Robot Adept

Chapter 7 Troll

When she recovered full consciousness, she was in a cage. She scrambled up in alarm.

Immediately a bat leaped into the air beside her cage. The bat became a woman of extraordinary beauty, wearing a light cloak resembling the folded wings of the bat. “Adept!” she exclaimed. “She wakes!”

An extraordinarily ugly man appeared. “Aye,” he agreed. “The amulet restored her somewhat. Now must thou teach her to change her form.”

The woman reached up and opened the cage. “Come to me, hummingbird,” she said. “I be Suchevane, and I did promise my bitch friend to help thee. She says thou art not Fleta, but her other self, unable to use her body well.”

So this was Suchevane! Bane had been right; there could be no lovelier creature than this! Agape hopped onto her hand.

“The Red Adept caged thee with an amulet to restore thy strength, but thou must also eat,” Suchevane said. “Now shall I revert to my natural form. Do thou take my paw and change back to girlform with me. Dost thou understand?”

The routine was becoming familiar. Agape nodded agreement.

The woman set her down on the floor. Then the bat reappeared, beside her. Agape touched the bat’s paw. Then she willed herself to change when the bat did.

The room reeled. She found herself being supported by the bat-girl. She was human again!

“I thank thee, Suchevane,” the Red Adept said. “Now can I help her, and thou be free to return to thy flock.”

“Will she be well, Adept?” Suchevane asked anxiously. “She be—her body be my friend too.”

“She will be well,” the Adept assured her. “It will take time for her to recover completely, for much vitality was lost in the birdform, but I will see to her recovery.”

The bat-girl smiled at him. “Much do I appreciate this, Adept. An thou dost need me for aught else, thou needst but ask.”

“For naught but dreams,” the man muttered. Then, with ordinary volume: “Thou has done more than enough. I must not hold thee longer.”

“Then do I take my leave,” Suchevane said. She became the bat, and flew away.

The ugly man turned to Agape. “I be Trool the Troll, otherwise known as the Red Adept. I see thou art repelled by mine appearance, as all normal damsels be. But fear not; I gave up trollish ways when the Blue Adept befriended me. I mean thee no harm, but only to restore thee to proper health and the use o’ thy body, so that thou mayst go thy way without danger. It was needful to convert thee to thine human form so that thou couldst eat normally.” He walked to a chest and brought out an armful of fruits and breads. “Do thou eat thy fill, and then I will show thee where thou mayst rest. The cage were but to protect thee from injury, an thou shouldst wake and be affrighted.”

Agape gazed at him, becoming reassured. “You like her, don’t you.”

The Adept paused, taken aback. “Does it show so much? I wish to make not a fool o’ myself.”

“No, not at all,” Agape said quickly. “She is stunningly beautiful, and I—I am an alien creature who loves a human man. I think I tune in to this sort of thing, now.”

“An old troll has no business dreaming,” he said. “Now do thou eat, for thy present well-being is but temporary, the result o’ mine amulet. I will leave thee now; do thou snap thy fingers when thou wishest aught.”

He turned away.

Agape realized that she was ravenous, but she had a doubt. “Adept, if you will—if it is not an imposition—would you stay?”

“Stay? I thought to relieve thee o’ my presence whilst thou dost eat.”

“Your presence is no affront to me. I recognize that for a man you are ugly, but I realize that you are not a man, and in any event, my standards are alien. I am not certain I can eat, here, so may need your further help.”

“The food be good,” he said quickly. “The vamps provide it—”

“I am sure it is good. It is that my normal mode of eating may not work, here, and I am not sure I can eat the human way.”

“Thou dost become more interesting by the moment,” the Adept said. “Do thou make the attempt, an this suit thee not, I will fetch other.”

Agape made the attempt. She put her face over a chunk of bread and tried to melt into the digestive format. Nothing happened.

Trool fetched a chair and sat opposite her. “Exactly how dost thou eat, in thine own fashion?”

Agape described the process.

“But thou dost know how human beings eat?”

“I have seen it happen;” she admitted.

“Thou art now in human form, and not merely in external emulation,” he said. “Do thou imitate me, step by step.” He took a chunk of bread, and brought it to his face.

She imitated him. He opened his mouth, baring his teeth, and bit into the bread. She bit likewise. He tore free a piece of bread and closed his mouth over it. She did the same. He closed his mouth and masticated, and she did too. Finally he swallowed, and she copied him as well as she could.

