The Las Vegas Convention Center was the largest single-level convention facility in the United States, containing 1.9 million square feet in its 102 meeting rooms and 12 exhibit hallsso the literature in the package she and Kory had received at check-in saidand after a morning spent trying to find the displays of the people she'd talked to last night, Beth Kentraine was inclined to believe it. This was the first day of Comdex, and the place was crammed with convention-goers.
It wasn't that she'd never been to a trade show before. When she'd still had a mundane job in television (though that time now seemed as if it belonged to someone else's life), Beth had attended ShoWest and a number of other conventions, some of them even held in this very place. But Comdex outstripped them allthere were hundreds of vendors, offering everything to do with computers that was even imaginable, including products that wouldn't reach the wider market for years, if ever. In just the short walk from the main entrance, Beth had seen wraparound computer monitors as wide as a Cinerama screen, 19-inch screens that you could hang on the wall like a picture, laptops that would fit in your purse but whose monitor and keyboard unfolded to the size of a desktop system. She'd seen servers the size of shoeboxes, computers so small the CPU was built into the keyboard, solar-powered computers, and computers on which you could surf the net from the heart of the Amazon jungle, no phone lines, electricity, or cables required.
It was dizzying.
Their first stop was Haram Technologies. Haram's business was shielding and buffering equipment, and they were picking up the Faraday Cage here. It had been Azrael who'd suggested they just order the stuff and pick it up at Comdex. For one thing, everyone they would want to deal with would be here. For another, if the components were shipped to Comdex as part of the trade show paraphernalia and then sold off the floor, there'd be no detailed paper trail leading back to who bought them. And that, Beth considered, was a very useful thing.
The sales rep at Haram had the slightly-unbelievable name of Mike Fright. He and Beth quickly checked over the component list for the cage (the directions said it was easily assembled; Beth personally doubted that), and Beth paid with a certified check drawn on the Elfhame Misthold account. The equipment would be shipped to the Tir-na-Og at the end of the showjust as well, as it came in a crate weighing several hundred pounds.
Their next stop was a small Seattle-based company called Orion Power and Light, where they took delivery of solar charging arrays and LION battery packs to run both the Faraday Cage and the computer system that would be set up inside it. The two booths were a serious distance apart, and Beth and Kory still had several more stops to makecomputer, monitor, printer, softwarebefore they'd have taken care of their shopping list. They could carry some of the smaller items with them, but the cage and the batteries were too heavy.
It was while they were looking for Hesperus Microsystems that Beth realized that the same guy had been behind them, just a few feet away, every time she'd looked for the last forty minutes. Even in a trade show full of eccentrics he was easy to spothow many people wore business suits in that shade of green? He looked as if he'd mugged a sofa to get it.
"Kory," she said, stopping to nudge him. "See that man? Over there? The one in the green suit? Don't let him see you looking. I think he's following us."
Kory glanced carefully behind him, but saw nothing. Men in suits aplenty, of course, but none of them in any of the colors humans might call green. He glanced at Beth, worried.
"I see nothing," he said.
"Well, I know he's following us," she muttered crossly.
She looked worried, and Kory was worried as well. He'd had no idea this Comdex would be so bigand Beth hated crowds. No wonder she looked so drawn and fretful. He thought of suggesting that she go back to the hotel and leave him to complete their shopping, but he knew that Beth did not entirely trust him to be on his own in the World Aboveand to be fair, Kory did not entirely trust himself either. Much as he loved the human world, it was an extraordinarily vast and complicated place, and the penalties for being revealed to be other than what one seemed were great.
But at the same time, he wasn't sure there was any present danger to concern himself with. It was true that there were still warrants out for Beth's arrest, but as Kory understood it, the hunters were not actively looking for her, and unless she ran afoul of one of their security databases, or returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, she should be safe from their hunt. The last time they had been captured, it had left Beth with a legacy of panic attacks, and it was possible that one had been triggered by the crowds surrounding them now. The press of people here even made Kory edgyin comparison to human lands, Underhill was sparsely populated, and a quarter of a million of anything gathered together in one place was a sight one of the Seleighe Sidhe might expect never to see even in the course of his long life. In the World Above, of course, such gatherings were commonplace, but that didn't make Kory any more used to them.
"Do you see him now?" Beth demanded. "Look!"
Once more Kory looked where she pointed, and once more saw nothing.
"I see the booth where we are to pick up the computer," he offered, pointing in his turn.
"Good. The sooner we get this over with the better. I just wish he weren't following us. Whoever he is."
Kory looked again, hoping to see what she saw, and still saw nothing.
It could be worse. They could be wearing black. Sean Collins had heard all the MIB jokes he cared to since joining the PDI's field teams. At least the conspiracy nuts weren't looking for guys in green. Not yet, anyway.
The whole unit had been on alert since the incident with Booker yesterday. According to the tracking software, Travis'd left the airport, gone to one of the casinos on the Strip, and then gone back to his hotel. Unfortunately Booker couldn't explain why he'd done any of those things, because Booker didn't remember doing any of them. He didn't remember anything at all that had happened yesterday, or where he'd left his weapon and his optics. He had no idea why his PS detector had melted down. In short, Booker'd had a Close Encounter, and now they were all on alert. Sean had flown in from Washington last night, about the time the local shop reeled Booker in and found out what had happened. Now he and his team were looking for an answer the size of a needle in a countywide haystack, with precious little notion of where to start.
