The horses hadn't been taken very far, and once we were back on the road with my miniature sun doused, I discovered that the line of march had been shifted without anyone saying a word. Su was still out front with a ner- vous, tired Soffann Dra beside her, but the men had rearranged themselves so that Zail rode to my right, Kadrim behind me. and fearless leader to my left. I didn't like the new arrangement and tried to talk mem out of it, but they were all too busy looking in seven directions at once to listen to me. Even Su had muttered something about al- most losing me because she hadn't been bright enough to follow the trail to the inn rather than the trail that was taking us to the balance stone; the two were supposed to have been the same, and would have been if we'd gone on to the, real inn. At that point I discovered I was too tired to continue me argument for that day, and simply saved my strength for any further emergencies.

Happily, all emergencies proved to have retired for the night. Another half hour^s riding brought us to the place we should have reached the first time, and my companions were faintly upset to see that it looked exactly like the inn mat had been reproduced for us back in the woods, right down to the three boys who came running out to see to our horses. I, myself, took a good long look at the place before dismounting, and immediately Saw why the trap had been set at the duplicate.

"Take it slow until we've checked this place out, Laciel,"

Zail fussed at me as I handed over me reins of my gray men turned toward the house. "We don't know what can be waiting for us inside."

"There's nothing to worry about here, Zail," I said with a sigh, stopping because of the hand on my shoulder.

"They couldn't set the trap here because Graythor warded

86.

this place, with a spell to keep out anyone with evil intentions. Considering some of the people who usually ride this road on a regular basis, we might even find the place empty."

That seemed to settle them down a bit, but it was still Kadrim and fearless leader who walked into the house first, their right hands loose and ready. The big room held about five people aside from the serving girl and the innkeeper, and none of them looked familiar including the last two. The girl was small and blond and tired-looking, and the innkeeper was tall and lean with a long, unhappy face. Our sudden, group appearance made him uneasy, but mat disappeared quickly enough when Rikkan Addis stepped forward and threw three gold coins on the bar.

"We need meals and lodgings for the night," he told the suddenly happier innkeeper, watching as the man made me coins disappear with a single movement of his hand.

"For the food we'll take the best you have, but for sleep- ing we want one of your dormitory rooms. Our group will be staying together, but alone; if there's anybody already in the room, clear them out."

"Just a minute," I said as the innkeeper began nodding in surprised but nevertheless eager agreement, moving past Kadriro to get to the bar. "I don't care what the rest of you do, but 1*11 be sleeping in a private room tonight. Crowds tend to keep me awake."

"You can't be guarded as easily in a private room as you can be in a dormitory," Rikkan Addis said with a touch of annoyance, looking down at me with those eyes again. "As long as I'm me one with the gold, we'll do things my way."

"Then isn't it lucky for me that I can afford to pay my own way?" I remarked, opening my hand to show the three gold coins I'd just produced before handing them over to the innkeeper. "As far as being guarded goes, I've already told you that this place is safe. If you're in the mood to ruin what will probably be everyone's last decent night's sleep just to play fearless leader, don't try to count me in on it. Tonight I make up for what I missed last night. Give me my key."

The last of my words were for the innkeeper, who had a

8?.

THE FAR SIDE Of FOREVER

key in my outstretched hand before the final syllable died away. He hadn't missed the fact that there hadn't been any gold in my hand when I'd first walked over, and knew exactly what that meant. If his odd new guest was about to get into an argument with a sorceress, he wanted no part of it.

But his odd new guest apparently decided against an argument with a sorceress; I was able to leave the main room with nothing but silence following me, find the stairs leading upward, then locate the room that matched the number on my key. The room was dark when I opened the door, but a snap of my fingers brought the lamp to life, dimly illuminating a small, not particularly neat and clean box that had a bed and a chair and one window, and nothing else. The patch-quilt on the bed was faded, the linen was more yellow than white, and the greasy brown chair had one leg snorter than the others; nevertheless I closed and locked the door behind me, threw the key on the chair, then sat down on the bed.

"You still haven't learned to follow orders very well, have you?" a voice asked, a voice I'd been half expect- ing to hear. I looked up to see Graythor's image sitting on the chair, paying no mind, of^course, to the key it wasn't really sitting on. It was his true image that he had sent, and his dark eyes were staring straight at me.

"I had the feeling you were watching, checking to see how well we could take care of ourselves," I said, making no attempt to avoid his gaze. "Did we pa.s.s?"

"You've had no real opposition yet and you know it,"

he came back, his voice as even and undisturbed as it had been. "We'll find out what you're all made of once you get a little farther down the trail."

