his head, but he rolled, picked it up, and plunged it into the
nearest abdomen.
It was still an unfair fight; the two remaining ones with the
machetes, plus the leader and the rifleman recovering quickly
from Dorion's shock were more than enough in muscle and
bulk to take the others on, but by this time Halagar had the
leader in a viselike hold, one arm twisted back and his head
pulled back with the knife at this throat.
"Everybody freeze or I'll cut his damned throat here and
now!" Ha!agar bellowed, and it caused enough of a pause for
the others, except the two writhing on the ground from wounds,
to see what the situation was with their leader. It was too
much for two of them; they dropped their weapons and fled
into the cane. That made the score one leader with a knife at
his throat, one rifleman with an empty gun, and two badly
wounded on the road. The rifleman muttered a curse in his
own language, threw down his rifle, and made for the cane
himself. They let him go.
"Your friends aren't very loyal or supportive," Halagar
taunted the leader, who struggled but not only couldn't free
himself, he didn't seem to believe it was possible for a mere
Akhbreed to hold somebody as big and strong as he in any
kind of grip at all.
168
Jack L. Chalker
"They will fry in the netherhells for this!" the leader
grumbled. "I will chase them for eternity!"
"Never mind the regrets. Who put you up to this? And
what's so special about that woman?"
"Courier from the Masalur border," the Qatarung responded,
giving up his struggle. "They bring us news and link the cells
together. They gave us the descriptions of those three and at
first said to let them pass if they came by. About a week ago
we had that changed. They didn't care about the magician or
the little one, but the tall, skinny one was to be taken at all
cost and whoever brought her to any active border post would
be rewarded beyond their dreams. That's what it said."
"Why?"
"How the hells should I know? First they said find a thin,
pretty girl and a fat one. Then they said never mind the thin,
pretty girl, just kill the fat one if you see her and bring
something of her for a reward to prove you did it. Then they
say they want the tall. skinny one, but alive. We just try and
keep the orders straight and follow them. Fellow saw you all
and recognized you a couple days back. He contacted us last
night and we came after you, that's all."
"Are there more of you ahead?"
"I dunno. Maybe. Probably. Most of our side's gone to
Masalur, together with some of the tribal chiefs, to see the
demonstration."
"What demonstration?"
"I don't know! They don't tell people like me stuff like
that! Just that anyone who wants proof of rebel victory should
be at the border of Masalur hub by the evening of the Feast of
Glicco. That's eleven days from now. It was supposed to be
last week, but they had to postpone it for some reason so they
say then for sure. Most have already left, 'cause you need
big-shot magicians to get into Masatur and most of them on
our side'll be going to the hub border as well."
"Thank you, my friend. You have been most helpful, in
your own crude way," responded Halagar, and very cleanly
and neatly slit the Qatarung's throat and left him gurgling and
writhing in the road, choking to death on his own blood, next
to the other two, one of whom had stopped all movement.
Halagar ignored them. "Damn! The gods know how far the
horses have bolted, but at least they bolted our way. Dorion,
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM
369
pick up the guns. Boday, search those pouches on their
loincloths for ammunition. We may need these." He looked
up at the sun. "We will also need all the light we can get."
Boday came up with about twenty rifle bullets and six
hand-loaded shotgun shells. It wasn't much, but it was better
than being almost totally defenseless.
Halagar held one rifle in his left hand and took Charley's
hand with his right and began walking down the road.
For Charley, the attack and the brutal defense had been a
mixture of sounds and long-term fear, but she'd simply fallen
back and hoped that it would all miss her and it had. She still
wasn't very sure of Halagar, but at least today he'd earned his
pay.
"Surely they must have mistaken us," Boday insisted as
they walked. "It is insane. Why would they want Boday?
Perhaps, within tall, short, fat, thin, man, woman, we all
look alike to them."
"Uh-uh," Dorion responded. "They knew who we were.
