Vengeance of the Dancing Gods (31 page)

She suddenly froze up. "We don't talk to narcs. You caused us enough trouble..

"We're not narcs. We don't care about that at all. We are interested if you were one of the folks who used to live at the Mills place, though..

She looked suspiciously at the two of them. "You're not wearing yellow, but I don't talk to Pathies no matter what..

"What has yellow to do with them?" Tiana asked her.

"They all wear something yellow. I don't think it means anything, just a uniform or something, you know..

They filed that one away under useful things Poquah forgot to mention and got on with it.

"If that's your attitude, I think we can be friendly. You see, we knew the Baron long ago. This isn't the first time he's tried to become powerful and subjugate lots of people..

"Lots of people don't like him, but he's got real power.

If you're for real, you're not long for this world..

"We are for real," Tiana assured her. "The Baron once commanded armies with a demon as an ally, and still we defeated him. We know who and what he is and how he does what he does..

Mahalo McMahon was unconvinced. "You sound German, and you, big boy, sound like a truck driver with too Page 165 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods 212 JACK L. CHALKER 213 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS much education. Where the hell could he have commanded armies? He ain't old enough to have been a Nazi..

"Not in Europe," Joe told her. "Not anyplace you've ever heard of. He's from a different place—than here. So are we..

"Yeah? Like where?.

Joe heard a noise behind him, turned, and saw that Tiana was removing her dress. When she finished, she said, "Joe—pick me up so she can see me..

He was hesitant. "You're sure?.

"Just do it..

He went down to her, not feeling good about this, as McMahon, still nude except for flowers and lei, watched in a mixture of suspicion and fascination.

Joe lifted Tiana up, and there was no mistaking what sort of creature she was. The eyes of the woman on the altar went wide, and her mouth dropped a bit.

"From a place where races like mine live," said Tiana.

"From a place that took in the fairies when they were run off this world. From a place where good and evil men do battle with sorcery and with swords. Can you accept that?.

Joe put her back down into the chair.

For a few moments Mahalo McMahon said nothing.

Then, finally, she whispered, "Wow! Like in Dungeons and Dragons." She thought for a moment, then said, a little more confidently, "Okay, I believe you, at least for tonight. Tomorrow I'll decide if you got a real bad disease or if this was the best hash I ever smoked, but for now I'll believe you. All right, Conan, what do you want to know?.

Once she got into the spirit of the thing, Mahalo McMahon was a wealth of information, not only on the house and grounds but also on the True Path itself, although this information was often punctuated with digressions on just about anything.

That night she was alone in her little church, testing out what she called the atmosphere, but usually there were between half a dozen and a dozen regulars, most, like her, "forcibly removed from agriculture," and a couple who were very young and had a nostalgia thing for the days of communes. All were women, some with small Page 166 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods children, and the church seemed to be something of a feminist commune. They'd picked it because the Hawaiian religions were generally close to nature, and also because she had read that no woman was ever sacrificed to a volcano—only men. Of course, women in the old Hawaiian culture were strictly subordinate; that was why it was the "Neo-Primitive" church. As a church with a physical building, they generally avoided taxes and had a certain freedom in what they did.

As for the Baron, she thought of him as a "creepy kind of preacher; you know, like Jim Jones used to be," but handsome and charming on TV or in the few early times before he'd sealed himself off from all but the media, which he carefully controlled. His cultist group, which perhaps numbered several thousand, was totally dedicated and quite dangerous and ruthless, but beyond his small domain, she thought he was overestimated.

"In two or three years he might be powerful enough to influence some votes in the legislature or go national, but right now, even as these things go in the West, he's strictly small potatoes," she assured them. "Now, that don't mean that he's not strong—that new preacher he's got is supposed to be dynamite—but just that his strength don't even extend to outside the county, like here. Folks around here don't like or trust him, and there's enough people and towns in this county that he won't find it as easy to take over..

Finally, there was some time for her to satisfy her own curiosity. "This place you come from—this somewhere else? It's like in the books, huh? Dragons and unicorns and all that?.

"Yes, all that," Tiana assured her. "But no machines, no electricity, none of the modern conveniences. It sounds romantic, but actually can be quite dull, or quite danger- 214 JACK L. CHALKER 215 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS ous, or back-breaking work, depending on who and where you are..

"Yeah, well, ain't that just like anyplace else?" She paused a moment. "If you get by the Baron and go back, can you take passengers?.

"Not really," Joe told her. "It's not up to us or anything we control. But if anybody would like it over there, I think you might. I'll put in a good word for you, but don't get your hopes up..

That seemed to satisfy her, and they left the little church and walked into a cold, damp, misty rain. They got into the van and started off.

Page 167 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods "Joe—I like her. She seems more of Husaquahr than of Earth..

He chuckled. "Maybe, but I'd like to see her when she's straight first. If she's ever straight..

"Uh—it is still early and it is not far to the ocean, is it?.

"About ten miles. Why?.

"If we are about to go full into the Baron's lair, I would like one chance to swim in the ocean. I do not know if I will get another chance..

"You're thinking of the 'pickled fish' line." He tried to sound casual, but he'd been thinking of it as well and he couldn't see a good outcome. "It's pretty messy out— the ocean will be choppy and the shoreline around here is pretty rough with sharp rocks and the like..

"Joe—it is this body's natural element. I will be all right..

He hesitated, weighing anxiety now versus never hearing the end of this later, and finally gave in. When they came out on US-101, he went down a bit and then took a road toward the sea.

