The Giant laughed. “Those were not his weapons. Those were his toys.”

Now he spoke in Iatric, and the Hormagaunts and Clade-dwellers looked on.

“Preceptor Illiance Vroy,” came the voice of Bashan, “I call upon you to relieve Mentor Ull Ynglingas of his command. Take the gems from the handweapon that Preceptrix Aanwen Leel tossed to the ground, and place them on his coat as a sign of his demotion.”

Illiance looked at Ull suspiciously, then up at the hundred guns peering from the ceiling, and then (because he could not look him in the eye) at the chin of the strange, oversized head of the Giant. “I have insufficient reason to comply with your request, reasonable as it may be.”

“Do what I say, and quickly, for I stand in intellect and wisdom to you as a father to a child, or a shepherd to a sheep.”

“I reluctantly refuse. Mentor Ull’s actions perhaps have a reasonable construction. If you were to tell your reasons, I might comply.”

Bashan the Giant sighed, which was a noise like an immense wind, and the oddly childish mouth became a grim line. “Your compliance is tardy. The situation now has changed. Had you done as I said, you would have discovered the red metallic amulet Ull wears affixed like a medical prosthetic just below his elbow. This amulet once belonged to Father Reyes y Pastor, who was expelled from the Hermetic Order.

“As a reward for his work in biotechnology and Cliometry wherein he successfully interfered with the lives of countless Melusine, who are the dominant and Current species of the Earth, Ull was given the honors and the place of Reyes.

“His arms are too thin to wear the band on his wrist, so he must affix it to his forearm. He did not slumber when you did, but, being granted endless youth by the sciences of the Hermetic Order, came again alive periodically during all the centuries you slept. He has betrayed your principles, and seeks the Judge of Ages only to kill him.

“The only reason why the Judge of Ages has not been attacked with lethal force is that some doubt still clouds Ull’s mind surrounding the issue of identity.

“Had you done as I asked, his deception would have been revealed without any further ado. Because you refused, there will now be a firefight in this chamber, and not all here will emerge alive.”

5

Jurors

1. To Arms

Daae the Alpha Chimera called out in Virginian, “The Judge of Ages in his wrath has summoned a Giant from the earliest of times, from the Antecpyrotic World, to destroy all those within the chamber! Prepare yourselves for the oblivion we crave, for the force of the elder days will make no distinction of innocence or guilt, any more than the fires they used to destroy earlier worlds!”

And the voice of Daae simply rang with joy.

Whether he knew that the Blue Men had thawed this Giant themselves, keeping him out of sight in their hospital all this time, or whether he thought the Judge of Ages had arranged to have him brought into the chamber, was not clear, but his words startled both educated Chimerae and Witches who understood his language.

Fatin the Witch maiden called out to her Witches in Virginian, “Stay! The Giant knows the guilty. Have you never seen one before? This is a posthuman—his intelligence range is in the 500s. Look at his eyes! He understands everything about us … He will spare us…”

Ajuoga called out in her icy, poisonous voice, “No! He is baptized of the White Christ, and is an enemy to all Witches. We are dead meat and food for birds and jackals!”

Mickey shouted toward the Giant, “Eat the Blue Men, not me! I am full of unhealthy hallucinogenic chemicals and fatty tissue! You need to watch your diet!”

Alpha Daae whistled. The Chimerae moved with practiced quickness, and retreated into the alcove holding the atomic pile. The dog things, dividing their attention to cover the Giant and the Judge of Ages on his throne, were taken unawares, and given no direct orders, they did not stop the Chimerae.

Gamma Phyle and Kine Happy pulled down the two display cabinets to the left and right of the opening of the alcove, sending the huge cases tilting, toppling, and shattering with a noise like thunder when they fell to the floor. Priceless antiques spilled out. The two prone display cases now made an impromptu bulwark across the opening of the alcove, and Beta Vulpina and Beta Suspinia took position to the left and right, bows strung and arrows nocked. The tops of the display cases did not quite touch, and in this breach stood Alpha Daae and Alpha Yuen, both looking more fierce and fearless and splendid than even their wont.

Seeing this, Prissy Pskov and Zouave Zhigansk scrambled for any weapon-shaped antique that had fallen from the smashed cases, and they called Toil, Drudge, and Drench to do likewise. The three Donors did not obey, but fled to a corner of the chamber, cowering behind the looming statue of Michael the Archangel.

Soorm and Crile and Gload, disdaining any weapons not built of their own flesh, put their backs to the fountain. Crile elongated his neck and opened both serpent fangs and telescoping elbow spikes. Soorm stepped backward into the water, charged his electrical eel cells, and bent to draw up his scorpion’s tail, bulb throbbing with poison, above his shoulder, twitching. The headless Gload uttered a belly laugh from the grotesque shark mouth running from side to side across his belly, and he cracked his knuckles.

Of the Witches, Mickey and Ajuoga and Lilura were of a period late enough to know the Chimerae, and know them as deadly enemies, and so they called to their fellows and followers, and, with much more noise and disarray, retreated to the opposite alcove, which held tanks of medical nanomaterial, and the women climbed atop the tanks, leaving Mickey, the Demonstrators, and the other menfolk to form a line across the opening of the alcove. The stands of antique armor the menfolk pulled from either side, and so a broken line of empty metal stood between the Witch-men and the chamber. Mickey whirled his charming rod overhead, passing it quickly from one hand to the other, and flourished it like a quarterstaff, uttering his battle-yodel. The Demonstrators hissed, and helped themselves to the swords and spears the suits of armor held.

The thirty-one Witches faced the nine Chimerae across the fountain. Three Hormagaunts stood between them, looking both ways, while Prissy and Zouave, allergic to each other, sought out opposite sides of the chamber.

The captain of the dog things barked, and the squadrons turned left and right. Two dozen dog things faced the Giant in two rows of twelve, the front row kneeling; another two dozen faced the dais, or the fountain, or the Witches, or the Chimerae, or the scattered others in the chamber. The Scholar Rada Lwa, Ctesibius the Savant, Sir Guiden, Linder Keir and Keirthlin, and Alalloel were guarded each by a trio or quartet of dogs. The remaining threescore gathered near the Blue Men in a defensive half circle.

The gentle Nymphs retreated, cooing and moaning, to the feet of the statue of Michael the Archangel, and the males of their race played fretful trills and warning arpeggios on their double-pipes. No one was covering them with weapons, which made Menelaus smile, because his circuits in the chamber detected the pheromones and scentless neuropsychological chemicals that began to rise up like vapor from them. He signaled with his implants to the wall vents, turned on the fans, and increased the air circulation in that quarter of the chamber.

The Giant at the chamber door observed all this without expression. He looked carefully at Menelaus, and stepped forward one giant step.

2. Chess and Poker

Only then did Menelaus hear, over his implants, in his inner ear, the voice of Sir Guiden. “Liege, I assume we are not talking over implants to maintain radio silence?”