Dragon's Gold by Isaac Asimov

Author:Isaac Asimov [Asimov, Isaac]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-05-22T00:25:34.043000+00:00

gauntlet. Kian, blue eyes, blond hair, a light blond

mustache, and round ears. Four years older than

Kelvin himself. How had he failed to recognize him

immediately as his half brother? Because he hadn't

known he had a half brother!

Kian was now wearing the gauntlets as a pair. Did

they work as well for him? If they did, he must be

truly invincible, immune to anything short of a pro-

jectile. No swordsman alive could fight as well as

those gauntlets could!

"Kelvin, brother," Kian said. His voice, too, was a

little high-pitched, much like Kelvin's own.

Kelvin stood up from the bed of straw that served

as furniture. He felt woozy, and his head hurt, but in a

moment he steadied. "We are brothers," he agreed.

No use denying it, and he really couldn't bear Kian a

grudge.

"I'm glad you were not killed," Kian said. "You

could never be my brother, dead, or my friend."

"Yes," Kelvin said. Was Kian as lonely as he, deep

inside?

"You know about the prophecy," Kian said. "It

refers to me. I'm to rid the land of Rud of a sore: your

band of Knights, Kelvin. Now that the confusion

engendered by the separation of the gauntlets has

been abated."

212 Piers Anthony and Robert E. Mayroff'

Kelvin choked back an exclamation of astonish-

ment. That was one enormously interesting interpre-

tation! What would his mother Chariain have made of

it? What had John Knight and King Rufurt made of

it?

"We both have round ears, Kelvin," Kian contin-

ued. "My mother, the Queen, explained it to me."

Kelvin looked at his father, and his father shrugged.

Then, seemingly taking pity on him, John Knight

spoke.

"If prophecy isn't all nonsense, he could be right,

Kelvin. But of course it could refer to you, too, or to

Hein Flambeau. Who knows, where prophecy is con-

cerned?"

"I did defeat you in battle," Kian said.

"No, you didn't!" Kelvin said hotly. "I fought you

to a standstill!"

"He's got you there, Kian," their father said. "I

think it has to be called a draw."

"Without the gauntlet you were wearing—" Kian

started.

"And without the one you were wearing—"

Both broke off, and Kelvin had half an impulse to

laugh. If the situation had not been so serious—

"You see, Kelvin," their father said, "Peter Flick

has been after Zoanna to get Kian trained to the

jet-propulsion backpack unit and the laser pistols

—all the otherworld weapons left. I trained him in the

background of our world, its philosophies and politics

and technology, so he understands the principles, but

not the specifics. He knows enough to know that if he

tries to use that jet unit he's likely to break it or get

himself killed in an accident, and of course he doesn't

know how to charge the pistols. So my input remains

necessary; that was one safeguard I kept. Kian's

loyalty is to his mother, and he thinks he can't have it

for an alien creature such as me. Right, Kian?"

Kian shook his head. "No. I would be loyal to you,

Father, were you not the sworn enemy of my mother."

John Knight tdrned away, and Kelvin realized that

DRAGON'S GOLD 213

he had hoped for a more positive answer. He had

challenged Kian to agree that his own father was an

alien creature unworthy of loyalty, or to disagree and

to change sides; instead Kian had steered a careful

course between the extremes.

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