling of guilt magnified. She was doing an excellent job of that. Had he not known that it had not been her restraint that had prevented her from overcoming him while he slept, he might have succumbed and given her her victory.

And how were the others faring? Seqiro obviously had no problem, and Nona had her opposite securely caged. But what about Stave?

He slept with Kelt, as you did with your opposite. He asked me to nullify his sexual interest, and this I was able to do. Even so, it was an effort.

Surely so! Stave was not part of their Virtual Mode group, and Nona did not love him, so he had no special reason to hold out. His passions were those of the normal young man. The temptation of a beautiful and eager woman would be enormous for him. He was holding out only to support the others, especially Nona’s effort to bring the anima.

If Keli had appealed to him the way Null-Colene had appealed to Darius—

Darius got up and looked across at the other dais. There was Stave—and there was Null-Nona.

No, it had to be Keli, who had assumed the form of Nona. Just as Null-Nona had assumed the form of Colene for Darius. These folk were amazingly proficient. So Stave had been tempted exactly as Darius had.

How many more days could they hold out, even if they managed to tie up their opponents?

They had breakfast on their separate daises, the three human beings feeding their confined companions. The food seemed to be of vegetable origin, as it had been the evening before, but of no type he recognized. It was a grainy green porridge that tasted better than it looked. But this was routine; they were actually holding a mental conference and planning their escape.

The first element of this was for Nona to find and tame a suitable familiar. That would enable her to give Seqiro a distant pair of eyes, and the horse could show Darius a suitable site to which to conjure them. This system had worked well enough on the surface, and should work here. It would enable them to get away from the rabble folk. But then they would have to go to the inner chamber, across the barrier they assumed the rabble could not cross, to avoid recapture.

There were several key stages. Nona brought up the first: “How are we going to get away from the daises without causing an immediate alarm? We must be conjured away one by one, for we are not a close-touching group, and the moment one of us disappears the rabble will sound the alarm and close in on the others.”

“That we can solve,” Stave replied. “We can use illusion. I can make illusion figures to take the place of the four of us, so that the rabble will not know we are gone. Nona can make the illusion of nothing, to cloud each of us as we go to join Seqiro. Once we are together, the conjuring can proceed.”

“Yes, that would work,” Nona said. “If you can maintain the four illusions long enough.”

“Illusion is one thing I am good at,” Stave said. “I once made ten illusion figures, just to see if I could do it. Of course they were fuzzy and did not move well. I can do a perfect job on only one at a time, but if I concentrate I think I can make four adequate ones for a while.”

“If they aren’t moving, perhaps,” Darius suggested. “If we all sit and wait for the end of the duels, not only will we be still, the rabble won’t be watching us closely.”

“Yes, that makes it feasible,” Stave agreed.

“I can make four nothing illusions,” Nona said. “But not while I’m animating a familiar at a distance. It is difficult to do more than one kind of magic at a time.”

“Can you hold a familiar once you have tamed it?” Darius asked. “So you will not lose it while you do other magic?”

“Yes, I can do that. It is the taming, and the using of its senses, that require my full attention at first.”

“Then our first step must be to find your familiar,” Darius said. “What is there here that you can use?”

“I need some small creature who can travel readily without being noticed. I need to bring it to my hand, to tame it. But I have seen no small creatures here.”

Darius realized that he hadn’t either. Was it possible that only the human rabble had come here?

There does seem to be only one variety of life here, Seqiro thought. I have quested through minds, and though I can not read many, I can tell that all are human variants. Even the dragons have human intelligence, evincing their origin.

“What about plant life?” Darius asked. “There should be bees to attend to pollination, and other insects with it.”

There is no plant life either. No insects.

“Then what are we eating? This is some kind of grain or tuber.” Darius took another mouthful of the green glop.

That seems to be yeast or mold. A thing which grows in the dark, and has many varieties.

“Mold.” Darius considered, and decided not to argue the case. It made sense; the absence of sunlight—or what passed for it in this reality—down here made such an alternative reasonable. But it did mean that there was no need for bees. That in turn left Nona without any suitable subject for a familiar.

There is small life, Seqiro thought. The children.

“The children!” Nona thought, appalled.

Darius tackled this. “We need something, and we are not going to hurt it. A child can go freely around, if it is old enough. Why not tame a child?”

“Because it has never been done!” Nona protested.

“How do you know what the despots do?”

