John DeChancie - Castle 01 - Castle Perilous

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Castle Perilous

John De Chancie

An [ e - reads ] Book

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No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or

mechanical, including photocopy, recording, scanning or any information storage retrieval system, without

explicit permission in writing from the Author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination

or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely

coincidental.

First e-reads publication 1999

www.e-reads.com

ISBN 0-7592-6746-4

Author Biography

John DeChancie is a popular author of numerous science fiction/fantasy novels including the hugely entertaining

CASTLE series and STARRIGGER trilogy. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Other works by John DeChanice also available in e-reads editions

Red Limit Freeway

Living With Aliens

To my son Gene

Contents

Castle Perilous

Keep — East Wing — Northwest Tower

SOMETHING WAS FOLLOWING Kwip up the dark spiral stairwell. He was sure of that now. It was something

that walked on taloned feet with thickly padded soles. Some inhuman … thing, little doubt. His heart frosting

over, Kwip wondered what variety of shrieking nightmare it would be this time.

That it was intelligent, there could be even less doubt. With calculated stealth it matched him footstep for

footstep, masking the click of its nails against stone with the sound of Kwip’s movement up the stairs. When

Kwip stopped, it stopped. When he picked up the pace, it followed suit instantaneously. He was sure it wasn’t his

imagination.

As he saw it, panic was one of only two choices, should he find a locked door at the head of the stairwell or

should the thing choose to begin sprinting up the stairs in pursuit. The alternative was to draw this sword he had

stolen, turn and meet it. A clear choice, but his heart was voting panic! as it banged against his breastbone. His

head was somewhat in agreement, but reason still held the deciding ballot. Kwip did not want to start running and

give the thing ideas. He was tired. He’d been climbing for hours, it seemed. Running would drain the last of his

strength. Doubtless he would need every scintilla if he wished to continue his career in a onepiece body. Lose

composure now, and these dark stone walls would be smeared with his innards. Such decor was not to his taste.

He thought an experiment was in order. Trying to maintain the same interval, he mounted two steps in one stride,

then continued normally, listening. The barely audible clicking behind him did not change rhythm. He allowed

himself a tiny sigh. He had gained a step on the thing. Try again. He jumped another step with his right foot and

did the same with his left, then resumed mounting one per stride. He listened again. Three steps gained …

The thought occurred to him that he should give serious consideration to changing professions. A thief’s life had

much to recommend it, but the dangers were considerable. Case in point, the present moment. Now, if he found

the castle’s treasure room, it would all be worthwhile. But for the moment there was the problem of getting

through this charming episode.

With a suddenness that turned Kwip’s bowels to water, the thing behind him began scrabbling up the stairs. Kwip

lunged forward, taking six steps at a leap, dashing madly up the twisting passageway. But the thing was heart-

freezingly quick, clicking and scuffling in pursuit. It was gaining. The stairwell wound upwards in an unending

gyre. For an eternity Kwip ran and was chased.

Almost before he saw it, the top of the stairwell was upon him. The stairs dead-ended into a blank stone wall.

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With raw fear pumping a last desperate strength into him, Kwip drew his sword, whirled, and charged down the

stairs, his demented battle yell rending the silence of the tower.

He met only emptiness. By the time he was three or four turns down the well, he began to realize that he should

have met his pursuer by now. He halted, stumbled, slid down a dozen more steps before he managed to stop

himself. He froze and listened. Nothing. Where was it? Had it retreated? Or … gods of a pig’s arse! Had he

actually imagined it after all?

No. Inexplicably, the thing was above, descending the stairs at a leisurely pace. He lurched to his feet. Invisible!

The buggering thing was invisible! But was it also incorporeal? He must have charged past it. But, no. There

wasn’t room enough.

Whatever it was, it was coming around the upper turn. Kwip made a motion to flee, but halted. When he saw

what it was, his eyes bulged.

It wasn’t an it, after all. It was a them.

