Marion Zimmer Bradley - Sword and Sorceress

SWORD AND

SORCERESS XVI

EDITED BY

Marion Zimmer Bradley

DAW BOOKS, INC.

DONALD A. WOLLHEIM, FOUNDER

375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

ELIZABETH R. WOLLHEIM

SHEILA E. GILBERT

PUBLISHERS

Cover art by Michael Whelan

DAW Book Collectors No. 1124.

DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Putnam Inc. All characters and events in this

book are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have

been stolen property and reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher. In such

case neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped

book."

First Printing, June 1999 23456789 10

DAW TRADEMARK REGISTERED 'U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES -MARCA

REGISTRADA HECHO EN U.S.A.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

THE KAPPA'S GIFT

by Fujiko

THE CHANGELESS ROOM

by Charlotte Carlson

ISABELLE AND THE SIREN

by Mary Catelli

DRAGON'S TEAR

by Sonya Fedotowsky

A SISTER'S BLOOD

by Patricia B. Cirone

CHANGED

by Lisa Deason

THE POWER TO CHANGE THE

SHAPE OF THE LAND

by Dayle A. Dermatis

THE FROG PRINCE

by Linda J. Dunn

HONEY FROM THE ROCK

by Dorothy J. Heydt

THE WILL OF THE WIND

by Christina Krueger

MOONLIGHT ON WATER

by Carol E. Leever

NINE SPRINGS

by Kathleen M. Massie-Ferch

MISTWEAVER

by Terry McGarry

WAKING THE STONE MAIDEN

by Cynthia McQuillin

CITY OF NO-SLEEP

by Vera Nazarian

DAUGHTER OF THE BEAR

by Diana Paxson

THE WISHING STONES

by Lisa S. Silverthorne

A FOOL'S GAME

by Selina Rosen

THE ANVIL OF HER PRIDE

by Lawrence Schimel

THE DANCING MEN OF BALLYBEN

by Laura J. Underwood

SALT & SORCERY

by Elisabeth Waters and Michael Spence

WEAVING SPELLS

by Lawrence Watt-Evans

ENAREE, AN AZKHANTIAN TALE

by Deborah Wheeler

THE DAY THEY RAN OUT OF PRINCESSES

by Gail Sosinsky Wickman

TAKING FLIGHT

by Susan Wolven

THE VISION THAT APPEARED

by Katherine L. Rogers

INTRODUCTION

It's hard to believe I've been doing these volumes for as long as I

have. Every year I realize again how lucky I am to be able to do this series, to

discover new writers, and to read new stories by my old friends, many

of whom were new writers when I first encountered them. I remember looking at

the new books shelf in a local science-fiction bookstore one day about eight

years ago, and thinking that the names on the new releases looked a lot like

the table of contents of a volume of Sword and Sorceress. By now I

have writers whose first stories I bought bringing new writers into the field,

following our tradition of "paying forward"-since we can't pay back the

writers and editors who helped us when we were young and just starting

out.

Both the world we live in and the stories I get have changed over the years.

The first few years, I got so many stories about women who knew that they

could do traditional "men's work" and were busy proving it to men. Now that a

good part of our world has figured out the truth of that (or at least passed

laws to that effect), I don't get many of those stories anymore.

It's like the basic rule of science fiction: just grant your gimmicks, and get

on with your story. (This is why science fiction has FTL travel and

transporters, and fantasy has teleportation spells. They save travel

time, so you can get right to the story.) Also, after the second year, I put my foot

down and said I refused to buy any more stories about women proving they

could

be camel herders, or whatever it was the men said they couldn't be.

But now that so many women hold down "men's jobs" in addition to

having families and homes to take care of-all too frequently without any

help from the man who promised to be there and help, I'm starting to see another

sort of story. A woman may be able to do anything, but that doesn't mean that

she can do everything. And I sometimes suspect that too many of us are trying

to do just that.

This year I noticed that quite a few of the stories I got were about

women coping with things they weren't at all sure they could do. We've gone

from needing to prove our abilities to men to having to prove them to ourselves.

So now we have stories about women persevering against all odds, keeping on

with their lives no matter what the world throws at them, coping with disaster,

and surviving. Perhaps that's the motto for the end of the millennium: just keep

going. When you fall, pick yourself up and try again.

That certainly applies to my writers. A very few sell to me on their

first try, but most of them have years of rejection slips before their first

sale. The ones who succeed are the ones who work hard and keep

trying.

