«Look at that: Chaumel's got them all calmed down. Say, he's coming this way.»
The silver chariot left the others and floated toward Carialle, settling delicately a dozen feet from the end of the ramp. The two camps of magicians hovered expectantly over the middle of the field, with expressions that ranged from nervous curiosity to open avarice. The magician rose and walked off the end of the chairs finial to stand beside it. Hands folded over his belly, he bowed to the ship.
«So they can stand,» Carialle said. «I gather from the shock on the faces of our Noble Primitives over there that that's unusual. I guess these magicians don't go around on foot very often.»
«No, indeed. When you have mystic powers from the astral plane, I suppose auto-ambulatoly locomotion is relegated to the peasants.»
«He's waiting for something. Does he expect us to signal him? Invite him in for tea?»
Keff peered closely at Chaumel's image. «I think we'd better wait and let him make the first move. Ah! He's coming to pay us a visit. A state visit, my lady.»
Chaumel got over his internal debate and, with solemn dignity, made his way to the end of the ramp, every step slow and ponderous. He reached the tip and paused, bowing deeply once again.
«I feel honored,» Carialle said. «If I'd'a known he was coming I'd'a baked a cake.»
Chapter Six
«The initiative is ours now,» Keff said. He kept watch on the small screen of his Intentional Translator as it processed all the hedrons Carialle had recorded while he was unconscious and combined it with the dialogue he had garnered from Brannel and the magicians' discussions. The last hedron popped out of the slot, and Keff slapped it into his portable IT unit on the control panel. «That's it. We have a working vocabulary of Ozran. I can talk with him.»
«Enough to ask intelligent questions?» Carialle asked. «Enough to negotiate diplomatically for our release, and inform them, 'by the way, folks, we're from another planet'?»
«Nope,» Keff said, matter-of-factly. «Enough to ask stupid questions and gather more information. IT will pick up on the answers I get and, I hope, translate them from context.»
«That IT has never been worth the electrons to blow it up,» Carialle said in a flat voice.
«Easy, easy, lady,» Keff said, smiling at her pillar.
«Sorry,» she said. «I'm letting the situation get to me. I don't like being out of control of my own functions.»
«I understand perfectly,» Keff said. «That's why the sooner I go out and face this fellow the better, whether or not I have a perfect working knowledge of his language.»
«If you say something insulting by accident, I don't think you'll survive a second blast of that lightning.»
«If they're at all as similar to humans as they look, their curiosity will prevent them killing me until they learn all about me. By then, we'll be friends.»
«Good sir knight, you assume them to be equal in courtesy to your good self,» Carialle said.
«I must face the enchanter's knight, if only for the sake of chivalry.»
«Sir Keff, I don't like you leaving the Castle Strong when there's a dozen enchanters out there capable of flinging bolts of solid power down your gullet, and there's not a thing I can do to protect you.»
«The quest must continue, Carialle.»
«Well . . .» she said, then snorted. «I'm being too protective, aren't I? It isn't exactly first contact if you stay inside and let them pelt away at us. And we'll never get out of here. We have to establish communications. Xeno will die of mortification if we don't, and there go our bonuses.»
«That's the spirit,» Keff said, buckling on his equipment harness.
Carialle tested her exterior links to IT. «Anything we say will come out in pidgin Ozran. Right?»
Keff paused, looked up at her pillar. «Should you speak at all? Are they ready for the concept of a talking ship?»
«Were we ready for flying chairs?» Carialle countered. «We're at least as strange to them as they are to us.»
«I'd rather not have them know you can talk,» Keff said thoughtfully.
«But they already know I can speak independently. I talked to Brannel while you were unconscious. Unless he thought you were having an out-of-body experience.»
«Supposing Brannel had the nerve to approach our magicians, he wouldn't be able to explain the voice he heard. He was gutsy with me, but you'll notice on the screen that he's staying well out of the way of the chair- riders. They're in charge and he's a mere peon.»
«He is scared of them,» Carialle agreed. «Remember how he explained punishment came from the mountains when one of his people is too curious. It's no problem for them to dispense punishment. They're endlessly creative when it comes to going on the offensive.»
«Contrariwise, I take leave to doubt that any of the magicians would give him a hearing if he did come forward with the information. There's a big crowd of Brannel's folk out there on the perimeter and the wizards haven't so much as glanced their way. No one pays the least attention to the peasants. Your secret is still safe. That's why I want you to keep quiet unless need arises.»
«All right,» Carialle said at last. «I'll keep mumchance. But, if you're in danger . . . I don't know what I'll do.»
«Agreed.» And Keff shot her column an approving grin.
«Let's test the system,» Carialle said. The small screen to the right of the main computer lit up with a line diagram of Keff's body. He rose and stood before it, holding his arms away from his sides to duplicate the posture.
«Testing,» he said. «Mah, may, mee, mo, mu. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Maxwell-Corey is a fardling, fossicking, meddling moron.» He repeated the phrases in a subvocal whisper. Small green lights in the image's cheeks lit up.
«Got you,» Carialle's voice said in his ear. Lights for the mastoid implants clicked on, followed by the fiber optic pickups implanted in the skin at the outer corners of his eyes. «I'm not trusting the contact buttons alone. The lightning earlier knocked them out for a while.» Heart, respiration, skin tension monitors in his chest cavity and the muscles of his thighs lighted green. The lights flicked out and came on again as Carialle did double backup tests. «You're wired for sound and ready to go. I can see, hear, and just about feel anything that happens to you.»
«Good,» Keff said, relaxing into parade rest. «Our guest is waiting.»
«Here comes the stranger.»
Keff's implant translated Asedow's comment as he stepped outside. He assumed the same air of dignity that Chaumel displayed and walked to the bottom of the ramp. He paused, wondering if he should stay there, which gave him a psychological advantage over his visitor who had to look up at him. Or join the fellow on the ground as a mark of courtesy. With a smile, he sidestepped. Chaumel backed up slightly to make room for him. Face-to-face with the silver magician, Keff raised his hand, palm out.
«Greetings,» he said. «I am Keff.»
The eyewitness report had been correct, Chaumel realized with a start. The stranger was one of them. The oddest thing was that he did not recognize him. There were only a few hundred of the caste on all of Ozran. A family of mages could not conceal a son like this one, grown to mature manhood and in possession of such an incredible power-focus as the silver cylinder.
«Greetings, high one,» Chaumel said politely, with the merest dip of a nod. «I am Chaumel. You honor us with your presence.»
The man cocked his head, as if listening to something far away, before he responded. Chaumel sensed the faintest hint of power during the pause, and yet, as Nokias had informed him, it did not come from the Core of Ozran. When at last he spoke, the strangers words were arranged in uneducated sentences, mixed with the odd