Feet. They were feet. Two disembodied, taloned, reptilian feet, almost comically monstrous, hollow costume feet

looking for all the world to be made of papier-mâché. They came tripping down the stairs. Kwip flattened himself

against the wall as they passed. Thunderstruck, Kwip watched. When they disappeared behind the curving stone

of the lower turn, he heard them begin to run down. Then he heard laughter, a high, thin, chittering, fading with

the footsteps. In a short time the silence of the tower returned.

Kwip stood in shock, immobile. Then he collapsed to the stone steps, his breath coming in racking heaves.

When he had composed himself, he rose slowly and sheathed his sword. He felt the front of his breeches. They

were wet.

“Gods of a poxed doxy.”

He had bepissed himself.

He scowled and turned up his nose. “Damn me for a small-bladdered, craven —” He stamped his booted foot.

“Balls!”

Presently he began to laugh. At first it was a snicker, turning to crazed giggling. Then he exploded into full-

throated laughter, tears coming to his eyes.

Some sixty stories below. Lord Incarnadine, whose castle this was, passed by the entrance to the stairwell and

heard faint echoes of mirth. He paused briefly to listen. Smiling, he wondered who it was. Then he walked on.

Keep — West Wing — South Wall

“THERE YOU ARE, Jacoby.”

The corpulent man with fleshy, hanging jowls and a pendulous double chin turned toward the doorway leading

out onto the balcony. “Dalton … my dear fellow.” He smiled, lifted a thin glass of amber liquid to his lips, took

a sip, then turned back to take in the sweeping view of the countryside, which, from this high vantage point of the

castle, spread for miles to the south and west. There was much of interest.

Dalton , a tall thin man with graying temples, came out onto the balcony holding a long-stemmed wineglass in

one hand and a tan-colored cigarette in a holder in the other. He was dressed in green breechclouts, brown leather

doublet, and brown suede boots. He wore a hat of soft green cloth that looked something like a Tam o’ Shanter.

From the room behind him came sounds of laughter and pleasant conversation, overlaid with strains of music

from antique instruments.

“How goes the battle?”

“Well, from here it looks as though the outer wall has been breached.”

Dalton leaned over the rail of the stone balustrade. “Really?”

Jacoby, who still preferred the conservative Savile Row tweeds he had arrived with, took another sip. “Yes. Hand-

to-hand fighting down there.” He pointed. “Among those outbuildings. Do you see?”

Dalton peered down. “You’re quite right. We should announce this to the other Guests.” He straightened up and

drew a thoughtful puff on his cigarette. “Brings up an interesting question that’s been entirely hypothetical until

now. What exactly will our situation be, vis-à-vis the invaders?”

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“Are they aware of us?”

Dalton shrugged. “Aside from Our Host, I’ve never met anyone who could answer that question with any

authority.”

“I suspect they do. You’re right — Incarnadine would know.”

“I should think.”

“Has anyone ever asked him?”

“I don’t think Our Host has made an appearance since the siege began, several months ago. At least, no one I

know has seen him.”

Jacoby nodded and looked out at the battle again. For miles around, vast armies lay camped on the plains below.

From this distance the clumps of brightly colored tents looked like a sprawling, endless carnival or festival. The

sprawl stopped at the foot of the rocky promontory upon which Castle Perilous stood. There, hanging against the

sheer cliffs, began a massive array of wooden trestles, scaffolds, ramps, and platforms — the means by which the

besieging armies had scaled the heights. Even now troops of soldiers were mounting them in an endless stream

from the plains, some dragging huge battle engines up the ramps, using complicated systems of ropes, cranes,

and pulleys.

“There’s a certain inevitability about it all,” Dalton observed. “Our intrepid defenders have given a good account

of themselves, but I think the outcome is a foregone conclusion. That army is a wave that can’t be stopped.”

“You may well be right.”

“I suppose, then,” Dalton went on, “somebody should approach the other side and find out how the Guests figure

into things.”

“Rumor has it they mean to destroy the castle.”

Dalton snorted. “I’ve heard that. Ridiculous. Do you know how big this place is on the outside alone? — to say

nothing of the worlds of room within. Look down.”

