James P. Hogan Read Free Page A

it wouldn’t come. Her head was a whirl of feelings and emotions jostling to try and form themselves into something coherent. “It seems impossible. And yet, everything he did seemed impossible….” Coming back into the room, she stopped suddenly, staring at the empty table.
    “What?” Mirsto asked her.
    Vaydien gestured. “There was a vase of flowers right here only a moment ago. I was working on it.” She looked from side to side, at a loss.
    Mirsto’s countenance wrinkled into a smile. “I rather think I feel magical influences at work already.” He moved forward and peered around. “Ah!” Vaydien followed his gaze. The vase was a short distance away outside, standing on a rock amid the shrubbery bordering the pool. Several bright red flowers that hadn’t been there before filled the gaps left by the damaged ones. Vaydien stared incredulously.
    “You’d better go and investigate,” Mirsto advised. “It seems he’s found the one place where your father’s agents won’t be watching. I’ll stand guard for you in the other room. If anyone comes, I’ll tell them you’re resting.”
     

THREE
    Besides being a part of Korshak’s stock-in-trade, finding out things that people were not supposed to know formed an irrepressible side to his nature. Investigations pursued in the course of earlier visits had revealed the tunnel built beneath Shandrahl’s palace to provide a way out in the event of an emergency. It seemed that fears of danger and treachery came as constant companions with lives dedicated to amassing wealth and power. The tunnel gave access to the inner court and royal quarters, and had a side passage connecting to the servants’ quarters, where Korshak and Ronti had been directed on their arrival. As well as providing its intended means of escape, therefore, the tunnel also afforded a convenient way in.
    Korshak crouched in the shrubbery by the pool outside the windows, and smiled to himself at the consternation visible within over the vanished vase of flowers. A more conventional way of announcing himself wouldn’t have been consistent with his style. He watched as eventually Mirsto spotted the vase on its rock near to where Korshak was hidden, said something to Vaydien and pointed, and then left the room. Looking mystified, while at the same time rapt in wonder, Vaydien moved to the windows, opened one of them, and emerged. She came forward slowly, searching from side to side with her eyes, not moving her head too visibly, and followed a narrow path to a bower screened by the shrubbery, where a seat faced out toward the pool.
    “Korshak?” she murmured in a low, cautious voice. He rose, smiling, just a few feet away from her, stepped forward, and clasped her hands. She stared for a moment in delighted disbelief and kissed him impulsively, but her expression changed to one of alarm. “You must be insane, coming here like this.”
    “Did you ever doubt it?”
    “But how did you get in?”
    “I have no need of doors. Didn’t you know?”
    “Oh, you’re impossible! Do you even know how to be serious about anything? My father has eyes everywhere. Have you any idea what would happen if you were caught?”
    “Eyes look outward. Never back inside their own heads.”
    Vaydien sighed despairingly; but she was happy. Korshak lowered himself onto the seat and drew her down next to him. “I was beginning not to believe you’d be back,” she said.
    “Then you need to get to know me better,” he answered. “I always keep promises.”
    She looked at him hesitantly. “And does that mean you’ll take me with you? That was also a promise.”
    “Of course.”
    “When?”
    “Tonight.”
    Vaydien choked weakly. Just as she had been finding her strength…. “Now I think you are serious,” she managed.
    “I always tell the truth, too.”
    Vaydien took in a long breath while she fought to maintain her composure. “You… also seem to have a way of keeping surprises until the last moment,”