"It is Nalda?" I turned my head, though I could not see.
"Yes, Lord." She spoke briskly, and I silently thanked her for
her way toward me. There was no pity in her manner, only the
confidence of one who had nursed hurts and expected healing to come
from her service.
"Lady Joisan?"
"She sleeps, Lord. And truly she has taken little hurt, save
that the blow was a hard one. But there be no bones broken or other
injury."
"Have the men reported in yet?"
"No, you shall see them at once when they come. Now here is some
soup, Lord. A man must keep his belly filled if he would hold his
strength. Open your mouth — "
She spooned it into me as if I were a baby. Nor could I then say
her "no." But in me was a rage against what had happened and a dark
feeling of misery that there was naught I could do for myself.
Nalda guided me to my bed, and I stretched thereupon. But sleep,
even rest, was far from me, wearied from the trail as I was. I lay
rigid, as one who expects any moment to be called to arms, though I
might never be again.
I thought of Joisan — of her need to regain the gryphon. I knew
that she was right; that it must be taken from Rogear. He had not
been caught in the doom of wind and wave. Had then those others
escaped also — Hlymer who was no true brother, the Lady Tephana,
Lisana — ?
Now I raised my hands to explore the bandage over my eyes. It
was still damp, and I was sure it was of no use to me.
Rogear — if he had come after the gryphon — how could he have
known of it save through Riwal, and from Jago, that it had passed
to Joisan? What was it that he had come to seize? I knew so little
at a time when knowledge was so essential.
I rested my arm across my forehead, the back of my wrist upon
that bandage. How long was it before my thoughts were shaken out of
the drear path they followed, and I realized something was in
progress?
The wrist band! Joisan had said it defeated the ray from the
crystal. From it now — I sat up and tore away the bandage. A warmth
spread from the wristlet where it touched my flesh. Perhaps
instinct, perhaps "memory" guided me now, for I held that band of
strange metal first against my right eye and then against my left,
pressing upon the closed lids. I did not try to see as yet. What I
did was simple. Why I did it I did not know, save there came from
that act a sense of well-being, a renewed confidence in life.
I dropped my hand and opened my eyes. Dark! I could have cried
my vast despair aloud. I had thought — hoped —
Then I turned my head a little and — light! Limited — but there.
And I realized that I sat within a darkened room with light marking
the doorway. Hastily I arose and went to it.
Night, yes, but no darker than any night I had seen before. When
I had raised my head to look heavenward — stars! Stars glittering
more brightly than I could remember. I could see!
Joisan! Instantly in my joy I knew I must share this with her.
And that was mainly instinct too. I looked around the courtyard to
get my bearings and headed to her room.
The doorway curtain was down and made me pause. Nalda had said
she had given her lady a sleeping draught and that she would rest
until morning. But even if I could not tell her of this miracle, I
could at least look upon her dear face. There was a faint glimmer
of light behind the curtain. They must have left one of the rush
lamps with her.
So I entered, wishing to shout aloud my tidings, yet walking
softly, trying to control even my breathing lest I disturb her
rest
Only, there was no one on her bed! The light cloak that must
have been her night covering was tossed aside; the couch of leaves,
grass, and brush was empty.
Empty save for something that lay in the hollow where her head
must have rested. It caught my eye and I scooped it up. I held a
bag, lumpily stuffed with herbs, which gave forth a strong odor.
Among the leaves and roots there was a harder knot.
I gasped and the bag fell to the floor. About the band on my
wrist coiled a thin blue haze, as if the metal had given forth a
puff of smoke. I needed no instruction as to the nature of what was
in that bag. Black evil shouted aloud in my mind.
Stooping, I caught up the bag by the point of my knife and
dropped it on the stone table, close to the rush light. Without
laying finger on it I slit the cloth, using the knife point to dig
and probe until I brought into sight a thing about the size and
shape of a Sulcar trading coin. It was dull black, yet also veined
in red, and those veins — No, they were not veins after all, but
some runic pattern as involved as those on my wristlet.
This was a thing of Power, that I knew. But of the Dark Power.
