'But where are-'
'Perhaps it is worth the effort to show you one of the foul things,' Abel said. 'Then you might better understand.' He gestured to one of the other gray warriors. The second began to protest but Abel's stare cut short the words. The warrior spat at the ground at his feet and then began digging into the sand. Shortly he retrieved an oblong box of metal and brought it forward for the others to see.
'Why, it looks like a clock,' Astron exclaimed as the object drew closer. 'A device for measuring the passage of time. See the three ornate bands of metal pivoted at the center of the circular face with symbols about the rim.'
'These devices do much more than merely count the swings of a pendulum,' Abel said. 'Just as our realm is governed by the symmetries of space, so is that of the chronoids ruled by the symmetries of time. With these clocks, as you call them, they manipulate the order of events in strange ways.
'Here, in the realm of the reticulates, the devices behave in manners even more bizarre. The manipulations of time are somehow transformed to ones of space instead. In battles where the reflectives possess them, I have seen entire moves undone against our wills, even though we held the advantage-whole squads of men exchanged with those of our enemy so that we were outnumbered, rather than the other way around.'
'How did this clock come to be here?' Kestrel asked,
'Somehow the reflectives have found a way to communicate between the realms, exchanging men with the chronoids for weapons that aid their own cause. Recently the reflectives seem to have increased the frequency of their contacts. The artifacts are more and more abundant. Ten thousand moves ago, we would find them only at one node in a score; now we see them at virtually half.'
'And the rotators choose not to use those clocks?' Astron asked.
'They disturb the protocols.' Abel again puckered his lips. 'Their very presence somehow has changed the third and fourth laws so that they no longer operate as they should. And in our realm, strange things happen with them that even the chronoids never intended. Who knows when they will affect the first, second, and fifth laws?'
Abel looked out over the sands and shuddered. 'Besides the forced transport of bodies to other nodes, I have heard of things happening inside as well.' He paused and seemed to chew on his tongue. 'I cannot totally explain, but the transformations of the clocks in the realm of reticulates can change more than just the physical. No, despite any possible advantage, we prefer to bury what we find in the sands.'
One of the warriors from another of the subnodes called to Abel. The commander abruptly turned away without another word and resumed his duties. The abruptness of the rotator did not bother Kestrel. He had come to realize that there was little need for courtesy in a realm such as this. But the information he had learned had been most interesting. Perhaps there was something in what Abel had said that would help them in their plight. Kestrel looked at Astron, trying to draw out the significance of what he had heard, but the demon was again fully occupied by the parchment in his lap.
Kestrel saw a flash of color at another of the subnodes and immediately his attention was drawn away. Something was happening that he had not seen before. A giant sling had been strung between two of the trees. While he watched, a roll of brilliant red cloth was launched in a high arc into the sky. Like a streaking comet, the material unfolded into an eye-catching arch that could be seen far over the horizon. After it had plummeted back to the ground, several of the warriors raced out onto the desert to retrieve the cloth and roll it back up into a coil.
Kestrel saw four of the warriors at one of the sub-nodes scanning the horizon, three looking out along paths that ran to adjacent nodes, and two others at angles in between. Almost as soon as the signal bolt was retrieved, Kestrel noticed a flash of motion down the line of sight that was farthest to the left. Another banner of red soared up into the sky in answer to the signal.
Then in a clockwise direction from the first, just barely above the horizon and far more distant, four more banners answered as well. All eyes turned to the rightmost path, the last of the six, but the sky remained calm; there was no arch of color sailing into the sky.
A sudden babble of excitement erupted from the rotators. Even though they had not yet eaten, shield straps were tightened and a dozen or more began practicing stylized jumps and feints with their swords.
'What is happening?' Kestrel asked Astron.
The demon stopped tracing his finger across a copy of the node network and listened to the rush of voices that Kestrel could not quite follow.
'The prospect for battle is high.' Astron looked up from the map. 'Imagine that this node is one vertex of a hexagon, just like one of the fruit trees around the oasis. The rotators also occupy the one on the left and then, on the far side of the center, three more as well.' The demon pointed down the path to the right. 'A contingent of reflectives just vacated this node before we arrived; they must be one adjacent move away, most probably at the last node of the six.'
'So the warriors here arm for a fight against an enemy they have not even seen,' Kestrel said. 'The node on the right may be occupied by twice as many-or they might run before the battle can be engaged.'
'That is not the way it is done in the realm of reticulates,' Astron said. 'After some study, I think I understand better how the moves are made.' The demon stabbed at the map. 'The rotators occupy five of the six vertices of a hexagon; simultaneously they will all move to the node at the very center of them all. The forces of symmetry will be enormous; the reflectives at the sixth node will be drawn in as well. They will be unable to resist. And with the warriors from five nodes against those of one, the outcome of the battle should be quite favorable.'
Kestrel studied the parchment on Astron's lap with the cryptic squiggles, trying to make sense of what the demon was saying.
'Besides,' Astron continued, 'it is a good move for us as well. It is in the right direction.'
'What do you mean?' Kestrel brought his attention back to the demon.
'It places us one vertex closer to the origin,' the demon said. 'Look, I have been studying these maps and identified this one point as the center of all the others. All the symmetries pivot about it. Just like the center of the hexagon to which we will be moving, there is one vertex that is the origin of the entire realm.'
Kestrel shook his head. He still did not understand.
'The origin is least bound by the forces of symmetries,' Astron continued. 'There is no other node which must have the same activities in order for things to balance. There the unusual is more likely to occur. It is the one node where we have some hope-some hope of performing wizardry and building a fire.'
Kestrel felt his spirits lift. 'Yes,' he exclaimed, 'you just might be right. How else could the reflectives communicate with the chronoids if not through the flame. And Abel said that since they have captured the origin, the contacts have become more intense.' He looked at Astron's map with far keener interest.
'After the battle, we will press on to this origin?' Kestrel asked.
'Not necessarily. If the reflectives do not see such moves as part of their overall plan, they will travel elsewhere, and it will be difficult for us to resist being carried along.'
'Then they will need a little convincing.' Kestrel smiled and rubbed his hands together. His thoughts began to jump as he looked back to Abel with calculating eyes.
'What about a trap?' he asked. 'Now that I think of it, this move to the center of the hexagon seems very obvious. Suppose it is part of some greater symmetry that is being planned by the reflectives.'
'I had not thought of that,' Astron exclaimed. The demon looked at Kestrel and wrinkled his nose. 'Another example of the kind of thinking you were talking about as we returned from the glen of the harebell, I suppose. But yes, if I can understand the strategy of the move with such little exposure, how subtle indeed can it be? Why would the reflectives move to the node that completes the hexagon, rather than choose another oasis that does not impress symmetry so strongly upon them?'
Kestrel did not bother to hear the rest of what Astron said. He sprang to his feet and walked to the subnode that was occupied by the commander. Fortunately the rotators had so carefully distributed everyone about the oasis that the resistance of maintaining symmetry could almost totally be ignored.
'Commander,' he said, 'how cunning have the reflectives proven to be in the past?'
Abel looked up from the map he was studying and pursed his lips. 'The reflectives do not act with cunning. If they did, I would grant them a small token of respect. Instead, they employ any methods to enforce advantage - poisoning oases just as they leave or imitating our signal flares with messages of deception.'
'And you?' Kestrel smiled. 'The rotators do not engage in such tactics when the alternative would be a
