Key to Destiny

  Crow returned. Blackbird remained seated. She faced him, leaned forward, and smiled. She crossed her legs. “You look handsome,” she said.

  This was a bit too sudden and obvious, but Aspect couldn't caution the woman without giving away the ploy. But it worked. Crow took one glance down inside her blouse and glanced toward the bedroom. Then he glanced at Aspect, who was sitting absolutely decorously, showing nothing, unsmiling. Obviously he did not want to broach the subject in public.

  Blackbird got up and approached him. She hugged him and kissed him. “Desire,” she said.

  That did it. They went to the bedroom and closed the door. They did not emerge.

  Aspect lay down and slept.

  They were late rising in the morning. Could a single lesson have been that effective?

  It seemed it was. When they finally emerged, Crow looked surprised and gratified. “You made her be like you!” he exclaimed.

  “She was always like me,” Aspect said. “You just hadn't realized."

  Blackbird didn't comment, but she was clearly pleased. She might not have learned how to climax, yet, but she had succeeded in evoking far more attention from her man.

  After breakfast, Crow went to see about the next pack of supplies, Blackbird settled down to sew clothing, and Aspect went to visit Sympathy and Mender. They were doing well; there were children constantly in and out.

  Before she left, Crow came to find her. “I know I'm clumsy about shopping for supplies, Lady. But if you would come with me, we can get it right this time."

  “Negation: you have done well. Acceptance: I will do what I can.” She bid parting to the two women and went with him to assorted houses where they obtained particular supplies. Crow had put the first Chroma crystal up as collateral with the village elders, and they were keeping accounts; there was no difficulty about requisitions.

  That evening Blackbird monopolized Crow again, managing to tempt him away from the middle of the meal. She was getting better at playing the game, and Aspect was pleased to see it.

  After a time, Blackbird rushed out, naked. “It happened!” she exclaimed. “I—I climaxed! Now I know why he wants it so much!"

  “Now you know,” Aspect agreed. “Congratulations."

  Blackbird dashed back into the bedroom.

  Next morning the two were late getting up again. Aspect found her own breakfast, well satisfied. Ennui had healed Blackbird's body; Aspect had managed to heal her sexuality. It had been surprisingly easy, with no magic required.

  Then her dragon seed buzzed.

  Something was wrong. Not with Crow and Blackbird; they were in a private paradise of discovery. Something else. But what? She was sure she couldn't ignore it, but the buzz have her no hint of its nature.

  She got up and went to look outside. There were villagers surrounding the house.

  She hurried to the bedroom and rapped on its door. “Trouble!” she called.

  They joined her, both pleasantly disheveled. She explained about the villagers, and they verified it. “Confusion,” Crow said.

  “I can inquire,” Aspect said. She knew what they did not: that she was invulnerable to attack.

  “Negation.” He forged on out to confront them, while Aspect and Blackbird watched from inside.

  “That's Scheme,” Blackbird said. “Always up to no good. He should have been banished long ago. What mischief is he up to now?"

  They surrounded Crow immediately, far too many for him to defend against. Meanwhile several men thrust their way into the house. “You are captive, witch woman,” Scheme said to Aspect. “And you are hostage, Blackbird, to Crow's performance."

  “Outrage!” Blackbird exclaimed. “Home is sacrosanct!"

  He ignored that. “Where are the Chroma gems?"

  So that was it. The village had been overwhelmed by greed. The Chroma crystals were simply too valuable to let be.

  “They are for Crow and Blackbird, for trade,” Aspect said. “Not for taking."

  “That is for us to say,” Scheme said. “Crow will lead a party of us to Death Valley, to where the stones are, so we can harvest them all."

  “Negation!” Blackbird said.

  “If he wants to see you again,” Scheme said grimly. He turned to Aspect. “And the other witch women won't try anything magic as long as we have you."

