02. Riders of the Winds (12 page)

_{collector.
The gods save us all from
collectors!
He does not use relics, however, so it'll cost, damn it." She sighed again. "From what you tell me, you
should
have been the one and not your friend. You have the spirit and temperament for it. But, we must deal with what we have, not with what we want. In the meantime, I sense that much troubles you. I would like to know what, one at a time, please."}

_{all
slaves, child! We only kid ourselves if we pretend otherwise. Why, Akahlar itself is a source of massive power and wealth and nearly limitless resources, yet ninety percent of its people are at subsistence level toiling for the few. The ones that are leftover are subject to monarchies and governments in which they have no say even when some of those governments pretend that their citizens do have some say, and under a series of religions that oppress them even more. Wars and revolutions are always fought in the name of the dispossessed but always seem to really be about which side of a small elite shall be the oppressor. I envy you if you were born and raised in a different sort of place where this is not true. It must be strange indeed."}

_{comfortable.
And, for over a hundred years anyway, they didn't keep slaves.}

_{course
they are, you ninny! You don't have to worry about
those
kinds of diseases, though. What alchemy can't create here magic can eventually control, or, if such a disease is created in the changewind, as has happened, the Akhbreed move to—sterilize—it. You're immune to the hundred or so venereal diseases we have now, so don't worry about it. That's what makes courtesans worth so much. Of course, the general population isn't so lucky, but it keeps the populations under control and in check. But even the highest of the Akhbreed can become addicted to the pleasure potions. That's Jamonica's real trade, and why he'd pay so much for an alchemist slave. And that's Hodamoc's hope for eventually controlling Mashtopol. Addict so many of the pleasure-loving and decadent royalty and the bored movers and shakers that he will enslave them in a way just as effective as he enslaved you. Do not feel so bad. That ring tells the world that your situation was forced upon you and not self-inflicted, and there is no dishonor in that. I sense you have a question on it anyway. Go ahead."}

_{will
undo it, however, not to mention a Master willing to let you go, is the trick. Pardon, my dear, but there is no percentage in it. Don't look so crestfallen. You haven't exactly done very well on your own up to now or you wouldn't be under such a spell. Your value was, is, and remains as a decoy. Klittichorn might suspect, but so long as he does not
know
he can't take you for granted, and that means he must try and hunt you. Your value is to lead them away from your friend— without falling into their clutches, which you both have very narrowly escaped doing up to now. However, before we can make use of you we must first locate and redirect your friend. Since this Boday had the audacity to trick your friend into that marriage spell, she is essential to the task. I fear your friend has fallen into the clutches of Duke Pasedo and is even now happily and ignorantly picking berries somewhere many leegs from here. That we will have to determine. But you have other problems and worries. Speak."}

_{liked
it. I fear that there is something wrong with me that I did not suspect. That I would rather be a whore than a warrior or a queen or have my own business."}

_this!"

_{crushed
by this!" the tall, tattooed woman grumbled. "First they make her a slave—a
slave'.—
and set her to work in a happy-potions factory—me! A great artist! Hovering over what is no more than a soulless assembly line!"}

_{Yeah, well, at least you're not blind as well,}

_{slime pit,"
Boday went on, oblivious as always. Charley had hopes that Yobi or Dorion would command her to silence at least but when there were just the two of them there weren't any limits on that sort of thing.}

_{Love potions conquer all,}

_{is
and isn't just some byproduct of all those potions she was fed and the kind of life she'd been leading, it must be fairly well along, predating her current situation."}

_{creatures—
and Boday would have been? A great primitive artist, perhaps, or maybe an animist." She sighed. "No, with that mixture it would probably grow up to be a critic. Whatever, Boday will consider the child as her own.
Our
own."}

_{move.
We've been sitting on Hodamoc long enough anyway and it's been no end of trouble. We want to let him go, have him identify Charley as the Storm Princess's double, and draw them here. By that time you have to be long gone."}

_{blind.
Totally so. And, out there, totally defenseless because of it. I was lucky once when I could see to shoot straight, but I didn't do really well with both eyes going. Now ..."}

_{link
ye two!"}

_{Her
face, but not as she had ever seen it before.}

_{I'm seeing what the cat is seeing, the way the cat sees it!}

₆

_{Split Personalities}

_{sensuous
seemed invented for her.}

_{not
to fight. As for myself, I could not even
lift
his sword, and the recoil from his guns would be as devastating to me as to whomever or whatever I hit. Crim is correct on one very big point, and that is no amount of force short of a total assault will get her out of there if she's in there under the conditions you surmise."}

_{that
place might take forever."}

_"Perfect!

