They settled for the night, Angus stretched out between rads, careful not to damage any trees, while the others formed a cluster in a glade. Nona made material for a tent, which Darius and Colene and Slick pitched with reasonable success. She made pallets and blankets for them each, but Darius and Colene elected to share theirs, as did Slick and Esta. Provos slept alone, and so did Nona. Surely it did not bother Provos, but Nona wished Stave were with her. Yet had he been with her, he would have been interested in sexual expression, and she was not. She could tell from the ambience of their minds that Slick and Esta had no such interest in each other, being blood relatives, and that Darius and Colene did but were not indulging it. So there was closeness and comfort for others, but not for Nona. By her own choice, mostly. Yet it frustrated her too.
The fact was, she realized, that though she had been slow to commit to Stave, she had expected to in time. The overwhelming importance of the anima had governed her emotion; she could not think of settling down with a man until that was done. If she failed to accomplish it, then she might be dead or imprisoned or exiled, and in no condition to marry. So she had suppressed what feelings she might have had. But now Stave was gone, and she knew that once he had tasted the endless blandishments of seductive rabble women, he would lose his interest in Nona. Why should he settle for one when he could have any he chose, a new one each day, each more eager than the last? She had realized from the part of his mind that Seqiro shared that he was as lusty as the next man, and that his attraction to Nona herself had been at least as much for her appearance as for her position as the ninth. Were she not pretty, and not the ninth, he would never have noticed her. He was a good man, yet she was not satisfied with this.
So it was best for her to break with Stave. They were not, in the end, right for each other. She needed a different sort of man. But where on Oria was the kind she wanted? If she brought the anima, she would be queen, the only one on the planet with magic. After the visitors from the Virtual Mode left. Who would care to marry her? Who would she care to marry? She didn't want to marry at all!
And there was the heart of it. She did want a social life, but she was not ready to settle down. She preferred to have freedom and adventure, to experience a mystery of the future. Marriage, babies, growing old—that did not appeal at all. Not even if she were queen.
But what else was there? Her fate had been sealed when she was born as the ninth.
Nona settled into an unhappy sleep.
WAKE. The despots come.
It was Seqiro. Nona struggled awake, and heard the others stirring. Outside the tent was the noise of Angus getting up. It was still dark.
"How close?" Colene asked.
You have tone to dress and make droppings.
Nona hurried to do those things. Then she transformed the tent material back to a piece of string, and the blankets to tiny swatches of cloth, She was ready when the others were, with a basket of fruit to hand out for them to eat on the run.
Angus squatted and laid his two hands on the ground. Each person went to the hand used before.
"No, you come with us, Nona," Colene said. "This is Business Day."
It was indeed! Nona joined Darius, Colene, and Seqiro on the right hand, while Provos, Slick, and Esta got on the left.
It was crowded, because of the mass of the horse, but Nona really liked being with Seqiro. She was jealous of Colene in that respect: she had the most fabulous companion!
Angus sailed up. As he did, several men rose from the forest at some distance; the despots were flying after them!
But they could not match the range and speed of the giant from Jupiter. Angus readily left them behind. However, several birds maintained the pursuit: the familiars of the despots. How could they escape pursuit by those?
Angus knows how. He can not use his magic while concentrating on flying, but you can use yours and I can use mine. Do you wish me to stun them?
Nona pondered the matter. The despots now knew about her, but should not know about Seqiro. "We must keep your secret as long as possible," she decided. "You may need your magic as a surprise. I will try to divert them by illusion."
So while Colene guided Angus toward what she called /R3, Nona fashioned a massive pair of illusions. One was of Angus, flying with his hands full. The other was of nothingness, where the real Angus was. Stave had shown how effective this ploy could be; now she was doing it on a larger scale. But a large illusion was harder to manage than a small one, because there was so much detail. Familiars would not be smart, but the despots guiding them would be alert for tricks. This had to be right.
She Grafted the two illusions, overlapping. Gradually she replaced the appearance of the real giant with the illusion giant, matching detail to detail. She could not see his back, but assumed that it matched the normal male configuration. When she had it as good as she could make it, she caused the Angus illusion to diverge from the nothingness illusion. This was the test.
Slowly they separated. Would the familiars follow the illusion? It was only visual, so if any were using smell, they would not be deceived.
Most of the birds followed the illusion. But Nona saw with dismay that one small hawk was not being fooled. If its despot realized—
Then the hawk dropped. Seqiro had stunned it. The despot would think that the illusion giant had somehow taken it out, perhaps by throwing something at it. They were escaping.
But she could not maintain the illusion indefinitely. Most magic was close and line-of-sight; only the familiars could operate at a distance, because they had identities of their own. Soon she would lose control, and the illusion would dissipate, and the familiars would cast about until they found the smell of the original.
"We need a better decoy," Colene said, grasping the situation from Nona's thought. "Okay, time for Phase Two. Angus, put us down—Seqiro, Darius, Nona, and me—then fly on with the others as if you're going somewhere. So the familiars will think it's the whole party, and will follow them."
