Chapter 17

The next morning Hanlon was told to take two cavals out to the mounting block, for Adwal Irad was to ride with the Ruler that day. As the two men came out of the residence and Hanlon got his first good look at the Second-In-Line for some time, he was thunderstruck at the man’s appearance--it was so changed from when he had seen him the other times.

Irad’s face was drawn and the red of his skin was an unhealthy hue. Deep lines were beginning to show in his face, the eyes were so dim and lack-lustre, the mouth so drawn, that Hanlon wondered if Irad was ill, or had been these past few days.

For the one who had passed highest in all his tests from among those eligible in his generation as to knowledge and fitness for the position of Second-In-Line, and successor to the Rulership, such a breakdown seemed incredible.

Hanlon invaded Irad’s mind to see if he could learn why all this was. But at first touch there seemed something wrong with it ... as though there was a block or barrier there in that mind unlike any he had ever before found. It seemed even worse than it had been before when he had tested that mind--and he wondered anew what it could possibly be. He could still read Irad’s surface thoughts, but the “feel” of the man’s mind was different and disturbing.

Hanlon’s mind-scanning, however, was just in time to catch the partial thought, “ ... this the fellow? He’ll bear watching.”

It was not much to go on, but Hanlon instantly became more alert. “What in Snyder’s name does that mean?” he asked himself. “Wish I had some way of watching this bozo when he isn’t around me.”

But he did not know of any way it could be done, for he could not very well leave the palace grounds while he was working here as a groom, to spy in person upon Irad’s coming and goings, and he knew of no animal or bird kept in the home of the Second-In-Line.

“Wonder what became of Ebony?” Hanlon thought parenthetically. “Hope he found a way to get out of Yandor’s house, and that he has a new, good home.”

And this brought up the sternly-repressed memory of his father. Oh, how he wanted to drop everything and go hunt for his dad. But he had already thought the matter through, and knew his duty kept him at his work--work that was far more important than one man’s liberty. Yes, his mind knew that, but his heart did not.

But Hanlon could and did keep in touch with the two men through the minds of their cavals as they rode that morning, even as he returned to his work in the stables.

And it was well he did so. For hardly were they outside the gates when Irad began again to argue against Estrella’s joining the Federation. But today his so-called evidence met stiffer opposition than formerly. For the Ruler had been thinking more seriously than before, and was studying what Irad said with that in mind.

The things Hanlon--as Lona, the groom--had said had been disturbing. At first Amir had been tempted to dismiss them as ridiculous, even though they more or less echoed what his own son, Inver, had told him. But that damning notebook and its entries was something the Ruler could not dismiss, nor the reports and comments of his life-long friend and respected secretary. He was still undecided--but he was no longer to be duped by sincere-seeming words.

Now, as the two men rode along, Amir was remembering those things and judging each statement Irad made with what he had heard.

And SSM George Hanlon, “listening in” via the minds and senses of the two cavals he was controlling, shivered a bit in the distant stables. He felt a premonition ... but could not deduce what, nor how, nor even if. But he determined to keep closer watch than ever, and so tightened his control of the two steeds cantering along that dusty road several miles away.

As he had found he was able to do, the portions of his mind in each of the animals was, in a large sense, complete and able to act of and by itself. Yet both portions were connected with each other, and with the balance of his mind in his own brain, by a thin thread of consciousness.

He had never quite gotten used to the sensation of apparently being in several places at the same time--of being several distinct individualities. He still remembered the thrill he had known when it was first demonstrated, and the times it had saved him. Yet it was a weird feeling, even though he had found how wonderfully it could and did help him in the important work assigned him by the secret service high command.

Only a few minutes later, however, he was glad he had the power. The Ruler and Irad were passing a small wood, when suddenly several other cavalmen came racing from it, and surrounded them. Two of the new men--all of whom were masked--caught the bridles of the two animals from the residence, and halted them abruptly.

“What is the meaning of this?” Elus Amir cried imperiously, apparently more angry than frightened.

