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very wrong, although things had been going well from Mervyn's point of view.
It had started with the falcon still in the
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SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 273
Sister General's office, grown worse at meeting
Daji, and was now building to the breaking point.
She looked around nervously, studying everyone in the square, her eyes finally
reaching the two approaching Sisters. There was just something about them,
something very odd... .
"Everybody watch it!" she cried suddenly. "Those
Sisters are wearing boots!"
"Caw!" screamed the raven almost immediately.
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
The two "Sisters" split from one another, reach-
ing in and drawing guns at the same instant.
Mervyn dropped where he was and pulled an auto-
matic pistol, firing at the closest attacker first. The
"Sister" fell back with the force of the shots, blood soaking the front of the
robe while her gun clat-
tered as it fell. The other, however, dropped and rolled, and had time to open
fire before Mervyn could bring his pistol around. Suzl had dropped at
Cass's warning and now rolled towards the first assailant's fallen weapon,
while Cass managed to make it behind a post that afforded some protection.
Birds and people were screaming and panicking everywhere.
Daji, however, had just stopped and stood there, looking very confused. As a
result, she took the full blast of the second assailant's shots and staggered
back, then collapsed on the paving stones, writh-
ing and groaning. Mervyn fired at the assassin but scored only a grazing blow.
Then his gun went dead, empty. The woman in yellow, realizing this, stopped,
raised her own gun, and pointed it di-
rectly at the wizard, who had nowhere to run. A
volley of shots rang out, echoing across the square and against the Temple
walls, and the killer spun
and fell dead.
Suzl looked a little surprised that she'd shot so well from such a distance,
and smugly blew the smoke away from the barrel. Mervyn, however, Jack L.
ChaUcer
274
was in no mood for gratitude or theatrics. "Shoot the raven!" he cried. "The
raven'" He pointed to the large bird atop the lamp, but before Suzl real-
ized what he was saying and could make sense of it the bird launched itself
into the air and was soon lost from sight to the southwest.
Cass ran over and helped Mervyn up. "Damn!"
he swore. "It was Haldayne and we almost had him!"
Suzl walked cockily over to them. "He almost had you, you mean. Where the hell
did you get that pistol?"
"Trick compartment in the cape," he told her.
"They took the rifle, left the holder, and it was still there. Damn you,
though! Why didn't you shoot the raven while you had the chance? I had a spell
on you that made you a great marksman. You could have had him!"
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"And lost you," she responded, getting a little irritated.
"What do I matter?" he growled. "That raven was Haldayne. If we had gotten him
we could have taken Persellus without any real losses."
She shrugged. "Sorry. Next time I'll let you die and shoot every damned bird
in sight." She looked around. "Where's Cass?" They both looked, and found her
kneeling beside the fallen Daji. Aicrowd was gathering fast, and police could
be heard on their way. Mervyn elbowed his way through and knelt down beside
Cass.
Daji was mortally wounded, but still alive, Gasping, blood running from her
mouth, she looked for all the world a hurt and confused child. She choked
once, and then something seemed to grow within her, filling her face and
particularly her
eyes. Her whole appearance took on a different look, and she coughed and
gulped down air. "Damn you!" she screamed, in a far different, more self-
assured voice filled with hatred and fear. "Damn
SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 275
that bastard Haldayne! Always the genius! Always the double-dealing genius! I
should have known, you. . .." She shuddered and went limp, and her eyes now
held a vacancy that even Daji had never known.
Police and Temple wardens came through, pull-
ing them away. Cass stepped back and shook her head sadly. "It's crazy," she
said, not particularly to Suzl although that was who was there. "I actu-
ally feel sorry for her. I don't know how I can pity her, but I do."
Suzl shrugged. "Well, she certainly was what you said, that's for sure. Man!
That was weird, seeing her change like that."
Cass nodded. At least she was vindicated in her own mind about it all- Daji
had certainly been with Haldayne, and that meant the rest of it was almost
certainly true as well. She looked up for
Mervyn, and saw him with the authorities inspect-
ing the body of the first killer. Both assassins were dead, and when the robes
were opened they all saw that under those robes were two hard-looking women
dressed in farm clothes.
They spent the next several hours with the police, giving statements of the
events. The pass from the
Sister General was absolute, and avoided many embarrassing questions about why
they were there, but there were still the statements, which had to be checked,
typed, and signed, and the individual interrogation of each as to the exact
sequence of events. The administrative chief of the Temple showed up to clear
the way for them not to have to reveal any more than they chose, and to carry
back copies of everything for the Sister General, but it was still a mess-
Neither killer was on the registry, nor had they any record of entering An-
chor Logh. This bothered them all more than the killings themselves, as
unprecedented as they were, because it meant that either there was a leak in
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276
the wall guard or else these two had come from the only place where the
unregistered could possi-
bly come from the Temple itself.
That was not the problem of the trio from the
Flux, however. "You know this Anchor pretty well.
Can we take different indirect routes back to the gate?" Mervyn asked them.
They thought about it. "There are lots of back roads, so long as you don't
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