Anyone touching it —
Joisan! How had this evil thing come into her bed? In that
moment such a fear rent me that I shouted, calling on Nalda who
should certainly be near at hand.The fury of my voice echoed
hollowly out into the courtyard. I called again, heard other voices
upraised — "My Lord," Nalda stood in the doorway, "what — " I
pointed to the bed. "Where is my lady?" She exclaimed, hurried
forward, stark surprise on her face. "But—where else could she be,
Lord? She was sleeping, as the drink would make her. I would take
Gunnora's Three Oaths that she could not stir until morning — "
"Did you leave this in her bed?" I had controlled my fear,
outwardly at least. Now I used the knife to indicate the torn bag
and its contents.
She leaned close, sniffing. "My lord, this is a soothing bag
such as we make for the Lady Islaugha when she is restless. One of
these beneath her pillow, and she is not so led by her fancies. It
is of good herbs — "
"Do you also add this?" My knife point was close to the evil
symbol.
She bent her head again. When she raised it and her eyes met
mine, she looked stricken.
"Lord, I know not what that thing is, but—it is wrong!" Then
something else burst upon her. "Lord — your eyes — you can
see!"
I brushed that aside. Once that relief had filled my world, but
of greater concern now was what had happened to Joisan. That she
had been exposed to this thing of the Dark was agony to think
on.
"Yes," I answered shortly. "But my lady slept with this by her,
and she is gone. I know not what deviltry has been wrought here —
but we must find her soon!"
So the aroused company searched from sentry towers to bridge
ends. As the one that worked was pulled up for the night, I could
see no way Joisan could have gone ashore. Yet it was plain she was
not hidden in any of the rooms we explored.
In the end I had to accept that Joisan was nowhere in the keep.
There remained — the lake! I stood at the bridge gap looking into
the water, holding my torch to be reflected from its surface.
Rogear—there was only one who would have done this thing! But he
had been well away when Joisan had been laid on her bed. Someone in
this place had been his servant in the matter. And from that
servant I would have the truth!
I summoned them all, men, women, children, into the courtyard,
and on a stone there I placed that ominous thing which had been a
weapon aimed at my lady. I no longer felt the heat of first anger
in me. For there had crept a cold along my bones, and my mind
fastened on one thing alone—there would be such a blood-price for
Joisan as these dales had never seen.
"Your lady has been taken from you by treachery." I spoke
slowly, simply, so that the youngest there might understand. "While
she was weak of body this evil thing was put into her bed, and so
she was driven forth, perhaps to her death." Now I ventured onto
ground of which I was not sure, depending heavily on what I had
learned from Riwal. "Those who meddle with such a thing as this
carry the taint of it upon them. For it is an essence of evil as to
soil beyond cleansing. Therefore you shall each and every one of
you display your hands and — "
There was a swirl among the women, a cry. Nalda had seized upon
one who stood beside her, held fast a screaming girl. I was with
them in an instant.
The Lady Yngilda—I might have expected it.
I spoke to Nalda. "Bring her! Do you need help?"
"Not so!" She was a strong wench and she held the whimpering
girl easily.
I spoke then to the others. "I shall settle this matter. And I
lay upon you — let no one touch, for his spirit's sake, what lies
here."
They did not move from the courtyard, and none followed us as we
returned to Joisan's chamber.
I thrust my torch into one of the wall rings, thus giving us
more light. Nalda had twisted Yngilda's arms behind her back,
prisoning her wrists in a grip I think even few men could have
broken. She swung her captive around to face me. The girl was
blubbering, still jerking futilely to loose herself. Catching her
by the chin, I forced her head up to meet me eye to eye.
"This was of your doing." I made that an accusation, no
question.
She wailed, looking half out of her wits. But she could not
escape me so.
"Who set you to this? Rogear?"
She wailed again, and Nalda gave her a vigorous shake. "Answer!"
she hissed into her ear.
Yngilda gulped. "Her lord—he said she must come to him—that
would bring her—"
I believed that she spoke the truth of what Rogear had told her.
But that Yngilda had been moved by any goodwill toward Joisan in
the doing of this I knew was not so. That Rogear had left such a
trap out of malice I could also believe.
"Bring her to her death," I said softly. "You stand there with
her blood on your hands, Yngilda, as surely as if you had used your
kife!"
"No!" she cried. "She is not dead, not dead! I tell you she went
— "
"Into the lake," I finished grimly.
"Yes, but she swam — I watched — I did, I tell you!"
Again I believed she spoke truthfully, and that cold ice in me
cracked a little. If Joisan had gone ashore, if she were under some
ensorcellment — then I still had a chance to save her.
