"It is yours?" asked the leader.
So he wouldn't have to conduct the discussion in sign language. "Yes. It is my sky-beast. A wizard who is my enemy cast an evil spell on it, so that it fell from the sky. I must stay with you for some days, until I can call other wizards to my aid. They will come, take off the evil spell, and reward you well if you help me."
He looked sternly at them. "They will also punish you if you do not treat me well. The beast will see everything which happens among you, and tell the other wizards."
"You have nothing to fear," said the leader. "We are of Two Springs village, we live by law." He fumbled in his pouch and brought out a cake of what looked like ground-up nuts. Warner ate half of it. There were nutshells as well as meats in the cake, but that didn't matter. They had fed him, and that made him their guest. More than unknown wizards would punish them now if they harmed him.
He turned back to the balloon, raised his arms, and recited a few Army regulations in English. Then he smiled at the men. "The beast has seen what you did, and is glad. Now let us go to your village."
"Your beast will be safe?" said one of the men.
"It will be now that it is on the ground," said Warner. Right now the last thing he wanted to do was straw-boss a gang of Pirate Land villagers into lowering his balloon from the top of a fifty-foot tree. He wanted a drink, a meal, and a girl, and not to have to think about balloons for a while.
10
"You're wearing a new perfume?" said Warner, toying with his glass. Gwen smiled and picked up the wine jug to refill it.
"Yes. Marselius Caesar sent it. He said it was a gift from the Lady Octavia."
"How is she?"
"She is well, but unhappy that I won't be coming with the army."
"I'm glad you're not going."
"I'm not," she said tartly. Warner covered himself by taking a sip from his glass and mopping his plate with a piece of bread.
It was frustrating. She'd obviously laid on this dinner and put on the blue gown to welcome him. She looked good, she smelled good, and he was damned sure she'd feel good if he got close enough. So far though, that blue gown might have been armor plate.
Then she giggled.
"Yes?" he prompted.
"I was thinking about that girl, the one on the second night."
Warner was puzzled for a moment. "Oh. You mean the one who was afraid the sky-beast could see us."
"Yes. Did she really think it would tell tales to the other wizards?"
"I don't think it was the other wizards she was worried about. I think she was afraid the Great Balloon God was going to tell her husband."
"Oh." She giggled again.
He wondered what had gotten into Gwen, other than more wine than usual. She was curious about everything he'd done in Two Springs village, including the girls he'd bedded. You'd have thought she'd be jealous of that.
"You know, I think I should have seen this before," she said. "The people really think a balloon is magical. Even some of the people around the university, who can see that it's a machine. Out in the villages, if someone comes in a balloon, they'll think he's a wizard. They'll listen to what he says! We can start teaching them all the things they won't learn otherwise!"
Warner stared. It made a weird kind of sense. If the teaching squads went out with a balloon, they'd get a lot more attention. People wouldn't sit around waiting for Old MacDonald or the village granny to try the star knowledge. It might not even have to be a man-carrying balloon, either. That would save a lot of cloth and-"The surinomaz processing!" Gwen looked ready to jump out of her chair. "We can start in that village where the midwives know how to make surinomaz into a medicine. If they'll teach the wizards what they know, we can prove that the surinomaz is useful. People will start wanting to grow it. Larry, you may have just saved a whole planet!"
Warner got up and went around the table. "Gwen, you're as smart as you are beautiful. You thought of what to do with the balloons. I just went along for the ride, so to speak."
She stood up and kissed him on the cheek. "Larry, you're a lot braver than you think you are."
Warner put his arms around her and bent to kiss her ups. For a moment he thought she would turn away. Then her face came up and their lips met. Hers trembled, then opened. He tightened his grip. Small fireworks started to go off in various parts of his body.
He held her closely, then let his hands wander downwards.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
She sighed. "Maybe I mean 'do.' It's been a long time. But just for the moment, I'd like to be held, and not have to think about what happens next."
"Suits me." He held her, and they stood that way for a while.
This could be damn serious, Warner thought. She's one hell of a girl. Nobody like her. And we've done pretty well, running this place. Is it time Larry Warner settled down?
To what? Fidelity? She'd want that. More'n the local girls would. Monogamy, too. And she knows I'm no damned wizard. But it wouldn't be so bad, and besides, it don't have to be decided now. Nobody's said anything about forever, just tonight…
He bent to kiss her again.
Crash! Wood slammed against stone and metal rang.
"Dog!"
An angry voice made more echoes in the room. Something struck Larry Warner's head. A hard blow, that left a ringing in his ears. Gwen screamed.
Warner fell to the floor as if unconscious. The instant he was down he snap-rolled under the table, then rolled again to get behind it. As he stood he drew his Walther.380 automatic, wishing it were the.45 hanging by the door with his jacket. The Walther would just have to do. By the time he was back on his feet he had spread his legs and was holding the piece in both hands, his eye sighting down the barrel at the kilted figure in the room- "Larry! No!" Gwen shouted. "No!" She dashed across the room and into Warner's line of fire.
He'd almost squeezed off the round! He jerked the piece upwards to point at the ceiling, and from pure rage and frustration he fired. The shot sounded very loud in the enclosed room.
"Larry!" Gwen screamed again. Then she saw where the pistol was pointed.
"Move!" Warner commanded. "No son of a bitch comes bustin' in on me! I'll blow the bastard away-" He stopped shouting as he realized who the intruder was. "Caradoc?"
The archer captain had been in command of the search party that found Warner. He'd stayed behind to see that the balloon was safely loaded on the pack animals. And, Warner realized, he'd not only finished that task in record time, he must have ridden like hell to get here. Why? To see Gwen. And maybe jealous of Warner, too.
Now he stood there defiantly. "If you have honor, you will allow me a weapon," Caradoc said. "You may have your star weapons, and I my bow…"
Warner laughed. "You talk about honor, Boy Scout. Not me. I fight for pay. And you're dead."
"Larry, you can't." Gwen wasn't shouting any longer.
"Why not?"
"Captain Galloway will have you shot, that's why."
"I need no woman to argue for my life!" Caradoc shouted.
"You need something you haven't got," Warner said. "You also need to explain how you got in here."
"Miss Tremaine!" The shout came from the hall.
"Jesus, that's Elliot," Warner said. He raised his voice. "In here, Sergeant Major."
Elliot came in. His.45 was cocked and ready. He looked at Warner, then at Caradoc. "Okay, Professor, what's happening?"
"Nothing," Gwen said. "It's nothing at all. Please leave."
"Not friggin' likely."
"It's okay, Sarge," Warner said. "We were showin' Captain Caradoc a couple of moves, and maybe it got out of hand. I let a round go into the ceiling."