Kickaha approached him cautiously and, after making sure he wasn’t playing possum, Kickaha knelt down by him. He intended to use rough methods to bring him to consciousness so he could question him. But the Beller opened his eyes when his head was raised.
“Luvah!” Anana cried. “It’s Luvah! My brother! One of my brothers! But what’s he doing here? How. . . ?”
She was holding an object which she must have picked up from behind the divan or some other piece of furniture. It was about two and a half feet long, was of some silvery material, and was curved and shaped much like the horn of an African buffalo. It did flare out widely at the mouth, however, and the tip was fitted with a mouthpiece
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of some soft golden material. Seven little buttons sat on top of the horn in a row.
He recognized the Horn of Shambarimen. Hope lifted him to his feet with a surge. He said, “Wolff is back!”
“Wolff?” Anana said. “Oh, Jadawin! Yes, perhaps. But what is Luvah doing here?”
Luvah had a face that, under normal circumstances, would have been appealing. He was a Lord, but he could easily have passed for a certain type of Irishman with his snub nose and broad upper lip.and freckles and pale blue eyes.
Kickaha said, “You talk to him. Maybe he’ll . . .”
She got to her knees by Luvah and spoke to him. He seemed to recognize her, but his expression could have meant anything. She said, “He may not remember me in his condition. Or he may be frightened. He could think I’m going to kill him. I am a Lord, remember.”
Kickaha ran down the hall and into a room where he could get water. He brought a pitcher of it back and Luvah drank eagerly. Luvah then whispered his story to Anana. She rose a few minutes later and said, “He was caught in a trap set by Urizen, our father. Or so he thought at the time, though actually it was Vala,.our sister. He and Jadawin—Wolff—became friends. Wolffand his woman Chryseis were trapped with others, another brother and some cousins. He says it’s too long a story to tell now. * But only Luvah and Wolff and Chryseis survived. They returned by using the
*The Gates of Creation, Philip Jose Farmer, ACE.
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Horn; it can match the resonance of any gate, you know, unless that gate is set for intermittent resonance at random.
“They were gated back into a secret compartment of the control room. Wolffthen took a look into the control room via a monitor. No one was in it. He tapped in on other videos and saw a number of dead men and taloses. Of course, he didn’t know that the men were Black Sellers, at first; then he saw the caskets. He still didn’t get the connection—after all, it’s been, what, ten thousand years? But he gated into the control room with Chryseis. Just to have additional insurance, he gated Luvah into a room on a lower floor. If somebody attacked them in the control room, Luvah could slip up behind them.”
“Wolffs cagey,” said Kickaha. He had wondered why Wolff didn’t see the live Bellers, but remembered that the palace was so huge that Wolff could have spent days looking into every room. He was probably so eager to get some rest after his undoubtedly harrowing adventures and so glad to be home that he had rushed things somewhat. Besides, the control room and the surrounding area were unoccupied.
“Luvah said he came up the staircase and was going to enter the control room to tell Wolff all was clear. At that very moment, two men appeared in an especially big gate that had been set up by the dead men. By the Bellers, of course. There were pieces of a diassembled craft with them and a big projector.”
“Von lurbat and von Swindebarn!” Kickaha said.
“It must have been,” Anana said. “They knew
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something was wrong, what with your appearance and disappearance in the gate on the moon and then mine. They gave up their search, and—”