The others were checking out the casinos, but Sean had decided to cover the trade show almost on a whimif Spookies were hitting Vegas now, it stood to reason that it might be linked with the other big event hitting town. He was wearing his PS detector, but not consulting it. The special optics would tag a Spookie just as fasttheir special filtering technology cut through Spookie illusions as if they weren't there.
To his surprise, he hit paydirt almost immediately. A tall blond man with a redheaded woman, both dressed Corporate Casual. She was human, he wasn't. Sean wondered if she knew the truth about her companion. Best to bring them both in, just in case, but priority one, as always, was a live Spookie capture.
He phoned to bring the rest of his team inthe fact that they were in the neighborhood at all was the one lucky break they had from whatever had happened to Bookerand waited for them to get here. Meanwhile, he stuck close.
Beth was furious. Kory's air of gentle bewilderment was all too obvious: he didn't see the guy in the green suit with the green-tinted mirrorshades. He thought she was having visions, or some damn thingbut she wasn't, and she didn't dare point the guy out openly for fear of letting him know she knew he was there.
But why was he following them? There was no way for the government to know she and Kory were here, for one thing, even if they did know what ID they were traveling under. Sure, you had to show ID every time you boarded a plane, these days, but they'd used a Gate to get here.
And for another, he didn't really look like a Fed.
Maybe he thinks we're somebody else. The thought made her smile humorlessly. No matter who he thought they were, the moment he arrested them and ran their prints through VICAP, her outstanding warrants would show upand she wasn't sure what Kory's fingerprints would look like. Elven glamouries and spells couldn't do a lot to fool machines, only the people who ran them.
But the green man wasn't going to arrest them. Not if Beth had anything to say to the matter. :Bredana? Can you hear me?:
There was a long waitsecondsbefore she felt the elvensteed's faint reply. Bredana and Mach Five were at Elfhame Misthold, but they were stabled in the World Above precisely in case Beth or Kory needed to Call them. :Come herequietlyand bring Mach Five with you. I think we may need a quick exit.:
She felt the faint tickle of the elvensteed's assent. San Francisco was at least eight hours away by car, and while the 'steeds could duck back Underhill to make their way here swiftly, she couldn't count on them to be here much inside of half an hourtwenty minutes if they really pushed things. She knew Kory would think she was just being paranoid to summon themor, worse, that she was seeing little (or big) green men who weren't there. To be honest, she'd spent enough time jumping at shadows before they'd gone Underhill to live to give him good reason. But this time it was different.
He is there. I do see him.
Why can't Kory?
They reached the Hesperus Microsystems booth, and Beth pulled Kory past it. No sense in giving the Man In Green their whole itinerary. It was bad enough that their watchers would be able to find out everything they'd already boughtand while the information couldn't help them, nor could they trace the equipment once it had been taken UnderhillBeth resented giving up any information to her persecutors.
She stopped a few booths down from Hesperus, in front of a booth that seemed to be selling very large concave mirrors. She could see herself and Kory in them, weirdly distorted.
And she could see the green guy.
"Look," she said, in a teeth-gritted voice. "There. Look in the mirror. See him? Behind the booth with the yellow banner."
"I see him," Kory said.
Relief washed through her. Oh, thank the Mother! I wasn't completely sure I wasn't losing my mind. "He's the one that's been following us since we got here."
Kory turned slightly, pretending an interest in the booths on the opposite side of the aisle, and looked behind him. His hand closed over Beth's, and she could feel his shock.
"I don't see him."
He glanced back at the mirror. "Only here. In the mirror. Not there."
"What? That's not possible." Elves were immune to most broad-spectrum glamouries. If Beth could see him, there was no reason Kory shouldn't.
"It is true," Kory said. "I see him in the mirror. But when I look directly at him, he isn't there."
"Let's get out of here," Beth said in a low voice. "I called our rides, but I don't know when they'll get here."
"And they cannot enter the convention center in any case," Kory said practically. He began moving toward the exit, pulling Beth with him. "We must get back to the hotel. Prince Gelert will know what must be done."
"What about our stuff?" Beth asked in spite of herself. They couldn't just abandon it, not when it was their passkey into Chinthliss' library.
"We'll get it somehow. I was a fool to bring you here and expose you to such danger," Kory said bitterly.
"Heymy choice," Beth said reassuringly. "I just wish I knew what the hell's going on."
Something had spooked the Spookie. Sean grinned mirthlessly at his own joke. He wasn't sure whatthe stealthtech woven into his suit should keep the thing from reading his brainwaves, much less seeing him unless he directly approached it, but there was no point in trying to argue with the facts. The Spookie and the redhead had stopped wandering and were heading purposefully for the nearest exit.
"Caboose. All units, move up. On me," he said into his throat mike.
"There's another one," Beth exclaimed, alarmed. Same suit, same glasses. Proof, if she'd needed or wanted it, that something big and dangerous was after them both. Or . . . just after Kory? If he'd been here alone, he couldn't even have seen them until it was too late.
Someone hunting elves with magic they can't sense? Well, that makes my day complete.
"Where?" Kory demanded, his voice filled with exasperation and fear. Beth's heart sank. If Kory couldn't see them, how could they get away?
"Two o'clock. Moving toward the exit. Hold on to me, and don't let go."
"Always," Kory answered grimly.
They turned away from the exit, trying to keep the crowds between them and the men in green. But Beth spotted a third one, and realized there was no point any longer in pretending not to look. Please, oh, please, let them be trying to get us somewhere quiet before they try something. She pulled Kory to a stop.
