“So you’ve won?” Kickaha said, although he did not believe that Red Orc had won and would not think so until he was dead.
“Over you, yes,” Red Orc said. “Over the others, not yet. But I will.”
“Then Urthona is still out there,” Kickaha said. “Tell me, who set up this trap? You or Urthona?”
Red Orc lost his smile. He said, “I’m not sure. The trap may be so subtle that I was led into thinking that I set it. And then, again, perhaps I did. What does it matter? We were all led here, for one reason or another, to this final battleground. It has been a good battle, because we are not fighting through our underlings, the leblabbiy. We are fighting directly, as we should. You are the only Earthling in this battle, and I’m convinced that you may be half-Lord. You certainly do have some family resemblances to us. I could be your father. Or Urthona. Or Uriel. Or even that dark one, Jadawin. After all, he had the genes for red hair.”
Red Orc paused and smiled, then said, “And it’s possible that Anana could be your mother, too. In which case, you might be all-Lord. That would explain your amazing abilities and your successes.”
A thick arm of smoke came down over Kickaha’s face and set him coughing again. Red Orc looked alarmed and he backed away a little, turning his back to Kickaha, who was recovering from another coughing fit. Something had happened to his legs. Suddenly, they no longer felt the heat. It was as if dirt had been piled on them.
Kickaha said, “I don’t know what you’re getting at, Orc, but Anana could not possibly be my mother. Anyway, I know who my parents are. They were Indiana farmers who come from old American stock, including the oldest, and also from Scotch, Norwegian, German, and Irish immigrants. I was born in the very small rural village of North Terre Haute, and there is no mystery. . . .”
He stopped, because there had been a mystery. His parents had moved from Kentucky to Indiana before he was born, and, suddenly, he remembered the mysterious Uncle Robert who had visited their farm from time to time when he was very young. And then there was the trouble with his birth certificate when he had volunteered for the Army cavalry. And when he had returned to Indiana after the war, he had been left ten thousand dollars from an unknown benefactor. It was to put him through college and there had been a vague promise of more to come.
“There is no mystery?” Red Orc said. “I know far more about you than you would dream possible. When I found out that your natal name was Paul Janus Finnegan, I remembered something, and I checked it out. And so . . .”
Kickaha began coughing again. Orc quit talking. A second later, a shape appeared through the smoke above him, coming from the other side of the tree where he had thought nothing could be living. It dived through the cloud and sprawled on top of Red Orc, knocking him on his back and tearing the beamer from his hands.
Orc yelled with the surprise and shock and tried to roll after the beamer, but the attacker, in a muffled voice, said, “Hold it! Or I cut you in half!”
Kickaha bent his head as far to one side and as far back as he could. The voice he knew, of course, but he still could not believe it. Then he realized that Anana had piled dirt on his legs or covered them up with something.
But what had kept her from coughing and giving herself away?
She turned toward him then, though still keeping the beamer turned on Red Orc. A cloth was tied around her nose and mouth. It was wet with some liquid which he suspected was urine. Anana had always been adaptable, making do with whatever was handy.
She gestured at Orc to move away from his beamer. He scooted away backward on his hands and buttocks, eyeing her malevolently.
Anana stepped forward, tossed her beamer away with one hand as she picked up Orc’s with the other. Then, aiming the weapon at him with one hand, she slipped the cloth from her face to around her neck. She smiled slightly and said, “Thanks for your beamer, Uncle. Mine was discharged.” Orc looked shocked. Anana crouched down and said, “All right, Uncle. Get that tree off him. And quick!”