The King’s Pages were chattering excitedly, looking furtively over their shoulders as they exchanged delightfully naughty gossip.
“No, honestly, Bill, she did! She said that Sir Jinx had been shagging her all night long and didn’t get any sleep…”
“Go on! You’re making it up, people can’t go all night. My brother said not.”
“But they’re not people! You saw him! He’s a bleeding beast, he is. Maybe he can, even if people can’t. Cor, Bill, I nearly wet my pants. She almost killed me, right there! She grabbed my shoulders and sunk her claws in!”
“I bet you did wet your pants, and you don’t want to admit it.”
“I did not!”
“And how could she have sunk her bleeding claws into your shoulder, if she’s a great big black cat? Cats can’t balance on their hind legs.”
“Well, you saw Sir Jinx do it! He must have taught her, just like he taught her to speak.”
“You’re a bloody great liar, Michael, you’re telling stories again.”
“It’s true! I swear it’s true!”
“That you wet yourself? I believe it.”
“No, about Sir Jinx’s consort! Didn’t you hear, when we got our orders? The King told me to fetch Sir Jinx, but not his consort. Remember?”
“Oh aye… You’re not having me on?”
“Honest, it’s all true!”
Bill was silent for a moment.
“Cor. I’ll bet that’s not all he’s been teaching her!”
“Now it’s your turn. Tell me more about Lord Gerald getting killed!”
“What’s to tell? He was toast, that’s all.”
“But what did he look like?”
Michael shivered, like he was being told a ghost story, as Bill relented and began colorfully describing the scene to him…
Lord Hugo and Lord James were discussing the scandalous events of the morning.
“Oh, now, James, be serious! You can’t expect the King to execute this Jinx.”
“I can’t? He threatened to kill me, Hugo! It’s not safe to have a beast like that roaming around. And what business was it of his, anyway?”
“Well, he obviously likes Sean, and that made it his business. He did not attack you: in fact, he restrained Sean from attacking you, quite a civilized act for such a creature. As far as threatening you, which is all he did, you must admit he was within his rights.”
“Oh? He has a right to threaten me, simply for standing there making sure Sean wasn’t going to get loose and strangle me? I beg to differ.”
“No, James. You were enjoying yourself, I saw you. You were gloating over Sean’s helplessness. You were positively undignified about it, and you can’t seriously think Sean was going to break free. That brute is strong, impressively strong.”
“And because he’s strong, that gives him the right to threaten me?”
“James, do try and be sensible. You saw the reaction of the room when he was made a First Lord. Certainly it’s unfair, even insulting, but Rainmoor accepted him, and you don’t seem willing to admit that to yourself. Believe what you please, but this Jinx is a First Lord now, and outranks you. I might add that his conduct, though alarming, was appropriate to his rank and to the situation…”
“Are you implying that my behavior was unfitting? That’s the other side of it. You’re trying to make me admit that this beast could honorably have killed me, then and there! Hugo, I demand an apology!”
“No. You’re wrong, James, and it’s your skin, not mine. If you won’t concede that Jinx is legitimately a ranking noble, I would rather not be around you, sir, because you’re likely to learn the hard way…”
“My dear Hugo,” said James haughtily, “animals are not nobles. Good day. And goodbye.”
Hugo grimaced. “My dear James, one is, now. If you won’t learn to tolerate him, you have only yourself to blame. Good day.”
James strode off, furious. “Lord James!” called Lord Hugo, from behind him, and James turned to see a crooked smile on Hugo’s face. “And, good luck…”
Jinx and Elanor were somewhere in Rainmoor, and Jinx was extremely worried.
“Can’t we just find somebody and ask directions?”
“I know where we are!” snapped Elanor. “It’s not my fault that my first try didn’t work. I’m used to just going through walls, because I know this area from flying around in the lonely place. I forgot we’d have to go through a wall, that’s all. We’ll just go around.”
“But what if we end up going through one of those Gates, and end up miles away?”
