Keeping It Real (30 page)

invasive measures, but
she sensed that this was beyond the power of the spirit. It was not of her body

and it could not possess it. Just as well. She didn't want to be run around by a crazy elf.

At that thought she felt an angry zap shoot down into her dia-phragm.
Only kidding,
she said, and

then to herself thought, What t
he hell am I doing?
But just as she and Dar had changed as they shared

the experience of Sathanor's healing, it
seemed that
she and Tath were in a new relationship now, well, in

a one-way dependent
relation, as opposed to being in a situation of wishing the other did not exist. She

could feel Tath's appalled, revolted displeasure at having her his host, and told him firmly,
You can pu
t

up or shu
t
up. Were you lying by
t
he way?

The reply was affirmative. But
it
was unclear which part of it was a lie. Not all of it certainly, for the

green spirit was full of grief. It recognised this in her own feelings, and was both distraught
and

comforted. In spite of his regrets and anger, Tath could not but be in some degree of sympathy with her,

and she with him. They were too exposed to the truth of one another.

I don'
t
wan
t
or like
t
his,
she told him firmly.

Nei
t
her do I.

I won'
t
exploi
t
i
t
if you don'
t
.

Accord.

Lila was in tears as she straightened and closed the buttons on the outer tunic. It
was still warm.

Magical sigils fluttered to the surface of it and submerged again. She didn't know what they were. Then

she began equipping herself with Tath's weapons. Each one was a fine piece of work by human

standards, but
she knew from experience that the arcane crafting of them made them objects she might

never wield to their full power, if she could wield them at all. Incon training had not run to daggers and

bows in the last century but her Al-self assured her it had the knowledge of how to use them. She

reached for his dagger . . .

Wai
t
.

She obeyed his voice. Dar watched her uneasily.

T
hey are all bound
t
o my spiri
t
.
T
hey will burn you. If you are
t
o use
t
hem you mus
t
le
t
me make
con
t
ac
t
wi
t
h
t
hem.

Nice,
Lila said.
Jus
t
like gene
t
ically coded guns.

Dar, guessing correctly the reason for her hesitation said, 'Only he knows the power and use of those.'

Spill i
t
,
Lila told Tath and flexed her X-ray hand.

There was a moment of silence. The bees went quiet.

I will no
t
use
t
f
t
em aaains
t
you.

Lila stood up and moved away from the weapons. 'Not good enough,' she said. She accessed and

armed her flame gun. It was a pity to waste a fuel cell when it was one of the few useful weapons she

actually had here. Still - she stood back, Dar copying her, and clicked on the pilot light.

No! I need
t
hem. You need
t
hem!
T
hey are
t
he only useful
t
ools you have her you s
t
upid, ignoran
t
human! And
t
hey are
t
he only weapons you will ever find
t
ha
t
you can carry beyond dea
t
h... . . .

Lila let a line of fuel run at low power out of the nozzle. It ignited as it vaporised and a narrow stream

of yellow fire appeared, as long as a forearm, from the tip of her middle finger. She relayed to Dar what

Tath had said and added aloud,

'I don't believe in Beyond Death and I doubt I'll ever get there so you'll have to do better than that.'

She extended her line of fire another

half a metre. The light
from the flames danced over the silver dagger blades. She adjusted her oxygen

stream and her torch became fiercely blue, flutter of flame changed to single cone of extreme heat. T

don't
care who forged them or what
they can do. In ten seconds they're solder.' She said it
with

conviction, though she didn't
know if they could be melted, not
here anyway. She had heard of such

efforts failing in the past. But
the bow was made of natural materials, bone and wood, and surely it

would catch fire. Actually, as she looked more closely she got the impression there was no wood

involved . . .

A vice closed in her chest. Her heart stopped.

Is
t
h
at
be
tter?

There was an instant of failing, terrible weakness. Then her Al-self switched on its auxiliary pumping

system. She felt the cold pleasure of the green spirit become tainted with surprise and a kind of grudging

admiration
.
He restored her heart.

At
least, she thought, he knows when he's beat. To him she said, 'Killing me would be a mistake,

surely?'

I
n
any o
t
her body you would be fong since banished
to

Th
ana
t
opia and I would be mas
t
er of your form,
he informed her

calmly.
How ironic
t
ha
t
i
t
was you and no
t
swee
t
Dar who
t
ook

pi
t
y on me. bu
t
I
t
nink I could only command
t
he flesh of

yours and being a hopeless criplle does no
t
appeal
t
o me.

Lila set
the torch flame to the bow.

S
t
op! I will do as you wish, wi
t
hou
t
t
rickery. I give you my word..

'He gave me his word.' She watched the bow's grip starting to singe and blacken. Golden and black

signs like words seemed to rush to the point from within its structure.

'It
will be good,' Dar said tonelessly.

She switched off the torch. The bow smoked slightly but
it
was not
on fire and had sustained no real

damage
.
Tath snarled at
her intern-ally, unable to speak he was so filled with loathing. His spirit furled

and stormed. She felt him suddenly unfold and spill like liquid out across her chest and down her arms.