For anyone who wants to submit a manuscript for Sword and Sorceress, first

send a #10 SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) to Sword and Sorceress,

P.O. Box 72, Berkeley CA 94701-0072. The guidelines for my magazine (Marion

Zimmer Bradley's FANTASY Magazine) are available from P.O. Box 249, Berkeley

CA 94701-0249, or on my Web site, www.mzbfm.com. The Web site also has

useful information for beginning, writers, including the articles I used as

handouts when I taught a writer's workshop some years ago. The magazine is an

easier market; I get to do four of them a year, instead of just one, and the story

requirements, not being limited to sword and sorcery with female protagonists,

are less rigid. The magazine gives me a chance to play

with additional types of stories, including contemporary settings, which I don't

use for Sword and Sorceress. But I love both the anthology and the

magazine, and I wouldn't give either of them up for anything.

THE KAPPA'S GIFT

by Fujiko

Fujiko was born in Japan, near Mount Fuji; she was, of course, named after the

mountain. At the not very observant age of six months, she and her

family moved to Chile, where she spent "an almost embarrassingly idyllic

childhood" until 1968, when her family moved to Vancouver, Canada. She

spent several years in the public schools-which I know from experience

can be a far from idyllic surrounding-and then struggled through four

years of university to earn a Bachelor of Science degree which she has

never used in her work, but which she says has enhanced her ability to

understand and enjoy her surroundings.

She met her future husband, Tero, when she was fourteen, and they are now

doing their best to make decent human beings of their son, Brian, fourteen, and

daughter, Selene, eleven. (It doesn't matter much what you do, when they're

older they'll think you did everything wrong; that's just human experience.)

She also has, as is par for most writers, an assortment of animals: an

English cocker spaniel named Kelsie; three cats, Simba, Nikki, and Tasha;

three guinea pigs; a hamster; and assorted fish and transient frogs. Aw,

shucks! You mean you didn't have the imagination to name the fish and frogs? i

was really looking forward to knowing what names you'd give to all of

them-particularly the transient ones.

Well, for a story as imaginative and not overdone as this, I guess we'll just

have to forgive you. It's nice to get some mythology that isn't Celtic, as well as a

reminder that gifts can come in unexpected ways and forms.

Aki paused to listen to the sounds of the night creatures awakening around her

in the growing darkness. The familiar noises made her smile, but tonight there

was no time to sit and enjoy them. She still faced a long walk back to the

farmhouse and wished she hadn't dawdled in the fields. The young cucumbers

filling the basket on her back felt heavier with every step. Sighing, Aki adjusted

the straps of the basket on her shoulders and continued to trudge along the river

path.

A loud splash at the water's edge made Aki jump. With the back of

her neck tingling in alarm, she scanned the reeds along the riverbank. She could

detect no movement or anything out of the ordinary; still, her steps quickened of

their own accord.

Suddenly, a shadow unraveled itself from the tall water reeds and

stepped onto the path in front of her. She cringed back with a sharp cry,

and then laughed out loud in relief when she saw that the shadow was

no bigger than she was. It was only a young boy.

"You nearly scared me to death!" Aki said to him. She started

forward with a smile, and froze. What stood in front of her was not a boy. Horror

crawled along her spine as her eyes took in details of the creature that

confronted her. At first glance it did look like a boy, but on its back it bore a

shell like a turtle. The top of its head had a bowllike depression filled with

water and was rimmed with long, black hair that hung in wet spikes. The

amphibian face had cunning, intelligent eyes that watched her with great interest.

"Kappa!" Aki gasped. She had always thought kappas were a myth, a creepy

story to tell children at bedtime. Now she faced one in the flesh, and she forced

her terrified mind to remember the many stories she had heard. They were

magical-but how? Water in the bowl at the top of their heads held their power

and magic; without it they were very weak. They were blamed for many children's

drownings. Cucumbers were a drug to them, causing a feeling of euphoria. They

stole farm animals and

ate them. But did they attack people? Aki couldn't remember.

Barely able to control her shaking knees, Aki swallowed hard and said, "I have

no quarrel with you. Let me pass, and I will not harm you." She marveled at her

own gall. It was clearly obvious to both her and the kappa that if

there were any harm to be done, she wouldn't be the one doing it.

The kappa stood on thin, bowed legs and stared at her, its

gray-green skin shining with a slimy glint. Suddenly, it let out a long hiss and

raised its head, sniffing the air with disgusting, wet noises. Aki watched,

paralyzed with fear, unable to react when it closed the space between them and

grabbed the basket on her back. She fell hard on her knees and struggled

to regain her feet as the creature hauled the basket toward the river, dragging

her behind. Fearing that she would die if they reached the water, she

redoubled her efforts. She twisted and rolled, scattering the cucumbers from the

basket.