“We won’t! I already passed one of those things. They don’t look any different now, but in the lonely place they sort of sparkle. Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do!” lied Jinx.
“Well, if you really trusted me, you wouldn’t be so worried!”
“I do trust you, Elanor, sort of.”
“Sort of! I ought to just leave you here, if you think you’ll have better luck finding your way around. Sort of!”
“Well, what do you expect me to say? We’re lost, and I hate being lost in this place! It’s too confusing, and I haven’t seen anybody for the last half-hour!”
“We are not lost! Jinx, we have to go this way because you refuse to go into the big place! I know it takes longer, but it’s your fault!”
“Okay, then!” snapped Jinx, hanging onto his temper with both hands. “We’ll go through the Nexus. That’s what the humans call it, you know.”
“Too late now, tiger, we’re closer to Peter’s place. And I think ‘big place’ is a much better name than ‘nexus’. What good is a name if it doesn’t tell you what the thing is?”
“We’re close to Peter’s place?”
“Really close. All we have to do is go down this tunnel some more, and then go straight up, and over a little, and we’ll be almost there.”
“How are we supposed to go straight up?”
“Oops.” said Elanor, stopping beneath a hole in the ceiling. Suddenly, she looked much less brave and confident. In fact, she looked like she was about to cry, and Jinx noticed that and was gentle.
“Okay, what’d you forget this time?”
“I forgot we can’t fly.” said Elanor in a small voice, and turned her face away.
“Elanor! Kitten!” said Jinx, crouching down beside her and hugging her. “Don’t cry! We’re close to Peter’s place?”
“Really close.” said Elanor, comforted that Jinx wasn’t getting angry.
Jinx studied the hole. “Which way does it go? Does it go straight up?”
“No, it goes over, like I said. It’s pretty flat.”
“Let’s jump for it.”
“I don’t think I can jump that high, Jinx.”
“I think I can, and I can help you.”
Jinx studied the hole. It wasn’t exactly in the ceiling, but it wasn’t in a wall either. It seemed to be pretty flat once you got into it. Jinx positioned himself under it, leaped for it, and managed to catch hold of the lower lip of the opening. He hung on stubbornly, pulling himself up, and managed to get a good look into it. It was quite level, and if they could get into it, they’d be all right. He dropped to the floor of the cave again.
“Can you do that, Elanor?”
“I can try.”
Elanor positioned herself where Jinx had been, shuffling her paws agitatedly as she got ready to jump. Jinx moved to a place where he could catch her if she fell. She sprang, thumped against the wall with her head and shoulders over the lip of the hole, and scrabbled wildly to hang on, but her claws couldn’t get a grip on the stone and, without hands, she couldn’t hang on to the edge as Jinx had. She fell, head over heels, and when Jinx caught her he got a nasty gouge on the shoulder as he broke her fall, for her claws were still out.
“Oh, Jinx, I’m sorry! I couldn’t help it, I was falling and trying to grab onto something! Does it hurt? I’m really sorry!”
“It’s okay, Elanor. It’s only a scratch.” he said, tactfully omitting that it was a scratch from a full-grown black panther’s claws and hurt like hell. “I was afraid you were going to break your neck! That was a great jump, though.”
“Should I try again?”
“I’m not sure I’d survive it!” said Jinx, wincing. “How about having me give you a boost?”
“How?”
“Come over here, and face the hole, with your back to me.”
Jinx leaned over her, and put his arms around her, trying to figure out how to lift her.
“If you think that will make me jump higher, you don’t know me very well.” purred Elanor.
“I wasn’t doing anything! I’m trying to figure out how to stand up with your paws in my hands, so I can sort of throw you up as you jump. At least you’ll be higher off the ground that way.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so? That’s easy. What you should do is stand up with your hands together, and I’ll stand up and climb on.”
Jinx did this, and Elanor stood quite nicely and stepped up onto his linked hands, turning around.
“If you can stand up that well, Elanor, why do you still walk on all fours?” said Jinx, his face pressed against her lower back.
