But those bodies were ground up, now, and spread over half the counties of this island. Certainly they were too far scattered for the kind of intervention which this spell construct would require.
Rhiow looked at the construct.Well,she said to the Whisperer, …will it work?
Along, long pause.
Maybe…
She got up and stretched.“The only thing we haven’t decided,” she said to Huff, “is when we’re going to do this.”
“It’s been rather a long day,” Huff said, and glanced over at Auhlae, who was giving him a thoughtful look. To this particular piece of work, I’d like to come well rested. Tomorrow night?”
The others all nodded.
“Shall I come with you?” Ith said.
Rhiow looked at him with some unease. The concern about the Father of his People risking himself comes up again,” she said. “You’d better take it up with Them. But I for one would value your company.”
She glanced at Huff. He twitched his tail“yes”. “See where your responsibilities lie, cousin,” he said to Ith, “and then join us if you can. But this work alone, I think, is likely to be of great use.” He glanced at the hexaract.
Ith got up.“I will go to my own, then,” he said, “and consult with the Powers.” He bowed to the group, and laid his tail over Arhu’s for a moment: then he stepped into the air again, and was gone.
“What about Siffha’h?” Arhu said.
“What about her?” said Fhrio. The growl was missing … just.
“Nothing,” Arhu said, and sighed, and got up. “Absolutely nothing at all.”
“Come on, Ruah,” Rhiow said. “Let’s get home and take a look around. Huff, Auhlae …” She touched cheeks with them: after doing so with Huff, she paused a second, seeing something in his eyes that she couldn’t quite classify.
“It’ll be all right,” Rhiow said.
“Of course it will,” Huff said: and his whiskers went forward ever so slightly. “Till tomorrow night, cousin:dai stih?.”
They made their way home together, Rhiow and Urruah and Arhu, and stepped out with some relief from the long station platforms, out into the echo and bustle of the Main Concourse. Sidled, they walked through it without too much concern for theehhif.It was getting late on a Saturday evening, and growing quiet. Above them, the“stars” burned backwards in the zodiac of a feigned Mediterranean sky: but the breezes that blew by under the great arched ceiling bore mostly the scents of the last fresh-ground coffee of the day, and a lingering aroma ofpizzaand cold cuts.
Urruah breathed deeply.“You know,” he said, “their gating complex is very historic and all, all those old buildings and castles and whatnot … but I like ours better.”
“You just prefer the food,” Rhiow said.
“Yeah, well, I intend to have a seriously big dinner tonight,” Urruah said, “and then a whole night’s sleep in my dumpster. Who knows if I’ll ever see it again?”
Rhiow glanced over at him.“You’re really worried, aren’t you,” she said.
“I think I have reason. Don’t you?”
There was little evidence to suggest otherwise. There was no question that the situation was dangerous. But having granted that, Rhiow saw no advantage in dwelling on it.“If worrying would help,” she said, “I’d be right in there with you. But I’ve no evidence that it makes any difference.”
“Optimist,” Urruah said.
“Pessimist,” Rhiow said.
“And which side doyoucome down on?” Urruah said to Arhu, who was walking between them, silent.
“Neither,” Arhu said. “I’d sooner wait to see which way to jump.”
He looked a little dubious.“But you know, Rhiow, Ruah, it’s all just probabilities. I see things … but there’s always that little warning hovering at the edge of them. “It may not turn out this way.” He sighed. “Very annoying …”
“I don’t know,” Rhiow said. “I’d think it might be worse if what you sawalwayshappened, and there was no escape. That would be depressing. As well as boring: nothing would ever surprise you …”
“Give me no surprises,” Urruah said definitely. “Give me certainty over uncertainty any time. I’ll take the boredom and be grateful.”
Rhiow laughed at him … but the laughter was slightly hollow. “So let’s postulate best case for a moment,” she said. “Say the Queenisassassinated. Is there any slightest chance, do you think, that the war mightnothappen, despite what Arhu Saw? As he says, it’s still only probability …”
Urruah flirted his tail sideways in a gesture of complete uncertainty as they walked past the shining brass central information booth.“Even in our own world,” he said, “the only reasonehhifmanaged to keep the Winter from falling for so long was that there weretwogreat powers that had atomic weapons … and everyone was sure that, no matter which one of them started the fight,everyone’sthroat would be ripped out before it was finished. And even then there were close calls. That oneehhifPresident who got lucky, for example … because spies and wizards were in the right places at the right time, to help him covertly or tell him what he needed to know to maneuver properly in that nasty little game ofhauisshthat he and his enemy were playing. Luck, yes, and the Powers’ intervention … and not much else …thatsaved them. But in that alternate eighteen seventy-four, there’s justonepower that has the bomb. There is no great counterbalance against the British power to keep them from using it. The only thing that could save them is if their great politicians suddenly became cautious … and what do you think the odds are onthat?”
“With theehhifDisraeli as the Queen’s main minister at that point?” Rhiow shook her head. “From what Hhuhm’hri told me, the chances are slim and none. If the Queen dies, he’ll use the excuse to sweep all the lesser ‘troublemaking’ nations away before him. He’s been looking for an excuse to do that, I’d say, for a long time: certainly in our own world he was not exactly a cautiousehhif,or one to back down when provoked. At this time-period, in our own world, he was busy trying to get the Queen to take another title, as a kind of over-Queen of another prides’-pride ofehhif.‘Empress’, they called it. She finally let him talk her into it, or flatter her, rather. Granted, that turned out to be a less destructive act of aggression … but the act was dam to a litter of results, later on, that cost manyehhiftheir lives. It’s still doing so, in fact.” Rhiow twitched her tail, troubled.
“In other words,” Urruah said, “if given the excuse, he’ll bomb the rebellious prides right back into the Stone Age.”
“And his own pride as well,” Arhu said. “Just what the Lone One wants.”
“The warning is written on the Moon,” Rhiow said, “as we saw. That’s what It intends the Earth to look like after It’s done.”
“And the situation might get still worse,” Urruah said. “It seems that theseehhiflose their positions, or change them, without warning and at short notice. What if someone comes in as Prime Minister who’slesstolerant than theehhifholding the position now?”
“Please,” Rhiow said. It was an uncomfortable enough situation as it was. “Our problem is that, whoever rules that world, the period is not one that likes to refrain from technology, once it gets its hands on it. The Victoriansliketechnology, the more aggressive the better. They like mastering and dominating their world … and each other. They have done some great works that have lasted into our own time, it’s true … but they also did a great deal of evil. They routinely acted without due consideration of the effects.”