"Yeah, that's right. I'm glad. He's nice. Too bad you couldn't have been his size."
"A legend can have a happy ending," Nona said.
"You'll have one too. You'll be queen."
"True," Nona said without enthusiasm.
"Well, I'll sure be glad when it's done and you're queen and I can go back on the Virtual Mode with my horse and my man."
The girl was wary of the effect another woman could have on such a horse and such a man. Nona could appreciate why. Nona herself remained upset by the thought of Stave and the rabble women, though Stave would gladly have stayed with her if it had been possible. How much greater must be Colene's concern, for she had truly wondrous companions. Darius was a man among men, with powerful magic, and Seqiro was a horse among horses, wonderful to be with. It had been a great act of necessity and trust for Colene to leave both man and horse behind while she revisited her own world. She surely longed to reach the safety of Darius' world, and to settle there to be one with him and Seqiro. How well Nona understood!
They were near the /R5 rad when darkness closed, but not near enough. Nona made tent material and bedding material and an assortment of foods, and they settled for the night.
"You're so beautiful and so talented and so mature and so nice," Colene remarked. "You have so much going for you. I'm jealous. I really am."
She was jealous of Nona! What irony.
"Because both Darius and Seqiro like you and admire your magic."
"I feel the same about them," Nona said.
"Because you are halfway in love with both of them," the girl continued.
"That's not true!" Nona exclaimed, appalled.
"Isn't it? You know that Earle in the Jupiter legend looks like a cross between Angus and Darius, and Kara looks like you. So it was a simulated romance between you and Darius, since Angus is out of reach."
And Nona realized with expanding horror that Colene was right. Stave—it was not just that he was indulging his masculine appetite with other women. It was that Nona had found a stern, powerful, and magic man, and a completely understanding and mentally encompassing horse, and she longed to be with both. She craved distant adventure and passion, and both man and horse were creatures of exactly that, with their Virtual Mode.
But neither was hers to claim. "Oh, Colene, I would never—"
"I know you wouldn't. Seqiro showed me how you feel and how you are. You're better than me in every way, especially decency. You have the kind of honor Darius has, and I don't. But the choice may not be yours to make. It may be theirs."
Nona felt the tears on her face. "Colene, I—"
"I dreamed you married Darius, and I'm not fool enough to think it can't happen."
Nona stared at her, stricken.
"So I guess you can see why I don't want you on the Virtual Mode," the girl continued relentlessly. "Because if you go there, I'm doomed."
"Of course. I will remain here. I will be queen." But it was grief, not joy, in the decision.
NEXT morning they reached the next rad. This one they would be able to traverse in minutes. It was only, according to Colene's alien measurement, about one mile in diameter. It seemed to be roughly parallel to the hugely looming grandparent rad, /R3, which was itself in a similar relation to Rl, the Body of Oria. But their feet pointed straight down toward the center of /R5. Colene seemed to be adjusting, mainly by not looking up.
There were trees and brush here, the same size as on the main planet. The sizes of things were in scale with their worlds, but this was not a separate world, only a projection of a world. They stayed under the trees when they could, avoiding exposure. Then, as they approached /R6, which was about the size of the despots' castle at home, they paused. For there, circling lazily above it, was a buzzard.
"That may be a despot familiar," Nona whispered.
"Well, they have to be watching the sites," Colene said. "Probably just one despot each, so as not to use too many personnel and give away the fact that there's something important there." Nona was having very little difficulty understanding her now, because during their close association of the past day and night their mental rapport had been enhanced. The girl saw them as rivals for a man, but Nona liked Colene as well as she liked Darius or Seqiro. She wished she could have them all for friends. She knew Colene would not understand that, however.
So she addressed the external problem instead. "Yes, of course. But one despot male will be enough to counter me. I had thought at first that Darius would be here to conjure him away, or Seqiro, to give him a bad mind. Alone, I fear I can not accomplish my mission."
"Well, you aren't exactly alone, you know."
Nona looked at her. "I apologize; I did not mean to disparage you. But you lack the magic of the others, and I fear that only strong magic will suffice."
"I have a little magic, remember," the girl said. "We're talking, aren't we?"
"Yes, of course; you are getting the mind-magic. But my mind is open to you, and we know each other; we are attuned. Can you communicate with a strange despot?"
Colene grimaced. "I don't think so. And I sure couldn't stop him, anyway. So maybe I'm not much use. But maybe I ean do something. If worse comes to worst, maybe we can get Darius back in here to take out that despot."
"If his coming doesn't bring other despots."
"Yeah. Let me try." She concentrated, evidently reaching out mentally.
Meanwhile, Nona made a new spell of nothingness to cover them. She could have changed her own appearance somewhat, using the magic Keli had taught her, but that would not conceal them. The familiar would be able to smell them, so invisibility wouldn't be effective long either, unless she took out the bird, but it might help against an inattentive despot.
"Good God!" the girl exclaimed. "It's Naylor!"
Nona was surprised. "The knave?"
"I must've tuned in to him, some, before, without realizing! That's one joker I'll never forget. He tried to rape me!"