“Because I want to, of course. Do I jump now?” she asked, and her paws wriggled in his hands.
“No, you… Ow! Careful with your claws, Elanor!”
“Sorry!” she said, and relaxed again. “How am I supposed to do this?”
“I’m going to count one, two, three. On three, you jump and I push.” Jinx tried to shift his hands around so Elanor’s claws weren’t digging into his fingers as much.
“That tickles! Do I have to count? I don’t know how. Well, I sort of do, but it gets too complicated.”
“Oh… It doesn’t matter. I’m going to say one, two, three, like that, and when I say three, jump. Okay? Right. One, two, three!”
Despite his best efforts, his hands suffered, for Elanor’s claws came out again as she got ready to jump. Fortunately, they didn’t injure him too badly. Elanor sailed up, and, whether through magic or just good luck, her aim was perfect. She soared into the hole, and there was a faint clunk and a loud squall.
Hearing that, Jinx leapt himself, grabbed the lip of the hole, and pulled himself up, to see Elanor shaking her head and glowering. “I banged my head on the ceiling. I must have jumped too much.”
“Are you dizzy?” asked Jinx, worried and trying to get himself over the edge without using his hands.
“No, I… What’s the matter with you?”
Jinx gave up and clambered over the edge using his hands, and leaving little smears of blood on the rock. “You had your claws out.”
“Oh, Jinx, I’m sorry! This is terrible, I’m shredding the cat I love into little bits! No more jumping, ever, I promise!”
“Are we almost there, anyway? Hey, Elanor, you got cut too!” said Jinx, noticing a mark on the ceiling.
“I did?” asked Elanor. She licked a paw, passed it over one ear, and winced. “You’re right. I didn’t bounce off the ceiling, I sort of scraped it.”
“Let’s get going. Maybe Peter can fix us up.”
“Or his mate, that’s what a mate is for.”
“Oh?” said Jinx. “You seem to be good at causing wounds, not healing them!”
“I said I was sorry, Jinx! I could say the same thing about you, you just do it with words. Never mind, I love you anyway, let’s go. This way.”
The rest of the way was easy, and they ended up in front of a roundish wooden door much like countless other rounded wooden doors in Rainmoor.
“This is the right place?” asked Jinx.
“Yes.”
Jinx knocked and winced, remembering his hand was injured. The door opened, and a woman with long brown hair was standing there. “Oh!” she said, startled but obviously pleased, and called back over her shoulder “Peter, you said I should expect guests in black tie and tails!”
Peter came into view. “Well, I lied about the black tie, Julia, but they do have tails.”
“They certainly do! You must be Lord Jinx, and Peter says I should just call you Jinx. I’m Julia.”
She tried to shake his hand, but Jinx yanked it away. Julia quickly glanced into his eyes, looked again at his hand, and exclaimed “Oh, you’re hurt! And your shoulder’s hurt as well. Peter! Jinx is hurt!”
“He’s what?” said Peter, taking his arm and leading him into the room. “Did somebody attack you, Jinx? What happened?”
“And you must be Elanor.” said Julia, dropping to her knees to be on Elanor’s level and speaking in the sweet, gentle tone one would use to a pet which understood nothing. “I’m Julia, Elanor. Should I shake your, uh, paw?”
“No, but you can pet my head.” said Elanor, startling Julia.
“Why, you talk! Certainly I shall, Elanor. You’re lovely.”
Elanor winced as Julia petted her, and remarked “Oops. I forgot that was a bad idea.” Julia stared at her hand, shocked to see a little smear of blood on it, which had been invisible against Elanor’s black fur.
“Elanor, what has happened to you?”
“I bumped my head on the ceiling, jumping through a hole.”
“I beg your pardon?”
