Demons of the Dancing Gods by Jack L. Chalker Page A

none too clear just how much longer it could support
    weight, but Marge's horse needed no urging. They were across,
    followed by the kobolds, in a few brief minutes. The weight
    of Joe's horse, though, was the final straw for the weakened
    bridge; just as they cleared the last of it, the entire center
    shuddered and collapsed with a rumble back into the volcano.
    Joe awoke slowly in the darkness. He had been nearly comatose
    for several hours, often delirious and out of his head. He
    felt a cold compress being applied to his forehead and groaned,
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    Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods
    although it felt really good.
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    DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS
    "Joe?" Marge asked tentatively, and he could hear the concern
    in her voice.
    "Yeah," he croaked, his voice a dry rasp, "I guess I'm here."
    Her joy at his coming out of it was such that not only was
    it evident in her physical reactions but also was radiated from
    her into him. It was a strange, warm sensation, unlike anything
    he'd experienced before, and he was deeply moved by it.
    "How bad am I hurt?" he asked her, trying not to show
    what he was receiving. To his relief, the joyous emotions didn't
    change.
    "You're not bad. A little scorched around the edges, but
    mostly it was dehydration. I've been feeding you water in small
    doses all night and getting compresses on you to bring the
    temperature down." She handed him a canteen, and he drank
    from it so greedily that she had to pull it away. "Uh-uh. I know
    something about dehydration, and you take water in slow doses,"
    she cautioned. "Here. Take a little of this."
    She handed him a small, crumbly ball of gray-white stuff,
    and he put it in his mouth, then almost sat up and spat. "That's
    salt\ "
    "Yeah. I got it from a salt lick. You need it to replace what
    you lost and help keep in the water."
    He took a little more water, forcing himself to go slow, and
    did feel a bit better. "What about those bastards on the mountain?"
    "They finally carried you most of the way here," she told
    him. "They're a very funny sort, but not bad really, once you
    get to know them."
    "I know what I'd like to do to them," he grumbled.
    "You couldn't if you wanted to. They're hard as rocks; and
    since they're related to the dwarfs, iron has little effect on
    them. Besides, they could melt your sword before it ever got
    to them, anyway."
    "Where'd they get all that militant labor crap, though? They
    sounded more like our world than this one."
    She nodded. "I wondered about that, too. Apparently there's
    been a movement going around to organize all the fairy workers,
    particularly the heavy-labor types like the kobolds. Nobody's
    sure where the idea came from, but it's going around
    and it's catching on with some like the kobolds. I think we
    better tell Ruddygore about it when we get there, though. There
    JACK L. CHALKER
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    Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods
    53
    was one thing that really puzzles me."
    "Huh? Only one?"
    "Well, in this instance, anyway. One of the kobolds quoted
    Lenin, word for word. Lenin, Joe! Here! Where nobody ever
    heard of him!"
    "You mean the Russians are invading?"
    "No, of course not. Don't be silly. But somebody over here
    is bringing in ideas wholesale from over there, that's for sure.
    That bothers me, Joe. Remember that Ruddygore was worried
    about the plot to bring guns into Husaquahr?"
    He nodded. "I remember. He had that rat Dacaro turned
    into a horse for suggesting it."
    "Well, maybe—but it doesn't add up. Ideas are stronger
    even than guns, Joe, and somebody's importing ideas. Trouble
    is, who's the only guy we know who can make the trip between
    our world and this one any time he wants to?"
    Joe, although still dizzy and weak, saw her point. The base
    of Ruddygore's power was his unique ability to travel between
    the worlds across the Sea of Dreams. They had never been
    really sure about the big sorcerer, and this compounded the
    doubts beyond measure. Ruddygore had fought the