"It is a long swim — "
"She climbed ashore; I saw!" She screamed back at me in a frenzy
of terror, as if what she read in my face near broke her wits.
I turned to the door. "Insfar, Angarl." I summoned those two who
had proven best at tracking. "Go ashore and look for any sign that
someone came out of the lake!"
They were on their way at once. I came back to Nalda and her
charge.
"I can do no more for you and your people now," I told Nalda.
"If my lady has been ensorcelled — "
"She is bespelled," Nalda broke in. "Lord, bring her back safe
from that!"
"What I can do, be sure that I will." I said that as solemnly as
any oath one could make with blood before kinsmen. "I must follow
my lady. You will be safe here — at least for a time."
"My Lord, think not of us. But rather fasten your thoughts upon
my lady. We shall be safe. Now — what of this one?" She looked to
Yngilda, who was weeping noisily.
I shrugged. Now that I had what I wanted from her, the girl was
nothing to me. "Do as you will. But I lay upon you that she should
be well watched. She has dealt with a Dark One and obeyed him.
Through her more evil may come."
"We shall see to her." There was such a promise in Nalda's voice
that I thought Yngilda might well shiver.
I went back to the courtyard and took up the coin of evil on the
point of my knife and carried it down the bridge that had been
broken. There I threw it into the water. I would not bury it in the
ground lest the unknowing chance upon it.
Dawn was breaking when I rode forth on Hiku with fresh
provisions for the trail. Yngilda had spoken the truth; a swimmer
had come ashore, crushing lake reeds and leaving a trace that could
not be mistaken. Beginning there I must follow my lady.
What manner of sorcery had been used on her I did not know, but
that she was drawn against her will I had no doubts. I tracked her
to the valley rim. There she was met by those who were mounted, and
I knew that Rogear and his armsmen had lurked there waiting for
her.
Four they were, and with perhaps such weapons as I could not
imagine, my lady probably well bound so I could not entice her in
any way from their company. I might only follow, trusting fortune
to give me a chance, ready to help fortune when it did.
The trail led west and north, as I thought it might. It was my
belief that Rogear intended to return to his own keep. He had come
to Ulmsdale to obtain power. Perhaps now with the gryphon he had
it.
They did not often halt, and for all my pushing they kept ever
ahead. On the second day I found traces that told me their party
had been augmented by three more riders. Also there were led
horses, so that they could change mounts when theirs wearied.
Whereas I had only Hiku, who was already worn.
Still the rough-coated pony never failed me, and I thought that
any mount supplied by Neevor might be more than he seemed in
outward appearance. It was after I snatched the rest I must have on
the third night and headed on in the morning that I realized we
were skirting lands I knew, coming into the forested fringe which
had been my boyhood roving place.
There could be only one goal for those I followed. They were
heading for the Waste. Well, what else could I expect — they
dabbled in forbidden knowledge; surely they would turn to some
possible source of the Power they wooed. But why had they taken my
lady? To spite me? No, Rogear would have no interest in that. To
his mind I was maimed, not to be considered an enemy any longer.
And he had the gryphon — why must he have Joisan also? I kept
thinking of this as I went, trying this explanation and that, yet
none seemed to fit.
On the morning of the fifth day I reached the edge of the Waste,
near, I realized upon checking landmarks, to that road which ran to
the naked cliff. And I was not greatly surprised to discover the
trail I followed led in that direction.
Once more I rode on that ancient pavement. But it was difficult
to remember that time, as if what had happened to me before had
been the actions of another Kerovan who was not I, or even close
kin. How I wished now for Riwal. He would have known so much more,
though he was no Old One. But the safeguards he had had were not
mine, and those I trailed were far more learned, I feared, than
Riwal.
One night I camped along the road, scanting my rest, on my way
before dawn. Here were the hills where those carvings stood out on
the cliff faces. I found in my going curling runes resembling those
on my wristlet. From time to time, viewing them, I felt a
quickening excitement, as if I were on the very verge of
understanding their meaning, yet I never did.
As before, I believed I was dogged by something that spied upon
me. Though it might not have been dangerous in itself, what it
might serve was another matter. I reached again the place of the
great face. And before it I found evidence of those I hunted.