At that point, Jinx undertook to explain the whole business of jumping through the hole in the ceiling. He was so careful to not blame Elanor for anything that she ended up explaining how Jinx’s hands and shoulder got hurt. Peter and Julia listened, fascinated. Peter was interested in the way they’d gotten up to the hole, but Julia seemed more struck by the way Jinx and Elanor went back and forth with their explanations, each forgiving the other their blunders, not interrupting each other so much as batting the conversation back and forth between them.
“I’m glad you made it.” said Peter when they’d finished. “It’s a pity you had such a hard trip.”
“I wish we’d made it,” remarked Elanor, “instead of having such a hard trip. When Jinx put his arms around me, I thought he wanted to, and I told him…”
“Elanor!” said Jinx. “Don’t be rude!”
“Oh, Jinx, you’re just like Peter.” said Julia. “Go ahead, dear. What did you tell him? I’m dying to know…”
“Why, I told him it wasn’t going to make me jump any higher.”
“Really? Some girls would jump twice as high if that happened.” suggested Julia. Peter and Jinx were looking at each other as if each thought the other would be able to stop this line of conversation.
“Oh, nothing happened.” said Elanor. “But if anything did, I wouldn’t jump at all! I’d just stay right there! Wouldn’t you?”
“Why, certainly. We’re embarrassing the men, dear, better change the subject. We must do something about your injuries, before we can even think of doing anything else!”
“Why?” asked Elanor.
“Well, what were you expecting, that we’d just sit there while you bled? Honestly!”
“Don’t worry, we’re all right.” said Jinx. “It’s only cuts and scrapes.”
“Oh, nonsense! Peter shall heal you. Won’t you, Peter? Right away!”
“Ah, Julia… This morning I could have. Now, I cannot. Remember?”
“Oh, damn, that’s right! You’re not a First Lord anymore! Who’d have believed I’d actually be regretting that? But wait, you’re a First Lord now, Jinx! You do it. Or would you really prefer to sit there and bleed into the soup?”
“We’re not actually bleeding, Julia,” said Jinx defensively, “or not much, and I don’t know how to heal anybody.”
“Well, you’re going to try. I refuse to serve you dinner, if you don’t at least try to heal your darling Elanor. When you’ve finished that, she can heal you. I daresay, judging from the way she talks, that she qualifies for it.”
“What?”
“Julia, you needn’t be so stubborn!” said Peter. “Jinx, she’s talking about the way Rainmoor magic operates for nobles. You wouldn’t know this,” he said, with a reproving glance at Julia, “but you now have a capacity for healing of minor injuries to others. It’s limited to cuts and bruises and such, and you can’t heal yourself. That’s where Elanor comes in. The magic extends to the First Lord’s consort, if she’s pure of heart, of course.”
Jinx looked nervously at Elanor. “What does pure of heart mean? I’m not sure Elanor is pure of anything.”
Julia grinned wickedly. “It worked for me, Jinx, and Elanor seems much less jaded and debased than I am. Don’t worry about it.”
“Now, now, Julia,” said Peter, “everybody knows you’re pure of heart. Why, when you stand a certain way, one can almost see the halo.”
“Yes, dear. I put up a good front, don’t I?”
“But how am I supposed to do this, anyway?” protested Jinx. “Do I have to work magic? I don’t want to do any magic!”
“Take it easy, Jinx!” said Peter. “It’s quite simple, you won’t have to learn any incantations or inscribe any scrolls. It’s by far the simplest Rainmoor magic, it practically works itself. All you need do is touch the wound, preferably not a major one, and wish it or will it to be better. Just try it.”
Jinx hesitantly touched Elanor’s head, making her wince, and wished it to be better. Then he jerked his hand back, for he felt the flow of some sort of power going through his arm and into her.
“What happened? What’s the matter?” said Peter.
“There’s magic happening! This is not good!”
“Oh, Jinx!” exclaimed Julia. “Of course it’s good, otherwise nothing would happen at all! Peter, is he always this skittish about magic?”
“Afraid so, Julia. Elanor, did anything happen?”
“Yes, my head doesn’t hurt as much as it did. I didn’t know Jinx could do that.”