"Why didn't you stop it?" I demanded, too tired to play any more word games. "You were there at the replicate inn, 1 know you were! Why didn't you stop the h.e.l.lfire?"

"Laciel, child, it wasn't a friendly compet.i.tion," he said, his eyes commiserating but his tone cold and im- placable. "If Draffan had gotten control of the sphere, it would have been you who was devoured So far they've underestimated you, but that can change at any time.

88.

Now, I think, you can understand why your being leader of this expedition would have been impractical."

"Because they're after my head first?" 1 asked with a sound of ridicule, not terribly happy with his answer con- cerning the h.e.l.lfire, but needing to discuss this other point as well. "Most leaders are targets, so what difference would it make? At least if I was leader I could keep them from suffocating me, which is what I intend seeing to first thing in the morning. With the number of personal de- fenses I have, their attempts at protection are ludicrous."

"Their attempts are necessary, not ludicrous," he said very sternly, his anger enhancing the heavy flow of power from his twisted image-body as he straightened in the chair as best he could. "You still have no idea what you're fighting against, and if you were leader you would under- estimate the enemy just as they're doing with you! You need to be protected for more reasons than you know, and Rikkan Addis is the one to do it! He will remain leader, and you will stop bedeviling him!"

It had been a long time since Graythor had last spoken to me like that, showing so much of his enormous power, and it wasn't something I'd be able to argue against for a long, long time-if ever. There was no question about how much stronger he was-but Acre was also no ques- tion about my own opinions on the points. Rather than try to argue I simply stretched out across the creaking bed on my right side, busily inspecting the faded patch-quilt under me, saying not a word.

"I'm tempted to have a few words with Morgiana when she returns, but I have the distinct feeling it's already too late," he growled at my silence, less angry but more annoyed. "Once you make up that mind about something.

it's just about impossible to sway you. Try to understand that Rikkan Addis is the best leader for the expedition, otherwise 1 wouldn't have chosen him. Just as you're the best Sighted for it. You can't let your personal feelings get in the way of what has to be done."

"What personal feelings?" I asked with a snort, looking up at him over the foot of the bed. "Knowing you can do a better job than someone else isn't opinion if you can 89.

i *_

' t,

prove it-which I can. Don't you want the balance stone recovered?"

"Your att.i.tude toward Rikkan Addis has nothing to do with the balance stone," he said, back to staring at me and almost back to calm. "Laciel, the man is different, almost in the same away you're different, and you're blaming him for that. Also, everyone is accepting him without question despite his difference, and you're blaming him for that as well. It all has to do with why you've never even tried to find the people you come from,"

"That's ridiculous," I said after forcing the words over a pause, finding that the patch-quilt was a much better thing (o look at than the image of Graythor- "What could fearless leader possibly have to do with whoever my people were?"

"He has nothing to do with them," me gentle but persistent answer came as I picked at the st.i.tching of the quilt. "You seem to have come to the conclusion that your people didn't want you because of your differences, and that's why you were abandoned to grow up on the streets like a homeless animal. You equate different with wrong, which is why you feel so strongly that Rikkan Addis is the wrong one to lead the expedition- You've also learned some small measure of personaLself-esteem over the years with Morgiana, and that's why you feel that if anyone different is to be leader, that one should be you. You're going to have to take my word for me fact that everything is already as it should be, and be satisfied with that."

"I'm rarely satisfied with second best or blind specula- tion," I muttered to the quilt, certain that what he'd said was absolutely untrue, but much too tired to go looking for me logic flaws. "Would you mind very much letting me go to bed now? Fearless leader will be chasing us out early in me morning, and I'd hate to oversleep."

"Very well, then, we'll do it your way," he said, and all the compa.s.sion in his voice was gone behind the return of sternness. "I've devised a spell I'd hoped would be unnecessary, but your stubbornness leaves me no choice.

From now on Rikkan Addis will be warded, but not in the usual way. If you make any attempt at all to use magic against him, your spells will bounce back changed into the strongest obedience spell I could find, leaving you needing 90.

permission to so much as blink- You'll still be able to do what's needed on me expedition, but then you'll have to be allowed to do it-by Rikkan Addis. 1 know exactly how much you'll enjoy something like that.11 '_*

I sat up fast to glare at him furiously, but that was about [ the only thing I could do. Most people struggled simply to leam to use spells, but Graythor was experienced enough ^ to devise them. Experimentation always fell into the dan- "'

gerous black area, but if you managed to survive you were .^ powerful enough to do just about anything you pleased. I'd

- never be able to find a way around his spell, and he knew , ^ it!