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.""That can wait upon another day, Merlin.We have much to do just now.""Yes, that is true.""So assume a more pleasing form and come with me.We must discuss themeasures you are to take upon assuming the throne-which Houses are to besuppressed, who outlawed-""I must speak with Dara immediately.""I would rather lay some groundwork first.Come! Shift, and let us beaway!""Would you know where she is just now?""Gantu, I believe.But we will confer with her later.""You wouldn't happen to have her Trump handy, would you?""I fear not.I thought you carried a deck of your own?""I do.But hers was inadvertently destroyed one night when I wasdrinking.""No matter," he said."We will see her later, as I explained."I had been opening channels on the spikard as we spoke.I caught him atthe center of a whirlwind of forces.I could see the transformationprocedure within him, and it was a simple matter to reverse it, collapsing Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlthe green and spinning tower into the form of a whitehaired man clad inblack and white and looking very irritated."Merlin!" he cried."Why have you changed me?""This thing fascinates me," I said, waving the spikard."I just wantedto see whether I could do it.""Now you've seen it," he said."Kindly release me to turn back, andfind a more fitting form for yourself.""A moment," I said, as he attempted to melt and flow."I require youjust as you are."I held him against his effort, and I drew a fiery rectangle in the air.A series of quick movements filled it with a rough likeness of my mother."Merlin! What are you doing?" he cried.I suppressed his effort to extricate himself by means of a transportspell."Conference time," I announced."Bear with me."I didn't just meditate upon the impromptu Trump I had hung in the airbefore me, but practically attacked it with a charge of the energies I wascycling through my body and the space about me.Suddenly, Dara stood within the frame I had created-tall, coal-black,eyes of green flame."Merlin! What's happening?" she cried.I'd never heard of it being done quite this way before, but I held thecontact, willed her presence, and blew away the frame.She stood before methen, perhaps seven feet tall, pulsing with indignation."What is the meaning of this?" she asked.I caught her as I had Mandor and collapsed her down to human scale. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html"Democracy," I said "Let's all look alike for a minute.""This is not amusing," she responded, and she began to change back.I canceled her effort."No, it isn't," I answered."But I called this meeting, and it will berun on my terms.""Very well," she said, shrugging."What has become so terribly urgent?""The succession.""The matter is settled.The throne is yours.""And whose creature am I to be?" I raised my left hand, hoping they hadno way of telling one spikard from another."This thing confers greatpowers.It also charges for their use.It bore a spell for control of itswearer.""It was Swayvill's," Mandor said."I got it to you when I did toaccustom you to the force of its presence.And yes, there is a price.Itswearer must come to terms with it.""I have wrestled with it," I lied, "and I am its master.But the mainproblems were not cosmic.They were compulsions of your own installation.""I do not deny it," he said."But there was a very good reason fortheir presence.You were reluctant to take the throne.I felt it necessaryto add an element of compulsion."I shook my head."Not good enough," I said."There was more to it than that.It was athing designed to make me subservient to you.""Necessary," he responded."You've been away.You lack intimateknowledge of the local political scene.We could not simply let you take the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlreins and go off in your own direction-not in times such as these, whenblunders could be very costly.The House needed some means to control you.But this was only to be until your education was complete.""Permit me to doubt you, brother," I said.He glanced at Dara, who nodded slightly."He is right," she said, "and I see nothing wrong with such temporarycontrol until you learn the business.Too much is at stake to permitotherwise.""It was a slave-spell," I said."It would force me to take the throne,to follow orders."Mandor licked his lips.It was the first time I'd ever seen him betraya sign of nervousness.It instantly made me wary-though I realized momentslater that it may have been a calculated distraction.It caused me to guardagainst him immediately; and, of course, the attack came from Dara.A wave of heat swept over me.I shifted my attention at once,attempting to raise a barrier.It was not an attack against my person.Itwas something soothing, coercive.I bared my teeth as I fought to hold itoff."Mother-" I growled."We must restore the imperatives," she said flatly, more to Mandor thanto me."Why?" I asked."You're getting what you want.""The throne is not enough," she answered."I do not trust you in this,and reliance will be necessary.""You never trusted me," I said, pushing away the remains of her spell."That is not true," she told me, "and this is a technical matter, not a Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlpersonal one.""Whatever the matter," I said, "I'm not buying."Mandor tossed a paralysis spell at me, and I pushed it away, ready foranything now.As I was doing this, Dara hit me with an elaborate working Irecognized as a Confusion Storm.I was not about to try matching them both,spell for spell.A good sorcerer may have a half dozen major spells hung.Their judicious employment is generally enough for dealing with mostsituations.In a sorcerous duel the strategy involved in their employment isa major part of the game
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