A faint illusion image of Angus appeared at the edge of his invisible hand, in miniature. "But where shall I carry them?" he asked.
"Back to the anchor, of course," Colene said. "So they can complete their destiny, even if we mess up."
And there it was, Nona realized with a shock: the manner that Provos' memory of the future would be correct, even if Nona's mission failed. It was coming true.
Colene glanced at her, mentally. All of them were now invisible, so there was no other way. "Right. Our guarantee is zilch."
No guarantee of success. Somehow Nona had always believed that she would succeed, once she had gotten together with the visitors from the Virtual Mode. Now horrible doubt loomed. She shivered.
"Except that Nona will have to pass them through the anchor," Darius said. "She must either succeed or survive."
Bless him for that revelation, mixed as it was! She could not fail utterly.
Angus descended, while Nona continued to concentrate on the distant illusion. If she could only hold it long enough to let them separate...
The giant's feet touched the ground, gently. He stood, then bent down. The four of them climbed off the hand.
Nona turned back to embrace a huge invisible finger. "If I don't see you again, friend Angus—"
The small illusion of him returned. "It has been good with you, Nona. I will know if you succeed."
"You will not be able to commune with the three you carry," Nona said. "But you know where to take them."
"I know."
She was out of words and full of emotion. "I wish you had been my size," she said. Then she opened her arms to the little illusion. He met her, and they kissed, in the manner of Earle and Kara.
It was too much distraction. The distant illusion of Angus disintegrated. But Nona maintained the close illusion of nothingness. "Go, friend Angus," she said. "With my thanks, and my love." For suddenly, this instant, it was true: she loved the giant from Jupiter, who had served her need so loyally. She knew it was a
transitory emotion, and foolish considering their sizes, but that part of it would always remain with her.
"For that I do thank you," the little image said.
Then the invisible giant flew up, and they were left on the ground. Nona concentrated on the illusion, until he was too far away; then she lost it, and he became visible. But he was at that point in the vicinity of the prior giant-illusion, so that the familiars would assume that he had always been there. He was still holding both hands up, as if still carrying a double burden.
"The legend!" Colene exclaimed. She was visible now; Nona had had to let their part of the illusion go when she focused on Angus. "You replayed it! That was beautiful."
"Perhaps I am destined to love only the unobtainable," Nona said sadly.
"I'm not so sure of that. I dreamed you got married."
Nona looked at her. There was something dark about the girl's thought, but she could not fathom it.
"We had better move," Darius said. "If you can get a familiar, Nona, I can conjure us to where it goes."
"How about directly to the nearest /R3?" Colene asked. "If I make you a map? There are four of those rads, so we must be halfway close to one."
He shook his head. "That would be dangerous. I need to see where I am going, or to know it from prior experience. A familiar could show it much more accurately."
"Okay. But we'd better get moving."
Seqiro searched, but found no suitable unattached birds in the vicinity. The despots seemed to have taken them all. But then he found a fox, and stunned it.
Nona had never tamed a fox before. But then she had seldom tamed any animal, because of the need to conceal her magic. The principle was the same. She touched the fallen animal, and Seqiro enhanced her mental contact. It was more of a job than the bat had been, but she was able to do it.
Then she sent the fox running toward the third rad on the Head. While they waited for it to cover the distance, she picked a berry and magnified it into a giant berry, so that they could all have their fill of it, finishing their meal.
Despots approach.
That galvanized them. Nona tuned in on the fox. It was most of the way there. They clustered around Seqiro, and Darius brought out his magic icons and invoked them. Seqiro connected Darius' mind to that of the familiar. Then they climbed onto the horse's broad back, and Darius moved the icon.
Nona felt the awful wrenching. Then she found herself sliding off the horse. She managed to get her feet under her before landing on the ground.
They were almost at the base of the towering bulk of /R3; the fox had made excellent progress.
"God, that thing must be three hundred miles tall," Colene said, awed. Her mental concept translated into approximately the right amount. "Somehow I didn't think they would get this big, on this little planet."
"Can we see /R4 from here?" Darius asked.
Colene studied the mountainous outline. "Actually we can see one of its /R4's," she agreed. She pointed. "See that twenty-mile-thick wart there? As I make it, that's it."
"Then I should be able to conjure us there from here," he said. "Provided there is a safe place to land."
"There they are!" someone called in the language of Oria. Nona jumped.
"Damn!" Colene swore. "They must have lured the fox, or spotted it. They're on to us."
They ran for the cover of the nearby forest. The man who had called saw them but was slow to give chase, as if waiting for reinforcements. That gave them a brief respite, but was hardly good news.
"They are becoming more apt at locating us," Darius said as they passed beyond the first trees. "They may suspect where we are going, and have many of their number in this vicinity looking for us."
"It may be that they know where the key rad is," Nona said, breathing hard as she ran. "They would keep it secret from all theows, of course. But now—"
"Can the dialogue," Colene snapped. "Seqiro, you take Darius and gallop the hell out of here. Decoy them away. We'll get together again after."
"But—" Nona started.
"You and I will go alone," Colene said. "Invisible. Do it."
