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startled bird took off with a great downdraft of air and hauled the bag up with it. They dangled
precariously below, airborne.
The roc climbed rapidly to the clouds. As they approached a cloud bank, a great face formed, and wintry
air whooshed out of the mouth-hole. "If your fathers knew, they would blame each other," the cloud
thundered. "Their Kingdoms would go to war, decimate each other, and become so weakened that the
alien Mongul horde would sweep down, enslave both, and use their fair young women to satisfy the
lusts of prize bulls and their men as flesh for dogs. Furthermore-"
"Enough!" Rapture screamed, voicing Mym's thought.
"Roc, set us down!"
The big bird obligingly descended and settled back on the turret, where they cut away the net and
retreated. They had failed again.
"Tonight," Rapture said with grim determination, "and every night following, we must sleep apart."
"But the demon-" he sang.
"I fear the demon now less than I fear what will happen if we are together. I am weak, and you are
merciful; we are at the limit of our resistance."
And this was true. Surely the demon would not actually hurt her; it existed only to frighten her into
obeying the design of the Castle.
Rapture retired alone, but her fear spread throughout the Castle. Mym remained in his own suite,
determined not to go to her unless she called. It was difficult.
Yet what were they fighting? he asked himself. Their physical contact was urging them on to sexual
fulfillment-but that was not the same as love. He had sex with concubines; he loved Orb. Wouldn't it be
easier to treat Rapture as-
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No. She was, as she had said at the outset, no concubine. She was a Princess. She was not to be used and
set aside.
He thought about Orb-but now she seemed far away. Of course he loved only her-yet the cutting edge
seemed to have been blunted. This Castle was working its sinister magic despite all he could do!
It was not that Rapture was unworthy. She was, objectively, the equal of Orb. She was a Princess, as
Orb was not, but Orb was self-assured, as Rapture was not. Orb could stand alone by day and by night;
Rapture was forever vulnerable. That was a mark against her. What man wanted a totally dependent
woman?
He became aware of something else. He focused on it, and realized that it was Rapture's suppressed
thought. She was trying to shield it, to prevent him from reading it-and that made him curious.
THREE TIMES YOU HAVE FAILED ME!
Mym saw another head upon a spike, and this time there was no doubt about its identity. It was
Rapture's.
He leaped up and charged to her suite. She was there, sitting naked on the bed, a knife at her breast.
Now the muffled thought was clear to him. She was about to kill herself!
"No!" he cried. "You must not!" He ran across and grabbed her hand just as the sharp point touched her
flesh. A streak appeared, as she fought to complete the act.
He forced her arm away, outward, but she clung to the knife with the strength of desperation. "Three
times I have failed!" she cried.
They fell to the bed, his left arm against her right, fighting for the knife. His face banged into her bosom,
and he tasted the blood.
Then a storm formed within him, as the blood brought on the berserker madness, bereft of his conscious
control. He squeezed her wrist, causing the knife to fall away, and clutched her to him as the storm
hurled them both into a chaos of passion.
The madness spread to her own being, for they were inextricably linked in emotion as well as body. Her
lips drew back from her pearly teeth and her eyes slitted. Something like the whine of a chained killer-
animal sounded in her throat. Her jaws parted, and those strong teeth snapped at his shoulder. In a
moment she had drawn his blood and tasted it. Reddish froth bubbled between her teeth.
Then the storm intensified in their minds as their bodies strove against each other. Never before had
Mym fought another berserker. Her strength and speed matched his, and her rage matched his. Whirling
funnels developed, gouging out segments of the atmosphere, their ferocious winds screaming like
banshees. His funnel advanced on hers, and hers met it eagerly, and the two danced about each other, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]