Nona considered. "Does she remember my association with you? I mean, beyond now?"
Yes. It has passed through her thoughts. We travel far, and you are with us. Finally some of us pass back through the anchor. I do not know why we all do not go, and Provos does not remember what those ones do away from the others, but they do return.
"Does she remember whether the anima comes?"
She does not seem to. But that may be because no one has asked her.
"Could it be that some of you travel because the others are captive?"
It could be. I am not apt at conjecturing.
"Well, maybe you will help me to bring the anima, because then you will be able to return to your Virtual Mode. Then I will be queen of Oria, and I'll have to marry and bear children who have great magic. I dread that."
Why would you be queen? I understood from the thoughts of my friends that this office was inherited.
"It is. Under the animus the firstborn son of the king becomes king after him. Women do not rule, as none of them have magic stronger than illusion, and theow men have similar weakness. It is the power of magic which governs, and it follows the firstborn. But under the anima the magic flows the other way, through the women, and the lastborn. So the last-born woman of the lastborn woman has the greatest magic, and must therefore rule. But to bring the anima, there must be a special pattern of births leading to a woman who matches the magical nature of our world. That woman is me. Because the world is now governed by the animus, I am the only woman with significant magic; I am the channel. But with the anima, all other women after me would have magic, according to their lineage, and all men would be reduced to illusion. Everything would change."
As a horse, I am indifferent to rank and power of the human type. But most humans seem to desire it. Why do you dread it?
"Because it's just another kind of captivity. I would have to marry, and have babies, and though with the anima these would add to my power rather than deplete it, I would not be free. I want to explore, to see new things, to act without regard to responsibility. I don't want to exchange one form of oppression for another."
This is the way Colene feels. But she also desires love.
Nona considered. "I don't desire love, for that, too, is captivity. Yet I may not be able to avoid it. When I get close to Stave, and pretend to be loving him, so that the despots won't know what I'm really doing, the pretense wears thin and I begin really feeling it. He feels the same for me, I know. It is a trap, but an alluring one. I don't know what to do about that."
Colene also has mixed feelings about Darius. She wants to marry him, but perhaps can not, because he must marry a woman with much joy, and drain that joy from her. She has no joy to spare; she has depression instead. So she must be his mistress only, and let him marry another, and she doesn't like that. He has interest in other women, and she is jealous of them. She wants to breed with him, even though she is afraid of it, so that he won't do it with someone else. He says she is young, and she doesn't like that either.
"How old is she?"
Fourteen years.
"In my culture, that is too young for that kind of activity."
In hers too. But in his culture it is all right, if both people have desire and understanding.
"But then he can—"
He honors the convention of her culture, because she is of it.
"He must be a good man."
Yes. I believe he is correct. But Colene is my girl. I must go with her, however she feels, and help her in what way I can. even when she goes wrong.
"Yes, of course." Nona wished she had a companion like that, because her own situation was precarious.
You are not excluded, Seqiro thought. I like you too. While we are here, I will help you, as you are helping me. I would be lost without a sympathetic human mind.
That was a wonderful relief, for the big horse had magic like none other known on Oria. "Thank you, Seqiro." She leaned forward and hugged him as well as she could. She began to believe that she had a chance to accomplish her destiny.
There was a pause in their communication. Then the horse thought again: The despot is gone. He is beyond my range. It is safe to emerge.
"But is it?" she asked. "The despots have much stronger powers of illusion than the theows do, and can make pictures of scenes this far from the castle. They may be waiting for us to come out of the water so they can spot us."
How do they do this? I saw the illusion pictures they made, but did not understand how that was done.
"They use their creatures," she explained. "They see through the eyes of animals who serve them, and craft illusion pictures from those images, which they project for anyone to see. This is beyond the powers of theows, but ranking despot women can do it, and all despot men."
So when the queen showed Colene with the knave, there was an animal there?
"Probably a spider in the corner. Once a despot trains a familiar, that creature serves the despot loyally, and the despot makes sure it is fed and cared for. When a familiar is killed, the despot who has it is most annoyed, not because he cares about animals, but because it requires considerable effort to train a replacement. Only the despot who trains a familiar can draw on its images, because animals do not see or hear the way we do, and each is different, and that information must be interpreted. I could train a familiar, but seldom do, lest my ability be discovered. I keep only a lizard near my house, whose perceptions will tell me whether anyone strange has come there."
Then I am a familiar.
She laughed. "I suppose you are, Seqiro! But you are to an ordinary familiar as a king is to a theow child."
Perhaps so. I can see the similarity in the magic. But I can not relate readily to unfamiliar creatures, and have extreme difficulty getting into the minds of strange human beings.
"The despots can't get into human minds at all! Only animals, and only with patience. Then it is mostly a matter of controlling their movement and reading their senses, not truly relating to their thoughts. However, we can never be sure which animals are theirs, so we must always be cautious. When a blackbird watches us, we know it is a familiar, but when a fly buzzes near we have no way to tell. However, I doubt that they have many night creatures; usually they use flying animals to spy away from the castle."
