Ganne


Part 33 - An Audience With A Dragon.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


"They killed my Ruthie."

The rich, cultured voice made Sarah start.  She looked round to
see a tall figure wrapped in a cloak watching her from the middle of the
hall.

When she saw she had their attention, the woman spoke again.  "They killed
my Ruthie?" The puzzlement in the voice was replaced by pain as she spoke
again, her voice sliding up into a scream of anguish.  "The filthy, filthy
women hating whore-sons...  They killed my RUTHIE!"

In the act of turning an inquiry upon Genella, Sarah was seized by an
unseen hand of staggering power.  She was lifted, and given such a violent
shaking that her teeth rattled.  Vaguely, she was aware of Genella in
motion.  The Ganne had launched herself from the steps, grabbed up a wine
bottle, and was swinging it at the figure's head.  There was a meaty thud
as the bottle connected.

In that instant, the invisible hand, throttling the life out of Sarah,
relaxed.  She landed heavily, sprawling untidily down the steps.  At the
bottom, her flailing arms scattered the wine bottles.  After a moment to
collect herself, Sarah clambered to hands and knees.  Genella was kneeling
in a pool of dark liquid and leaning over the body of the woman.  With a
shiver of foreboding, Sarah wondered whether it was wine or blood.
Genella placed a hand on the woman's forehead.  She closed her eyes, her
face going lax as she concentrated.  A golden glow suddenly surrounded the
two women.  Genella's eyes flew open in alarm.  She snatched her hand
back; the glow faded.

Genella rounded on Sarah, fear plain in her face.  She commanded, "Sarah,
quick, fetch me one of those full wine bottles, get it open and keep it ready."
There
was an edge in Genella's voice, like a file grinding on iron.  The tone
forestalled any argument from Sarah.  She grabbed up the bottle.  A
dagger, presumably belonging to Genella, lay nearby.  Sarah grabbed up the
knife, and used it to lever out the cork.

Genella, meanwhile, had taken a small pouch from a pocket.  From it she
produced a crumpled leaf.  Wadding it up, she put it into her mouth and
began to chew.  Coming over to kneel beside the Ganne, Sarah gagged on the
strong onion-like smell on Genella's breath.  Tears welled into her eyes;
and she wondered how Genella was managing to chew the leaf without
choking.

"Who is she?"

After a few seconds, Genella spat the chewed up leaf into a palm.
"Karrellanne Bah Clovis," she said, "Guara's Minister for the Army.  How
in the Dragon's name did she get here?"

"Is she alright?"

"No," Genella snapped.  "She's insane with grief."

"You hit her pretty hard...  She's not going to die, is she?"

"No...  But it would probably be safer for us if she did," Genella
said.  "In this state she might easily pull the whole house down on us."

Little dust devils were rising from the carpet all around the
kneeling women.  With a startling suddenness, a ragged tear zigzagged through
the carpet.  A restless breeze sprang up and darted about the hall worrying
the cobwebs.  Genella leaned down over the woman, who was moaning and stirring
feebly.  Forcefully, Genella took a hold of Karrellanne's chin,
forced her lips apart, and tucked the wad of chewed leaves inside her
lower lip.  The woman tried to jerk her head away; but Genella held her
head still and pressed the lips closed.  After some twenty seconds a long
shudder ran through the feebly struggling woman and she went limp.

Genella sat back.  "Sarah, the wine!" she cried.  Sarah proffered the
bottle.  Genella took it, took a good swing and rinsed out her mouth
spitting the wine onto the carpeting.  She repeated this several times
before setting the bottle aside and holding up a hand before her face with
three fingers raised.

"How many fingers arm I holding up?" she asked Sarah.

"Ummm? Three...  Genella, what's this all about?" Then when Genella
giggled and held up four fingers, Sarah added, "Are you alright?"

A really disturbing smile crept over the woman's face, made somehow
sinister in the gloom.  Genella started to nod, then thought better of it.
'"I'm not sure," she said at last.  "Sarah...  I might start acting a
little strangely for a while.  Promise me you'll not get offended at
anything I try to do.  It's the Vellas, you see.  It'll hold Karrellanne
down for a while.  She willent.  Umm, she won? She'll be out of it for a
while.  She'll not be a danger...  But I might act a little odd.  I
might...  Well...  try and...  Is it hot inhere or is it me?"

Genella rose suddenly spinning on the spot while her long riding skirts belled
out
around her.  Then she danced away across the dusty carpet, seeming to
float like a feather.  She whirled around the hall as though dancing in
some gay waltz.  Once she came past an amazed Sarah who saw that the
woman's face was jerking and twisting in a frenzy of changing expressions
Then she stopped suddenly and sank to the floor near to the prone form of
Karrellanne.

Sarah looked on more than a little frightened by the woman's strange
behaviour She had just decided to go and see if the woman was alright when
Sarah noticed that both women seemed to be giving off a pale yellow glow.
Sarah took a step back, watching in horror as the misty glow detached
itself from the two women and drifted into the air over their bodies.
Slowly the shimmer began to shift and swell; soon it took on the form of a
slender golden dragon.  When the dragon was fully formed The creature had
an ethereal translucent appearance, as though made of mist, yet its shape
was sharply defined.  its gauzy wings began to beat, stroking the air,
making a light whispering sound as of a summer breeze caressing silk.  The
dragon drifted around the hall soaring and banking.  It made three
circuits before coming finally in a back-winged manoeuvre to hang in the
air before an amazed Sarah.

Then, in a high, clear contralto, The Golden Ganne Dragon began to speak.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------