Was it conceivable that she was still being controlled by the magician? The thought stirred the hairs on the back of his neck. Then he dismissed the idea. Everything that had happened so far convinced him that the magician communicated with his servants through the pendants. And these were now safely confined within the magnetic field of the stone jars in the cellar.
Yet it was equally difficult to believe that this girl had regained consciousness, attacked him, then plunged back into this state of profound unconsciousness. As he stared down at the still face, still pressing the handkerchief against his swollen lip, he knew that it would be absurd to take further risks; the pendants must be taken to the white tower. He covered her with the blanket, folded the lakeweed and replaced it in its box, then left the room and locked the door behind him.
Although he could hear voices, and the sound of pans clattering in the kitchen, he met no one on his way downstairs; this was a relief, since he had no wish to explain his swollen lip. At the top of the cellar steps, he paused to light the oil lamp, then trod carefully down into the cool gloom.
The black stone jars were exactly as he had left them. He placed the lamp on the floor, and removed the plug from the neck of the nearest one — it had jammed in tight, and required some twisting to remove. He reached inside cautiously, but as his fingers made contact with the pendant, he realized that it was completely inert. This was the pendant whose chain he had snapped in his impatience to separate them; he dropped it into the pocket of his tunic, then moved the oil lamp close to the second jar.
This plug came out easily. He reached into the depths of the jar and found the chain — it was also inert. But as his hand emerged, the back brushed against the neck of the jar, and he detected a sharp edge. He picked up the lamp and held it over the jar. There was a crack, about an eighth of an inch wide at the top, running vertically down the jar. His first thought was that he had caused it himself when he sealed the jar with the heavy plug. But when he examined it in the lamplight, he could see that it ran all the way down the side of the jar. It seemed unlikely that he could have caused such a crack simply by dropping the plug into the neck. He held the lamp close to the other side of the jar. Here he could detect a hairline crack that ran from the neck down to the base. But when he reached inside the neck, and tried to pull the two halves apart, it was impossible. This second crack was apparently only on the surface. Yet he remained puzzled and vaguely disturbed. It was possible, of course, that the crack had been in the jar all the time, and that he had simply failed to notice it. But he found this hard to believe. As he dropped the pendant into the other side of his tunic pocket — making sure there was the maximum distance between them — he was unable to suppress a shiver of apprehension.
It vanished as he stepped out into the pale afternoon sunlight. The sky was already blue with dusk; the north wind seemed to carry the scent of autumn. Men were returning home from work; a pregnant woman came past carrying two bags of shopping. It was the hour of the day that Niall loved best, the time for relaxation after work, when the world seemed full of a warm glow of happiness. It had been a long, and in some ways a frustrating day; but now that he looked back on it, it seemed that luck had been with him.
Since there were so many people in the square, he decided not to approach the white tower from the south side, which faced the headquarters of the Spider Lord; this would be inviting attention and curiosity. Instead he crossed the square as if approaching the bridge that led to the slave quarter. On this side of the tower there was a wide-open space consisting partly of grass and partly of hard pavement. Since this was usually deserted, it was easy to cross the grass with the certainty that the tower itself would conceal him from pedestrians on the other side of the square.
But even when he was halfway across the grass, he became aware of a feeling of inner discord. It was the same sensation that he had experienced earlier in the day, when he had approached the tower carrying the stone figurine. Now it was even stronger. Instead of feeling a kind of magnetic attraction as he approached the tower — not unlike the feeling a dowser experiences in the presence of underground water — there was a sense of repulsion that produced a sensation like walking into a strong wind. He knew that it would be pointless to try to enter its force field; it was warning him to keep his distance. Therefore, he removed both pendants from his pocket, and placed them on the blue-gray marble that surrounded the base of the tower. To his surprise, the feeling of repulsion remained, although less powerful than a moment ago. He stood there, bewildered, wondering what to do next. A moment later uncertainty changed to relief as the old man walked through the solid wall, stepping out of its milky surface like someone emerging from water. Niall waited for an explanation. Instead, the old man raised his right arm and pointed at the gold chains, which were lying a few feet away.
Niall said: “They are pendants, like the one. . .”
But before he could finish the sentence, a narrow beam of pale orange light emanated from the end of the old man’s index finger and struck one of the pendants. This glowed into a bright golden color, then melted and coagulated into a globule which seemed to simmer and sizzle on the marble. Then as the marble itself began to glow and become red hot, the golden ball became smaller and smaller, like a drop of water evaporating on a hot plate. As this happened, Niall observed that the other pendant was no longer lying where he had placed it; then he saw that it had moved close to the edge of the platform. For a moment he assumed that this was due to the force of the energy blast emanating from the old man’s finger; then, with a shock, he realized that the gold chain was moving with an odd rolling motion, as if trying to escape. Before it could reach the edge, it had been caught in the orange beam, and had turned into a pool of liquid metal. Seconds later, it was another golden ball, still rolling toward the edge of the platform. It became smaller and smaller, then disappeared, leaving the marble glowing with dull heat that Niall could feel from a distance of five yards.
Niall asked: “Why was that necessary?”
“Have you ever heard of a booby trap?”
Niall said doubtfully: “A kind of practical joke?”
“In this case, more than a joke. To have brought them into the tower would have been a disaster.”
“But I brought one in the other day.”
“That has also been destroyed.”
“But why did you let it in?”
“Because I did not know then what I have learned since.”
“What was that?”
“That these devices can be animated with some kind of living force.”
“How did you find out?”
“The device that you brought into the tower was able to neutralize the electric field in which I enclosed it.”
“What happened?”
“The alarm system gave warning of an intruder, and specified the electromagnetic enclosure. By then the device had once again become inert. I vaporized it immediately.”
“Did the alarm system give any indication of the nature of the intruder?”
“None — merely that it was a living presence.”
Niall said: “It was the magician.”
The old man shrugged. “If so, it is too late to do anything about it.”
Niall was concerned. “Do you think he could have learned anything?”
“Unfortunately that is impossible to say. It was not noticed until it tried to interfere with the circuits of the Steegmaster.”
“Great goddess!”
“These two devices would have been even more dangerous. When two are brought into contact, their power is greatly augmented.”
“I know.” Niall remembered the cracked stone jar. “That’s why I separated them.”
“But you were too impatient and left part of one chain entangled with the other.”
Niall colored. “But I didn’t think the chains made any difference.”
“That is what you were intended to think. In fact, they are a part of the device.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That is unnecessary. Now that we understand the danger, it is possible to anticipate it.”