“Neither did he.” said Peter, looking at Jinx levelly.
Jinx had no choice, since everybody was expecting him to heal Elanor, and since he really did want to, anyway. He put his hand back on her head, noting that she didn’t wince so much this time, and again willed her to be better with great earnestness. He shivered as magic rushed through him, but did not draw back, and very quickly the magic dwindled and stopped. He tried to inspect Elanor’s wound, but couldn’t find it anymore.
“Now for Jinx.” said Julia. “Elanor, do you know what Jinx just did for you?”
“He made my head not hurt. I don’t know how, though.”
“It’s your turn. You need to touch Jinx’s wounds, and wish them to heal.”
“Oh, you mean try and make them better? Take care of him?”
“Exactly,” replied Julia, and then broke off, hiding a smile with her hand, for Elanor had reared up onto Jinx and was diligently licking the wound on his shoulder. She sneezed, presumably because the flow of magic was tickling her nose, but persisted despite Jinx’s protests, and when he tried to push her away, turned her attentions to his hands.
“Stop it! Elanor, quit, right now!” snapped Jinx, mortified. Finally, Elanor left off.
Julia was trying so hard to to keep from laughing that she didn’t dare speak, so it was Peter who asked, “Did it work?”
Jinx was busy wiping his hands on his fur and glaring at Elanor. “Well, the cuts are gone, if that’s what you mean. Don’t you ever do that again, Elanor!”
“But Jinx,” pleaded Elanor, “I just wanted to make your hurts better! Why are you mad at me?”
Jinx paused, realizing how ungrateful he was being. “You did make my hurts better, Elanor, and thank you. I wish you could have done it in a more dignified way, that’s all.”
“What’s so undignified about licking your wounds? I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t love you.”
“It’s not something people do.”
“Jinx, do try not to be narrow-minded.” said Julia. “It worked, and you have no business complaining about how it was done.”
“What’s for dinner?” asked Jinx, hoping to change the subject.
“Well, Peter suggested I make fish-stew, and now I know why. It’s been ready for over an hour, because you were delayed, but that’s okay, it gets better with simmering. This way to the dining room, and you’ll have to duck your head, Jinx.” warned Julia. She paused, and then couldn’t resist adding “Unless you want Elanor to kiss it and make it better?”
The entrance-room to Peter’s place was a good-sized cave, but it led to a profusion of smaller caves winding every which way, and Jinx could see why Elanor had called it ‘bubbly’. It was like a bunch of small caves had all decided to be in the same place, making not so much a catacombs as a cluster of space. Jinx usually had room to stand up, but he frequently did have to duck his head, because the arches that linked the several larger caves Peter and Julia lived in were more like natural rock formations than doors.
“Oooh, Julia, it’s beautiful!” exclaimed Elanor. “I’ve never seen this place for real before!”
“For real?” said Julia. “What do you mean?”
“Well, when I watched you before, it was from the lonely place, so everything was gray and you could see through it, sort of.”
Julia tried figuring this out for a few seconds before Peter came to her rescue.
“Elanor was one of the King’s astral guards, dear. She’s talking about the astral plane, and she’s been all over Rainmoor in astral form.”
“Oh? Did you say you’ve watched me, Elanor?”
“Yes. I liked watching you, especially late at night, because you make such exciting noises when your mate makes love to you.”
Julia flushed, and Peter remarked, “Why, Julia! At last I have my revenge, somebody’s embarrassed you for a change. I thought I’d never live to see it happen…”
“Humph!” said Julia. “I make good noises, do I? Better than any of the other consorts?”
“Except me.” replied Elanor proudly. “You can’t help that, though, you’re not a cat.”
“Oh, yes, she is!” said Peter. “Haven’t you noticed?”
“No, she’s not!” said Elanor. “She’s a human!”
“Well, if watching her in coital bliss hasn’t convinced you, we’ll talk about the other nobles over dinner. You’ll soon change your mind.”
