I got most of the story as we sat in the kitchen, munching on fresh fruit and a dish that would have been called huevos rancheros in another world. Lius sat quiet while his grandfather lovingly detailed the family history. Geremos' older brother had been the first Zorro, leading his sibling into the dreamworld at an early age and mentoring him through his first excursions in R2. When he'd died in battle nearly fifty years ago, Geremos took on the mask to avenge his death and then continued the tradition for the sheer enjoyment of it. Lius' father would have been the next in line, but his idea of adventure was a good business deal; so it had fallen to his son, who took up the role with relish. Lius hadn't been in the dreamworld three years before acquiring the bag of tricks that had impressed me so last night, and after four more years, Zorro was as much a fixture of the Tip as the forts that ringed its edges.
"That's fantastic." Resting my chin in my hand, I glanced back and forth between the faces, opposites in temperament but alike in pride. "And all this time in the same place. Don't you ever want to explore the rest of the world?"
"No," said Lius.
"Of course," said Geremos.
The two men looked at each other and chuckled, Lius clearly more at ease with his grandfather around. Geremos turned to me and explained. "I've done a lot of traveling, all over this continent and across the Metic Ocean, and we did a little exploring together in his first year here. But as soon as he found the Tip, he just dug in his heels and declared he'd found his home."
"This is my paradise," Lius shrugged. "Why move?" Then he turned to me and winked. "My grandfather thinks you have to be a wanderer to be a dual, but he's just searching for something I've already found." That wink was the first truly friendly gesture he'd made toward me, and I gave him a tentative smile in return.
Geremos snorted loudly into the pause that followed. "Why stay when there are countries out there that make this one look like a pig sty?" He gave me a fatherly pat on the arm. "But don't worry about me, Kyriel. I still go wandering every couple of months or so, now that the boy's learned to manage things on his own."
Lius rolled his eyes, and I laughed. But even though I understood how both men felt, I knew that as long as I had the choice, I'd follow Geremos' path. Paradise wasn't just one spot for me; or if it was, it was the dreamworld as a whole.
"See that ridge up there?" Lius pointed--"the one that looks like the knuckles on a fist? That's as far as anyone's been able to explore for at least two hundred years. Beyond that, the passes become too steep to climb."
"And that's where you think their stronghold is." I reached down to pat my horse's neck. After a bumpy start, when I'd had to be convinced that I really did need to learn how to mount a horse as opposed to just flying into the saddle, I'd actually begun to learn a few things about riding. Much to Lius' amusement, I wasn't very good at it--especially the "mounting up" bit. But he was an excellent teacher, and by the end of the afternoon we'd ridden several miles north along the Tip and I was starting to find my balance.
I looked at the high passes and chewed my lip. "It seems like a long way for that orc to have traveled just for one drug deal."
"No, the orc was a local; it was just the drugs that came from up there." Lius shook his head, his gaze still fixed on the mountains. "They seem to have some kind of supply line, but I'll be damned if I can find it. Geremos and I have been all over the Teeth around Serl, burned dozens of spawning grounds, plugged hundreds of tunnels, and the orcs just keep coming. It's not just drugs that are the problem, either. They're slaughtering cattle, raping and murdering people. I've even heard reports of child abductions, but I don't know if they're true or not. I don't like to think what they'd do with kids."
And here I'd thought there was no work for a Fury in the Tongue. "Well," I answered, "it'll take awhile, since we don't know exactly where to look. But I'll stay for as long as you need me."
Lius turned to me with sober eyes. Then he nodded, and for the first time I felt like part of a team.
"So," Geremos smiled as he opened the pasture gate, "how was your first day on horseback?"
"A lot less comfortable than I expected," I rolled my eyes. "I thought these things came equipped with shock absorbers."
Geremos laughed, and as Lius swung down from the saddle, they both came to help me to the ground. I brushed them aside. "I'm not that helpless," I snorted, sliding easily to the ground. "Mmm, I can smell dinner from here. What is that--steak?" But as I started toward the house, I realized I was alone. The two men, I saw as I turned around, were eyeing me with twin stares of amazement.
"Aren't you at all sore?" Lius asked, and I instantly realized my mistake. It was a little late to cover for it now, though.
"Well -- yeah," I shrugged, "but I'm hungry, too." I turned back toward the house, this time making sure to walk a little bowlegged, and the other two followed in silence.
Dinner was, indeed, steak -- grilled to perfection and served with fried apples and rich red wine. It was a pleasant meal, Lius and Geremos either forgetting my little slip-up or deciding to let it pass without comment. Geremos entertained us with tales of his first days in R2, then threw in a couple of stories about his boyhood in Juarez for good measure. Finally, when we were all sagging in our seats to give our bellies more room, Lius wiped his mouth and stood up. "That was terrific, Geremos," he said. "I'd better go check on the horses now -- be back in a minute."
"Of course, son." The old man stood too. "Kyriel, would you mind helping me clear the table?"
It took me almost fifteen minutes to realize where Lius had really gone. "He's not coming back, is he?" I asked as I gave the last glass an angry swipe with the dishcloth. "He's gone out Zorro-ing and he didn't want me to try to follow."
