[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
of us had any sense of where we were, how far we'd come, or in what direction
we
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%20Charon.htm (153 of 233) [1/17/03 4:31:49 AM]
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate were going. We finally reached a small clearing
in the jungle where Frienta proclaimed a complete stop. We would be allowed to
forage for food, each according to our own needs, then get some sleep. It was
not well, she told us, to travel much in daylight and we still had a long way
to go more than two nights'
march at the least.
Even relieved of our burdens, Darva and I felt exhausted, but we knew we
needed strength now more than ever. We picked no fights, settling for catching
and eating a number of small animals that were no real challenge and
supplementing this with what wild fruits we could find. Then we slept through
most of the day.
Frienta revealed no more of herself in light than in darkness a fact that
intrigued us all more and more. We felt certain she was some sort of
changeling herself, but what sort we had no idea. We rotated guard positions
while the others slept, but I
kept the laser pistols. Most of the others didn't know how to use them and a
couple simply couldn't. Besides, I didn't really fully trust anybody except
Darva, who certainly didn't know how to shoot, and myself.
The next night was much like the first, although we got a break in the rain
which certainly helped me a little. My human passenger said next to nothing
during the entire journey, and I was glad for that. I was too tired to be
conversational. During the middle of the third night we suddenly broke out
onto a wide, sandy beach. We had reached the coast the south coast again, as
it turned out, but more than a hundred kilometers west of Bourget.
It was with relief that we realized that we were at the end of our journey.
Our mysterious guide had taken us unerringly to the right spot through the
jungle, avoiding all Companies and all but a very few roads and also avoiding
the worst of the jungle and swamps.
"We are safe now," Frienta assured us. "The encampment here is protected from
interlopers by high sorcery."
I looked around. "Encampment?"
"Come," she beckoned, and we walked down the beach a little to where it curved
inland, forming a small bay. It looked desolate, totally deserted, until we
turned slightly inland on the bay's south side. Suddenly we found ourselves in
a very large if primitive village, with tents, even fires and torchlight. It
was so surprising that several of us uttered sounds of amazement; I, for one,
stopped, then turned and stepped back a few meters and turned again. Desertion
and silence. Walk a
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%20Charon.htm (154 of 233) [1/17/03 4:31:49 AM]
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate few steps forward, and there it was a true camp
with hundreds of beings, both changeling and human.
Frienta waved a ghostly arm. "Just find yourself a comfortable place and
settle in," she told us. "Ample food to your requirements will be provided,
but we are out of tents and other shelters, I fear. If you can make no
arrangements, you can use the jungle in the rear. The spell covers the entire
south side of the bay but only to a depth of ninety meters from the beach so
if you go beyond, into the forest, take care."
Our little group dispersed quickly as our fellow travelers found others they
knew among the teeming throng of creatures on the beach. Our nervous human
joined a small group of her own kind with evident relief.
Page 110
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Darva looked at me. "Well? What shall we do now?"
I shrugged. "Sleep, I think. Tomorrow we'll find out what comes next." I
looked around at the various kinds of creatures on the beach, some of which
were the stuff of real nightmares. Charon had taken criminal minds, insane
minds, and given them great power. Much of that insanity could be seen
reflected in its victims on the beach as well as in our former company, I
reflected. Koril might prove more sympathetic, I knew; but he was still a
politician, a king dethroned who wanted his position back and was willing to
go to any lengths to get it. This system had been in effect when he was in
charge before, and even before that, and he'd done nothing then to stop it.
And that, of course, was something most of these people, the changelings in
particular, would simply overlook; almost all were natives, and that alone
accounted for a certain naivete to which was now added an exponential increase
in trust borne of hope and desperation.
How were we different from the aliens, Darva had asked me and I really wasn't
sure of an answer. If I wasn't, then perhaps Koril saw few differences either.
He would be unlikely to eliminate an external alien menace only to allow
another to fester here homegrown. There was no question in my mind that these
people were being used, as always. Sooner or later I knew, something would
have to be done.
Darva had wandered off for a few minutes to see if anybody was around and
awake whom she knew. When I saw her talking to a small group near a large
tent, I decided to join her.
She looked over at me as I approached, smiled, nodded, and turned back to the
trio by the fire I saw one of them was frog-man, another the bird creature and
I
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%20Charon.htm (155 of 233) [1/17/03 4:31:49 AM]
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate strode right up to them. Before I could say
anything, though, the flap of the tent behind me opened and I heard a familiar
voice. "Why, hello, Darva! Hi, Park! My, you look stunning in your new suit!"
I whirled about in total surprise, and looked into the face of Tully Kokul.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Koril's Redoubt
Tully and I walked along the beach. "Tell me," I asked him, "are you
Koril?"
He laughed. "Oh my, no! I couldn't hold a candle to him! I'm really a very
simple man, Park. In ancient times I'd be the parish priest, a man looking for
rest and place to contemplate and experiment with a minimum of interference.
Bourget was like a dream come true for me. Nobody around higher up to give me
all sorts of orders, a peaceful village filled with good, profit-minded simple
folk, and a very distant government that left us all alone. I was extremely
happy there."
"So how come you're here, then?" I asked him. "Surely you didn't just come
along for the ride."
He chuckled. "Oh no, but I'm like the pacifist who stays home, locks himself
in his house while the war rages, then suddenly finds the opposing armies
marching and shooting through his living room. I'm only a fair sore, but I'm a
good politician, Park. I knew what was going on in and around the village. I
knew too that eventually the idyll would end, although I put off all decisions
until the last minute. It was painful to lose but when Matuze took over it was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
of us had any sense of where we were, how far we'd come, or in what direction
we
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%...ds%20of%20the%20Diamond%203%20-
%20Charon.htm (153 of 233) [1/17/03 4:31:49 AM]
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate were going. We finally reached a small clearing
in the jungle where Frienta proclaimed a complete stop. We would be allowed to
forage for food, each according to our own needs, then get some sleep. It was
not well, she told us, to travel much in daylight and we still had a long way
to go more than two nights'
march at the least.
