Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 91

stopped lying, now? "It does not matter what I say to you now," she said, as if she had read his thoughts. Possibly she had. They had never used mindspeech; but if she was a Shing and had the mental powers of the Shing, the extent of which was only a matter of rumor and speculation among men, she might have been attuned to his thoughts all along, all the weeks of their traveling. How could he tell? There was no use asking her… There was a sound behind him. He turned, and saw two people standing at the other end of the room, near the mirror. They wore black gowns and white hoods, and were twice the height of ordinary men. "You are too easily fooled," said one giant. "You must know you have been fooled," said the other. "You are half a man only." "Half a man cannot know the whole truth." "He who hates is mocked and fooled." "He who kills is razed and tooled." "Where do you come from, Falk?" "What are you, Falk?" "Where are you, Falk?" "Who are you, Falk?" Both giants raised their hoods, showing that there was nothing inside but shadow, and backed into the wall, and through it, and vanished. Estrel ran to him from the other room, flung her arms about him, pressing herself against him, kissing him hungrily, desperately. "I love you, I have loved you since I first saw you. Trust me, Falk, trust me!" Then she was torn from him, wailing, "Trust me!" and was drawn away as if pulled by some mighty, invisible force, as if blown by a great wind, whirled about, blown through a slit doorway that closed silently behind her, like a mouth closing. "You realize," said the tall male in the other room, "that you are under the influence of hallucinatory drugs." His whispering, precise voice held an undertone of sarcasm and ennui. "Trust yourself least of all. Eh?" He then lifted his long robes and urinated copiously; after which he wandered ~ 89 ~