The weather was bad enough, and his concern over Tiana real enough, that he never gave a thought that the two small headlights far in back of him might be following him.

* * * The compound was smaller than even the smallest of landed estates in Husaquahr, but it was fairly large nevertheless.

With Gimlet riding in her pouch, peering out at the terrain below. Marge did as complete a survey of the place as she could.

Poquah had certainly overestimated the number of permanent followers, at least those on the land. Although it was impossible really to tell, with the wetness driving most indoors, she doubted if more than seven or eight hundred actually lived in the tents that dotted the clearings, and certainly no more than a thousand. That was certainly bad enough, but it was no legion. In a sense, it was comforting, since it was a large enough group that most were likely strangers to one another, while it was small enough to keep track of.

There were not only guards and patrols, but spells as well on this land. She had no trouble in diverting them around her, but they clearly were effective against ordinary Earth people, causing tremendous disorientation. You could break into the place with little trouble, but you'd wander around and never find your way out again. It was clever and effective—the Elders and their dogs would certainly find you after awhile.

The great mansion looked less impressive in person Page 168 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods than in pictures. Clearly the place needed painting, and there were still rough patches on the roof and even some broken windows just boarded up on the upper floors. This was indeed the very early stages of the Baron's plans, and what money and resources he had were obviously going into other efforts.

There were two large trailers with noisy electrical generators, one powering lights around the grounds and some remote security outposts, the other leading to the house itself. Some plumbing and other work had been done; an old outside well was now capped and had a complex of pipes leading from it into the house. Marge guessed that there were two wells, one there and one probably under 216 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS JACK L.CHALKER 217 the old kitchen itself, but there was no way to be sure without going in there.

It was certain that the house was a place of magic— dark, powerful magic. Both Marge and Gimlet felt it as well as saw it, and for the Kauri it was the strongest sense of pure evil since she'd come face to face with the Demon Prince Hiccarph himself. It was not a feeling the pixie was accustomed to at all, and certainly not one she enjoyed.

"You expect me to go in dereV "I think you'll be safe, if you're careful," Marge assured her. "I'd do it myself, but I suspect that there are defenses in there for Kauris. He knows I'll be one of those coming, and he knows me pretty well. These spells will be designed against those ofHusaquahr; you're of Earth, and he won't be expecting that. If you feel anything demonic, get out of there fast though. Those demons won't have trouble with the Earth-born, and that's both of us..

Marge found a window high up on the third floor that had been weakly repaired and set down on a sill in front of it.

"Looks like it could be a trap for flying folks," the pixie said worriedly. "Dat opening's just big enough for somebody like me..

"That's why I think it's safe. He'll be expecting somebody more my size, and it might be rigged so if the opening were enlarged it would trigger a trap, but not otherwise.

You've got power and speed and guts. Go on..

"I beg to dispute," the pixie responded worriedly, but she went to the opening and peered in.

It looked deserted, and, surprisingly, appeared to have Page 169 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods no spells. There were bat droppings around the place, but nobody was home right at this hour. Taking a deep breath, Gimlet crawled through and inspected the room.

At first she thought it was a dead end; there seemed no way out and it was certainly unused, perhaps since the original owners, but then she found an old dumbwaiter.

It effectively blocked the shaft, as, perhaps, it was intended to do, but pixies, as Marge said, had some power to compensate for their size. She flew in, then excreted a small bit of a shiny, powdery substance, and the dumbwaiter rose slowly, just enough to allow for a gap beneath.

The shaft proved to go all the way to the basement, although Gimlet was in no mood to experiment more than she had to. The doors to the dumbwaiter were all shut, of course, but since at least one had to have been opened in order to raise the little car to its blocking position on the third floor, she managed to find one, right at ground level, that slid back a bit with what little weight she could put on it. She decided to risk leaving it open for a quick getaway. The gap was small enough that it probably wouldn't be noticed anyway, and the place was drafty as it was.

Methodically, she began to explore the house.

Joe had spent some time going over the information and drawings McMahon had provided; but as the time wore on, he just settled back, listening to a country station on the radio, and began to snooze.

Suddenly he awoke with a start as both doors to the van were jerked open with force. He started to make a move, but the two men, one at each door, had pretty large guns.

"Just step out of the van and make no funny moves,.

the one closest to him warned. Both were dressed in dark business suits soaked through from the rain, but both also had on yellow shirts and yellow ties.

He did as instructed. "All right, boys. What's this all about? I have about twenty bucks you're welcome to but, other than that and the van, there's not much here..

The other man slid into the van and picked up the drawings and diagrams, looked them over, then stuck them in his suit coat.

"Don't be funny," the first man said. "We're not robbers, and I think you know it. Now, where's your lady friend?.

218 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER Page 170 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods 219 Joe gestured in the direction of the pounding surf. "Out there. She had a sudden urge for a swim..

The man struck him—hard. "Don't be funny, I said! What do you take us for, anyway?.

"I take you for the Baron's men. I take you for what he calls his Elders. A little out of your jurisdiction, aren't you?.

"Aw, skip it," said the other. "She's a cripple and won't be hard to find. Even if we don't, what's she gonna do on her own out hereT' Being covered by the other one, the first was cocky, and stuck his pistol almost up Joe's nose. "Listen, smart guy. We ask, you answer. If we like your answer, you might live through this. If we don't, you're gonna be pretty sore..