«It doesn't need redressing, it needs de-escalating,» Carialle replied through her brawns mastoid implant. «Could this planet really cope with one more resentful mage wielding a wand? We still don't know what the power was for originally.»
Brannel's long face wore a mulish expression. Carialle could picture him with donkey's ears laid back along his skull. He was not happy to be dictated to by the flat magess, nor was he comfortable being enlisted by a genuine magess.
«No one speaks of what went before this,» he said. «The promises of mages to other than themselves always prove false. I served Klemay, and now he is dead. Who killed him? I know whoever kills is not always the newest overlord in a place.»
Plenna's mouth dropped open. «How do you know that? You're uneducated. You've never been anywhere but here.»
«You talk over our heads as if we aren't there,» Brannel said flatly. «But I, I understand. Who? I wish to know, for if it was you, I cannot help.»
Plennafrey looked stricken at the idea that she could willingly commit murder. Keff patted her hand.
«He doesn't know, Plenna,» Keff said soothingly. «How could he? It was Ferngal,» he told Brannel. «Chaumel said so last night.»
«Yes, then,» Brannel said eagerly, «I will do what you want. For my price.»
«Impossible,» Plenna said. «He is ignorant.»
«Ignorance is curable,» Keff said emphatically. «It wasn't part of his brain that was removed.» He made a chopping motion at his hand. «He can learn. He's already proved that.»
Brannel looked jealously at Plenna's long fingers. «But I cannot use the power items without help.»
Carialle was immediately sorry Keff had mentioned the amputation. «Brannel, there's nothing that can be done about that now. Some of the other magimen use prosthetics—false fingers. You can, too.»
«If we were home,» Keff said thoughtfully, «surgery could be done to regrow the fingers.» He glanced up to find Plenna gazing at him.
«I must see these wonders,» Plenna said, moving closer. «Should I not come back with you? After all, you said you are here to learn about my people on behalf of your own. I can teach you all about Ozran and see your world. Someday we can come back here together.» She laid one long hand on his arm.
«Uhhh, one thing at a time, Plenna,» Keff said, his smile fixed on his face. Her touch sent tingles up his arm. Her scent and her lovely eyes pulled him toward her like a magnet, but the sudden thought of having a permanent relationship with her had never crossed his mind. Evidently, it had hers. He reproached himself that he should have thought of the consequences before he took her to bed. «Carialle, we may have a problem,» he subvocalized.
«We have a problem,» Carialle said aloud. «The eyes are back. They're circling around outside.»
«Oh!» Plenna ran to the screen. «Nokias, Chaumel, and the other high mages. They are trying to decide what to do.»
«Have they figured out that we're in here?» Keff asked.
«No,» Plenna said, after listening for a moment. «All of their followers are still searching.» Carialle confirmed it.
«Then we'd better make our move, pronto, if we want a chance at those papers,» Keff said. «All that remains is for our agent here to agree to fetch them for us.»
Brannel had been standing beside the console, listening to the three bare-skins talk. He folded his arms over his furry chest.
«I would do anything for you. Mage Keff, but such a chance comes only once to one such as myself. You asked me my price. I told you my hearts desire. Will you pay it?»
Keff appealed to Plennafrey.
«I think he deserves a chance.»
Clearly uneasy, Plennafrey eyed the Noble Primitive. «If all goes well, I agree he will be worthy of an opportunity,» she said slowly. «I do not know where to find him an object of power yet, but I will try.»
«All right, Brannel? Magess Plennafrey will teach you how to use a power object. She'll be your teacher, so she will control what you do to a certain extent—but you'll have your chance. She'll also teach you other things an educated man needs to know. Agreed?»
«Agreed,» Plennafrey said.
Brannel, his eyes shining, fell to his knees before the magiwoman. «Thank you, Magess.»
«There may be no power left for anyone,» Carialle reminded them. «If those power drops have been increasing in frequency over time, it may mean that whatever's powering the magic here on Ozran is finally running down.»
«What do I look for?» Brannel asked meekly.
Following Plenna's instructions, Carialle created the holographic image of a sheaf of dusty documents, yellow with age, and rotated it so the Noble Primitive could see all sides.
«They are very fragile,» Plenna said. «They could shiver to dust if you breathe on them.»
«I will be careful, Magess, I promise.»
«We're left with only one problem,» Keff said. «How do we get Brannel to Plennafrey's stronghold?»
Carialle's Lady Fair image drew an impish smile. «It might be worth a try to count on one of those power drops. If we can attract everyone's attention again, I might be able to break loose when the lights go off. After all, I'm not dependent on the Core of Ozran. I only need a moment. I can be set to launch at any second, and you'll have your diversion to teleport there in peace.»
«How can we do that?» Keff asked, bemused.
«By letting them know where you are,» Cari said. «You zoom outside and start the Wild Hunt all over. That will bring everyone here with a view-halloo, and if I'm right, overload the power lines. As soon as the tractor beam on my tail lets go, I'll take off and distract them away from you. I'll lead them on an orbit of Ozran while Brannel is getting your papers.»
«Do you have enough fuel?» Keff asked.
«Enough for one try,» Carialle said, showing an indicator of her tank levels, «or we may not have the wherewithal to get home. I burned a lot trying to break loose before. Don't fail me.»
«Did I burst my heart in the effort I never would, fair lady,» Keff said, kissing his hand to her. «We'll rendezvous here in two hours.»
With a final reproachful glance at Carialle's image, Plenna took her place on her chariot. Keff crouched behind her like the musher on a dogsled, and Brannel, hunched on hands and knees, clung to the back, white knuckles showing through the fur on his fingers.
«Ready, steady, go!» Carialle threw up the airlock door, and the chariot shot out the narrow passage.
«Yeeeee-haaaah!» Keff yelled as they zoomed over the Noble Primitives' cave. The spy-eyes froze in place.
Suddenly, the air was full of chariots. The mages in them looked here and there for Plennafrey, who was already kilometers away from Carialle.
«Look!» shouted Asedow, pointing with his whole arm, and the mob turned to follow them.
Chaumel blinked in, with Nokias and Ferngal alongside him. Like well-trained squadrons, the wings of mages fell in behind. Keff turned and thumbed his nose at them.
«Nyaah!» he shouted.
Two hundred bolts of red lightning shot from two hundred amulets and rods toward their backs. Plennafrey threw up a shield behind them, which deflected the force spectacularly off in all directions.
«If its coming, its coming now,» Carialle said in Keff's ear. «Building . . . building . . . now!»
«Hold tight!» Keff yelled, as the floor dropped out from under them when the power failed. Plennafrey's shoulders tensed under his hands, and Brannel moaned.
Shrieks and shouts echoed off the valley floor as the other mages were deprived of their power and fell helplessly earthward. Some were close enough to the ground to strike it before the blackout ended. One magess ended up sitting dazed, in the midst of broken pieces of chair, staring around in complete bewilderment.
As before, the power-free interval was brief, but it sufficed for Carialle to kick on her engines and break loose from her invisible bonds. With a roar and an elongating mushroom of fire, she was airborne. As one, the hundreds of mages swiveled in midair, ignoring Plennafrey and Keff, to pursue her. Her cameras picked up images of astonished
