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.Rhiow knew that the People who had once inhabited those now-mummified bodies would be far beyond caring what happened to their mortal remains.Either they would have run their nine lives' term and ended so, subsumed back into the endless purr that lay behind the merely physical Universe, as was the way of most of the People; or they would be ten lives along now, in bodies so much better suited to their needs that they would laugh at the mere thought of the old ones.If their two-thousand-year-old remains had to be used somehow as a weapon against the Lone One, not one of them would object.But those bodies were ground up, now, and spread over half the counties of this island.Certainly they were too far scattered for the kind of intervention this spell construct would require.Rhiow looked at the construct.Well, she said to the Whisperer, will it work?A long, long pause.Maybe.She got up and stretched."The only thing we haven't decided," she said to Huff, "is when we're going to do this.""It's been rather a long day," Huff said, and glanced over at Auhlae, who was giving him a thoughtful look."To this particular piece of work, I'd like to come well rested.Tomorrow night?"The others all nodded."Shall I come with you?" Ith asked.Rhiow looked at him with some unease."The concern about the Father of his People risking himself comes up again," she said."You'd better take it up with Them.But I for one would value your company."She glanced at Huff.He twitched his tail yes."See where your responsibilities lie, cousin," he said to Ith, "and then join us if you can.But this work alone, I think, is likely to be of great use." He glanced at the icosaract.Ith got up."I will go to my own, then," he said, "and consult with the Powers." He bowed to the group and laid his tail over Arhu's for a moment: then he stepped into the air again, and was gone."What about Siffha'h?" Arhu said."What about her?" said Fhrio.The growl was missing.just."Nothing," Arhu said, and sighed, and got up."Absolutely nothing at all.""Come on, 'Ruah," Rhiow said."Let's get home and take a look around.Huff, Auhlae." She touched cheeks with them: after doing so with Huff, she paused a second, seeing something in his eyes that she couldn't quite classify."It'll be all right," Rhiow said."Of course it will," Huff said, and his whiskers went forward ever so slightly."Till tomorrow night, cousin.Dai stihó."They made their way home together, Rhiow and Urruah and Arhu, and stepped out with some relief from the long station platforms, out into the echo and bustle of the main concourse.Sidled, they walked through it without too much concern for the ehhif.It was getting late on a Saturday evening, and growing quiet.Above them, the "stars" burned backward in the zodiac of a feigned Mediterranean sky, but the breezes that blew by under the great arched ceiling bore mostly the scents of the last fresh-ground coffee of the day, and a lingering aroma of pizza and cold cuts.Urruah breathed deeply."You know," he said, "their gating complex is very historic and all, all those old buildings and castles and whatnot.but I like ours better.""You just prefer the food," Rhiow said."Yeah, well, I intend to have a seriously big dinner tonight," Urruah said, "and then a whole night's sleep in my Dumpster.Who knows if I'll ever see it again?"Rhiow glanced over at him."You're really worried, aren't you," she said."I think I have reason.Don't you?"There was little evidence to suggest otherwise.There was no question that the situation was dangerous.But having granted that, Rhiow saw no advantage in dwelling on it."If worrying would help," she said, "I'd be right in there with you.But I've no evidence that it makes any difference.""Optimist," Urruah said."Pessimist," Rhiow said."And which side do you come down on?" Urruah said to Arhu, who was walking between them, silent."Neither," Arhu said."I'd sooner wait to See which way to jump." He looked a little dubious."But you know, Rhiow, 'Ruah, it's all just probabilities.I See things, but there's always that little warning hovering at the edge of them.'It may not turn out this way.' " He sighed."Very annoying.""I don't know," Rhiow said."I'd think it might be worse if what you saw always happened and there was no escape.That would be depressing.As well as boring: nothing would ever surprise you.""Give me no surprises," Urruah said definitely."Give me certainty over uncertainty anytime.I'll take the boredom and be grateful."Rhiow laughed at him, but the laughter was slightly hollow."So let's postulate best case for a moment," she said."Say the queen is assassinated.Is there any slightest chance, do you think, that the war might not happen, despite what Arhu Saw? As he says, it's still only probability."Urruah flirted his tail sideways in a gesture of complete uncertainty as they walked past the shining brass central information booth."Even in our own world," he said, "the only reason ehhif managed to keep the Winter from falling for so long was that there were two great powers that had atomic weapons.and everyone was sure that, no matter which one of them started the fight, everyone's throat would be ripped out before it was finished.And even then there were close calls.That one ehhif president who got lucky, for example, because spies and wizards were in the right places at the right time, to help him covertly or tell him what he needed to know to maneuver properly in that nasty little game of hauissh that he and his enemy were playing.Luck, yes, and the Powers' intervention— and not much else—that saved them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]