"This would be a good time to tell Bre and Mach to hurry," She said tightly. Three that she could seeand how many she couldn't spot?
"They say they're coming." Kory was better at communicating long-distance with the 'steeds than she was. "But can we get to them?"
"Bring 'em in here if we can't get out. Ten to one everybody'll think its another floorshow." She turned back toward the center of the hall, where the crowds were thicker. As she did, she caught the eye of the green-suited thug she'd first spotted. As she did he smiled and nodded, cocking thumb and forefinger in a make-believe gun and pointing it at her. Gotcha, he said silently.
"Oh, Sweet Mother," Beth groaned, looking sharply away. She felt panic well up inside her. They were after herafter themand didn't care if they knew it. The exhibition hall reeled around her, and everything was suddenly too bright and too loud. She couldn't breathe.
No! Not herenot nowno matter how good a reason she had, she couldn't lose it and leave Kory helpless. She took a deep breath, half choking, fighting back the panic.
"I will not let them take you," Kory said. Comfort and calm flowed into her from their clasped hands.
"Funny," Beth said in a strangled voice, "but I don't think it's me they're after. If it was, how come I can see them but you can't?"
"Then leave me," Kory said promptly. "Get away while you still can."
He tried to pull away, but Beth wouldn't let him. "No! They've seen us together. They'll want me, too, now. And if you think I'm throwing you to the wolves, Mister, think again. If we can just get back to the hotel, we'll be safe. Gerry can glitter them to death."
"Good idea," Kory said, smiling tightly.
Trying to make headway through the crowds was like swimming upstream through day-old Jell-O. Several exits loomed temptingly near, but if Beth was right in her guesses, to leave the main floor for any of the stairwells or walkways would play right into the hunters' hands. They had to stay in plain sight until the 'steeds were near, and then run like hell.
She'd never felt so exhausted. Tension, and the cat-and-mouse game they were playing, sapped her strength and will. The exhibit hall was a blur of sound and color around her, every display a place the enemy could hide. Kory had little strength to loan herhe needed to save his own in case they had to fight their way out. As the long minutes passed, she tried to keep herself from looking at her watchBredana and Mach Five would get here when they got here, and not a moment before. She concentrated on watching for telltale flashes of green clothing among the eclectically-costumed press of attendeesdressed in everything from three piece suits straight off Savile Row to Hawaiian shirts and Birkenstocksthat filled the convention space. She wasn't sure now whether there were dozens of them or she was seeing the same few over and over.
"They're here," Kory said, and a moment later Beth, too, could feel the elvensteeds' worried presence.
"Okay," she said. "Time to make a break." She was glad her voice sounded steady, because she felt about ready to burst into tears. At last they began slowly working their way toward the exit.
"Two more Spookies," Cat said over the radio link. "Outside on Paradise Road near the Visitor Information Center. You won't believe this one, Chief. They're horses that look like motorcycles."
"Nothing surprises me about Spookies," Sean answered, into his throat mike. "Okay, kids. Looks like our boy is trying to make a break for it. Move up. Cat, stay away from whatever those things are. We don't know what they can do."
"Gotcha, Chief. I've called up the Fantasticar, just in case."
"Good girl." No matter where the Spookies ran, the Special Ground Vehicle could catch them. It was packed with gadgets that made everything here look like a set of Legos, and its built-in AI was smarter than most of the field team. If only they had more than the one prototype, they could wrap up the Spookie threat over the weekend and all go for a nice six-week vacation in Aruba.
We do what we can with what we've got, Sean told himself philosophically. As Wheatley always said, there were better days ahead, providing you got through today alive.
"Let's catch ourselves a Spookie."
The exhibit halls were arranged on both sides of the Grand Concourse, which had a second floor that led to skywalks that connected both with the Hilton and one of the parking lots. Beth had been tempted to try for the hotel earlier, but had been afraid of what would happen once they left the safety of the convention crowds. With the elvensteeds waiting just outside, however . . .
She and Kory hurried out into the concourse and turned west. They'd have to go up a flight of stairs to get to the walkway. That would be the danger pointwhen they were away from the protection of the crowds, easy prey.
Hand in hand, the two of them hurried past a number of closed doorsmeeting rooms, with programs going on insidedrawing curious glances from passersby still wandering the halls. She didn't see any of their pursuers, and for one sweet moment, Beth thought they were home free.
Then the original man she'd seentheir leader, Beth was morally certainstepped out of the stairwell and walked toward them, hands open, smiling.
Beth glanced toward Kory. He was looking in the other direction, back the way they'd come. She squeezed his hand frantically. He looked where she was looking, and she saw sudden awareness in his eyes, as if he could at last see what she was seeing.
"Hi," the stranger said. "I wonder if you could"
The air crackled as Kory let go of Beth's hand and flung a spellbolt that would knock the stranger senseless and clear their way. It splashed against his shirtfront, going from invisible to visible, from violet to pale yellow.
And nothing happened.
"Not very friendly," the stranger said, reaching into his jacket. Beth could see now that he was wearing one of those Secret Service earplugs. "Zeppelin. All units converge." His hand came out of his jacket holding a small pistol-shaped object. "Stay where you are, both of you."
Kory stepped back, dropping the glamour that made him appear human and calling up his elven armor as well. There was a hissing sound as his sword cleared its scabbard.