Set out on a rock before that great countenance was a bowl and,
flanking it, two holders of incense. The bowl still held a film of
oily liquid, and the incense holders had been recently used. All
were of a black metal or stone I did not know. But I would not have
set fingertip to them for my life's sake. Around my wrist once more
that blue warning arose. What I did I was moved to by revulsion. I
hunted about for stones and, with the largest of these, I smashed
all that was set out. There came a shrill noise as they were
powdered into fragments. Almost one could believe that the things
had life of their own. But I did not leave them behind me as a
ready focus for any remnant of the Dark that might linger here.
When I came to that great star, which had so awed Riwal, I found
no similar signs of any ceremony, only marks in the earth to show
that here they had left the narrowed road on the far side, squeezed
by as if they wished to be as distant from that carving in passing
as they could get. This, then, they feared. I paused for a moment
to study it. But it held no heartening message save that — they had
feared it.
Ahead lay only the cliff wall; they could go no farther. I had
come to my journey's end, and I had no better plan in my head than
to front boldly what waited me there. So I dismounted and spoke to
Hiku:
"Friend, you have served me well; return now to him who gave
you." I stripped away bridle and riding pad, dropping them to the
road, because I believed that what lay before me was death. It
would not be their choice of death, however, for my lady and me,
but mine. If need be she would die by my hand, clean of the evil
they might try to lay on her.
My fingers went to the band on my wrist, seeking the pattern
there. It was a thing of power, I knew. Only I had not the key of
its use. However, touching it so, I stared upon the star and longed
to know what would defeat the Dark Ones ahead.
It was at that moment Neevor's words returned to me:
"You shall seek and you shall find. Your own heritage shall be
yours. The discovery of what you are and can be you must make for
yourself."
Brave words — said only to hearten? Or were they prophecy? Riwal
said that to call upon a name in this place would unlock some
force. But I knew no names; I was only human — of mixed blood
perhaps — but human —
It seemed to me in that moment that I had spoken that word
aloud; that it echoed back to me from the walls.
I flung up my arm before the star, and I made my plea, but not
aloud. If there was any power here that might be drawn upon, let it
come to me. Even if it blasted me, let me hold it long enough to
free my lady, to deal with Rogear who sought to bring to this land
that which was better lost. Let — it — fill — me —
It was as if something within me moved, slowly, grudgingly, as
might a long-locked door. There was a flow from behind that door,
one I did not understand. With it came such a maze of shadow
memories as nearly overbore me. But I fought to remember who I was
and why I stood there. And the memories were but shadows after all;
my will was the sun to banish them.
But I knew! The shadows left behind that much. I had a weapon.
Whether it would stand against what those others might marshal I
could not tell until I put it to the final test. And the time was
now!
I trotted ahead, urgency driving me. A sound broke the silence,
a chanting that rose and fell as waves pound a coast I rounded the
bend and came upon those I sought. But of me they took no notice.
They were too intent on what they would do here.
Upon the ground was a star enclosed in a circle. And that circle
had been drawn in blood, blood that smoked and stank and had been
drained from the armsmen who lay dead at one side like so much
refuse.
On each point of the star was a spear of darkness, of oily
smoke, that struck up into the sky, adding its stench to that of
the blood. And before each of the points stood one of their party,
four facing inward, the fifth placed before the wall to stare
blank-eyed at it.
Hlymer, Rogear, Lisana, the Lady Tephana and, with her face to
the wall, my Joisan. The four chanted, but she stood as one who
walked through nightmares and could not help herself. Her hands
were at her breast, and between them she held the gryphon.
It was if they shouted their purpose aloud, for I knew it. They
were before a door, and Joisan held the key. By some fate she alone
could use it, and so they had brought her for that task. What lay
behind that door to which this road ran — who knew. But that I
would let them open it — no!
Still they did not see me, for they were so intent upon what
they did that the world beyond their star-in-circle had ceased to
have real existence for them. Now I perceived something else around
that line of smoking: blood-edged creatures as wispy as shadows.
Now and then some dreadful snout sniffed at that barrier or dabbled
in it. Fresh blood drew these remnants of ancient evil, but they
were worn by centuries to such poor things they were shadows only.
Of them I had no fear.
Some sighted me and came padding in my direction, their eyes
glinting like bits of devilish fire. Without my willing it
consciously, my arm swung up and they cowered away, their eyes upon
my wrist band. So I came to the circle of blood. There the smoke
made me sick to the center of my being, but against that body
weakness I held firm.
