Return to the Stars

A party of officers awaited them. They bowed and escorted them toward the huge bulk of the palace. Others boarded the cruiser to take charge of Obd Doll and his crew.

The old kings of Fomalhaut coldly looked down once more at Gordon, and this time he felt like snarling up at them.

'I know my place now,' he wanted to tell them. 'So the hell with you!'

But Shorr Kan strode along with a approving smile on his dark face, as though he were a visiting royalty who found the palace small but rather nice.

Despite his despair, Gordon had cherished a little hope. He did not know he had until suddenly it died, and that was when they three came into a small room where Lianna and Korkhann waited for them.

She was as beautiful as ever and her face was cold and hard as marble when she looked at him.

He started to say something, but before he could speak Lianna had looked beyond him and her eyes went wide with shock.

'Shorr Kan!'

Shorr Kan bowed magnificently to her. 'Highness,' he said, 'it gladdens me to see you again. True, you and I have had a few small bothers and fusses, but that's all in the past, and I can say that it's forgotten now.'

Lianna stared at him, absolutely stunned. Gordon felt an unwilling but tremendous admiration for Shorr Kan at that moment. Raise up the armadas of the League of the Dark Worlds, smite the Empire and its allies, bring about an Armageddon of the whole galaxy, and then dismiss it all lightly as a few small bothers and fusses!

'I have to state,' Gordon said, 'that Shorr Kan... who, as you can see, did not die at Thallarna but escaped to the Marches... was the one who rescued us and enabled us to give warning of the counts' coming attack.'

He added forcefully, 'I have promised Shorr Kan, because we owe him our lives, that he is safe here.'

She looked at him, quite without expression. Then she said tonelessly, 'If that is so, you are welcome, Shorr Kan, as our guest.'

'Ah, a return of hospitality,' said Shorr Kan. 'It was not so long ago that you were my guest at Thallarna, Highness.'

This grandly-spoken reference to the time when Gordon and Lianna had been Shorr Kan's prisoners brought a cough from Hull Burrel, who sounded as though he were choking on suppressed laughter.

Lianna turned to him. 'Captain Burrel, we have been in touch with Throon. Jhal Arn has told me that elements of the Empire fleet are already on their way here.'

Hull shook his head. 'I'm afraid that will do no good, Highness. The counts and Narath Teyn will know that they must strike at once.'

All this time Korkhann had said nothing, peering at Gordon with those wise yellow eyes that seemed to pierce straight through to the brain. Now he stepped forward, feathers rustling as his wings swept up and the delicate clawed hands at their tips caught Gordon's arm.

'But the Magellanians?' he cried.

'The H'Harn?' said Gordon startled.

'Is that what they call themselves?' Korkhann had an intensity about him that Gordon have never seen before. 'Listen, John Gordon. Before I left Throon, the emperor and his brother, Zarth Arn, let me read the old records of Brenn Bir's time, when the Magellanians came to this galaxy before. They must not come again. What I read...'

He stopped, his voice quavering out into silence. When he spoke again, it was in a low, carefully controlled tone.

'You know that I am a telepath. Not one of the strongest ones, but... I have felt a shadow over the galaxy... a shadow that deepens with each hour, dark, cold....'

Gordon shook his head. 'We met only two of the H'Harn. One we never even saw. Shorr Kan killed the other one, to free us... we were in deadly danger...' And I hope that guarantees your neck, Shorr Kan, he thought. 'But apparently there are only a few of them in the galaxy.'

'They will come,' whispered Korkhann. 'They will come.'

Lianna spoke. 'One thing at a time. Narath and his beasts, and the counts, are enough to deal with now. Korkhann, will you see that our guests are made comfortable...'

She emphasized the word 'guests' but Shorr Kan never turned a hair. He made another courtly bow and said to her, 'Thank you, Highness, for your welcome. I've always wanted to visit Fomalhaut, for I've been told it's one of the most beautiful of the minor star-kingdoms. Until later!'

And with that truly regal wipe in the eye, he turned and went out with Hull Burrel and Korkhann.

Gordon saw Lianna turn toward him. Her face was still stone-white and there was no expression at all now in her eyes.

She came closer to him and her small hand flashed and gave him a stinging slap across the mouth.

Then her face changed. It moved like that of a nasty little girl having a tantrum. She put her head on his shoulder, and she said, 'Don't you ever leave me again, John Gordon. If you do...'

He felt the wetness of tears against his cheek.

Incredulous, caught by wonder, Gordon held her. Not Zarth Arn, he thought. John Gordon.

That long trip back across the ages had been worth it, after all.

19

The street was familiar. Gordon knew every one of the brownstone fronts. He walked on the gritty pavement toward the office building where he spent his days. In the doorway he met Keogh, who laughed at him and said, 'I told you it was all a dream, that rubbish about star-kings and beautiful princesses. All a dream, and now you've awakened, you're back in the real world. The real world...'

In a panic, Gordon said, 'No, no, I won't come back.' And then he cried out, 'Lianna!'

The cry seemed to echo down endless corridors, but it had an effect. Everything slid and tilted and flowed away, leaving him confused and giddy in a tumultuous nowhere. He floundered wildly, like a drowning swimmer, and called Lianna's name again, and suddenly he was looking in bewilderment around an unfamiliar room.

Through an open window he could see the vast orb of the setting sun, and the sun was Fomalhaut, not Sol. It threw a shaft of brilliant light into the room, and by it he saw Lianna sitting silently in a chair, watching him.

He sat up on the couch where he had fallen asleep, brushing beads of perspiration from his forehead. The echoes of that nightmare were strong in him, and for a moment he could not speak.

'You dreamed you were in that other time?' she said.

He nodded.

'I thought so. I was watching your face. I'm glad it was my name you called.' She added after a moment, 'I've talked to Captain Burrel. I have some idea what you two went through I'm not surprised you have bad dreams.'

They were still, Gordon thought, just a little awkward with each other. He was sure now that she loved him, but the trouble was that they didn't quite know each other well enough yet.

'When the H'Harn touch you,' he said, 'it seems to leave a kind of mental scar. Twice I've dreamed that the one who held us there in the ship had actually carried us away to the Lesser Magellanic, and each time...'

Suddenly Gordon stopped. His mind, just aroused from sleep had abruptly perceived for the first time something that he had never thought about before.

He jumped to his feet. 'There's no sign of the fleet of the counts coming out of the Marches?'

She shook her head gravely. It was not for the sovereign to Fomalhaut Kingdom to show fear, but he saw the strain in her eyes.

'Not yet,' she said. 'But Abro thinks that if they are going to attack they'll come soon. He agrees with Captain Burrel that they would alter their timetable in order to strike before help can get here.'

Gordon said, 'I think I've overlooked something that may be tremendously important. I've got to see Hull and Shorr Kan.'