Though the stranger apparently knew a great deal about elves, this moveand Kory's appearanceseemed to take him by surprise. Beth could not see his eyes behind the green sunglasses, but the rest of him was eloquent of disbelief. Kory swung the flat of his sword at the hand that held the pistol, but even in the face of a Sidhe warrior in full field plate, the stranger's reflexes remained good. He jerked his hand up and fired.
Beth expected a loud explosion, but the strange gun only made a short hiss, like a sneeze. Louder than the sound of its firing was the plinking sound made as its projectile struck Kory in the chest. Kory uttered a startled cry. There was a short, dull-gray dart sunk into the armor's elvensilver breastplate. The armor smoked and melted around it like dry ice around a red-hot coal, and magic flared and sparked unevenly.
"I can put the next one through your eye, if you move another inch. It's Cold Iron. I imagine it will hurt."
Kory froze, sword half-raised.
Beth flung herself at the stranger, terrified into bravery.
His gun went off. She felt a burning, cramping pain high on her left shoulder as the dart sank in, but she was no creature of magic to burn at the touch of iron. She scrabbled for the gun, trying to get her hands on it.
There was a sound of glass breaking in the stairwell, as thick, crack-resistant, shatterproof glass gave way beneath the assault of elvensteed hooves. Kory jerked her away from the strangerBeth yelped in pain as his hands closed over her injured shoulderand pointed his sword at the stranger's chest. The man froze, hands spread wide.
"I do not know what quarrel you think you have with us, but I will tell you plainly: leave us alone!" Kory said.
Beth ran past him, to the door to the walkway, and jerked it open. The elvensteedsin equine formfloundered up the last of the stairs, clumsy in such close quarters, and trotted into the hall. Bredana nuzzled Beth anxiously, smelling the blood on her, and Beth pushed the 'steed's head away before she could be burned by the iron. She reached up and grasped the end of the dart, pulling it free. It looked like a golf pencil, or a child's crayon: harmless, not powerful enough to penetrate more than an inch or so.
But deadly to elves.
Her left arm felt numb and tingly, too weak to be of much use in mounting. Bredana shivered all over, and suddenly in place of the gleaming white mare stood an equally-gleaming motorcycle. Gratefully, Beth threw her leg across the seat and settled aboard.
Kory backed away from his downed foe and vaulted aboard his own 'steed, still in armor. Once in the saddle, he reached up to pluck the dart free of his armor and fling it away; the armor of his gauntlet sizzled and popped but protected his hand long enough to keep him from burning. Then he turned and sent Mach Five back down the steps, Beth and Bredana close behind.
For a moment, it looked like they might make their escape. There was no sign of pursuit when they hit the street, and even the sight of a knight on horseback didn't draw more than a few glancesthis was Las Vegas, after all, and the Excalibur Hotel was just up the Strip. They headed for the Tir-na-Og at a gallop, planning to cut around back and go in through the service entrance, where they'd attract less attention. Once inside the casino's spellshields, they should be able to go to ground and figure out just what it was that had been chasing them.
In the parking lot, Kory morphed from armored Sidhe knight to Mundane in khakis and blazer, and Mach Five transformed from fiery charger to high-ticket bike as they accelerated toward the main road. No one was looking when he changed, and if they were, it wouldn't really matter. The two of them were already in enough trouble without worrying over whether or not they became an X-File.
But as they reached the Strip, a shadow appeared between them and the sun. Beth looked up, over her shoulder.
A large black limousine without any wheels was hovering over them, ready to follow them anywhere they went. As she watched, it shimmered and vanished, leaving behind nothing but a disturbance in the air like a heat mirage. It still cast a shadow, but that was a lot less noticeable than a flying bathtub cruising the noontide Strip.
Beth felt her mind slowly and carefully boggle, a sensation not unlike having a lounge chair languidly collapse under you. She could believe in elven knights, dragons, winged fairies, unicorns, and magic castles without a single blink. But this flying car thing chasing them was straight out of Star Wars. It didn't seem possiblelet alone realand it might be able to do anything.
We can't go back to the casino, she realized with a sinking feeling. We'd just be leading them right into the middle of Glitterhame Neversleepsand these guys probably aren't all that picky about which elves they kidnap.
Glancing to her side, she saw that Kory had come to the same conclusion. He pointed southdown the Strip, out of town. Beth nodded, glad that her dark turtleneck and blazer concealed the amount she was bleeding. He knew she was hurt, but the last thing she needed was for Kory to be worrying about her when he ought to be worrying about himself. And it wasn't a bad injury. More of a puncture wound, painful and annoying and messy, as if someone had driven a tenpenny nail into the fleshy part of her shoulder.
The two elvensteeds accelerated down the road, weaving in and out of afternoon traffic with blithe disregard of local speed laws, but no matter how fast they wentand at the end of the first mile they were doing well over 100 mphthe flying car kept up with them (at least as far as Beth could judge from the coffin-shaped shadow that raced ahead along the ground). The two elvensteeds were invisible to ordinary traffic nowbut no matter how they zigged and detoured, the vehicle paced them as though they were plainly visible. Beth very much wanted to talk to Kory, to ask him what he thought, but that would involve stopping, and the only thing that was keeping them even slightly safe at the moment was sheer speed.
We can't hide, and we can't run. What does that leave?