Jacoby did so.

“Must be eighty stories to this part of the keep. And look at those towers. How high, would you say?”

“I have no idea.”

“Have you ever been to the north wall?”

“No.”

“It must be a mile distant from us.”

“That much.” Jacoby didn’t seem oversurprised.

Dalton ’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.” He paused, looking at Jacoby. Then his gaze was drawn out over the rail again.

“This has to be the biggest edifice ever constructed. Anywhere.”

“Must be.”

Dalton drank from his glass and exhaled noisily. He smiled. “Exquisite, as usual.” He smacked his lips,

deliberating. “A bit too fruity, perhaps.”

“Do you think there’s a chance we’ll be permitted to remain here?”

“That depends on our future landlords.”

“Yes. That is, if they succeed in overcoming Lord Incarnadine’s formidable defenses.”

“Formidable indeed. You missed some of the best battles. Those armored war birds … and the horrific dragon

things, spewing fire. Men burning …” Dalton gave an involuntary shudder. “The invaders took heavy losses. But

apparently they’ve made them up. So, it just might be a good idea to contact them, apprise them of our neutral

position.”

“Or perhaps offer our assistance.”

Dalton arched an eyebrow. “And turn against Our Host, after all the hospitality he’s shown us, all of us?”

“I am not ungrateful.” Jacoby took a drink, then ran a sausagelike index finger around the lip of the glass. “But if

he can no longer guarantee my safety, I have no qualms about protecting my best interests by acting as the

situation demands.”

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“I can sympathize with that.” Dalton placed his wineglass on the flat stone of the rail.

“I wonder …”

“About what?”

Jacoby gestured with his glass. “About them, the invaders. Who they are. The hosts of some rival lord?”

“A fair guess. Maybe an alliance of rivals.”

“Yes. And what are they after? The legendary jewel, perhaps. What’s it called again?”

“The Brain of Ramthonodox.”

“Strange.”

“Appropriate to the place.”

“Very.”

Both were silent for a moment. Inside, the ensemble struck up a waltz. Then Dalton said, “This idea of yours —

helping the invaders. What could we possibly offer them?”

“Information?”

“Concerning what?”

Jacoby turned a chubby palm upward. “The whereabouts of Our Host, for instance. Doubtless they’ll want him as

a prisoner.”

“But no one knows where he is. He’s probably hiding, and he may have left altogether.”

“Perhaps we could locate him. Mount an expedition … a search party.”

“Few of the Guests would participate. And it’s a safe bet the invaders will be looking for him themselves.”

“No doubt,” Jacoby conceded. “Still, we should make some attempt to find him before the castle falls.”

“You could hide for years in here,” Dalton said, speaking through teeth clenched on the stem of the cigarette

holder. “Forever, maybe.”

“You’re entirely right, of course. As you said, the immensity of this place is almost beyond imagining.” Jacoby

drank the last of the liqueur and placed the glass on the flat stone of the rail. “Escape will be easy, but it will be a

pity to lose the castle.” He exhaled and shook his head. “A tragedy.”

Dalton blew out a stream of smoke. “Yeah. As pleasant as some of the nicer aspects are, I don’t relish the

prospect of having to pick one of them to live in permanently. And who’s to say the invaders won’t follow us

through the portals and hunt us all down?”

“I doubt they’d bother with us,” Jacoby said.

“Well, frankly, I agree. I’m not exactly worried about it. But not being able to come back to the castle would be

damned inconvenient. I’d hate to go back to working for a living again.” Dalton sighed. “Still, if it has to be, it

has to be. There are a number of very pleasant worlds on the other side of the portals.”

Jacoby shook his head. “I like it here.”

“Yes, this place does have its delights — as well as its dangers. But this castle belongs to someone else. You

would be forever a Guest, never an owner.”

“I feel … alive here,” Jacoby said with sudden animation. “This magnificent construct …” He turned and lifted

his head to look up the high wall of the keep. “This colossal monument to power — it excites me. You say never

an owner? I can’t bear the thought of it. Anything is possible here. Anything.”

