leather flap. The few remaining murmurs of the crowd vanished in anticipation.
'A moment.' Jelilac held out his hand. 'Please do not begin until I am ready.' Moving as quickly as he could, he joggled back into the cover of his canvas-draped box. For a moment, there was silence. Myra scowled, but waited, a smile of anticipation growing on her face.
Kestrel twisted uncomfortably. He had changed the contest slightly, but not enough to make any real difference. After one spin of the wheel, what hope did he and Phoebe have? If only there were some way to get a fire started before-
'I smell smoke.' Phoebe suddenly sat up out of her slump at Kestrel's side. 'There behind the tapestries, I am sure of it. Jelilac is starting a fire.'
There was a sudden whoosh of wind that billowed from behind the tapestries, straining them against the hooks that held them to the frame. Kestrel felt a sudden rush of heat and then the odor of rotten carrion, like that he had detected before.
'Camonel,' he said. 'Phoebe, can it be? It smells just like Camonel.' He shook his head, confused. 'But Milligan said that the aleators avoided fire at all costs because of the second tenet.'
Phoebe's answer was cut off by Jelilac's booming command. 'Now,' he shouted. 'Perform your best calculation, Myra, because no matter what the method, I am the one who will win.'
Myra gave the bar a mighty wrench to send it whirling about. Just as she did, a burst of yellow flame shot upward above the tapestries for everyone to see. In a sudden panic, Jelilac's retainers exploded out of the box, rushing onto the casino floor. Two immediately stepped onto mines, and startled cries mingled with a spray of hurling limbs. The spectators in the stands astride the tunnel behind Jelilac's framework screamed in panic. Those in the rows nearest began climbing into the tiers above, trampling on those not fast enough to get out of their way.
'Mark,' Camonel's deep voice rumbled above the din. The djinn pushed aside the canvas and stepped next to the rotating spinner. 'It passed vertical, master, just as I spoke.'
'Jelilac, what is this?' Myra backed away from the demon that towered over her. 'I saw this monster on the raft. You deal with the manipulator far more than have I.'
'You stoop to using calculation. Then do not be surprised if it is employed by others.' Jelilac followed the djinn into the open. A dark curl of smoke indicated that the fire that summoned Camonel still smouldered inside. 'I will be archon, woman,' he said. 'Soon it all will be decided.'
'Mark,' Camonel shouted again. 'I have timed the initial rate of rotation, master. You have said that that would be enough.'
Kestrel grabbed Phoebe by the arm, lifting her up to standing. They had another chance to bind Camonel to her will, and this time there would be no water to douse the flame inadvertently. He started to leap over the barrier and run to the demon, but then hesitated. He glanced at the craters and twisted bodies between his fortification and Jelilac's canvas box. Scowling, he pulled her back down to safety.
'There is too much risk of the mines,' he said. 'Phoebe, you must try to control him from here.'
'It is too far.' Phoebe shook her head. 'I have already attempted the binding of his will, but the control of his master is too strong.'
'Eighty-three through ninety-two,' Camonel boomed for all to hear. 'One tenth of the numbers but that is the region in which the spinner will finally reside. My master has calculated it and there can be no doubt.'
'Calculation,' someone shouted in the stands. 'Not calculation! No!'
'Calculation,' another echoed with a groan. 'In the final battle, luck is pitted against calculation and skill.'
Kestrel saw a wave of agitation radiate out from those nearest Jelilac's box. The aleators in the stands were mere spectators no longer. Even those scrambling to safety slowed and turned back to watch. On the side of the casino farthest away from the action, a low murmur tinged with despair began to build and grow.
'But if luck loses to some other method, then what is the purpose, what is the meaning?' Myra shrieked above all the rest.
The moaning of the crowd increased. Kestrel saw an entire section clasp hands and begin swaying back and forth to the cadence of a chant: 'Calculation, calculation and skill.'
Kestrel felt a twinge in his stomach. The ground under his feet suddenly felt less firm. He glanced up at one of the large windows in the far wall and saw that apparently the fog had begun to move back onshore. A subtle vibration began tickling the soles of his feet and migrating up his legs into his spine. Obviously, the use of something other than luck in the confrontation of Jelilac and Myra was deeply disturbing to all those who watched. And somehow the mood was contagious, affecting everything about them as well.
'Something is happening.' Kestrel drew Phoebe close. Something, something-the thought suddenly hit him- something like two realms of symmetry starting to merge.
'Yes,' Phoebe said. 'I feel it, too. Only this time, there is no other realm of which the aleators speak.' She glanced wildly at the dimming rays of the sun, filtering through the colored glass. She pressed herself into Kestrel's side. 'And if not merging, what transformation could it possibly be?'
Kestrel looked helplessly at the distance to the fire behind the tapestries and the mighty djinn standing arms akimbo in front, watching the spinner slowing to rest. He felt the heel of his boot begin to sink into an oozy soup. Except for the burning tapestries, the high corners of the casino seemed to start fading away. Things were converging too fast. He would have to chance getting Phoebe closer to the demon, no matter what the risk.
Kestrel took in a deep breath and prepared to vault over the barrier. Perhaps if he ran ahead, she would see where it was safe to follow. But before he could move, a new voice sounded from a tunnel behind him.
'Stop,' it said. 'The contest has not yet run its course. There is the entry of one more who destiny decrees will win. Yes, it is I, Byron, who has come as it has been preordained.'
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
ASTRON looked out over the nearly deserted casino floor. Only two contingents remained of what initially must have been many. He saw the djinn Camonel standing next to a spinner that was gradually slowing to a stop. Behind him, Jelilac was motioning the sluggish beam onward so that it would come to rest just to the left of the vertical.
Astron saw smoke curling above the canvas tapestries from the fire that had brought forth the demon and, not far away, what looked like anvilwood in another of the low barricades. Near the center of the floor, the second group of aleators stood transfixed, all watching the final sweep of the spinner. Astron's membranes flicked down over his eyes. In their midst, there could be no mistake; there was Kestrel with the pollen-filled knapsack still on his back.
Astron looked out at the scatter of small craters and mangled bodies and hesitated. Kestrel would use some clever tactic, he thought, rather than rushing pell-mell into certain danger. His stembrain strained to be free, but, despite the urgency, he had to think and plan.
Byron started out onto the casino floor. Astron tugged at his arm. 'Why challenge two groups when, if you wait a moment, you will have to contend only with the victor?' the demon said. 'Fate will determine which of them it is to be.'
Byron grunted. He relaxed the tension in his sword arm. The blade slowly arched earthward and buried its tip into the soft ground. The aleators in the stands saw that the tall warrior had stopped his challenge and turned their attention back to the slowing spinner.
'Ninety-one,' Camonel called out as it barely slid past one peg and then stopped as it touched another. 'Ninety-one, just as it has been predicted.'
The murmur of the crowd grew in intensity. Only a few shouted accolades pierced the indistinct rumble that coursed from tier to tier.
'Your talismans, Myra.' Jelilac beamed in triumph. The aleator paid no attention to the waves of sound mounting behind him. 'You were the most likely to offer serious competition. With your defeat, no other can seriously offer a challenge now.'