"It is too far for you afoot," Darius said.
"What do you mean, too far? I just walked across whole worlds!"
"If you take too long, the despots will catch you."
"Oh."
"I will conjure the two of you there before we ride away." He brought out his Colene and Nona icons.
"Yeah, I guess you'd better," Colene agreed reluctantly. She came to stand beside Nona.
Darius invoked his icons, and started to move them.
"There!" the man cried, spying horse and man.
Then the wrenching, and the scene was gone.
They landed tumbled on /R4. Colene righted herself, looked around, and suddenly dropped to the ground again. "God! I'm freaking out!" But the alien words meant nothing to Nona; they were not out of Seqiro's mind-magic range.
Meanwhile Nona stood and gazed across at the ground of /R2 where they had been. She did not see any sign of man or horse, but that was to be expected. At least she had the comfort of knowing that the pair would be hard to catch, because the horse could do mind-magic and the man could conjure them away from the threat of capture.
Then she looked down at Colene, and realized that the girl was staring at her. Suddenly it registered: Colene was not used to being on a rad of this size. To her it looked as if Nona were standing sideways on an almost vertical cliff. For of course this rad projected from about the midpoint of the side of /R3, and they were on the side of /R4.
She tried to reassure the girl. "Do not be concerned. A person's feet are always toward the center of the rad on which she stands. We experienced the same thing on Jupiter."
"Yeah, but this is smaller and more intense, and I've been away," Colene said. "I haven't gotten my reactions realigned yet." The words she spoke were unintelligible, but Nona was sure they related to her concern about falling.
"We can not fall." To illustrate the point, Nona jumped.
Colene screamed.
But of course Nona landed immediately back on the surface. Colene, seeing that, laughed nervously, then got up the courage to stand. She remained anchored to the rad. Finally she gritted her teeth and made a little jump. She did not fly loose from the rad. She issued a shaky sigh.
Nona was glad that the girl had come to terms with the nature of walking on a rad, because they would be moving to ever-smaller rads to reach the key point. She would have explained about the way of it, before they left Seqiro, had it occurred to her. But now, alone with Colene, and not yet at the site for the anima—they couldn't even talk to each other!
"Can. Some."
The mind-magic! The girl had been learning it. Her power was little compared to that of the horse, but far better than none. "Then we go," Nona said, speaking without vocalizing, to concentrate her thoughts. "Now. To the next rad."
"Go," Colene agreed the same way. "To Slash R Five." The designation was clear, because they both knew it. Colene looked around. "There." She pointed.
Then Nona saw the figure of a man. Was it a despot? She couldn't take the chance. Quickly she fashioned a spell of nothingness to hide them both. She took Colene's hand so that they could remain together without talking.
It turned out to be a fair distance, through fairly rough country, but they had no choice. This rad was tiny compared to its parent rad, and minuscule compared to the one from which they had been conjured, but it was far from the smallest. Nona relaxed the nothingness spell once they were sure they were not being pursued, so that she would be free to do other magic. When they came to a difficult ravine, she held Colene in her arms and flew across it. She could not go far that way, for the extra weight was extremely tiring, but for this short hop it really helped. Mostly they just walked, and talked. Colene was getting better with practice, but Nona still had to interpolate to re-create the full thoughts. The effort helped take her mind off her doubt about her situation.
"One thing I want to know," Colene said approximately, though Nona was sure she had the essence. "This world is in animus phase, right? It's a man's world. So how come you can do major magic? Even considering that you're the ninth."
"It is because of the flow of the current of magic," Nona tried to explain. It would have been so much easier with the horse present! "It originates at the center of the universe and flows out along the filaments to every part of it. It spreads out at each world, in an umbra, a field, with a current which the despot men can tap and adapt. I, too, can tap that current, because of my special nature."
"But when you bring the anima, then what happens?"
"Then the current changes, and flows the wrong way for the despot men. They flow along the lines of the first of the first, but the anima will be the last of the last. The lastborn woman instead of the firstborn man."
"So then why won't you lose your power of magic also, when they do?"
"Because I am the key person, by order of birth and gender. I am the opposite, in perfect balance, able to draw on the flow from either side. When the flow changes, that other side will be the primary one. No man will be able to draw on it any more, except when there is a first of the first for nine generations, who will be able to travel to the center of the universe and change it as Earle did."
"Well, maybe," Colene said, evidently not really understanding it. "But shouldn't the reversal point be at the spike? We're headed off to the side."
"It is not really a reversal, but a change," Nona tried to explain. "The main flow remains from the center of the universe to the rest, but the field around our world will be changed, to be somewhat skew, in a manner only the lastborn women will be able to address."
"Like a reversal of the Earth's magnetic field!" Colene exclaimed. Nona found this incomprehensible, so did not argue.
But in a moment the girl had another question. "Angus—he's of the animus. So what happens to him when it changes? Does he pitch headfirst into the sea?"
"Angus is not of this world," Nona explained. "He responds to the rule of his own world, Jupiter. He did not lose his power when we crossed that small anima world."