All they needed was a few seconds and a little privacy, and the elvensteeds could open a Portal that would take them back to the casino, but that assumed that the Men In Green couldn't follow that as well, and at the moment Beth thought that was too dangerous an assumption to make. The best thing to doand undoubtedly Kory's planwas to lose their pursuers entirely before doubling back.
If they could.
The airport flashed by in a blur of palm trees, and in a few seconds more they were on the open road. Even in November, the desert sun hammered down on blacktop and pale red rock, casting the harsh desert landscape into merciless relief.
And still the shadow over their heads paced them.
At the moment it began to seem that the contest would settle into one of sheer endurance, the hovercraft opened fire. Pale flashes of light wove a lattice in the air ahead of them, driving them off the road, herding them in a circle back the way they cameand undoubtedly into the arms of other pursuers. The elvensteeds exerted themselves to the utmost, reaching unimaginable speeds, but the hovercraft easily paced them, throwing up barriers of laser fire whenever the 'steeds tried to escape. That they wanted to capture, not kill, the two of them was clearand frightening, especially since it seemed like only a matter of time until they got their wish. The elvensteeds were fast, and nimble, but doubly handicapped by having to care for their riders: sudden stops and changes of direction might fling Beth and Kory from their saddles, and Beth, injured as she was, couldn't hold on very well.
Suddenly Mach Five wheeled around and turned back the way he'd come. Beth waited a moment for Bredana to followand was filled with sudden stricken fury when she didn't. Everything she tried was useless; the elvensteed would not obey her.
"Kory! Damn you!"
Unable to make her mount heed her, Beth flung herself from Bredana's seat. The elvensteed, sensing her intention, had barely enough time to bring herself to a stop, but Beth still bit the dust hard, sending a lance of pain through her shoulder. She staggered to her feet, growling deep in her throat. Kory and Mach Five were only a faint speck upon the horizon, the invisible hovercar somewhere above them.
The elvensteed came up behind Beth timidly. Beth swung around and grabbed her by the handlebar with her good hand, shaking with rage. How dare Kory go off and sacrifice himself? How was she ever going to get him back once the MIGs had him? Didn't he understand that going off in this quixotic fashion didn't help?
"Find him," she told Bredana in a low dangerous voice. "Find him now."
If he lived through this, he would certainly receiveand deservea severe scolding from Beth, Kory thought distractedly. A part of his mind was occupied with sorting the chaotic pictures Mach Five sent him of the terrain the elvensteed had covered on its run here; as much as possible, he wished to choose his ground for what he was about to try. Not for the first time, he wished he had more of his elders' skill in the Art, but Prince Korendil of the High Court of Elfhame Sun-Descending was only a Magus Minor; gifted with little more than the native skill in geasa and glamouries that were the birthright of all the Children of Danu. What he was minded to try now would tax the power of a great Adept, a Magus Major. But he could imagine no other solution to their problem. They must escape the flying car, and they could neither outrun it or hide from it. They dared not lead it back to the other elves, for he now realized that Beth had been rightthe strange men in the green suits seemed to be hunting the Seleighe Sidhe, and doing it with tools that seemed near magical in effect, yet held nothing of the Art.
That any sufficiently advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic was a favorite saying of Beth's, and right now Kory hoped desperately that she was right, and that what they were facing was an advanced technology. Because if it wasn't, his plan wouldn't work. And if it didn't work, he and Beth would be prisoners within the hour.
He urged Mach Five to greater speed across the open desert, exulting inwardly when the flying car followed. Let them think he fled in blind panic, so long as they pursued him at the pace he set. And then he withdrew all his attention from his surroundings, to concentrate on the spell he must cast.
Node Groves held Gates, semipermanent Portals between Underhill and the World Above that anchored the elfhames both in time and in space, and most of the traffic between the worlds used such Gates. Elvensteeds could, by their very nature, open a Portal anywhere at very little cost to themselves, but only for themselves and their riders. The Sidhe could open Portals away from the vicinity of a Gate and pass anything through them, but to open such a Portal away from a Node and its anchoring Grove took both Art and Powerthe more Cold Iron or inanimate mass involved, the more power it took.
Beth said modern computers contained very little metal because they were so advanced. Kory only hoped that an invisible car that flew was even more advanced than the computers he had seen today, or the backlash from his spell would guarantee he would not have to concern himself with Beth's scolding.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, making the shape of his intention clear in his mind. He drew on Mach Five's power as much as he dared, adding it to his own, though he well knew he could not take too much or his elvensteed would not be able to maintain the pace Kory had set. Desperation drove himhe would not think about the fact that his spells had been useless against the Man In Green before, he would not think about the fact that if he failed here he would be helpless, all his power spent. He concentrated, summoned up all his power, his will, his need . . .
And opened a Portal directly in the path of the onrushing aircar.
It hurtled through and vanished, the Portal closing behind it. Kory only had the strength to hold a Portal for secondshe had needed to ensure that both he and his pursuer were going so fast that the aircar could neither stop nor turn aside. Mach Five staggered to a halt and stood, head hanging, sides heaving. Kory, drained and exhausted by that ultimate effort, slid from his 'steed's back to lie dazed and motionless beneath him in the desert sun.
Beth reached them a few moments later. She jumped from Bredana's saddle and staggered over to where Kory was groggily trying to sit up.
"What happened?" Beth demanded. "Where are those guys that were following you? Are you all right?"
"I don't know," Kory said, his voice blurry. "But I do not think they will be back for a while."
