The Ship Who Won (31 page)

part of his brain that was removed." He made a chopping

motion at his hand. "He can learn. He's already proved

that."

Brannel looked jealously at Plenna's long fingers. "But I

cannot use the power items without help."

Carialle was immediately sony Keff had mentioned the

amputation. "Brannel, there's nothing that can be done

about that now. Some of the other magimen use prosthetics-false fingers. You can, too."

"If we were home," Keff said thoughtfully, "surgery

could be done to regrow the fingers." He glanced up to

find Plenna gazing at him.

"I must see these wonders," Plenna said, moving closer.

"Should I not come back with you? After all, you said you

are here to learn about my people on behalf of your own. I

can teach you all about Ozran and see your world. Someday we can come back here together." She laid one long

hand on his arm.

"Uhhh, one thing at a time, Plenna," Keff said, his smile

fixed on his face. Her touch sent tingles up his arm. Her

scent and her lovely eyes pulled him toward her like a

magnet, but the sudden thought of having a permanent

relationship with her had never crossed his mind.

Evidently, it had hers. He reproached himself that he

should have thought of the consequences before he took

her to bed. "Carialle, we may have a problem," he

subvocalized

"We have a problem," Carialle said aloud. 'The eyes are

back. They're circling around outside."

"Oh!" Plenna ran to the screen. "Nokias, Chaumel, and

the other high mages. They are trying to decide what to do."

"Have they figured out that we're in here?" Keff asked.

"No," Plenna said, after listening for a moment. "All

of their followers are still searching." Carialle confirmed

it.

'Then we'd better make our move, pronto, if we want a

chance at those papers," Keff said. "All that remains is for

our agent here to agree to fetch them for us."

Brannel had been standing beside the console, listening

to the three bare-skins talk. He folded his arms over his

furry chest.

"I would do anything for you. Mage Keff, but such a

chance comes only once to one such as myself. You asked

me my price. I told you my hearts desire. Will you pay it?"

Keff appealed to Plennafrey

"I think he deserves a chance."

Clearly uneasy, Plennafrey eyed the Noble Primitive. "If

all goes well, I agree he will be worthy of an opportunity,"

she said slowly. "I do not know where to find him an object

of power yet, but I will try."

"All right, Brannel? Magess Plennafrey will teach you

how to use a power object. She'll be your teacher, so she

will control what you do to a certain extent-but you'll

have your chance. She'll also teach you other things an

educated man needs to know. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Plennafrey said.

Brannel, his eyes shining, fell to his knees before the

magiwoman. 'Thank you, Magess."

'There may be no power left for anyone," Carialle

reminded them. "If those power drops have been increasing in frequency over time, it may mean that whatever's

powering the magic here on Ozran is finally running

down."

"What do I look for?" Brannel asked meekly.

Following Plenna's instructions, Carialle created the

holographic image of a sheaf of dusty documents, yellow

with age, and rotated it so the Noble Primitive could see all

sides.

'They are very fragile," Plenna said. 'They could shiver

to dust if you breathe on them."

"I will be careful, Magess, I promise."

"We're left with only one problem," Keff said. "How do

we get Brannel to Plennafrey's stronghold?"

Carialle's Lady Fair image drew an impish smile. "It

might be worth a try to count on one of those power drops.

If we can attract everyone's attention again, I might be able

to break loose when the lights go off. After all, I'm not

dependent on the Core of Ozran. I only need a moment. I

can be set to launch at any second, and you'll have your

diversion to teleport there in peace."

"How can we do that?" Keff asked, bemused.

"By letting them know where you are," Cari said. "You

zoom outside and start the Wild Hunt all over. That will

bring everyone here with a view-halloo, and if I'm right,

overload the power lines. As soon as the tractor beam on

my tail lets go, I'll take off and distract them away from

you. I'll lead them on an orbit of Ozran while Brannel is

getting your papers."

"Do you have enough fuel?" Keff asked.

"Enough for one try," Carialle said, showing an indicator

other tank levels, "or we may not have the wherewithal to

get home. I burned a lot trying to break loose before.

Don't fail me."

"Did I burst my heart in the effort I never would, fair

lady," Keff said, kissing his hand to her. "We'll rendezvous

here in two hours."

With a final reproachful glance at Carialle's image,

Plenna took her place on her chariot. Keff crouched

behind her like the musher on a dogsled, and Brannel,

hunched on hands and knees, clung to the back, white

knuckles showing through the fur on his fingers.

"Ready, steady, go!" Carialle threw up the airlock door,

and the chariot shot out the narrow passage.

"Yeeeee-haaaah!" Keff yelled as they zoomed over the

Noble Primitives' cave. The spy-eyes froze in place.

Suddenly, the air was full of chariots. The mages in

them looked here and there for Plennafrey, who was

already kilometers away from Carialle.

"Look!" shouted Asedow, pointing with his whole arm,

and the mob turned to follow them.

Chaumel blinked in, with Nokias and Femgal alongside

him. Like well-trained squadrons, the wings of mages fell

in behind. Keff turned and thumbed his nose at them.

"Nyaah!" he shouted.

Two hundred bolts of red lightning shot from two hundred amulets and rods toward their backs. Plennafrey

threw up a shield behind them, which deflected the force

spectacularly off in all directions.

"If its coming, its coming now," Carialle said in Keffs

ear. "Building ... building... now!"

"Hold tight!" Keff yelled, as the floor dropped out from

under them when the power failed. Plennafrey s shoulders

tensed under his hands, and Brannel moaned.

Shrieks and shouts echoed off the valley floor as the

other mages were deprived of their power and fell helplessly earthward. Some were close enough to the ground to

strike it before the blackout ended. One magess ended up

sitting dazed, in the midst of broken pieces of chair, staring

around in complete bewilderment.

