[Kelvin 03] - Chimaera's Copper (with Robert E. Margroff) (33 page)

When they reached the wooden barrier it looked just the same as it had in the other two frames, except that some of the graffiti were different. His father stood, openmouthed, staring through the observation hole and into the velvety-black, star-filled depths.

"It's--it's the womb of creation!" His voice carried awe. "Gods, it's a crack through Earth, Earth's worlds! An opening through all worlds, all possible worlds, all alternatives!"

"You had it on Earth, Father?"

"I... don't know. I don't think we did. But maybe another part? Maybe in the Arctic--or maybe another time."

The afternoon passed while John gradually built acceptance for something he hadn't quite believed in. Another day passed while a message was sent to the Fud palace. Another day drinking bleer, playing cards, and waiting for an unanticipated reply to the ultimatum. Still another day while Kelvin worried. Then finally they set out. At the border a delegation of uniformed guardsmen met them with the Fud flag and a surrender flag. An enormous cheer went up and down the ranks of mercenaries, though many might have experienced regrets. An adventure too soon over. A war not fought. Bonus pay but not fighting pay. No spoils, no captive wenches. Back home to the Recruitment House to wait unemployed for possibly many more months.

"And so," the guardsman spokesman was saying, "His Majesty surrenders unconditionally to overwhelming numbers. In anticipation of a change in government he has abdicated his throne."

Amazing! Evidently the despot of this frame was relatively cowardly. They would have to make sure he didn't have some treachery in store.

"Well, now that that little matter is settled--" Kian said, looking happy.

Kelvin knew that this entire adventure had been just a little matter delaying a wedding, in Kian's view. Well, maybe so.

CHAPTER 25

True Love Runneth

Heeto the dwarf met them first. They had been traveling their weary way from the transporter by foot, Kelvin now and then soaring overhead to see if he could spot someone. They bypassed Serpent's Valley, not wanting to get involved with the flopears and their reptile ancestors this trip. The gauntlets had been very faintly tingling, not really signaling danger but suggesting that he should move right along to avoid it. In fact, they had been tingling that way for the past day or so, as if they, too, wanted to get this matter over and done with. Finally when their party was on a good road with maybe half a day's hiking ahead, there was the dwarf.

"Heeto! What are you doing here?" Kelvin asked, dropping down out of the sky and landing right in front of him. Was this another wrong frame? He had set the indicator carefully, but there had been so many nasty surprises! Would they never get back to the frame of good Queen Zanaan and lovely good girl Lonny Burk?

The dwarf jumped, startled, then stared at Kelvin incredulously. "You can fly!"

"Yes, I can fly, but only with this belt. It's nothing to get worried about. I'm Kelvin, the same Kelvin whose life you saved."

"You saved us all," Heeto said. "From an evil king and his attempted alliance with flopears. Now, thanks to you, we live in a decent kingdom."

"My father and brother and I have come back. But we won't all stay. Kian wants badly to see his Lonny."

"Yes, Lonny Burk. She is to marry Jac."

"WHAT?" Kelvin felt nearly as devastated as he knew Kian would be. To have gone through so much and to have got here finally at long last and to find her marrying Jac! Not that Jac wasn't a fine fellow, a good skin-thief as his fellows had proclaimed, and a capable revolutionary when helped as required. No, Jac was fine, but not marrying Lonny!

"Your brother has returned to her?"

"Yes."

"She did not think he would, ever."

Kelvin looked at the sky. It was early morning now; only a short time since they had risen. But how long had they actually been gone from this reality? He could feel the sun warming his skin, and he knew that this reality felt like the only one, and certainly it was now for him. But they had been weeks away by their reckoning. Suppose time here was different, and instead of weeks it had been months, possibly even years?

"She missed your brother, but she thought him gone," the dwarf explained. "She faced the prospect of life as an old maid. Jac believed this too, and asked her to marry him."

"Right, I understand." I just hope Kian does.

"Jac would not have asked if he had known Kian would be back. Jac is an honorable man."

"He is." Here, he thought. In other frames he's a villain. But here, yes, as honorable a person as ever comes.

"You will attend the wedding? You and your brother and father?"

