Demons of the Dancing Gods (6 page)

somehow less threatening in deep crimson than in demonic

black, although, she saw, the crimson was only on one side;

the back of the wings was a deep purple color. The wings were

not merely attached to their backs but seemed to be woven into

and between their arms and their bodies, so that, when an arm

moved out or forward, the membranes fluttered and acted something

like a natural cape. The Kauri just stood there, watching

her, not so much with hostility, but with a sort of playful

puzzlement on their interminably cute faces, and she sensed

she was supposed to make the first move.

"Are you the Kauri?" she asked.

"We better be, dearie, to be here," one of them responded

in a voice that was soft and somewhat childlike. "So what's it

to you?"

"I was told to come here," she explained lamely, trying to

decide how best to put all this. First meetings were always a

problem for her. "The sorcerer Ruddygore of Terindell said I

was a Kauri changeling. I am supposed to complete the change

here, rather than let it go in little bits and pieces."

"A changeling!" another exclaimed, sounding exactly like

the first. "Well, I'll be damned! Been a long time since we

had one of them for a Kauri!"

Suddenly there was a tremendous babble of voices—or, as

it seemed, the same voice repeated hundreds, perhaps thousands,

of times, all at once, and saying different things. She

whirled around and saw that the crater was filled with Kauri,

all looking and sounding the same and all talking at one another.

There was nothing to do but let them run down; nobody could

ever get them quiet any other way.

One of the original five broke away from a conversation

and came over to her. "Well, I sure hope you are a Kauri

changeling," she almost shouted over the din.

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Marge frowned. "Why's that?"

The Kauri took her hand and led her back toward the wood

for a bit. The grip was feather-light, and the fairy creature

moved as if she had almost no weight at all. She still had the

moves, though—they all did. If there were fairy hookers, this

was their convention.

The combination of forest and the slowly diminishing din,

as Kauri ran out of things to say, helped a bit.

"Whew! It's always like that around here," the fairy woman

told her. "I'm Aislee, by the way."

"I'm Marge," she responded, glad to find some kind of

friend. "This is all pretty new to me, so thanks."

"Oh, no problem. You got to learn how to cope around

here, anyway. I was born around here and it still drives me

nuts sometimes."

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"I'm afraid I don't know enough even to comment on that.

In fact, you five were the first Kauri I'd ever seen."

"Yeah? Well, I guess that's natural. Most of us stay around

here or in the Firehills region and east. It's kinda the pledge,

y'know; keeps us pretty bored most of the time."

"The pledge?"

Aislee nodded. "Yeah. You know—we won't do to others

if they don't do to us, that kind of thing. They're scared of us

and we-'re scared of them, so we take it easy."

"You mean nobody ever goes far from Mohr Jerahl?"

"Oh, some go a long way. We're always in demand, y'know.

Conventions, banquets, troop entertainment, that sort of thing.

But it's strictly temporary and real limited, y'know."

No, Marge didn't know, but in fits and starts she began to

get a picture of just who and what the Kauri were.

The Kauri flew, of course, like many other fairy folk, and

were very light and hollow-boned. Still, they were tough—

their skin was covered with a substance that had the feeling

and texture of felt, while their wings were soft and satiny. This

covering protected them from almost everything—it was waterproof,

even fireproof, and it somehow acted like a major shock

absorber. The Kauri were also extremely fluid in internal construction,

so they could bear almost crushing weights without

problem—yet they themselves were so light that they had trouble

staying grounded in a strong breeze.

'" While hard to damage or kill—except with iron, of course—

they were by nature quite passive and found it impossible to

cause permanent injury, let alone to kill anyone or anything.

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Although without any magic powers or spells themselves,

they were controlled empaths in both directions. The emotions

of any human were an open book to them, and they could

instantly tell fear, love, sincerity, or falsehood. This had its

drawbacks—sorrow would flood into them and they would

find themselves crying uncontrollably; hilarity or joy around

them would make them so manic they'd be higher than kites.

They could, however, project desired feelings to others—humans,

certainly, but also many of the fairy folk, particularly

the most dangerous It could be conscious, especially in a oneon-

one situation, but it could also be instinctive. If a threat

were perceived—and it usually could be from the empathic

input—then they became impossible to harm or kill. The more

intense the negative emotion, the more the counter was radiated.

As Marge and Aislee talked, a couple of other Kauri found

them and joined in, like excited schoolgirls.

It was obvious that the Kauri had no self-control over their

emotions whatsoever. Emotional seven-year-olds. Marge decided,

with the brains and physiques of very adult women.

Naturally, they were in great demand as courtesans, exotic

dancers, and everything else that adult physique implied. They

could and did mate with practically any male of any species,

human, fairy, or animal, and the occasional issue of such matings

was an unpredictable hybrid in half the cases, or, of course,

a Kauri in the other half. All Kauri were absolutely identical,

it seemed, because all descended from an initial mother Kauri

back at the start of the world. The laws of genetics often went

wild in the magical Kauri world. The Kauri, at least, believed

that many of the hybrid races of their world were their children

—the centaur, the satyr, the medusae, and just about all

other hybrid forms. Changelings, too—those bom of one race

who turned into another, such as Marge—were their doing,

although it was extremely rare that a changeling would become

a Kauri.