Dalton did not look up. He was eyeing Jacoby circumspectly.

“I want to —” Jacoby felt Dalton’s gaze, turned back toward the rail and gave a slightly self-conscious smile.

“You’ll forgive me, but my experiences here so far have given me an overwhelming sense of freedom, of

promise. I can’t quite … well, it’s exhilarating; to say the least. And the newfound powers, these abilities I’ve

acquired —”

“Don’t let it go to your head. We’ve all acquired them, to varying degrees.”

Jacoby’s smile faded into something akin to indignation. “I’d be willing to wager that mine are more than usually

developed, for such a recent arrival.”

“I have no reason to doubt you.”

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Jacoby’s smile crept back. “Do forgive me.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Since we’re on the subject, do you mind giving me a small demonstration of your own abilities? I hear they’re

quite advanced.”

“Well …”

“Please. I’d be very interested — if you don’t mind.” Jacoby’s smile was warm.

Dalton nodded, stubbed out his cigarette on the rail, and slipped the holder into a leather pouch attached to a wide

belt around his waist. He picked up the wine glass, drank the last of its contents, and replaced it on the rail. He

then extended a stiffened right hand perpendicular to the ground, aiming it in the direction of the glass. His hand

began to vibrate slightly. At the same time he commenced an unintelligible, monotonous chanting.

Presently the glass rose tentatively from the stone to a height of perhaps a few inches. It stopped and hung there,

rotating slowly about its longer axis and processing lazily. This went on for a few moments; then, abruptly, the

glass fell to the rail, toppled over without breaking, and rolled. Dalton quickly reached out and saved it from

falling over the far edge.

“Damn. Lost it there. I can usually hold it for about a minute before my concentration breaks.” He set the glass

upright and turned to Jacoby.

“Still, very impressive,” Jacoby said. “You use a mnemonic phrase?”

“Yes. It seems to help focus the forces … whatever.”

“I see. Very good. Very good indeed. And now me.”

Dalton ’s body suddenly went rigid, his expression turning first to one of puzzlement, then to alarm. “What …?

What is it?”

“Me,” Jacoby said.

“I —” His next words were choked off. With jerky, marionettelike movements, he started edging toward the rail.

His face drained and his eyes grew round with fear. His right leg spasmed, rose, lowered, then rose again until his

foot was even with the rail of the balustrade. He slid forward until he straddled the rail, knocking his empty

wineglass over the side in the process.

Jacoby, meanwhile, was standing ramrod straight, the pupils of his eyes shining like tiny polished black stones.

His jaw muscles clenched and relaxed spasmodically, making his jowls shake. The loose, bloated sac of his chin

quivered.

Resisting fiercely every inch of the way, Dalton lowered himself over the rail. The process was agonizingly slow.

“You see,” Jacoby said when Dalton was hanging by both hands. “My powers, are to be reckoned with even at

this early stage.”

“Yes … you —”

“There is total freedom here. One only needs the will to do what one desires, without fear of retribution.”

“Let me up.”

“I could let you drop.”

Dalton started to raise himself.

“I could, you know. I doubt if any of the other Guests would bat an eye.”

Dalton ’s body shook and grew rigid again. “Pl-please!” he managed to say in a strangled gasp. His left hand

withdrew from the rail.

“There you dangle, eighty stories up,” Jacoby said. “Subject to my will.”

Dalton emitted a muffled scream.

“I could let you drop.” Jacoby’s body relaxed, his jowls going loose once again. “But not today.”

Dalton ’s left arm shot up to hook over the rail. With some effort he hauled himself upward until he was able to

throw one leg over. Struggling, he inched upward until he was straddling the rail again, then slid off and fell to

the flagstone floor of the balcony. After a long moment he got up on all fours, then lurched to his feet. His face

was bloodless, tinted with ghastly shades of green.

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Jacoby looked at his glass. “I need a drink,” he said, and walked inside.

It was some time before Dalton followed. Elsewhere

“MR. FERRARO?”

“Here.”