Now I raised my voice and I named names, slowly, distinctly. And
my words cut through the spell their chanting raised.
"Tephana, Rogear, Lisana, Hlymer — " As I spoke each, I faced a
little toward the one I so named. There was a shadow nicker in my
mind. Yes, this was the right of it! This had I done once before in
another place and time.
All four of them started as if they had been quick-awakened from
sleep. Their eyes no longer centered on Joisan's back; they turned
to me. I saw black rage flare in Rogear's, and perhaps in those of
Lisana and Hlymer. But the Lady Tephana smiled.
"Welcome, Kerovan. So, after all, you prove the blood runs
true." Her voice was sweeter than I had ever heard it, as she
counterfeited what should have bound us together and never would.
But if she thought me so poor a thing that I could be so deceived,
she reckoned little of what she had once wrought.
Again that shadow knowledge moved in my mind, and I made her no
answer. Instead I raised my hand, and from my wristlet a beam of
blue light shot to touch the back of Joisan's head.
I saw her sway, and she gave a piteous cry. Still that which
controlled me kept me to the attack, if attack it was. Slowly she
turned around, seeming to shrink under a blow she could not ward
off. Now she was away from the wall, facing me across the
star-in-circle. Her eyes were no longer empty of what was Joisan.
There was intelligence and life in them again, as she looked about
her.
I heard a beast's growl from Hlymer. He would have leaped for my
throat, but the Lady Tephana gestured, and he was silent and quiet
in his place. Her hands moved back and forth in an odd manner as if
she wove something between them. But I had little time to watch,
for Rogear had moved also. He had Joisan in his hold, keeping her
between us as a shield.
"The game is still ours, Kerovan, and it is to the death," he
said. We might have been facing each other across a gaming board in
a keep hall.
'To the death — but to yours, not mine, Rogear." With my upheld
hand I sketched a sign, a star without a circle. Between us in the
air that star not only glowed blue-green, but it traveled through
the space between us until it was close to him at face level.
I saw his face go gaunt, old. But he did not lose his belief in
himself. Only he dropped his hold on Joisan and stepped forward
saying, "So be it!"
"No!" The Lady Tephana raised her eyes from what she wove
without substance. "There is no need. He is — "
"There is every need," Rogear told her. "He is much more than we
deemed him. He must be finished, or we shall be finished too. Spin
no more small spells, Lady. You had the fashioning of him flesh and
bone, if not spirit. Lend me your full will now."
I saw for the first time uncertainty in her face. She glanced at
me and then away swiftly, as if she could not bear to look upon
me.
"Tell me," Rogear pressed, "do you stand with me in this? Those
two" — he motioned to Hlymer and Lisana — "can be counted as
nothing now. It is us against what you sought to make and failed in
the doing."
"I — " she began, and then hesitated. But at last the agreement
he wished came from her. "I stand with you, Rogear."
And I thought — so be it. From this last battle there would be
no escape, nor did I wish it.
"It is Nalda?" I turned my head, though I could not see.
"Yes, Lord." She spoke briskly, and I silently thanked her for
her way toward me. There was no pity in her manner, only the
confidence of one who had nursed hurts and expected healing to come
from her service.
"Lady Joisan?"
"She sleeps, Lord. And truly she has taken little hurt, save
that the blow was a hard one. But there be no bones broken or other
injury."
"Have the men reported in yet?"
"No, you shall see them at once when they come. Now here is some
soup, Lord. A man must keep his belly filled if he would hold his
strength. Open your mouth — "
She spooned it into me as if I were a baby. Nor could I then say
her "no." But in me was a rage against what had happened and a dark
feeling of misery that there was naught I could do for myself.
Nalda guided me to my bed, and I stretched thereupon. But sleep,
even rest, was far from me, wearied from the trail as I was. I lay
rigid, as one who expects any moment to be called to arms, though I
might never be again.
I thought of Joisan — of her need to regain the gryphon. I knew
that she was right; that it must be taken from Rogear. He had not
been caught in the doom of wind and wave. Had then those others
escaped also — Hlymer who was no true brother, the Lady Tephana,
Lisana — ?
Now I raised my hands to explore the bandage over my eyes. It
was still damp, and I was sure it was of no use to me.
Rogear — if he had come after the gryphon — how could he have
known of it save through Riwal, and from Jago, that it had passed
to Joisan? What was it that he had come to seize? I knew so little
at a time when knowledge was so essential.