But Hanlon, so far distant he could not possibly get to the place personally, in time to be of any help, was worried and scared. This attack had all the earmarks of assassination and, knowing what he knew, he was sure it was intended as such.

He must do something, but quick.

Dropping his pitchfork, he raced into the tackroom where he knew there was a cot. Throwing his body down on this, he sent all the remainder of his mind out to contact and control the cavals of the newcomers--working outward from the two he was already controlling that were at the scene.

He did not have mind enough to fully take over all of them at once, for cavals had potentially much mind-power, and four or five could absorb all his.

However, by temporarily dropping control of Amir’s animal, he was able to take over enough regulation to overcome the commands of the riders. He made the horses of four of the assassins, those holding flameguns, rear back and begin fighting their riders. They pitched and bucked and shortly started dashing off on a wild runaway gallop across the meadow, in different directions. He impressed on each caval’s mind as well as he could that it must keep on running, no matter what was done to stop it.

Then he wrenched control from their minds and sent it into the other four animals. He found he was just in time. One of the men, who had been holding Amir’s caval--Hanlon could see through its eyes--was drawing his flamegun.

Hanlon made this caval rear suddenly, pitching the man off onto the road. The animal swivelled about while in the air and landed its heavy feet on the prone body. It kicked and pawed the helpless gangster until there was nothing left but a battered and bloody mass.

The remaining attacker’s caval was, meanwhile, racing off across the meadow in much the same runaway fashion as the ones that had preceded it. When it was well away, Hanlon withdrew control.

Meanwhile, he had been watching carefully through the eyes and ears of the two steeds that bore the Ruler and the Second-In-Line, what they were doing and saying.

Through Irad’s mount he could see the look of surprise and fright that had come upon the Ruler’s face. Fright, Hanlon rightly guessed, at Amir’s near approach to death, surprise that the attack had been made at all, and especially at the unbelievable manner of his deliverance.

“What could possibly have made all those cavals start running away just at the crucial moment?” he asked Irad, whom he did not yet suspect. “And even more amazing, the way that one threw and then so savagely killed its rider, yet is now standing quietly there, munching grass at the roadside?”

But both Amir, and Hanlon--who saw it through the Ruler’s caval’s eyes--saw the look of hatred and rage that came onto the face of the Second-In-Line, giving it almost the appearance of a completely different person. Amir was so shocked by it that for a moment he could not speak--could only stare in open-mouthed amazement. Hanlon too was startled, momentarily failing to watch the actions of Irad.

And in that instant the conspirator tried to act. From a hidden pocket in his clothing he drew a flamer, and aimed it at the Ruler.

“Maybe this will spoil my plans,” he snarled, “but by Zappa, you die anyway.”

But even as he was speaking, and while he was pressing the stud in the gun’s handle, Hanlon snapped himself into awareness, and made Irad’s mount rear back and wheel on its hind legs, while at the same time he forced the Ruler’s caval to dodge to one side.

But he was not quick enough. There was a flash of flame, a stench of burning cloth and flesh, and a hastily-suppressed groan, all clearly apparent through the cavals’ senses, that told the distant Hanlon that Amir had been hit. He felt the Ruler reel in his saddle, and hoped the blast was not fatal.

But he had no time then save for an incidental inspection, despite the abilities of his divided mind. For he was intent on trying to make Irad’s caval unseat its rider, so that he might have the beast trample the conspirator. Even so he could feel Amir--through the senses of the steed the Ruler was riding--clutch the pommel with both hands to hold himself on his mount’s back.

But Adwal Irad was an excellent cavalman. He managed to keep his seat, but was too busy with this either to look to see if his shot had killed his Ruler, or to fire another. In a moment he had to drop the gun, anyway, in order to use both hands in trying to quiet the raging animal beneath him.

For the caval was rearing, bucking, sun-fishing--every unusual maneuver Hanlon’s agile mind was able to make it perform. It did things no caval, and no Estrellan, had ever heard of before. Through its mind Hanlon could feel the cruel whipping Irad was giving it, and this made both Hanlon and the beast--never more than half-tame at best--viciously angry and more determined than ever to get rid of the burden.