Orc's Opal by Piers Anthony;Robert E. Margroff

Author:Piers Anthony;Robert E. Margroff
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Horror, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780727845344
Publisher: Severn House Pub Ltd
Published: 1990-01-01T17:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Zady

"And she couldn't have known where they went if they were invisible," he finished the story for Helbah some time later. "Magical crystal or not, she couldn't have followed them."

"Oh, I quite agree," Helbah said thoughtfully. "That definitely isn't Jon. It couldn't be her, even with a spell on."

"What is it, then? A look-alike from another frame?"

"Hardly, though barely possibly. I'd say more like an impostor achieved through an identity exchange. Of course these things are never perfect, but—"

"Can you save her, Helbah?" Charlain demanded.

"Oh yes, yes, of course if she's not—" Helbah hesitated, then finished it. "Destroyed."

There was a pause of silence in their hotel room which Kelvin found painful. After he had found Helbah and Heln and his father, they had come straight here at Helbah's suggestion. She suspected something, he thought, but he wasn't certain what.

"Helbah, could this be an enemy of yours?" Charlain asked her. She was holding on to her husband's hand, her expression and voice earnest; it was, after all, her child and grandchildren.

"Undoubtedly," Helbah said. "If not an enemy of mine, an enemy of goodness."

"Can't you do anything?" John asked. "I mean now. So that we don't have to wait for the next attack."

"Of course. Just give Helbah time. We have the best practitioners of magic here at the convention. Certainly there are enough of us to deal with one of the evil kind. We are no longer ignorant of what is happening."

"One?" Kelvin asked.

"Possibly. Almost certainly. But one of the evil kind can be quite a challenge."

"Aren't there authorities?" John asked. Then, explaining what he meant for Helbah's benefit: "Police. Those trained to deal with bad witches and the like?"

Helbah didn't answer. She positioned one of the three crystals on a stand, passed her hand over and around it, and started it swirling inside. A man wearing a light blue uniform sat at a desk.

"Sergeant," Helbah said to the image. "This is Helbah at the convention. What news of Mrs. Crumb?"

"Safe. In custody as you urged."

In custody? Kelvin jumped. They must have acted immediately, for it wasn't that long since he had been talking with her. No, wait—that had been the fake Jon.

"May we see her?"

"You may."

Helbah directed the crystal vision with motions of her fingers. Seemingly they drifted down a corridor to a large room filled with bird cages. Many of the birds were very ugly, but there was one that wasn't: a white dovgen.

"Jon!" Kelvin breathed, for even in bird form he recognized her. She was sulking in her cage, her back turned on the tipsy spargen in the next cage. Just looking at them, he could tell that the two birds had little in common.

"May I speak to her?" Kelvin asked.

"You may." Helbah made some motions and nodded her head.

"Jon, this is Kelvin," Kelvin said.

The white dovgen straightened up, hearing and recognizing his voice. Several of the other prisoners fluttered; evidently the sound carried to them too.

"We know you're there, Jon, and we'll come to rescue you," Kelvin continued.

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