***
Jeb Stuart Ho, despite his concentration, was beginning to lose all sense of time. He could no longer remember how long he and the Minstrel Boy had been out in the nothings. The lizard had settled down to a steady, bounding lope, exactly as though it was running on hard ground. The lizard seemed to have a very definite sense of purpose. That was the only reassuring thing about the whole situation.
Jeb Stuart Ho looked to his left. He could just about make out the Minstrel Boy against the strange glittering grey mist. The image of the man on the lizard kept shifting and breaking up. It was only when the two of them were very close together that he could see the Minstrel Boy and his mount clearly. At one point, the Minstrel Boy had drifted some distance away and vanished altogether. It was then that Jeb Stuart Ho had come close to panic. He hadn’t experienced a feeling like that since he was a small child. The brotherhood discipline had kept him from going over the edge, but he’d been immeasurably relieved when the Minstrel Boy had finally flickered into view again.
Ho stretched out his hand. It was a signal to the Minstrel Boy that he wanted to say something. Unless they were actually touching, there was no point in speaking. The words became lost and jumbled in the howling silence of the bright greyness. The Minstrel Boy moved towards him and grasped his hand.
‘What’s the trouble, Killer?’
Jeb Stuart Ho disliked the nickname the Minstrel Boy was trying to saddle him with, but he didn’t complain. There would be time enough for that when they reached somewhere tangible.
‘Where are we now?’
‘In the nothings.’
‘I know that. What I meant was, will we get somewhere soon?’
Jeb Stuart Ho made himself act very patiently when talking to the Minstrel Boy. The Minstrel Boy grinned at him.
‘Yeah … soon.’
‘How soon?’
‘Dunno. Time’s pretty relative out here.’
‘Relative to what?’
The Minstrel Boy laughed.
‘Relative to just about anything that’s going. That’s why it’s so hard to estimate.’
Jeb Stuart Ho was sure that he was deliberately trying to confuse him. He wasn’t sure why.
‘Are you sure you know where you are?’
‘Sure I’m sure. I always know where I am. I’m famous for it.’
The Minstrel Boy let go of Jeb Stuart Ho’s hand, and they drifted apart. The Minstrel Boy’s image began to flicker as the space between them increased,
Despite all his training, the lack of time sense weighed heavily on Jeb Stuart Ho. Nothing had prepared him for being mounted on the galloping lizard, rushing headlong into seemingly eternal greyness. He closed his eyes and tried to put himself into an intermediate state of trance. At first it was impossible, but gradually he felt himself merging with the strange, shattered universe. It was the sound of a voice that eventually brought him back to the material world.
‘Come on, Killer. Wake up, what’s wrong with you?’
Jeb Stuart Ho opened his eyes. The Minstrel Boy was standing beside him, tugging at his leg.
‘What’s the matter with you, I thought your brain, had fused?’
Jeb Stuart Ho shook his head.
‘I was meditating.’
‘No shit?’
Ho suddenly realized that he could hear the Minstrel Boy quite clearly without their actually touching. They were obviously out of the nothings. He looked around. They were standing on a huge, even expanse of grey rock. It was flat and featureless. The sky above was a lighter shade of grey, and the air was damp and cold. The lizards were moving about uncomfortably. Ho shivered, and pulled his cloak tight round his shoulders.
‘Are we on the same level as Litz?’
The Minstrel Boy shook his head.
‘Somewhere on the way.’
‘Where?’
‘That’s hard to say.’
‘I thought you took pride in knowing where you are?’
The Minstrel Boy scowled.
‘I don’t take pride, I know.’
‘Should a developed faculty not be a source of pride?’
‘I know, that’s all.’
Jeb Stuart Ho swung a leg over the lizard’s back.
‘As you wish.’
He slid to the ground.
‘What is this place?’
The Minstrel Boy shrugged.
‘It has no name. By rights it shouldn’t be here. I can’t see what keeps it stable.’
‘Why did we stop here?’
‘The lizards stopped. They don’t seem happy.’
‘What has happened to them?’
The Minstrel Boy took off his hat and ran his fingers through his curly hair.
‘I don’t know. Their minds seem to be closed. I can’t get across at all.’
It was the first time Jeb Stuart Ho had seen the Minstrel Boy look genuinely worried. He hesitated before he spoke again.
‘Should we not continue with caution and find out why the lizards have brought us to this place?’
The Minstrel Boy looked down at the ground.
‘I’d just as soon turn back.’
‘You know I can’t do that.’
‘Sure.’
Jeb Stuart Ho remounted his lizard. The Minstrel Boy reluctantly did the same. Before they started to move the Minstrel Boy looked across at Ho.
‘I really don’t like this. Just remember that.’
Ho looked grimly ahead.
‘I’ll remember.’
The Minstrel Boy dug his spurs hard into the lizard. It lurched away at a half-hearted waddle. Jeb Stuart Ho’s mount trailed after it in the same lethargic manner. They continued their slow progress for over an hour. A strange, cone-shaped promontory appeared on the horizon. As they gradually approached it, the lizards became increasingly restive and uneasy. They were awkward to handle, and kept trying to stray away from the Minstrel Boy’s course.
About three hundred metres from the slope of the cone, the lizards stopped dead and refused to go any further. They stood still, shifting their weight from one foot to another and swinging their long necks from side to side. Jeb Stuart Ho and the Minstrel Boy both dismounted. Whatever was affecting the lizards was also affecting the two men. The Minstrel Boy had broken out in a cold sweat, and Jeb Stuart Ho felt an irrational fear trying to take hold of him. He exerted the maximum control on his mind and looked at the Minstrel Boy.
‘There is something terribly wrong here.’
The Minstrel Boy had started to shake. His voice came out as a strangled croak.
‘Let’s get out of here.’
Jeb Stuart Ho gripped him by the shoulder.
‘Relax, breathe slowly and deeply. A man may run from an external danger, but cannot run from fear in his mind.’
The Minstrel Boy nodded. Sweat was still pouring off him. It was obvious he was trying to keep himself together, but when he spoke his voice was cracking on the verge of hysteria.
‘Let’s get the hell out of here! Now! I can’t stand it.’
‘Do not succumb to the fear. The fear of fear is the poison of the soul.’
‘I … can’t take it!’
The Minstrel Boy’s voice was almost screaming. Jeb Stuart Ho took his face in both hands. He massaged the Minstrel Boy’s neck.
‘Think, be calm, use your intelligence. What is this thing?’
‘I don’t know. I can’t think.’
‘Where does it come from?’
The Minstrel Boy could no longer speak. He waved his hand in the direction of the cone. His legs began to give way and he clung to Jeb Stuart Ho. Ho gently pulled him back to his feet.
‘We must go to the cone and make this thing cease.’
‘No! No! No!’
The Minstrel Boy slipped into uncontrollable hysterics. Jeb Stuart Ho slapped him hard across the face, and he fell silent. Jeb Stuart Ho took him by the arm and, half supporting him, began to lead him towards the cone. They stumbled for about a hundred metres. The mind-wrenching fear seemed to grow stronger. Then the Minstrel Boy groaned and sank to his knees.