“If you don’t behave, Peter,” said Julia, “I shall claw your nuts off, and then you’ll be sorry you were right. Come help me with dinner.”
They left Jinx and Elanor in the dining room, a medium sized cave with a table seemingly sunk into the wall and a sort of bench running round it.
“Can you sit on that, Elanor? Oh, I forgot completely! Can you eat? There was some sort of spell that King-Thomas put on you that meant you didn’t have to eat.”
“Certainly I can eat! I just don’t bother, usually, because people foods are mostly unpleasant. This fish stuff smells wonderful, though.” She hopped onto the bench, and sat back on her haunches.
Jinx, trying to drop a subtle hint, said “I’m going to put my legs under the table and put this napkin in my lap, like people do.”
“I’m not.” said Elanor. “What am I supposed to do with these metal things?”
“Damn, you don’t have hands, so you can’t hold a spoon! What are you going to do?”
“I’ll manage.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that…” said Jinx, as Peter and Julia returned with bowls of fish stew and bread.
As Jinx had feared, Elanor didn’t bother with a spoon: she just lapped the stuff out of the bowl like the big cat she was. Jinx found himself eating with great fastidiousness, eating even the bread with a fork, in reaction to Elanor’s behavior. Fortunately, she was lapping the soup up with great neatness and delicacy, which was sort of a relief: Jinx had been afraid she was going to slop it all over the table. When she wanted some bread, she pulled it toward her with one paw and tore off a piece with her teeth. He had to admit she was being civilized and fastidious too, in her way.
Peter and Julia pretended not to notice anything out of the ordinary was going on. When they’d noted the disparity in eating styles, they’d exchanged glances, and then Peter continued eating like Jinx was, even to the extent of eating bread with a fork, while Julia tried to mimic Elanor. She proved unable to lap soup like a cat, so she cheerfully began drinking the soup out of the bowl like it was a very large cup, and took to grabbing the bread and ripping off a piece with her teeth, seemingly with great delight.
“You must invite Elanor and Jinx over more often, Peter,” she said, “this is a refreshing change from the usual stuffy nobles.”
Peter glanced at Jinx. “I don’t know about that, dear. I think Jinx would prefer more decorum.”
“Nonsense! And be impolite to Elanor?” said Julia, biting at the bread some more.
“Fair enough. You’ll always be better at manners than I am, Julia. I defer to your judgment.”
Peter turned to Jinx. “How’s being a First Rank Lord suiting you?”
“I’m not sure yet. How many other magic things am I supposed to know?”
“Does that bother you? Nobody’s forcing you to use them, you know.”
“I’d like to know anyway, in case any of the things are important.”
“Well, that’s rather a tricky question, because of the gray areas involved. There are many things that would require training you don’t have, such as controlling the light of Rainmoor, which is a delicate and complex operation that a lot of nobles never master. Ivan can do it, and Nicholas could, and King Thomas can, but I can’t think of anyone else who can. Fortunately, the light of Rainmoor controls itself perfectly well and doesn’t need anybody’s help. As far as useful things go, if you try, you’ll find you can identify hidden Gates, and with a little basic mage training you can get a general idea of where you are in Rainmoor. Developing a sense of location for yourself isn’t difficult in Rainmoor, because you’d be orienting yourself against the same pattern of forces you’re tapping into. You may pick up a crude version of this skill even without study. Since you’re a First Lord now, it becomes possible…”
“What’s a hidden Gate?”
“They’re also called King’s Gates. I imagine King Thomas used one to get to your plane. If you look at one, you will know its true nature and with training you’ll be able to tell where it leads to. Only the King can travel through such Gates, but you can at least spot them now.”
“I went through a hole in a mountain,” said Jinx, “and it closed up behind me and trapped me here.”
“Did you go through it by yourself?”
“No, following King-Thomas.”
“As I thought, a King’s Gate. Did you say trapped, Jinx?”
“Yes. I want to go home.”
