Fractal Mode

Chapter 25

The guard seemed taken aback at the unintelligible speech. Satisfied that these were indeed strangers, he pointed to the gate.

"Go there?" Darius asked. He took a step, hesitantly.

The guard turned and walked ahead, leading them in. Stave stood where he was, ignored. Go with them, he thought, his face impassive. They have no interest in me, and that is best. I will tell Ana, whom you know as Nona, that you are here. I will come if you call me, if you can mind-talk from a distance.

We can, Colene thought. She wished Stave had come in with them, however, because then they would have had a far easier time understanding what was going on. As it was, she was nervous, despite Provos" assurance that they would get through satisfactorily. How accurate was the woman"s memory of future events? It couldn"t be perfect, because sometimes their actions changed their future.

The gate did not lead straight in. Instead they had to mount a long, steep ramp which seemed to go to the top of the wall. But it didn"t; perhaps three quarters of the way up it turned away from the wall and deposited them on a slightly sloping platform, an interior glacis. Apparently the wall surrounded a steep mountain ridge, and the castle proper was at the top of that. This would be some redoubt to storm!

Inside, it looked even more like a city. The outer wall did not connect to the interior structures; there was a wide space between them. That way the inhabitants could defend against an enemy who breached the outer ramparts; he would have to expose himself to further fire before reaching the inner compound.

They were led to a chamber just inside the wall. The head guard barked a command, but this time they really did not understand it.

Then an old man appeared, also in black. He did not walk in, he appeared in the chamber. He smiled. He spoke in more gibberish, addressing Darius.

"I do not understand what you are saying," Darius replied in his own language.

The man lifted his hand, and a doll appeared in it. The doll looked much like Darius. The doll reached out, and in its hand appeared a cloak similar to the one the old man wore, but green. Then the cloak was on the doll.

"An icon!" Darius exclaimed. "My kind of magic!"

"Not necessarily," Colene said. "Guess something else, just in case." Because Nona had not mentioned that type of magic.

"You want us to change clothing?" Darius asked.

The doll was suddenly wearing the cloak. The implication was clear enough. Colene"s caution had been justified. Darius might have given away his magic, if it worked here.

"But we need a private place to change," Darius protested.