_{I
have in mind is complicated as all hell and not very fast. It reads the genetic code and then slowly regrows what's missing over a fairly long period, but the results can still be spectacular. All right. But alchemy . . . That's tougher. They're apparently pretty damned good at that already, so the obvious probably isn't needed. I'll have to give that one some thought and perhaps some research." The sorcerer paused a moment, then said, "All right, so we use bribery. Now how the hell do we control the girl if she's been turned into a pea-brained grape stomper? With her build she'd probably be great at that."}

_{that!
I can see the resemblance, almost like sisters, but you cannot really see the potential of one in the other."}

_{them,
son. They don't care who or what you are. Interesting that Old Horny's still lurking around here, though. Guess he got frustrated when they used some of his patrols for vulture feed a while back, so they needed some heavy artillery."}

_{dares
do this to
me?"
he screamed shrilly between chokes.}

_{dare
you . . . !"}

_{"Shut up, little man!"
the Navigator growled. "I'm going to say one name to you and then I better get a real convincing story from you or the next time I won't let up. The name is Gallo Jahoort."}

_{there!
I
know
you were there. Public record, after all. You always do things on the record, don't you, shit licker? A whole train gets turned into mush and who just happens to be on that particular one? None other than Zamofir himself."}

_{thought
that Zamofir had deliberately aided that train and one of their own to doom there was no place in all Akahlar to hide and the dying would be horribly slow.}

_"Those

_that.

_{irresistible,
Crim! You've bent as many laws and flaunted as much authority as anyone. I'll split it with you, Crim!"}

_{hadn't
had anything to do with the destruction of that train! But Crim was right—if Zamofir found the fat girl and turned her over to Asterial's ally, who would believe that? He would have to risk the homed one's wrath and resign. It would be a terrible thing, but better a chance of quick, angry death than sure and certain slow death later on. No reward was worth
that
certainty . . .}

_{good
to see you so radiant!"}

_{was
a stunner tonight, in a stunning sparkling burgundy slit dress and matching heels, golden jewelry and made up just right.}

_{do
play games after all. I am not a patient woman—Kano. Unlike Zamofir and his employer, we
know
she is here. I was sent—ahead—to see if something could be done to keep disaster from befalling this nice place."}

_{"Oh gods!"
he almost sobbed.}

_{me.
You see how it is. The sorcerer Boolean
knows.
If we can't settle this, then he'll have to contact and make public demands of and embarrass the Duke, and the Duke, to retain his honor, will have to deny it all, and then the full fury of an Akhbreed sorcerer will be brought on all within and this will all be destroyed. No more refuge. No more governor. Nothing but all the changewind victims who survived wandering the ruins. And even honor and reputation will also be crushed, for her mate is still alive and will lodge a formal inquiry with the Kingdom."}

_{trust
anyone? Better to just leave and then contact the sorcerer."}

_{wanted
to forget, wanted to become someone else, to be loved, to feel important, needed, for herself, and she didn't care if it was on the level of a base peasant. If she had, she would have developed differently. Many of our staff here had the same potion and all began as base peasants, but they could not find happiness at that level, so we allowed them to rise until they were at the level that met their basic inner needs. Not her. She loves the communalism, the tribal identity, the basic life with few demands and no responsibility. And the longer she's been there the more thoroughly she's become one of them."}

_{never
her choice, which is part of her problem I suspect—nor yours, nor mine, nor the Duke's. The freak rains that have been doing so much damage here will continue and increase in seventy."}

_{"She
is the cause of mat?"}

_{access
to any past memories. The new personality is built by simply being in and around what you want them to be. Access is by exposure. She has been around only peasants of our sort, so she was able to retrieve and use all the words and phrases and such that they use and she hears. Then she adopts that culture, that belief system, that mode of speech, that way of life. The longer the period that this lasts, the more permanent it becomes and the brain, not accessing the old information, begins to stick it where it cannot be found, like memories of infanthood and fine details of our past. The more she wants what she has, the more she is comfortable that way, the more rapid and total the process of eliminating the past and its knowledge becomes. Eventually, it is irrelevant and irretrievable."}

_{big, big
help. I won't forget it."}

_{her?"
Kira asked as she peered into the low and primitive adobe clinic used by the field workers from a safe office. Layse nodded.}

_{short
and
large
could be used to describe the same person. She was certainly quite fat, and no area from the face to the hips, thighs, ass, stomach, and breasts had escaped excess. And yet she was certainly muscular—the arms took very little work to exhibit an amazing set of muscles, and the legs when they were tensed showed much the same.}

_{What a life, she
thought sadly. Still, "She certainly seems bubbly and outgoing," she noted.}

_{lift
her. Any medical problems we should know about other than that?"}

_{greatl"
Kira muttered. "Just what we needed. Does she know?"}

_{her
until it's well along? But it will weaken her, slow her down, there will be biochemical changes, that sort of thing."}

_{safely,
anyway, and the other, cruder methods at this stage risk infection, even possible death. If you take her tonight, either your sorcerer has to come up with something or she's going to have the kid."}

_{never
left her cave. Yet, here she was, with two very inhuman attendants, slithering in, long ears twitching, pulling herself with the aid of two strong-looking canes.}

_{power
lurks! The threads that run wispily to the north are firm. Yes, yes, she is definitely the one, poor soul."}

_{course
it's not, you silly, blithering idiot, but if I can't recover from old Horny the Fart and his minions as long as I need I don't deserve to still be here!"}