He held it up. “Colene,” he told the queen. “Show.”
The queen’s face brightened with understanding. She knew what was to happen in Colene’s chamber. She gestured to the far wall, not only to do magic but to indicate where to look.
Darius looked. The wall became seemingly transparent, and beyond it was Colene’s chamber, showing her bed. Colene sat on it in her underclothing, brushing out her hair. He realized that this was illusion, for the girl’s chamber was nowhere near his own, but that it reflected reality. Colene was right: these folk had impressive powers of imagery. The picture was so realistic that he reacted to the undiapered body. He hoped Glomerula would believe that it was the queen’s body that continued to excite him.
Glomerula seemed surprised about something, but neither he nor the horse could fathom what at the moment. Could it be that some detail of the illusion she was Grafting did not match her expectation? That suggested that it was a true picture, not a pure invention.
It’s me, Colene’s thought confirmed. There’s precious little real privacy in this castle. The king’s making an illusion picture of his own, Seqiro says, and he’s watching what you’re doing with the queen. I think he gets his jollies more from watching her with other men than with doing it with her himself.
Then I’ll give him something to see, Darius thought. He sat beside the queen, extended his left arm to draw her in beside him, and fondled her right breast with his right hand. It felt like as good a breast as the left; it had appropriate heft and contour. He tried to imagine that it was Colene’s breast, but it didn’t work, because Colene had less mass in that region. Too bad he was not in a position to explore the matter more thoroughly.
And I’ll give you something to see, Colene thought viciously. He kept running afoul of her sensitivities, thoughtlessly.
But he had more to do. “Colene is mine,” he told the queen. “My magic secures her chastity.” He used the doll to indicate the forbidden area. “No other man—” He thrust with a finger to illustrate the forbidden action.
That turned out to be clear enough. Glomerula smiled. She gestured again toward the walclass="underline" wait and see. The challenge was on, and the queen seemed as satisfied with that as with her own involvement.
Then he remembered the other thing he wanted to check: his emotional magic. This was the ideal situation to test it, because he had to be quite close to a woman to draw out her joy. As it happened, he was close to the queen.
The door to Colene’s room opened and Knave Naylor stepped in. Colene looked up, saw him, and her mouth opened in a soundless scream. This illusion couldn’t handle sound.
The knave threw off his cloak and approached her, naked. There was no subtlety: if she didn’t find a way to stop him, he would ravish her immediately. That was the point: only a woman of the ruling class of the anima could have any power against a man of the animus, and if she turned out to be such a woman, she would be deemed an enemy, and the despots would do their best to kill her immediately. So her choice was between rape and death, as the knave saw it. Rather, Darius’ choice was to watch or act; he wasn’t sure the anima could work here, on an animus world. Still, he wasn’t sure what to do, because he had no certainty that his magic worked here.
But these folk had not encountered the like of Colene. Darius smiled, giving the queen’s breast a squeeze to make her think that was the cause of his emotion. The queen seemed to be enjoying both the show and the handling.
Darius drew her as close as possible, squeezing her breast as if turned on by it and/or the scene they watched. But his intent would have horrified her had she fathomed it. He exerted his magic and drew on her emotional vitality.
Nothing happened. His magic did not operate in this reality, there was no doubt now. That was disappointing, but perhaps not surprising. At least he had not had to alert the queen to what he had attempted. She had been saved by the underlying laws of her universe.
He relaxed, but did not let go of her breast, lest she become suspicious. Oh, sure, Colene thought witheringly. However, Colene now had a situation of her own to attend to, and couldn’t continue to focus on him.
Naylor came to the bed. Colene screamed again and started to get off it. But Naylor made a negligent gesture, and abruptly the girl’s feet left the floor. She was floating, her moving legs having no purchase. Then she was borne to the bed, to land on her back, her feet still kicking.
The knave stared at her in much the way Hobard had. Darius followed the specific direction of his gaze, and finally understood: it was her underclothing. It was as if the man had not seen this before. Could it be that these folk did not wear underclothing? That would explain Hobard’s interest, and the queen’s too. The queen had not come to him naked under her cloak of illusion merely to seduce him; she never wore such things anyway. That made sense at last.
Naylor shook off his surprise and concentrated. Colene’s undergarments seemed to catch fire. Flame and smoke puffed around her body, and dissipated, leaving no burns. Now she was naked. There was no doubt about the power of the man’s magic; he was controlling her body against her will without touching her.
The knave gestured again. Colene’s legs still moved, but now they seemed to be constrained. They spread, her knees lifting, the feet kicking in a futile pattern, well apart. This man seemed to be experienced in this act, for even magic required expertise, and it was just as if invisible hands were placing her legs safely out of the way.
Glomerula’s face turned to him. She was smiling. She was waiting to see how he was going to handle this assault on his woman. To see whether he could handle it.
Darius smiled back at her. “You will see, skeptic,” he said. “I do not allow trespassing.” But he wished Colene would get on with her plan, because he had no idea what it might be, and it was certainly time for it.
Naylor put a knee on the bed, orienting for his business. Now, Seqiro! Colene’s thought came, so strong that it was as if she had shouted in Darius’ face.
The man’s face froze. His mouth dropped open. It was as if he saw something horrible, yet there was nothing.
Queen Glomerula’s body tensed. She did not understand what was happening. Neither did Darius. What? he thought to Colene.
Show him, Seqiro.
Then it was as if Darius were looking through Naylor’s eyes. Suddenly he understood.
From the region between Colene’s legs a viscous mass was rising. It flexed, and part of it separated from the main mass. It was the head of a large snake! A cobra, with spreading hood and elongating fangs from which glistening poison dripped.
The serpent’s eyes fastened on Naylor’s genitals. The head moved back, then struck forward.
Naylor screamed and threw himself off the bed, grabbing at his crotch.
Queen Glomerula stared. She did not see the snake, which was an illusion projected only to Naylor’s mind. She saw the man reacting to nothing more than the sight of a helpless girl’s spread thighs. What was the matter with the man?
Darius took advantage of her distraction to do some more work on his pillow figurine. He rolled up more cloth to form fuller arms and legs, and used a brown fragment to represent hair on the head. It was coming to look more like Colene.
He reached across to where he had set the bundled towel with Colene’s essences. He wrapped the single hair in place around the figurine’s head, and pressed the damp region where her saliva was to the figure’s body until some dampness soaked across. Then he pressed the napkin to the face of the figure and breathed into it, pushing her breath through with the force of his breath. The queen, fascinated by the scene in Colene’s room, had not even noticed that he was no longer fondling her breast.