Most of the birds followed the illusion. But Nona saw with dismay that one small hawk was not being fooled. If its despot realized—
Then the hawk dropped. Seqiro had stunned it. The despot would think that the illusion giant had somehow taken it out, perhaps by throwing something at it. They were escaping.
But she could not maintain the illusion indefinitely. Most magic was close and line-of-sight; only the familiars could operate at a distance, because they had identities of their own. Soon she would lose control, and the illusion would dissipate, and the familiars would cast about until they found the smell of the original.
“We need a better decoy,” Colene said, grasping the situation from Nona’s thought. “Okay, time for Phase Two. Angus, put us down—Seqiro, Darius, Nona, and me—then fly on with the others as if you’re going somewhere. So the familiars will think it’s the whole party, and will follow them.”
A faint illusion image of Angus appeared at the edge of his invisible hand, in miniature. “But where shall I carry them?” he asked.
“Back to the anchor, of course,” Colene said. “So they can complete their destiny, even if we mess up.”
And there it was, Nona realized with a shock: the manner that Provos’ memory of the future would be correct, even if Nona’s mission failed. It was coming true.
Colene glanced at her, mentally. All of them were now invisible, so there was no other way. “Right. Our guarantee is zilch.”
No guarantee of success. Somehow Nona had always believed that she would succeed, once she had gotten together with the visitors from the Virtual Mode. Now horrible doubt loomed. She shivered.
“Except that Nona will have to pass them through the anchor,” Darius said. “She must either succeed or survive.”
Bless him for that revelation, mixed as it was! She could not fail utterly.
Angus descended, while Nona continued to concentrate on the distant illusion. If she could only hold it long enough to let them separate…
The giant’s feet touched the ground, gently. He stood, then bent down. The four of them climbed off the hand.
Nona turned back to embrace a huge invisible finger. “If I don’t see you again, friend Angus—”
The small illusion of him returned. “It has been good with you, Nona. I will know if you succeed.”
“You will not be able to commune with the three you carry,” Nona said. “But you know where to take them.”
“I know.”
She was out of words and full of emotion. “I wish you had been my size,” she said. Then she opened her arms to the little illusion. He met her, and they kissed, in the manner of Earle and Kara.
It was too much distraction. The distant illusion of Angus disintegrated. But Nona maintained the close illusion of nothingness. “Go, friend Angus,” she said. “With my thanks, and my love.” For suddenly, this instant, it was true: she loved the giant from Jupiter, who had served her need so loyally. She knew it was a transitory emotion, and foolish considering their sizes, but that part of it would always remain with her.
“For that I do thank you,” the little image said.
Then the invisible giant flew up, and they were left on the ground. Nona concentrated on the illusion, until he was too far away; then she lost it, and he became visible. But he was at that point in the vicinity of the prior giant-illusion, so that the familiars would assume that he had always been there. He was still holding both hands up, as if still carrying a double burden.
“The legend!” Colene exclaimed. She was visible now; Nona had had to let their part of the illusion go when she focused on Angus. “You replayed it! That was beautiful.”
“Perhaps I am destined to love only the unobtainable,” Nona said sadly.
“I’m not so sure of that. I dreamed you got married.”
Nona looked at her. There was something dark about the girl’s thought, but she could not fathom it.
“We had better move,” Darius said. “If you can get a familiar, Nona, I can conjure us to where it goes.”
“How about directly to the nearest /R3?” Colene asked. “If I make you a map? There are four of those rads, so we must be halfway close to one.”
He shook his head. “That would be dangerous. I need to see where I am going, or to know it from prior experience. A familiar could show it much more accurately.”
“Okay. But we’d better get moving.”
Seqiro searched, but found no suitable unattached birds in the vicinity. The despots seemed to have taken them all. But then he found a fox, and stunned it.
Nona had never tamed a fox before. But then she had seldom tamed any animal, because of the need to conceal her magic. The principle was the same. She touched the fallen animal, and Seqiro enhanced her mental contact. It was more of a job than the bat had been, but she was able to do it.
Then she sent the fox running toward the third rad on the Head. While they waited for it to cover the distance, she picked a berry and magnified it into a giant berry, so that they could all have their fill of it, finishing their meal.
Despots approach.
That galvanized them. Nona tuned in on the fox. It was most of the way there. They clustered around Seqiro, and Darius brought out his magic icons and invoked them. Seqiro connected Darius’ mind to that of the familiar. Then they climbed onto the horse’s broad back, and Darius moved the icon.
Nona felt the awful wrenching. Then she found herself sliding off the horse. She managed to get her feet under her before landing on the ground.
They were almost at the base of the towering bulk of /R3; the fox had made excellent progress.
“God, that thing must be three hundred miles tall,” Colene said, awed. Her mental concept translated into approximately the right amount. “Somehow I didn’t think they would get this big, on this little planet.”
“Can we see /R4 from here?” Darius asked.
Colene studied the mountainous outline. “Actually we can see one of its /R4’s,” she agreed. She pointed. “See that twenty-mile-thick wart there? As I make it, that’s it.”
“Then I should be able to conjure us there from here,” he said. “Provided there is a safe place to land.”
“There they are!” someone called in the language of Oria. Nona jumped.
“Damn!” Colene swore. “They must have lured the fox, or spotted it. They’re on to us.”
They ran for the cover of the nearby forest. The man who had called saw them but was slow to give chase, as if waiting for reinforcements. That gave them a brief respite, but was hardly good news.
“They are becoming more apt at locating us,” Darius said as they passed beyond the first trees. “They may suspect where we are going, and have many of their number in this vicinity looking for us.”
“It may be that they know where the key rad is,” Nona said, breathing hard as she ran. “They would keep it secret from all theows, of course. But now—”
“Can the dialogue,” Colene snapped. “Seqiro, you take Darius and gallop the hell out of here. Decoy them away. We’ll get together again after.”
“But—” Nona started.
“You and I will go alone,” Colene said. “Invisible. Do it.”
“It is too far for you afoot,” Darius said.
“What do you mean, too far? I just walked across whole worlds!”
“If you take too long, the despots will catch you.”
“Oh.”
“I will conjure the two of you there before we ride away.” He brought out his Colene and Nona icons.
“Yeah, I guess you’d better,” Colene agreed reluctantly. She came to stand beside Nona.
Darius invoked his icons, and started to move them.
“There!” the man cried, spying horse and man.
Then the wrenching, and the scene was gone.
They landed tumbled on /R4. Colene righted herself, looked around, and suddenly dropped to the ground again. “God! I’m freaking out!” But the alien words meant nothing to Nona; they were not out of Seqiro’s mind-magic range.