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any non-Akhbreed from entering the hub. They've got a bunch of magicians,
maybe even a few real sorcerers on their side. but all of them together
couldn't break the kind of shields the hubs have."
"I thought so, too, until I saw that Changewind valley.
Those shields, tike all magic, arc as nothing to the Changewind, and I am
convinced that their bosses can drop one wherever they want it. Right in the
center of the capitol if need be. No sorcerers, no shield. Or even a
Changewind that simply sweeps from inland to the border, breaking it in a wide
swath. An avenue in. I'm not certain what they plan. but I am certain that
they are confident of success."
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"Nobody has ever been able to influence a Changewind, you know that," Torgand
responded. "That valley might seem impressive but I've seen the winds do
things just as regular and just as odd. They follow their own rules but they
do follow rules. And even if there was somebody who could do it, they'd have
to do it one at a time, and it wouldn't take much to find out who and from
where and all the other sorcerers would track them down and destroy them out
of sheer self-defense. No. it just doesn't fit the way the universe works."
Dorion was having none of this. "Then why are you holed up here in
fortifications, shooting at yellow pennants, and scared out of your skulls?
Those poor people we saw being abused are citizens, damn it! They have rights.
And the right of any citizen is protection and defense from his King and all
the power at the command of the Crown."
"He's got a point," Halagar noted. "Why wasn't this nipped in the bud in the
usual manner, with massive force, even big-league sorcery? That's what the
damned army's for keeping order and law in the colonies. Instead you withdraw
everybody to the hub and let it spread."
161
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM
"I know, I know," Torgand agreed- "You think it hasn't gotten to us, either?
Complacency, mostly, I think. The Chief
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Sorceress here has been cracked in the head for more years than I can
remember. Senile, batty, and mean as hell. She no longer emerges from her
quarters at all, and nobody can tell her anything she doesn't want to hear.
She ignores even the
King's commands, and she's powerful enough to zap even some of the strong
adepts who'd normally take care of this.
You know how nuts she is? She keeps calling His Majesty
King Yurumba. and Yurumba died over two hundred years ago! She insists that
this isn't happening and seems to really believe that she was on a tour of the
colonies only weeks ago.
'She's completely lost, senile, and mad, and nobody dares cross her since
she's never allowed any of the adepts to live who came close to approaching
her power or threatening her position. She's the only one we have who can keep
the shield up, and since that's the case we had very little choice. We can't
go against them without sorcery to back us up, not on this scale, and not with
those damned illegal automatic weap-
ons that are better than anything we have- All we can do is pull back and rely
on her to at least keep up the shield."
Dorion nodded knowingly. "I thought as much when I saw this. They're all too
old or too lazy or too incompetent at this stage to really do the job. I
wonder how many centuries we've been running on sheer reputation? How long
we've kept the colonies in line with fear of sorcerous power that in many
cases just isn't there and hasn't been for some time?
The best Second Rankers don't want to be Chief Sorcerers
they want to experiment or specialize or pursue their art to the bitter end.
They retire and separate themselves from politics, or they get into territory
too dangerous even for them, and they wind up malformed creatures or they wind
up sum-
moning the Changewind and vanish into the Seat of Probabil-
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0-%20War%20of%20the%20Maelstrom.txt ity. That leaves mostly mediocrities as
our defenders. Damn!
That's what the enemy saw. He wined and dined and social-
ized with them and he saw what frauds our whole way of life, our whole world,
was built upon."
"That's water under the bridge," the mercenary pointed out. "I am far more
concerned with the rebel general's comment on the forthcoming 'fun' at
Masalur. You have any information?"
162 fack L. Chalker
Torgand shook his head. "None. We've been pretty much pinned down here for
weeks. Right now, you know as much or more than we do about all this."
Boday caught Dorion's eye and he went over to her and bent down and she
whispered, "Ask him if he has any knowledge of a short, fat girl about the age
of our own coming through here."
Dorion nodded and went back to the soldiers. "Any sign of a girl, maybe twenty
or so, pretty fat with a deep, almost mannish voice, who might look like the
overweight sister of the pretty one there?"
Torgand shook his head negatively once again. "Sorry, no.
At least, if she did it was before we were set up here. You might check with
Immigration and Permits to see if she cleared before that, but since we've
been here only a few refugees have made it across and none of them sound like
somebody like that and I've had to interview them all.
Why? Somebody else trying to get through here that got separated from your
party?'' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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