Free Songs of the Dancing Gods by Jack L. Chalker Page B

got his horse, put on a bridle and blanket, and headed off in the direction of the landing as quietly as possible.
    She beat him by a fair amount of time, of course; he was very cautious, knowing he didn’t have much experience in riding and yet wouldn’t be much good to her if he fell off the road and in the river and killed his horse or maybe broke his own neck. Her horse was tied up at the landing when he approached it.
    It wasn’t all that much. A few small buildings, hardly a big deal. The biggest of them was apparently the pawn shop or whatever the equivalent was here; it probably also sold souvenirs. The other place was lit up, though, and from the sounds it appeared to be some kind of bar or nightclub. He tethered his horse away from the landing and crept down to it, then peered inside.
    It was a bar, or, rather, what they called an inn here—a small bar and restaurant area, with a few rooms for rent either in back or upstairs. She was in there all right, and she was having a good old time with three or four guys, both doing some playful dancing and getting real suggestive with them. She was lying there at one point, real suggestive and seductive on this table, and one guy was feeding her grapes and stuff!
    He knew now exactly what her Majesty was doing, and he didn’t know what to do about it. If Mama could be believed, which was always a question, she’d broken up with Dad after finding out he had a whole string of girls on the road. Of course, she wasn’t no slouch in that department, either, but the only memories of her like that was after the split. Dad had kind of admitted some of it, but claimed Mama was never a one-guy woman and they both knew it straight out at the start and that she’d taken up with this guy who was superjealous and she’d taken the new guy’s side in things and that led to the split. He wasn’t sure, but he sure never liked it the way it was while he was growing up.
    He was so mixed up in his feelings he didn’t know quite what to do, so he went back to his horse, sat down on a rock, and just waited. Finally, he got so bored he dozed off, and only woke up when he heard another horse neigh. He jerked himself awake and saw her out there getting on her horse and turning it back toward him. He might have beaten her back to camp if he wanted to risk the ride, but the questions inside him forced him to wait.
    She was startled to see him, but instantly she knew the whole story without his saying a word.
    “Well,” she sighed, “I could say it was the Rules for me, and I think it might well be the truth, because I really do love your father deeply and yet I have no guilt or shame about this at all. It might also be something inside me wanting to get even with him.”
    “Huh? He cheated on you?”
    “Many times, when we were ruling together. It was nearly impossible for him to keep his hands off all those pretty young things who are attracted to strength and power, and with all the scheduling demands it wasn’t that hard for him, either. I’m not so sure that wasn’t one reason I wanted to end that phase of our life.”
    “But you never cheated on him—then?”
    “Eventually. Not right away, but, after a while, I started playing the same kind of games, partly in revenge, partly because he was getting such a workout with them he had little energy left for me. The difference was, I knew not only that he cheated, but with whom and when. He didn’t know about me. His male ego wouldn’t let him in any case unless he caught me in bed with somebody, and I was much too discreet for that. After a while, I got to like it. The variety, no complications, that kind of thing. But I was always, as you say, hung up with others then. I’m not any more. The other thing is, as I discovered tonight, I can’t just give it away, except to him. That’s some Rule someplace, no question.”
    “You been doin’ this all along since we got here, then?”
    “No, I’m in full control of myself. This