Nona remembered the memory-vision of rape Seqiro had shown her. "That is horrible, Colene! Then you are afraid of him."
"Afraid, hell! I want his ass on a burning-hot poker!"
The images were obscure, but the emotion came through. It was not fear but anger the girl felt. Unfortunately anger was not sufficient. If Knave Naylor saw Colene again, he would surely use his magic to incapacitate her, and then he would finish what he had started before. And Nona still would not be able to complete her mission, because he would be able to stun Colene and then turn against Nona. "We dare not approach him," Nona said.
Colene was quiet for a while. Then she spoke with a grimness that was almost frightening. "The way I see it, we have to get this job done. Because otherwise you won't be queen, and the rest of us won't be able to get away from this reality. We'll be stuck forever in the universe of Julia, and you will take my man and horse from me, no matter how hard you try not to. So I'm going to have to use my nerve."
"Your nerve? Colene, you may have courage, but that will not stop a despot! And this one—surely he lusts for you yet, and is angry. You must not let him see you."
"You got it backwards, sister. He must not see you. So he won't know you're here. He must see me. I'm perfect to distract him, because of his grudge against me. I'll be the last decoy. I'll lead him off the site, so you can go there and do your thing while he's trying to do his thing with me."
"But Colene! He will rape you!"
"I've been raped before," the girt said. "If I can fight enough to take his whole attention long enough, you can finish. Then the power will be yours, and you can destroy him. I won't say it's a way I like, but it's our best bet."
"I could not ask you to do that!" Nona protested. "It was bad enough when Stave undertook my breedings, and he—he really wanted to be with those women. You don't want it at all. You hate rape. Your loathing and rage are coming through to me. It is the worst possible risk for you."
"That's why it takes nerve," Colene said. "Suicidal nerve. The truth
is, I have a deathwish, and it drives me to flirt with death and destruction. And rape. Same thing, maybe. I don't like it, but I can't help it. I'm not nice like you. I've got to try this. But you'd better be quick with your mission, because after I lose, you lose too. He won't stop with one—not when the other looks like you. Not when it's the fate of all the despots on the line."
"But—"
"Make me visible. You stay invisible. When I get him off the point, you go there. You don't need me to count off, any more. /R7 will be the seventh around /R6, the way we've been counting, and it'll be only the size of your two hands splayed. /R8 will be smaller than your little fingernail. /R9 will be too small for you to see. But you'll know where it is. Get on it, woman."
Nona liked no part of this, but was helpless against the girl's determination. It was a possible solution, and if she could act quickly enough, she might succeed.
Colene, visible, walked to the crevice between /R5 and /R6, stopping at the edge of the little ring-sea there. She reached up and touched /R6, then drew up her feet. In a moment she was standing on /R6, her head pointed toward /R5. She had learned the way of it.
Nona, invisible, flew up toward /R7, landing a short distance from it. Colene was right: there was evil Knave Naylor, sitting on /R7 and looking supremely bored. He was using his magic to make ants float away from their nest, struggling, to land in the puddle circling the base of the rad. Every so often his eyes would go vague, and she knew he was drawing instead on the vision of the familiar, searching for anyone who might be approaching. He was hardly working at it, not expecting anything to happen. But the moment he did spy anything, he would be formidable. The knave might not be a nice man, but be did have passions.
There was a noise. Naylor looked, and spied Colene.
"The alien theow bitch!" he exclaimed, amazed. The vulture veered and flew down. "Where is the man?"
"My man isn't here," Colene said, but her words were unintelligible to the knave. "It's just you and me, you misbegotten animal-part!" The last insult was beyond Nona's power to decipher, but she was sure that had Naylor understood it, he would have been enraged.
The vulture flew near the girl, circling her, trying to sniff out any companion. But there was none. Nona was on the other side, hunched amidst a copse of saplings, hoping the bird did not smell her.
Naylor took a step toward Colene. "No man? You're a decoy, then! He's guarding the theow bitch at another site."
Colene's bravado became seeming fright. She retreated.
Naylor strode after her. "You can't escape! You and I have unfinished business."
The girl turned and fled, running around the curve of the rad. Naylor extended his magic and caused her to float up, her feet moving helplessly, and she still tried to run. He held her there, struggling in the air, while he took his time walking across to her. He was still wary of the possible proximity of her man, with his terrible magic.
Nona had her chance, thanks to Colene's suicidal bravery. She walked quietly to /R7. It was a miniature of the rads they had been traversing. Its little head pointed up. She counted off from the head, until she found /R8, which was down toward its inwardly curving base. It was about the size of the head of a fancy ornamental pin.
Colene screamed. Nona jumped, and looked to see the knave's hands on the girl. He was ripping off her odd clothing, exposing her body, and she was unable to move her limbs to resist. Nona had to try to help her.
Stick to your business! The thought came through with surprising clarity. The girl might be screaming, but she knew exactly what she was doing. She was putting on a show for the man, keeping him distracted. There was fear in her thought, but also rage, and determination. She was going to make this scene last as long as she could. Nona could not be concerned with her, right now; she had to get her own business done, in time to save Colene and the world.
