With a Tangled Skein (32 page)

"Who are you?"

Clotho hesitated. I don't think it would be smart to tell him our nature, Niobe thought. It would seem like a threat.

"I-I am a supernatural creature," Clotho said. "That is why I could not-"

"A witch!" he exclaimed.

"No. A woman. But not-like others."

Almost, he smiled. "Not like others," he agreed.

"Samurai, how can I make it right?" Clotho asked. "I did not mean to-you made me angry-"

"Because I thought you a geisha?"

"This is America! Women are independent, not the playthings of men!"

He nodded. "I mistook you for Japanese."

That stung. "I am Japanese-but liberated. I-I left my family because I-would not follow the medieval ways."

"Those ways are good ways!" he said.

"Will you accept my apology?"

"No. Only blood will scour that humiliation clean."

She spread her hands pleadingly. "Samurai, I am immortal. I cannot give you blood. But if we cannot work this out, I will have to take yours."

He touched his nose. "You have already done that."

"All yours," she said.

"Then take it!" he exclaimed. "Bring your champion to meet my katana. Then will the debt be settled." Accept! Niobe thought.

"But-"

"Today," he said. "Here in my dojo. Before my students, where the insult occurred."

Accept! Niobe repeatedly urgently.

"All right," Clotho said faintly. "This-this afternoon."

Samura seemed surprised. "You accept?"

Now tell him our business, Niobe thought.

"Yes. I will-bring my champion here. To meet you. Now may I tell you why I came here?"

Samurai inclined his head. "You do intrigue me, woman."

"Someone will come to offer you something, for a service-"

"He already has."

Clotho paused. We're closer to the deadline, Niobe thought.

"You must not do it!" Clotho said.

"Why not?"

"It is Satan making the offer. He means to bomb the United Nations-"

"What do I care about the United Nations?"

"This-if this happens, there will be discord among the nations, perhaps war-"

"What's wrong with war?"

Baffled, Clotho stared at him.

He's a martial artist, Niobe thought. A warrior. He likes combat.

Ask him if he wants his soul to go to Hell, Atropos suggested.

"If you do this, if you serve Satan, your soul will be his."

"How can you know this?" Samurai demanded. "I-know."

"Why should I believe you?"

Better tell him, after all, Atropos thought, and Niobe agreed.

"Because I am Fate," Clotho said.

"Now you are insulting my intelligence!"

"What proof do you require?" "No proof, woman! I will not be mocked!"

Ask him what Satan offered, Niobe thought. "What did Satan offer you, to deliver that package?"

"You cannot imagine the value of-" He broke off. "It wasn't Satan."

"One of his agents. It doesn't matter who came to you; it is Satan's offer."

Samurai considered. "He offered the secret of the finger death."

"The what?"

"I have searched for it for years. A blow so light it may be struck with a single finger that causes death within the hour. It causes the autonomic system to malfunction progressively until the body cannot cope."

"You want to kill someone with one finger?"

"No. Merely to have the ability to do it."

"And for this you agreed to bomb the UN?"

"No. Just to carry a package there. And I haven't agreed; I will decide tomorrow."

"You must turn it down!"

"That is not for you to say. Who is your champion?"

Mars, Niobe thought. He will help if we ask him.

"Mars."

"Who?"

"The Incarnation of War."

"Still you mock me!" he exclaimed. "There are no such things as Incarnations of Fate and War! I will not tolerate mockery after injury!"

"But he will come here!" Clothe said.

"I will allow no stranger here today!" We'll bring him anyway, Niobe thought. Samurai thinks he is being mocked, but he will believe when he sees Mars!

"We will be here," Clotho said. Then she extended a thread and slid away, barefooted.

Back in the Abode, they reviewed what had happened. They agreed that Samurai had not intended to insult Clotho by his reference to geisha; he had honestly mistaken her purpose in approaching him. Probably he encountered a number of young women who wished to have a personal or sexual relationship with a master martial artist. So Clotho's angry reaction had been unwarranted. They also agreed that Samurai was basically a decent man whose thread should not be prematurely cut, and that his loss of face had to be compensated for. But not by blood!

Clotho promised to consult with the other Aspects before she exploded like that again. She had been ready to commit suicide after being cast out other family, and that militancy of reaction remained. She tended to go too far. "After all," she conceded, "some male sexist pigs may be decent sorts, when allowance is made."

And here was a delicate aspect, "If you could get Samurai to turn Satan down, by being what Samurai took you for," Niobe asked, "would you do it?"

Clotho suffered a siege of sheer rage. Then she calmed, realizing that she was about to react exactly as she had promised not to. "I don't know," she whispered.

As it had been with Chronos, Niobe thought. When she herself had been Clotho. The role of Fate required its sacrifices, not so much of conscience as of image. The current Clotho thought of herself as liberated, but she was bound.

"Now we must recruit Mars," Niobe said. "I know him of old; he will help. But I do not know this particular office-holder, and it is better that he not know my past; that is one secret we must keep from all until we deal with Satan. So Clotho should approach him her way, and put the matter into his hands."

Clotho sighed. "This office and Aspect have many burdens!"

Niobe laughed. "What else is new? Would you trade it?"

"No."

Atropos smiled. "I think we're getting it together." Clotho rode the thread to Mars. He was near the Iran-Iraq border, supervising a locally savage skirmish. "These folk of Babylon and Persia are really dedicated to my purpose," he remarked with satisfaction as Clotho approached. Then he took a second look at her. "Well, Clotho, you have changed! Did that sweet Hungarian girl get tired?"

