mean there’s actually something we can do better now than the ancients could?” Jedra asked incredulously.
“Don’t be deceived by appearances,” Kitarak said. “Progress never stops entirely, even in the midst of degeneration. We may not be as civilized as the ancients, but our medical abilities are far better than anything available before.”
Yoncalla snorted. “That depends on your point of view. Your precious psionic medicine made me a dwarf.” To Jedra he said, “What do you want for it?”
“What?” Jedra asked.
“Your body. If I can’t take it, then I’ll buy it from you. How much do you want?”
Jedra blushed, as if the immortal had suggested something indecent, as indeed he might have. The concept was too new for Jedra to know for sure, but the very idea seemed revolting. “It’s not for sale,” he said. “I’m not for sale.”
“Sure you are,” Yoncalla said. “Everybody has a price.”
Jedra couldn’t imagine enough wealth to make him trade his own body for a dwarf’s. But some people might. And others—maybe even Yoncalla—would no doubt murder for a new body. What kind of nightmare were they about to loose on this already-grim world? Jedra said to Kitarak, “I’m just beginning to realize how dangerous this thing we’ve discovered is. Maybe we should bury these crystals back in the rubble where we found them.” And Yoncalla with them, he added psionically, so the immortal couldn’t hear him.
“Before we revive Kayan?” Kitarak asked. When Jedra spluttered for an answer, he said, “Your moral objection rests on shaky ground, doesn’t it?”
It did at that. Could Jedra deny everyone else the opportunity to escape death after he had used the knowledge to rescue his love? Not and remain the kind of person he wanted to be. But neither could he let Kayan spend the rest of eternity imprisoned in a crystal, knowing he could save her.
“Of course we should revive Kayan,” Jedra said. “She’s counting on us. But nobody else knows this ability exists. Maybe we should keep it that way.”
Yoncalla laughed. “Impossible, boy. I tried to suppress life-defiling magic, and look at how much success I had.” He waved his arms to encompass the barren hillside.
Kitarak turned his head so a faceted eye faced Yoncalla. “Your people were responsible for this?”
“Uh… indirectly,” Yoncalla said nervously.
“You will tell me about it. I and many others are still trying to repair the damage you did.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Yoncalla protested. “I tried to stop it. It was—”
“Wait a minute,” Jedra said. “Let’s revive Kayan first. Then we can save the world.”
“You are right,” Kitarak said. “First things first.” He bent down over Kayan and placed all four hands on her body. A soft blue glow spread from them into her, and her slack muscles began to tighten again. The ugly red wound over her heart closed, and the color came back to her skin. “Good,” Kitarak said. “She prepared for this. She stopped her body’s life processes before you did, so your sword wound merely caused local damage. The rest of her is still fine.” He continued running his hands back and forth over her, coaxing her body into life again. Finally she shuddered once all over, and her chest began to rise and fall with regular breaths.
“There,” said Kitarak proudly. “She is ready. You may enter the crystal and retrieve her.”
Jedra nodded. He felt a certain reluctance after what had happened to him before in the crystals, but his desire to see Kayan again—and to rescue her if she was in danger—was far stronger. “It may take me a while to find her,” he said, “but if we don’t come out soon, you’d better come after us. We may be in trouble.”
Yoncalla said, “You fear another mad immortal?”
Jedra looked at him. Even in a dwarf body, the immortal looked smug. The wild look in his eyes made him appear a little crazy yet, too.
“You learn to fear everything in this world,” Jedra said. He fingered the crystal around his neck. “Even the other worlds within it.”
Yoncalla laughed. “The storage crystals follow the rules of their creators,” he said. “This one may be completely different from the ones you have visited before.”
“That’s encouraging,” Jedra said. He lay down on the ground so his body wouldn’t topple over when he lost conscious control of it, and he concentrated on the crystal. He tried to mindlink with it, pushing at the barrier between himself and Kayan until it eventually gave way.
* * *
He found himself in a brightly lit forest. Not as