Read Online The Fallable Fiend by L. Sprague deCamp - Free Book Online

Metouro; but that pot’s on a low simmer for the nonce. Besides, Tonio loses his head within the year—”
    “Madam! What has this man done, that you speak so casually of depriving him of his head?”
    “ ’Tis the custom in Xylar to cut off the king’s head every five years and toss it up for grabs by way of choosing the next king. But enough of that; back to our menace. Could it be that danger threatens from some more distant land—from Shven beyond the Ellornas, perchance, or Paalua beyond the seas?”
    “I remember!” I said. “Bagardo quoted Maldivius as saying that the Paaluans should make his fortune.”
    “Then let’s fly—I mean, let your mystic vision fly—to Paalua, to see what those folk are up to.”
    “Whither, my lady?”
    “Westward.”
    My vision in the Sapphire had become blurred during this colloquy, and it took another sniff of the fumes and a repetition of the cantrip to bring it back into focus. I forced my point of view to rise and moved it westward, steering by the sun. My control was still far from perfect; once I blundered into a hill, whereupon all went black until I emerged on the further side.
    The hills of Ir fled beneath me, and then the coastal plain and the valley of the Kyamos. I flashed over Chemnis with its ships, out the estuary, and over the broad blue sea.
    League after league I sped, seeing nought but an occasional seabird and once a spouting whale. Then a cluster of black specks drew my regard. Soon they became a fleet. Long, sharp-ended ships they were, each with a single square sail bellying before a fair wind.
    I dropped down for a closer look. The decks were thronged with figures, quite different from Novarians. Most were utterly naked, while a few had fluttering cloaks loosely thrown about them. They were nigh unto black of skin, with mops of curly hair and large curly beards. Hair and beards varied from black to rusty brown. Black eyes looked out from cavernous eye sockets under beetling brow, and their noses were wide and flat, with no bridge.
    Madam Roska became more and more excited as I described what I saw. Then came an interruption. From the poop of the ship on which I was scrying came a scrawny old Paaluan, with white hair and beard. He held what looked like a human leg bone, and his eyes searched all about him. At last he seemed to stare at me from the depths of the gem. He shouted inaudibly and pointed his bone at me. The vision blurred and broke into dancing motes of light.
    When I reported this to Roska, she paced the floor of the oratory, chewing her nails. “The Paaluans,” she said, “are plainly bent upon bale. The Syndics must be warned.”
    “What do the Paaluans desire, madam?”
    “To fill their larders, that’s what.”
    “Mean you they are cannibals?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Tell me, my lady, what sort of folk are they? I understood that, on this plane, folk who went naked and ate other human beings were deemed primitive savages. Yet the Paaluans’ ships seemed well built and appointed—albeit I am no expert on such things.”
    “They’re no savages; in fact, they have a high civilization, but vastly different from ours. Many of their customs, such as public nudity and anthropophagy, we deem barbarous. Now, what’s to do? If I go to the Syndics, they’ll say I do but try to alarm them in hope of getting my seat on their board. Could you bear the news?”
    “Why, madam, if brought into their presence, I could tell them what I have seen. But I have no authority to demand the loan of their ears.”
    “I see, I see. We shall both have to do it. Summon my tiring woman.”
    Soon after, Madam Roska, clad for the street, called for her litter. But then a lady friend of hers sounded the door knocker. When this woman entered, there were cries of “Darling!” and “Precious!” The next I knew, the urgent mission to the Syndics was forgotten while the two women sat and gossiped. By the time the visitor left, the reflected sunlight was