I rested my arm across my forehead, the back of my wrist upon
that bandage. How long was it before my thoughts were shaken out of
the drear path they followed, and I realized something was in
progress?
The wrist band! Joisan had said it defeated the ray from the
crystal. From it now — I sat up and tore away the bandage. A warmth
spread from the wristlet where it touched my flesh. Perhaps
instinct, perhaps "memory" guided me now, for I held that band of
strange metal first against my right eye and then against my left,
pressing upon the closed lids. I did not try to see as yet. What I
did was simple. Why I did it I did not know, save there came from
that act a sense of well-being, a renewed confidence in life.
I dropped my hand and opened my eyes. Dark! I could have cried
my vast despair aloud. I had thought — hoped —
Then I turned my head a little and — light! Limited — but there.
And I realized that I sat within a darkened room with light marking
the doorway. Hastily I arose and went to it.
Night, yes, but no darker than any night I had seen before. When
I had raised my head to look heavenward — stars! Stars glittering
more brightly than I could remember. I could see!
Joisan! Instantly in my joy I knew I must share this with her.
And that was mainly instinct too. I looked around the courtyard to
get my bearings and headed to her room.
The doorway curtain was down and made me pause. Nalda had said
she had given her lady a sleeping draught and that she would rest
until morning. But even if I could not tell her of this miracle, I
could at least look upon her dear face. There was a faint glimmer
of light behind the curtain. They must have left one of the rush
lamps with her.
So I entered, wishing to shout aloud my tidings, yet walking
softly, trying to control even my breathing lest I disturb her
rest
Only, there was no one on her bed! The light cloak that must
have been her night covering was tossed aside; the couch of leaves,
grass, and brush was empty.
Empty save for something that lay in the hollow where her head
must have rested. It caught my eye and I scooped it up. I held a
bag, lumpily stuffed with herbs, which gave forth a strong odor.
Among the leaves and roots there was a harder knot.
I gasped and the bag fell to the floor. About the band on my
wrist coiled a thin blue haze, as if the metal had given forth a
puff of smoke. I needed no instruction as to the nature of what was
in that bag. Black evil shouted aloud in my mind.
Stooping, I caught up the bag by the point of my knife and
dropped it on the stone table, close to the rush light. Without
laying finger on it I slit the cloth, using the knife point to dig
and probe until I brought into sight a thing about the size and
shape of a Sulcar trading coin. It was dull black, yet also veined
in red, and those veins — No, they were not veins after all, but
some runic pattern as involved as those on my wristlet.
This was a thing of Power, that I knew. But of the Dark Power.
Anyone touching it —
Joisan! How had this evil thing come into her bed? In that
moment such a fear rent me that I shouted, calling on Nalda who
should certainly be near at hand.The fury of my voice echoed
hollowly out into the courtyard. I called again, heard other voices
upraised — "My Lord," Nalda stood in the doorway, "what — " I
pointed to the bed. "Where is my lady?" She exclaimed, hurried
forward, stark surprise on her face. "But—where else could she be,
Lord? She was sleeping, as the drink would make her. I would take
Gunnora's Three Oaths that she could not stir until morning — "
"Did you leave this in her bed?" I had controlled my fear,
outwardly at least. Now I used the knife to indicate the torn bag
and its contents.
She leaned close, sniffing. "My lord, this is a soothing bag
such as we make for the Lady Islaugha when she is restless. One of
these beneath her pillow, and she is not so led by her fancies. It
is of good herbs — "
"Do you also add this?" My knife point was close to the evil
symbol.
She bent her head again. When she raised it and her eyes met
mine, she looked stricken.
"Lord, I know not what that thing is, but—it is wrong!" Then
something else burst upon her. "Lord — your eyes — you can
see!"
I brushed that aside. Once that relief had filled my world, but
of greater concern now was what had happened to Joisan. That she
had been exposed to this thing of the Dark was agony to think
on.
"Yes," I answered shortly. "But my lady slept with this by her,
and she is gone. I know not what deviltry has been wrought here —
but we must find her soon!"
So the aroused company searched from sentry towers to bridge
ends. As the one that worked was pulled up for the night, I could
see no way Joisan could have gone ashore. Yet it was plain she was
not hidden in any of the rooms we explored.