Even relieved of our burdens, Darva and I felt exhausted, but we knew we
needed strength now more than ever. We picked no fights, settling for catching
and eating a number of small animals that were no real challenge and
supplementing this with what wild fruits we could find. Then we slept through
most of the day.
Frienta revealed no more of herself in light than in darkness a fact that
intrigued us all more and more. We felt certain she was some sort of
changeling herself, but what sort we had no idea. We rotated guard positions
while the others slept, but I
kept the laser pistols. Most of the others didn't know how to use them and a
couple simply couldn't. Besides, I didn't really fully trust anybody except
Darva, who certainly didn't know how to shoot, and myself.
The next night was much like the first, although we got a break in the rain
which certainly helped me a little. My human passenger said next to nothing
during the entire journey, and I was glad for that. I was too tired to be
conversational. During the middle of the third night we suddenly broke out
onto a wide, sandy beach. We had reached the coast the south coast again, as
it turned out, but more than a hundred kilometers west of Bourget.
It was with relief that we realized that we were at the end of our journey.
Our mysterious guide had taken us unerringly to the right spot through the
jungle, avoiding all Companies and all but a very few roads and also avoiding
the worst of the jungle and swamps.
"We are safe now," Frienta assured us. "The encampment here is protected from
interlopers by high sorcery."
I looked around. "Encampment?"
"Come," she beckoned, and we walked down the beach a little to where it curved
inland, forming a small bay. It looked desolate, totally deserted, until we
turned slightly inland on the bay's south side. Suddenly we found ourselves in
a very large if primitive village, with tents, even fires and torchlight. It
was so surprising that several of us uttered sounds of amazement; I, for one,
stopped, then turned and stepped back a few meters and turned again. Desertion
and silence. Walk a
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%...ds%20of%20the%20Diamond%203%20-
%20Charon.htm (154 of 233) [1/17/03 4:31:49 AM]
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate few steps forward, and there it was a true camp
with hundreds of beings, both changeling and human.
Frienta waved a ghostly arm. "Just find yourself a comfortable place and
settle in," she told us. "Ample food to your requirements will be provided,
but we are out of tents and other shelters, I fear. If you can make no
arrangements, you can use the jungle in the rear. The spell covers the entire
south side of the bay but only to a depth of ninety meters from the beach so
if you go beyond, into the forest, take care."
Our little group dispersed quickly as our fellow travelers found others they
knew among the teeming throng of creatures on the beach. Our nervous human
joined a small group of her own kind with evident relief.
Page 110
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Darva looked at me. "Well? What shall we do now?"
I shrugged. "Sleep, I think. Tomorrow we'll find out what comes next." I
looked around at the various kinds of creatures on the beach, some of which
were the stuff of real nightmares. Charon had taken criminal minds, insane
minds, and given them great power. Much of that insanity could be seen
reflected in its victims on the beach as well as in our former company, I
reflected. Koril might prove more sympathetic, I knew; but he was still a
politician, a king dethroned who wanted his position back and was willing to
go to any lengths to get it. This system had been in effect when he was in
charge before, and even before that, and he'd done nothing then to stop it.
And that, of course, was something most of these people, the changelings in
particular, would simply overlook; almost all were natives, and that alone
accounted for a certain naivete to which was now added an exponential increase
in trust borne of hope and desperation.
How were we different from the aliens, Darva had asked me and I really wasn't
sure of an answer. If I wasn't, then perhaps Koril saw few differences either.
He would be unlikely to eliminate an external alien menace only to allow
another to fester here homegrown. There was no question in my mind that these
people were being used, as always. Sooner or later I knew, something would
have to be done.
Darva had wandered off for a few minutes to see if anybody was around and
awake whom she knew. When I saw her talking to a small group near a large
tent, I decided to join her.
She looked over at me as I approached, smiled, nodded, and turned back to the
trio by the fire I saw one of them was frog-man, another the bird creature and
I
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%...ds%20of%20the%20Diamond%203%20-
%20Charon.htm (155 of 233) [1/17/03 4:31:49 AM]
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate strode right up to them. Before I could say
anything, though, the flap of the tent behind me opened and I heard a familiar
voice. "Why, hello, Darva! Hi, Park! My, you look stunning in your new suit!"
I whirled about in total surprise, and looked into the face of Tully Kokul.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Koril's Redoubt
Tully and I walked along the beach. "Tell me," I asked him, "are you
Koril?"
He laughed. "Oh my, no! I couldn't hold a candle to him! I'm really a very
simple man, Park. In ancient times I'd be the parish priest, a man looking for
rest and place to contemplate and experiment with a minimum of interference.
Bourget was like a dream come true for me. Nobody around higher up to give me
all sorts of orders, a peaceful village filled with good, profit-minded simple
folk, and a very distant government that left us all alone. I was extremely
happy there."
"So how come you're here, then?" I asked him. "Surely you didn't just come
along for the ride."
He chuckled. "Oh no, but I'm like the pacifist who stays home, locks himself
in his house while the war rages, then suddenly finds the opposing armies
marching and shooting through his living room. I'm only a fair sore, but I'm a
good politician, Park. I knew what was going on in and around the village. I
knew too that eventually the idyll would end, although I put off all decisions
until the last minute. It was painful to lose but when Matuze took over it was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]