The Glass of Dyskornis Read online

  The Glass of Dyskornis

  Copyright © 1982 by Randall Garrett and Vicki Ann Heydron.

  All rights reserved.

  Published as an ebook in 2014 by Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.

  Cover design by Tara O'Shea

  Images © Dreamstine.

  ISBN 978-1-625670-28-1

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Preliminary Proceedings

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  End Proceedings

  About the Authors

  Also by Randall Garrett & Vicki Ann Heydron

  PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS:

  INPUT SESSION TWO

  —Ah, you have awakened. And eaten well, I see. Do you feel well enough refreshed to begin again?

  —Yes, Recorder. I am ready.

  —Good. Before we start, let me review the material already entered into the Record of the All-Mind. Then you may continue. Agreed?

  —Agreed, Recorder.

  —You have told of your previous identity outside our world of Gandalara. Your name was Ricardo Carillo. You were an instructor of languages, sixty years of age, a veteran of your world’s wars. You had been told you would die soon of internal disorders. You were … “sailing”? Is the word correct?

  —Yes. I was traveling in a structure which floated on a large body of water, the Mediterranean Sea.

  —Sailing then, in the company of a woman named Antonia Alderuccio, when you saw a bright light in the sky which seemed to fall directly toward you. You thought it was a skybolt, is that not true?

  —My word for that is meteor. I thought it was a meteor.

  —When the bright light struck, you were unconscious for a time. Then you awoke in Gandalara, wearing the body of a native named Markasset, alone except for a dead man and Markasset’s sha’um, Keeshah. There was a creature in your own world like Keeshah, it was called …

  —A cat. But there was nothing in my world quite like the Gandalaran sha’um. Most of our cats weren’t half big enough. There was a prehistoric breed, the sabertooth, that might have come close to Keeshah’s size. All the mammals in Gandalara, including the men and women, have enlarged canine teeth, but Keeshah’s tusks do not resemble the outsize fangs of earth’s sabertooth.

  May I ask you a question, Recorder?

  —Yes.

  —You seem uncertain of the material already recorded.

  —The All-Mind has perfect memory. I do not. May I go on?

  —Of course. My apologies.

  —You awoke in the Kapiral desert, and Keeshah saved your life by carrying you to a Refreshment House. There you learned of your new identity, and first heard the name of Thanasset, Markasset’s father.

  Later, you discovered that Thanasset and his son were implicated in the theft of the Ra’ira, a beautiful jewel which had become a symbol of power in Gandalara. It had played a role in the destruction of the ancient Kingdom, had it not?

  —In a way. The Ra’ira had been sent from Raithskar to one of the Kings as tribute. It had become a symbol of authority for the rulers of Gandalara.

  As the sea called the Great Pleth had diminished, other cities had sent tribute in the form of slaves to work the fields and fight a losing battle against the salty desert that was closing in on Kä. Raithskar’s contribution to Kä’s support was water.

  Markasset’s ancestor, Serkajon, realized that the Kings had ceased to rule Gandalara, and were merely exploiting it.

  —So Serkajon stole the symbol of their power.

  —Yes, Recorder. He took the Ra’ira back to Raithskar. The King’s Guard followed him and demanded the return of the Ra’ira. But he persuaded them that he was right. They abandoned the last King of Gandalara and took a vow to support their Captain’s plan to keep the jewel surrounded and protected by honest men.

  The protective system Serkajon set up, a ruling Council of twelve Supervisors, continued until Gharlas stole the gem.

  —Gharlas was the master of the caravan which had departed Raithskar the day of the theft.

  After an attack by the Sharith, the sha’um riders descended from the King’s Guard, the remnants of the caravan told the Chief of Peace and Security that Markasset (under the name he had given) had left his guard post on the night before the attack occurred—which gave Zaddorn good cause to confine you for questioning.

