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like so much more than a mere place where lots of
people lived, protects itself.
Jerro walked forward but stopped just before
passing between the pylons. Lorien looked up at
them. More than thirty feet high, they ended in
sharp points at the top and tapered down,
somehow assuming circular and square and
triangular features along the way. It was curious
modern art, but nothing to get too worked up
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over.
Well? She looked at him. Jerro turned and
sniffed, then looked at the sky. The sun was
setting and only one moon gleamed a silvery disk
in the sky. Lorien had never paid much attention
to stars and constellations, but the welter of stars
convinced her this was not home. There were too
many stars, and they glittered all the colors of the
rainbow. She had never seen anything like the
beauty of the night sky even hinted at anywhere
on earth.
The moons will not rise soon, he said. I can
retain this shape without a transmute.
You sniffed that? Lorien had to laugh, and it
was not a pleasant laugh.
The expression on Jerro s face stifled the
mocking laughter. She had seen plenty of people
who were afraid. Jerro went beyond merely scared
all the way to terrified.
What is it? she asked. Then Lorien realized
she was the cause of his utter, gut-wrenching
fright. Jerro, I m sorry. I didn t mean to make fun
of you like that. It s been pretty disorienting for
me. This isn t my world, and I don t know how I
got here.
You should go into the City. Jerro pointed.
His hand shook.
Please, what s wrong? Tell me, she begged.
Lorien reached out and caught his hand and tried
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Lost Lore
to pull him close. The fright vanished and
contempt replaced it. She didn t like this any
better than the fear. He was too handsome when
he was smiling or was caught up in serious
lovemaking.
Do not touch me like that, he said, pulling
away.
What? It s all right if we fuck but not if we
hold hands? God! Even on this world, things are
screwed up!
The night watch will go on patrol soon. We
must enter the City quickly.
What? Does the toll go up or something?
Lorien looked up the full length of the twin pylons
and wondered what would happen if she walked
around rather than between them. Would a cop
come riding up and give her a ticket for
jaywalking?
What happens if I don t go between those
posts? The notion came to her, and she did not
know why. The driver and his wagon had passed
through without anything terrible happening.
You must. It is required.
All right, she said, more pissed off than ever.
Jerro s swift changes in demeanor, the entire
world it was almost too much for her. She
smoothed out the tattered blue blazer and moved
the strings remaining of her skirt around to a more
chaste location. How she must look to the citizens
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of this city the City was nothing less than
disreputable. Lorien wondered if she asked for
directions, if they would direct her to a homeless
shelter.
Where are we going in the City? she asked
suddenly. You must have friends or relatives
here. You said you were on your way when we
met. Is there anyone who can help you help
me?
We must enter now, he said haughtily. Head
high and shoulders back, Jerro strutted forward
and stood for a moment between the yellow
pylons. Lorien blinked. For a second she thought
they glowed with a warm golden light, but it
might only have been a trick of the starlight. She
wasn t used to such a profusion of lights
overhead.
Lorien took a deep breath and walked forward.
An electric tingle passed along her arms and up
her legs.
This is kind of sexy feeling, she said, stopping
next to Jerro. I
Lorien let out a scream and arched her back as
pain hit her like a sledgehammer. She writhed and
cried and felt Jerro s arms supporting her.
Help me, she gasped out. Please, Jerro, help
me.
Then she passed out.
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Lost Lore
Chapter Five
orien thrashed about as the electric tingles felt
L
more like she had stuck her finger into a light
socket. She forced herself to open her eyes. Blurry
images danced all around.
Who . . . She tried to reach out to the woman
dressed in a long flowing black robe that brushed
the ground with soft sighs as she moved. Lorien
had seen her before. She struggled to remember.
It burst on her like an explosion.
The doorway. You were in the doorway at the
house. The other house.
Her tongue felt as if she had ironed it, causing
her words to come out mumbled and wrong. But
she tried to call to the woman. Reaching out, her
fingers almost touched the hem of that robe.
The woman in black turned and looked at her.
For a moment Lorien thought she was looking in a
mirror.
Me! she cried. She saw herself, only it was
not. The woman in black had hair so white it hurt
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Lorien s eyes to look at it. The hair was caught up
in a wild swirl that gathered over her left ear and
dangled down like a ponytail. But it was so white!
Freshly fallen snow looked bleak and ugly in
comparison. Lorien wanted to touch it and run her
fingers through it. Such fine, lustrous hair had to
be soft.
The woman who was not Lorien sneered as she
turned away.
Don t go, wait, questions! I ve got questions!
Lorien made a wild grab for the other woman
and flopped about like a fish on a river bank. She
gasped and tried to breathe, but some heavy
weight crushed her to the ground.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw Jerro above
her. He had one knee firmly planted between her
shoulder blades as he struggled to do something.
Her head buzzed as if a million bees inhabited it,
and her mouth was filled with cotton. Had she
even spoken to the white-haired woman in black?
Lorien wasn t sure. What she was sure about was
the way Jerro kept her pinned to the ground like a
butterfly in a display case.
Get off me. Get off! He did not budge. Are
you as deaf as you are blind? You re hurting me!
She gasped in pain when he caught her right
wrist and pulled it behind her back. Then real pain
surged up her arms as he tightened a rope about
her wrist. Suddenly weak in reaction, she did
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Lost Lore
nothing to keep him from grabbing her other
wrist. Before she knew it, he had her hands tied
behind her back.
Get up, he said, panting harshly as if he had
run a long race.
She looked up at him from her awkward
position, stomach down on the ground. Jerro had
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