Dream Park

suspects; and nobody seemed to be acting like a hunted killer. Now the news was out, and he could sit back and watch the results.

It seemed likely that the killer didn't know the guard was dead. The GriffIn's prey might well believe that Rice woke up with a headache and a sore neck. That would make it a game, a com­plex exercise in ingenuity and daring. But murder, that would be different. The Gamer who had chuckled privately about his mar­velous coup might now begin to show signs of panic.

And who was left as suspect? Well, high on the list were Bowan the Black and his lady, Dark Star. Mary-em, S.J., and Tony McWhirter had no apparent alibis for Thursday evening. Neither did Oliver or Gwen. All of the other Gamers were covered, as­suming that those who had already been killed out agreed to sub­mit to the voice stress analyzers.

Unless... Acacia? Was she covered for the entire night? Pride be damned, the lady seemed uncommonly. interested in the Griffin's past. And my body. Damn Fortunato! Did he have no sense of tact?

Come to think of it, what about Kasan Maibang? He was in the Game at that point, and would have to account for his actions like any Gamer.

And what of the workmen who entered Gaming Area A to change the sets? Could one of them have sneaked away from the others...

'Holy mother of mercy,' Griffin whispered bitterly. This was quickly getting out of hand. He would have to have Bobbick check that for him as soon as possible.

He stood, breathed deeply and shouldered his pack. The line was forming again, but this time he had a new partner: Acacia. She stood next to him, waiting for Chester's call to move out. She didn't speak.

'Hey, lady. Who's not communicating flow?'

Her smile was faint. 'I'm sorry, Gary. Do you mind if I walk with you?'

'I'd like that. Things aren't good with the boyfriend, eh?'

A sigh. 'On and off. Off right now. I don't really feel much like talking. Do you mind? I'd just kind of like to walk with you.' She looked up at him, and for the first time he saw no strength, no as­surance in that beautiful face, only confusion and loss.

So Griffin walked with her as Chester started the column on its way. Together they wound their way into the mountains, silently sharing the sights and moods of the day.

Together they huddled beneath the branches of a gnarled dead tree as the Ford sent a storm against them. Dora, the spirit of na­ture, raged in the sky and in the earth, and dark clouds gathered, spitting splintered lightning into the mountains. Protected by the Clerical power of Gwen and Owen Braddon they still shivered in the cold rain. The wind plucked at them, and torn brushwood tumbled through the air at frenzied speed. When lightning struck, the ground trembled ominously, and rocks began to fall.

It seemed that half the mountain was falling on them: waves of mud, a hailstorm of boulders. They saw the earth open and swal­low one of their bearers. Before the storm was over Acacia and Griffin were cuddling for warmth, still unspeaking, shivering as they held one another.

'. ...osting us time!' Henderson muttered, while Mary-em bellowed a song into the storm.

'I have a magic Wizard's staff, I think it's really swell,

Whatever tries to slow me down, I blow it straight to Hell-'

They could barely hear her, and nobody would join her. She desisted.

When at last the rain stopped, and the storm clouds boiled away into vapor, the Garners crept out and looked anxiously into the sky, shaking water from their hair and bedrolls.

Acacia kept her eyes on the ground as she straightened herself up. She was barely audible as she answered Chester's roll call, and Alex watched her, worried.

Only Kagoiano had been killed, which left eighteen people in the Game: the fifteen players, Lady Janet, Kasan Maibang and the bearer Kibugonai. As soon as everyone had their breath back, they continued on.

After another mile of silent companionship, Griffin finally asked, 'Does he do this to you often?'

'I don't know who's doing what to who, right now. Hell, maybe I am too bossy. Maybe I do play around too much...'

Alex chose to ignore the implied question. 'Come on, Acacia. Yesterday you were telling me that I needed to get more involved in the Game. Okay. So do you, now.'

'You're telling me to ignore the fact that the man... that someone I love has been hurt through my actions? I can't do that.'

'Then go talk to him.'

'No,' she said softly. 'I can't do that. Not yet. We might be able to talk later. We've had this problem before, and it's always worked itself out. Before. Maybe tonight we'll be able to talk.' She looked up at him with the same pleading eyes he had seen under the waterfall. 'I hope you don't think that I'm a tease, be­cause I really do like you. I just don't think that you and I should take things any further than they've gone.'

'I can understand that. Really. Listen. Let's just forget that all of this happened, all right? If you help me believe that I'm a Thief out to steal back precious Cargo, then I'll help you remember that you're a beautiful Warrior heading for the fight of her life. How does that sound?'

She creased her neutral expression into a smile and said nothing.

The route they traveled was turning green again, but now the trees and bushes seemed stunted, twisted, as if the soil itself con­tained alien nutrients. No branches bore leaves, but strange golden fruit hung from them, and Griffin wrestled with the temptation to pluck and taste one.

He couldn't explain it, but somehow he knew they were being watched by hostile eyes. He found himself thumbing the hilt of his knife and whistling tunelessly, nervously, his eyes roaming the crags above and the occasional gullies below.

The other Garners were restless too. Alex caught Tony McWhirter looking back at them. Tony's eyes shied away when they met Griffin's. He seemed not resentful, but afraid.

'What do you think, Cas?'

'I feel it too. Something's happening. It'll be soon.' She shiv­ered, and drew her sword, holding it at ready though there was no visible foe.

Fear. That was what he felt, pure fear, something on a level he couldn't touch intellectually, something more primitive than reason.

Up ahead, Chester called the line to a halt. The mass of Garners grouped around the Lore Master in a ragged semicircle.

Chester raised his hand for silence. 'We all feel it, so I don't need to tell you that there is danger up ahead. I think we're near­ing Cargo. What form it will take I haven't a notion. If we have to break the line for combat, let's see mixed couples. Try to pick someone of a different guild to stand with now. We can't afford to lose two of any category. Let's try to spread the damage. All right? Anyone who needs to exchange partners, now's the time. S.J., up here with me.'

The youngster whooped and raced up to stand next to the Lore Master. Some of the players scrambled around, but Alex and Acacia stayed together.

The path narrowed and led through a slit in the rock wall. Owen Braddon, a Cleric, provided a gentle white glow to protect and illumine their way as they passed through a long, roughly tri­angular tunnel. The tunnel was cool and dry, but there was slip­pery moss underfoot. When it opened out again, there was a col­lective sigh of relief.

They were on the other side of the mountain now, heading into a wooded area filled with clumps of disturbingly twisted trees. They seemed to be on a plateau, and Alex watched Lady Janet point to another range of mountains beyond, and saw Chester smile.

One tree stood apart from the others, its branches spreading in all directions for a radius of a dozen meters. Looking at it, seeing the unhealthy brown of its mottled limbs and the manner in which its roots crawled snakelike along the ground before burying them­selves, Griffin felt fear again.

Chester stopped the group with a raised hand, and walked to­ward the tree a few paces. He studied it