Neither was in a mood to be chided. Each wanted to drag her off for a private interview.
The ascendant, who never spoke, had a glint in his eye, too.
Heris ignored them all. “Iron Eyes. I came up with an arsenal of the kind of weaponry we ran into at the Bas… At Ferris Renfrow’s palace. Plenty enough to give us the edge with these Instrumentalities. I need Aelen Kofer help getting them here, though.”
“Indeed?” Sourly. Then, “Really?” with more enthusiasm, as some stray thought wandered through his head.
Which Heris identified in one.
The Aelen Kofer were the artisans of the gods. How hard could it be for them to improve the new weapons? Dramatically?
Might not be the best plan, letting them get intimate with such deadly but essentially simple tools, the efficiency of which was limited only by the difficulties inherent in casting them.
Clever artificers like the Aelen Kofer would be quick to find alloys, casting and cooling processes, and spells that would help them create bigger, lighter, more accurate, and more deadly falcons. Especially when they had the temporal advantage of working under the hill.
Februaren and Renfrow went on fussing about their obligations in the middle world.
“So go!” Heris growled. “Asgrimmur and I can manage things here.”
It turned out that there would be serious problems. The Aelen Kofer could not reach the Krulik and Sneigon works directly. There would be a lot of walking the middle world needed. Though, Heris discovered belatedly, that would not require the whole dwarf race to go traipsing across the Grail Empire in a loud, gaudy mob. One skilled magic-using dwarf could do the walking and opening of the way. Which, evidently, was an escape skill many Aelen Kofer learned early.
Of course, a gang would be needed to haul the weapons away. But they, and their goats, could make the journey in lazy stages on the other side. The dwarves never mentioned their rune-laden standing stones.
“Double Great! Before you bail out on me. You heard what we’ve been talking about.”
“No. I wasn’t listening.”
“Listen now. I have a cache of weapons over there with nobody guarding them. I didn’t think about that when I asked… for them. You understand me?”
The old man sighed and nodded. “Give me the gruesome details. I’ll take care of it.” Like Pella, she reflected, when he was asked to do a chore. Totally put-upon.
Cloven Februaren was an eternal adolescent. Incredibly powerful, a genius-with all the acquired personal skills of a spoiled fourteen-year-old.
With all that talent and genius he had no need to be mature.
Cloven Februaren and Ferris Renfrow went away. The Aelen Kofer followed, leaving only a skeleton crew. In time, Heris had only the ascendant and three sour, elderly dwarf women for company. And, occasionally, a young mer who called herself Philleas Pescadore. The mer thought that was funny but never explained. She shifted shape and left the water, stark naked and achingly beautiful, only when Asgrimmur was around.
Heris knew she was imagining actions and motives because the fact was, Philleas needed Asgrimmur to translate in order to communicate.
Philleas was both intensely curious and deeply naive about the world above the waterline. For her that world was more mythical than was hers to humanity. Only a few mer in any generation, most female and young, could change and pass for human, briefly. Naked young women who dared not venture far from the sea would not see the best of land dwellers.
Philleas was doubly ignorant. Her entire world had been the harbor. The dangers she knew were shark and kraken.
Heris found the girl more irritating than interesting. She never stopped asking questions.
Out of the blue, a few days after the old men left, Asgrimmur announced, “I’m not interested in Philleas the way you think. She isn’t interested in me that way, either.”
“What?” Taken completely off guard.
They were on the quay. The ascendant wore his most manly man form. He stared through the portal at the brilliance of the middle world.
The gateway was open so Heris could go if she must.
“Her people have found the survivors of another pod out in the Andorayan Sea. They mean to merge pods by uniting Philleas and Kurlas, a mer her age in the other pod. That should be interesting. Philleas has picked up a lot of romantic notions from us. Especially from the old man. Meanwhile, the sea pod has spent a century hugging the warm water round a slow power leak. They’ll have turned quite strange.”
Heris grunted, not much interested. She just did not want to see the mer in human form and have to compare herself.
It was not fair. Not even a little. The girl was not even human.
The ascendant said, “I believe Februaren thought he was playing a clever practical joke.”
“He would. Sometimes he’s an idiot. I’m surprised he didn’t exploit her naivet?.”
“Who knows? He may have. It wouldn’t matter. What Philleas does in human form is separate from what she does as a mer. I couldn’t guess the old man’s proclivities-if he has any at his age-but his sense of humor would be intrigued by the fact that Philleas starts out a virgin every time she takes human form.”
“Oh, now that’s just!.. All right. I don’t know how he’d think about that. You don’t go sneaking around, trying to find out if your oldest living ancestor is some kind of pervert. Asgrimmur, let’s stop. This stuff makes me uncomfortable.”
“So let’s go climb the mountain instead.”
“Excuse me?”
“Let’s pack some food and go explore the Great Sky Fortress. You are curious about it, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. The same way I’m curious about seeing what happens when a ship founders and everybody drowns.”
“An odd way to think of it.”
Heris shrugged. “I’m an odd woman. I’ve survived an odd life. I see the world through skewed eyes.”
“I thought it might be useful to walk the field before the battle. Save us time once the others get back. Winter will come. When it does it will serve Kharoulke far better than it will us.”
“I can’t say you’re not right about that.”
The rainbow bridge remained brilliant and thrummingly potent. Heris had no difficulty crossing. The Construct had no direct potency inside the Realm of the Gods but using it outside had built up her self-confidence.
The ascendant followed, fearless himself. And had no reason to fear. Should he fall he need but change… A random gust did push him off his footing. In an instant he developed tentacles that snagged hold of the rainbow. He dragged himself back onto the bridge, where he turned into a huge bird that hopped the last few yards on one foot. He had his trousers clutched in the other.
“That was impressive,” Heris said, noting that one wing seemed stunted. “Those stories about people changing into animals always made me wonder what they did about their clothes.”
“You lose them if you get in a hurry. Otherwise, you make arrangements.” He remained generically bipedal till he finished wriggling into the trousers. He became fully human, then, but only momentarily. His exposed feet and upper body changed again. He developed lionlike feet and a heavy pelt above the waist.
It was cold up there.
Heris observed, “You’re going to be an adventure for some demigoddess.”
“I dropped the sack. There’s water up here but nothing to eat.”
“It’ll be a short adventure, then. I have a question.”
“I may have an answer.”
For reasons uncertain Heris turned toward the dead apple orchard once they passed through the gateway. “Your missing… whatever. That comes and goes. You always have the right number of hands and feet when you’re human. When you’re something else you always have a crippled limb. Which is why you lost your shirt and the food.”
“And other valuables as well.”