A tall, curly-headed, dark-haired man, about thirty, rose from among the Waiting Dead. Apex Employment

Agency was busy that day. At least three dozen people occupied chairs in the reception area. Most had been

sitting, slumped and hopeless, for hours. Gene Ferraro was lucky, having had only a forty-minute wait.

“Hi. Jerry Lesko.”

Gene took the kid’s hand — Lesko was no more than twenty-five, probably a good deal younger. “A pleasure.”

“Come on back.”

“Sure.”

Gene picked up his attaché case and followed Lesko through a maze of desks and partitioned offices until they

came to a cluttered cubicle, which they entered. Lesko took a seat behind a gray steel desk and motioned for

Gene to sit in the small hard-backed chair next to it.

“First we gotta get you to sign this,” Lesko said, placing in front of Gene a large yellow filing card densely inked

with small lettering. “Read it and sign if you want to.”

Glancing over it, Gene recognized it as the usual agreement to fork over a certain percentage — in this case a

healthy fifteen percent — of the signee’s yearly salary, payable immediately and in full should the signee accept

any job offer resulting from the agency’s referral. Fine. You pay to work. Dandy.

Gene signed it, slid it across the desk to Lesko.

“Good. Now fill this out.”

“What is it?”

“Credit check.”

“Why?”

“Company policy. You may have to borrow to pay the fee. Fifteen percent of your salary, you know. Just put

down your bank account, and list any major credit cards.”

“I don’t have a bank account, at least not a checking account. No credit cards either.”

“Oh. Did you ever have a student loan? Says here you have a degree … couple degrees, in fact.”

“Never did. Scholarships, fellowships, teaching assistantships, that sort of thing. My parents covered whatever

shortfalls there were.”

“You’re lucky. Must be pretty smart. Well … have a savings account?”

“Yes.”

“Put that down.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have the passbook with me, and I don’t remember the account number.”

“Well, just put down the name of the bank.”

“Sure.” Gene did so and handed the form back to Lesko.

“You live with your parents? Hard to get along without —”

“Yeah, temporarily, until I find work.”

“Good idea. Can’t hurt.”

“Yeah.”

Lesko passed his eyes over Gene’s resumé. Gene got the impression it was the first time he’d seen it.

“You have a master’s degree. What in?”

“Says right there. Philosophy.”

Lesko found it. “Oh, yeah. Really? I have a cousin who majored in psychology. She had a hard time finding —”

“Philosophy.”

“Huh?”

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“Philosophy, not psychology.”

“Oh. It’s different?”

“Very.”

“Uh-huh. Gee, you’ve had a lot of schooling.”

“Unfortunately, when you put it all together, it comes up short of a marketable skill.”

“That’s too bad. Economy’s in real bad shape too. It’s going to be hard to place you.”

“I know. In fact, I more or less just said that … unless I’m badly mistaken.”

Lesko frowned and averted his eyes. “What … uh, what were you studying for? To be a … philosopher?”

Sighing, Gene answered, “I wanted to teach. Teach in a university — do you understand? I was after an assistant

professorship, tenure-track, and I was just at the point of writing my dissertation when it dawned on me that the

job market had completely dried up. Even with the Ph.D., getting a job was unlikely. I quit and went to law

school.”

“Yeah, I see. You quit that too.”

“Right. The lawyer’s path is rocky with ethical dilemmas every foot of the way. Most lawyers simply step over

them. I stumbled on the first few, and decided it wasn’t for me.”

“Yeah?” Lesko said emptily.

“Also, competition in that field is stiff too. Every field. Post-war baby boom, the demographic bulge.” Gene

shrugged. “You know?”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh. Well … what did you do after that?”

“Worked in a car wash, then bartending, then … for years, a series of odd jobs. In my spare time, I wrote.”

“What did you write?”

“Poetry, fiction. None of it publishable, I’m afraid.”

“Oh, you’re a writer? Well, we may have something in that line.” He went through the card file again. “Ever do

any technical writing?”

“No.”

“Oh. We always get listings for technical writers.”