On the longand considerably slowerreturn trip to Las Vegas, Kory explained what he had done. They were riding together on Bredana, leading the exhaustedbut smugMach Five.
"Perhaps it was not the safest course to take, nor yet the wisest, for now they are somewhere in Underhill with their vehicle and their weapons, but it was the only one I could think of, Beth, and I did not want you near me when I tried. It was possible that the backlash would have . . . So I wanted you out of the way before I tried anything."
"If you ever scare me like that again, Kory, you'll wish they had gotten you," Beth promised feelingly. "But . . . how can we be sure you got all of them, or that they won't be back? Leaving aside the question of who they are in the first place."
"I can't," Kory said somberly. "But if they last saw us fleeing into the desert, that is where they will seek usand our vanished pursuersand we may gain the sanctuary of Glitterhame Neversleeps unmolested. I think it is time to lay this whole matter before Prince Gelert and cry his aid. It is a greater peril than I have wit to solve."
Upon their return to the Tir-na-Og Casino, Beth and Kory immediately sought out their host, glad to discover that there was stabling for Otherworldly steeds as well as more conventional parking beneath the casino.
Gerry Meredith was devastated to hear about the trouble they'd had at Comdex. "But lovely people, how hideous that something like this should have happened to you on your very first visit to our wonderful city! Certainly you must not stir a step from your rooms, and I assure you, we will all be supernaturally vigilant! Don't worry a hair on your pretty little heads about your shopping listleave it entirely to me; I have oodles of entirely human employees just eating their heads off who would jump at the chance to go pick up some lovely computer equipment! We can have it brought here and transshipped to Misthold before you can say 'Owain Glyndower,' never fear. And no one at all will suspect the fair hand of the Fair Folk in the matter."
Their audience with Prince Gelert later that day was less encouraging.
"Green men upon whom the magic cannot take hold, say you? This makes for ill hearing. One such came here yester'eenbut he was following an Unseleighe lady, and we thought he had some private quarrel with the Dark Court. We are not so great a secret among mortalkind as some among us might hopemany mortals know of our existence, and not all of them have had good of our kind."
"I don't think this is a private quarrel, Prince Gelert," Beth said carefully. "It seems more organized than that. What happened to the young man who came here?"
Looking around the Prince's rooms, Beth was pretty sure whose taste was reflected in the decor of her own suite and the rest of the casinobut here there was no need to even pretend that the suite's trappings were such items as might be found in the normal everyday human world, and the whole effect was like the inside of a jackdaw's jewelry box.
"Ah, my Rhydderich set a glamourie on him, casting from his mind all that had befallen him that day, and sent him back to his own place. At the time we thought no more of it."
Prince Gelert frowned, pondering the matter. The Seleighe lord was what Beth would have to call "thoroughly acculturated"; even here in his private penthouse suite, while discharging his princely duties, he wore Earthly garbthough the double-breasted suit in pale mauve silk (with matching tie) was a bit on the flamboyant side. Only his speech patterns betrayed any hint of his true age; fascinated as they were by novelty, the Sidhe were as prone as anyone else to gravitate naturally to the styles and fashions learned when they first became adults. And if your adulthood lasted several centuries, a certain amount of cultural jet lag was bound to set in. . . .
"Have we enemies, my Rhydderich? And of ourselves, or of the hame, or of the Sidhe in general?" Gelert asked.
The casino's security chiefand head of Gelert's personal guardbowed his head. "I know not, my Princeand the fault is mine for letting my prisoner go so lightly!"
"You acted under my orders," Gelert said kindly, excusing the fault. "We wish no trouble with mortalkind, no matter how they come to discover our true nature, and you had little reason to think he was not alone. You acted wiselyI do confess, I would like to know more of these enemies before I do face them."
"Maybe you could see if any of the other hames have been attacked," Beth suggested cautiously. "Or see if anyone looking suspicious and wearing green has been hanging around them."
Or if a lot of elves are all of a sudden going missing, she thought and did not say. What did they want with Kory and the other elves, anyway? She wished she knewbut not at the price of ever seeing those green-clad whackos again.
Gelert sighed heavily. "We must warn our Underhill guests of what it is that may stalk them while here in our city, and I fear that too many of them will regard it as a chance for great sport. Meanwhile, I shall send word to my brother princes of all that has befallen us here, and I am sure your lord will have his own questions for you when you return home, Prince Korendil. Be easy in your mind that we shall do all that we may to see that your mission here is accomplished as you would have it, and that your visit here is troubled no further."
He looked sorrowful and proud, a combination that clashed oddly with his dress and his surroundings, but after so much time among the Sidhe, Beth barely noticed the incongruity. Now that they had warned the Prince about the trouble in his own backyard, she was anxious to finish their business here and return to the safety of Underhill. Not even the prospect of delivering the computer system to Chinthliss and achieving the solution to her quest could comfort her at the thought of what had nearly happened today. Though the chase had come to naught, the terror had awakened old ghosts, and Beth dreaded the thought of sleeping tonight.
Three days later, Beth and Kory stood once more before the gates to Chinthliss' palace.
After a long night of unbroken nightmares, Kory had demanded that Beth return to Elfhame Misthold without him. He had followed the next day, driving a wagon drawn by two affronted elvensteeds that was piled high with the booty from Comdex. Computer, printer, monitor, software, batteriesand the Faraday Cage that would make it all run in Chinthliss' Underhill domain.