She took further stock. “I don’t,” she admitted. “Maybe they do use children. I suppose it is possible.”

“I think it is necessary,” Stave agreed. “Is there a suitable child we can borrow?”

Yes. There is one unattached, watching the duels. I shall see if I can get into his mind.

“But he can’t just walk up to Nona,” Darius pointed out. “The others would realize that something is going on.”

“I can craft an illusion of nothing around him,” Nona said. “But he will have to be quiet, and not speak, because the illusion of silence is a different magic.”

I can cause him to be quiet.

In a short while the horse succeeded in getting into the child’s mind. Darius did not see the child, because he did not look; he did not want to give away what they were doing. Nona looked only enough to craft her illusion of nothingness.

They continued eating, which took extra time because they were feeding their opponents too. There was a certain camaraderie between each person and the opposite. Null-Colene expressed great appreciation for Darius’ help, and never asked him to free her, and continued to look amazingly winsome despite her long bondage. It did make him want to pat her on the head and breed with her. He was sure Stave was reacting similarly. Even Nona seemed to wish she weren’t treating her opposite so crudely. A lot of interaction, acquaintaince-ship, and reconsideration could occur in a day and a night together. Friendship could develop, and desire, and guilt. It was perhaps well that the end of the duel was approaching. Darius wasn’t sure how much more of Null-Colene’s confined likeness he could take. The real Colene had some sharp edges that made her both difficult and intriguing. This one was merely intriguing. While Null-Nona differed from True-Nona in the absence of magic and her desire for breeding. That was surely ever more tempting for Stave.

Darius was not sure when the rabble boy arrived at Nona’s dais, because even if he had looked he would not have seen him. His curiosity was considerable. So he worked out a ploy. “Rabble woman, are you ready to use the…?” he inquired delicately.

“Yes, thank you,” she agreed.

So he walked to the rim, glancing innocently around and seeing everything including Nona caged and Null-Darius alone on the dais. Nona was looking out over the audience, her right hand slightly extended. “I wish I could see him!” Darius muttered in frustration.

As you wish. The figure of a child appeared in outline beside Nona. She was holding his hand, taming him as she had the bat when they had fled the despots on the surface. She was able to do two kinds of magic simultaneously now, perhaps because they related to the same subject, and he was close.

Darius picked up the pot and brought it back to Null-Colene. He had seen what he needed to; their plan was working. If they could get through the stages of it and maintain their freedom—

“You are very understanding,” the rabble woman murmured.

He hadn’t even been thinking of her as he automatically lifted her. She was giving him more credit than due, and that gave him another little twinge of guilt. “I have no bad feeling toward you,” he said gruffly. “I merely can’t afford to do what your people require.”

“But it isn’t a difficult way,” she said. “You can have the whole of your time free, without working, if you just breed one of us at the start of each day. We will take good care of you. And at the end you may choose one of us to stay with, or depart, as you prefer. Can you blame us for wanting to enable some of our number to return to the surface?”

Darius thought of his similarly benign captivity in the reality of the DoOon, just before coming to the reality of Oria. There they had wanted new breeding stock too, though it had been Colene they had proposed to take it from. They had given him a position as a space captain, with three most attentive animal-headed personal servants. The luscious female, Pussy, had had the head of a cat and the body of a perfect woman. At first he had sought to dismiss her, but as he came to know her he had understood that Pussy was a fine person in her own right, a victim of the system. So it was now with Null-Colene.

“Are you able to assume the head of a cat?” he asked.

“A cat? That is a surface creature?”

“Yes.” The rabble had lived so long down here without animals that they had forgotten they existed. “With whiskers, and a furry face, and large round eyes.” He formed a mental picture, but it was of Pussy rather than an ordinary cat face.

The woman’s face changed as he watched, assuming the likeness of Pussy. It wasn’t really a cat face, but a human face highlighted by certain feline characteristics. Seqiro was guiding the image, so that she got it right. The body followed. Now it was as if Pussy were bound before him.

He kissed those feline lips. “That’s perfect,” he said.

She smiled. “It is the first time I have been kissed in this situation,” she said, glancing down.

Darius was not given to blushing, but he felt the heat coming to his face. She was still on the pot!

“Oh, I envy your true love,” she said. “You are a man like no other.”

By the time he recovered normal color, the invisible boy was gone. Nona would let him return to visibility once he was away from this chamber, but would guide him to some suitable place for them to go.

