The Crystal Palace by Phyllis Eisenstein

Author:Phyllis Eisenstein [Eisenstein, Phyllis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-10-23T13:11:49.149000+00:00

“Why are they barred?”

“Ah, there you ask a question about the fundamen-tal nature of demons, my lady. You ask about the difference between the slave and the free. I think a demon should answer you. Gildrum?”

“The answer is simple,” said Gildrum. “The Free are proud and jealous of their freedom. They see it as a mark of superiority, and they look upon slaves as low and contemptible and unworthy of associating with themselves. It is thus in all the demon worlds, but the inhabitants of Water have raised it to the highest art.”

“And what of the slaves?” said Aliza. “How do they view those who are free?”

“As foolish and self-centered. They have their own society, separate from the Free, at least in Air and Fire and Water. In Ice, of course, no demon associates with another very often.”

“If they have their own society,” said Aliza, “why don’t the slaves of Water organize their own ritual?

Why should they need to come here and watch these free demons in theirs?”

“They have tried to organize their own, occasionally, but whenever the free demons discover it, they break it up. They see the ritual as a celebration of their freedom and not a proper pastime for slaves.”

“But every free demon has the potential to be a slave. At any moment any of those performers in the ritual could have been conjured by a sorcerer.”

“That is why they celebrate their freedom,” said Gildrum. “While they have it.”

“It must be a strange sort of existence,” said Cray, “to know that at any moment one could become a slave.”

“I suppose it must be,” murmured Aliza.

Would you care to meet a Water demon?” Cray asked her.

She shrugged. “I suppose I might as well. I’ve met every other sort.”

“Look over your shoulder, then.”

She turned and saw, not more than an arm’s length behind her, a faint glow in the water, like some sub-dued reflection of Gildrum’s sunny light, but shimmering and iridescent with all the pale colors of mother of pearl. In another moment it became fully visible as a milky globe the size of a large bear.

“Greetings, Elrelet, Cray Ormoru, and you others,” said the Water demon. Its voice was deep and fuzzy, and its opalescent surface bulged here and there in rhythm to its speech, as if something inside were strug-gling to get out.

“Greetings, Murnai,” said Elrelet. “We found your ritual most impressive, as always. Allow me to present the mortal Aliza, and two others you may not have met before, Regneniel and Leemin of Ice.

Murnai is the current leader of the ritual.”

“A slave,” said the Water demon, “a slave from Ice.”

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