I pulsed it through the spikard and the braking effect began. Moments later, he informed me, I think I can escape now.
Come on, then.
Suddenly, Ghost was there, spinning about me like a magic circle.
Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate this. Let me know if there's ever anything
There is, I said.
What?
Shrink yourself down and hide somewhere about my person.
Wrist okay again?
Sure.
He did that thing. Then, Why? he asked.
I may need a sudden ally, I replied.
Against what?
Anything, I said. It's showdown time.
I don't like the sound of that.
Then leave me now. I won't hold it against you.
I couldn't do that.
Listen, Ghost. This thing has escalated, and a line must be drawn now. I
The air began to shimmer, off to my right. I knew what it meant.
Later, I said. Be still.
... And there was a doorway, and it opened to admit a tower of green light: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, limbs cycling about its sea-like range-one of the more inspired demonic forms I'd beheld of late. And, of course, I knew the features.
Merlin, he said. I felt you ply the spikard here. I thought you might, I replied, and I am at your service, Mandor.
Really?
In all respects, brother.
Including a certain matter of succession?
That in particular.
Excellent! And what business were you about here?
I was but seeking something I had lost.
That can wait upon another day, Merlin. We have much to do just now.
Yes, that is true.
So assume a more pleasing form and come with me. We must discuss the measures you are to take upon assuming the throne-which Houses are to be suppressed, who outlawed
I must speak with Dara immediately.
I would rather lay some groundwork first. Come! Shift, and let us be away!
Would you know where she is just now?
Gantu, I believe. But we will confer with her later.
You wouldn't happen to have her Trump handy, would you?
I fear not. I thought you carried a deck of your own?
I do. But hers was inadvertently destroyed one night when I was drinking.
No matter, he said. We will see her later, as I explained.
I had been opening channels on the spikard as we spoke. I caught him at the center of a whirlwind of forces. I could see the transformation procedure within him, and it was a simple matter to reverse it, collapsing the green and spinning tower into the form of a whitehaired man clad in black and white and looking very irritated.
Merlin! he cried. Why have you changed me?
This thing fascinates me, I said, waving the spikard. I just wanted to see whether I could do it.
Now you've seen it, he said. Kindly release me to turn back, and find a more fitting form for yourself.
A moment, I said, as he attempted to melt and flow. I require you just as you are.
I held him against his effort, and I drew a fiery rectangle in the air. A series of quick movements filled it with a rough likeness of my mother.
Merlin! What are you doing? he cried.
I suppressed his effort to extricate himself by means of a transport spell.
Conference time, I announced. Bear with me.
I didn't just meditate upon the impromptu Trump I had hung in the air before me, but practically attacked it with a charge of the energies I was cycling through my body and the space about me.
Suddenly, Dara stood within the frame I had created-tall, coal-black, eyes of green flame.
Merlin! What's happening? she cried.
I'd never heard of it being done quite this way before, but I held the contact, willed her presence, and blew away the frame. She stood before me then, perhaps seven feet tall, pulsing with indignation.
What is the meaning of this? she asked.
I caught her as I had Mandor and collapsed her down to human scale.
Democracy, I said Let's all look alike for a minute.
This is not amusing, she responded, and she began to change back.
I canceled her effort.
No, it isn't, I answered. But I called this meeting, and it will be run on my terms.
Very well, she said, shrugging. What has become so terribly urgent?
The succession.
The matter is settled. The throne is yours.
And whose creature am I to be? I raised my left hand, hoping they had no way of telling one spikard from another. This thing confers great powers. It also charges for their use. It bore a spell for control of its wearer.
It was Swayvill's, Mandor said. I got it to you when I did to accustom you to the force of its presence. And yes, there is a price. Its wearer must come to terms with it.
I have wrestled with it, I lied, and I am its master. But the main problems were not cosmic. They were compulsions of your own installation.
I do not deny it, he said. But there was a very good reason for their presence. You were reluctant to take the throne. I felt it necessary to add an element of compulsion.
I shook my head.
Not good enough, I said. There was more to it than that. It was a thing designed to make me subservient to you.
Necessary, he responded. You've been away. You lack intimate knowledge of the local political scene. We could not simply let you take the reins and go off in your own direction-not in times such as these, when blunders could be very costly. The House needed some means to control you. But this was only to be until your education was complete.
Permit me to doubt you, brother, I said.
He glanced at Dara, who nodded slightly.
He is right, she said, and I see nothing wrong with such temporary control until you learn the business. Too much is at stake to permit otherwise.
It was a slave-spell, I said. It would force me to take the throne, to follow orders.
Mandor licked his lips. It was the first time I'd ever seen him betray a sign of nervousness. It instantly made me wary-though I realized moments later that it may have been a calculated distraction. It caused me to guard against him immediately; and, of course, the attack came from Dara.
A wave of heat swept over me. I shifted my attention at once, attempting to raise a barrier. It was not an attack against my person. It was something soothing, coercive. I bared my teeth as I fought to hold it off.
Mother I growled.
We must restore the imperatives, she said flatly, more to Mandor than to me.
Why? I asked. You're getting what you want.
The throne is not enough, she answered. I do not trust you in this, and reliance will be necessary.
You never trusted me, I said, pushing away the remains of her spell.
That is not true, she told me, and this is a technical matter, not a personal one.
Whatever the matter, I said, I'm not buying.
Mandor tossed a paralysis spell at me, and I pushed it away, ready for anything now. As I was doing this, Dara hit me with an elaborate working I recognized as a Confusion Storm. I was not about to try matching them both, spell for spell. A good sorcerer may have a half dozen major spells hung. Their judicious employment is generally enough for dealing with most situations. In a sorcerous duel the strategy involved in their employment is a major part of the game. If both parties are still standing when the spells have been exhausted, then they are reduced to fighting with raw energies. Whoever controls a greater quantity usually has the edge then.
I raised an umbrella against the Confusion Storm, parried Mandor's Astral Club, held myself together through Mom's Spirit Split, maintained my senses through Mandor's Well of Blackness. My major spells had all gone stale, and I had hung no new ones since I'd begun relying on the spikard. I was already reduced to reliance on raw power. Fortunately, the spikard gave me control of more of it than I'd ever held before. All I had to do was force them to use up their spells, then all trickiness would be removed from the situation. I would wear them down, drain them.