  —It was fortunate, for me, that Illia had time to warn me. I couldn’t help Thanasset by staying in Raithskar, and I truly didn’t know where Markasset had been when the Sharith attacked. If the Ra’ira. had been with the caravan, and if the Sharith had attacked the caravan …

  —So you set out for Thagorn, killing a man, during your escape, whom you thought to be one of Zaddorn’s officers. You entered Thagorn in disguise, and met Dharak, the Lieutenant of the Sharith, and his son, Thymas.

  Gharlas had arranged for the attack, requesting that everyone on the caravan be killed. The Lieutenant had decided, instead, to sell the survivors to an Eddartan slaver. One of the prisoners, Hural, had been involved in the theft, and he answered your questions.

  —Don’t forget that Zaddorn was present, too. He had made the trip to Thagorn in record time, the last few miles in the uncomfortable cargo net of a Sharith patrol. When he realized that I was about to uncover some information, he didn’t reveal my identity to the Lieutenant.

  —And his presence was a good thing, because Hural died, of his own wish, at the end of his testimony. He described the madness of Gharlas, who believed obsessively that he should be King of Gandalara. Hural said that Gharlas carried a power, long rare, to read and to influence mens minds. Gharlas had compelled Thanasset to believe he had locked the door of the Ra’ira’s vault when, in truth, he had left it quite open.

  Dharak and Thymas assured Zaddorn that such power was possible. An illusionist, Tarani, claimed and used that power for the entertainment of the Sharith. Zaddorn was convinced of Thanasset’s innocence.

  —Dharak had known who I was, the moment I had walked into Thagorn. He told me, privately, that as Serkajon’s descendant—and because my loyalty to Thanasset had proved something to him—he regarded me as the new Captain of the Sharith, and would await my orders about the Ra’ira.

  —You sound as though this disturbed you.

  —It did. I had accepted Markasset’s responsibilities toward his father, and his engagement to Illia, but my only interest in the Ra’ira lay in proving that Thanasset didn’t steal it. I hated to disillusion Dharak, who had been more than fair with me, but I would have told him “no” right then, if he hadn’t also told me that Thanasset was in danger.

  —So you and Zaddorn returned to Raithskar, after persuading Keeshah to accept Zaddorn as a second rider.

  —And after persuading Zaddorn to ride him. That was the hard part.

  —When you reached the city, Ferrathyn heard Zaddorn’s story, and assured you that the Council would clear Thanasset of all involvement with the theft. But you inquired about the penalty for killing a peace officer, thereby alerting Zaddorn to the change in you.

  —I really should have known, Recorder, that all peace officers in Raithskar wore gray baldrics. But, as I e
xplained earlier, Markasset’s memories were not totally accessible to me. So I told everyone present what I had told Thanasset earlier. I said I was not Markasset.

  —Who was present at that time?

  —Zaddorn, Illia, and Ferrathyn; Markasset’s great-aunt Milda; and, of course, Thanasset and myself. Illia agreed to postpone any wedding plans until she could get to know me better. Milda was most troubled by the fact that I didn’t know what had happened to Markasset, or if he would ever return.

  —Which he wouldn’t, as you found out when Thanasset presented you with the great treasure of his house, Serkajon’s sword. Markasset’s memories came to you and you knew that he had died in the desert, as he followed Gharlas away from the caravan, the night before the Sharith attack.

  —I assume that the third member of the team of thieves killed Markasset by hitting his head with a rock, thrown or slung from a distance.

  Keeshah killed him, Markasset’s murderer, but Gharlas simply went on his way, with the Ra’ira.

  It was … difficult to tell Thanasset that his son was dead. But he accepted it well, and even offered to invoke the ancient custom of awarding a new name with the sword, so that I could be called by the more familiar name, Rikardon.

  —I believe that sums up your first entry into the Record. Has anything been omitted?

  —Yes, two things.

  —And these are …?

