There was a sound, and the ground shuddered. Then Angus appeared, literally: he had landed while invisible, then stopped the illusion of nothing so that they could see him. “I gather this is the wrong world,” he said.
“Way wrong,” Colene agreed. “But we have a couple to go yet.”
“But at least we have ascertained that folk from a parallel world will be able to wield their magic on yours.”
“How do we know that?” Nona asked.
“If your own magic works here, theirs should work there. We have established the principle of transfer of magic between parallel planets.”
Nona nodded, surprised. He was right.
They climbed onto Angus’ hands, and he bore them invisibly away. It was a great comfort having him along.
They returned to the East Sea and used the filament to return to Jupiter. Then Angus carried them on around another quarter of the planet to the next parallel rad. Before they used it, Angus had to eat and sleep, because he had been doing all the work of transport and was tiring. He lay down in a low tent he made, and they took turns mounting guard through the night. The Jupiter night was the same length as the Oria night, just as its surface gravity was the same, thanks to the magical nature of the Julia Mode.
They discussed plans for the next planet. They concluded that this time they would simply observe, and if they saw black and white tunics in castles and blue and red tunics in the villages, they would assume it was an animus world. But just to be sure that the colors hadn’t changed, they would try to catch at least one man or woman in the act of magic. Failing that, they would investigate a village, with a preplanned conjuration route out. No confrontations with magic-wielding men, if they could possibly avoid them.
In the morning they traveled the filament to the world. Angus settled gently down near a village, invisible, and they remained in his hands and watched. The people wore blue and red tunics, and there was no evidence of magic. Then a black-tunicked man rode in, and floated out of his saddle when he dismounted. The blues and reds deferred to him.
They departed quietly. This was another animus world.
In due course they reached the fourth world—and it too was animus. Only Oria had changed, thanks to Nona’s effort.
“Now what?” Colene inquired, dispirited. “I thought I had such a great idea!”
“There are other worlds,” Angus said.
“But they won’t be similar to Oria, will they? They’ll be all different sizes, with different sized people, and maybe if they aren’t parallel, the magic won’t cross over.”
“We have only to take Nona there and see whether her magic works,” Darius said. “Perhaps we can find one that is close to Oria in size.”
“Certainly,” Angus agreed. He took them to a larger planet on a filament from a smaller rad. It too was animus. He went to a smaller one, and it was animus. “It seems that most of the satellites of Jupiter are animus, Jupiter being an animus world,” he said.
“But Nona can’t be the only one who ever brought the anima,” Colene said.
“Surely not,” Angus agreed. “In time, most of the worlds will become anima. But the pattern of change differs. The animus comes to all worlds at once, while the anima comes slowly, world by world. It seems to have been not unduly long since the animus came, so relatively few worlds have reverted to anima. You are the ninth of the ninth generation, therefore the first woman of your world with magic. On other worlds it may require more generations for a woman to achieve magic, and many of those women may be killed before they succeed. Perhaps on some of the worlds nearer the primary world the process takes fewer generations, but it would be very difficult for us to search beyond the environs of Jupiter, and the magic might not transfer. I think our best chance remains with Jupiter. There are many satellite worlds, and eventually we should find one that is anima.”
“Actually, we found one before,” Colene said. “When we first came to meet you. But it was tiny.”
“Size is a problem,” he agreed.
They continued to search—and the next world was anima. “Glory be!” Colene breathed, watching a red-clad woman summon a familiar to her.
But there was a problem: this was a larger world, and its people were larger. Their typical person was a head taller than those of Oria of the same sex. Their women were half a head taller than Darius. This would hardly pass unnoticed on Oria.
Then Colene had another notion. “Look, people vary, right? I mean, I’m five feet, small for the women of my world, but within the normal range. There must be small women here, maybe like tall women on Oria, who could pass well enough. And maybe some size will help, making them regal.”
It seemed to make sense.
They decided to try the woman-man-horse approach again, this time going to a castle where red tunics dominated. But they rehearsed carefully, and Darius had his icons and conjure site ready for quick use. They would conjure out the moment there was a threat. If they were unable, Colene, Burgess, and Angus would come in after them. Angus could, if necessary, lift the roof off the castle and pull them out by hand. His magic was the same as theirs, but he was so much larger that his powers of levitation had much greater effect.
Darius led Seqiro up to the castle. Huge men in blue challenged him at the entrance.
“I bring a woman from another world, who asks an unusual favor,” he said.
“Is she anima?”
“Yes.”
“Then bring her in.”
No verification? But probably that would be the province of the mistress of the castle.
Nona floated off the horse’s back and landed neatly on her feet. “May my companions enter too?” she asked.
“As you wish.” For here an amazon’s word governed. Nona walked on in, and Darius followed, leading Seqiro. The castle was large, being in proportion to the planet and people; he felt dwarfed. There was a stable to the side, with horses larger than Seqiro, but not by much; Seqiro was a very large horse to begin with. Nona indicated that she wanted her horse with her, and there was no protest.
They were met by a giant, regal woman in a palatial anteroom. In addition to her red tunic she wore a red crown. She was direct. “How did you come here?”
“We flew in, invisible, then walked to the castle,” Nona said.
“From what world do you come?”
“We call it Oria. It is on a filament from another rad of Jupiter. It is smaller than yours.”
“Why is the horse so valuable you kept him with you?”
“He has special magic that greatly facilitates communication.”
“Demonstrate this.”
Nona and Darius stood silent. Seqiro spoke for himself. I am Seqiro. I am from another Mode, which is a separate reality from Julia. My kind is telepathic.
The queen’s mouth remained closed. Turn and touch the wall, she thought.
Seqiro turned and touched the wall with his nose.
“Is the man also special?” the queen asked.
“Yes,” Nona said, then hesitated.
She is not hostile, nor will she violate hospitality, Seqiro thought. She has royal honor, needing no subterfuge.
“This is true,” the queen said. Seqiro had evidently shared his thought with the woman. “You must have had experience with the men of animus, whose honor is suspect. You may safely answer the question.”
“The man is also from another Mode. He has conjuration magic unlike ours. We depend on it to extricate us, should we encounter danger.”
The queen turned to Darius. “Demonstrate.”
He brought out his own icon, invoked it, and conjured himself to the other side of the chamber.
The queen faced Nona. “What is the favor you ask?”
“To bring some of your smaller anima women to my world, which became anima only a month ago and as yet lacks women with magic. It is in a state of chaos, and needs governing.”