LITMIR.BIZ

      The Return of Adric

      Back in the windowless house, we snatched a hurried meal, cared for our slashed cuts, and tried to plan further. The others had not been idle while we fought the falcons. All day Narayan’s vaunted army had been accumulating, I could hardly say assembling, in that great bowl of land between Narabedla and the Dreamer’s Keep. There were perhaps four thousand men, armed with clumsy powder weapons, with worn swords that looked as if they had been long buried, with pitchforks, scythes, even with rude clubs viciously knobbed. I had been put to it to conceal my contempt for this ragtag and bobtail of an army. And Narayan proposed to storm Rainbow City—with this! I was flabbergasted at the confidence these men had in their young leader. So much the better, I thought, take him from them and they’ll scatter to their rat-holes and crofts again! I felt my lips twisting in a bitter smile. They trusted Adric, too. When I had shown myself to them, their shouts had made the very trees echo. Well—again the ironic smile came unbidden, that was just as well, too. When Narayan was re-prisoned, I could use the power of their lost leader to tear down what he himself had built. The thought was exquisitely funny.

      “What are you laughing about,” Narayan asked. We were lounging on the steps of the house, watching the men thronging around the camp. His slumbrous grey eyes held deep sparks of fire, and without waiting for my answer he went on “Think of it! The curse of the Dreamer’s magic lifted—what would it mean to this land, Adric? It means life—hope—for millions of people!”

      In a way, Narayan was right. I could remember when I had shared that dream; when it had seemed somehow more worthy than a dream of personal power. Cynara came down the steps, bent and slipped her soft arms around my shoulder, and I drew her down. A volcano of hate so great I must turn my face away burned up in me. This man was my equal—no, I admitted grudgingly, my superior—and I hated him for it. I hated him because I knew that in his dream of power no one must suffer. I hated him because, once, I had been weak enough to share his feelings.

      I said abruptly “Your plans are good, Narayan. There’s just one thing wrong with them; they won’t work. Storming Rainbow City won’t get you anywhere. You could kill Karamy’s slaves by the thousands, or the millions, or the billions. But you couldn’t kill Karamy, and you’d only leave her free to enslave others. You’ve got to strike at them when they’re in the Dreamer’s Keep. When the Dreamers wake is the only moment when they are vulnerable.”

      “But how can we get to the Dreamer’s Keep, Adric? They go guarded a hundred times over, there.”

      “What’s your army for?” I asked him roughly, “To knock down haycocks? Send your men to chase off the guards. I told you I could handle Rhys, if it came to that. He’ll get us through to the Dreamer’s Keep, if need be.”

      “What about Gamine?” Cynara asked practically. Gamine was the least of my worries, but I did not tell Cynara that. I listened to their comments and suggestions a little contemptuously. Didn’t they know that when the Dreamers woke, the Narabedlans were vulnerable—to the Dreamers alone? If I were there with Narayan, there was no question about who would win.

      Cynara scowled at the rip of talons across my face. “You’re hurt and you never told me!” she accused. “Come this minute and let me take care of it!” I almost laughed. Me—Adric of the Crimson Tower—being ordered around by a little country girl! I snorted, but spoke pleasantly. “I’ll live, I expect. Come and sit here with us.” I pulled her down at my side, but she leaned her head on her brother’s knee, an unquietness in her face. She was a pretty thing, although the cause of all my troubles. When I redeemed her from Karamy’s slaves, for a whim, I had not known she was Narayan’s sister—Zandru’s hells, but I had made a ghastly slip! I had told Narayan there was no help for those touched by the birds, when I myself had redeemed his own sister! Had he noticed? Would he attribute it to Karamy’s meddling with my mind? I smothered an exclamation, and Cynara and Narayan looked up anxiously. “You are hurt, Adric!”

      I shook my head. I fancied Narayan looking at me with suspicion, but I controlled myself. I reached out to draw Cynara to me, but she had drawn back, rising lithely to her feet, like a dove poised for flight; only her hands, small darting hands like candle-flames, remained in mine to pull me lightly to my feet. I tried to hold her, but she protested “There is so much to be done—” and I raised the slim hands to my lips before I let her go. The gesture pleased her, I could see; so much that I watched with contempt as she tripped away. Silly, simple girl! It would please her!

      In the end it was only Narayan and Cynara who rode with me to Rainbow City. Kerrel had taken the army, in sections, to set an ambush for Karamy’s guards; we rode in the opposite direction, by a twisting side road. Cynara rode beside me, her dark eyes glowing. There was dainty witchery in Cynara, and a pretty trust that made me smile and promise recklessly “We will win.” It pleased me to think that I could comfort Cynara for her brother’s downfall. Once conditioned to Rainbow City, she would forget her silly fancies and be a fair and lovely comrade. If she continued to please me, it would be amusing to see this unformed country girl wield the power that had belonged to Karamy the Golden!

      It took us an hour of hard riding to reach the lip of the great cup of land, where we paused, looking down the dark, almost-straight avenue of trees that led to the walls of Rainbow City. I whistled tunelessly between my teeth. “Whatever we do, it will be wrong. We’d be taking quite a chance to ride up to the main gate; at the same time, they’ll be expecting us to sneak in the back way. They’d never expect us to come by the front avenue.”

      “The deer walks safest at the hunter’s door,” Narayan quoted laughing. “But won’t they be expecting us to use that kind of logic?”

      Cynara giggled, subsided at my frown. “At that rate,” I said, “We could go on all night.”

      Narayan reached overhead, snatching down a crackling sheaf of frost-berries; selected one narrow pod. He held it between finger and thumb. “Chance. Two seeds, we go around. Three, we ride straight up the main gate. Agreed?” I nodded, and he crushed the dry husk. One, two—three seeds rolled into my outstretched palm. “Fate,” Narayan said with a shrug. “Ready, then?”

      I jounced the seeds in my palm. “One for Evarin, and one for Idris, and one for Karamy,” I said contemptuously, and flung the little black balls into the road. “We’ll scatter them like that!”

      We were lucky; the drive was deserted. If there were guards out for us at all, they had been posted somewhere on the secret paths. Straight toward the towers we rode, under the westering red sun, and just before dusk we checked our horses and tethered them within a mile of the Rainbow City, going forward cautiously on foot.

      I objected to this arrangement. “I’ll get in alone,” I told them. “If anything happens to me, we mustn’t lose you as well!”

      “I’ll stay,” said Narayan briefly. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll be here to help.” Silently I damned the man’s loyalty, but there was nothing I could say without spoiling the illusion I had worked so hard to create. I took his hand for a minute. “Thank you.” His voice was equally abrupt. “Good luck, Adric.” Cynara glanced at me briefly and away again. I walked

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