Four
Delia Thinks Ahead
“And you really had a long conversation with a stikitche! My heart — suppose—”
“But it didn’t.”
“All the same, you are just as feckless as ever you were. I wish Seg and Inch were here—”
“They’re just as bad.”
“True.” She sighed and then laughed. “You’re all as bad as one another, a pack of rascals and rogues!”
“There is a matter I must talk to you about and yet have not the courage to—”
“Dray! Oh — my dear. You are going away again!”
I nodded.
“Back to your silly little world with its one yellow sun and one silver moon and no diffs?”
“By Zim-Zair! I hope not!”
I told her a little of what had passed between me and the Star Lords, and then added: “And it is mighty fine of them to warn me. They do not often do that. But, my heart, rest assured. As soon as whatever must be done is done I shall fly back here just as fast as I can.”
“You make it all sound so — so—”
“I know.”
The warm gleam of the oil lamps shed a cozy glow in our snug and private little room. We had both spent a busy day. We were surrounded now by the good things of gracious living, or as many of them as our straightened circumstances would allow, and we relished this time when we could relax and talk of the doings of the day and of our plans for the morrow. To change the conversation, I said: “What do you make of Vodun Alloran, the Kov of Kaldi?”
Delia made a sweet little moue and tucked her feet up more comfortably on the divan. She wore a lounging robe, as did I, and we joyed one in the other. “Well, he is bright and forthright and, I am sure, a fine fighting man. What he is like as a kov I do not know. But, somehow, I must have more time to plumb him properly.”
I glanced at her. Delia usually knows her own mind.
“He strikes me as a useful man to have in the army. He will fight like a leem to get his kovnate back.”
“I am sure. He is a fighter, of that there is no doubt.”
Again, I sensed that deliberate withdrawal.
“I am minded to give him command of a brigade — as a kov he will never accept less. It is a pity he has no men of his own to form a regiment. But with the expansion, promotion will prove no problem.” I yawned. “I’ll be glad when we can finish with all this fighting and get back to decent living again.”
“So, Dray Prescot, you imagine you are well acquainted with decent living?”
She teased me; but it stung. I had been a wanderer, a soldier, a sailor, an airman, a fellow who struggled and fought and brawled until, it seemed, he could not possibly understand that life was not meant to be lived thus. But, the knotty problem there was, quite simply, that all this took place on Kregen. What a world Kregen is, by Zair! Wonderful, unutterably lovely, unspeakably ghastly, at times it is all things to all men. And yet I would not willingly be parted from that world four hundred light years from the planet of my birth or from the woman who meant more than anything else. I had been a slave and now I was an emperor — well, an emperor of sorts.
“The quicker—” I began.
“Yes. I have had word from Drak. Queen Lush is bringing him home.”
I gaped.
Then: “Drak? Queen Lush — bringing him?”
“He is not hurt,” she said, quickly. “Well, not much. He has rescued Melow and Kardo. The message simply says that we should expect them.” Her eyebrows drew down. “Queen Lush is — well—”
“Queen Lush is Queen Lush,” I said. “She has changed wonderfully from what she was when Phu-Si-Yantong sent her to entrap your father. Then she did as she was told, for all she was a queen with great wealth and power—”
“And beauty.”
“Oh, aye, she looks well, does Queen Lush. And Drak?”
“There is no doubt, at least in my mind. Queen Lush means to marry Drak.”
“She set her heart on being Empress of Vallia. Well, it seems she will have her way, seeing she knows very well that I shall hand over
Delia Thinks Ahead
“And you really had a long conversation with a stikitche! My heart — suppose—”
“But it didn’t.”
“All the same, you are just as feckless as ever you were. I wish Seg and Inch were here—”
“They’re just as bad.”
“True.” She sighed and then laughed. “You’re all as bad as one another, a pack of rascals and rogues!”
“There is a matter I must talk to you about and yet have not the courage to—”
“Dray! Oh — my dear. You are going away again!”
I nodded.
“Back to your silly little world with its one yellow sun and one silver moon and no diffs?”
“By Zim-Zair! I hope not!”
I told her a little of what had passed between me and the Star Lords, and then added: “And it is mighty fine of them to warn me. They do not often do that. But, my heart, rest assured. As soon as whatever must be done is done I shall fly back here just as fast as I can.”
“You make it all sound so — so—”
“I know.”
The warm gleam of the oil lamps shed a cozy glow in our snug and private little room. We had both spent a busy day. We were surrounded now by the good things of gracious living, or as many of them as our straightened circumstances would allow, and we relished this time when we could relax and talk of the doings of the day and of our plans for the morrow. To change the conversation, I said: “What do you make of Vodun Alloran, the Kov of Kaldi?”
Delia made a sweet little moue and tucked her feet up more comfortably on the divan. She wore a lounging robe, as did I, and we joyed one in the other. “Well, he is bright and forthright and, I am sure, a fine fighting man. What he is like as a kov I do not know. But, somehow, I must have more time to plumb him properly.”
I glanced at her. Delia usually knows her own mind.
“He strikes me as a useful man to have in the army. He will fight like a leem to get his kovnate back.”
“I am sure. He is a fighter, of that there is no doubt.”
Again, I sensed that deliberate withdrawal.
“I am minded to give him command of a brigade — as a kov he will never accept less. It is a pity he has no men of his own to form a regiment. But with the expansion, promotion will prove no problem.” I yawned. “I’ll be glad when we can finish with all this fighting and get back to decent living again.”
“So, Dray Prescot, you imagine you are well acquainted with decent living?”
She teased me; but it stung. I had been a wanderer, a soldier, a sailor, an airman, a fellow who struggled and fought and brawled until, it seemed, he could not possibly understand that life was not meant to be lived thus. But, the knotty problem there was, quite simply, that all this took place on Kregen. What a world Kregen is, by Zair! Wonderful, unutterably lovely, unspeakably ghastly, at times it is all things to all men. And yet I would not willingly be parted from that world four hundred light years from the planet of my birth or from the woman who meant more than anything else. I had been a slave and now I was an emperor — well, an emperor of sorts.
“The quicker—” I began.
“Yes. I have had word from Drak. Queen Lush is bringing him home.”
I gaped.
Then: “Drak? Queen Lush — bringing him?”
“He is not hurt,” she said, quickly. “Well, not much. He has rescued Melow and Kardo. The message simply says that we should expect them.” Her eyebrows drew down. “Queen Lush is — well—”
“Queen Lush is Queen Lush,” I said. “She has changed wonderfully from what she was when Phu-Si-Yantong sent her to entrap your father. Then she did as she was told, for all she was a queen with great wealth and power—”
“And beauty.”
“Oh, aye, she looks well, does Queen Lush. And Drak?”
“There is no doubt, at least in my mind. Queen Lush means to marry Drak.”
“She set her heart on being Empress of Vallia. Well, it seems she will have her way, seeing she knows very well that I shall hand over
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