When he turned the collet in toward his palm, it made him invisible. He raped the queen and killed the king of Lydia. He could do whatever he wanted and no one could stop him. It is used as a symbol and example of how men act when corrupted by absolute power.'
'What's a collet?' asked Victor.
Vanity answered him. 'The setting. The thing that holds the stone of the ring. What do we do? Colin won't be able to find us if we run away.'
Quentin said, 'You said Glum was alone. If he is bound by the psionics paradigm, doesn't that mean I can automatically overcome his powers?'
I answered, 'That other guy just told me the ring of Gyges will protect him from your magic, and that nothing we have can withstand his coming.'
Victor said, 'What guy?'
'The long-haired guy dressed in the black robes with stars circling his head. He had a silver goblet full of sand. Colin's dad.'
Victor said, 'You were asleep.'
'He was here! I heard you talking to him.'
Vanity said, 'It was a dream.'
I said, 'I know who it was! Didn't I just say who it was?'
Vanity said to Victor, 'We have to run away. Grendel is here. He is looking at us from somewhere. I think he can hear our voices.'
We all looked back and forth across the waterfront. There was no one on the boardwalk, no one on the stone wall, no one in sight on the street.
Victor was saying, 'We stay. I will neutralize the magnetic anomalies in the ring to kill its magic, and that will let Quentin cast a spell on him. Quentin, I assume an assault against us is enough of a moral error to let your powers work?'
I said, 'There is no time to debate the issue! We have to leave. He's too strong for us. We can come back to look for Colin later.'
Vanity said, 'He smells us. He's that close.'
There was no one on the pier. There was no noise but the wash and crash of the waves against the piles underfoot.
Victor said, 'Make a circle. Stand back to back. If he's invisible…'
I said, 'No! Get into the boat! Let's take off! Visible or not, he won't be able to get at us, unless he can outswim an outboard motor…'
Quentin and Victor turned so that Quentin was looking out to sea, and Victor was facing the shore.
Quentin hefted his axe-handle as if to ready it. Vanity hesitated, but stepped between them and turned her back so that she was facing the motorboat.
I did not join the formation. 'Wait a minute… !'
Quentin did not turn his head, but said to me, rather sharply, 'You resigned. Stop giving orders. We don't have time to talk.'
I said, 'But Victor is telling us the wrong thing to do! And who says Victor's in charge anyway? Colin's dad warned us that…'
Victor said in a maddeningly calm voice, 'I'd be willing to abide by the outcome of a vote. Fight or flee?'
Vanity said, 'Flee!' at the same time Quentin said, 'Fight. If Victor can stop the ring…'
Vanity shrieked, 'He's listening! He knows what you are planning to do! He's right here! He's here!'
Quentin said, puzzled, 'We should be able to hear his wooden leg on the boards.'
Victor, still in a voice of exasperating calmness, as if we had all the time in the world, said, 'It's a tie. I guess we need Colin after all…'
I took a few steps toward the boat, saying, 'Vanity, if we run for the boat, the boys will have to come.'
There was a note of panic in my voice, a shrill sound I did not like hearing.
Victor said patiently, 'Of course, by that logic, if Quentin and I were to stand our ground, you would have to get out of the boat and come back. All that will do is split us into two bite-size pieces.'
Vanity said to me in a quivering voice, 'I'm not moving! He could be standing between me and the boat.'
Her wide green eyes rolled this way and that, seeing nothing but empty docks.
Victor said, 'Does that mean you change your vote… ?' To me, he said, 'Get in the circle and put your back to us. We have a majority.'
1
I put my hand on the ladder to get down into the mo-torboat. The others were standing in a triangle, their backs to each other, about ten feet away.
I stopped. There was something wrong, all wrong.
Quentin said in a loud, clear voice, 'Mr. Glum! Are you waiting for something? Why haven't you done anything yet… ?'
He wasn't after them.