The kappa stopped and eyed the vegetables strewn on the dirt. It could

not ignore a cucumber any more than a starving dog could ignore a piece

of bloody meat. It bent down to reach for one, and Aki, seeing her chance to

escape, kicked with all her might. Her foot caught the kappa on the side of the

face and sent it rolling to the ground. It screamed in rage as it felt the water

spilling from the bowl on the top of its head. Aki tried to get away from the

nightmarish creature but slipped in the mud. Feeling its strength draining, the

kappa frantically flailed its arms, clawing at Aki's kimono and slashing her thigh.

She screamed in pain and terror and fell once more to the ground. The

kappa lunged at the basket again and yanked. Aki rolled backward,

crushing the kappa underneath her. Without its extraordinary strength the

creature was unable to hold Aki down, and she managed to stand up. She

tried to run, but she could still feel the kappa holding on to the basket.

Wild with desperation she turned her head, and from the corner of her

eye she saw the handle of the small hatchet, her

natta, sticking up above the basket's rim. Whipping her arm back, she jerked

the natta free and swung it in a wide arc. The sharp blade caught the

kappa's thin arm above the elbow and sliced through it.

With an agonizing scream the kappa fell to the ground holding the stub of its

arm in a webbed hand. Aki stood stunned as the creature convulsed and

screeched in the mud. She closed her eyes to shut out the horrifying

image, and then she turned and ran.

Aki ran blindly, with the hellish screeching echoing in her head. She ran until

her lungs were bursting and she could no longer feel her legs. When she

thought she could not go another step, she saw the farmhouse lights ahead

and forced her legs to keep moving. Finally, she stumbled through the back door,

and collapsed on the floor.

"Where have you been all this time?" yelled her Aunt Noriko, stomping

toward her. "What the . . . look at you! You've ruined your clothes! And

the basket, too!" she said, pulling the basket off Aki's limp body.

The inner door of the kitchen slid open, and her cousin Goro stood

framed in the doorway. He watched silently as Aki slowly picked herself up from

the floor. His eyes narrowed when he saw the rips in her kimono, and the

blood on her exposed thigh.

"A kappa-" said Aki trying to catch her breath. "I- I was attacked by a kappa

-by the river."

Goro walked up to Aki and slapped her hard across the face. The unexpected

blow sent her sprawling back to the floor.

"Liar!" he yelled. His face was red and his speech slurred. He had obviously

been drinking.

"No! A horrible monster attacked me! A kappa!" she insisted.

Goro slapped her again. Pain seared her face, but she gritted her teeth and

glared at him. Goro, breathing hard through his nose, would have hit her

again but was stopped by Aunt Noriko's scream of horror.

"What is that?" said the old woman pointing at the basket.

Goro picked up the basket by its rim and held it high. The kappa's arm

swung from the bottom, its curved claws caught in one of the straps.

"It's the kappa's arm," said Aki. "I told you. It attacked me. I cut off its

arm and ran home."

Goro studied the grotesque arm for a long time, and then he looked at Aki

and started to laugh. He lifted and pulled at the arm, but it held fast.

Swearing, he stepped on the basket and yanked it free. Holding the arm up like a

trophy he went back to his room, Aunt Noriko following on his heels. Aki

slumped against the wall as they disappeared through the door. Goro's voice

reached her from the other room.

"I'll take the kappa's arm to the castle and present it to Lord Minagawa. He'll

be so pleased he'll reward me with gold," he said and slurped noisily

from a jug of sake.

"You better be careful," warned Aunt Noriko. "Kappas have magic. What do

we do if it comes looking for its arm? I've heard they do that," she added in a

frightened voice.

There was a silent pause as Goro considered this. "The kappa is

badly wounded; it won't move tonight. Tomorrow, after I take the arm to

the castle, I'll wait for it. If it comes, I'll trap it and put it in a cage. I

bet people will pay good money to see a kappa" he said, guffawing.

Aki had heard enough. She quietly stepped outside and limped toward the

bathhouse. A quick inspection of her wounds showed that the slashes on her

thigh were not nearly as bad as she had feared. Easing into the deep tub, she let

the steaming hot water soothe her battered body while her mind reeled with the

unbelievable events of the day. It was almost inconceivable that she had

survived the kappa attack with less damage than she normally received from

Goro's beatings. Aki gingerly touched her swollen cheek, and smirked. She

thought how ironic it

was that her own flesh and blood was more savage than the greatly feared

kappa monsters.

With a sudden shock, Aki realized that the kappa had never actually attacked

her. She replayed every detail of the encounter again. The kappa could have

easily killed her with one quick swipe of its claws across her throat, yet all its

efforts had been concentrated on taking the basket . . . the cucumbers. The

kappa had never made any moves to hurt her purposely. The gashes on her leg

had happened while it had been flailing its arms trying to grab the basket.