The sodden mass of chewed bread went down inside her neck and into her main torso.

“That be it,” he said. “Thy body will take care o’ it from here. Do thou continue eating.” He took another bite.

“You mean—that’s all?” she asked, amazed by the revelation. “I don’t need to melt into it?”

“That be all,” he agreed. “Thy digestive processes be now entirely within thy body.”

“I—I thought it was like—would be the way it is with Bane—with Mach’s robot body. He can eat, but not digest, so must open a panel and remove the food before it spoils.”

“That be one fancy golem body!” Trool remarked. “Nay, it be not that way for thy present body.” Then he angled his head, struck by another thought. “Hast thou had experience with elimination?”

“Only of my own type, which is not the same.”

“It be not meet for me to try to teach thee that. Suchevane can instruct thee, when she comes to practice thee on form-changing.”

Agape practiced her eating, finishing the chunk of bread, then tackling a large pear. Juice slopped down her chin; this was a new challenge! But gradually she learned to do it more neatly and efficiently. She even managed to drink a cup of grape juice without spilling very much down her front.

Finally, her stomach full, she stopped. She lay on the bed the troll had provided, and slept.

In the afternoon Suchevane arrived. Trool explained briefly the need, and the bat-girl escorted Agape to a shed that smelled of manure. “Do thou sit on this hole and let it go,” she said.

“Let what go?”

Suchevane cocked her head. “Thou has truly done this not before?”

“Nor seen it done,” Agape agreed. “Human beings are secretive about the details, and Bane—the robot had no need. He showed me sex, but not elimination.”

“He showed thee sex,” the girl repeated. “Aye, and he showed that me, too; men be eager enough for that.”

“Bane showed you sex?”

“We were young, and curious. He had no human female friend, so he played with us animals, and we be friends since. Fleta, Furramenin, me—we told not the adults, o’ course.”

“He played with me too,” Agape said. “In the frame of Proton. But why didn’t he marry one of you?”

The girl laughed. “The son o’ an Adept marry an animal? That were never in the cards! Nay, it be play only, and long o’er now.”

“Did he tell you that he loved you?” Agape asked, concealing the tightness she suddenly felt.

“Nay, o’ course not! Bane ne’er deceived others; he spoke only truth.” Then she looked sharply at Agape. “He told thee that?”

“Yes.”

“And Mach told Fleta!” Suchevane shook her head.

“Oh, did he e’er tell her! He spake her the triple Thee. I was there, and ne’er saw the like! The air, the cliffside, indeed all the world it seemed turned sparkling clean, and she—” She shook her head. “I envy both!”

Agape remembered the way the Red Adept had reacted to this young woman. “Adepts don’t marry nonhumans?”

“Ne’er! Why should they, an they have anything they want o’ us anyway? They marry seldom at all, and then only human women, as did Blue.”

“Forgive me if I am speaking inappropriately—but would you marry an Adept if he asked you?”

Suchevane shrugged. “That be entirely theoretical. Any animal would marry any Adept, an he asked her. Or any decent human man. I would have married Bane, an he e’er wished. But an Adept ne’er would.”

“But what about a nonhuman Adept?”

“There be only one, and he be Trool the Troll. He be separated from his own kind since he adopted human ways, and he be kind to my folk. An he wish to take one o’ us for play, she would do it readily enough.”

“Even you, the most beautiful of creatures?”

“Aye, especially me! I tired early o’ handsome males; fain would I settle with one like him, with decency and power. But he has no interest.” She looked at Agape. “But this be a diversion. I must show thee how to eliminate.”

True enough. Agape was suffering some discomfort but was unable to relieve it in her natural fashion. “Is it like eating?”

“Nay, not precisely. Here, mayhap I can show thee. Let me take the hole.”

Agape moved off, and Suchevane moved on. She lifted her cloak out of the way to reveal her bare posterior. “Here do the solids come out, and here the liquids.”

“Oh—either side of the—”

“Aye. The major functions be set close together, for convenience.”

“I recognize it now; I have seen anatomical illustrations. I made surface emulations, with only the aperture required for the sexual congress. On Proton, I mean. I suppose the others are functional now. I should have realized.”

“It be hard at first to learn the nuances o’ a new form,” Suchevane agreed. “I had trouble learning the human way, when I had practiced only the bat way as a cub. Now there be muscles here, and thou dost normally keep them tight, but now thou must let them relax. See, when I do, it comes out.” A stream of yellow liquid jetted from her, down into the darkness below the hole.