"It's today?"

"Yes. The Grand Ballroom is in the official Hud palace. The ceremony is to take place at noon."

"We'll be there," Kelvin said, knowing now that they were in the right frame and much nearer the palace than he had thought. Now he understood the quiet urgency of the gauntlets: it wasn't a physical danger, but an emotional one. They must have known what was about to happen here, and urged him to get here before it was too late. "Where's your horse?"

"Being shod," the dwarf replied. "I was going to get a silver ring."

"Silver ring? Why?"

"For the wedding. For Jac to slip on his bride's finger."

Kelvin felt stunned. But then he remembered his father telling him of a similar custom on Earth. When his mother and father had wed they had simply declared before witnesses that they were married, and after that they were. People wishing to end a marriage divorced in similar fashion.

"May I come with you?"

"Of course. Can you fly with two?"

"You want to fly? Yes, my belt should support your weight too. But you will have to hold on tightly, because --"

"Don't worry! I don't know how to fly, but I know what a fall can do!"

Thus it was that Kelvin went with the dwarf to the jeweler. The jeweler was an elderly, wizened man who seemingly dwelt in his shop. In addition to accessories to his daily life, there was a fine display of clocks, rings, silver plate, and assorted jewelry. He reached under a counter to a secret place and brought out a polished, highly decorated silver band.

Heeto took the ring and examined it. He held it up for inspection in the morning sunbeam coming through the shop's window, then handed it to Kelvin.

Kelvin looked at the workmanship. Flopear without a doubt. In the narrow silver band, just the right size for Lonny's finger, were incised tiny figures. Held to the light the figures seemed to be those of children, and as Kelvin squinted it seemed that the children were running and tossing a ball.

"I never get over what the flopears can do with silver," the oldster wheezed, leaning over the counter. "Those old folk, strolling hand in hand through flowers. How do they do that?"

"Magic," Kelvin answered, remembering his problem with the skeptical men of the other frame who refused to believe in magic. He did not tell the old man that his eyes saw something entirely different. That artistry was twice as special as it seemed! The old man needed all the comforting illusions he could get. Did the picture change for every viewer? Kelvin had more than a suspicion that it did, and that each would find pleasure in what he or she saw. Heeto did not have to worry whether Lonny would like the ring; it would make her like it!

They left the shop, Heeto carefully putting the ring in a small bag he hung over his shoulder. As they emerged into the bright glare of early day Kelvin had an idea. It was a foolish one, but maybe he was ready to be foolish for a change. "Heeto, would you like to fly yourself?"

"With you hanging on to me, Kelvin? I don't think that would work very well."

"Well, by yourself, then, if you don't go far or fast. Just to feel what it's like." The gauntlets gave no warning, so this seemed safe.

The dwarf's eyes lighted. "Not far or fast!" he agreed.

So Kelvin squatted and put the belt on Heeto and instructed him in the handling of the lever. When he was certain Heeto understood, he stood back and let the dwarf try it.

Heeto nudged the lever ever so gently. Suddenly he shot up high. "Slow!" Kelvin cried, alarmed.

"I did it slow!" Heeto cried.

"Then even slower on the reverse!"

The dwarf's progress slowed, then he hovered, and finally he came slowly down. "I know what happened," he said, breathless. "I was too light for it."

That made sense. Kelvin caught him as he came within range, so that there could be no further misjudgment. They both agreed that they had had enough experimentation. Yet despite his scare, Heeto was flushed and happy. He had had an experience he would never forget. So it had been the right thing to do, risk and all.

Kelvin donned the belt again. Then he held Heeto, and they flew at a comfortable walking speed the short distance down the road to where John and Kian Knight were still plodding.

"Kelvin, what's that you've got?" Kian demanded.

"Come see for yourself," he replied as he landed.

Kian came forward, squinting his eyes against the far too bright sunlight. He paused, and his eyes widened. He held out his arms. "Heeto! Heeto, my friend! What are you doing here?"

"I was on a mission," Heeto explained, and rushed forward on short little legs that nevertheless were quite swift. He grabbed Kian around the waist as a child might. Kian hugged the dwarf with just as much affection.