As before, the power-free interval was brief, but it sufficed

for Carialle to kick on her engines and break loose from her

invisible bonds. With a roar and an elongating mushroom of

fire, she was airborne. As one, the hundreds of mages

swiveled in midair, ignoring Plennafrey and Keff, to pursue

her. Her cameras picked up images of astonished and furious

faces. Chaumel was hammering his chair arm.

"Catch me if you can!" she cried, and took off toward

planetary north.

a a a

Another fifty meters, and Plennafrey transported them

from Klemays valley to an isolated peak. Brannel, a huddled bundle of knees and elbows at her feet, was silent.

Keff thought the Noble Primitive was terrified until Brannel turned glowing eyes to them.

"Oh, Magess, I want to do this^" he exclaimed. "It would

be the greatest moment of my life if I could make myself

fly. I could never even imagine this out of a dream. I beg

you to teach me this first."

Keff grinned at the worker males enthusiasm. "I hope

you'll feel as energetic when you find out how much work

it is to do magic," he said.

"Oh, it feels so good to be free again!" said the voice in

his ear. Carialle, knowing in advance where they were

going, reconnected instantly with Keffs implants. "I have

to keep slowing down so I don't lose my audience. They're

such quitters! I've almost lost Potria twice."

"Any unwanted watchers out there, Cari?" Keff asked,

pointing his finger so the ocular implants could see.

"No spy-eyes here yet," Carialle's voice said after a

moment.

Plenna shot in over the balcony, which was a twin to the

one at Chaumel s stronghold, and hovered a few centimeters above the gray tiles.

"I mustn't land, or the ley lines will indicate it," she said.

Brannel hopped off and dashed inside.

"Good luck!" Keff called after him. Plenna lifted the

chair up and looped over the landing pad's edge to wait

beneath the overhang.

Brannel felt the floor humming through his feet and

forced himself to ignore it. The discomfort was a small

price to pay for associating with mages and having diem

tVVIW MU'^lUJJ I fU W l^my f-y... -#y~

treat him as a friend, if not an equal. Even a true Ozran

magess had been land to him, and the promise Mage Keff

had made him-! The knowledge put a spring in his step

all along the corridor walled with painted tiles. At the

green-edged door, he turned and put his hand on the

latch.

"Ho, there!" Brannel turned. A tall far-face with five fingers strode toward him. He had a strange, flat-nosed face,

and his eyes turned up at the comers, but he was handsome, nearly as handsome as a mage. "You're a stranger.

What do you think you're doing?"

"I have been sent by the magess," Brannel said, leaning

toward the house servant with all the aggression of a

fighter who has survived tough living conditions. The servant backed up a pace.

"Who? Which magess?" the servant demanded. He

eyed Brannel's prominent jaw with disdain. "You're not

one of us."

"Indeed I am not," Brannel said, drawing himself

upward. "I am Magess Plennafreys pupil."

That statement, and the casual use of the magess's

name, shocked the house male rigid. His tilted eyes widened into circles.

Brannel, ignoring him, pushed through the door. The

room was lined with hanging cloth pictures. He went to

the fourth one from the door and felt behind it at knee

level. Gently, he extracted from the hidden pocket a thick

bundle. He forced himself to walk, not run, out the door,

past the startled house male, down the hallway, and out

onto the open balcony.

The chariot appeared suddenly at the edge of the low

wall overlooking the precipice, startling him. Keff cheered

as Brannel held up the packet and waved him onto the

chairs end.

"Good man, Brannel! Where are you, Cari?" Mage Keff

asked the air. "We're on our way back to the plain. Yes, I've

got them! Cari, I can almost read these!"

The chair swept skyward once more. Now that his task

was done and reward at hand, Brannel indulged himself in

enjoying the view. One day, he would fly over the mountains like .this on his own chariot. Wouldn't Alteis stare?

"Are those what they look like?" Carialle asked, from

her position over the south pole.

"Yes! They're technical manuals from a starship," Keff

said, gloating. "One of our starships. The language is

human Standard, but old. Very old. Nine to twelve hundred years is my guess from the syntax. Please run a check

through your memory in that time frame for," he held a

trembling finger underneath the notation to make sure he

was reading it correctly, "the CW-53 TMS Bigelow. See

when it flew, and when it disappeared, because there certainly was never a record of its landing here."

Keff turned page after page of the fragile, yellowing

documents, showing each leaf to the implants for CariaUe

to scan.

'This is precious and not very sturdy," he said. "If anything happens to it before I get there, at least we'll have a

complete recording." The covers and pages had been

extruded as a smooth-toothed and flexible but now crackling plastic. In a tribute to technology a thousand years old,

the laser print lettering was perfectly black and legible. He

wondered, glancing through it, what the original owners

would have said if they could see to what purpose their

record-keeping was being put.

"Are these documents good?" Plennafrey asked, over

the rush of the wind.

"Better than good!" Keff said, leaning over to show her

the ship's layout and classification printed on the inside

front cover of the first folder. 'These prove that you are the

descendant of a starship crew from the Central Worlds

tUVIWi IfJL^UUJJ I ry

who landed here a thousand years ago. You're a human,

just like me."

'That makes everything wonderful!" Plennafrey said,

clasping his wrist. 'Then there will be no difficulty with us

staying together. We might be able to have children."

Keff goggled. Without being insulting there was nothing

he could do at the moment but kiss her shining face, which

he did energetically.

"One thing at a time, Plenna," Keff said, going hastily

back to his perusal of the folders. "Ah, there's a reference

to the Core ofOzran. If I follow this correctly, yes ... its a