“Let me see, that muscle should be about here,” Agape said, lifting her own cloak and touching her body. “If I relax it—oops!”

Suchevane leaped from the hole, put her hands on Agape’s shoulders, and swung her around and down on it. Liquid splashed on the board. “Thou hast it now!”

“But there is substance in the other—”

“Let that out too! This be the place for all o’ it.”

Agape let it all out, and her body felt much relieved. Then the vampire showed her how to use paper to clean herself up, and how to wash where necessary. The process took some time, but now she had learned what she needed to. She would be able to handle it herself in the future.

Suchevane also showed her how to change forms from human to flying, and back. There were a number of misstarts, but when Agape finally got it straight, she realized that she could have done this at any time, had she only known how. It was a matter of concentrating on the right form in the right way: a talent which, once learned, she knew she would never forget, as with the elimination. Now she could change freely from girl to hummingbird, and from birdform to girlform, as Suchevane put it.

But flying was more complicated. Agape could flap her wings, but this only resulted in disaster. They decided to leave this aspect for another day.

Suchevane went home, and Agape settled down to another big meal. Trool joined her, at her request; she realized that he was not a busy man, but a creature with time on his hands, and lonely.

“If I may say something personal…” she said between mouthfuls.

“Speak, Agape,” he said. “It has been long since I have had company o’ any kind, other than momentary business.”

“I think that if you were to ask Suchevane to stay here, she would.”

He grimaced, and on him this was a phenomenally grotesque expression. “Aye, and so would any animal! I crave that kind o’ company not!”

“Because you are an Adept?”

“Adepts be the leaders o’ Phaze,” he explained. “Each has his mode o’ magic, but each has power o’er any other creature. This power be easy to abuse, and I mean not to do that. I would not take a woman, human or animal, because she feared my power—and that be the only way a woman would come to me.”

“I think she might come voluntarily.”

“Aye, she would say that. But fear be the motivator, not preference. Look at me.” He spread his arms, his left hand holding a plumb. “I be ugliest o’ all Adepts, and unversed in manners. I deceive not myself on this.”

Indeed, he spoke truly! He was catastrophically ugly, considered as a man. But not completely. “You are ugly in appearance,” she agreed carefully. “But not in manner, and I think not in intent. Some women appreciate those other qualities.”

He shrugged. “So it would be nice to believe.”

She realized that further pursuit of this subject would be pointless. Any overture would have to come from the other side. So she dropped it, and worked on her eating, and her elimination, and her form-changing, and grew steadily stronger and more talented in her use of this body.

Suchevane came daily to help her, and soon she mastered the intricate balancing and motions of flying, and was able to use this form too as it was made to be used. But she could not assume the unicorn form; neither the vampire-girl nor the Red Adept could tell her the way of that.

She realized that somewhere along the way her doubt had faded. She now knew that this was Phaze—and that she was in love with Phaze, as she was with Bane. So many of its folk had been kind to her, in such understanding ways.

“Thou’rt recovered,” Trool informed her in due course. “Thou canst now go thy way. What dost thou seek?”

“I have found what I sought,” Agape told him. “I was in doubt whether this was really Phaze; now I know it is. Now I can return to Bane.”

“Dost know his location?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Mayhap thou shouldst go to the Blue Demesnes; he will surely be there soon or late.”

“Yes. I would like to meet his folks.”

“They be a piece distant from here. Best that thou not go alone.”

Agape now appreciated the wisdom of such advice! “I might fly, if Suchevane were willing to fly with me.”

“Aye, that seems best. There be a matter thou shouldst know: the Adverse Adepts be looking for thee.”

“They are? Why?”

“We know not. But it be known that Mach and Fleta took sanctuary with Translucent, which gives the Adverse Adepts half o’ what they need to establish contact between the frames, to their advantage. An they discover that now Bane and Agape be here, they might wish to offer further sanctuary.”

“But we support the existing order!” Agape protested.

“Aye. Therefore it be a stalemate, till Mach return to us or Bane join the Adverse Adepts. If they possessed control o’ thee, that might be a lever ‘gainst Bane.”

“That’s why I was leaving Proton!” she cried. “The Contrary Citizens were after me! We were hiding when Bane and Mach exchanged back—only Fleta and I exchanged too!”