But the period of the duel was ending. “Soon I will go, and you will have a new woman to oppose,” Null-Pussy said wistfully. “I will not be allowed to be with you until all the other thousand have had their turns. I plead with you, Darius, I beg of you—”

“What would you have done had you succeeded in tying me?” he demanded.

“I would have raped you.” She sighed. “You have made your point.”

But Darius experienced yet another surge of guilt. He knew that he would not be able to endure a thousand days of this. He would soon be broken down, and have to do what the rabble wanted. As the rabble surely knew, having had experience with prior captives. The whole point of this one, who was probably not even at her fertile time, might be merely to begin the process of breaking him down. Once he capitulated, they would match him with those who were ready to conceive by him. It was a practical system.

“The familiar has found an isolated chamber,” Nona reported. “We must gather together before the duels end, or we will have to fight again before we can escape.”

“None too soon!” Stave breathed. Darius knew exactly how he felt.

Null-Pussy gave him a direct glance. “I have one more ploy, handsome man. I have sharp cat ears now. I can hear you talking to yourself, and it is in no language I can fathom. But when you talk to me, I understand you perfectly, though you speak in that same language. You have the magic of mind-talk. ”

She had missed her shot, but not by much. Darius did not answer.

“And you do not want others to know,” Null-Pussy continued. “Breed with me, and I will keep your secret.”

Darius shook his head. “I wish I could make that deal.”

She bowed her head, and the tears flowed again. “I will keep your secret anyway.”

That destroyed his remaining resistance. Darius took a step toward her.

You must not. Stave is ready to make the illusion of you.

Darius stopped. How close he had been to losing!

Now step quietly away.

He stepped to the side. He saw the image of himself still standing. But he could not see his true body at all; Nona had crafted her illusion of nothingness at the same time. It was as if his soul had left his body.

After a moment, the image-Darius turned and walked away from Null-Pussy. Darius, watching her from the side, saw her jaw clench. It had indeed been another ploy, complete with tears, and it had failed. She was calculating, not submissive. He was glad that he had seen that tiny signal; it made him feel better. But he still wished he could have done what she wanted. She might be indistinguishable in her malleability from any of the other thousand, but she was quite a woman anyway.

He walked slowly and silently to the edge of the dais, and down the stepped tiers. No one saw him. This was amazing! The magic of illusion was a marvelous thing, especially when cleverly applied.

He saw Stave and Nona on their daises, and knew by the somewhat regular manner of their movements that they were illusions too. In fact, the movements of all three images were synchronous; Stave evidently could not handle individuality in multiple cases. But only someone watching all three with that in mind would catch on.

He crossed between his dais and that of the horse. He climbed. It remained eerie, moving invisibly while his apparent self waited behind. He was accustomed to his own magic, but the magic of others brought wonder.

He came to the top. Was this Seqiro, or merely his image?

I am real. Stave will not be able to maintain the images when we conjure away, so there is no point in making one for me. We will depart together.

Darius remembered the complication that had occurred when Nona’s bat was out of Seqiro’s mind range. Nona could reach farther than the horse could, for this was her reality. But her mind reach was limited to her familiar.

Then something else occurred to him. She had just made a child a familiar. Could she make a grown person a familiar too? If so, that might enable her to establish mind contact beyond Seqiro’s range.

If she made me her familiar, we might have considerable range, Seqiro agreed. Now the others are coming close.

Soon they were all there, touching hands beside the horse. “The familiar is within your range?” Darius inquired.

Yes.

“Give me the image.”

The picture of an empty chamber appeared in his mind. This was what the child was seeing. Nona was looking through his eyes, and Seqiro was relaying the image to Darius. Good enough.

Darius brought out his collection of icons: horse, woman, man, man, woman. He removed the last woman; that was Null-Colene. He held the others together in one hand and activated them. He fixed two positions in his mind, represented by two circles: here and there. Then he moved the handful from the first to the second.

There was the familiar wrenching. Their surroundings changed. And now they were all jammed together, in the manner of his handful of icons. Darius found himself plastered to Nona, both of them firm against Seqiro’s solid side, with Stave on the horse’s other side.

“You are the real Nona?” he inquired gravely after he uninvoked the icons.

She laughed. “I hope so. And this is Jud, my four-year-old familiar.”

She turned, and there beside her was the boy, now visible. His eyes were big and not quite focused. Darius realized that he remained under control, which was perhaps just as well.

“Go find us another empty chamber,” Nona told the child. “Up near the ceiling.” The boy walked away.