  Aspect wasn't sure how to handle this. They were not going to let the greedy villages raid the cave, but Crow and Blackbird were vulnerable to their plot; they had to live here. Aspect could probably fight her way clear and go to warn the others, but that would reveal more of her nature than was expedient. How could she defuse this politely? She saw no way. The seed had warned her too late—and she might not have been able to do anything if it had buzzed sooner.

  So she called for help. Ennui could reach Havoc long distance when she tried; maybe Aspect could reach Gale similarly. The Glamors would know what to do. Gale!

  The answer came, faintly. Aspect.

  Trouble in Edge Village, Gray Chroma zone. We need your help.

  Acquiescence. The mental presence faded.

  Had it been enough? She hadn't had time to explain what kind of trouble, or that it was immediate. Had Gale picked it up from her mental background?

  Meanwhile the men were searching the house. They quickly found the Red Chroma crystal. Then they hustled the two of them outside, and to the village square.

  Crow was there. “Lady!” he cried. “I don't know what to do."

  “Help will come,” Aspect said. She hoped it came soon.

  “Attention,” Scheme said. “Crow will lead me and my party to the source of the Chroma stones. His wife and the witch woman will be held here until nightfall. If we aren't back with the stones then, start raping them. If anything happens to us, kill them."

  “How can you do this?” Blackbird cried. “We're a civilized village.” A number of villagers looked ashamed, but did not speak. Scheme had control of the situation.

  Then a dot appeared in the sky. It expanded swiftly. It was a big gray bird. A huge one. It came to land in the square beside the captives. It stood the height of a man, on three legs, and it glowed.

  Aspect recognized it. “The Gray Glamor!” she exclaimed, amazed. Gale must have notified him.

  The bird's head turned toward her, nodding.

  The villagers stared in awe. Surely they had never seen a Glamor before; few people anywhere had.

  Then the Glamor's head turned to orient on Scheme. Obviously it was his cue.

  “I don't care if it is a Glamor,” the man blustered. “Those gems are ours."

  The bird did not react. He merely stood gazing at the man. But now the sky filled with specks that became gray birds. They were small, but in a moment the villagers recognized the species: they were called piranha birds.

  The villagers scattered. But Scheme, held by the Glamor's gaze, did not move. The birds flocked around him, and on him, pecking viciously with their tri-part beaks. Blood flowed.

  The man screamed, once. Then he fell, his body entirely covered by birds. Soon there was nothing left but bones.

  The birds, gorged, departed. The Glamor glanced once more at Aspect, then flew away.

  Aspect kept a tight rein on her emotion and went to Blackbird, who stood in shock. “It is done,” she said, taking the woman's arm. “No one will interfere with us again. Come to the house.” She glanced at Crow. “No change in our schedule."

  “You are a witch woman,” he said, stunned.

  “Negation. Merely a woman on an important mission, protected by Glamors. They take exception to interference."

  They returned to the house. It took Crow and Blackbird some time to recover emotional equilibrium, and it was not easy for Aspect. But the point had been made, savagely, as seemed usually to be the case when Glamors took open action. Aspect remembered when they had intervened on Havoc's behalf, the first time, and his enemies had dissolved into dust. No one ever forgot a Glamor point. Gale had done what needed to be don
e.

  Aspect realized that, shocking as the event had been, she was much better equipped to handle it than she would have expected. This was surely another gift of the ikon: it shored up her ability to handle emotional shock.

  A villager came to their door and prostrated himself. “Apology,” he said. “Abject. For all of us."

  “Just go about your normal routine,” Aspect said. “We seek no quarrel with you, merely cooperation. But do bury the bones.” She knew there were more guilty villagers than just Scheme, but there was no need to punish them. They would never interfere again.

  “Acquiescence,” he said relieved. He departed.

  Next morning Crow and Aspect set off for Death Valley, both carrying substantial packs. Blackbird remained at the village. They knew she would be safe. Absolutely safe.

  “In three days I have seen joy and horror,” Crow remarked.

  “The good and bad of human beings."

  “Blackbird—you transformed her. I can hardly keep up with her. I love it. Gratitude."

  “Appreciation."