“Aye. Stile noted that the imbalance is abating not, and knew that either the boys had exchanged not, or that other had exchanged. Bane went to him and proved his identity, so then it was known. Now the Adverse Adepts be searching, and we think this be their likely reason.”

“I must exchange back, and get away from Proton!” Agape exclaimed. “But I can’t do it by myself! I think that only with Bane, and with Mach and Fleta together—”

“Aye. But methinks the Adepts be watching. They cannot molest thee here, and I think know not thy location, for Fleta’s friends would not tell. But they may intercept any unusual traveling. Therefore, let me give thee an amulet thou canst invoke at need, to protect thee from revelation o’ thine identity, and mayhap from molestation an it be suspected.” He went to a cabinet and brought out a fine silver chain with a small foggy stone.

Agape accepted it. “This—how do I—”

“Merely hold it and say ‘I invoke thee’ and it will mask thine identity. No one will know thy nature. But use it not except at need; it be an unpretty spell, and it wears off not swiftly.”

She remembered Bane’s warning about his spell of undetectability. This seemed similar. Indeed, she would not use it unless she had to! “Thank you, Adept. I appreciate all you have done for me.”

“Thou hast been good company,” he said deprecatingly.

He was also a good person, she knew. She resolved to do him a singular favor, when the occasion presented itself.

Suchevane readily agreed to travel with her. The two changed to their flying forms and set out, heading southwest toward the Blue Demesnes. Agape’s practice and restored health stood her in good stead; she now flew well and swiftly.

But a hummingbird was no hawk, and a bat was no dragon. They were unable to make the full distance in one day, and had to descend, to revert to human form and eat and rest for the night. They could have remained in their winged forms, but these were relatively small and weak, and it seemed safer to assume the more massive human forms for sleeping. They landed in an oasis, a clump of trees near a spring, and plucked fruit for their supper.

“I thought vampires ate human blood,” Agape remarked.

“Nay, not ordinarily,” the girl demurred. “Only for special occasions, such as the onset o’ flying. Then we seek not human beings, but animals o’ the unintelligent variety.”

“Something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” Agape said. “Trool thinks that no attractive woman would associate with him voluntarily, and he doesn’t care for anything involuntary. If you were to ask him—”

“Ask an Adept?” Suchevane exclaimed. “I would not presume!”

“You do like him?”

“Aye. But that has no bearing.”

“You showed me how to do the things I need to do to survive,” Agape said firmly. “Now let me show you how to do this. You must find a pretext to approach him, and then say, ‘Adept, I would stay with thee and be thy companion, an thou not be offended.’ I tell you, he will not be offended.”

“But I could ne’er—”

“I couldn’t fly, either.”

Suchevane paused. “Thou really dost think—?”

“I don’t think, I know. If he expresses doubt, tell him that you came to him because you have come to know him and respect him, and would like to share his life until he finds some better woman. I assure you, he will not find that, or even look for it. But if he declines your company, what have you lost? How can it be wrong to speak honestly of your desire? I am an alien, but I do not think the way of the folk of this planet differs that much from that of mine.”

“Thou dost make it sound so easy!” Suchevane said. “But he be an Adept, and I an animal!”

“He is also a lonely old troll, and a decent person. He helped me substantially, and now I would like to help him—by sending him something I know he would really like. You.”

Suchevane stared into the closing night. “I cannot believe—”

“I couldn’t believe this was Phaze, either. But now I do, for I have come to know it. Reality is similarly waiting for you, if you care to grasp it—and it would be a shame not to. You risk only a little pride, and stand to gain so much.”

The woman’s face turned toward her. “I think now I see how Bane came to love an alien creature.”

“Alien creatures can love, too.”

“Aye, aye! They can! And animals too!”

“And animals too,” Agape agreed. “And trolls.”

Then they leaned into each other, and hugged each other, and wept together.

Agape woke to discover herself enmeshed. Lines were closing around her, and suddenly there was yelling and scrambling, and weight on her as something small and awful pounced. Earth-smelling hands clamped on her head, and more of them clamped on her breasts. “Got her! Got her!” someone screamed, almost in her ear. “Get the other!”

Agape tried to change to hummingbird form, but couldn’t. The transformation spell just didn’t work.

Suchevane’s form beside her vanished, and the bat was scrambling out through the netting. “Hey, I told you to hold her!”

“I did, but she changed!”