Elanor looked up from her soup, startled. “Don’t go, Jinx! Stay here with me! Please?”
“You should come, too, Elanor! You’ll like home, it’s got meadows and trees and things, not like this weird underground place.”
“But, Jinx, this place is home for me. I never got to see it for real before, just from the lonely place. I want to see more of it now. Can’t you stay?”
“I can’t leave! The hole closed up, and I can’t open it! And King-Thomas won’t open it for me! That’s why I said I was trapped here.”
“Jinx,” asked Julia, “if you could leave, right now, would you?”
Jinx thought about it. He’d always felt that, given a chance, he’d flee Rainmoor instantly, but…
“No. Not right now, anyway. I do want to help King-Thomas, and kill Nameless-King for killing Robert. Also, Elanor wants to stay here. Elanor, if I went, would you come too?”
There was a slight pause, and then Elanor said “Yes.”
“Why do you hesitate, dear?” asked Julia.
“It’s scary. I’ve never been to this place Jinx wants to go to. It sounds very different from what I’m used to.”
“You’ll get to like it, Elanor.” said Jinx helplessly.
“Jinx,” said Peter, “perhaps you’d better resign yourself to being here for now. You’ve got friends here, and you’re learning how Rainmoor works. Elanor likes it here, and you may find yourself starting to like it, too. I mean, look at this house of mine, for instance!”
“Show-off.” stated Julia.
“No, honestly, look at it! If you wanted to make a place like this on any normal world, you’d have to hire hundreds of stonemasons, and they’d be chipping away at rock for years. In Rainmoor, all I had to do was tinker with the forces that create these bubbles of air in the stone, and I could create the house of my dreams! It’s not to everyone’s taste, mind you, but I love it. It’s a work of art, only it’s a work of art that you live in!”
“Show-off. I helped design it, remember.”
“Quite so. Before Julia put her foot down, I was going to make all the passages from room to room even more interestingly shaped. She convinced me to make it easier to walk around in. But you see? I could do all these things! Don’t you find a place that allows such freedom a little bit wonderful?”
“I still want to go home, but it’s not all that important.”
“Well, I hope you’re not totally miserable and homesick here, Jinx.”
“Elanor’s here.” said Jinx.
“Now, Jinx,” said Julia, “there are other good people in Rainmoor, you know. Peter, who’s he met?”
Peter counted on his fingers. “The King, myself, you, Robert, Sean, Gerald, Charles, and possibly some of the other nobles in passing. Not bad, for two days. Or was it three?”
“I’m not sure,” said Jinx, “because so much has happened. And most of those people are either dead, being hunted, or unpleasant.”
“Oh? Who was unpleasant?”
“Charles.”
“Him, unpleasant? Boring, certainly, cowardly, even useless, but unpleasant? I’d thought you were going to say Hugo, since he insulted you publicly.”
“Hugo was unpleasant, yes. James was unpleasant to Sean and really mean. Charles was unpleasant when King-Thomas tried to give a First-Rank to Sean.”
“Oh? How’s that?”
“He glared at Sean.”
“Hmph.” said Peter. “Jinx, you must remember that Charles came to the ceremony thinking he was going to be promoted. That’s the way it was announced. The summons plainly said that he was to be promoted. I’m not a bit surprised that he was rather put out when King Thomas offered it to Sean first.”
Jinx said nothing. ‘Rather put out’ didn’t quite say it for him. ‘Wanting to rip Sean’s throat out with his teeth’ seemed more appropriate, but it probably wasn’t polite to say so.
“Since you are staying here for now, Jinx,” continued Peter, “do you have any plan of action? What do you intend to do? Everybody knows you’re here to kill Nameless, even if King Thomas won’t say so outright. However, Nameless probably knows that as well, and he’s shown great talent in killing people off. I’m worried about you, Jinx: he’s bound to try for you, simply in self-defense.”
“No!” cried Elanor, aghast. “That settles it, I’m not letting him out of my sight from now on! This nameless thing’s going to have to get through me first!”
