Dream Park

Chester, two rafts back, had seen it too. 'Snake!' His voice was surprisingly clear and loud. 'Big one! Leigh, take first assault.'

In the front raft, Leigh stood up. When the snake rose from the swirling water the magician was ready.

The snake was easily thirty feet long, its trunk thick and banded with muscle. Its head was broader than a horse's, long black tongue slipping in and out of its mouth with hypnotic rhythm. Its torso showed yellow and dull red against the blue-green of the lake, and as it hoisted fully eight feet of its length out of the water and glared at them, an uneasy cheer went up from the other Garners.

Leigh spread his arms in supplication. 'Gods above!' he screamed at the top of his voice, 'hear my plea!' Almost immedi­ately a green glow surrounded him, and he nodded acknowl­edgement. The snake glided closer. 'Let's see now-'

'God's sake get on with it!' Mary-em snapped.

He glared at her. 'No respect for artists. All right, then.' He refocused his gaze on the snake, now only meters away. 'Snake, you are a thing of water. I give you-fire!' He gestured magically, and nothing happened. He repeated, 'Fire!' and the glow around his right hand melted from green to red. He made a hurling mo­tion at the snake.

A fist-sized ball of fire sailed from his hand, bright even in artificial daylight, expanding as it pierced the air and impacted the snake's nose. The effect was remarkable. The viper recoiled with an echoing hiss and dove back into the water and disappeared.

Tony cheered. 'Great! Heroes one, monster zero!'

Acacia gripped his arm. 'Not so fast, Tony...' She was watching Chester.

The Lore Master lifted his arms. 'Hear me, oh gods,' he said, his voice deep and resonant. The green glow appeared around him. He looked down into the murky green water. 'I invoke Clear Vi­sion. Reveal to me my foe.'

With a ripple of glitter, the surface of the lake became like a warped sheet of green glass, and beneath it writhed the outline of an enormous serpent. 'Warriors! Be ready! It's coming back up.'

Acacia said, 'Oh shit,' and dived for her gear. She hurriedly unrolled an oblong oilskin package and lovingly touched the twenty-four-inch blade of her shortsword before buckling the scabbard round her waist. She slipped the blade out again and ex­

perimentally slashed at the air, then checked the 'ready' light in the hilt. She waited, crouched.

The lake surged and the snake was on them, hissing with the liquid sound of a wind whipping through a stand of rainswept trees. Its head coiled back, then snapped forward with blinding speed. Acacia cut furiously across the beast's mouth. It swerved around and tried to bite from the side, but the swordswoman pivoted neatly and met it again. This time the snake jerked back clear of the blade. It hovered just out of range, glaring at her with blood drooling from its upper ¹¹p. Slowly, eyes fixed on her stead­ily, it sank beneath the water.

'Good play, Panthesilea,' Tony McWhirter said, his face just a shade pale.

S.J. piped up immediately. 'Best damn holograms in the world. Most expensive, too. The sword sensor knows whether it intersects part of the projection, and signals the computer. The snake's a computer-animated projection, so-' He looked down at Acacia's sword tip waving an inch from his nose.

She said, 'Listen, S.J., maybe you get your kicks from analyz­ing dreams, but I want to play, and I want Tony to have the chance to play with me, okay?'

S.J. grinned and said, 'Snake's behind you.' She whirled, sword ready, and he laughed.

The watersnake was menacing the raft that held Gwen and Offie. They paddled madly. Their passenger, a Cleric named Gar­ret, spread his arms and intoned loudly, 'Hear me, oh gods!' His red false beard flapped mightily in the breeze. The familiar green halo surrounded him, and he yelled, 'A ring of protection, Fa­ther!'

A band of soft white light circled the raft. The snake drew up short and nosed around them in bewildered frustration. In the time that it spent deciding how to attack, Bowan the Black had maneuvered his boat up behind it. 'Fireball!' he cried. An arc of flame leapt from his palm to strike the monster just behind the head. It hissed in pain and spun around, diving for Bowan. Offie's voice rang out across the water.

'Cut the ring!' he yelled, and the circle of light disappeared. Ollie stood stripped to the waist, gut sucked in heroically. His eyes burned fiercely. He clutched a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. He yodeled his war-cry and struck.

The snake jerked away from the kiss of steel, and Ollie's second

slash cut thin air. Ollie tried to make up the extra distance with a lunge. The raft shifted in the opposite direction, and Ollie went over the edge.

He came up sputtering and thrashing with his left hand for bal­ance. The dagger was a hindrance; he stuffed it in his sheath and struck out towards the snake. Its body rose from the water and en­circled him. Ollie screamed defiantly and laid about with the sword. The snake was covered in wounds now, and Bowan the Black was hurling tongues of fire with both hands.

The snake's upper body was awrithe with flame, and it uncoiled from Ollie and tried to dive. As it did, Ollie torqued his body all the way round in the water, and caught it dead center between the eyes. Mortally wounded, it rolled its eightball eyes piteously and expired, sinking beneath the water with only a slick of blood to mark its passing.

Without knowing how he got there, Tony found himself on his feet and cheering like an idiot. With great clumsy strokes Ollie swam back to the raft. Gwen helped him aboard, kissing him soundly. Acacia nudged Tony. 'Think they'll celebrate tonight, or what?'

He was still open-mouthed, watching the slowly dissipating bloodstain. 'Just wow, Cas. I don't believe it.'

'You'd better believe it when it happens to you, or you'll be out of the Game while you're still trying to shut your mouth.' She brushed the back of her hand along his jawline, closing it, and said, 'Come on, lover. Let's get to shore before Lopez hits us with something new.'

'Oh, he wouldn't...' He paused, chewing his words. 'Right. Let's get off the lake.'

Chapter Seven

THE ROAD OF THE CARGO

The DC-3 was disappearing beneath the waters as the last raft pulled ashore. Tony shouldered his knapsack and adjusted the nylon straps. 'Rest in peace, Captain Stimac,' he said. 'Is that one for Lopez?'

Acacia shook her head. 'The pilot was a freebie. He wasn't a member of our party. He was outside Chester's influence. Help me get my bedroll adjusted, will you? Then let's go talk to Chester.'

The Lore Master was helping Gina get herself together. Besides a bedroll and backpack, the lovely redhead sported a wicked looking dagger and the wizard's staff, her major magical tool. Henderson himself carried only a bedroll and backpack, plus a small black box fastened to his belt on the left side.

He turned to Maibang. 'You have a lot of those snakes around here?'

Maibang raised his palms in supplication. 'Who knows what

(delete this)

evil has been wrought here since my departure?' The guide wiped a drop of water from his broad nose and stared into the distance. 'I believe that we head... yes, that way, north, toward the mountains.'

'Are you sure?' Chester sounded a touch irritated.