Why?"
"Perfect. You fantasized based on what you saw. Well,
that's all we're going to have you do again, my dear. And
we're going to let that young woman in the redoubt there in
on that fantasy. Oh, yes, we are. . . ."
The Storm Princess awoke suddenly with a series <)f very
odd sensations, most of them unpleasant. First was the con-
vincing feeling that she had suffered some kind of major
menstrual flow and that her bed was now wet with a thin, yet
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 333
mucousy substance she could still feel draining from within
her. Almost immediately, she felt the muscles deep within her
contract in spasmodic fashion.
Alida and Botea, her two female slave consorts who gener-
ally shared her bed, stirred into wakefulness as she abruptly
sat up.
"Alida! Botea! Awaken and switch on the lights!" she
commanded, even as she was pulling the covers from the bed
and examining the satin sheets for any signs of wetness. She
found none, which troubled her even more than if she'd found
it, nor did anything seem amiss in and around her vagina. The
lights, when they went on, confirmed it.
There was nothing there. Nothing.
A dream? A vision? Or another of those shared things? She
felt intermittent short bursts of weakening powers within her,
not serious but more frequent than she'd ever known, and
that, tied to the nightmare, gave her alarm.
She got up, pushing one of her consorts out of the way,
and went immediately to the wall intercom and pushed the red
button. Even Klittichom slept—everyone assured her of it—
but he somehow was never asleep when she had to see or talk
to him.
"Yes, Princess?" his voice came back, clear and awake.
Quickly she described the vision and the sensations to him,
and he was not pleased, but also not easily panicked. "Sense
the child, the source of the interference. If your duplicate is
close by, then such a thing could be transmitted to force us
into hasty action."
"No," she assured him. "It is far away, still distant,
remote. The interference I felt there was real, but it was still
far away and easily handled."
"Hmmmm. . . . Very well. Get dressed and meet me in the
War Room as soon as possible. And, if you feel any more of
those muscle spasms down there, let me know and tell me
how far apart they might be."
"Lord Klittichom—if this is no trick, then what might it
be?" She was genuinely worried about herself now.
"Silly fool! First the water breaks, and the amniotic fluid
drains out. Contractions start either a bit before or almost
immediately after that, leading to the birth. Either my guess
as to impregnation was wrong or the child is coming early,
314 jack L. Chalker
which is not unprecedented. This is the first time that psychic
link has worked to our advantage in warning us. We must
seize the initiative now. You may feel no more contractions,
but if the link still is sending them, the time between is
critical. Once the babe is bom and the umbilical cord severed
and she takes in her first air and cries out to the world her
existence, your power and control is diminished by at least
half, and that's far too much. Get dressed and hurry down to
the War Room. I will summon the others. Take any of the
elixirs I provided depending on your wakefulness and physi-
cal strength, but eat nothing."
"I shall do as you ask," she responded, then turned and
looked at the two waiting slave girls. "The brown and red
saffron ensemble," she told them. "Now!"
She went over to the dresser, sat on the seat, and began to
comb her hair and make herself presentable to the world. The
slaves came back with the outfit she wanted, which was
comfortable yet imposing, the trim on the dress just touching
the knee, but with matching leggings and short, comfortable
boots. The pair helped her on with it. then one fixed her
earrings while the other brushed her long, flowing hair.
She was not fully satisfied, but it would have to do. She
got up, examined herself in the dressing mirrors, decided that
she could go out like this, slipped the gold ring with the huge
ruby on her ring finger, kissed the girls, and walked out, up a
short flight of stairs, then down a main hall. She had not
touched the elixirs; if she needed any chemical help to do
this, then she was not up to it in any case.
She was almost to the main doors of the War Room when
she felt another slight twinge down there. She hadn't timed it,
but guessed it could be no more than fifteen or twenty min-
utes from the initial one.
The big red double doors opened before her automatically
and she strode into the center of the fortress, the War Room,
with its tiered layers leading down to the central circular floor
and the great suspended globe of Akahlar in the center.
Klittichom and two of the others, as well as a few slave
attendants and the Adjutant, were all there.