“A ‘corn can’t change with a hand on her horn!”

“She’s not a ‘corn, she’s a bat!”

Then Suchevane was up and away, flying into the moonlight. She had escaped, but Agape was captive. Because, it seemed, the button in her forehead was the vestige of her unicorn horn, and that had to be unfettered for its magic to operate.

“Well, this one’s a ‘corn,” a voice said. “Come on, let’s have at her before the chief comes.”

Hands pulled up her cloak, exposing her body. Agape struggled, but there were too many hands on her, grasping her head, her arms, her breasts, her legs and her bottom.

They were little men, no, goblins, with huge ugly heads and big hands and feet and small, twisted, knobby bodies.

They worked the net off, and the rest of her cloak, their hands taking new and more intimate holds. They held her spread-eagled, while one came at her with bared member.

“Hey, who said thou dost go first?” another goblin cried. “I be first!” He shoved the other aside.

“No way, Snotnose!” the other returned, shoving him back.

Snotnose punched him in the belly. The two exploded into a fight, landing on Agape’s exposed torso. Three other goblins hauled them off, while a fourth made ready to rape her. But this left nobody holding her legs. She brought them up kicking, scoring on the face of the would-be rapist.

Ouch! His head was like rock. He seemed not to notice the kick, while her toes were smarting in her slipper. He threw himself down on her, trying to get into place.

She hooked her feet behind him and applied a scissors squeeze. His body was relatively puny; now she was managing to hurt him! But other goblins were piling on again, and in a moment her feet were unhooked and her legs wrenched apart.

“What’s this?” a new voice cried.

All goblins froze. This was evidently their leader, the chief whom they wished to avoid until they got their business done.

“We are supposed to capture the ‘corn unharmed,” the chief said. “Remember, her body’s the same as the friendly one. Damage it, and we’ll alienate the friendly one, when she returns.”

“We weren’t going to damage her,” the goblin between her legs protested. “Just have a little fun with her.”

“Well, ‘corns have funny notions about damage,” the chief said sardonically. “Tie her—and don’t let go o’ her horn.”

Grudgingly, the goblins tied her, finally wrapping a strip of cloth about her head to cover her forehead. Then they let her go, with a few final pinches at succulent portions of her torso. If she hadn’t known before why Bane hated goblins, her understanding was improving now.

Trool had warned her that the Adverse Adepts were searching for her. This was confirmation.

Then she remembered the amulet. Her hands were tied, but the chain remained around her neck; the goblins hadn’t noticed it, having been paying too much attention to the flesh of her body.

“I invoke thee,” she said to it, hoping it didn’t have to be actually in her hand.

Nothing happened.

She felt a surge of dread. If the amulet couldn’t help her, then she was lost, for they had already made her captive. At least Suchevane had escaped. If only they had perched in their flying forms, out of reach of goblins! But had some hungry night-hunting hawk spotted them—

“Very well, ‘corn,” the chief said. “Who be ye?”

Agape didn’t answer.

“Speak, or hurt,” the goblin warned.

“Go soak thy snoot in a sewer,” Agape replied. Then she was amazed; she had not intended to say that, and it was not the way she talked!

“Speak, or we shall bite thee on the tender feet!” the chief said.

“Hear me well, fecal-face,” she said evenly. “An thou put one foul toothmark on my tender foot, the Adept’ll put sixteen handsome teethmarks in thy foul bottom. Thou canst not touch me!” What was she saying?!

“She talks like a harpy!” one of the other goblins said, impressed.

“An thou beest the creature we seek, that be true,” the chief admitted. “An thou turn out other, we shall chain thee spread o’er an anthill while we take turns raping thee to death. Now answer: what be thy name?”

“An I tell thee aye, I be the one thou dost seek, an thou dost take me to thy employer, an he know I be not, then willst thou rue the day and night that thou didst set thy smelly posterior on this globe,” she said grimly. “An I tell thee nay, and thou dost set thy minions at my body, an the Adept learn I after all be the one, then willst thou rue the very thought that sent thy sickly sire slumming to conceive thee on the stinking slut that bore thee.”

Even the chief took stock at this point. This was evidently not the precise language he had anticipated from the captive. Certainly it was nothing she had intended ever to say to anyone! What had happened to her mouth?

Then it came to her: the amulet! She had invoked it, and it was working! Already she had talked the goblin into a situation in which he dared neither to take her in nor to maltreat her.

