Dushau

Arlai found it harder to take care of the identity sca

Rrrelloleh pla

But the moment they grounded and entered the warren of customs checks, she knew they were in trouble.

Walking down the covered gangway attached to their lander, they entered a passenger terminal swarming with uniforms. Standing guard at every strategic intersection, was an armored Ducal soldier. Half of them held a naked pygmy anthropoid on a leash: dark, wrinkled skin stretched over prominent bones; saucer eyes; protruding sensitive lips; large cranium; long delicate fingers; doglike obedience.

Rashions! Nodrial's secret weapon! She'd only seen pictures of the creatures, but they'd been a year-long sensation among ecologists when she was in school.

She wrapped both hands on Rrrelloleh's arm and tugged him to a refreshment dispenser, keying it for a Lehrtrili drink as she whispered, "Don't call attention to us."

"I saw the Rashions, Sister," said the voder's voice as Rrrelloleh twittered. "They're protosentient telepaths, not to be removed from their native habitat by Oliat decree. Hardly surprising that proscription has been violated, but I wonder what the other Dukes think of Nodrial's appropriation of them. I wonder what the Emperor thinks of it."

"If they know. We didn't, with all Arlai's methods. Do you suppose they'll let us leave, after seeing this?"

"Good question. We'll deal with that when necessary. Meanwhile, did you really want me to take the medication now Sister? I'm feeling well enough."

He was telling her to think herself into her role, and she complied, hoping that her nervousness would be attributed to her being a novice with such a responsibility on a strange world—as her passport showed—for the first time.

They walked slowly as befitting the infirm, and arrived at the checkpoint among the last in the line, choosing the most bored and exhausted-looking clerk.

However, the clerk also had a Rashion chained beside his counter, and Krinata summoned impatience at getting a slow clerk when her charge was so tired from the trip downplanet.

She tried not to feel her surprise at being passed through without a challenge. Have more faith in Arlai. Within moments, they were outside.

Razum Two circled an old star, now only half as bright as Sol. Razum Two's surface gravity was barely a tenth more than Terran, but she was grateful for the ugly "g" shoes Arlai had provided, and the contact lenses to penetrate the dimness. The local day was a bit more than two days long, and they'd arrived in the midmorning, with both moons in the sky, yet the lighting felt more like a dingy overcast.

It was a balmy spring day, with the lightest of breezes blowing. Nevertheless, she knew that with darkness, she'd need the winter cloak she carried in the black tote. She shoved that awareness aside, revelling in the outing after the long weeks in the ship.

Jindigar had an address on his invitation. They hired an auto-cab and requested a scenic route to an expensive hotel on the nearby lakeshore, assured by Arlai that the tourist route would take them near God's Park, a famous attraction filled with religious statuary.

They were ru

"You're always prescribing exercise and pretending it's you who needs it!" he answered querulously. But he moved out of the cab and dismissed it.

They ambled across the park on a diagonal, and Krinata was fascinated despite herself, for here, carved in native stone, were representatives of every religion's concept of God. A few were abstract symbols, but most seemed to be in the likeness of the worshipping species.

Despite the vast diversity of forms, all the entities seemed to share a similar peace, and a transcendent gentleness. Such similarities made the Allegiancy possible. The species might not speak similar languages, but they were trying to say the same unsayable things.

Patriotism and pride swelled within her, and broke into a rash of tears. She'd set herself outside the Allegiancy.

But then she saw in her mind's eye, the armored guards with helpless, starving, proto-aborigine telepaths cruelly leashed. Her precious imperial system had spawned that. Any Duke who had jurisdiction over the Rashions' home planet would have done what Nodrial was doing. Two of them and a King were with him. Lavov—and who knew what other Dukes—were also after power, willing to wrench it from the Throne. And she was perversely glad not to be tacit signatory to that by remaining in the aristocracy. For she realized that if Zinzik defeated Nodrial, Zinzik would have the Rashions for his own use, and use them he would.

Seeing here the essential unity of the Allied Species, she found her loyalty to the Allegiancy itself crumbling. It was frightening. Suppose Jindigar's right, and it's just a monstrous beast tearing at itself in senile dementia?

Only one hope remained: Trassle's evidence, now before the Kings. Could they still pull everything together again after deposing Zinzik? Or will the Dukes, and some of the Kings, tear the Allegiancy apart in individual grabs for power? She could see how, now that one species had been made scapegoat, the King of any species might well decide it was better to grab for the Imperial Throne than risk being made the next Emperor's scapegoat. She shuddered.

"Sister Marietta?"

"Oh, I'm coming." She tore herself away from such dark thoughts, and followed Rrrelloleh, reminding herself not to think out of character lest the Rashions notice.

They emerged from another gate onto a quiet street lined with immense old houses built of native rock. The buildings had to be strong to withstand the ferocious winter storms, but she wondered how a rigid construction could survive the legendary Razum groundquakes.

Rrrelloleh pointed at a house with his walking stick, which contained a shielded comunit attuned to Arlai. The leptolizer Rrrelloleh wore at his waist was mostly sham, and Sister Marietta of course wore none. "That's an interesting old building."

Wrapped around the corner of the block, the house was larger than the others, with new construction added onto the old haphazardly. There was a high fence around the property insuring privacy. Sounds of merrymaking drifted from within.

Rrrelloleh checked a jeweled chronometer he wore on a neck chain. "Jindigar was told to be here about an hour ago, to be met outside. Perhaps we're too late."

Just then a Lehiroh dressed in shiny forest green satin jodhpurs and long, flowing tailed waistcoat, with white shoes, belt, pillbox cap, and gloves, came around the corner of the fence. He was carrying a long green satin streamer in one hand and a filigree-decorated book in the other. But he walked stoop-shouldered, watching his feet. Everything in his movements suggested an insuperable weight on his spirit. Krinata recognized the Ensyvian groom's traditional costume.

Rrrelloleh stepped up to the young Lehiroh. "Storm!"