“So we can conjure through to the central cavern,” Darius said, making sure he had it straight.

“Yes. Before the rabble finds us here.”

Indeed, now there was a commotion in the near distance. The abrupt disappearance of the four captives had alarmed the rabble. That was actually one real horse and three illusion figures, but the rabble would not know that.

“My opposite, who assumed several shapes, realized that I was using mind-talk,” Darius said. “She said she would not tell, but probably she will. They will probably realize that we have a nonverbal way to communicate with each other.”

They do. But it makes no difference. They regard us as magical creatures, and the more magic we show the better it pleases them, because of the potential for their offspring.

“But they will be more careful now.”

“So we had better not get caught again,” Stave said.

They are spreading out and checking every chamber. They are leaving one person to continue watching each chamber, so that we can not conjure past them.

“So there will be no place here for us,” Darius said. “But how are we going to conjure through the wall to another chamber if Nona has no familiar there?”

I will have to find a mind, and we shall have to go blindly again.

Darius nodded. That was the necessity. But it was risky.

“He has found one,” Nona announced.

That was good, because the sound of the search-pursuit was rapidly getting closer. They clustered together, and Darius reinvoked the icons. Seqiro gave him Nona’s image, and he conjured them to the new chamber.

This was a tiny one, and it did feel high, which meant it was deeper in the planet. It might be one of the last the rabble would check. But the pursuit sounds remained. The rabble would not stop until every chamber was covered.

Little Jud stared at them placidly.

The sound of footsteps grew suddenly loud.

Stave stepped toward the door opening. “I will block the way,” he said.

“No,” Nona countered. “I can do it better.” She stooped to pick up a pebble. She flipped it toward the doorway—and as it flew, it grew, until it landed crunchingly as a boulder. She had used her expansion magic.

“But I can help,” Stave said. He concentrated, and a viciously fanged snake appeared on the boulder, facing outward. The rabble might have forgotten what animals were, but they would be wary of that one.

Still, Darius knew that neither stone nor illusion would hold the rabble back long. Even if they did, the group would remain trapped here, and have to make terms when they got hungry.

I have found a mind.

“Then I will move us across,” Darius said. “Brace yourselves; we don’t know what we’ll find.”

They braced themselves, and he invoked and moved the icons. There was the wrenching.

They landed, jumbled, in a cavern so awesomely large that it seemed like the surface. Darius did not know how to judge an internal distance like this, but guessed that it was perhaps a third of the planet’s diameter across. The ceiling might well be the center of the planet.

They were on a slope that rose into a pointed mountain peak on one side, and into the great curved side of the chamber on the other sides. It seemed somehow familiar, as if he should recognize this vast domain, but somehow he didn’t.

“The other side of the East Sea,” Nona said.

That was it! This was the inside of the planet. The pointed mountain was the pointed depth of the sea at the base of the planet, viewed from within the planet. What an amazing perspective!

A sudden growl startled them into looking around. The mind we oriented on, Seqiro clarified.

It was a small dragon. Nona quickly scooped up a pebble and transformed it into stone ramparts that effectively barred the creature from charging them. But its growl had alerted larger dragons farther away. One of them launched into the air and flew toward the intruding group. It was so big that it might have been a creature of Jupiter, and it looked hungry.

“I fear this is not a suitable place for us,” Darius said. The others nodded agreement.

“But if we go back—” Nona started.

“I think we shall have to come to terms with the rabble,” Darius said. “What they want with us is not nearly as deadly as what these dragons want. They are not bad folk; they merely have a need they must pursue, and they are doing so in a manner that is ethical by the standards of their culture. If we negotiate again with them, they should do so in good faith.”

Trite. They tried to deceive us, but only to facilitate their desire, not to harm us. They will honor whatever deal they make with us.

To that Nona could not object, though she did seem a trifle doubtful. Her objection to required breeding was more substantial than that of the males. But the approach of the dragon was persuasive.

They gathered into their tight group, and Nona found the mind of her familiar. The boy remained in the small chamber, gazing at the boulder that partially blocked the entrance.

Darius invoked his icons and conjured them back. They landed behind Jud, who heard them and turned to gaze solemnly at them, unsurprised.

But in the interim, the rabble had arrived. Now the four of them were fairly caught.

