Kirlian Quest by Piers Anthony Page B

most useful to them?"
    "The ability to run, to move rapidly by foot, seems to be chief among these. Also to carry heavy burdens, and to be able to strike hard and accurately with the hands, or with weapons controlled by the hands."
    "So if I should run around this room and carry heavy objects, my physical condition will improve," Herald said.
    "That is my understanding."
    "Thank you, Witness." Herald picked up a solid chair and lumbered in a circle around the room. Very soon the weight of the chair seemed to become greater, and his feet were coming down hard on the floor. He was puffing air in and out of his lungs with uncomfortable force, a side effect he had not anticipated. But he kept on going.
    "What are you trying to do?" his host demanded in his brain, alarmed.
    /I am improving this body,/ Herald replied. /If I am to remain in it for ten days, I want it fit./
    "Brother!" the host exclaimed. "A fitness freak!"
    /You have objection?/
    "No, actually I don't. I always figured I should exercise more. But it's uncomfortable, and if it's okay with you, I'll just bug out for the duration."
    Meaning: The host would disassociate his consciousness from the activities of the body, not returning unless specifically called. That way he would experience none of the sensations Herald brought about. That was a good idea. /Very well, host. Bug out. Sweet dreams./ And a presence faded. There really wasn't anywhere the host-mind could go except to sleep, but the effect was similar to departure.
    Now Herald was staggering, as the muscles refused to respond fully. This was not the fault of the absent host-mind, but a simple function of fatigue. His arms were sending messages of discomfort bordering on pain to his human brain. He was in danger of lurching into a wall, and his breath was rasping through his mouth noisily. He wished he could bug out too. But he had suspected that exercise would not be easy.
    Psyche emerged from the sanitary chamber, fresh and clean and sweet-smelling in her slender nightie. It resembled her tunic but was more sheer, making her look thinner somehow, though actually she possessed those feminine attributes that made her, as her father put it, nubile. Her human mouth opened in alarm, and her small mammalian bosom heaved. "Herald! What's the matter?"
    Herald, rounding a turn, tried to respond. But he lost his balance and crashed into the wall, dropping the chair. Psyche rushed to help him. "Oh, you're hurt!" she cried.
    But her strength was insufficient to support him. Herald slid to the floor, still panting too vigorously to speak intelligibly, and she was carried down with him. She tried to extricate her arm, but succeeded mainly in tearing open his pajama shirt. She leaned over him, her nightie twisted about, falling open at the top. "Where do you hurt? What can I do?" she cried with touching concern.
    The bedroom door crashed open. The Duke of Kade stood there, sword drawn. Suddenly Herald knew he was in trouble.
    "And I thought it was an enemy raid," Kade said with infinite disgust. "Stand, miscreant, that I may run you through."
    But the Sador interposed himself between them, one side wheel spinning so rapidly it started to whine. He was less than half the height of the man, but that wheel faced the Duke, and it looked dangerous. "Hold, Kade, lest you violate the covenant without cause!"
    The Duke paused, but his sword did not lower. "Earl, I have not before seen you as a creature of treachery."
    "Then heed the truth," Whirl said. "Herald was exercising his host-body, and fell. The Lady sought to lift him, and could not. Both are innocent of malice or connivance."
    "This is beyond belief," Kade said savagely. "Must I add your body to that of the molester?"
    The molester! Herald saw that the Duke was serious, having jumped to a conclusion, and would not be swayed by reason. What could he say, before getting stabbed by that ill-justified sword? Was this the horror Smallbore had foreseen?
    "Father!" Psyche