Demons of the Dancing Gods by Jack L. Chalker Read Free Book Online

babble of voices—or, as
    it seemed, the same voice repeated hundreds, perhaps thousands,
    of times, all at once, and saying different things. She
    whirled around and saw that the crater was filled with Kauri,
    all looking and sounding the same and all talking at one another.
    There was nothing to do but let them run down; nobody could
    ever get them quiet any other way.
    One of the original five broke away from a conversation
    and came over to her. "Well, I sure hope you are a Kauri
    changeling," she almost shouted over the din.
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    Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods
    Marge frowned. "Why's that?"
    The Kauri took her hand and led her back toward the wood
    for a bit. The grip was feather-light, and the fairy creature
    moved as if she had almost no weight at all. She still had the
    moves, though—they all did. If there were fairy hookers, this
    was their convention.
    The combination of forest and the slowly diminishing din,
    as Kauri ran out of things to say, helped a bit.
    "Whew! It's always like that around here," the fairy woman
    told her. "I'm Aislee, by the way."
    "I'm Marge," she responded, glad to find some kind of
    friend. "This is all pretty new to me, so thanks."
    "Oh, no problem. You got to learn how to cope around
    here, anyway. I was born around here and it still drives me
    nuts sometimes."
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    DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER 31
    "I'm afraid I don't know enough even to comment on that.
    In fact, you five were the first Kauri I'd ever seen."
    "Yeah? Well, I guess that's natural. Most of us stay around
    here or in the Firehills region and east. It's kinda the pledge,
    y'know; keeps us pretty bored most of the time."
    "The pledge?"
    Aislee nodded. "Yeah. You know—we won't do to others
    if they don't do to us, that kind of thing. They're scared of us
    and we-'re scared of them, so we take it easy."
    "You mean nobody ever goes far from Mohr Jerahl?"
    "Oh, some go a long way. We're always in demand, y'know.
    Conventions, banquets, troop entertainment, that sort of thing.
    But it's strictly temporary and real limited, y'know."
    No, Marge didn't know, but in fits and starts she began to
    get a picture of just who and what the Kauri were.
    The Kauri flew, of course, like many other fairy folk, and
    were very light and hollow-boned. Still, they were tough—
    their skin was covered with a substance that had the feeling
    and texture of felt, while their wings were soft and satiny. This
    covering protected them from almost everything—it was waterproof,
    even fireproof, and it somehow acted like a major shock
    absorber. The Kauri were also extremely fluid in internal construction,
    so they could bear almost crushing weights without
    problem—yet they themselves were so light that they had trouble
    staying grounded in a strong breeze.
    '" While hard to damage or kill—except with iron, of course—
    they were by nature quite passive and found it impossible to
    cause permanent injury, let alone to kill anyone or anything.
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    Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing Gods
    Although without any magic powers or spells themselves,
    they were controlled empaths in both directions. The emotions
    of any human were an open book to them, and they could
    instantly tell fear, love, sincerity, or falsehood. This had its
    drawbacks—sorrow would flood into them and they would
    find themselves crying uncontrollably; hilarity or joy around
    them would make them so manic they'd be higher than kites.
    They could, however, project desired feelings to others—humans,
    certainly, but also many of the fairy folk, particularly
    the most dangerous It could be conscious, especially in a oneon-
    one situation, but it could also be instinctive. If a threat
    were perceived—and it usually could be from the empathic
    input—then they became impossible to harm or kill. The more
    intense the negative emotion, the more the counter was radiated.
    As Marge and Aislee talked, a couple of other Kauri found
    them and