Norton, Andre - Anthology Read Free Page A

horses. She kept on thinking.
                   This time, she rode pillion behind the young
man who seemed to be in charge. Chith had a lidded basket on the other side of
the horse from her seat. Someone's plans had included transportation both for
her and for the cat.
                   Igot to say something, she thought. It's
taking me too long. "That means," she said at last, "that you're
probably a son of a loyal noble family. You're alive because you're studying to
be a magician, so you weren't in the battles."
                   "Well done," he said.
                   That answer didn't help one bit. It only said
she had reasoned well, not correctly. She snorted.
                   Chith whopped the top of his basket up and put
his head out. Peri squirmed around as far as she could. Cats cannot change
their facial expressions much, but Chith looked annoyed. He hissed silently.
                   Peri could not understand why Chith wanted her
to stop this line of questioning. She trusted the cat as she did not trust
anyone else, so she subsided. Later, perhaps, she would find out more.
                   "Are you taking me to a magician?"
was as close as she could come to the terrifying idea looming in the back edges
of her mind. Where else could she be taken? It was hard to see Chithit. almost
directly behind her back, but she caught a motion out of the side of her eye. A
nod?
                   The man didn't answer, which Peri took for
another confirmation.
                   The fear took words and pushed out of her
mouth. 'To Alfesian?"
                   He nodded.
                   In a moment, Peri discovered she could
breathe. There, I've said it, and I didn't faint or shiver myself off the
horse, she thought. Such little reassurance was necessary. The magician had
eliminated Father. She was the last of the line. She would be in his grasp.
What awful things would he do to her? Stop it! she shouted at herself. Think
nothing!
                   Filling her mind with gray sometimes helped.
She concentrated on breathing. A memory of Mother's voice seeped into her mind.
"Alfesian is not cruel because he enjoys cruelty. He harms others only if
he believes he will benefit. He thinks only of himself, of the most direct way
to get what he wants. His one great weakness is that he is unable to understand
how others react to what he does. His is the only way." The voice paused,
then went on very softly. "I do not know how he would act if someone kept
him from getting what he wanted." Peri could only hope she would not find
out.
                   She couldn't help worrying and questioning.
Why would Alfesian want her?
                   Oh! Yes! Alfesian would enjoy making her a
puppet ruler, with him pulling the strings. Well, that would be better than
being dead.
                   Her answer felt wrong. Alfesian would not care
that he had no legitimate claim to the throne—though he wouldn't leave any
loose ends. He wanted the rule, he took it, and that was right.
                   Why wasn't she already dead?
                   The Royal Relics kept pushing into her mind.
Father had them when he and the wizard disappeared. Alfesian knew where he had
sent the king, so he knew where the Relics were. Had he hidden them? Why? That
idea made no sense at all.
                   No, no, no. She didn't know what she didn't
know. Wait.
                   Hmm. Adults didn't think children had the
brains of rabbits. Let these people think it wouldn't occur to her that they
were enemies. If they really were friends, she'd find out soon enough. At least
she was warned.
                   Chith began to purr, warming Peri's insides
like a hearth fire. She found herself wondering. If he was a familiar, could he
read her mind? Did he approve of what