  —First, the All-Mind. My understanding of it is imperfect, and somewhat different from the native Gandalaran’s viewpoint.

  —Then describe it in your own words, so that it may be clear in your mind before we begin this session.

  —Thanasset tried to explain it to me. I understood it to be a sort of group consciousness, accessible in different degrees to all Gandalarans. Two lines of thought prevail in Gandalara about the All-Mind: first, that it is composed of the surviving personalities of all men and women who have ever lived; and second, that only their memories have survived. In either case, the All-Mind is accepted as natural and useful, respected but not worshiped.

  —Thanasset explained your appearance within this framework, did he not?

  —He tried, and I thought it best to let him believe something he could accept. He said I was a Visitor, a personality of someone long dead, whom the All-Mind had sent into Markasset’s body for some purpose which I might not even know. Such Visitations had occurred before, though rarely. He thought it an honor to Markasset, and I believe it brought some ease to the pain of losing his son. I could not take that from him.

  —Ferrathyn suggested that you might be Serkajon. A logical choice, certainly, since you were of his house, and were to carry his sword.

  —He did suggest it, but I told him he was wrong. As I said regarding the conversation with Dharak, Markasset’s responsibilities were quite enough for me to handle.

  —There was another point overlooked?

  —Keeshah. You have mentioned him as an animal which carried Markasset, but you have not discussed the special bond between him and Markasset, and between him and me.

  —The nature of the telepathic link between sha’um and rider is well understood in the All-Mind.

  —But you asked me, in the first session, to tell everything as it happened, in the greatest detail possible, leaving nothing out. The bond may be routine in Gandalara, but it was new and wonderful to me, a sharing such as I had never known in my world. When he accepted me in Markasset’s place, Keeshah became my first and strongest tie to Gandalara.

  Together, we created a new bond, a deeper touching. We were more than sha’um and rider, we were friends and partners.

  —You are right to include that in the review, since Keeshah was so important to you. Please accept my apology for being impatient. Is there anything more upon which we haven’t touched?

  —I don’t think so…. No, wait! Worfit has been left out.

  —Ah yes, the roguelord. It was his man you killed on your way out of Raithskar. Markasset owed him a large sum of money.

  —Seven hundred zaks. It was that debt which led to Markasset’s contracting for the guard position with Gharlas’s caravan, and to all the later events. I had not yet met Worfit, but I had resolved to pay him off and be rid of him as soon as possible. The continuation of the story must begin with him.

  —Are you ready, then, to continue?

  —I am ready, Recorder.

  —Then make your mind one with mine, as I have made mine one with the All-Mind …

  WE BEGIN!

  1

  Nobody, not even another Gandalaran, would call Worfit handsome. But nobody would tell him the truth, either. For one thing, he sat behind a big marble-topped desk and in front of two tough-looking characters whose expressions said: “Make the Chief mad and I’ll break your face.” For another, he had a certain personal trait which would make the most talkative person taciturn. In a word, that trait was meanness.

  It glittered in the pinpoint eyes which lurked underneath extra-prominent supraorbital ridges. It could be seen in the way he used his thick-fingered hands. They lay still until they were needed. They didn’t tap tables or crack knuckles. And when they moved, they moved fast, grasping at things as though each item were an enemy’s throat.

  Just now, his right hand lay on the desk before him, palm upward. On that palm were stacked the twenty-four coins which, in sum, repaid Markasset’s debt to this man. With a sudden movement, Worfit flipped his hand over, scattering the smaller bronze and silver coins and slapping the two gold twenty-dozak pieces to the desk top.

  “You owe me more than this, Markasset,” he said. His voice was high-pitched, soft, menacing.

  I knew what he meant, of course. I had killed one of his men. But his manner throttled the gracious apology I had planned.

  “Seven hundred zaks is the exact amount of the debt,” I said. “Enjoy it. It’s the last money you’ll see from me.”

  Worfit’s head pulled back a little. He looked at me the way a dog might regard a rabbit who barked.

