Thorn, Fred Saberhagen [bearly read books .txt] 📗

raised its face. And Seabright, who in recent weeks had imagined himself become totally immune to fear, found himself stepping involuntarily backward. The face was pale and thin, and on the surface it held nothing terrible, though it was marked with wooden splinters from what must have been the propeller’s terrible impact against another body that was now nowhere to be seen. From one splinter in the forehead a trickle of dark blood ran down into one eye and out of it again like tears. Yet Seabright retreated another step, and yet another, until the adobe wall came against his back. One of the Old Ones. But he had never dreamed it could be so hard simply to confront one of them.

      The figure straightened slowly until it stood erect. It was actually not as tall as Seabright, but from several yards away he got the impression that it was towering over him.

      “I was a second too late,” the man in dark clothing said softly, in precise and only faintly accented English. “A second too late, and she is dead. Already nothing but dust. That is how we old ones go.”

      With a great effort Seabright made himself push away from the wall, and speak out boldly. “Who’s dead? Who do you mean?”

      “You are Delaunay Seabright,” the man said. “And you used her.”

      “You’re Thorn,” said Seabright, suddenly understanding a little more. “No wonder you … I heard about that bombing. No wonder you were able to escape alive.” Trying hard, he made himself look closely at the other’s face, and was astounded. Were tears mixed with the blood on those almost emaciated cheeks?

      “She is dead,” said Thorn.

      “Look, I’m really sorry about that. Very sorry. She and I were lovers, you know. But she was more, than a little bit crazy, and it’s not my fault she—”

      An invisible giant’s fist closed down on Seabright. He was picked from his feet and spun through the air back against the earthen wall, with a violence that tore his clothing and his skin. Imposed force choked his outcries in his throat. Desperately he tried to change his shape, to melt his flesh to mist or nothingness for escape. But his own powers, that he had thought almost perfected, were infantile against the potency that held him now.

      Delaunay Seabright sought to strike back at the dark man. But he could no longer even see where his opponent was. The vise-grip blinded his eyes, even as it crushed his ribs. Now he could feel the bones of his elbows, pinned to his sides, shattering in their sockets, and he could not even scream. Then, still capsuled in solid form, he felt himself being propelled helplessly through the air again, driven by what felt like the energy of a locomotive. His eyes were allowed to open, in time to see the ancient wooden beams of the building hurtling toward him.

* * *

      Nothing prevented Judy Southerland from screaming, and scream she did. She knew that her long-hoped-for rescuer was now somewhere near at hand. But he had not come to her. And she could feel that something had happened, something terrible, something to drive him mad, though she had no idea what it was. Violence as shocking as a bomb was bursting, just on the other side of the building, while Judy, her hands still bound, could not get out of her cell, could not do anything to help herself.

      Then, abruptly, came help in a surprising form. A woman Judy had never seen before, a young-looking woman wearing some kind of high-necked granny dress, was bending over her. There came sharp snapping sounds and the tough cord fell from Judy’s wrists.

      “And you must be Judy,” the young-looking woman said. She strongly resembled someone Judy knew—yes indeed, she actually resembled the image that Judy still saw daily in the mirror. In the middle distance there rose a great cry, as of some huge predator in torment. “There now, he’s making a great lot of noise over there, isn’t he? And I must go to him, but I wanted first to have just a quick word with you. You see, you can’t understand what has happened to him tonight—I understand it, a little bit, and I must go, and you must stay here quietly and not try to talk to him just now.”

      “Gliddon!” That was another voice now, a man’s voice shrieking from not far away. “Gliddon, it’s got me, for God’s sake helllp—”

      Judy stuttered: “I …  he’s…”

      “He’s been your lover, yes, Judy, I know. He was my lover in the same way, but that was many years ago … my name is Mina, by the way. We shall meet again, someday, perhaps—but then perhaps not. In either case I wish you well. I must go now, to do what I can. He can be very dangerous like this.”

      The woman, or the vision of a woman, was gone. No, it had been more than a vision, for Judy’s hands were free, the cords that had bound them lay snapped away like thread. And the door of her cell, that she had been trying vainly to force, now stood slightly ajar. Judy pushed weakly against it, then stopped, her eyes closed. Her contact with her once-beloved, strained by the burden of things that Judy had never imagined it might hold, had broken and was gone.

      Or had it been deliberately cut, as by some seamstress’ scissors?

      For the moment she did not care. Freed hands, freed mind—for the moment it was enough, it was all that she could ask for, to enjoy both.

      Then Judy’s eyes opened, and she cried out again. Great wing-beats of throbbing sound were buffeting the roof above her head. For a moment she cringed from monsters. Then there was a glare of harsh electric light outside, and her own good sense came to her rescue. The light bobbed and probed with the throbbing roar, seeking a good place for helicopters to come down

* * *

      Gliddon had at