She felt curiously awake and excited, as if this'was the
moment she had waited for and prayed for all her life. Soon,
ghost of my mother, soon, she thought with some satisfaction.
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 335
Now, this very day. the empire of the Akhbreed who kilted
you and destroyed our beloved people will be no more.
Etanalon snapped her fingers and Sam came out of it with a
start. "Huh? What?" She clearly remembered the vision but
not being put under.
"Mission accomplished, I believe," Boolean announced,
"although I thought you were taking a big chance going that
close in to Klittichom, Etanaton."
"Well, I wanted to see what the place looked like. It's
quite impressive, you know. I'll attend to the makeover of
Sam, here. The rest of you be fully prepared to move just as
soon as we sense full radiated power from that contraption of
his. Once they are committed, we want to move as swiftly as
possible. The sooner we get in and get to them, the more
hubs and lives we'll save." She turned back to Sam. "Ready?"
"I guess. Won't he sense your use of sorcery, though?"
"I think old Klittichom's got more on his mind than us
right now, dear. and so long as he still thinks you're far away
and the power use is slight, what matter now? Stand by. This
will tingle for just a wee bit, and then you'll have to depend
on me for major warmth until we are inside. It is cozy, but it
is not an outdoor outfit."
She felt the tingle, but felt no different—only slightly
chillier. She looked down, though, and saw that she now
wore the outfit, right down to the cute boots, that the Storm
Princess had put on in the vision. She felt her ears and found
earrings there, and her hair was longer, softer, and fuller than
it had been. She, too. felt a bit fuller, and she noticed that her
ring finger now had a duplicate of that mega-ring the Storm
Princess had put on. She understood now that Etanalon had
somehow shared that vision and manipulated it, and had made
her over into as close a double of the real Storm Princess as
possible.
Crim and Boday checked their weapons and ammunition
belts, and Boday clapped her whip to its strap brace on the
side of her belt. To top it all, both had quivers full of
crossbow bolts on their backs and very fine-looking cross-
bows in hand.
"Not the machine guns at the start?" Sam asked Crim
"Uh-uh. We talked it over. If there are any routine guards
316 Jack L. Chalker
out there, we want to take them out silently. Leave the
machine guns until the alarms go off."
Boolean looked approvingly at Sam. "A perfect double.
Incredible. My genetic spell was right on the money, proving
at least that I am a genius. One thing, though—it's unlikely
you'll get close enough to get the chance, but by no means
should you touch the Storm Princess. Anything else is okay,
and. remember, she's as mortal as you are. That goes both
ways."
. "Huh? Why no touching?"
"Just a feeling. There's an old legend, back home as well
as here and elsewhere, about what the Germans in my native
world deemed doppel gangers. It was said that everyone in the
world had, somewhere, an exact duplicate, and if the two
ever met and made contact, they would both cease to exist. It's
unlikely that there really are many doubles, but people have
fallen through outplanes to ones below—it's happened many
times, enough to be recorded. There's a possibility that there
is some kind of difference at the atomic or molecular level
that would in fact cause two duplicates from different worlds
to cancel one another out. I'm not positive, but why take
chances? If we can get that close to her we can nail her a
hundred ways. Why sacrifice yourself?"
She nodded. "Well, I'm in favor of that sentiment. Now,
how long do we have to wait?''
"Who knows? Not long, I hope. We've started his clock
counting down and he wants to attack before the explosion.
We all shared the vision of that room, which pretty well
confirmed our deductions of what it must look like. I noted
the pentagrams, too. Cromil. Some of your buddies are playing
in this on his side."
"Aw—he's always had the prohjjn—the Stormriders—with
him, and their Sudog pets. Probably just gonna use them to
confirm his kills, that's all- They can't do much damage
now."
Yobi's great, hooded head shook slightly. "I would like to
know the importance of the small red dots in the hubs on that
globe of his," she commented. "They weren't regular enough
to be aim points."
Nobody else had noticed them, including Sam. k Nothing
we can do or know about it until we're there," Boolean
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 317
pointed out. "Still, didn't underestimate the bastard. Whoops!
