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Cynthia Sax [Dragon Lord 06] Dragon Lord's Destiny [Changeli
Cynthia Sax [Big Cat Mates 03 Leopard Territory [Changeling]
Amber Kallyn [Dragos 03] Blazed [Changeling] (epub)
Anne Kane [Mercenaries 01] Private Skirmish [Changeling] (
Barbara Longley [Perfect, Ind A Change of Heart (epub)
Caroline L. Arnold Small Move, Big Change
Beth Rinyu [Hope 02] A Will to Change (epub)
B J McCall [Sugarplum 01] Canine Christmas [Changeling] (
Diana Estill You Can't Change Crazy (epub) i
C E Martin [Stone Soldiers 03 Blood

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.”“Don’t I know it, Bobby.I can’t help getting the wim warns when I think about all the people who’ll be at the opera house.”“Wim warns? What kind of thing is that for a king to have?” Carnivan gave the bookcase a shake.“Didn’t you tell Dr.Damasco and me you were off Meta for good.”“Another broken promise.”“Look, change back to yourself.King Umberto.There’s really not much to worry about.Mick Ezra and his followers have all been rounded up and put away, haven’t they?”“No,” replied the bookcase.“Which is one reason I’ve got this tummy ache.”“Didn’t your damn Royal Army arrest Ezra?”“We couldn’t find him,” said the king.“Not Mick Ezra or one single member of his Counter-Culture Commandos.The army swept through all their known haunts.I suspect they had advance warning.”Carnivan sighed.“You have such sloppy security around here, anything is possible.”“Another thing, Bobby,” said the king.“I read a think piece in the teleport edition of the Barnum Tattler and in it Marlow Demby made a nasty remark about me turning my physician into a piano while my empire burned.”“He did?” said Carnivan.“I haven’t monitored the new issue yet.”“You knew about dear old Dr.Damasco’s unfortunate experience, Bobby.You even sat on his stool I hear.”“All your guards knew it, too,” said Carnivan.“Trust me, king, I’m not a spy for Bamum News.So now come on and change back to normal.”“Don’t want to.”“Damn it.King Umberto, this opera is important.This could help you turn the corner.”“Turn the corner and walk into the lion’s den.” The bookcase flickered and changed slowly, contracting and writhing, back into the king.He was a small, chubby man, naked, with graying whiskers.“Good.Stay that way and get dressed.”The king walked to a real marble dressing table at the far side of his bed chamber.He opened a gold filigreed pillbox, grabbed out a handful of black-and-orange capsules.He slapped them into his mouth.“I don’t really need any more, but so what.Watch this, Bobby.” He grunted, flickered, stretched, and blurred, and slowly metamorphasized into a lion.He came bounding toward Carnivan, skidded into a slide, whapped Carnivan across the knees with a paw.“Scary huh?” He skated over to the window.Giving another roar he leaped through.Carnivan dived to the vidphone, punched a number.When Corinna’s lovely face appeared on the tiny screen he said, “Get over to the opera house and tell them to delay the overture.”“Bob, is there going to be more trouble?”“King Umberto has turned himself into a big, dirty, brown lion.I’ve got to track him down and get him to the opera house.”“Well, good luck, Bob.I’ll see you there I guess.”Carnivan reluctantly broke the connection.He started toward the smashed window, then stopped at the marble table.The lid of the pillbox was still open and a half-dozen black-and-orange Meta capsules were still inside.Carnivan glanced at the shattered window and the night beyond.“Let him frolic,” he said.“I can be a better King Umberto than him.” He took four capsules, one at a time, and walked to the wardrobe closet to select a crown.Carnivan didn’t realize anything was wrong until after the overture.When the chorus of jungle peasants began singing, though, he rubbed at his gray whiskers and turned to look at the door to his royal box.The peasants weren’t singing the carefully written, and thoroughly researched.Propaganda Corps lyrics at all.“Mick Ezra is the man of the hour,” they sang.“He’s seized control of the king’s power.Now freedom and justice will take flower.The rule of despots has had its final hour.”“Clumsy,” said Carnivan.“Not at all as good as our words.Oops.” He was a very close physical replica, thanks to the Meta capsules, of King Umberto.After a few minutes of practice he’d been able to control the effects of the drug.He figured he was fooling the three hundred people in the audience.They’d given him a nice ovation when he tipped his crown to them just before the rise of the curtain.With the government falling he didn’t want to be sitting around in public being a replica of King Umberto.Carnivan left his seat, knocked aside the Royal Guard standing near him.He hit the exit door of the box and ran out into the corridor.As he sprinted along the still empty hall he strained to change back to himself.He couldn’t.That was right.Dr.Damasco had told him shifting back to yourself sometimes took hours when you first started using the stuff.You could change into somebody, or some thing, fairly fast.After that you might be stuck.During the rehearsals he’d learned where all the emergency doors in the opera house were.He found one now and fled quietly down a fire ramp.He shoved his crown behind some packing crates in the alley he landed in and eased to the alley mouth.Fires were starting all around, shouting was growing up in the night.Blasters crackled, windows were smashed and crowds were rolling into the streets.Carnivan kept to alleys, finally hid in Generalissimo Noz Park.He hid for long hours in the shadows of a merry-go- round while the commandos worked at the overthrow of King Umberto’s regime.At dawn Carnivan was finally able to change to his own shape.He smiled, feeling himself, stretching the stiffness out.He smiled and went walking toward the embassy.He wanted to get a report off to Bamum.It was quiet all around the embassy [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]