Marge sat down and relaxed with them, not sure if it was

the fairy empathic powers that made her feel at ease or that it

seemed she was back with a group of barely post-pubescent

girlfriends in junior high school, but not really caring, either.

They giggled, they played, and they seemed incapable of staying

on a single train of thought for any length of time; but as

the hours passed, she did get most of the information she

wanted.

In many ways, each of the fairy races embodied some basic,

elemental force of nature, and it seemed that these elf-nymphs

represented a curious blend of childlike enthusiasm and raw

sexuality.

They had no government, no ruling class or council. They

could never have gotten organized enough for that, nor could

any of them for long follow another's lead. Their lives, in the

main, seemed the classic fairy ideal—they awoke, they played,

they sang, they danced, they spent all the time having childish

fun. Occasionally an emissary from some far-off place would

appear at a clearly defined "gate" to Mohr Jerahl and make

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DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS

them a proposition. In exchange for their limited services at

some great occasion or function, they would get—well, nice

things. Their wing structure precluded clothing, but they loved

jewels and jewelry—the finer crafted and the prettier the better.

New songs, dances, games, toys, and puzzles for the whole

tribe were also highly prized. There was no order or system—

whoever happened to be around and felt like going for whatever

offering was tendered just went.

Although they had no active powers of their own—save

projecting emotion, and that was best done one-on-one—their

passivity was no problem in a violent and magical world. Without

their knowing how, any spell or physical overpowering was

somehow countered. They absorbed the strength, whether

physical, mental, or magical, from the one trying it on them

and retained its power for some time—from a few hours to a

day or more. They had no idea of the nature of any of their

attributes; they were too elemental to have a science. They had

not reached their current point through evolution—they had

always been as they were now and would always be so—and,

therefore, had no interest in the matter. Marge began to realize

what Huspeth had meant by saying she must put reason and

logic aside and do things instinctively, unthinkingly.

A top-grade sorcerer, of course, could negate their powers,

since the very nature of long studies in sorcery was the scientific

investigation of magic and its application. Ruddy gore knew

how the Kauri's incredible defenses worked and so he could

methodically prepare a counter to them—but few others could,

and only the best would block all the magical loopholes.

Still, the Kauri were as much feared as prized. If they

wanted, they could overload a man's emotional centers so much

that they could turn him into a virtual love slave, sapping all

self-control and free will. At the same time, that strength or

power taken from someone was in a way vampiric; the one

from whom it was taken lost it, perhaps for good.

There was danger outside, too, even for such as these. Their

power was strong only against or with males; with women they

had, at best, a localized and temporary effect. The emotional

projection still worked, but little else, and that meant that women,

particularly those skilled in magic, could harm them.

Marge began to see at least part of Ruddy gore's thinking,

JACK L. CHALKER

33

particularly when she considered only the sorcerer's interests.

And why consider more, for that matter? After all, Joe and she

had both been very close to death back home and, no matter

how much they might resent the sorcerer's machinations concerning

them, it was, at least so far, much better than the

alternative.

As a team, they had what Ruddygore would be interested

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in most. As a passive shield, she could protect against much

of the magic of this world they were likely to encounter; Joe

could certainly handle the rest of the problems. What concerned

her was just how much of what was truly her would survive

in that partnership.

She was still full of questions, though. "If you all look

identical, then how do you tell each other apart?" she wanted

know.

They laughed at the question. "It's easy. You just know,

that's all," one answered.

You just know, that's all...

The basic schism between human and fairy.

"But come," Aislee—at least Marge thought it was Aislee

—said to her. "We can solve this a lot easier by making

you totally one of us." They all got up, and the Kauri added,

"Uh, you are sure you're Kauri, aren't you?"

Marge frowned. "As far as I know. At least, that's what

the sorcerer told me, and he should know. You should, too,

if you can read me as you say."

"Oh, yeah, we can tell you believe it, but not whether it's

so. There's only one way to find out; and if your wizard slipped

up, it will be real trouble."

"How do we—do it?"

"The last mortal part of you has to be taken off, of course.

Come on—this should be interesting."

Marge didn't like the tone or the implication here, realizing

that to these creatures she was a game, a diversion, a bit of

fun and no more.

The crowd of Kauri was still out there, but now they sensed

that the big moment had come and lapsed into near-total silence.

They were the spectators in the coliseum now, waiting to see

the show.

Aislee and the others led her up the gentle cone to the very

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JACK L. CHALKER

35

rim of the crater. The heat and smoke coming from the mass

bubbling not far below were secondary to the tremendous,

blinding magical radiation at this point.

"Well," one of the Kauri prompted, "go ahead. Jump in."

She felt doubt and panic flood into her. "You mean—jump

in thereT'

"That's the only way to do it."

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She swallowed hard, and her mind swirled with tremendous

doubts. What if they were testing her? What if they were trying

to get rid of her? What if this were some grisly practical joke

of bored fairies?

Behind her, she could hear the crowd shouting, "Jump!