Ith was still crouched on the black floor, head down, foreclaws clenched on the stone, as if unable to stand, even, let alone to make any Choice for his whole people.Do something,Rhiow whispered into his mind.Do something! Try!
But he could not hear her. All he could hear was Haath, that voice curling into his brain and shutting everything else out, shutting him away from his power.
“And whyshouldhe hear anything else?” Haath said, stepping closer, leaning over Ith and grinning dreadfully. “I am his Lord, I am his Leader! I would have brought him up into the light, into the Sun, in my good time … but now it is too late. Coming down here in company with you, he has enacted rebellion. It is too late for him: none of our people are allowed to do such a thing. He must suffer the fate that he has brought upon himself, and later, his name and his fate will be used to frighten hatchlings. His hide will be hung from some high spot, to show what happens to those who defy the Great One’s will.” He bowed to the mountainous shape coiled around the trunk of the Tree.
Rhiow, her tail lashing, looked at Haath, then turned away, turned her attention back toward the freezing cold eyes in that beautiful, gleaming-dark head.“Fairest and Fallen,” she said, “Lone Power, Old Serpent, and sa’Rrahh among our People: from the Powers That Be, and from the One, I bring you this word. Leave this place and this universe, or be displaced by force.”
It simply looked at her, not even bothering to laugh now. Rhiow stood her ground, and tried not to look as if she were bluffing. She knew of no wizardry sufficient to move the Lone One from a place it had invested in such power.
Iknow a spell,Saash said.
Iwould prefer not destroying a whole species if we can avoid it!Rhiow said.
Ifwe can avoid it. But there are a couple of other possibilities I want to explore.
You do that.Meanwhile—Ith!Rhiow said silently.Ith! Get off your tail and do something! This is your chance— stand up and tell him so! You have power—try to use it!
He is the Lord of our people,Ith said with great difficulty.Till now, I never saw him, but—now—I thought that perhaps, but—hispower—it is too great, I cannot—
Rhiow’s hackles rose.I’d hoped Arhu would have him ready for whatever he has to do,she thought.But he’s not going to rise to the occasion. I’m just going to have to lead by example.
She took a stride forward, opened her mouth to speak—
“All right,” Arhu said, walking forward stifflegged. “That’s enough. You think I don’t feel you in his head, hurting him? Taking his thoughts away? He can’t stop you, but I think I can.Get out of his head, Haath!I remember when you tried to do that tome.I couldn’t stop you myself, lizard-face, not the first time; when you found you couldn’t completely fry my brains, you sent in the rats to get rid of me the easy way. But it didn’t work.” He was stalking closer, lips wrinkled back, fangs showing. “And when the gates opened, and you showed up on my turf, I showed you a little something. I’ve killed you before. I’ll do it again, and I’ll keepondoing it until I get it right.”
“You willneverget it right,” Haath said, backing just a little, starting to circle. “I can never die. It is my Gift from the Great One.”
“Yeah, I bet it is,” Arhu said. “He’s just full of little presents, isn’t He? Let’s find out howyoursstands up to a little wear and tear.”
He launched himself at Haath.
Down they went together, kicking and rolling. Rhiow was surprised to see nothing more wizardly being used at first, but a second later she thought she knew why: there was a spell-damper all around Haath—not quite a shield, but a place where spells would not work… and Haath had not counted on Arhu wanting to go paw-to-claw with him. Arhu, though, had probably known: the Eye had its uses.And he may have seen something else as welclass="underline" something Rhiow saw only now, when she turned—
—Saash crouching down by the catenary, leaning down over the “bank” … and dabbling one paw down into the ravening white fire.
What in Iau’s name are you—!
Don’t ask, It’ll hear,Saash said.Here goes nothing—
Abruptly the white flame running in the conduit streaked up her paw and downreaching foreleg, up around her—not quite running over her hide, but a scant inch above it. Saash was shielded, but the kind of shield she was generating at the moment made Rhiow’s look like wet tissue paper by comparison; to judge by the behavior of that white fire, now flowing up and around her more and more quickly, she had a second shield above it, holding it in place, holding it in. Swiftly, almost between one breath and the next, Saash became a shape completely sheathed in burning white: a statue, a library lion with her head up, watching, with one paw hanging down into the catenary, the whiteness of the fire around her growing more intense with every breath.A conduit,Rhiow thought in mixed admiration and horror— and fear.Or a storage battery… orboth. How long can she—oh, Saash, don’t—
Saash stood up and began slowly, silently, to walk toward where Arhu and Haath were fighting; very carefully she went, like anehhifcarrying a full cup or bucket, intent on not spilling any of the contents. Haath and Arhu were up on their hind legs now, boxing at one another; as Saash paused, Arhu threw himself at Haath again, hard, and took him down, going for the throat, missing. Behind them, very quickly, Saash moved forward in one smooth rush—
“Saash, no!”Arhu screamed. Haath rolled out from underneath Arhu, scrambled to his hind legs, and made a flinging motion at Saash with one claw.
The spell he threw hit her, and her shields collapsed.
“Saash!”Rhiow roared. The white-burning form writhed, leapt in the air, shrieked terribly once—
—and fell. The fire went out, except for small blue tongues of it that danced over what remained for a few seconds. What remained was no longer tortoiseshell, but black, thin, twisted, charred: legs and head burnt to stumps, the head—
Urruah ran to her. Haath straightened, smiled slowly at Rhiow, and then at Arhu.“Nothing,” Haath said, “literally.”
At the sight of what had become of Saash, Arhu roared, a roar that was almost a scream, and threw himself at the saurian again. He was big and strong in this form, and he had the advantage of knowing what his enemy was about to do before he did it. But every time Arhu tore Haash, the tear healed: every bite sealed over. The best Arhu could achieve was a stalemate, while trying to keep his enemy’s teeth out of his own flesh. He was not always succeeding.
Nearby, Urruah bent over Saash’s body, touched it with a paw, then left it and began circling toward Arhu and Haath. Half-crippled with rage and a new grief, with the memory of the last look in Saash’s eyes, seen through the fire as she leapt up, Rhiow joined Urruah and started to circle in from the other side. The thought of wizardry was not much with her at the moment. Blood was what she wanted to taste: that foul thin pinkish stuff that saurians used. One of them might not be enough to take Haath down, but weren’t they a pride?Three may be enough—
Haath, though, was laughing. With one eye he was watching Arhu, keeping him at bay with those slashing claws; and he too circled, watching first Rhiow, then Urruah as they came.
“Don’t you see that it won’t matter?” Haath said softly, grinning. “You have killed me before, cat, and nothing has come of it except that now I shall killyou …and that will end it.”
“It’s not enough,” Arhu yowled at Rhiow. “I know what I need to do this, but I can’t getatit! Rhiow!”
She opened her mouth—
Slash.Haath straightened up, and Arhu went down, thrown fifteen feet away, staggering another ten or so with the force of the throw, with his rear right leg hanging by a string, the big groin artery pumping bright blood onto the dark stone. Rhiow started to hurry to him as Arhu fell over and tried to get up again, squalling with pain.