  When they came to the spot near the thorn tree, he hesitated.

  “Desire?” Aspect asked.

  “Curiosity."

  She was curious too. They went to the rock, and had sex. This time he took time to kiss her and stroke her breasts before entering. She responded, enjoying the progress he had made; it was a private credit to her time with Blackbird. It was a marvelous mutual climax. “Oh, Lady!"

  “Oh, Crow!” She was teasing him, but he liked it. “Comparison?"

  “She's not as good as you, technically, but is much closer now, and I love her, and that makes it more."

  “Gladness."

  “In time you ladies will finish and go, but Blackbird will always be with me."

  “Agreement."

  “But I will never forget you."

  “We will remember you, too, Crow."

  They completed the trek without further event. “Something happened,” Ennui said. “What?"

  They told the story of Blackbird's conversion, and Scheme's plot and punishment. “I think there will be no more complications at the village,” Aspect concluded.

  It was Nonce's turn with Crow, which she took while they were unpacking supplies. Then he was gone, eager to return to Blackbird. “He's changed,” Nonce reported.

  “Another woman is working on him now,” Aspect said.

  Things settled down to routine. Time passed. The flax plants grew to chest height, and it was time to harvest them. They pulled them up by the roots and laid them on the ground in their Chroma zonelets, watering them to encourage decomposition. This was the retting process, to separate the long strong fibers from the woody sheaves. There was no way to hurry it; it took the time it took. When they cleared the plots they planted more seeds, because they weren't sure they had enough fibers yet.

  Finally they had the fibers they needed, and were able to resume weaving on the loom. Nonce set the loom up in the second chamber, and they took turns at it, as before. The picture took further shape, growing, and they knew it was a true one because they could see it change after appearing; it was tracking the section of Counter Charm it depicted.

  They planted more seeds as plots cleared, and in due course had enough to complete the tapestry. It was a truly marvelous thing, fascinating them with its constant shifts of color and detail.

  Crow appeared regularly every three days with more supplies. He reported that Blackbird was pregnant with her first. The three of them gave him extra attention as his wife's condition progressed, making sure he suffered no sexual deprivation, and in due course he was a father.

  By the time they were done, a year had passed. They had been long away from Triumph City, and were eager to return. They bid fond parting to Crow and Blackbird, and set off for home.

  * * *

  Chapter 5—Counter Charm

  Havoc was antsy. With Ennui and Aspect away, he and Gale had had to remain mostly at Triumph City truly being king and queen instead of leaving it to the mocks. He hated it, but knew they couldn't risk having no truly committed and knowledgeable people in the palace. Symbol served as social reminder, and Ennui had left her top lieutenant, a competent and discreet woman, but she was not his oath friend. Bijou filled in where she could, as secretary and bed-mate when necessary, but both were a strain on her in different manners.

  Chief and Throe were similarly out of sorts, with their women gone. They had shifted suddenly from too much sex to too little, as other women did not compare. But Ennui had made a sly suggestion before she departed. Havoc smiled, remembering it. She and Aspect had come to him in the night, oddly, looking strangely sexy in their nightrobes. “Apology for disturbing you at this hour."

  “Needless.” She always had reason.

  “I was restless, and I thought of something."

  “Your thoughts are always welcome."

  She smiled appreciatively. “I don't know how long we'll be gone, Havoc. I believe Ini can handle my job, with the assistance of my assistant; she's twice as smart as I am, and has an organized mind. But you need a substitute for the Lady Aspect, to organize social functions. Neither Aspect nor I care to have substitutes that might replace us in your esteem—"

  “Negation! You are my oath friend."

  She smiled. “I'm teasing, Havoc. Still, there's something to it. Ini I'm sure can be trusted, but anyone in Aspect's place is at risk of getting ideas of permanence. So how about Futility?"

  “Question?"

  “Remember when you contested for the kingship, and oathed me in the process? That beautiful deceitful woman in red?"

  He remembered. “Ire!"

