Shoogar he was just laying out the last of his equipment. One swollen pouch he handled most carefully. “Powdered magician’s hair,” he explained. I did not blame him for handling it carefully. He had sacrificed much to produce it; his squat and shaven body trembled with the cold.
Abruptly, a troubled look crossed his face, “I am sure that Purple’s power is in some way connected with his nest. I must get into it somehow. That is the only part of my curse that I am in doubt about. I must get into that nest…”
My heart leapt. “But, I can help you there— ” I fairly shouted, then remembered to lower my voice. “Today — I mean, yesterday (for dawn was fast approaching) — I was able to get close enough to Purple to observe how he worked his doorspell.”
Shoogar nearly leapt at me, “Lant, you are a fool!” Then he thought to lower his voice. “Why did you not tell me this earlier?” he hissed.
“You did not ask me.”
“Well, I am asking you now — how does it work?”
I explained what I had seen, the pattern of bumps on the nestwall, how Purple had tapped at them in a certain way and how the door had slid open immediately after. Shoogar listened carefully. “Obviously, the order in which he touched the bumps is the way the spell in controlled. Think, Lant! Which bumps did he touch?”
“That I did not see…” I admitted.
Shoogar cursed, “Then why bother to tell me how to open the door if you do not know? Lant, you are a fool.”
“I am sorry — but it happened so quickly. If I could only remember — If I could only see it again —”
“Perhaps …” said Shoogar. “Perhaps … Lant, have you ever been placed under the spell of the open mind?”
I shook my head.
“It is a spell of great power. It can be used to make you remember things that you think you have forgotten.”
“Uh, is it dangerous?”
“No more so than any other spell.”
“Well,” I said, picking up my bicycle, “good luck with your duel, Shoogar. I will see you when it is —”
“Lant,” he said evenly, “if you take one more step downslope, I will work your name into the curse along with Purple’s.”
I laid the bicycle down again. It had been worth a try.
My feelings must have shown, for Shoogar said, “Don’t be so fearful. I will do my best to protect you. Suddenly you have become a very important part of this duel. The knowledge locked up in your mind may make the difference between success and failure.”
“But, Shoogar, I am a fool. You have told me that too many times for it to be otherwise. I admit it. I am a fool. You could not be wrong in your judgment of my character. What good could I be to you?”
“Lant,” said Shoogar, “you are not a fool. Believe me. Sometimes in my quickness of temper I have made rash statements. But I have only the greatest respect for your judgment, Lant. You are not a fool.”
“Oh, but I am,” I insisted.
“You are not!” Shoogar said. “Besides, it does not take any great mental prowess to remember something as simple as you have described. Even an idiot such as you could do it!”
“Oh, but I will be only in your way, Shoogar. Please let me return to my family —”
“And have the other men of the village think you a coward?”
“It would be a small burden to bear —”
“Never!” snapped Shoogar. “No friend of mine shall wear the brand of coward. You will stay here with me, Lant. And you should be grateful that I care so much for you as a friend.”
He turned again to the equipment laid out upon the ground. I sighed in resignation and sat down to wait. Dawn was already seeping into the east.
Shoogar turned back to me, “Your part in this will be easy, Lant. There is no reason to fear.”
“But, the danger —”
He dismissed it with a gesture, “There will be no danger if you follow my instructions exactly as I give them to you.”
“I will follow your instructions.”
“Good. There can be no room for error. Even the tiniest mistake could cost us both our lives.”
“But you just said there would be no danger —”
“Of course not. Not if you follow instructions. Most of the hard work has already been done. Don’t forget, I had to construct the equations: I had to prepare the ingredients, and I had to stabilize the symbology necessary to make the various incantations and potions work. All you have to do is help me place them in the proper place at the proper time.”
“I thought all I had to do was help you open the nest —”
“Of course. But if you are going to be there anyway, you might as well help me with the rest.”
“Oh,” I said.
“And whatever you do, you must not try to speak to me. This is very important. When the suns rise, we shall begin — and once we begin, I must not be distracted at all. Except as is necessary to the curse I will not speak. Do you under-stand?”
I nodded.
“Good. Now, listen. There is one more thing. A very important thing. It has nothing to do with the curse, Lant, but for your own protection you must be exceedingly careful not to lesnerize.”
“Lesnerize?” I asked. “What is lesnerize …?
But he pointed instead to the east. Day had seeped red/flashed-blue over the hills. Shoogar fell to his knees and began chanting to the suns.
The curse had begun.
The first step was a ritual cleansing, a purification so that we would not contaminate the curse with some long-forgotten residual spell.
Then came the sanctification, the prayer for forgiveness to the suns, Ouells and Virn, and to the moons, all eleven of them — now in the configuration of Eccar the Man, he who had served the gods so well that he had been elevated to god hood himself.
Other prayers were offered to the river god, the wind god, the gods of violence and magic, of engineering, of birds and duels of wars, of past and present and future, of skies and seas and tides. And, of course, to Elcin, the thunder god. We offered sacrifice to all of them, and sought their blessings in the endeavors to come. We prayed that they would blame the stranger and not us for the affronts about to be done to them.
Then we cleansed ourselves again.
We gathered up the spellcasting equipment and crept the slope to where the mad magician’s nest waited. Behind and below us the mist which had covered all the lowlands at dawn thinned as the two suns rose higher. The ponderous red sun had turned the mists pink while the pinpoint blue burned them away. We could see for miles.
We topped the rise slowly. Slightly below us, on the other side, was the black egg of Purple’s nest, waiting grim and brooding in the silent morning. It was closed, but was it deserted?
I wanted to ask Shoogar what the next step was, but his last instruction made me fear even to breathe without being told. Shoogar must have sensed my indecision, for he said, “Now we wait…”
The suns rose higher in the sky. The last of the mists disappeared from the land. And the egg sat silent on the steppes. The only sound was the gurgling of the spring.
Abruptly, the door of the nest slid open and Purple emerged. He stretched slowly and took a deep breath, then let it out with a sigh. I wondered if the yearning dust was still floating in the air. If it were, then Purple had just filled his lungs with it. He showed no reaction though as he closed the door of his nest behind him. If the dust was working, then it was very subtle.
We held our breaths as he began climbing up the slope of the hills. Shortly he disappeared over the top of
