Changer of Worlds

Tye scowled. “What woman? And are you trying to get even with me by using meaningless Manticoran expressions? Who the hell are Hecate and the others? I’m not a student of the Star Kingdom’s mythology, you know.”

He scowled even further, hearing Anton’s ensuing laughter. The more so, no doubt, since Anton didn’t bother to explain the source of the humor.

When Anton was done laughing, Tye gestured at the door. “Are we leaving now? To see whomever this mysterious woman might be.”

Anton shook his head. “It’s much too late. I’ll put in a call right away, of course, but I doubt if we’ll get an audience with her until tomorrow morning sometime.”

“An ‘audience’? What is she, some kind of royalty?”

“Close enough,” said Anton softly. He was studying the screen again, where Edwin Young’s vile nature was displayed in antiseptic columns of figures. “The admiral would call her ‘the Lady from the Infernal Regions,’ I imagine. As much as I probably despise the woman, I suppose that’s as good a character reference as you could ask for.”

“What’s ‘the Infernal Regions’?” demanded Tye. “A province of the Star Kingdom? And what do you mean: you probably despise her?”

Anton didn’t bother to answer the first question. As for the other, he shrugged.

“I’ve never actually met her. But her reputation, as they say, precedes her.”

Tye cocked his head. “Nice expression, that. ‘Her reputation precedes her.’ Another old Manticoran saying?”

The Fourth Day

Helen

When she broke through the wall, Helen was astonished. She had long since stopped actually thinking about escape. She had kept digging simply to keep herself occupied and control the terror.

She held her breath. There hadn’t been much noise when her digging shard punctured the surface. But, for all she knew, she had simply penetrated into a space within sight of her abductors. Even if they heard nothing, they might spot the little trickle of dirt spilling on the opposite side.

So she waited, holding absolutely still and breathing as little as possible. She started a little count— one, one thousand; two, one thousand, three—until she reached three hundred.

Five minutes. And—nothing.

She tried to look through the small little crack the shard had made in the wall, but quickly gave up the effort. The hole where she had been digging was almost eighteen inches deep and not much wider than her arm. She couldn’t get her eye close enough to see anything. Nor was there any light coming through the crack. She had known she broke through by feel alone.

She waited another five minutes before she started digging again. Then, moving very slowly and carefully so as to make as little noise as possible, she began to widen the hole.

The Lady Catherine Montaigne, Countess of the Tor

“Anton Zilwicki, Captain in Her Majesty’s Royal Manticoran Navy,” announced Lady Catherine’s butler, as he came through the door to her study. “And Mr. Robert Tye.” Isaac stepped aside and politely held the door for the visitors coming through behind him.

Isaac finished the introduction: “Lady Catherine Montaigne, Countess of the Tor.”

Cathy rose from her reading chair. For a moment, before she focused her attention on her visitors, she allowed herself an amused glance at Isaac.

My, he does that well! Her butler—Isaac insisted on the title, though it was absurd—seemed every inch the perfect servant. He rattled off the aristocratic titles without a trace in his voice of Isaac’s utter hatred of any and all forms of caste society. He even managed to wear the traditional menial’s costume as if he had been born in it.

Which, of course, he hadn’t. As was the custom of escaped Mesan slaves, except those who joined the Audubon Ballroom, Isaac had taken a surname shortly after obtaining his freedom. Isaac Douglass was now his official name, Isaac having chosen the most popular surname for such people, in memory of Frederick Douglass. But he had been born V-44e-684-3/5, and the name was still marked on his tongue.

Cathy’s amusement was fleeting, however. Almost immediately, she realized that Isaac was tense. The symptoms were extremely subtle, a slight matter of his stance and poise, but she could read them. Isaac’s feet were spread apart a bit farther than normal, his knees were slightly bent, and his hands were clasped in front of his groin. Cathy was no devotee of coup de vitesse herself, but she had no difficulty recognizing the “standing horse.”

Why?

Her eyes went to her visitors, trying to find an answer. The man in front, the naval officer, seemed to pose no threat. Zilwicki was on the short side, and extremely stocky. His shoulders were so wide he almost seemed deformed. Put him in the right costume, grow a thick beard instead of a neat mustache, and he’d be the spitting image of a dwarf warlord out of fantasy novels. But his stance was relaxed, and Cathy could read no expression on his square face.

Then, noticing the intensity lurking in the man’s dark brown eyes, she began to wonder. Her eyes moved to Zilwicki’s companion. Robert Tye, wasn’t it?

Tye solved the mystery for her. The little man’s head was turned, examining Isaac. Suddenly, Tye’s round face broke into a very cheery smile. Because of his pronounced epicanthic fold, the expression almost turned Tye’s eyes into pure slits.

“With your permission, Lady Catherine, I will assume the lotus. I believe your—ah, butler—would find that more relaxing.”

Tye didn’t wait for Cathy’s response. An instant later, folding himself down with astonishing ease and grace, Tye was sitting cross-legged on the lush carpeting. His legs were tightly coiled, each heel resting on the upper thigh of the opposite leg. His hands were placed on his knees, the fingers widespread.

Isaac seemed to straighten a bit. And his hands were now clasped behind his back instead of in front of his groin.

“Do you know this man, Isaac?” she blurted out.

Isaac’s headshake was so slight it was not much more than a tremor. “No, ma’am. But I know of him. He is quite famous among martial artists.”

Cathy stared at Tye. “Coup de vitesse?”

Tye’s cheerful smile returned. “Please, Lady Catherine! Do I look like a barbarian?”

Zilwicki interrupted. “Master Tye is here at my request, Lady Catherine.” His tight mouth twitched in one corner. “It might be better to say, at his insistence.”