Shadowland. Spider World 06 by Colin Wilson

She went back to the kitchen. Niall followed her as she went to a cupboard and removed a wide-necked carafe of golden wine, which she placed on a tray with two glasses. As she stood at the table, Niall stepped up behind her, then took an additional step so he blended with her body.

It was a curious sensation. For a moment, he felt like a drop of rain that has fallen on a dry sheet on a washing line and remains on the surface for a moment before being absorbed. As soon as this happened, there was a feeling of warmth, and a pleasantly erotic sensation, and then Niall actually became Katia, her sensations and feelings replacing his own.

As she picked up the tray and went out of the kitchen, Niall followed her and watched her place it on the table in front of Typhon, who poured himself a full glass of wine, then drank most of it in a deep draft. Again, Niall was able to sense his feelings: tiredness, impatience, anger. Katia stood silently, waiting for further orders. Niall was tempted to step inside her again, but resisted the urge; if he could feel her presence, she might be able to feel his.

She asked: “Would you like something to eat?”

Typhon said irritably: “No. I’ll wait for Gerek.”

She went out, and Niall followed her back to the kitchen. He had decided to wait for Gerek, hoping to learn why Typhon was in a bad mood.

The older woman was still standing at the sink, although she was now gutting fish on the draining board, while Katia was preparing food at the table. Niall stood behind the woman at the sink, then stepped forward into her body.

He immediately experienced the same pleasantly sensuous warmth as with Katia, but far stronger. Suddenly he understood why she had said she needed a husband: her body was tingling with erotic energy. Moreover, she instantly became aware of Niall — not, like the moog, as an alien presence, but as a male energy that she absorbed eagerly.

Mildly stimulated, and feeling a little guilty at this intrusion into her body, he hastily withdrew. Yet in that brief contact, he had caught a glimpse of something that intrigued him: a feeling of intense hostility toward the Magician. He therefore overruled his feeling of guilt, and stepped once more inside her.

He experienced at once the same sense of complete identification that he had experienced earlier in the day with Umaya, giving him total access to her memory. But in the case of Umaya, he had been aware that she had the same access to his own thoughts and feelings, whereas this woman did not.

Her name was Quinella, and she was fifty-four years old. Like all the other women in this city, she took daily doses of a medicine that delayed the onset of age. But the medicine only affected the body; the head, and to a lesser extent, the neck, aged normally.

One side effect of this medicine was that it stimulated physical desire, so that Quinella was as sensually alive as an adolescent. And since, like many women of her age, she had no lover, the frustration often became intolerable. When this happened, on average once a week, she went to the kalinda tree and embraced it, allowing it to drain away her erotic energies.

Now, suddenly, Niall understood why a group of women had been embracing the tree when they had passed it in Gerek’s carriage. But why had Gerek told him the women were hoping to conceive, as if implying that it was just a superstition?

Niall also understood why Quinella was angry with the Magician. When she had heard about the plan to make peace with the spider — news that had spread almost instantaneously, since everyone was telepathic — she had been stunned with incredulity and delight; like every other inhabitant of the city, she had felt that it signaled a new era. So the news that Niall and the captain had been imprisoned aroused furious resentment, and the end of her hopes of finding a husband.

The sound of voices from the other room indicated that Gerek had come home. Katia placed the food on the tray with another carafe of wine, and went out.

Gerek was sitting opposite Typhon, and was already draining a glass of wine. Niall could sense that, like Typhon, he was weary and impatient. When Katia tried to kneel to unlace his boots, he waved her away.

As the door closed behind her, Typhon said bitterly: “He says it’s all my fault, of course.” The strength of his feeling was so great that it made Niall wince.

“But why you?”

“Because he says I announced the peace treaty without consulting him.” Typhon drained his glass and stared morosely at the floor.

Gerek said: “But you always make public announcements.”

“That’s what I told him. He claims it was a calculated piece of treachery.”

But Niall suddenly knew the Magician had been correct. Typhon had made the announcement with the aim of forcing his hand.

Gerek said: “That’s absurd.”

“Of course it’s absurd. And now he’s just making the situation worse. He doesn’t know how to cope with disagreement. He’s too pig-headed.”

Gerek looked around nervously, then went to the front door and peered out. As he came back to his chair he said: “I wouldn’t like to see you land in one of his dungeons.” He sat down again. “Tell me what’s happened.”

Typhon made an obvious effort to calm himself.

“After you left this morning, Baltiger and Vasco came to see me. They wanted me to talk to the karvasid. I told them there’d be no point — once he’s decided on something, he never changes his mind. So then they asked me if they could go and see him — the whole Citizens’ Committee.”

Gerek sat up. “My God!”

“Yes, quite. How can I explain that he won’t see anybody because he hates people? They think he’s wise and kind, and that’s because I’ve told them so until I’m blue in the face. So how can I suddenly tell them the truth?”

Gerek said: “But after last night they must realize that he’s got a short fuse.”

“Yes, yes, they realize that all right. But Baltiger’s the mayor, Vasco’s the chairman of the Citizens’ Committee. They think they’ve got the right to express their opinions.”

Gerek clutched his forehead in a parody of despair. “So what did you tell them?”

“I said I’d pass on their views to the karvasid. So they finally rode with me as far as the kalinda tree, then went to a meeting at the Town Hall. I promised I’d go there later and tell them his decision.”

“And what were you supposed to tell our master?”

“Oh, what you’d expect. That everybody in Shadowland wants a peace treaty, and perhaps it’s not too late.”

“And what did he say?”

Typhon smiled grimly. “He almost foamed at the mouth. Sent for Jelko and ordered him to arm the guards with Reapers.”

“What!” Gerek was horrified.

“Oh, they’re not the real thing. They fire a kind of laser beam. They could give you a bad burn, but that’s about all.”

“Thank God for that!”

Typhon shrugged. “If we had the real thing, he would have invaded Korsh a long time ago.”

Talking to Gerek obviously had made Typhon feel more relaxed, and he began helping himself to food.

Gerek asked: “And what did you tell Baltiger and whatshisname when you went to the Town Hall?”

“I haven’t been yet.”

“You haven’t?”

“What’s the point? I’d only have to tell more lies — tell them the peace treaty will be signed next week or next month. Let him tell his own lies. He’s better at it than I am.”

Niall was not deceived by this tone of injured innocence. Typhon was saying that he was sick of the Magician. Like Quinella and the guard who emptied the slop bucket, he felt that it was time the despot was relieved of his power. Merely expressing his irritation aloud to Gerek increased its force. This, Niall realized, was the problem with a city in which everyone was telepathic — public opinion could change in a moment.

As Katia pushed in the trolley, Niall decided he had heard enough. It was time to find out what was happening at the Town Hall.

He walked through the door and down the steps, into the street. The city center was half a mile away, and he had no desire to walk — to begin with, walking without a body was an oddly unsatisfactory experience — since he was weightless, it made him feel like a ghost.

He decided to try raising his arms to see if he could fly. At first nothing seemed to happen; then, quite abruptly, he found himself in the market square.

Suddenly, Niall understood the meaning of the phrase “as quick as thought.”