The goblin pondered. He grimaced. “There be no help for it except I take thee in,” he decided. “That be the lesser gamble.”

“Not so, thou son o’ an infected slug,” she retorted. “Thou canst save thy putrid skin only by releasing me unharmed and reporting that thou didst discover naught in these parts.”

He stared at her. “Truly, do I wish we had found thee not!” he exclaimed. “Yet an I free thee, and thou dost turn out to be the one, then there be no spot under the earth safe to escape the vengeance o’ the Adept! So needs must I bring thee to him intact, and tell him thou art but a suspect, and my punishment then may be slight.”

“Until I tell him how thou didst have thy minions hold me whilst thou didst shove thy puny thing in me,” she said. “Then I think I had better be not the one thou seekest, for an I be the one, thou willst find thyself suspended by that thing from the nether moon.” She had not even realized that there was a nether moon! This was obviously hyperbole, but nonetheless effective.

He looked glumly at her, not commenting.

“An if I be not the one, as it be needful for thy health that I be not, then why bring me in at all?” she concluded persuasively. “I be nothing but mischief for thee, either way.”

“I shall take thee to my superior,” he decided. “The decision be his. Let him free thee or ravish thee; it will be out o’ my domain.”

He had figured out a way to pass the buck, she realized. She was stuck with captivity. Still, the tainted tongue foisted on her by the amulet had bought her some time, and perhaps it would befuddle the superior goblin as readily as it had this one. She had never before realized what a weapon a tongue could be! Trool had warned her that this was not a pretty spell; he had known whereof he spoke.

They left her tied, and spent the remainder of the night in the oasis. Then, in the morning, prompted by her harpy-tongue, they gave her some bread and water and leave to relieve herself. Then they started on their way to the goblin headquarters. They gave her back her cloak, and some food, and did not molest her. But it was a wearying walk, hours in the rising sun, bearing north.

Then something appeared on the horizon to the southwest. The goblins looked back over their shoulders, alarmed.

And well they might be, for it was a huge wooden figure, striding rapidly toward them, its face fixed in an ominously neutral expression. Obviously it intended them no good.

“A golem!” the chief muttered. “We’ll have to fight it.”

The goblins lined up, drawing weapons: sticks, daggers, and the net. The golem strode up without pause.

What did this mean?

Then Agape saw the form of a bat perched on the figure’s head, and understood. Suchevane had brought help!

The golem arrived. The goblins attacked it. Their weapons had no effect; its wooden limbs were impervious. Then it swept its hands around in a double circle, at the goblins’ head level, and knocked over every goblin within range. Its wooden arms were like clubs!

Very quickly the goblins had had enough. They fled. The golem stopped, the bat hopped down—and Suchevane stood there. “Agape!” she exclaimed, as she hurried to remove the bindings. “How glad I be that thou be not hurt!” She paused. “Or did—?”

Agape opened her mouth to reassure her friend.

“Whom dost thou think thou art talking to, guano brain?”

Oops! The spell was still in operation!

Suchevane looked startled. Quickly, Agape lifted off the amulet and threw it away.

The vampire smiled with understanding. “The amulet! Thou didst invoke it to befuddle them!”

Agape smiled agreement. “And thee, thou quarterwit! Now let me be!” Then she closed her mouth, appalled.

But Suchevane understood. “Thou canst not abate a spell by throwing away its origin,” she said. “Needs must it pass of its own accord. Come, change form, and the golem will take us to the Blue Demesnes.”

Agape was glad to keep her mouth shut and comply. She became the hummingbird, and Suchevane the bat, and they both perched on the golem, who strode purposefully for its home.

Before long the blue turrets of the castle appeared. The Blue Demesnes! A lovely older woman, also garbed in blue, came out to meet them as they arrived.

They changed back to girlform. “This be Agape, Lady,” Suchevane said. “She whom I told thee of.”

The Lady Blue extended her hand. “I am glad to meet thee at last,” she said graciously.

“Well, I be not pleased to meet thee, thou harridan,” Agape snapped. Then, appalled anew, she slapped both hands over her mouth.

“She be under geas!” Suchevane said instantly. “The Red Adept gave her an amulet, to conceal her identity—”

The Lady Blue smiled with comprehension. “Mayhap my son can abate it somewhat,” she said. “I have heard much about thee, Agape.”