  “You’ve said that before, Markasset, but I think you mean it this time. Don’t tell me this hoorah over the Ra’ira has finally turned you into daddy’s good little boy.”

  How could Markasset stand this creep? I wondered, with an unreasonable feeling of betrayal. Relying on Markasset’s memory of Worfit as a “gentleman gamester” with a high sense of honor, I had made the difficult choice to come to his office unarmed. Now my hand itched to hold Serkajon’s sword.

  Keeshah, resting in his house in Thanasset’s back yard, sensed my uneasiness.

  *Need me?* came his thought. I could feel his eagerness. But there had been a number of armed men lounging around the closed gambling salon I had crossed a few minutes ago. I had the definite feeling that Worfit had expected my visit—and possibly one from Keeshah.

  *Thank you,* I told the cat. *I can handle this.*

  I hope, I added to myself. The exchange had taken only a fraction of a second, and Worfit was still staring at me with contempt plain on his face.

  “Everybody changes sometime, Worfit,” I said. “Look at you. You used to be a lot nicer.”

  He grinned.

  I’d like to stuff those coins, one by one, through his digestive system in reverse, I thought.

  “That was when you were a good customer, and paying on time. You’ve just said you’re quitting the tables, and I believe you. That means you aren’t worth being nice to any more.”

  *DANGER!* Keeshah’s mind screamed the warning as, linked with me, he heard the soft step behind me.

  I ducked to the right. A double-fisted blow that might have knocked my head off struck the top of my left shoulder and spun me around. I caught my balance and faced the man who had swung at me, a big, muscular man with a patch on one eye. Mamen, Worfit’s assistant and bouncer.

  “I been waiting for this a long time, Markasset. Let’s see how far your uppity manners get you now.” He spread his arms and came toward me. “Like the Chief said, I don’t have to be nice.�
��

  At least he’s not armed, I thought. Thank goodness for grudges. He wants to tear me apart, piece by piece.

  He’ll do it, too, if I don’t get moving.

  I bent over and lunged head-first at his midriff, which was hard as rock. But I did knock him backward, so that there wasn’t much punch to the two-handed blow he landed on my spine. We crashed against the wall near the office door. I grabbed his ankles and pulled. He sat down heavily.

  His big hands caught my tunic and jerked me toward him, and I didn’t resist. When my head was near his chest, I braced my hands on the wall on either side of him, and snapped my head up under his chin. The back of his head slammed into the wall.

  His grip relaxed.

  My head hurt.

  Oh, boy, did my head hurt.

  Headaches seem to be a way of life with Markasset, I grumbled to myself as I staggered to my feet. Somewhat less than gracefully, I turned to face the desk, expecting the two plug-uglies behind Worfit to join in the fight. But they were right where they had been. One of them was even smiling.

  Not too popular with the troops, are you, Mamen?

  *Hurt?* came Keeshah’s anxious thought. *I come there.*

  *No, Keeshah, I’m all right. I’d be dead by now if that’s what Worfit wanted. I’m safe.*

  Slowly, Worfit stood up. He was short, his head barely clearing my shoulder. But he was heavy and solid, with wide shoulders and a barrel chest. He came around the desk, and I tensed again, certain that Worfit would be harder to handle than Marnen. But he only came up to me and pushed a stubby finger into my chest.

  “You owe me, Markasset,” he said. “For the irritation and inconvenience of Zaddorn’s close interest in my affairs because of that fleabitten Ra’ira. Maybe that wasn’t your fault, but it feels that way to me.

  “And you killed one of my men. You owe me a life.

  “I won’t kill you today, Markasset. Not for years, yet, maybe. But I collect all the debts I’m owed. Remember that, and keep looking over your shoulder. Don’t make it easy for me.”

  His eyes were gleaming, and his mouth was stretched in an ugly smile. His large canine tusks looked eager.