He saw the situation in her mind, and agreed. We must remain hidden until darkness. Unfortunately I am growing hungry.
"But I can make food!" she protested. "All I need is something organic to transform. What do you prefer?" Oats.
She took one of the smaller stones and transformed it into a bucket. Then she found a loose hair on his back. She held it and concentrated. It became a mass of oats, which poured though her hands and floated up to the surface. "Oops!" she exclaimed in dismay. "I forgot where I was; I meant them to fall into the bucket."
She fashioned another stone into a tight-fitting cover for the bucket, then transformed another hair into oats inside it. She passed this container around to Seqiro's nose. But he couldn't eat it, with both the oats and his nose encased. She did some more magical shaping, and finally got a hood which had a feed bucket at the base.
This is nice magic, the horse thought as he munched. "So is yours," she said. Then she made some food for herself from a spilled oat, and ate it. Lend me your mind,
Nona found this request odd, until she fathomed his reason. Seqiro was a horse, with the mind of a horse; he could remember very well, but could not reason in the human fashion by himself. But with the mind of a human being, he could think as well as that human could. He had something to work out. So while they ate, they thought, and Nona became a viewer of that thought. It was as if she were thinking, but she was not; she was merely watching.
Seqiro drew on his memories and limited understanding of the situation of Colene and her companions, and on Nona's experience of Oria. When the two meshed, it became apparent that three abilities were needed to escape capture by the despots: Nona's magic, Seqiro's mind-talk, and
Darius' conjuring. These meshed abilities would enable them not only to escape the despots but to reach the Megaplayers. The Megaplayers were the ones most likely to be able to reverse the animus, establish the anima, and so change the culture of Oria and free the anchor of the hostile spell which prevented the main party from returning to the Virtual Mode.
"It is true!" Nona exclaimed when the horse finished and returned her mind to her. "We must work together, for otherwise we all are lost, and if we succeed we all prevail. You are the folk I needed to reach at the instruments."
Or at least we are folk who may be able to help you. Our arrival here was coincidental.
Nona now understood the concept of the Virtual Mode better than before. "It was not coincidence that I came to that place and sought contact. I thought it was the Megaplayers, but it was for a Virtual Mode—and yours was the one I encountered. Perhaps some groups could not have helped me, but yours can, so I was lucky I connected with you."
Perhaps so. But much remains in doubt.
"Much remains in doubt," she agreed. "But I'm glad it was you, Seqiro, and your friends."
The horse did not send a direct thought, but she felt his mental warmth. He did like her. He liked human girls, and she was one, but he also liked the type of girl she was. Just as she liked the type of horse he was.
After eating, they slept, for they knew that they would have little rest once they left the water. They would have to locate Seqiro's friends, and try to find the Megaplayers. Nona found it comfortable, for though she was awkwardly perched on the back of the horse, under water, with a complicated head-hood, Seqiro sent a pleasant mind message of relaxation.
NONA woke from a pleasant dream which quickly faded. Her legs were feeling stiff, because she was not used to remaining on a horse, but in a moment Seqiro's mind caused that discomfort to fade. It was a continuing comfort to be in his company; he knew how to make a human being feel better.
It is a skill we require in my reality, he explained. There we control the humans, and require them to do our bidding, but we prefer them to be satisfied. Most would have trouble functioning without horses. Colene is more independent, as are you, but the techniques remain helpful.
"They certainly do! Are there other things you can do for our kind?"
I can make you perform beyond your normal level. But this would be a stress on your body if used too often.
"Beyond my normal level? You mean I could do better magic?"
No. Your magic is beyond my scope. You could run faster, lift a heavier weight, or act with improved coordination. You could be more effective in combat with another of your species, or could accomplish some necessary task with better dispatch.
"So if a despot catches me, I might be able to twist out of his grip with unusual strength, and escape," she said. "But that would not affect his magic. I would have to counter that myself."
Yes.
"Still, it's probably going to be helpful, because our chances of hiding long from the despots are small. We had better hurry to join the others, and start our journey to the Megaplayers."
Seqiro made his way up the slope and out of the water. The tights of the night were bright, helping to clarify the ground so that he did not stumble. Nona had always liked the night as well as the day.
She changed the hoods and hoses back into innocuous objects, and did the same for the stones which had weighted the horse enough to enable him to remain below water, freeing them of encumbrances. "But before we go farther, I must get down," Nona murmured.
Seqiro did not need to inquire why; he knew it from her mind. You could have done that in the water.
She realized it was true: she was wet through anyway. The currents would have carried the fluid away. She just hadn't thought of it. So she got down and squatted by a bush, then returned. She preferred to walk beside the horse, getting her legs back into shape.
"Where should we go?" Nona asked.
You must work out a procedure, for I am not an original thinker.
"But you have been thinking original thoughts for hours!" she protested.