"She fell in love," Clotho said, as if Lisa had died. Mars laughed. "That's a liability of your type! You're all right until you get mushy about a man, then you sag into-"

Clotho's temper flared again. She spoke a few sharp words in Japanese.

Mars smiled. "And you are the mother of a sickly dog," he responded in the same language. Niobe and Atropos picked up the meaning from Clotho's mind.

Clotho was aghast. "You understood!"

"Sweet stuff. War knows every language of mankind! If you wish to quarrel, you have come to the right party."

Now she was embarrassed. "I came here to ask your help."

"And right prettily you asked for it. Flower of the Orient! What can I do for you?"

Clotho explained how all three Aspects were new in their roles, so were having trouble handling Satan's machinations. "Now I have insulted this martial artist called Samurai, and must give him satisfaction before I can persuade him to-"

"Samurai! I know of him! He's a fine warrior, though perhaps not the match of those whose reputation he borrows. A man of the old school, with that old-fashioned pride. So he took you for a geisha!"

"Yes," Clotho agreed, embarrassed.

"And you kicked him in the butt before his class."

"Yes," she agreed faintly.

"You will have to give him blood."

"No! No killing!"

Mars made a gesture with his sword, and the fighting in the region ceased. The guns fell silent, and even the moans of the wounded faded out. "Woman, you have cost him face. You know what that means?"

"Yes," she said grimly.

"He is inflexible on matters of honor. Few like him exist today; he is steel in an age of rust and plastic-a genuine man. I can satisfy him on the martial level, but only you can abate his inner pain, and until you do, he will not do as you request. Nor should he. Death before dishonor, according to the great tradition."

"But we're trying to avoid death, to prevent war-" She faltered, staring at him.

"And I am War," Mars finished. "Woman, your dainty foot has a predilection for your mouth. But I understand. I am an Incarnation, and you are another. I will do what I can for you today, and some other time you will do what you can for me."

Clotho sighed. "So all males want only one thing!"

"You will adjust your threads to simplify my situation, when I get in a bind," Mars clarified. "This is the manner Incarnations cooperate."

"Oh." Clotho was flushing as well as she was able.

"The reason women suppose that men want only one thing," Mars continued blithely, "is that that is all women are capable of perceiving in men. Women do not properly comprehend matters like, for example, honor."

"That's not true!" Clotho exclaimed. "Ah, so? Then let's discuss honor. You have impaired Samurai's honor; if you want to deal with him, you must yield him yours. You are of course a virgin-"

"How can you know that?" she demanded. "It is one of the things we male sexists relate to," Mars said. "Now do you understand the blood you must offer to Samurai?"

Clotho hesitated, appalled.

He's right, Niobe thought. It's the way men are, Atropos agreed.

"You like him, don't you?" Mars inquired cruelly.

Clotho launched herself at him, clawing at his face.

There goes that temper again, Niobe thought.

Girl's got spunk, Atropos agreed.

Mars caught her effortlessly. "I can see we're going to get along just fine," he said. "I love to have pretty girls leap into my arms. Well, I'll be there, and I'll set it up for you. But at the finish, it must be you and Samurai. You'll just have to decide how bad you want to square things. He's one fine man." He set her down and turned away, and the battle resumed.

Clotho stood, angry tears on her face, unable to counter Mars' insolence.

Let's get out of here, girl, Atropos thought. Numbly, Clotho extended a thread and slid back up toward Purgatory. Niobe sympathized with her. The girl had fought all her life for independence and equality, and now she was being thrust into the old sexist role. She was not the same person Niobe had been in her youth, yet she was close enough so that Niobe knew better than to interfere.

They had lunch and adjusted a few threads, preoccupied. Then Clotho donned slacks, low-heeled shoes, and a businesslike shirt, and rode a thread back down to the dojo.

Mars appeared as she landed before it. He was garbed in a white gi. Niobe had never been certain how Mars traveled, but it seemed to be related to his sword. Each Incarnation had a symbol of office that was imbued with much of the magic, and the red sword was obviously Mars' symbol.

"Follow me," Mars said, handing her his sword.

Clotho looked at it. The thing was unsheathed-a massive instrument, with a handle almost too big for her small hand to hold, and a gleaming double-edged blade that glowed red from some deep layer. The whole thing had a magical aura of menace; it made her nervous. She held it awkwardly by two hands, the blade pointing straight down.

Even Niobe was astonished. What's he up to? He never sets aside his red sword!

We'll find out soon enough, Atropos thought.

The girl at the desk recognized Clotho. "Please leave," she said. "You are not welcome here."

Mars leaned over the desk. "I am her champion. Signal your hirelings."

Two men appeared at the inner doorway. Both were in gis and wore black belts. "The lady has asked you to leave, mister," one said, stepping forward.

I think we're going to see some man-style foolishness, Atropos thought with a certain relish. When they don't have sex on their minds, they do like to fight.

"I have an appointment," Mars said. He stepped into the man, caught his outstretched arm, spun about, and sent him rolling across the floor.

The other man turned-and Mars' leg shot out and swept the other man's foot from under him, so that he landed on the floor with a resounding slap.

"Now go in and announce me," Mars said. "I expect a full turnout, and the courtesy of the dojo." Without further word, the two men hurried away.

"But you could have hurt them!" Clotho protested. Mars walked back to Clotho and proffered his arm. "Not with a simple hand throw and a foot-sweep; they know how to take falls. I merely showed them a hint of my competence."