  “Precisely. You will never be inclined to keep her. Excavate her from her banishment, and assign her. I suspect she will be competent, and there will be no danger of permanence."

  She was right. Havoc would never trust that particular woman. “But how could I trust her in a position of responsibility? She has little conscience."

  “She is in Limbo now. She surely hates it. Offer her freedom if she performs well—and a return to Limbo otherwise. She will conform."

  He glanced sidelong at her. “This is a tougher stance than I have seen in you. You are not a hard woman."

  Ennui smiled. “Havoc, I'm not hard to you, and not just because of the oath. If you needed a bed mate and no young woman was convenient, I would serve. But experience as your personal secretary, confronting the myriad folk who seek to gain advantage by contact with the king, has made me cynical. I have learned how to make people conform to royal convenience. Anyone will bend if correct and sufficient force is applied."

  This surprised him on several counts. The thought of her in his bed had never occurred to him; she was his mother's age. But as he gazed at her now, he saw that she was not the woman he had first oathed. She looked no more than thirty, and a remarkably robust and lovely thirty at that, almost akin to Symbol. What had happened?

  “Your ikon happened, Havoc,” she said, picking up his thought. “It has transformed me to a health and shape I never was in youth. And it has made me sexy, perhaps in the Glamor manner. Getting to know the succubus Swale has done nothing to abate that. I remain your oath friend, with all that implies, but all else has changed."

  Symbol was ten years his senior, and a fine mistress. Ennui was more than ten years her senior, yet looked quite capable of similar performance. Indeed, all else had changed. But he could not approach her, because of the ikon.

  “I could set the ikon aside for long enough, Havoc, and would, if the occasion warranted. But my point is that I have changed. I am a mentally harder and a physically softer woman than I was. I think you can trust my judgment with respect to making Futility behave. You could even take her for a no fault mistress if you choose, if she believes that is a requirement for the position you offer. Swale could help, if your knowledge of Futility's nature turned out to be too much of a turnoff. In fact that might be best, because she will think that is why you
offer it. Her appearance is her main power."

  Ennui was cynical indeed! And surely correct. “What is Limbo?"

  “It's where they hide the folk who officially no longer exist. Where you and I would have gone, had we not survived the kingship contest. They are not mistreated, but they can never return to normal human society."

  “I doubt I like this. They are not criminals?"

  “Correct. You can disband it if you prefer; as king you have that power. But it may do better to keep it as a threat for now."

  Havoc looked at Aspect, who had let Ennui do the talking so far. “Concurrence?"

  “Concurrence,” Aspect agreed. “Fetch her, control her, bed her. As for Ini—I have an additional use in mind for her."

  “Beyond replacing Ennui as my personal secretary?"

  “Agreement. If you are going to bed my surrogate, bed Ennui's also. And more."

  “Confusion!"

  Aspect smiled. “We thus bed you in surrogate, Havoc, perhaps a fitting compromise. We know the thought of sexuality in us embarrasses you, as it would have embarrassed us before we got the ikons. But there is reason. You plan to travel far—to planet Counter Charm—and you will be taking some nonGlamors along, including Ini. She carries an ikon. That will make her sexually charged, and in time more physically appealing than she has been. But most vital, you need to discover how to transport an ikon-bearing person so far a distance. So do it; practice traveling with her, no fault, and do not tease her with your close manly presence. She is young and impressionable despite her intellect; she will soon be smitten with you. Let her slowly learn how to clasp you, as Bijou did."

  “Consideration,” Havoc said, taken aback.

  “You have trusted our judgment before, Havoc,” Ennui said. “Trust it now."

  “Agreement,” he said, half dazed by their boldness.

  “Favor,” Aspect said. “We wish to kiss you."

  “Amenable, if possible.” He doubted it was.

  Ennui removed her tree ikon from her mouth and gave it to Aspect, who held it at arm's length from her body. Then Ennui approached Havoc, embraced him, and kissed him passionately on the mouth. Her sexuality was like the splash of a warm wave against his body. Indeed, she had changed!