BACK at the dais chamber, Darius faced Null-Pussy, who was now free but retained her last form. Apparently the rabble did not bother to change forms unless they had specific reason; they simply remained as they were. “I am talking to you because I best know how,” she said. “I have not told the others your secret, but have told them I can bargain more effectively with you than another person might.”

“True,” Darius said. “I shall be glad to talk with you. I am not the leader of this party, but the others will know what I say.”

“We have no leaders. We merely follow our custom. We require four thousand breedings from you. We prefer not to have to duel for each one, as it is apparent that we can not either persuade you or force you to breed. We don’t want you conjuring yourselves out again where we might lose you.”

“We returned because we did not want to die,” Darius said. “We would rather settle with you than do that. But we can’t remain for a thousand days. Is there any alternative?”

“If you can breed four thousand times in one day—”

He laughed. “We can not! But if we do not return to the surface when we need to, in several days, the point of our retreat to this region will be lost. Could we go, and return to you after Nona brings the anima?”

“If we let you go, you will never return,” Null-Pussy said.

“I fear that is true. But we may not find much point in life if we do not. You may hold us here, but you can not keep us alive if we do not wish it.”

“If you try to die, you will become weak. Then we can tie you and force you to eat, as we force you to breed. You will not like it as well, and neither will we, but it is a way.”

“Unless we die too quickly.”

“We do not believe you really wish to die.”

Darius knew that was true. “We prefer to find some other way. An alternative that satisfies us and you. Do you have a suggestion?”

“We would rather have you breed voluntarily. If one among you can not find a way to accept it, the others could breed more, to fill that person’s quota.”

Now, there was a notion. “You don’t care who breeds, as long as there is the allotted number of breedings?”

“The allotted number of breedings by surface folk, who have magic,” Null-Pussy clarified. “To produce offspring who may return there. We prefer that your males breed our females, because there will be many more offspring then.”

That meant that Nona could most readily be excused. That would please her. “Then what you really want is to return.”

“Yes, but we can not. We are barred.”

There was another notion. “You are barred by the present society. By the despots.”

“By the animus!” Nona said.

“And the anima. We are barred regardless, because we lack magic.”

“True,” Nona agreed.

“Not true! You don’t lack magic,” Darius said. “You have a different kind of magic, as I do. I can’t do illusion, but I can conjure. You can’t do illusion, but you can change your shape. The despots can’t do that.”

“Shape-change is not magic,” she protested. “We all do that. You also mind-talk.”

“Seqiro mind-talks. He does not call it magic either, but you do. It is a matter of definition. All you need is an adjustment of attitude. Maybe because I am not from this world I can see what you do not. You are being barred for no reason. And maybe we can do something about that.”

There was a murmur of interest throughout the cavern. The rabble were picking up on this.

“What can you do?” Null-Pussy asked.

“We can change the definition. Nona is going to bring the anima, and when she does she will be queen, with authority to do that. Then you can be free to return.” He looked at Nona for confirmation.

“But shape-change isn’t magic,” Nona said.

“Who says that? The despots?”

Her eyes widened. “If the despots lose their power—”

“Then you will make the definition,” he said. “You will declare shape-changing to be a type of magic, and open the gates. We have seen that the rabble are not evil folk; they have treated us fairly by their conventions. They will make reasonable citizens of surface Oria. The rabble have good reason to help you, and to let you return to the surface so that you can complete your mission.”

“You would do that?” Null-Pussy asked.

Nona considered. It was evident that she had never addressed this question before: what she would do as queen. “I don’t know. There are so many of you down here, and if you all came out—”

“Free four thousand,” Stave suggested. “Instead of the breedings. They will be able to breed on the surface, with anyone who likes their magic.”

“Four thousand, spread across the surface,” Nona said, appreciating the parallel. “That might be all right.”

“Four thousand,” Null-Pussy agreed. “Instead of the breedings.”

“Then it is agreed,” Darius said, relieved. “You will free us, Nona will bring the anima, and will allow four thousand of you to return to the surface.”

“Almost,” Null-Pussy said. “We must have assurance that this will be done.”

“You will not accept her word?”

“We can not accept her word. She may be killed before she brings the anima. She may leave Oria. She may change her mind. The others may not allow it. We must be sure of our breedings if she defaults. We must keep some of you here.”

“But Nona may not be able to do it alone,” Darius said. “The despots will be after her; they are already on watch. I must go to help conjure her to safety, and Seqiro must go to keep us in mind communication. We can not understand each other without him.”

“Then Stave,” the woman said. “He must remain to do the breedings.”