“I had two semesters of mechanical engineering.”

Lesko’s eyes lit up. “Hey, right. We may have something for you.”

“I changed to liberal arts when —” Gene blinked. “You do?”

“Yeah. Says here, ‘In-House Technical Writer.’ Now, what a technical writer does is — well, he sort of …

um …”

“Right.”

“Takes technical stuff and … you know.”

“I have a fair idea of what the job entails.”

“Oh, good. Tell you what, why don’t you go back to reception and have a seat. Let me contact the employer and

see if I can sell them on you.”

“Fine with me.”

“Can’t promise anything. I mean, your employment history …”

“I drifted a lot.”

“Yeah. It’s kind of hard. Look, go out and have a cigarette or something and we’ll see what we can do. Can’t

hurt. Right?”

“Fine.”

Gene was surprised to see Lesko again in only ten minutes.

“Mr. Ferrari? Look, I —”

“Ferraro.”

“Right. I talked to the personnel manager over at USX — that’s the employer — and he says they have over two

hundred applicants for that job already. But he has a cancellation today, and I talked him into seeing you. Can’t

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hurt. Right?”

“Can’t hurt,” Gene said.

“Just give him this card. Okay?”

“Can’t hurt.”

“Huh?”

When he emerged from the lobby of the office building into the wilting August sun. Gene saw that his blue VW

bug was in process of being ticketed and towed away. He sprinted across the street, talked the cop out of

following through with the tow, and settled for the twenty-five-dollar ticket. Then he got in, fired up the Bug and

drove away. Thinking that he might as well spring for the two bucks or whatever it was for the underground

facility at the USX building — couldn’t afford the risk of another whopping fine — he turned up Forbes

Avenue, then hung a right on Grant Street, there to bump along the cobblestones, threading his way through the

almost-rush-hour traffic. The USX building hove into view as he approached the intersection of Bigelow

Boulevard. It was an immense, peculiar-looking edifice of reticulated surfaces and myriad small windows. It was

the exact color of rust, this so because of the special steel of its exposed frame (expressive of its organic

structure, don’t you know), a remarkable alloy designed specifically to accrete a protective layer of oxidation on

its surface, but no deeper.

Gene saw USX PARKING and turned in, traversed a narrow roadway that skirted the edge of an expansive plaza,

and plunged into the mouth of a tunnel that spiraled down into the bowels of the underground lot.

The first level was full, as was the second and the third. So was the forth. There, he chanced across an attendant

removing barriers blocking a ramp descending to still lower depths. He leaned out of the window.

“Hey! How far down does it go?”

“Got me, I just started today. Go ahead down. Plenty of room.”

“Can’t hurt.”

“What?”

Reaching the fifth level, he felt a wild hair at his fundamental aperture and decided, what the hell, let’s see how

far down it does go.

Two more sub-sub-basements down. Gene was amazed. The place was vast, tomblike in its silence. Gene picked

an arbitrary slot marked by parallel yellow lines and pulled in. With the motor off, the stillness fell like the lid of

a sarcophagus.

Now I know. Gene thought, where to run when the balloon goes up, as the boys at the Pentagon are wont to say.

He locked the car and struck out into the dimness of the reinforced concrete cavern, looking for a way up, his

footsteps echoing hollowly. He couldn’t find a sign. Coming to the mouth of the ramp, he looked up, saw it was a

long way to walk — dangerous too — and decided there must be a stairwell, or better yet, an elevator around

somewhere.

He searched in vain. He did find a featureless corridor which met another at a T. To his right the way was dark,

so he turned left, turned again at an L, and found himself back in the concrete-walled silence of the garage again.

Sighing, he retraced his steps, passed the intersection of the first corridor and continued on into the darkness.

Feeling his way, he went about thirty paces until he bumped into a wall. The passageway turned to the right, still

unlighted, and continued interminably.

“Absolutely ridiculous.”

Another turn, and there was light up ahead. Gene could see a stairwell.

“Now we are getting somewhere.”