Agape’s mouth opened. She stuffed her right fist into it, stifling whatever it had been about to say.

Suchevane turned to Agape. “Mine alien friend, I must haste to my Flock before I be missed. I have business… and the Lady Blue knows thy situation and will keep thee safe till Bane return.”

Indeed she had business! She wanted to go to Trool the Troll and speak her piece. Agape could not trust herself to talk, so merely nodded, then embraced the vampire tearfully.

Suchevane became the bat and flew to the northeast. Agape gazed after her, abruptly lonely.

“Fear not for her,” the Lady said, mistaking her mood. “I gave her a packet o’ wolfsbane, which she can sniff when she tires; it will buoy her to complete the journey in a single flight, so that naught can befall her aground.”

And that was the concern that Agape should have been having: for her friend’s safety after a tiring night. She felt ashamed.

The Lady put her hand to Agape’s elbow. “Come into the premises, my dear. Thou surely dost be tired after thine experience, and will require food and rest. My son be absent yet, but will return in due course, and then thou canst be with him.”

Agape suffered herself to be guided into the castle, but she glanced askance at the Lady. Didn’t Bane’s parents oppose this union?

The Lady laughed. “I see that thou dost have concern o’er thy status here, Agape. Do thou make thyself comfortable, and we shall have a female talk ere my husband return.”

Agape did that. She was glad that she had learned how to take care of this body, so that she was able’ to clean up and empty her wastes without complication.

In the afternoon, after a meal and a nap, she joined the Lady for their talk. The geas remained on Agape; the Troll had been right about its lasting effect! Thus it was pretty much a one-way conversation, with Agape merely nodding agreement at appropriate intervals.

“The opposition o’ factions o’ Adepts be longstanding,” the Lady said. “Adept ne’er liked Adept, till Stile came on the scene. Then he did what was necessary to separate the frames, for by their interaction they were being despoiled, and so he evoked the enmity o’ the despoilers. That be the origin o’ the Adverse Adepts; they liked each other not overly much before, and very little now, but they league in common interest. One did he befriend, Brown, and one did he replace, Red; all others be ‘gainst him, to lesser or greater extent. But Stile, who be also the Blue Adept, be strongest o’ Adepts, save for the one he promoted, Trool the Troll, who has the Book o’ Magic. So did he prevail, and the frames were parted.”

She looked at Agape, and Agape nodded. She had learned some of this from Bane, before, but knew that the Lady was merely establishing the background for her point.

“After the parting, the force o’ magic in Phaze was reduced by half,” the Lady continued. “Because o’ the transfer of Phazite to Proton, to make up for the Protonite mined there, that had caused the dangerous imbalance. But since the reduction was impartial, affecting all alike, it made no difference in the relative powers o’ Adepts, and things seemed much as before. But the Adverse Adepts resented this wrong they felt Stile had done them, and conspired ‘gainst him. They stifled his programs for better relations between man and animals, and wrought mischief in constant devious ways. Gradually their power increased, for they were many and we few. We knew that we needed new magic to hold them off, and our great hope was in our son, Bane, who showed early promise. An he grow, and marry, and have an heir like himself, belike we could hold off the Adverse Adepts indefinitely, and maintain a fair balance in our land, that evil not o’ertake it.”

The Lady sighed. Agape wanted to speak, for she had known of this too, and understood, and intended to act to free Bane for that future his parents wished for him. But the geas constrained her, and she only nodded again.

“But there were no suitable young women,” the Lady said sadly. “The village girls were poisoned ‘gainst our kind; e’en I, a generation ago, would ne’er have married Blue an circumstances not been unusual. The only truly eligible woman is the daughter o’ the Tan Adept—one o’ the hostile ones. Bane played with animal friends, but o’ course these were not suitable for marriage. It be not that we be prejudiced ‘gainst the animals, for many be fine creatures, and we work closely with them and like them well. It be that they cannot breed with man. Therefore the future o’ our good works came into peril. It seemed we would have to deal with Tan, and be compromised accordingly; but the alternative was to lose all. It were not a happy position.”

This was new to Agape. She kept her mouth shut and listened.

“Then the boys made their exchange, and Mach came to our frame, and Bane went to thine. We had not believed such possible, and were caught unprepared. We saw that the exchange was but mental only, not o’ the bodies. Mach became attached to Fleta, the unicorn, and Bane to thee, the alien. We understand; there be not a finer person than Fleta, and we know our son would bestow not his love on an unworthy creature. But we opposed such union, because it meant the loss o’ all we planned on, and incalculable damage to the frame, owing to the lack o’ the continuation o’ our line.