“I will do it,” Stave said, surprised.

“All four thousand?” Darius asked, amazed. “But I thought—”

“Oh, Stave!” Nona exclaimed, horrified.

“We will accept them all from one of you,” Null-Pussy agreed. “But it will take longer.”

“It will take eleven years,” Stave said. “If she does not honor the agreement. But Nona does not want me, and if I can’t have her, I might as well do her a favor she will truly appreciate. It is not as if the labor is arduous.”

Nona’s mouth opened and closed without sound. It was evident that she did not want Stave to do this, but saw no better alternative. Finally she managed to speak. “I—I had not decided about you, Stave. You are a fine man. I must not ask you to sacrifice yourself in this manner—”

“Beware,” Darius murmured. “Three of us free—it’s a good compromise.”

“But he will have to—it is so—every day a different—suppose I fail to bring the anima? Eleven years—”

She views that much breeding with horror.

Darius realized that some finesse was required here. “Stave is doing this for you, Nona,” he said. “To enable you to complete your destiny. Of course you will bring the anima, and honor the deal with the rabble, and he will then be free.”

“But the risk—”

“To make it easier for him, the women can assume your likeness,” Darius said. “He might almost forget—”

“But I don’t want him to forget!” Then, startled by her own admission, Nona tried to come to terms with it. “I don’t want to give you up, Stave. But I think I must. If I fail to bring the anima, I will be dead, and you deserve what comfort you may find with women of my likeness. If I succeed, then perhaps we—”

“Of course,” Stave agreed, realizing that his best chance to win Nona’s love was coming about because of his commitment to breed with other women.

“Then it is agreed,” Null-Pussy said. “The three of you are free to go when you choose.” She turned to Stave. “You are not. You must breed today, and every day until we know what is to be. You may choose from among us. Will you choose me first?”

Stave glanced at Nona, who averted her face. “Yes, you,” he agreed.

“Then come with me,” she said, going to catch his arm in almost predatory fashion. She intended to make sure that her chance did not slip away again. “What likeness do you prefer to have me assume?”

“Nona’s,” he said.

“That is easy, for I have done that one before.” She was changing as they left the dais.

Darius took the real Nona in his arms, to forestall her objection to what Null-Pussy-Nona was doing. “It is best this way,” he said. He hoped the rabble woman would not think of the Colene likeness; he would feel uneasy about that. He did understand this aspect of Nona’s objection.

“I will remember Stave’s sacrifice,” Nona said, burying her face against his shoulder.

THE next few days were easy. The rabble made no demands on them, and were friendly. Food was provided, and a chamber for them to share. Though Nona showed no romantic inclination toward Darius, she preferred to sleep close to him and Seqiro, to avoid any possible confusion of identities. For now a number of the rabble had assumed the likenesses of Darius, Nona, and Stave, and these were encountered randomly. It seemed to be a passing fashion.

Keli approached them. She had been the one who originally tried to seduce Stave. “I have not been able to get close to him, because of the press of supplicants,” she said. “But I feel I have a right to breed with him, because I came to know him first. Will you intercede for me?”

“What?” Nona asked, shocked.

Again, Darius saw that diplomacy was best. “Perhaps Nona will, if you give her something she appreciates.”

“I will do anything!” Keli said.

Darius turned to Nona. “You know Stave must be with a different woman each day. It may be better to have him with a known one than an unknown one, to the extent feasible.”

“I have nothing to do with this,” Nona said stiffly.

“I was thinking that we do not yet know the extent of your magic,” he continued. “You have abilities you yourself do not yet know. Perhaps there are new things you could do, if you had guidance.”

She looked at him. “You are thinking of something,” she said suspiciously.

“The magic of these rabble: that might be an excellent talent for you. Then you could conceal yourself on the surface without resorting to illusion. Since the despots can penetrate illusion—”

“But that is inherent,” Keli said. “It is part of us. If it is not your magic, you can not do it, just as we can not do your magic.”

“How can you be sure?” he asked. “Nona has very special powers, and Seqiro can link your minds closely. Perhaps—”

Nona’s attention abruptly focused. “If I could learn that—”

“I will teach you!” Keli cried. “If I possibly can!” “And if Nona learns this, she will ask Stave to choose you next,” Darius said, sealing the deal.

Nona glanced at him, realizing that he had maneuvered her into it. But her objection was tempered by dawning realism, and a genuine interest in learning the magic.