Zarqa sent his mental perceptors probing, discerned Ralidux in slumber upon his own couch, and entered the laboratory and unlocked the cubicle wherein his friends were imprisoned. The cunning lock held no secrets for Zarqa, since it had been an invention of his own people.
Sliding open the panel and rousing the captives, Zarqa was alarmed to discover that only Prince Janchan and the Goddess Arjala were imprisoned therein. He had assumed, without really thinking much about it, that Niamh would have been imprisoned with them. Now the flaw in his plan was revealed.
“What—Zarqa! Old friend! But—how did you get here?” stammered Janchan, wakening to see the Winged Man bending over him. Arjala, curled up near him, woke with a frightened cry, then stared at the open panel with hope in her huge, lustrous eyes.
I have come to free us, said Zarqa. The sky-sled repose in the gardens beyond. But where is the Princess Niamh? I’d had thought to find her with you two.
“Still in the great chamber with ail the other captives, for all I know,” Janchan said grimly. He sensed the urgency of Zarqa’s mission and hence did not waste time asking questions.
That complicates matters considerably. I had thought to simply open your cage, and then make an escape by the sky-sled. Now I do not know what to do. I can find my way to the central chamber where we were first imprisoned by reading the route in the minds of whomever I pass. But I am too alarming and alien a figure to be permitted to prowl about the citadel without being stopped for questioning …
“Is that how you found your way to us here—by mind-reading?”
Yes. And by controlling the sleeping mind of Kalistus, using his fingers to open the lock of my cage.
“Then you can control minds, as well as communicate with them?” cried Janchan in surprise. “I didn’t know you could do that!”
It is a power I seldom exercise, said Zarqa, his long face solemn. Among my people it is considered an immoral act.
“Yes, I can understand why it would be,” the Prince of the Ptolnim murmured. “I have not before had the leisure to think through the implications of telepathy…”
Arjala had listened wide-eyed to this exchange. Zarqa’s telepathic mode of speech could be “heard” by anyone in the immediate vicinity, as a rule, although he could narrow the focus of his mental waves so that they could only be received by a single individual if he so chose.
“But that’s the answer!” She spoke up excitedly. “Exert your powers to control the mind of Ralidux, who slumbers in the adjoining chamber. Then bid him conduct you to the central chamber, as if you were one of the experimental subjects being returned to the pens. Since he is a leader of the experiments, none will question him, and you may free Niamh and have Ralidux conduct you both to this suite again.”
Janchan stared at her with a curious expression in his eyes. It was so unlike Arjala to contribute anything of value to a discussion of their perils that he was amazed. It was also unlike her to evince the slightest interest in the dangers of another, unless her own safety was involved.
His expression softened, his mouth curved in a whimsical smile. But his eyes were somehow tender. Sensing his thoughts, she colored.
“Goddess… I begin to believe you are human after all,” he said gently. She flushed and veiled the lustrous jewels of her eyes beneath thick lashes.
Zarqa considered Arjala’s suggestion in silence. He could see nothing wrong with the plan. In fact, it seemed admirable to him, save for one small detail.
There is just one problem, he mused. It is known that I am held in the quarters of Kalistus for experimentation. It may arouse curiosity in the guards to see me accompanied by Ralidux, rather than Kalistus.
“Yes, I see what you mean.” Janchan nodded, scratching his nose. “Well, listen, is there any reason why you can’t summon Kalistus here, so that he can accompany you, together with Ralidux? Can you exert control over another mind at such a distance? And can you control two minds at once?”
Zarqa considered briefly, then said; I think that would be the best way. In reply to your query, I could not ordinarily exert control over the mind of a being not in my immediate presence, but, in this case, I have held a linkage with the mind of Kalistus all this while, to make certain he does not awaken, find me missing, and sound the alarm. I have just made him rise; he is dressing now, and will come here immediately. And, yes, l can extend mental control over two sentient beings at the same time. But that is about the limit of my powers to this area.
He helped Janchan and Arjala out of the cubicle. They stretched, rubbing thigh muscles lame and weary from long imprisonment in a small, confined space. At Zarqa’s bidding, Ralidux rose from his couch, donned the sort of flimsy, silver lame wraparound saronglike affair the black men customarily wore, and stood obedient to follow the unspoken commands of the gaunt Kalood.
Arjala shivered at the emptiness in Ralidux’s face, and drew near Janchan as if nestling close for protection. Ralidux stood like a mindless robot, devoid of will or intelligence, awaiting the orders of the master of his mind. Janchan recalled the soulless metal automatons Sarchimus had readied for an assault on the world from his tower in the Dead City of Sotaspra, and his face was grim at the memory.
Before long the entry portal opened and Kalistus entered. Without exchanging a word, the two, accompanied by Zarqa, strode off down the corridor toward the winding stair which led, presumably, to the slave pens. Janchan had lightly bound Zarqa’s wrists behind him upon the instructions of the Winged Man, and had looped a collar around the Kalood’s neck, the leash he had given into the hands of the zombilike Kalistus.
This was done to give the impression that it was Zarqa who was the prisoner of the two savants; the truth of the matter, of course, was that it was Zarqa who held the minds of the two Skymen on a leash, as it were.
Arjala twisted her hands together nervously.
“Will it go according to plan?” she sighed. “How long before they will be back? I can’t endure the waiting!”
Janchan looked at her bemusedly. He had been giving her odd looks for some time now, ever since she had evinced her concern over the fate of Niamh, and had offered a practical and intelligent plan to rescue the rival princess.
“Yes you can,” he said quietly. “You are stronger than you think, Goddess.”
The unfamiliar note of—was it respect in his tone?—drew the eyes of Arjala to his.
No longer was he amused when he looked at her.
No longer did her eyes contain aloof contempt when she looked at him.
Arjala was not accustomed to be looked at in such a manner by a man. Always she had been looked upon with awe and fear, by men who considered her the incarnation of a supernatural being. Now the handsome young princeling turned upon her the direct and honest gaze of a man who looks upon a woman with admiration, respect, and perhaps even affection.
Again she colored and dropped her eyes. Then she raised them and looked directly into his.
“Please do not call me that any longer.”
“Call you what?” he murmured, in a daze.
“Goddess,” she said faintly.
“But you are a goddess,” said Janchan of Phaolon.
“Yes. But I am also a woman,” said Arjala of Ardha.
The agents bidden to the duty of maintaining secret scrutiny over the behavior of Kalistus and Ralidux awoke Clyon from his slumbers about the hour of midnight.
“Well, what is happening?” the conspirator grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“It is difficult to say, lord. The savants Kalistus and Ralidux seem to be assisting their captive beast-creatures to go free…”