Horrors of the Dancing Gods

Shall we say nine, then?'

'By all means. We have much to arrange, and our clock is ticking on this,' the Imir reminded him.

With that, Thebes left, and they felt free to relax a bit. 'You trust him?' Marge asked the Imir.

'Not much and certainly not in proximity to the McGuffin, but until then his interest lies in sticking with and even helping us. I also believe that his fanatic obsession for obtaining the Grand McGuffin is such that he will be less vulnerable to many of the truly evil influences we may encounter along the way. Perhaps even more insulated than any of the rest of us.'

'You really think that is a danger?' Irving asked him.

'Perhaps. It is best to remain on guard. That is why the Master sent me along on this trip, I believe. Duty is all-important to the Imir. It outweighs and overrides all other considerations, and I have my duty to perform on this mission. So far, in fact, it has been remarkably easy; now, I fear, it is going to turn much uglier. It isn't just the institutional dangers, it's the random ones such as the man with the dog tonight. Marge, tell me true, do you believe that he knew who either of you were?'

'No. I don't think so. He didn't even seem to be waiting for us. It was almost, well, he was going along and spotted us and decided to sic the dog on us just for the hell of it.'

'Indeed, that is just what I mean. Around here much, perhaps a lot, is just for the Hell of it. That is why we must always stick closely together if possible and always be on guard. Trust no one outside our circle unless we have to and all the rest of us can keep watch. The natives here may seem quite ordinary, be friendly, all the rest, but deep down they have no conscience and no sense of responsibility. Assume that everyone you meet is like that fellow with the dog and you will be a lot safer.'

''Thanks a lot,' Marge said glumly. Still, they were here and going inland. 'I think the sooner we're on our way and the less time we spend in towns and cities, the better, though.'

'I agree. Irving and I will sleep tonight; you can keep watch. Tomorrow one of us will do the same for you.'

'Fair enough,' she responded, 'but I may have to go out for just a little bit. That trick I pulled tonight to get us out of that jam used up a tot of energy. I will need to feed.'

'Be careful. It won't take much to overdose in a place like this!' the Imir warned her. 'Still, go.'

'Um — Marge?' Irving asked hesitantly.

'Yeah, Irv?'

'What did you do that got the dog off her?'

'I can't demonstrate. Takes too much out of me. Let's just say that I can do illusions and that most of my illusions are nice and very easy to look at but that there are a few I can do that are scarier than all hell. When that dog lit into her, I just reacted instinctively, and suddenly the woman next to her turned into an apparent horrible fiend and snapped at the dog. Last I saw, it was running down the alley yelping, dragging its tail. When I looked around for the owner, I found him knocked out against the far wall! How that happened I'm not sure. I got the strong impression somebody else was close by in spite of my aerial surveillance, but with Larae hurt, I couldn't take the time to look. I'd swear, though, that there was no way the guy with the dog could have been startled and knocked himself out that way, but, well, who knows?'

'Remind me to stick close to you.'

'Don't get too confident,' she warned him. 'Remember, it's only illusion. Fake. The only reality is what you see right now.' She sighed. 'Okay, I'll just go out the window over here. Close it after me — there are some pretty mean things flying around these parts. I'll get back in. And don't worry so much! We're gonna do this thing! Believe it!'

'I try,' Irving assured her. But he wished there had been enough time for Joel Thebes to tell them why their destiny was so wrapped up in this. Well, he was going along, so there would be plenty of time for that. There was still so much that seemed to have been deliberately withheld from him. Like that and like what Larae's curse was.

Damn it, it wasn't fair for perfect strangers to know more about him and his cohorts than they did themselves!

He would find out some of it, he promised himself. He'd find out as much as he could in the morning.

BE MINE ON YUGGOTH

There can never be but one partner in a seduction.

— Rules, Vol. XXXIII, p. 261(c)

LARAE WAS SORE BUT OTHERWISE IN FAIRLY GOOD SPIRITS the next morning. 'Go on down,' she urged them. 'I'll be all right here, and if I feel up to it, I'll try and dress and join you. Please. I'm not very well going to allow you to help me in here, anyway.'

Irving shrugged. 'All right, if that's what you really want' He looked over at the absolutely comatose Marge, who seemed to be sleeping the sleep of the dead. 'She's not going to wake up for a hurricane, you know.'

'That's all right. I didn't expect her to. You would be surprised at how self-sufficient I have had to learn to be. Go on, get your business started.'

Leaving the girl, he joined Poquah, who had switched his usual gray robes for a mottled green and brown tunic and pants and strong boots. They went down to breakfast

'Is this your normal Imir garb back in your own homeland?' Irving asked him, curious.

'One of them. The style's rather stock, I'm afraid — the Rules, you know — but the coloration and cut are often quite distinctive. Um, I assume you noted how completely unconscious the Kauri was?'

'Uh, yeah, but she's always out of it in bright daylight'

'Not that out of it. She's functional in daylight; she just could feel the same as you or I would if we hadn't been to sleep for, say, twenty-four hours. Groggy but workable. If she slept that hard normally, she'd be totally vulnerable during the day, when virtually all of her defenses are from the conscious will rather than being automatic. No, I fear we will have to keep a careful eye on her because she will be the last to notice.'

'Notice what?'

'She feeds on other people's misdeeds, regrets, whatever. There's not a lot of conscience in these people, so the kind of psychic energy she's designed to digest must be dug for more deeply and at its root, which is not in the sense of wrongness but rather in the nature of the deed itself and its stain upon the soul. It is quite easy for her, I think, to mistake the stain for what is her natural food.'

'I don't follow you at all,' the boy admitted, shaking his head.

Poquah sighed and chose his words patiently. 'She thinks she is doing the normal, instinctual, and natural thing by cleansing the soul, but instead she is consuming a part of it.'

'Huh? What?'

'She is eating part of their evil-stained souls, which, to someone of a faerie nature, is tantamount to cannibalism. You remember the old saying that you are what you eat?'

'Yeah, but…'

'If she is not careful, she will turn from being a Kauri to becoming a Succubus, a predator. In a sense, it would be like a mortal becoming a vampire. It would not matter if she liked the state or not; she would not be able to help herself. She would become a killer to live, but under a whole different part of the Rules. That is the danger I feared most from the start and the one which Master Ruddygore was also most concerned about. I still hope that her own ruler, who keeps some connection with all those of the tribe, has a way to control this or she wouldn't have allowed Marge to come, but it is by no means sure. In the end we must drive home to her the need to stop before she turns completely. It is more a matter of will than of compulsion, but one must recognize the problem to deal with it.'