“Focus?”
“Whatever. Like a concentrated center. Hell, I’m no good at words.”
“Never mind the words, just find some magic.”
“Aye aye, sir.” Linda gave him a mock salute.
Sir Gene smiled wanly. “Sorry. It’s just that the castle must be saved.”
“Don’t you think I know that?”
“Yes, of course. Please carry on.”
Linda chewed her lip thoughtfully, scanning ahead. She pointed slightly to the left. “There.” Bringing her hand back to rub her chin, she added, “Maybe.”
They walked on. Sir Gene wandered off to the right to inspect an unusual rock formation. When he got out of earshot Linda went to Snowclaw.
“Snowy, I was wondering …”
“Yeah?”
“It’s about Gene. Have you noticed anything strange about him?”
“How did you know?”
“Know what, Snowy?”
“That he smells funny.”
She smiled. “I didn’t notice that. But ever since he reappeared he seems different. Talks different. His personality’s changed.”
They continued walking.
“Really? Maybe you humans can notice these things better,” Snowclaw said. “I noticed the smell, but I didn’t think anything of it. You people use stink water a lot, so I thought Gene was using a new kind.”
“It’s not stink water. What that phony Incarnadine said worries me. He could have been mistaking our Gene for his twin in the mirror castle, but the way Gene answered him … I don’t know, Snowy.” Linda’s eyes widened. “Snowy, what if he’s not really Gene? What are we going to do?”
“I sure wish I knew,” Snowclaw said. “Here he comes.”
Sir Gene caught up to them.
“Rather a waste of a world, isn’t it?”
Linda said, “Yeah, but there are no tourists.”
“Always some good point if you think about it. Getting any closer to the focus affair?”
“It’s getting stronger all the time.”
“Good. Very good.”
“But I still don’t know if I can use it. Magic is different on different worlds. You know that.”
“I’m magically inept in any world.”
“I really need the castle as a power source. It’s the easiest to use. I —”
Linda suddenly stopped.
“What is it?” Sir Gene said.
“It’s getting really strong.”
“I assume that’s good.”
“Maybe.”
“Why don’t you try something?”
“Like what?”
“Anything. You’re good at conjuration. Try conjuring.”
“Okay. Uh … like —?”
“Food,” Snowclaw said. “I’m hungry.”
“What news. Okay, here goes.”
Linda looked around and chose a wide, flat rock to stand in front of. Shutting her eyes tight, she held her arms straight at her sides, fists clenched.
Two plates of barbecued ribs appeared on the rock.
“Smells good,” Snowclaw said, his nostrils flaring.
Linda looked troubled. “That’s funny, I didn’t order two.”
“You usually control quantity?” Sir Gene asked.
“Always. That’s strange. You were right, Gene, there’s really something here.”
“And you can conjure anything?”
“Well, not anything. You know I have trouble sometimes.”
“Yes, of course. But with this new power …”
“The problem is its newness. All magic isn’t alike, Gene. I really have to feel that I’m in control when I’m doing anything magical, and I’m not fully in control here.”
“Circumstances may dictate that we work with what we have.”
“I understand what you’re saying. But I don’t understand what you want to try.”
“See here. You can conjure. Can you conjure some reinforcements?”
“You mean like Guardsmen?”
“Yes.”
“Gene, in the castle I’ve done all sorts of things. In a fight I’ve even made clones of you and Snowy. Aren’t you forgetting?”
Sir Gene looked away. “Yes, of course I know that. Can you do it now?”
“Make doubles of you and Snowy? This isn’t the castle, Gene.”
“Then we should try to go back to the castle.”
“Don’t you think Incarnadine could conjure more of his Guardsmen to offset any advantage?”
“Guardsmen, yes. But what if we conjure not Guardsmen but a force that can best any Guardsman one-on-one?”
“Like what?”
“Like Snowclaw.”
Snowclaw was busy devouring ribs, crunching them up bones and all.
Linda turned to look at him. “Snowy?”
“Yes, don’t you understand? Snowclaw can take on three Guardsmen at a time. Any force composed of Snowclaw’s duplicates would have an intrinsic advantage.”
Linda took a breath and let it out noisily. “Gene, the point is we’d be fighting against Incarnadine. A nasty, evil one to boot. There’s no telling what he could pull out of his hat to go up against us.”
“Yes, I realize that. But we must make the attempt.”
“I think it’s a crazy idea.”
“Perhaps. But — what is it, Snowclaw?”
Snowclaw was sniffing the air. “Humans coming. Should’ve smelled ’em before, but the food was in the way.”
“Up to that ridge,” Sir Gene said. “But first, hide that debris.”
Linda hid the empty plates behind the rock while Snowclaw picked up stray bones and stashed them in the bushes.
They ran up a slight rise and took cover behind a stone ledge. They waited. A few minutes later three Guardsmen came into view. They approached on the far side of the dry wash, stopping at its edge.
After exchanging a few words, they gave a cursory look around, then went back the way they’d come.
When they were out of sight Sir Gene turned and sat in the dust. “Well, that eliminates going back to the castle, unless we conjure some help.”
“It won’t do any good. Say I doubled or tripled Snowy. He might disappear when we got inside the castle.”
“Then you’d use castle magic to duplicate him there.”
“Yeah. Okay, you have every angle covered. But it’d still be a matter of going up against Incarnadine.”
“Look,” Sir Gene said. “We have to do something. We can’t stay here. With you we wouldn’t starve, but I for one don’t want to spend the rest of my life —”
“Okay, all right, I know what you’re saying.” Linda ran a hand through her blond hair. “Let’s get closer to the node. Maybe then I’ll be able to tell whether or not I can control the force.”
They went down the other side of the rise and crossed a wide depression. The terrain grew more cratered as they progressed. They walked for about fifteen minutes in as straight a line as possible, Linda leading the way.
She stopped. “Jesus, it’s strong.”
“Is it here?”
“A little bit farther.”
They moved on until Linda stopped again.
“This is unbelievable.”
“Can you handle it?” Sir Gene asked pointedly.
“I’m not sure. It’s so strange, so powerful.”
“Try something. Duplicate Snowclaw.”
Linda said, “You know, when I did it before it was in the middle of a fight. It just seemed the right thing to do at the time. I don’t even know how I first thought of it. But just to do it, here, now —”
“You must.” Sir Gene’s gaze was hard, adamant.
Linda stared back. “Are you on our side?”
“What do you mean?”
“Who are you?”
He looked off. “I’m Gene Ferraro, of course.”
“Are you? Or are you really …?”
He turned on her. “See here, I could ask the same question of you. We’ve seen Incarnadine’s double. How can I be sure you’re not Linda’s?”