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it, Wolfling, but it is simple fact that once you have been taken in by us to the Throne World, you would
have no way of ever going back to the place where we first found you. Did you realize that? That, once
you joined us on this trip to the Throne World, you would never be able to go home again?"
Jim stared down at him.
"No," he said, "I hadn't planned never to go home again."
"Well, that's your situation," said Galyan. He lifted a slim forefinger."Unless you turn out to be useful to
me. I might see to it that you got home again."
He let go of his knee and rose suddenly to his feet, towering over Jim.
"I'll send you back to Ro now," he said. "Carry that thought I've just given you away with you. Your only
hope of ever seeing the world from which you came again is if in some way you please me."
The High-born made no further movement, but abruptly Jim found himself back in the glass-walled room
with the other pets. Ro was crouched at one end, weeping over the body of one of the feline creatures. It
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was not the one who had been among the pets, because this one now stood, whining anxiously, just out
of reach of the tearful girl. It was another one that lay dead and it looked rather as if it had been cut
almost in half by a thunderbolt.
Chapter 4
Jim went to the girl. She was not aware of his presence until he had reached down and put his arms
around her. She looked up, startled and suddenly stiff; but then, when she saw who it was, she clung to
him.
"You're all right. At least, you're all right . . ." she managed to get out.
"Where did this come from?" asked Jim, pointing down at the dead feline.
The question triggered off a new burst of emotion. But gradually the story began to come out. She had
raised this feline, as she had raised the other one that was one of the pets. This feline had been given to
Mekon by Afuan some time back, and Mekon had taught it to attack on command.
"But it was all right when I saw it last," said Jim. "How did this happen to it?"
She drew back a little from him and stared at him, shakily and with surprise.
"Didn't you hear?" she asked. "Afuan left it up to Galyan to fine Mekon for what he'd done. And Galyan
decided that the fine would be . . ." She choked and could not go on, pointing at the animal.
"It's a strange sort of fine," he said slowly.
"Strange?" She looked up at him puzzledly. "But it's just the sort of fine that Galyan would exact. He's a
demon, Jim. Where somebody else, operating on the Princess' orders, might have fined Mekon one of
his favorite servants, or something else he valued, Galyan chose this poor animal instead because along
with losing it, of course, Mekon's going to lose a point. Oh, not a Lifetime Point. Galyan's too clever to
be that hard on someone like Mekon. But it'll be at least a One-Year Point. And Mekon has enough
points against him already, Lifetime and otherwise, so that he can seriously worry from time to time about
some kind of an accident that might bring him up to the level of banishment."
"Banishment?" asked Jim.
"Why, of course. Banishment from the Throne World " Ro caught herself suddenly, and wiped her
eyes. She stood up straight and looked down at the body of the dead animal at her feet. Immediately it
vanished.
"I keep forgetting you don't understand things," she said, turning to Jim. "There's so much I'm going to
have to teach you. All the High-born play points. It's one game that even the Emperor can't overrule; and
too many points means you have to leave the Throne World forever. But I'll explain it all to you a little
later. Right now I'd better begin teaching you how to move from room to room "
But Ro's words had woken a new train of thought in Jim's mind.
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"Just a second," he said. "Tell me something, Ro. If I wanted to step back into the city right now on an
errand before the ship leaves, could I do it?"
"Oh!" she shook her head sadly at him. "I thought you at least knew that. The ship left that outworld
world we were on some time ago. We'll be at the Throne World in three ship's-days."
"I see," said Jim grimly.
Her face paled abruptly, and she caught his arms with her hands, as if to keep him from stepping
backward from her.
"Don't look like that!" she said. "Whatever it is, you shouldn't look like that!"
Jim forced his face to smooth out. He put away the sudden fury that had exploded inside him. He forced
himself to smile down at Ro.
"All right," he said. "I promise you I won't look like that."
Ro still held him by the arms.
"You're so strange," she said, looking up at him. "So strange, in every way. What made you look like [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]