Kelvin stood back, eying them and his father speculatively. Kian was the happiest he had ever seen him, so how would he react to the news Heeto brought?

"Lonny--she's all right?" Kian wondered.

"She's... in health," Heeto said.

"But--?" Kian obviously sensed something.

"She thought you were never coming back. She thought you didn't want her."

"I want her! Gods, I want her!"

"She's marrying Jac."

Kian clutched his heart region. His face slackened. His mouth gaped. It was exactly as though he had received a sword thrust.

Kelvin watched his brother settle down into the dust of the road, place his head in his hands, and shake. He wasn't crying, exactly, but his reactions were those of a man on the verge of dying. Kelvin knew he had to do something for his brother.

"The wedding's today, Kian. At noon. We have time to get there. My gauntlets have been tingling; they know it's not too late."

Kian looked up, brightening. "Yes, yes! We must go! We must be there!"

"Kian," said their father, "Jac was good to us, and saved all our lives more than once. Hers too. If they want each other, you won't interfere?"

"No, Father," Kian said bravely. "No, of course not."

But Kelvin wondered. His brother, unlike himself, had been brought up and spoiled rotten by a ruthless and evil woman. Kelvin had seen far more of his father and himself in Kian than Zoanna and her evil father Zatanas, yet there was a heritage. When Kian was frustrated beyond sanity, would his mother's side come out? Would he pull his sword against Jac? That, Kelvin decided, must not happen.

"The bride and groom won't arrive until the wedding," Heeto said. "You can take time to clean up from your travels, and Queen Zanaan will get you better attire. I see, Kelvin, that you have lost your shirt."

"Zanaan, she's still queen?" John Knight asked.

"Yes, still queen. The people all love her."

"The people have great sense." John Knight spoke with conviction, as though this were a sentiment he had long needed to express.

"What of Rowforth, her husband?" Kelvin asked.

"Rowforth hasn't been found," Heeto said. "He managed to get a knife into Sergeant Broughtmar, his former lackey. We found the sergeant dying on the roof. The king somehow got away, and hasn't been seen since."

"He's still alive, then?" This was bad news!

"Until he's caught. Everyone wants him taken alive so he can be publicly executed."

"The poor queen," Kelvin said.

"No, no. Not poor queen at all," Heeto protested. "She was a prisoner, a hostage to him. She suffered more than any of us. If she could have, she would have divorced him long ago."

"Yes, I suppose that's true." Kelvin looked at his father's face and thought he saw something there that he did not entirely like. He remembered how evil Zoanna had bewitched him, using her magic to keep him enthralled so that she was able to have a child by him. Was it possible that there had been more to it than that? Perhaps a really good copy of Queen Zoanna without her evil ways was what his father really wanted, and certainly Zanaan was that. Certainly she was beautiful. But did he want his father with that woman? Childhood memories of seeing John so content with his own mother Charlain cried a loud if irrational protest.

His father, for his part, had a look of positive eagerness on his face.

They were almost to the gates, the same gates that had once gone down to permit a charge of flopears on war- horses directed against the Freedom Fighters' troops. Kelvin was recalling that war in all its hideousness and the glory of their triumph, as they approached.

Suddenly a horseman wearing a worn uniform of the Freedom Fighters clattered around the corner. "They got him! They got the king!"

"Alive? Alive?" someone shouted.

"Alive! They found him hiding out near serpent territory! Just barely surviving! They're bringing him now!"

Kelvin and his party waited. Kian and John, a bit more anxious to enter the palace than Kelvin was, were partway up the walk. Kelvin turned back to the street.

Soon horsemen came trundling a cart. Looking out of a cage on the cart, ragged, dirty, sunken-eyed, big nose sunburned and peeled, was the figure of the king. What a relief to have captured him!

But as the cart drew even with him, the face behind the bars spotted them, and the wretched creature called out: "Kelvin! John! Kian! Thank the gods!"

Kelvin blinked. The supposed King Rowforth had filthy, round ears. But if this was not Rowforth--if the ears were not the positive identification they seemed--then it had to be good King Rufurt of his homeland!

Unless the evil king was trying to fool him. Rowforth was capable of anything, to save his evil hide.