On your marks, ladies and gentleman' Looks like they switched
on the juice!"
"Give it a couple of minutes to make certain it's not a test,
or not some ploy to draw out potential attackers," Yobi
responded nervously.
"Hey! Don't I get a gun or a sword or something?" Sam
asked, more nervous than they were, and maybe a lot more
now that she saw these high-power sorcerers were scared,
too.
Crim gave a half-smile. "You never could shoot worth a
damn. We had you on the rifle coming along, but a rifle
wouldn't be much use there and would blow the disguise.
And your arm strength now isn't what it used to be. Your
looks and the probable ignorance of most of the staff in there
as to what's going on inside the War Room is your best
defense. If you need a weapon, Boday or I will get you one
somehow."
"Yeah, thanks. I think."
"I think it's on for real," Yobi pronounced at last. "That
is one hellish amount of power being pumped out of there and
in to there as well. Thinking time is done, people. Let us go,
and may the gods of Akahlar and the misdirected prayers of
its foolish people ride with us!"
This time Sam rode in front of Etanalon, who provided
some kind of shield that kept out the wind chill and preserved
at least some warmth. Still, it was cold and she was cold and
she wasn't sure whether she'd like to freeze to death or go
into the jaws of that fortress.
They fanned out; Crim on the left, then Yobi, Boolean in
the center and slightly forward, then she and Etanalon on the
right, and finally Boday on their right. A sort of V-shaped
flying wedge, going over the glaciers and snowy peaks. One
more rise, and then it was before them, looking very much as
Boday had drawn it only bigger than Sam had imagined it.
She had also thought that Boday had exaggerated the smooth,
almost plastic-looking appearance, but it really did look un-
real, like some humongous giant kid's lost toy.
She, too, felt curiously unreal at this point. From a trou-
bled teenager back in the land of television, cars, rock and
roll, and shopping malls, to a fugitive running from storms
318 jack L. Chalker
that chased her and bad dreams that plagued her, to the
descent through the maelstrom to Tubikosa, the initial safe
haven and then, betrayal by Zenchur, the strange spell of
Boolean's, the kidnapping of Charley and her sale to Boday,
the love potion that turned Boday into her lover, the strange
life they'd led in which she'd grown fat and bored, the demon
of the Jewel of Omak, the wagon train, Hude, the great storm
and flood, the torture-rape, rescue by Charley and the demon,
the fleeing from the mercenaries, Pasedo's and a strange new
peasant's life as Misa, then Crim and Kira, Yobi, the great
overland journey and her mental breakdown on it, Etanalon
and her magic mirrors, then the unexpected life with four
husbands and an extended family in a primitive place, the
attack by Zamofir, the rescue, the body switching ploy, and
all the rest—it all seemed, somehow, like something in a
dream, a panorama, that had a few good parts but was mostly
nightmare.
All forcing her here, forcing her to this place in this time,
going against the cause of her suffering and the suffering of
millions. Yet. somehow, even as they closed on the place,
she felt curiously distanced, more observer than key partici-
pant and guest of honor.
Guest of honor at a funeral, anyway.
Suddenly, just in front of them, there was a great rumble
and roar and they halted almost immediately. She knew what
was coming, felt it coming, and was the only one among
them who did not fear it; in fact, she had to shout to the
others to close in and not to break ranks.
The great central maelstrom of the Changewind burst through
ahead of them, a tremendous, tubular gray-white funnel reach-
ing from the outer perimeter of the "saucer" upwards until it
gathered and reached the clouds. The air rumbled and it grew
suddenly quite dark, and lightning and thunder began to fill
the frozen skies.
Instantly, Sam seemed to know what to do. What was a
terrible nightmare to the others was to her a source of power,
of strength.
"Etanalon! Let me take the lead and everybody come as
close as you can to us!" she shouted above the rising winds
and sudden blizzardlike snows stirred up by the greai white
thing before them. "Boolean! It's okay in the middle, re-
WAR OF THE MAELSTROM 329
member? You told me that! They're still there! They're keep-
ing this one right where it is, feeding on it. using its power!"
"Yeah, fine," he responded nervously, "but while I could