More Than Fire

Kickaha was delighted. "I'm sick of bloodshed. Necessary or u

Wemathol and Ashatelon did not trust the soldiers. To prevent assassination or mutiny, they took some guards aside. These were promised large sums if they would spy on their fellows and report any likely troublemakers or actual plots. Then the clones, not telling Kickaha what they were doing, approached other guards to keep their eyes on Kickaha's spies. He found out about this when some of the clones' spies informed him of this. They expected a reward for the betrayal, and they got it.

Kickaha then hired other soldiers and some servants to watch the clones. For all he knew, though, the clones had taken into their secret service the same people he employed. These would spy on him. Undoubtedly, Wemathol and Ashatelon also had their own agents to spy on each other.

This made him laugh uproariously. If the process kept up, all of the guards and the servants would be double or triple or even quadruple agents.

After making reasonably sure that the guards would give no immediate trouble, Kickaha visited Anana. She was in the garden and in a lounging chair by the swimming pool, which was large enough to be a small lake. The sun of Earth II, near its zenith, blazed down on her. On a small table by her was a tall glass containing ice cubes and a dark liquid. Though the noise from the dozen or so women attendants in the water was a happy one, she did not look contented. Nor did she smile or ask him to sit down when he reintroduced himself.

"By now," he said, "Wemathol has told you the truth. I sent him ahead of me to explain what's really happened to you because I didn't think you would listen to me at all. But I'm ready to tell you all over again what Red Orc did to you and to add any details Wemathol left out."

Her voice was dull, and she did not look directly at him. "I heard him through to the end, though it cost me much not to scream at him that he was a liar. I don't wish to hear your lies. Now, will you go away and never come back?"

He pulled up a chair and sat down.

"No, I won't. Wemathol told the truth, though being Thoan, it may have hurt him to do so."

He longed to take her in his arms and kiss her.

She looked at him. "I want to speak to Orc in person. Let him tell me the truth."

"For Elyttria's sake!" he said, speaking more loudly and impatiently than he had intended. "Why bother with that when he'll only lie!"

"I'll know if he's telling the truth or not."

"That's illogical! Irrational!"

He tried to master his anger, born from frustration and despair.

She said coldly, "I do not tolerate a leblabbiy speaking to me like that. Even when he has me in his power."

He closed his mouth. This was going to be very difficult and would require great self-control and delicacy.

"I apologize," he said. "I know the truth, so it's hard for me to see you so deceived. Very well. You may speak to Red Orc face-to-face."

"You'll be watching us, hearing us?"

"I promise you that no one will be observing you two."

"But you'll be recording us. Then you'll run off the tape, and technically, not be lying to me."

"No. I promise. However ...

"What?"

"You won't believe me. But Red Orc might kill you unless you're guarded."

She laughed scornfully. "He? Kill me?"

"Believe me, I know him far better than you do. He could revenge himself on both of us by breaking your neck and depriving me altogether of you."

"I would never have loved you, leblabbiy. So how could he deprive you of me?"

"This is taking us in a circle. I'll give you what you want. You'll be in a room with Red Orc, and neither human nor machine will be watching or listening to you two. But there'll be a transparent partition between you and him. I won't take any chances with him. That's my decision, and it's unchangeable."

Khruuz was not human. He could monitor Anana and Red Orc. In a literal sense, no human or machine would observe them. But I can't do that, he thought. I've never lied to her.

For the same reason, I'll also not carry out a plan I had. Putting Wemathol or Ashatelon in their father's place and having one of them pretend to be a repentant and now truthful Red Orc ... that's out, too. But the temptation is so powerful it hurts me deeply to reject it.

Anana did not seem to be grateful even when he told her that she could take all the time she wanted for the meeting. That turned out to be two hours. When she came out of the room, she was weeping. But as soon as she saw Kickaha, she managed to make her face expressionless. A Thoan did not show "weak" emotions before a leblabbiy. Instead of responding to his questions, she walked swiftly to her room.

Red Orc had been held in the room in which he had talked to Anana. Kickaha went to it and sat down on the chair she had occupied. That it was still warm made him feel as if he had touched her.

He looked through the transparent metal screen at the Thoan, who met his gaze unflinchingly.

"You have won this round," Kickaha said. "Big deal. You're not going to get out of this alive. Not unless I decide you will. You do have a chance, but I won't lie to you. I find it almost impossible to kill a man in cold blood or to order others to do what I'm not willing to do. Believe me, your clones want to torture you for a long time before killing you. They can't understand why I won't let them do it."

The Thoan was silent for a moment before replying. He said, "I don't understand either. As for escaping from here, you ought not to be so sure. We are alike in many respects, Kickaha, more than you admit, I believe. But that's nothing to waste time with. You've opened a door for me, if I understand your implications. That opening, however, won't be freedom for me. You will not just kill me, but you will keep me prisoner, or attempt to do so, until I kill myself from frustration and boredom. Correct?"

Kickaha nodded.

"You stupid leblabbiy!" the Thoan screamed. His entire skin was suddenly a poisonous red, and his face was knotted with fury. He shook his fist at Kickaha, then he spat. Tiny bubbles quickly gathered at the corners of his mouth, broke, and were replaced by other bubbles. His eyeballs were shot with blood; the arteries on his forehead swelled as if they were cobras puffing up their hoods. And then he began banging his forehead against the screen.

Kickaha had jumped with surprise when Red Orc screamed, and had stepped back. But he now went up to the screen to observe the Thoan closely. Blood was ru

This, Kickaha thought, was the granddaddy of all furies.

If it was true that the child was the father of the man, ancient hurts were thrusting themselves up from his soul. Though the very long-lived Lords remembered only the most significant events of their remote past, Red Orc had never forgotten his earliest years, his hatred of his father, his deep love for his mother, and his grief when she had been killed. Nor the numerous frustrations and disappointments since then. His many victories had never canceled these.

Watching the Thoan, who was now tearing at his face with his fingernails and still screaming, Kickaha wondered why the Thoan had not tried some system of mental healing. Or perhaps he had, but it had not been successful.

Now Red Orc was rolling over the floor until he banged against a wall, then rolled back until stopped by the opposite wall. He was, however, no longer screaming. Blood from the scratches and gashes on his face, chest, stomach, and legs marked his passage on the floor.