The Gate opened as they approached, and once more they found themselves within the dragon lord's great hall. Chinthliss was there to greet them himself, regarding the cart's contents with ill-concealed eagerness.
"We have brought all that you asked," Kory said, bowing.
"Excellent," Chinthliss purred, rubbing his hands together in glee.
"If you've got a room with an, um, skylight," Beth said, "that would be the best place for it. It's set up to run off batteries and solar cells, and it has a wireless connection for your Internet link." Though where you're going to dial in to, and how, I'm not sure I want to know.
Chinthliss snapped his fingers, and servants appeared to unload the cart and carry away the boxes. Unlike the flowerlike geisha Beth had seen on her last visit, these servants were burly, bald, and half-nakedpicture-perfect dacoits from the pages of an old penny dreadful.
"All is in readiness. Perhaps you would like to see it assembled? I have asked my son to see to that trivial and insignificant detail."
Son? Beth wondered, as she and Kory followed the dragon.
The room Chinthliss had chosen for the computer looked as if it had started life as a Victorian greenhouse. The walls and ceiling were made up of hundreds of panes of leaded glass, and jasmine trees in colorful porcelain pots ringed the walls. A large mahogany table stood in the center of the room, awaiting the computer.
By the time Beth and Kory reached it, the servants had already gotten most of the equipment unpacked. A young man in jeans and a T-shirt stood surveying the mess; Beth was surprised to recognize the black-haired race-car driver from the photo in Chinthliss' study.
"My son, Tannim. Tannim, this is Prince Korendil and the lady Beth Kentraine. They have come to use my library."
"And paid handsomely for the privilege," the young man said, grinning. "Hi. I'm Tannim, from Fairgrove." He held out his hand. Fox had said Tannim was a friend of Chinthliss', but the dragon called the young man his son. Which is true? Beth wondered. Both?
"Hi," Beth said, taking his hand. His grip was strong and warm, the palm slightly rough in the way of those who work with their hands. "I'm Beth, and this is Kory. I sure hope you know more about this stuff than we do." And if you're from Elfhame Fairgrove, I guess we'd better warn you about little green men with nail guns before you go.
Tannim grinned engagingly. "Not reallybut I read directions really well. Hey . . . what's this?"
Beth explained about the Faraday Cage, and to her relief, she didn't have to explain much.
"We use them sometimes at Fairgrove, too. Pretty cool."
With so many helping hands, the work went quickly. The Faraday Cage was unpacked and assembleddespite Tannim's protests of mechanical helplessness, he certainly seemed to know what to do with a toolboxand soon the gleaming copper mesh, a cube twelve feet square and eight feet highfilled the room. Tannim and Kory unrolled rubber floor mats and covered them with an Oriental carpet before the servants moved the mahogany table back inside. It had to weigh as much as a small car, but Chinthliss' impassive servants handled it as if it weighed nothing at all.
Soon the computer itself was spread out upon the table, an Omnium processoronly one generation up from the Pentium, not two, but Intel had looked at its choices of namesSexium, Septium, Octium, Noniumand wisely opted to skip them allwith a 27-inch flat screen, full-color laser printer, and wireless Internet connection. Cables ran to the solar array lying on the floor beside the table, an LED flashing slowly as it began to charge.
"I guess we better switch the cage on before we turn on the computer," Tannim said, "or there isn't going to have been much point to this, right?"
Just then Chinthliss' butler arrived, to announce that luncheon was served. He fixed his master with a militant gaze, as if daring him to mistreat his guests. Chinthliss nodded reluctantly, although Beth could see that he was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning, and just as eager to play with his new toys.
Over lunch, Kory told the others the tale of their flight and narrow escape from their pursuers in Las Vegas.
"And you mean that those guys are somewhere Underhill? Wild," Tannim said. He didn't sound particularly worried. "Hope they've got more with them than those dart guns. Not everything down here is allergic to iron."
"What is of greater concern to meas it will be to Keighvin Silverhairis the motive for their attack, as well as their methods," Chinthliss said. "You say they used no magic?"
"None that I could sense," Kory admitted. "Yet their artifice was such that they were invisible to me, though Beth could see them. And I do not understand how their vehicle could operate at all."
"Beats me," Tannim said, interested. "Fairgrove is pretty up-to-date when it comes to automotive technology, and offhand I can't think of anything that could do what you've described. Flying fastand silentlyand with some kind of cloaking devicethere isn't anything out there, or in development, that could do that."
"Unless it did not come from your world at all," Chinthliss supplied helpfully. "Underhill is vast, and there are realms within it that rely as much upon technology as the Sidhe do upon magic. Yet why should they choose to trouble the elfhames upon Earth?"
"That's the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question," Beth agreed. "We've run into people before who wanted to treat Talents like lab rats, and there's all those psychic research programs the government runs, but . . . these people knew about elves. And were hunting them."
"It would be sad indeed were the ancient alliance between Sidhe and human to founder upon this rock of enmity," Chinthliss said. "I shall consider the matter, and see if any of my resources can provide an answer to this riddle. And now, let us return to our work."
By the time the four of them returned to the conservatory, the boxes had been tidied away and the solar panels were up and running. "Here goes nothing," Beth said, flipping the switch to power up the Faraday Cage.
She heard a faint whine that cycled quickly up past the edge of human hearing, and Kory winced. When the others moved to enter the enclosure, he stepped back.
"I believe I shall remain here."