Magician, pretty little one, tall skinny one—and even that
reference to the fat one. And their news was recent, too,
because they knew the hunt for Charley had been called off,
and were apparently ahead of the gang back at the borders or
they'd have taken us. That means the word is going back
from Masalur's border where the bigwigs are. No, they weren't
very good at being a rebel band, but they knew a jackpot
when they saw it and went after it, and apparently you're it.
The question now is why? As near as I can figure, you just
came along for the ride through all this. Something you
know? No, that can't be it. You've been with us since the
Kudaan, so anything you know we should know, too."
"Boday came along because her darling Susama needed
her and needed to be protected," the artist pointed out. "And
to find new inspiration."
"Beats hell out of me," Halagar agreed. "I can't figure it,
and I sure didn't figure it. It means we're going to have to
find some kind of disguise for you at the next and last border
crossings, though, and stay out of real visibility."
But as they walked it kept going through Dorion's brain,
again and again. Why Boday? Why particularly Boday? The
only thing she'd done that in any way linked her to this was
170 Jack L. Chalker
that she'd made that rattier bizarre marriage to the missing
Sam, and. . . .
He snapped his fingers. "Yeah! That's it! It must be it!"
He turned to Boday. "1 knew you were married to this Sam,
Susama, or whoever, but I figured it was kind of a love
match. I never really connected. . . . That marriage spell you
got—that's a real civil Tubikosan marriage spell? To her?
They actually let you do that?"
Boday nodded. "Indeed yes. It is considered immoral,
true, but it is not illegal. In fact, it is actually mandatory if
one is going to do it, since they wish their—ha!—deviants
known and registered and classified instead of hidden, so we
can be kept in our own place and not sully the temples or be
mistaken for polite society."
"It just never hit me before," the magician told her.
"Look, so this Sam, or Susama, is still missing, and she's
another incarnation of this Storm Princess—without whom
Klittichom can't control the Changewind, right?"
They were all three all ears now. "Right." Halagar
responded.
"So now they're gonna do their big demonstration, which
might be screwed up if another Storm Princess pops up—and
maybe they're gonna do me whole rebellion not long after
that. Maybe she's no threat. Sorry, Boday, but maybe she's a
slave or under a tight spell or something like that and is safely
out of the way. She's not dead—now that I look I can see the
thin marriage spell thread still running from you off and away
in back of us. But they don't know and they're nervous. It's
like a random, loaded gun pointed at them, the only thing that
can queer their deal. Nobody, not the greatest sorcerer in all
Akahlar, can find her on his own. Nobody thought of this
before, just like we didn't, but somebody now has. The only
way is to have you and then follow that magic thread all me
way to her. A good enough Second Rank sorcerer could do it.
Hell, Boday—mat makes you me second most wanted fugi-
tive in all Akahlar."
That sobered them all up fast, and made all but Halagar
feel rather stupid that it had been there all the time and had
occurred to none of them- To Halagar, this whole business of
the marriage thread with another woman was news. It was
also unsettling to him, evoking the same emotional sensation
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 271
as, say, vomit. The fact that, to him, this whole thing sud-
denly turned on a legalized perversion somehow changed
things, although he wasn't quite sure how yet. There were
certainly humorous elements to it, but, somehow, after seeing
all that he had seen. it didn't seem very funny. He had begun
to attempt to think this all through almost from the start, in a
mental battle of honor versus pragmatism, and he still wasn't
quite certain he'd resolved it. He had never feared death in
battle, but it was beginning to feel more and more like death
in the service of a lost cause and lost ideal. He had never had
any causes beyond his own self-interests not any ideals beyond
his sense of personal honor.
He had never yet betrayed a commission undertaken, but
he had failed a few times because the commission had proved
impossible. Even if these others hadn't yet made the connec-
tion, he knew full well what was going to happen in only
eleven days. It was obvious. As obvious as that marriage
spell should have been to the likes of Dorion, who could not
only be told of it but actually see it. If they actually found the
horses today and they were all right, and if they made good
time with no more major problems and delays, they might
make the border of the Masalur hub in about eleven days. The
odds of that were very slim indeed. The odds of bluffing their
way through that horde of soldiers, of who knew how many
races as well as major tribal leaders on the fence and probably
bigwigs from Klittichom's headquarters as well, were nearly
nil. He began to wonder if there was perhaps a single logical
course to take.