But now how was she supposed to find /R9? It was, as Colene had warned, too small to see. Even its extended filament was too small.
But Nona did not have to see it. She was the ninth: she should be able to sense it. She extended her finger to the place it had to be, at the base of the head of the /R8 pin. Then she extended her sensitivity, trying to tune in on it as she would with a familiar.
She felt a tingle. It was there! The key filament!
"Nona!" It was Colene, calling verbally. "He sees you! You're visible!"
Nona glanced back over her shoulder. Naylor had let go of the naked girl and was starting toward Nona. He was about to use his magic on her. She had concentrated so intensely on the key point that she had let her other magic go—and now she could not use her magic in her defense without losing that delicately tingling connection.
But the knave was reorienting his magic too. Colene dropped to the ground behind him. He could not focus his magic on both Colene and Nona, and he knew that Nona was the more dangerous one. But the girl would not let him go. She bounded up immediately and launched herself at the man from behind. She tackled him, causing him to fall.
Naylor cursed and tried to strike at her with his fist. But Colene caught his hand with one of hers, brought it to her mouth, and bit it. He yelled with the pain, for the moment forgetting about Nona. The girl was truly fighting him, with her suicidal fury, tooth and nail; it was impossible for him to ignore her. Colene so desperately wanted to escape with her man and horse to the Virtual Mode, so as to be free of Nona, that she was absolutely fearless and without restraint.
Nona concentrated on the tingle. She sent her spirit into it, and suddenly she saw the key filament, magnified enormously. It seemed to surround her, its power expanding.
A hand fell heavily on her shoulder. "Get away from there!" Naylor cried.
Nona realized that he must have used his magic to stun Colene, and now was free to stop Nona. She might fight him on an almost even basis if she let go of her contact with the filament. But what would be the point? She would have saved herself at the expense of her destiny.
The hand was trying to pull her away. The fingers dug cruelly into the flesh of her shoulder. But his magic was not fastening on her, to make her lose her volition. Because he was using that to keep Colene suspended in air, still struggling; the girl was far more dangerous to him physically than Nona was, because of her determination and courage.
Nona wrenched her shoulder away and reoriented on the filament. But he grabbed at her again.
"You know your family is gone?" Naylor demanded of her. "We declared them nonproductive, a burden on society, and they disappeared. You are alone."
Nona was stricken. Her dear mother and father!
"Don't listen to him!" Colene screamed. "He's trying to distract you without magic!"
Because he was using his magic to restrain Colene. He was using anything he had—and he might be lying.
Nona threw the rest of her being into the connection with the filament. "Anima, invoke!" she cried with her voice and soul.
She felt herself falling into it. She passed into the /R9 filament, and through the /R9 rad, and the /R8 rad, and on through the series of them, so swiftly that it was no time, yet also nine generations. She expanded to embrace the whole world with her being,
Then she was back in her body, at the seventh rad, and the magic was off her, She stood, throwing off Knave Naylor's hand. She invoked her magic, and caused him to float helplessly. He had no magic to oppose her.
The anima had come.
But what was she to do with him? She could not let him go; he would only attack someone again. He was a rapist.
Then she knew. The four of them had visited just one of the many occupied chambers inside the world. There were many others, and surely some were more brutal than others. She had a place for him.
Colene lay nearby, naked and bruised from the fight and the fall when Naylor's magic let her go. Nona went to her and touched her, healing her. The girl sat up. "Did he—?" Nona asked, but already she knew that the man had not gotten that far. How could any man rape a spitfire like
that?
"No," Colene said. "Did you—?"
"Yes. It has changed. No man has magic now."
"So the women have it?"
"No. But their daughters will. The age of the despots is over."
"And we can go back on the Virtual Mode," Colene said.
"Yes. But first you must get dressed."
Colene looked down at herself, and laughed.
AFTER that it was straightforward. Angus returned to carry them back to Nona's home village, where the celebration was in progress. The despots were moving out of their castles all across Oria, though they could have defended them. The question was whether it was to be a peaceful transition or a violent one, and the despots preferred to keep it peaceful. That way they would not be slaughtered when the magic came to the daughters and finally overwhelmed them.
Riding for the day on the giant's hand, they discussed what was to be. "What will be your first act as queen?" Colene inquired.
"Oh, of course I will honor the deal we made with the rabble, and allow four thousand of them to emerge to the surface."
"Well, that was easy," Colene said. "What about your second?"
"I will banish Knave Naylor to the nether region reported to have the ugliest and most aggressive women. He will learn about rape!"
Colene laughed so hard she nearly rolled off the hand. "The punishment sure fits the crime!" Then she sobered. "And what about the third?"
Nona considered. "Then I suppose I will have to choose a man to marry. It is expected; there have to be offspring."
"That's easy! You've got Stave."
"I suppose I do," Nona agreed. "I do owe him that. He is certainly a worthy man." It should not be any worse with him than with any other, she thought, considering that she didn't want to marry at all.
What did she want? She wanted an impossible dream. She wanted to go with the bold girl and the magic man and the magic horse, and explore the other universes. To be free, unbound, without obligation to strangers. But she couldn't say that.