Once into the light, coming from a strange fixture mounted on the wall at about eye level, he noticed that walls of

the corridor were now of masonry, meticulously executed, with dark stones set in intricate patterns. The stone

itself was dark gray in color, spangled with tiny glowing flecks of red, blue, and green. Then he noticed the light

fixture. It looked more or less like a torch, a long wooden handle mounted into a bracket affixed to the stone, but

at the top of the handle there was a glowing bulb shaped like a faceted jewel. The light it emitted was bright and

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of a faintly bluish cast.

“USX’s medieval period, I guess.”

He mounted the stairwell, which turned to the left, then to the right, and came out into another passageway

identical to the one below, complete with the odd light fixture and another stairwell set into the opposite wall.

Four stories up he began to wonder what the hell was going on. This could not be … no, categorically

impossible … could not be the USX building. Where the hell was he?

As he thought it over, sounds came from his right. He listened. A low rumbling, then … a scream? He walked on

down the passageway toward the noise, coming to the pool of light cast by the next jewel-torch. Farther down,

another corridor intersected. The sounds came from the branch to the right. He approached the corner.

What he heard next made him drop his attaché case. It was the full-throated yowl of some hell-spawned

behemoth, the thunder of its rage shivering the stones around him. He backed away. He heard another scream.

From the adjoining corridor came the sound of running feet, advancing toward him.

Bursting around the corner came a man in full flight. He came right at Gene, saw him, yelped, danced around him

and ran on into the shadows.

“Hey!” Gene yelled after him. “Hey, buddy!”

He was gone. Gene picked up his briefcase and trotted after him for a few steps, then stopped. He scratched his

head. The man had been dressed strangely.

The horrific noise sounded again, much nearer. Gene took a few more paces in pursuit but stopped again, unsure

of what to do. He looked back toward the intersecting passageway.

What came running around the corner this time froze him solid to the floor.

It was large, maybe seven, eight feet, walked on two legs, and was covered head to foot with silky white fur. Oh,

and the head. The head was smallish, but the mouth was not, agleam with razor-edged teeth and curved three-

inch fangs. Bone-white claws tipped its fingers. Its shoulders were almost as broad as the beast was tall, and from

them hung long sinewy arms. But with all that bulk, it was fast. And it was coming toward him.

Somewhere within Gene’s mind, a part that had not as yet turned the consistency of Cream of Wheat, he was

thinking, Movie, they’re filming a movie. Oh, yes, that’s what it is.

As the beast neared, the glow from the jewel-torch fired its eyes, luminescent yellow agates. An alien intelligence

burned within them, fierce, cruel, and inhuman.

The sound of the hell-beast shook the passageway.

But the white-furred thing ran right past him — and as it went by, it spoke.

It said, “Run, you fool!” Inner Palisade — South-Southeast Tower

THE VOICE SPOKE to him as he lay in meditation in the Hall of Contemplative Aspects, a grouping of adjacent

rooms at various intervals along the curving wall of the tower. In each room there was a wide unglazed window

reaching almost from floor to ceiling.

He reclined on a couch set back a short distance from the window, head propped on an arm. About him, the room

was a seraglio of painted screens, velvet cushions, wicker baskets, luxurious carpets, low settees. Here and about

were inlaid tables upon which lay assortments of finely crafted objects — brass oil lamps, rosewood boxes,

carved tusks, scented candles, incense burners, and other curios. Tapestries and decorative rugs draped the walls.

Scents of exotic perfumes hung discreetly in the air.

Outside the window, two moons — one larger and of a pale blue color, the other bronze tending toward gold —

were becalmed above a quiet sea, its waters a-dance with fingers of moonlight. Sparkling combers washed a

narrow beach, above which lay a town of white stone buildings topped with domes, minarets, and campaniles.

Above, the night was starry. Glowing filaments of nebulous gas stretched across the firmament. Faint sounds of

exotic music arose from the town, and here and there among the buildings, festival lights could be seen. Tall

broad-leafed trees stirred in the salt breeze.

But when he heard the voice, the mood was broken.

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