Surrender to the Will of the Night - By Glen Cook Page 0,187

to see the mer in human form and have to compare herself.

It was not fair. Not even a little. The girl was not even human.

The ascendant said, “I believe Februaren thought he was playing a clever practical joke.”

“He would. Sometimes he’s an idiot. I’m surprised he didn’t exploit her naiveté.”

“Who knows? He may have. It wouldn’t matter. What Philleas does in human form is separate from what she does as a mer. I couldn’t guess the old man’s proclivities—if he has any at his age—but his sense of humor would be intrigued by the fact that Philleas starts out a virgin every time she takes human form.”

“Oh, now that’s just! … All right. I don’t know how he’d think about that. You don’t go sneaking around, trying to find out if your oldest living ancestor is some kind of pervert. Asgrimmur, let’s stop. This stuff makes me uncomfortable.”

“So let’s go climb the mountain instead.”

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s pack some food and go explore the Great Sky Fortress. You are curious about it, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. The same way I’m curious about seeing what happens when a ship founders and everybody drowns.”

“An odd way to think of it.”

Heris shrugged. “I’m an odd woman. I’ve survived an odd life. I see the world through skewed eyes.”

“I thought it might be useful to walk the field before the battle. Save us time once the others get back. Winter will come. When it does it will serve Kharoulke far better than it will us.”

“I can’t say you’re not right about that.”

* * *

The rainbow bridge remained brilliant and thrummingly potent. Heris had no difficulty crossing. The Construct had no direct potency inside the Realm of the Gods but using it outside had built up her self-confidence.

The ascendant followed, fearless himself. And had no reason to fear. Should he fall he need but change.… A random gust did push him off his footing. In an instant he developed tentacles that snagged hold of the rainbow. He dragged himself back onto the bridge, where he turned into a huge bird that hopped the last few yards on one foot. He had his trousers clutched in the other.

“That was impressive,” Heris said, noting that one wing seemed stunted. “Those stories about people changing into animals always made me wonder what they did about their clothes.”

“You lose them if you get in a hurry. Otherwise, you make arrangements.” He remained generically bipedal till he finished wriggling into the trousers. He became fully human, then, but only momentarily. His exposed feet and upper body changed again. He developed lionlike feet and a heavy pelt above the waist.

It was cold up there.

Heris observed, “You’re going to be an adventure for some demigoddess.”

“I dropped the sack. There’s water up here but nothing to eat.”

“It’ll be a short adventure, then. I have a question.”

“I may have an answer.”

For reasons uncertain Heris turned toward the dead apple orchard once they passed through the gateway. “Your missing … whatever. That comes and goes. You always have the right number of hands and feet when you’re human. When you’re something else you always have a crippled limb. Which is why you lost your shirt and the food.”

“And other valuables as well.”

“And? So?”

“The hand is also missing when I’m human. But when I’m a man I don’t need to invest much effort holding the form. I can create the illusion of a hand.”

“Illusion? I’ve seen you use it.”

“Have you? For sure?”

“Uh … No, actually. What happened?”

“I attacked somebody when I was the mad monster of the high Jagos. He didn’t panic like the others. He chopped it off. That was not pleasant. But it was useful. The pain eventually wakened what little sanity I had left. That and a savage ambush later that almost killed me.”

Asgrimmur extended his right hand. It began to shrivel. “Kind of creepy, isn’t it?”

“You might say.” Heris stepped through a gap in the dry stone fence surrounding the orchard.

For an instant the gray went away. The garden offered a vision of itself in olden times. A gorgeous blond goddess plucked a golden apple. She placed it under a small flagstone, made a sign Heris assumed was a blessing. She looked in Heris’s direction as though thinking she had heard something coming. She saw nothing, evidently. Distress warped her beauty. Then the vision ended.

“What just happened?” the ascendant asked. “I felt something when you stepped through the fence.”

“I’m not sure. A flash from the past? I might have seen what the orchard