No. I have used your mind to think them. Now lam merely in contact with you, and you must do the original thinking. We know that we must work together, but you must decide how we shall get in touch with the others.
Nona realized that this did make sense. The horse had never claimed to be other than a horse, except in the matter of mind-magic. "Then I think we must get close enough to your friends so that you can talk with them. I hope this is not close enough for the creatures of the despots to spot us."
I will try to explore the minds of the creatures we encounter. If I practice, I should be able to attune more perfectly as time passes.
They walked on toward the castle, the ground illuminated by the tiny filament curls. Then, suddenly, they were in range, for Nona heard Colene's voice in her mind. Seqiro! Is that you?
I am with Nona, who kept me safe.
That was a considerable exaggeration, but Nona was so glad to have made contact that she didn't protest it.
Darius has a plan. He will join you, while Provos and I hide.
Then Darius was there with them. He had conjured himself there. Nona was amazed, until she remembered what she had learned of his magic from the horse. Just as Seqiro's magic was far superior to that of the despots, so was Darius' magic. Despots could conjure only small objects, nothing living. Nona was the same; any object that was too large simply caused the conjurer to be drawn in instead. That was useful for flying, but not nearly as good as Darius' instant self-conjuration. King Lombard must be fascinated by, and afraid of, the visitors. With excellent reason.
Yes, Seqiro replied. It was time for them to depart the castle.
"All right," Darius said, speaking in his strange language, but his thoughts coming through to Nona in hers. "We believe that our chance of escaping unobserved is slight, but that Nona's knowledge of the planet should help. So we have split our parties, and when Colene and Provos are safe, we will join them. Seqiro, have you learned enough to enable us to lead the despots astray?"
Yes. Nona has told me how they use familiars to spy on others, and that these creatures usually fly and seldom go out by night. Talk with her.
Darius faced Nona in the filament light, and she realized how handsome he was. "We fear you can not return to your village, now that you have helped us," he said. "You must hide with us. Colene says that this planet should have many projections, some tiny, some large, and some like other planets. Is this true?"
"Yes, Oria is shaped the way all worlds are," Nona agreed. "Except that much of it has weathered down, so no longer shows clearly. But the filaments remain. You can see their lights." She gestured around them.
"We were amazed when we saw these," he said. "Some extend far into the sky."
"Yes, they are all sizes, and of course the stars are merely the joinings of larger filaments. Is this not true in your own world?"
He smiled. "Hardly! Now I propose to conjure us to different sites, staying ahead of the despots. But I can conjure a person only from me or to me, and only one at a time, safely. As far as I can tell, my range is not limited here, but it is not wise to conjure into a strange place. So one of us must go first, taking the risk, and since Seqiro represents our communication, it must be—"
"I'll go first, of course," Nona said quickly.
"That was not what I was about to say. You are our liaison with your people, and you know this planet. So I will—"
"But you must not risk yourself either," she protested. "You are the only one with the conjuring magic."
He considered. "All of us are necessary; none can be risked. We must find another way. But I do not think it will be safe to walk; it will be slow, and they will follow our tracks."
"Maybe I can train a familiar," Nona said uncertainly.
"A what?"
I will explain.
So while Nona cast about for a suitable animal to train, though she was in grave doubt that sh
e could either find or train it hi time, the man and the horse communed.
Then Seqiro's thought came again. I can find a creature for you. and perhaps enhance your training of it. What is best for your purpose?
"A bat," she said immediately. "But I would have to hold it in my hand, and they are hard to catch."
There are bats here. If I can get into the mind of one, I will stun it for you.
Then, to her amazement, he did so. A bat fell to the ground not far from them. She hurried to pick it up, guided by the horse's continuing contact with its mind.
It was a grown female in good health. This was ideal! Nona held the bat in her hand and exerted her magic. She felt Seqiro enhancing it. Lady bat, I call you my familiar, she thought. I will help you and you will help me. Give me your senses. And, thanks to the great added power of the horse's mind-magic, the bat responded almost immediately. It became Nona's familiar in a brief time instead of a day.
Nona flipped the creature into the air. Find a safe place for us to come, she thought to the bat.
The familiar flew into the night. But now Nona flew with it, borrowing the perception of its eyes and especially its ears. She saw, through its ears, the dark trees and clearings and gullies, until it came to a place in the iee of a mountain. This was suitable.
"Now I will go," Darius said. "Then I will conjure the two of you to me. How far is it?"
Beyond my range, the horse thought.
Darius paused. "But then if I join the bat, I will not be able to tune in to you for the conjuration. You will be lost to me."
"Then I should go first," Nona said. "So you can remain in touch with Seqiro."
"But then I will have no contact with the bat," he pointed out. "I will not know where to conjure."
They considered the matter, and realized that there was no easy way to do it. Seqiro could be conjured to join the bat, but then Darius and Nona would not be able to communicate with each other. Nona could be conjured first, but then Darius would not be able to move either of the others to join her. If Darius went first, Seqiro and Nona would be stranded behind.