"That which can never exist is the combination of Vashanka on this plane ofReality. Since he is dead but gods may not die from the weapons of mortals, hecannot be here. He can never return to this chamber of the House of Infinity."

Hanse felt that Ils had said the same thing three several ways, and all werenicely logical and avoided paradox, but ... A wormhole? In space? Yet he was notconcerned with that and could not be. Vashanka was gone; Hanse must have won. Hefelt fine, too, except that he could not seem to lift his head or feel anything.Yet somehow being a hero made him behave as one; he did not mention that butasked a hero's question: "And Mignureal?"

"She is asleep in her bed. Was-she is risen now, and seeing to her siblings, forin Sanctuary it is dawn. As I and mine are all-powerful here now.... !"

And Eshi rose, whole and unscarred, and rushed to the prostrate Hanse.

She knelt beside him and he knew her hands were on him because he could seethem. She looked up at the Lord of Lords.

"I want him, father! I want him!"

"But-me!" Hanse said. "What of me?"

Us gazed down on him. "You, beloved Son of Shadow, have defeated a god andrestored Me to my own people in Sanctuary. Further, as Va-shanka had become themost powerful of the gods of Ranke, that people's power will wane. Empires dieslowly, but it has begun, as of this moment."

"Yes," Hanse said almost plaintively, not even realizing the enormity of hisservice to gods and Ilsigi and world, "but... now? What of me- now?"

"Fa-ther," Eshi said with the sound of accusation in her voice, "his neck isbroken!"

Us said quietly, "Now, Hanse, hero, you are dying."

"But-"

"His head struck this nasty damned stone and he's paralyzed from the neck down!He feels nothing, nothing!"

"But that cannot be," Ils went on, as if he had heard neither of them. "Youcannot be dying, for you cannot be dead, for he who did death on you does notexist on this plane. Therefore a paradox exists, if you are dying. Therefore youcannot be dying."

Pain rose up in Hanse then, as again his body came alive, and he moved his headto look down at Eshi, whose weight was partially on him, and then that was allhe felt, for all pain fled and so did each scratch and bruise.

"Uh-pardon me, uh, Lady Goddess," he grunted, and Hanse rose to face his god. Tohim clung the daughter of that god, herself a god. "And now? After all this, mygod-what am I?"

"Now, Hanse, you return. For ten circuits of your world around the s-that is,for ten circuits of the sun-you shall have what you wish. All that you desire.We shall not be available to you. Then we shall, and you will face me again,beloved Hanse, and tell me what is your desire."

"But-"

Eshi clung to him, but her grip was broken, her fingers torn free of the mailedhero of the Ilsigi by the wind of Ils that rushed him back to Sanctuary; back tohis own beloved, squalid little Thieves' World.

A glance upward showed him more of the impossible that had lately become all toocommonplace for the Son of Shadow. The sky was precisely as it had been when hedeparted on his mission. He even recognized the oddly formed little cloud 'wayout there above Julavain's Hill. It looked just like a-

But even as he paced along the narrow Maze "street," the cloud was coming apart,changing, never to be the same again.

Information was yielded Hanse by that. But it was for realization later, thefact that while hours or days had been consumed in that mighty combat in achamber of the House of Infinity, in Sanctuary exactly no time had passed atall.

Just now, in the darkness of Slick Walk, an accoster separated itself from theshadows along one wall and glided into his path. The fellow bulked large, too.

"You're not in a hurry are you, little fellow?" the voice said, mocking him."Carrying a purse?"

"Not tonight," Hanse said, stepping into the light that fell between them.

He drew a long sword from a silver-flashing sheath buckled over fine dark armorthat rang softly with the movement of mailed sleeve on chest. At the same timehe showed teeth and the blade moved up to catch the light and the footpadwhirled and ran for absolutely all he was worth.

Chuckling softly, Hanse moved on along Slick toward the Serpentine.

Now those gods with whom he was so intimate had a strange way of expressingthemselves sometimes, but he was sure Ils had said that he could have anythinghe wished for... what did He mean? Ten circuits of the sun was subject tointerpretation.

Did the god mean only ten days? Surely He had not meant ten years?

Oh well. Ten days or ten months or ten years, Hanse would take them as theycame-each as it came. One at a time, he mused, and he yawned.

To begin with he wished that he were not at all tired, and then he made anotherwish as well, grinning, and when he entered his room there she was, waiting alllow-lashed and smoky-eyed, in his bed.

(Sleeping entwined, they were awakened later by a horrific vivid lighting of thesky that quite occluded the late-rising moon, but that was the sort of paradoxthat both Reality and minor gods such as Vashanka and Ils allowed, andcountenanced. It was enough to bring anyone wide awake and it was frightfullyearly, but Hanse found something to do.)

FOOTNOTES:

[i] "The Vivisectionist," in Shadows Of Sanctuary; Ace Books, 1981.

[ii] "Shadowspawn," in Thieves' World; Ace Books, 1979.

The fishing fleets of Sanctuary made the first sighting.

Haron saw a strange sail and called Omat to show it to him. By the time he hadshaded his eyes from the sun's glare and located the strange ship, there werefive sails-then twenty, all with the strange lateen rigging he had seen the dayof the Old Man's disappearance... only these ships were larger, much larger.

He began working quickly, his one arm aching and cramped with the effort ofquick-hauling his nets. The alarm spread from boat to boat and soon the entirefleet was on the move to shore. Some abandoned their nets and traps, preferringto lose their equipment to remaining there on the fishing grounds.

By the time they reached the piers, over a hundred sails were in view, all on anunwavering course for the town called Sanctuary.

Word spread through the city like wildfire. A fleet, a big one-bound forSanctuary. Some said it was an invasion from the north. Others argued hotly thatthe design of the ships was not northern; their specific point of origin wasunknown, save that they could not be from the Northern Kingdoms.

All that was known for sure was that before nightfall new feet would tread thestreets of Sanctuary. Some panicked, fleeing to the palace or the temples forreassurance. Others, more practical, began boarding up their shops and hidingtheir valuables.

Hanse Shadows? awn heard the news with mixed feelings, wishing anew he could becertain how long his guarantee of divine protection would last. Finally hedecided that discretion really was the better part of valor and headed for theruined estate that had been the scene of his recent adventures. An estate thatwas well outside the boundaries of Sanctuary proper. Things had been so muchsimpler before he had anything to lose.

Myrtis, ruling the Street of Red Lanterns from her Aphrodesia House, was perhapsthe best prepared of any in town. A few curt orders were all that would benecessary to begin relocating her "staff to the tunnels beneath the city. Thoughworried about the chronic shortage of supplies in the chambers below, she wasmore worried about Lythande. The mage had been absent from town for some timenow-and the oncoming fleet boded ill for any traveller's return.