Beth glanced at him curiously for a moment, then understanding dawned. If the cage worked as advertised, and sealed off everything inside from the currents of magic constantly wafting through Underhill, stepping inside would be like going into a soundproof roomor worsefor Kory. It was tempting to fall into the habit of thinking of the Sidhe as invulnerable, but the truth was, they had as many weaknesses as mortals did. They were just different ones.
Whatever the reason for Kory's distaste, it was plain that Chinthliss didn't share it. He led the other two into the cage and seated himself in the squamous leather chair behind the table. Beth felt a faint tingleas if a storm were brewingas she stepped inside, and smelled a faint tang of ozone, but nothing more.
"What do I do?" the dragon asked eagerly.
"Well, first you load the operating system," Beth said, leaning over his shoulder.
An hour later, the software they'd brought was installed and running, and there was a fat pile of manuals at Chinthliss' elbow. Even the internet was up and running, on a T1 line to a standard server with a cross-worlds energy link via tightbeam broadcast to Underhill through a Nexus. Chinthliss had not only gotten his e-mail up and running, he'd ordered several thousand dollars worth of CDs to be delivered to a P.O. box in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Well, it's a good start. . . .
"It'll take you a while to get the hang of all these apps," Beth said, regarding the screensaver full of flying toasters that moved smoothly across. A bouncy march played over the computer's speaker suite in flawless high-fidelity concert hall sound. "But that's everything."
"Excellent. I am truly impressed," Chinthliss purred.
"And now, my lord?" Kory said from outside the cage. "We have fulfilled our side of the bargain."
Reluctantly Chinthliss shut down the computer, watching as the screen went inert and dark. Then he got to his feet and walked out of the Faraday Cage.
"Just as I promised you," he said, reaching into his suit jacket and placing a large gold key into Kory's hand. "Full access to my library and all that it contains. The information you seek is there. Tannim and I will be away on business for some days, but my house is yours. Charles will provide you with anything you desire."
"Charles" must be Chinthliss' formidably-correct butler. As if he had been summoned by the speaking of his nameand for all Beth knew, that was literally the casethe manservant appeared in the doorway.
"Prince Korendil, Lady Beth. May I show you to your roomsor would you prefer to go directly to the library?"
"The library," Kory said decisively.
Beth turned to Chinthliss and Tannim. "Thanks so much for all your help."
"Hey, my pleasure," Tannim said. "I'll check out those guys you mentioned when I get back to Fairgrove. Haven't seen anybody like that hanging around, but you never know. There's some weird folks out there."
"That's the unvarnished truth," Beth agreed, and turned away to take Kory's hand. "See you around."
"Come down and visit," Tannim urged. He waved, and followed Chinthliss from the room.
"If you will be so good as to accompany me?" Charles said.
The entrance to the library was on a par with the rest of the palace's semi-Victorian sensibilities: a double set of coffered oak doors twelve feet high, surmounted by an elaborate plasterwork coat of arms. The golden doorknobs were in the shape of eagle claws grasping jade spheres, and there was a keyhole on the right-side panel just beneath the knob.
"If you require anything further, do not hesitate to ring," Charles said. He bowed stiffly and walked off, leaving the two of them standing before the library doors.
"Well," Beth said, suddenly nervous. "This is it."
"Yes," Kory said. "But somehow I fear . . ." He shrugged, leaving the sentence unfinished, and inserted the key in the lock.
Both doors swung inward. Beth drew a deep breath, stifling a squeak.
The room was hugefour stories tall and as long as a football field. Books lined the walls, all the way to the ceiling. There were ornate gilded catwalks circling the room so that one could reach the higher volumes, and ladders on tracks were set on each level so that the top shelves could be reached. There were long tables running down the center of the room, and a number of comfy chairs that seemed to urge her to curl up in them with the nearest handy volume. The alabaster lamps that hung down from the ceiling bathed the entire room in a soft shadowless light. Beth took a few steps into the room, gazing around herself in wonder.
"There must be about a billion books here," she said in awe.
"Yes." Kory looked around, frowning. "A great number of books. But where is the catalogue?"
Beth wandered over to the nearest shelf and inspected the titles. A copy of The Arabian Nights stood next to a book on practical gardening for the weekend gardener. The book next to that had no title at all on its spine, and when she picked it up, she saw that the pages were covered in a strangely ornate script that she didn't recognize. She put it back. Next to it was a book in Frenchthe title was something like A Saraband for Lost Time, but Beth wasn't confident enough of her French to be quite sure. Next to that was an Oz book, but not by Baum.
"They're not in order," she said, turning to Kory. "They're just . . . here."
"As the information we seek is here," Kory said gloomily. "Somewhere."
"But why would he do that to us?" Beth could think of nothing else to say.
Kory sighed. "I do not think he meant us harm. It may not have occurred to him that we could not find something here as easily as he could himself. Or perhaps it didbut this is what we asked foraccess to his library. He has fulfilled the bargain we asked of him."
Beth walked over to the nearest chair and sat down numbly, staring at acre after acre of randomly shelved, uncatalogued, unindexed books. Even if they searched every volumea task that could take yearsthey had no guarantee that they'd even recognize the information they wanted when they stumbled across it.
Dumb, Kentraine, dumb. You were so careful at the Goblin Market to ask for exactly what you wanted. Why couldn't you put your brain in gear when it really mattered?
"All is not lost, Beth," Kory said.
"Oh yeah?" she answered bitterly. "It sure looks like it from here."