Free The Gandalara Cycle I by Randall Garrett & Vicki Ann Heydron Page B

walking up the stone pathway to the rear of the house. There were lots of windows back here on both floors, letting plenty of light into the interior. They were made of lozenge-shaped panes only as large as my hand, joined together with thin strips of wood. Even the three doors had wood-latticed windows in them.
    I came to the central door and stopped, frozen. What was I doing?
    Up to this point, I had been merely following a logical line. It had seemed the most natural thing in the world to come here to "my" home, where "I" had always lived. I had begun to accept this world, to feel almost comfortable in it. But all familiarity vanished now in a wave of alienness.
    I was Ricardo Emilio Carillo, elderly American gentleman, walking around in what some might regard as a stolen body. I had been about to walk, without invitation or by-your-leave, into the house of a stranger, a man whom I had never seen before. This wasn't my home at all. It was the home of a near-human, not -human being, a native of an alien world who spoke a language I had never heard before. The mores, laws, customs, and civilization of this world were unknown to me. I was the stranger here.
    What the hell had I been thinking of?
    I wanted desperately to turn and run - but there was no place to run to. Only danger waited beyond the walls which surrounded me. A man named Worfit who might slit my throat for welching on a debt. One Zaddorn who might throw me into prison, or worse, because of some sacred bauble I knew nothing about - or because of his jealousy over a woman. And the woman herself, a promised marriage to a girl who, though she seemed sincere enough, was hardly a rock of strength.
    No, I didn't want to stay here, but where else could I go? What could I do? How could I live? Illia seemed to think I had a lot of money with me, but how long would that last, especially when I couldn't tell if I was being cheated? I had strong doubts about the existence of unemployment offices, welfare checks, and food stamps in this world. How could I support myself and Keeshah?
    For I knew that I could not leave the great cat behind me if I fled. And the thought increased my despair. I would be instantly recognized anywhere with Keeshah in tow. And that would lead all the dangerous people directly to me.
    I had to stay here. I was safe here - for the moment. But I just couldn't walk into this house and face a man who was supposed to be my father. What would I say to him? How would I act? He was sure to see through me, to realize that, although I looked just like Markasset, I was not the person who had grown up in his house.
    In that moment, torn by fear, unable to make any decision, paralysed by the whole situation, I came as close to total panic as I ever have in my life.
    Then the door opened, and the man who had opened it said: "Don't just stand there, son. Come on in."

Chapter 8
     
    For a moment I just stared at him stupidly. The only clear thought in my mind was a question: how had he known I was out here?
    This was the man whose face had flashed through my memory when Balgokh had first told me who I was. It was a strong face, the brows a little more prominent than mine and a faint white scar running from forehead to cheek beside his left eye. The hair on his head had thinned and darkened with age, and fine lines rayed out from his eye-corners and along his mouth.
    The tone of his invitation had been neither welcoming nor rude. His voice had held only exasperation. I had a sudden intuition that some of those lines had been put there by Markasset - that Thanasset disapproved of his son in some ways, but still loved him. Very much. I was beginning to like Markasset less and less.
    "I don't know why you're back so soon," the old man continued, in a somewhat lowered voice. "I suppose you'll tell me when you feel like it. But have the courtesy to keep your tongue civil until we're alone. There is a guest in the house.
    He turned on his heel and walked before me into