Free Changeling by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Page A

comely face, then froze, as if he had abruptly
understood what he had done.
    "Speaking to a dead man?" Ren Zel rasped.
"Out of Code, Jabun." He drew a sobbing breath. "Look on me--dead
by your malice. One death was not enough, one Balance
insufficient..." He swayed and Shan moved to offer his support as
well. Ren Zel gasped.
    "You, who deal in life and death--you will be
the death of all you are pledged to hold!"
    A gasp ran through the room, and Shan felt a
tingle in the close air of the poolroom, as if a thunderstorm were
charging.
    Jabun stood as if struck; and Shan heard a
med tech mutter, "Dramliza, you fool! Will you play Balance games
against a wizard?"
    Ren Zel straightened, informed by an energy
that had nothing to do with physical strength.
    "Jabun, you are the last delm of your House.
The best of your line shall lifemate a Terran to escape your doom.
The rest of your kin will flee; they will deny their name and their
blood, and ally themselves with warehousemen and fisherfolk for the
safety such alliances buy!
    "Hear me, Jabun! In my blood is told your
tale--witness all, all of you see him! See him as he is!"
    "Pilot--" began Suzan, but Shan doubted Ren
Zel heard her worried murmur, lost as he was in the dubious ecstacy
of a full Foretelling.
    "It is Jabun the pod-pirate," he cried, and
Shan felt the hairs raise on his arms, recalling his own
researches. "Jabun the thief! Jabun the murderer! Beware of his
House and his money!"
    The poolroom was so completely quiet that
Shan heard his own heartbeat, pounding in his ears.
    Jabun was the first to recover, to look
around at the faces that would not--quite--return his regard.
    "Come, what shall you? This--this is a judged
and Balanced murderer, dead to Code, clan and kin. It is raving,
the shame of its station has no doubt broken its wits. We have no
duty here. It is beneath our melant'i to notice such a one."
    "Then why," came the voice of man Suzan had
identified as the wolf pack leader, "did you give us a cantra piece
to beat him to death?"
    Jabun turned and stared at his questioner,
moved his shoulders under the bright leather. "Proctors, silence
that person."
    "Perhaps," murmured one of the two who had
shown him the dead brigand. "I fear I must ask you to remain here
with us, Your Lordship. We have some questions that you might
illuminate for us."
    "I?" Jabun licked his lips. "I think
not."
    "We have authority here, sir," the second
Proctor said, and stepped forward, beckoning. "This way, if you
will, Your Lordship."
    "Of your kindness, pilots," Ren Zel dea'Judan
said, his Liaden slurring and out of mode, "I would sit..."
    Shan and Suzan got him into a chair, where he
sagged for a moment before reaching out none-too-steadily to touch
his co-pilot's sleeve
    "Tell Christopher," he managed, and his
Terran was blurred almost out of sense. "I--apologize. The
hall--his pilots--I did not know. It is not done..."
    Suzan patted his knee. "It's OK, pilot. You
leave Chris to me."
    Shan nodded, reached into his sleeve and
pulled out a card. He held it out to Suzan Fillips, who blinked and
shook her head.
    Patiently, he held the card extended, and
looked seriously into her eyes.
    "Should you find yourself at risk over this
incident," he said, "use the beam code on the card."
    She licked her lips. "I--"
    "Take. It." The wounded pilot's voice was
barely audible, but the note of command was strong. The woman's
hand rose. She slipped the card out of Shan's fingers and slid it
immediately into her license pocket.
    "Good," said Ren Zel, and Shan saw now only a
wounded pilot, with no trace of the power of Foretelling, nor voice
of command...
    There was a clatter at the door. Shan looked
around and spied Vilt and Rusty of his own crew, raised a hand, and
then glanced down at Ren Zel dea'Judan.
    "Pilot, I offer you
contract: A Standard year's service on the Dutiful Passage , after which we will
renegotiate or, if you wish, you will be set down on the world of
your choice."
    Ren Zel