He paused where her flesh met the prosthetics, a pause of extreme repulsion and dread . . .

'Do it!' Lila screamed, hating him at that moment with all her strength.

T
here is elemen
t
al s
t
reng
t
h in
t
his ma
t
erial,
Tath said.
You did no
t
come by
t
ha
t
in O
t
opia. I
t
is vile

t
o me bu
t
I can in
t
ersec
t

i
t
. How lucky you have been
t
o find Dar. Few healers in Alfheim are able
t
o remake me
t
al in
t
o a
t

hing able
t
o carry ae
t
her. Did you know wha
t
he has done?
He was taunting. She hated him more.

And he did no
t
t
ell you abou
t
i
t
, nor why someone of his low s
t
a
t
ure could rise so high in
t
he
ranks. How li
tt
le you know of him.

Tath's
andalune
suddenly surged down her arms like a fall of cool water. She felt
her hands tingle. Y?"

caM to
u
c
h
t
h
e
m
n
ow
, Tath said scornfully.

Lila set the daggers on her own shoulders, his lovely composite bow in its quiver at her back. Tath

withdrew immediately after, his presence lingering where the items lay close to her body, watching over

them, comforted by their closeness. She had not
detected anything unusual about
them. After a moment's

hesitation she picked up the silver amulet.

'You will forgive me if I ask you not to wear that,' Dar said.

'It's okay. I'm no zombie
.
It might make people think twice before attacking us if they believe I'm a

necromancer.' Lila soldered the broken chain closed with a quick arc shot
from her finger and put
the

necklace on, hanging the sigil at her neck where it showed clear against the dark green of Tath's jerkin.

She bit
back thoughts of Tath's state-ments about her metal body, his feelings. She couldn't afford to

listen.

'If you insist.' Dar seemed to sink under the psychic burden of the situation and she was sorry for him.

'Dar,' she said and waited for him to give her his attention. Then she didn't know what to say. She

touched his arm and he just looked at her with that elfin, waiting look, but
his
andalune
self flowed

eagerly upward over her hand until it
found her natural skin. Lila felt
the faintest, lightest
breath of it

caress her neck.

Then she felt
a sudden surge of a very peculiar, delicate sensation, as of being washed through by

imaginary water as Tath's spirit rose hungrily, expanding through her human body towards the contact

point. It was quite different to the feeling of a moment before when he had been completely guarded
.
In

his impulse and diffusion now, made vulnerable by his need to be open to try and touch Dar, he was

unable to conceal much from her.

She understood that Tath loved Dar, among a complex set of other feelings about him. She knew it

absolutely
.
She thought that she might too. She wondered if Dar could feel anything different but he

broke the

contact
between the three of them at
that
moment and slipped away, closing in on himself. Lila was left

confused by the welter of emotion, its nuances and meanings so similar to and different from her own.

'We need to dispose of his body. We can't leave it here.' Dar said.

'Outside . . .' Lila suggested
.

Tath was appalled all the way as they carried his cold form through the tunnel, through the door and

down the hill. The battlefield was deserted and the creatures were gone, though Lila could see them not

far away, feeding in the deep pools of aether
.
It
was a dark hour.

Tath grew furious and agitated but calmed as he saw his physical self placed on the bloody ground

where his friends had fallen. Lila felt
him shrink and withdraw deep, becoming both still and silent. His

quiet
sadness was very heavy. Her horror at the idea of him being left there was no easier to bear.
Sorry,

she said to him, inside, and touched the pocket of his tunic at
her chest, where she had replaced his

personal effects. He did not
respond.

Dar and Lila made their way back to the shelter and waited there until dawn. They lay apart,

uncomfortable in their full gear, and Lila slept only after drugs and alpha waves had nuked the feelings in

her body down to a low, dull level. She dreamed, but the dreams were foggy and difficult and she didn't

remember them when she woke up. She was glad when Dar came and said it
was time to go. He looked

in a terrible state, but
she tried to smile at him. As they left the warren and turned uphill again she did not

look back towards the forest.

The enchantment
keeping Zal unconscious let
go of him after a period. His enforced insensibility had

been so deep he had no sense of time having passed since the eagle had spoken the binding charm. It

could have been seconds, or years, or centuries.

He was inside water. A lot of water. One hell of a lot of water. The water was rich with life. It teemed.

Vegetable empires abounded, surging, blooming, drinking, dying. Fishy awareness darted. Greater

bodies, further off, sang quiet songs of freshwater. He felt the distant presence of many elves, and

aetheric adepts of other races, their notes jarring with the rest. Farther away still creatures of greater and

lesser power lived and hunted and hid in light
and shade. For a moment
there was the faint
signature of

another kind of being, but
it
was like a flash, there and gone before he knew it.

He rolled over onto his front, opened his eyes and stared down through the miles of water. He realised

that
he was not
only close to the mighty lake in Sathanor, but
a good way under it. The only thing that

separated him from its vast
tonnage and pressure was an enchantment
- the Lady's for sure. She was

water adept
and had many students who no doubt
assisted her in maintaining the enchantments around