Looking back, her wounds now seemed almost incidental, accidental even.

The only attacks during the encounter had come from her. She was the one

who had kicked the kappa and then cut off its arm. Could it be possible that

it would have let her go unharmed if she had just dropped the basket?

The image of Goro swearing and tugging trying to untangle the arm from the

basket popped into her head and she realized that the kappa had not

been holding on to the basket. Its hand had been caught in the strap! She

shuddered as a ball of guilt exploded in her stomach.

Back in her own room, Aki put out her sleeping futons on the floor and fell into

them exhausted. Goro's loud voice came through from the other room. He was

still talking about the fame and fortune that would soon be his. Aki snorted in

disgust and pulled the futons over her head.

Long after Goro's voice had slowed to a stop and her aunt's steady

snoring had started its familiar echoing through the house, Aki lay wide awake.

Her mind still raced with thoughts of the kappa. New images of it dying in a cage

added to her guilt.

Unable to live with the guilt any longer, she quickly put on her clothes and

tiptoed into Goro's room. On her hands and knees she felt along the

floor for the kappa's arm and almost yelped in surprise when her

hand touched the cold, slimy skin. Picking it up with a shudder, she ran to

the outer kitchen and found her

basket. She put the arm in the basket and, shrugging the straps on her shoulders,

she stole into the night.

Many times during the long walk back to the river Aki wondered if she had

lost her mind, but she continued on. When she arrived at the spot where she had

encountered the kappa earlier she stopped and called out as politely as she

knew how. "Kappa-san!" Her voice sounded thin and frightened. "Kappa-san! I

... I've brought your arm back!" She called a little louder and waited. Nothing

happened. She was just beginning to think that the whole exercise had been a

mistake when there was a soft splash in the reeds behind her.

Horror washed over Aki again as she turned to face the kappa. It plodded

from the reeds to the path and stood stooped on trembling legs. Its

webbed hand still clutched the stub of its arm. Aki could see that it was very

weak, but she would not take any chances.

"Tilt your head and drain the water from the top of your head," she said, fear

making her voice harsher than she intended. "Then I'll return your arm."

The kappa looked at her silently for a moment, then slowly tipped its head

forward and let the water dribble from the bowl. As the last drops of

water spilled out, the kappa's knees buckled and it toppled to the ground.

Aki quickly put the basket on the ground and placed the kappa's arm in front

of it. "Here is your arm. There are a few cucumbers left in the basket. You can

have them," she said, stepping aside.

The kappa dragged itself over to the arm and collapsed on top of it. It

rolled on its side, gasping for breath, and feebly tried to connect the dead

arm to its stump. The pitiful sight brought a lump to Aki's throat. She was the

cause of the creature's suffering; she should help, but she didn't know how. She

stood immobile with indecision while the kappa struggled to lift its head, then

she suddenly realized what she must do.

Aki stepped to the river's edge and quickly returned with water in her

cupped hands. She held the water

above the kappa's head and said, "Before I give you this water, you must

promise not to harm me or any other human." The kappa looked up at her and

nodded. She let the water flow between her fingers and could immediately see the

strength returning to the kappa. Sitting up, it once again attempted to join the

arm to its stub. Forgetting the fear and revulsion she had felt only moments

before, Aki held the arm in place and watched as the kappa stretched and

pinched the skin and muscles along the cut. The webbed hand then covered the

fissure and in a few minutes the arm was reattached. Aki stared in amazement.

She would never have believed had she not seen it with her own eyes.

The kappa clenched and unclenched its fist and, seemingly satisfied with its

arm, ate a few cucumbers from the basket and closed its eyes to rest. Aki watched

the peacefully resting figure. It wasn't a monster, only a creature that belonged to

the river. Feeling like an intruder, Aki stood up to leave but was stopped

by a webbed hand on her leg.

"Thank you," said the kappa looking up at her.

The words were more of a hiss than speech, but the meaning was

undeniable. Aki stared at the kappa with a gaping mouth. "You can

speak?" she asked incredulously. The kappa nodded. It stood up and gently

placed both hands on Aki's head. Soft warmth emanated from its hands. The

warmth moved through her head to her body and to her limbs until it filled every

inch of her being.

"You have saved my life and the life of the unborn son I carry," said

the kappa. "In gratitude, I will share my healing powers with you."

"But I don't know how to use these powers," said Aki.

"You will know when the time comes," said the kappa and looked deep

into Aki's eyes. "Your kind is so young!" Aki heard the kappa exclaim in

wonder, and then felt her head explode with images and feelings so

ancient her mind could not comprehend them. Aki drowned in the

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Sword and Sorceress

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