pushed the door open. 'Let's go. Grab a handful of my parka and stay close.'
'There's going to be a hell of a racket when you shoot that gorilla-which is what I assume you're going to do.'
'If it comes to that, I'll hit the light switch; I've got my glasses in my pocket. We storm the barricades, and I blow away anything that doesn't look crazy enough to be a Loge.'
'Go,' Garth said, resting a hand on my shoulder.
With the gun in my right hand and the glasses in my left, I slowly moved into the living room. After going a few feet, I stopped and looked around, peering into red-tinted shadows of blue and gray. There was no sign of any gorilla, and I proceeded toward a wide, winding staircase at the opposite end of the room.
Garth sniffed, and his hand suddenly tightened on my shoulder. 'Behind you, brother,' he said, and whirled me around.
I dropped to one knee and thrust the gun out in front of me. A large ball of black fur darted across the room, disappeared behind a sofa. A few seconds later a head poked out and two bloodshot eyes stared at me; the head quickly ducked back.
'What's happening?' Garth whispered tersely.
'She knows we're here. At the moment, she's lying low behind a sofa.'
'She must have good night vision, too, because I think she knows you have a gun. She must know what it can do, because there's a strong smell of fear.'
'Good,' I said, keeping the gun leveled on the spot where the head had appeared. 'I don't want to wake up Loge, and I don't want to shoot the animal unless I have to.'
'Go?'
'Go.' Without taking my eyes off the sofa, I reached behind me and grabbed hold of Garth's parka. 'The staircase is about four steps behind you. Take it slow and easy. I'll keep my eye on the gorilla.'
Garth started to back up, pulling me after him-and then suddenly his parka jerked from my hand. There was a loud crash as he fell into the banister, a guttural, strangled cry. I wheeled around, saw my brother writhing on the floor. He'd torn loose a piece of the banister, and now the wood snapped in his hands like a matchstick. Saliva frothed on his lips as his body twitched, jerked, and banged around on the floor.
'Garth!'
Lights came on, blinding me and burning my eyes. I whipped on my glasses, spun around and fell on my back as I heard a muffled
My vision cleared in time for me to see the beast beating a hasty retreat back behind the sofa.
Getting to my feet, keeping the gun aimed in the general direction of the sofa, I turned my attention back to Garth. There was nothing
I could do except grind my teeth in frustration, nothing I could do to bring him out of the seizure or ease the pain of his horribly cramped muscles; if he got hold of me in this state, he could snap me like he'd snapped the banister.
I watched as Garth struggled to get to his feet. His eyes rolled and he fell down again, flopping like some broken thing, tearing at his clothes.
Spinning around, I aimed the gun directly at the gorilla's chest. This time I had her-and she knew it; there was no time or place to retreat. She came to an abrupt halt a few paces away, and we stared at each other. A chill ran through me as I looked into the eyes; they were yellowish and bloodshot, but they were also eerily human-or near human. We stayed like that for a few seconds, and then she reached a leathery hand up to the keyboard- screen device strapped to her chest.
NO FUCKING KILL PLEASE
It seemed this gorilla studied from the same vocabulary list as the one I'd run into at Volsung. 'Then get out of my fucking face!' I snapped. 'Back off and I won't shoot.'
FUCKING THANKS
She backed away across the room, meekly squatted down in a corner.
Suddenly the ceiling above my head shook with heavy footsteps; someone very large was running toward the stairs. I turned, went down on one knee, and used both hands to aim the gun at the top of the stairs. I might have qualms about killing dumb-or even not-so-dumb-animals, but I had no qualms whatever about killing dumb humans who were trying to kill me.
With some exceptions.
'Mongo!'
'Drop the shotgun, Hugo,' I said in a flat voice, trying hard to ignore the fact that both barrels were lined up on my chest. 'You and I were friends once, and I hope we still are. The man on the floor is my brother, and we're in trouble. We could use your help. I haven't got time for explanations, except to say that you're mixed up in some bad business here. I will kill you if you force me to. Don't.'
The giant shook his head angrily, and his long, brown hair rippled across his shoulders. His brown eyes narrowed, and his lips drew back from his teeth. 'I should be the one saying those things to you, Mongo,' Hugo Fasolt said in his deep, rumbling voice. 'This is a shotgun I've got on you.'
'If you pull the trigger, we both die. I'm a good shot.'
There'd been one gorilla too many for me to keep track of, and now long, hairy, powerful arms wrapped themselves around me, squeezing my arms to my sides. The gorilla with fur whacked the gun out of my hand. Then she lifted me in the air, turned me over, and casually dropped me on my head.
24
, I struggled up through what felt like a sea of foul-smelling cotton to consciousness. I was lying on my back on stone, felt cold, clammy, and sleepy. Also, my head and neck hurt like hell. I opened my eyes to slits, immediately closed them again when light lanced into them.
'Garth?'
'Here, Mongo.' Garth's voice came to me from somewhere just behind and above my head. His large hand felt very warm as it touched my forehead. 'You all right?'
'Yeah, except that I can't see in this light. Any sign of my glasses?'
'No. What happened to you? You've got a bump on your head the size of a coconut.'
'That damn gorilla dropped me on it. I should have shot her when I had the chance.'
'I had a seizure, didn't I?'
'A seizure and a half. You okay?'
'Yes.' He was quiet for some time, then added: 'That was the worst one yet. I'm sorry, Mongo. I guess I'm responsible for us being here.'
'That's ridiculous,' I said, pushing his hand aside and sitting up. Pain flashed though my skull, but my head stayed on my shoulders, so I assumed nothing was broken. 'It was just a lousy plan. Where's 'here'?'
Garth pulled me to my feet, then began to chuckle. 'Take a guess.'
'Come on, Garth. Damn it, I'm really not in the mood.'
He chuckled again. 'Oh, be a sport. This is Ramdor, right? We're the guests of the Loges, those masters of fun and fantasy, right? Now, give it some thought and tell me where we are.'
'A dungeon,' I answered with a sigh.
'There, now; I knew you'd get the answer. It comes complete with stone walls, floor, and ceiling; the cells have genuine rusting iron bars, and it's dank and gloomy. There are blazing torches on the wall, although they may have fudged a bit there because I think they're gas-burning. There's no sign of any rats, but I haven't given up hope. It's really neat.'
