More Than Fire

"Here we make camp for the night," Kickaha said. He pointed to an area halfway up the steep three-peaked mass. "By late noon tomorrow, if we push hard, we'll be there."

Only he and Anana knew that he was not indicating the place where the gate was located. He seldom revealed to strangers what he truly intended to do. Misdirection, sleight of hand, and deviousness were traits stamped with the label: KICKAHA.

Eleth said, "The gate is in a large heart-shaped boulder?"

"That's what I said," Kickaha replied.

Just before they got under their blankets that night in the entrance of a small cave, Anana said, "If they think they're that close to the gate, they might try to murder us tonight."

"I doubt it. I think Red Orc has other plans for us. On the other hand, maybe they might try it. I'll take the first watch." He kissed her lips. "Sleep well."

After fifteen minutes, he slipped out from the blankets and crossed by the seemingly sleeping sisters. He crawled up the rocky slope to a boulder and climbed onto its top. After wrapping himself in a blanket, he sat and watched the small fire in the cave opening and the three women around it. Now and then, he looked in all directions. And he listened intently. Once, a huge dark body snuffled around fifty feet below the cave, kicked a few rocks, and sent them sliding noisily down the slope. Then it disappeared. Once, a long-winged bird-or was it a flying mammal?-swooped down and seized a small animal that squeaked once, and then predator and prey were gulped by the darkness.

Night thoughts covered Kickaha as if a black parachute were collapsing over him.

Foremost and most often recurring of the images that questioned him was Red Orc's.

Kickaha was certain that the Lord was nudging him and Anana toward a trap. Even if he had not overheard the raven and Eleth, he would have been sure. So far, he had gone along with with the Lord's plot, whatever it was. That Red Ore had not tried to have them killed proved to Kickaha that the Lord wanted him and Anana alive. He was pla

Kickaha thought back to when he and Anana had been in Los Angeles and Orc and his men had been trying to catch them. Now that he considered the events, it seemed to him that Orc's men had been rather inept. And Orc's organizing had not been of the best.

Was that because Orc was playing with him?

It seemed likely. One of the rules of the games Lords played with each other was that the opponent was always given a slight chance to escape a trap. If, that is, the enemy was quick and ingenious enough. And also had a certain amount of luck.

The opening was always so slight that many Lords had been killed trying to get through their foes' trapped gates into those foes' private universes. Thus far, Kickaha and Anana had been fortunate. Their enemies, not they, had died or been forced to flee their strongholds.

But it seemed to Kickaha that Red Orc had not tried hard enough, up to now, to capture or kill them.

However, Red Orc might have gotten tired of the game and determined to get rid forever of his archenemies.

Kickaha did not intend to allow that to happen.

But Red Orc did, and he was not one to be ignored. Of all the Lords, he was the most dangerous and the most successful. No other Thoan had invaded so many universes or killed so many of their owners. No one else was so dreaded. Yet, it was said, according to what Anana and others had told Kickaha, that he had been a somewhat compassionate and loving youth. That is, by Thoan standards.

But the unjust and harsh treatment by his father, Los, had metamorphosed Orc into a brutal and vindictive man. That was some people's theory. But Kickaha believed that the change was caused by the genetic viciousness of the Lords. Whatever the reason, Orc had rebelled against his father. After a long struggle with him, during which several planets in several universes had been ruined, he killed Los. He had then taken his mother, Enitharmon-and his aunt, Vala-as his mates. This was not against Thoan morality, nor was it uncommon.

Much later, Enitharmon had been killed by a raiding Lord. Red Orc had tracked the killer down, captured her, and tortured her so hideously that the Lords, though proficient and merciless torturers, were shocked.

"It was shortly after this, only a thousand or so years afterward, but at least fifteen thousand Terrestrial years ago," Anana had said, "that Red Orc became the secret Lord of both Earths. But you know that."

"Yes, I know," Kickaha had said. "And Red Orc made the universes of the two Earths about then."

"That's what I told you," she had said. "When I told you that, I thought Red Orc had made them and that it was he who populated both planets with artificial human beings. But I believe now that I was mistaken. You see, there is also a story that the two Earths were made by a Lord named Orc. Not our Red Orc. He was one of the very first to make pocket universes. He was born many mille

Kickaha, his mind leaping ahead to form a conclusion, had said, "The original Orc became confused with Red Orc."

She had nodded. "That's it. Or something like it. During all those thousands of years and with the Lords' failure to keep records and the infrequent communication among the Lords of the many universes, Red Orc became identified with the original Orc. Red Orc, he's my uncle, you know, my mother's brother, and Los and Enitharmon are my grandparents. Jadawin, who is also Wolff, is my half-brother ..."

"Don't confuse me," Kickaha had said. "Stick to the story."

"Sorry. Red Orc now sincerely believes that he did make the last of the universes to be made, the universes of Earth One and Earth Two. He is not sane, though he functions extremely well. Very few Lords are, in fact, entirely sane. Living so long seems to unbalance the mind of all but the most stable."

"Such as yourself," he had said, gri

"Yes. Let me tell you how I arrived at this conclusion.

"That too long a life makes it hard for the brain to continue accepting reality and thus slips into unreality?"

She had smiled and had said, "I wasn't referring to that, though what you say is close to the truth. One night, some time ago when we were on the planet of the Tripeds, while you were sleeping soundly but I could not sleep at all, I got to thinking about Orc and Red Orc. And I saw what the true story has to be."

"Why didn't you tell me about it in the morning?"

"Because that was the night we were attacked by the Shlook tribe. Remember? We fought our way out but had to run for two days before we shook off the last of those three-legged ca

"A struldbrugian's lot is not a'appy one," Kickaha had said in English.

"What?"

"Never mind. The true story, as you call it."

"You have these two stories about who made the two Earths. The one about the original Orc doing it is not now widespread. Most people now accept the story that Red Orc did it, and his claim that he did so has reinforced that belief. But he could not have done it."

She had paused so long that Kickaha had said, "Well?"

"There's the tale I've heard from several unhostile Lords; not many of those, I'll admit. It's supposed to have come from Red Orc's boasting to his various mistresses, though he has a reputation for being close-mouthed about his personal life.