“Elanor, calm down!” replied Jinx. “You can’t go everywhere I go, you’re not allowed!”
“Oh, yes she is!” said Julia. “She’s your consort. She healed you, which proves it. Just because most consorts don’t bother to attend dull ceremonies doesn’t mean Elanor can’t. She may not be allowed to speak but she certainly can be present.”
“There, you see? I am so going everywhere you go, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“I could order you to… You know. Send you to the lonely place. Only to keep you from getting killed, though.”
“Don’t you dare! Jinx, don’t even say things like that!”
“Order her?” asked Julia. “Order her to what?”
Peter explained. “Jinx evidently has the ability to send Elanor into the Astral plane. I’m not sure why the thought’s upsetting her, since she’s done it for years. Say, wait a minute! Elanor, you could help Jinx out by checking in the Astral plane for dangers! That’s just what you did for King Thomas, all these years, isn’t it? I imagine you’ve become expert at the task.”
Elanor didn’t respond, she just looked at Jinx with that vulnerable look that frightened him so. Finally, she spoke. “Only if I can come back, on my own.”
“You mean, controlling the transitions yourself, rather than with keywords?” said Peter.
“If that means getting to come back when I want to, yes.”
“Hmmm… You should talk to Vernon about that. It sounds like the sort of thing he’d be able to deal with. The trouble is, as an astral spirit you haven’t got any contact with the plane you’re looking at…”
“That’s not quite true.” said Julia. “Remember the Pickpocket Ghost?”
“Oh yes, that’s right. You do have some ability to affect the plane you’re looking at, so Vernon should be able to set something up.”
“Pickpocket ghost?” said Jinx.
“It dug keys out of people’s pockets,” explained Julia, “and then dropped them, because it couldn’t hold onto them for long. All ghosts are Astral Plane based. Nobody knows why this one kept trying to steal keys. It stopped a few years ago. Elanor, did you eat it up?”
“No, but I did help to chase the things away.”
“What things?” asked Jinx.
“Scary things. They were always coming from somewhere far away, and frightening us animals, and a few years ago we all got together and we chased them all back to wherever they came from. They keep trying to come back, but we won’t let them. We’re just careful to not explore too far away, or they might get us.”
“That’s horrible!” said Jinx. “Why doesn’t King-Thomas send people into that place? Why does he pick on animals?”
“Ah, Jinx…” replied Peter, “humans can’t go into the Astral plane.”
“Why, do they turn into ghosts?”
“No, they go insane. The astral guards aren’t animals by accident, Jinx. Only animals can go into the Astral plane in safety, or relative safety, anyway. There’s been a lot of research on that, understandably, because any decent mage hates to admit there’s any plane he can’t go to. Apparently when a living human mind enters the Astral plane, it’s torn apart, beginning with higher-level thought. The longest any human’s ever lasted in the Astral Plane is ten seconds, and that was a half-wit who couldn’t tell us what he’d seen there. Any longer than that, and the mind is destroyed, and the more powerful the mind the more savagely it’s torn apart. Immediate mania, or lunacy, within seconds…”
Jinx was lost already. “Beginning with what?”
“Drop it, Peter.” said Julia. “It’s hardly a polite subject for dinner conversation.”
“Sorry. But, Jinx, you should know that Elanor’s work in the Astral plane isn’t the sort of thing King Thomas could farm out to human mages.”
“I’m going with her, the next time she goes.”
“Oh, no, Jinx!” cried Julia. “You mustn’t!”
“He can’t, Julia.” said Peter. “He hasn’t got the hexes to do it, so don’t worry. Jinx, I know you’re not serious, and even if you were, I’m not going to give you the opportunity. Neither will King Thomas. He’s depending on you, and he’s certainly not going to risk your going insane. Nobody’s going to let you take that chance, Jinx, so forget about it.”
Jinx just stared sullenly into his fish stew. He’d have to ask Vernon.