Geremos was unperturbed. "You can't really blame him, can you, considering how the two of you met?" He chuckled softly. "Don't feel too bad about it, Kyriel. He's done the same to me a thousand times. The boy just likes to do things alone."
"Well he could have at least had the decency to tell me to my face."
"And risk an argument, just when the two of you are starting to get along? Nah, he's trying to be considerate, in his own way."
I was only a little mollified. "And how does he know I won't go chasing after him, even madder than I was this morning?"
"But you won't do that," Smiling complacently, Geremos took the dishcloth from my hands and laid it across a chair back to dry. "I'm the safeguard."
"Oh, I see." My hand had migrated to my hip, but whether from amusement or anger or both, I didn't know. "So if I try to take off, I guess you're going to hold a sword to my throat and tie me up -- or do we just get into a wrestling match?"
"Ha!" Geremos patted my shoulder, which only served to increase my agitation. "Nothing that drastic, dear. If you decide to leave, I won't stop you at all -- and that's precisely why you'll stay." He blinked mildly and, when I didn't respond, explained: "It's called 'courtesy.' Now have a seat, Kyriel, and tell me about your own adventures."
My R2 body might not need sleep, but it liked it just the same; and I was never an early riser in either world. That was why, the next morning, I heard Lius and Geremos talking in the kitchen before I'd even gotten out of bed. Dressing quickly, I fixed my hair and started down the hall, all the while trying to figure out the best attitude to take with a man who'd ditched me only the night before.
I needn't have bothered. Geremos was standing just inside the kitchen door as I entered, and he whisked it shut behind me. Then I saw Lius sitting grimfaced in the center of the room with his sword in his lap and a clay goblet on the table before him.
"Good morning to you too," I said wryly. "What's going on?"
The younger man sighed heavily. "I went back to the forts last night," he said, "the place where I killed the orc. I was looking for any evidence of that supply route I told you about yesterday."
"And?" I asked as he paused.
"Have a seat, Kyriel." Lius gestured to the table and refused to continue until I'd done so. When he spoke again, his voice was thick with emotion. "I didn't have any luck, but of course it was pretty dark out there, even with the lantern. Then I started to wonder, how on earth were you able to find me, and to follow me back to the place where I changed clothes? I'd have thought it would be impossible even without the cloaking mask."
I opened my mouth, but Lius quickly raised a hand. "No, let me finish. You had already told me you could fly and that you had a disguise a little like mine, but that didn't worry me until I added in the fact that you seem to be able to see in the dark. Then there's this strange capacity of yours for spending a full day on horseback, for the first time in your life, without developing saddle sores. Putting it all together, Geremos and I have begun to wonder what we let into our house."
I felt my face begin to flush. "I knew I should have said something," I sighed, embarrassed both at my carelessness and my duplicity, "but I didn't want you to reject me before I'd had a chance to prove myself."
"I understand," Lius answered. "That's why we're giving you that chance now." He slid the goblet towards me. "Drink."
Cautiously I peered into the bowl, where a clear liquid still rocked gently from the movement. It looked like water, but the expression on Lius' face told me it was more than that. You're a supernatural, Kyriel, I reminded myself. Whatever's in that cup, it doesn't matter; you can't be poisoned. Then again, Lius and Geremos seemed to have figured out that much on their own, and I'd already seen a few of the younger man's tricks. Maybe there was something in this cup that would kill even a supernatural. "What is this, Lius?" I asked warily, "some kind of poison?"
His eyes told me nothing. "No," he said calmly, "it's your chance to prove yourself. That's what you say you want, isn't it?"
"I want you to trust me, not kill me," I snapped, keeping my hands well away from the goblet. I was surprised to find that I was a little afraid--although not of being killed. "Look," I sighed, "I've got no desire to hurt either of you. If you have that much of a problem with supernaturals, I'll just walk out of here right now and let you deal with the orcs on your own."
There was a long silence while Lius and I tried to outstare each other. Then Geremos spoke. "We'll be more than happy to trust you, Kyriel, but you've got to trust us first. Now drink, and we'll all have what we want."
I looked back at him, leaning against the door like a bored sentry. Although a sword hung from his hip, his arms were folded across his chest and his face was calm. Did I trust this man? I asked myself, and found myself amazed when the answer came back "yes." Slowly I turned around again and picked up the goblet.
It was water, all right--I knew that after the first hesitant sip. And as far as I could tell, there was nothing added. Relieved, I tipped back my head and swallowed it all in a gulp, then looked up at my inquisitors. Lius was hunched over the table with his head down, resting on his elbows as the tension seeped out of him. Geremos came up behind me and squeezed me tightly by the shoulders. "I knew you were all right," he whispered in my ear.
"Of course I'm all right," I said testily, but inside I felt a strange lightness. For the first time, I was going to be able to share my nature with people who'd accept me for it. "That was holy water, wasn't it?"
"Blessed by a priest last night," Lius answered, looking up. "If there was anything demonic in you, it would have torn your throat open. So, Kyriel," he caught my eye and smiled, "tell us a little more about yourself."
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