Boday, however, had a less troubled reaction. Boday, the
key to history! The entire future of the Akhbreed and all
Akahlar revolved around Boday and her fate! How simply
marvelous!
It had taken the whole of the day to eventually find the
horses, thankfully not stripped of supplies, although they lost
a few things in the scramble. The stuck horse seemed no
worse for wear, the wound superficial and healing well, and
Halagar was much relieved at that.
Charley, too, was relieved to find a very happy Shadowcat,
out of his perch now where he'd ridden on the runaway horse,
but absolutely overjoyed to see her. The only thing he com-
272 Jack L. Chalker
mented to her, in spite of all her prodding, was "About
time!'' but the purring seemed to be genuine and indicated a
bit more softness inside than he wanted to admit.
There were some nervous moments and'narrow escapes on
the remaining three and a half days to the null and the border
with Masalur, but by being quick and cautious they managed
to have no further cause to fight.
The most surprising thing about the Tishbaal-Masalur bor-
der was that there were practically no colonial troops there at
all. Oh, there were signs that at one time not long before
there had been massive movements of men and supplies
through the region, with a long camp, but they were gone
now—inevitably into Masalur, So confident were the rebels at
this point that they had only a few roving patrols going up
and down the border on the Tishbaal side, and those were
easily avoided. The Masalur side, however, looked like trouble.
They stood in the mists of the null and surveyed the scene
with binoculars. Finally Dorion sighed and put them down.
"No doubt about it,'* he told them. "There's some kind of
shield prior to the boundary. It's not strong like the ones the
Chief Sorcerers do for the hubs, but it's stronger than / can
handle. From what I can see of it, it's not specific to any
particular race or kind, just a real barrier to everything. Any
second ranker could knock it over in a moment, but mere
don't seem to be any second rank sorcerers around—at least
not on our side."
"So you mean we're stopped?" Halagar asked him, actu-
ally feeling a little relief at the news. "We can't get in?"
"Not exactly. There's a single point where the two halves
join that looks designed as a passage, but that's the only
place. It means everybody and everything has to go through
just that one point. There'll be no sneaking in to this one, and
the only way you can maintain something like that is with a
top magician actually present to control it. If we go in at all,
we go in there—and that means right up to a very good
magician at the least, into the colonial world he wants us to
go into, and that's that. We have to assume they have the
wanted posters on us there, too. I don't see how we can do
it."
Halagar thought a moment. "Well, they're looking for two
female slaves of a certain description travelling with a magi-
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM
173
cian. They don't know about me and they don't really want
Shari. With my stone, the two of us are as likely to get
through here as we were at the other places. If we tried it,
say, several hours apart, and if you somehow could manage
to not look like a magician, then they might not even connect
us. It's either that or you two wait here and we'll try and
make time and reach Boolean somehow and then come back
for you."
"No. We should still travel the last road together," Boday
responded. "There are too many chances for one as valuable
as Boday to be lost skulking about in these regions for days or
weeks. Boday is both artist and alchemist, and she has her
small kit taken from Covanti. With a few hours, she might be
able to make sufficient changes not to be recognized during
that brief crossing. In fact, perhaps she should go first, since
it is the greater risk."
"No," Halagar replied firmly. "If you go in first and are
still recognized, and we don't know what sort of powers
we're dealing with there, then there is no way we can help
you or hope to get close. If we get through—and you can
probably get close enough to watch it all through binoculars,
Dorion—then we can take up a position over there and cover
you just in case you have problems. And if we don't get
through, for some reason, you'll know that there was no way
for you to get through in time to avoid capture, which is all