Angado

'He chose it.'

'Of course. He would. His mentor called him that when he was young. The monk-did he tell you about Brother Lyndom? He had a great influence on his charge and it would have been better for Angado to have joined the Church. That or the Cyclan, but he lacked the application for that. For either, if the truth be known, an inherent weakness of character-why else should he have run away? Would you have done it, Earl? Given up the leadership of a great House and gone roving?'

'Perhaps, if the reason were strong enough.'

'Such as?'

Dumarest said, meeting her eyes, 'Unrequited love?'

'No!' She was emphatic in her denial. 'Never that! You'd abduct the girl, fight for her, rape her, even, but never leave her.'

'I was talking about love,' he said. 'Not lust.'

'And love is sacrifice? Is that what you mean?' She thought about it for a moment then said, 'You should be right. Maybe I misjudged Angado. Certainly he seems different now, more adult, more confident. He tries to hide it but it's there.'

She had noticed, had others? Dumarest said, 'He wants me to join him, you said. Why and where?'

'To give him moral courage, perhaps.' The small mounds of her breasts lifted beneath her blouse as she shrugged. 'Or to show you off to his friends-the hero with whom he battled against incredible odds and managed to survive. Give it a week and it will be you whose life he saved. Give it another and the whole thing will be forgotten. No novelty lasts long on Lychen.' Her eyes moved past him to settle on the shifting lights beyond the window. 'Boredom, Earl. Why are we always so bored?'

'You know the answer to that.'

'Too idle, too rich, too spoiled. The cure?'

'You know the answer to that too.'

'Work. Fill every minute of every hour with unremittent effort. But what if you can't work? Or don't want to work? Or there is no work to do?'

Dumarest said, 'Some people are fat. They are fat because they eat too much. It's as simple as that.'

'And we're bored because we're lazy-it's as simple as that. Or is it?'

'Lazy,' said Dumarest. 'Or afraid. No matter what reason you choose to blame, the cure lies within yourself.'

'As it does with those who are too fat.' She looked down at her slender figure. 'Would you like me if I were fat, Earl? Great bulges here and here and here.' Her hands moved to breasts, belly and buttocks. 'Masses of flesh, quivering, bouncing, sagging, grotesque. The thought is disgusting. I'll never grow fat.' She sucked in her stomach the action making her even more like a man. 'Let's get out of here.'

'To where?'

'Didn't I tell you? To the party, of course. But first we take a ride.'

* * *

The raft was a work of art, small, gilded, the controls and body shielded by a transparent canopy which could be rolled back into the sides of the vehicle. Wynne handled it with skillful ease, rising with a velocity which sent air gusting in a muted roar as the hotel complex beside the head of the waterfall fell away to become a model touched with silver light.

'Scared?' Turning she shouted above the wind. 'Or do you like the taste of danger?'

'No.'

'No what? You're not scared or-'

'I don't like the taste of danger and, yes, I am scared.' His hands closed on her own, his strength mastering hers as he adjusted the controls. The raft slowed in its climb, steadied, began to drift toward the east. 'If you're trying to prove something you've made your point.'

'Which was?'

'To show me how well you can handle a raft, perhaps.' His hands moved a little and she gasped as the vehicle veered and, suddenly, began to fall. As it leveled Dumarest added, 'We can both handle a raft.'

'And we both can be scared.'

'Which makes us human.'

'And honest.' She looked at him, starlight touching her hair, adding a sheen to its silver smoothness so that from where he sat she seemed to be haloed in a nacreous luminescence. 'Are you honest, Earl?'

'As much as you, my lady.'

'My name is Wynne. I would like you to use it.' As he remained silent she said, 'Please.'

'Wynne.' He smiled as he repeated the name. 'Wynne. I would guess, my lady, that the name is appropriate.'

'Don't be so damned formal!'

'Am I right?'

'Yes, I guess you are.' She smiled in turn, the quick anger forgotten. 'I usually get what I want in the end.' She looked over the edge of the raft at the waterfall to one side and far below. 'Spoiled,' she said. 'Old Lhank must have been mad to have tried to improve on nature. It's too smooth, too pretty. Like a painted harlot skilled in deception.' Her eyes moved to Dumarest as if inviting comment then, as he remained silent, she said, 'To hell with it. Let's find something more amusing.'

The raft lifted with a sudden savage velocity, darting forward to throw Dumarest back, wind blasting at his face and hair. In it the woman's silver crop took on a life of its own, each hair seeming to stand out with individual vibrancy. A fuzz which dominated her face, enlarging her head so that, for a moment, she seemed grotesque.

Then, as she touched a control, the transparent canopy rose to a halfway position, forming a windscreen which protected them from the blast. Above the droning, organlike note from above, her laughter rose high, brittle-edged.

'Do you like it, Earl?'

A child enamored by a toy and demanding praise. He studied her profile in the starlight, recognizing her willfulness, her need to hold attention.

'Earl?'

'A souped-up raft,' he said. 'I've seen them before. Helped clear away their wreckage too. Overstrain the antigrav units and they can fail. Sometimes the generator can fuse. There are better ways to commit suicide.'

'Old man's advice,' she sneered. 'You're too young to give it and I'm too young to take it. Hold on!'

The speed increased, auxiliary burners flaring to add their thrust, turning the raft into a rocket which lanced on a tail of flame across the sky. One which ended over the loom of hills shrouded in luminous smoke.

'The Steaming Hills,' she said. The canopy lowered and Dumarest caught the scent of acrid vapors. 'By day they look like bones hiding in drifting mists. At sunset and dawn the mist becomes a sea of blazing hues, but at night the trapped energies are released and they are what you see now.'

A place of enchantment and drifting glows. Light and shadow in which bizarre shapes took form to change and vanish and reappear in a different guise. A moving, living chiaroscuro of incredible complexity and stunning beauty.

'There is a game the courageous sometimes play,' she said. 'Couples take their rafts to a certain height then cut lift and make love. The trick is to finish before the raft hits the ground.' Her eyes were brooding as she stared at the luminous smoke. 'Sometimes I think that those who don't return are the lucky ones.'

Dumarest said nothing but moved closer to the controls.

'Think of it,' she breathed. 'The rush, the urgency, the race against time-all sauce to add piquancy to the experience. Have you ever done anything like that, Earl? Would you dare to try?

'No.'

'Why not? Afraid? Or don't I appeal to you enough?' She faced him, eyes direct as they searched his own. 'Would you be willing if I were other than what I am? Bloated? Broad hipped? A breeding machine for children? Or would you rather-'