“That were our error. We appreciated not how true Mach’s love was. Fleta understood our position, and resolved to disengage—but she knew what we did not, that only her death would accomplish it. So she arranged to die—and Mach came to her, and spake her the triple Thee, and such was the force o’ it he overrode Adept magic and saved her.”

The Lady found a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes, for she was crying now. “We ne’er meant Fleta to die! Ne’er did we wish her ill! We thought their love but an infatuation that would pass. How wrong we were! So were we cast as the villains, and they took refuge with the Adverse Adepts, and our ruin did we bring upon ourselves. Fain would we undo the mischief we did, but it be too late; the two be alienated from us.”

As she spoke, there was a faint ripple of light in the air. Agape glanced about trying to fathom its curious nature, but it was gone almost before she was aware of it.

Then she realized that this was the splash of truth that she had heard about. The Lady Blue had not noticed it, but it authenticated her statement.

Agape did not dare speak, but she had to act. She stood, and went to the Lady, and embraced her, and cried with her, silently.

After a moment, the Lady continued. “We resolved to make not the same error again. We knew that the parallel o’ the frames meant that Bane would find similar love in Proton. Our cause be lost, but not necessarily our son. We accept his choice, and we accept thee. We can do not other. That be the root o’ thy welcome here. When Bane came home not long ago and told us more o’ thee, we knew it was right. Thou dost be the one we would have chosen for him, an the choice been ours. An our circumstance not blinded us—”

The Lady could not continue, but hardly needed to. She had made her point.

But how awful it was, that the acceptance of the romances of the two boys had to come in the face of such a loss. Even for Agape, who faced not death but separation from Bane, it seemed hopelessly difficult. What was the use in going home to Moeba, if Mach and Fleta remained together and the family of Blue was denied an heir? Was her sacrifice after all pointless?

“There be one other thing,” the Lady said after a fair pause. “Stile discovered that the exchange leads to new imbalance, so that the frames be headed for destruction, an the imbalance be not corrected. That be why we sent the messenger. E’en now, the Adverse Adepts be verifying it. So it may be that all else becomes moot. But I wanted thee to know that this be no device we made to deceive thee; we discovered it after accepting thee. We think the communication between the two can continue, but that actual exchange must be limited. What this means for thy future we know not.”

Agape was satisfied at this point not to speak, because she had no answer either.

That evening, as the two of them were gazing out across the dark plain, and admiring the nascent stars and moons, there came another ripple in the air, a gentle passing glow from the east that slowly faded.

The Lady Blue glanced at Agape. “Methinks Suchevane reached the Red Demesnes,” she murmured.

Agape could only smile. How glad she was that she had spoken as she had!

Agape remained with the Lady for several days, and gradually the geas wore off and she was able to engage in halting dialogue. Now she loved Bane, and Phaze, and the Lady too—and knew she had to give them all up. Unless some accommodation were discovered that would enable her to remain with Bane, and even to visit Phaze again…

She had to cling to the faint hope that this was possible. But her dread was that it was not.

Then at last Bane arrived. He appeared just beyond the moat and called out: “Anybody home?”

The two of them went out to meet him. Agape did not have to say a word; she stepped into his embrace.

He entered the castle with them, and had news of his own. “The Adverse Adepts be preparing for war. I spied on them and verified it; they be organizing their minions, the goblins and demons, ready to take by force what they may not accomplish by negotiation. They mean to have me join them, and to use thee as a lever against me, as the Contrary Citizens did.”

“I know,” Agape said. “I am not safe here either.”

“I would have come for thee sooner, but it be tricky spying on Adepts, and they were far more watchful than I expected. But news came to me that thou wast with Trool, and I knew thou wouldst be safe there.”

“I was.” It was so good to be with him again!

“But we must exchange thee back, and get thee to thy home planet! I love thee, and would not have thee taken hostage. I will visit thee on Moeba, later, when I exchange.”

“But we are going together!” she exclaimed.

“Nay. First must thou exchange, and I not, for there be much for me to do yet here. But ne’er doubt I will join thee when I can, nor Adepts nor frames will hinder me.”

He continued talking, reassuringly, but Agape hardly paid attention. She just hugged him forever.