In the end I had to accept that Joisan was nowhere in the keep.
There remained — the lake! I stood at the bridge gap looking into
the water, holding my torch to be reflected from its surface.
Rogear—there was only one who would have done this thing! But he
had been well away when Joisan had been laid on her bed. Someone in
this place had been his servant in the matter. And from that
servant I would have the truth!
I summoned them all, men, women, children, into the courtyard,
and on a stone there I placed that ominous thing which had been a
weapon aimed at my lady. I no longer felt the heat of first anger
in me. For there had crept a cold along my bones, and my mind
fastened on one thing alone—there would be such a blood-price for
Joisan as these dales had never seen.
"Your lady has been taken from you by treachery." I spoke
slowly, simply, so that the youngest there might understand. "While
she was weak of body this evil thing was put into her bed, and so
she was driven forth, perhaps to her death." Now I ventured onto
ground of which I was not sure, depending heavily on what I had
learned from Riwal. "Those who meddle with such a thing as this
carry the taint of it upon them. For it is an essence of evil as to
soil beyond cleansing. Therefore you shall each and every one of
you display your hands and — "
There was a swirl among the women, a cry. Nalda had seized upon
one who stood beside her, held fast a screaming girl. I was with
them in an instant.
The Lady Yngilda—I might have expected it.
I spoke to Nalda. "Bring her! Do you need help?"
"Not so!" She was a strong wench and she held the whimpering
girl easily.
I spoke then to the others. "I shall settle this matter. And I
lay upon you — let no one touch, for his spirit's sake, what lies
here."
They did not move from the courtyard, and none followed us as we
returned to Joisan's chamber.
I thrust my torch into one of the wall rings, thus giving us
more light. Nalda had twisted Yngilda's arms behind her back,
prisoning her wrists in a grip I think even few men could have
broken. She swung her captive around to face me. The girl was
blubbering, still jerking futilely to loose herself. Catching her
by the chin, I forced her head up to meet me eye to eye.
"This was of your doing." I made that an accusation, no
question.
She wailed, looking half out of her wits. But she could not
escape me so.
"Who set you to this? Rogear?"
She wailed again, and Nalda gave her a vigorous shake. "Answer!"
she hissed into her ear.
Yngilda gulped. "Her lord—he said she must come to him—that
would bring her—"
I believed that she spoke the truth of what Rogear had told her.
But that Yngilda had been moved by any goodwill toward Joisan in
the doing of this I knew was not so. That Rogear had left such a
trap out of malice I could also believe.
"Bring her to her death," I said softly. "You stand there with
her blood on your hands, Yngilda, as surely as if you had used your
kife!"
"No!" she cried. "She is not dead, not dead! I tell you she went
— "
"Into the lake," I finished grimly.
"Yes, but she swam — I watched — I did, I tell you!"
Again I believed she spoke truthfully, and that cold ice in me
cracked a little. If Joisan had gone ashore, if she were under some
ensorcellment — then I still had a chance to save her.
"It is a long swim — "
"She climbed ashore; I saw!" She screamed back at me in a frenzy
of terror, as if what she read in my face near broke her wits.
I turned to the door. "Insfar, Angarl." I summoned those two who
had proven best at tracking. "Go ashore and look for any sign that
someone came out of the lake!"
They were on their way at once. I came back to Nalda and her
charge.
"I can do no more for you and your people now," I told Nalda.
"If my lady has been ensorcelled — "
"She is bespelled," Nalda broke in. "Lord, bring her back safe
from that!"
"What I can do, be sure that I will." I said that as solemnly as
any oath one could make with blood before kinsmen. "I must follow
my lady. You will be safe here — at least for a time."
"My Lord, think not of us. But rather fasten your thoughts upon
my lady. We shall be safe. Now — what of this one?" She looked to
Yngilda, who was weeping noisily.
I shrugged. Now that I had what I wanted from her, the girl was
nothing to me. "Do as you will. But I lay upon you that she should
be well watched. She has dealt with a Dark One and obeyed him.
Through her more evil may come."
"We shall see to her." There was such a promise in Nalda's voice
that I thought Yngilda might well shiver.
I went back to the courtyard and took up the coin of evil on the
point of my knife and carried it down the bridge that had been
broken. There I threw it into the water. I would not bury it in the
ground lest the unknowing chance upon it.
Dawn was breaking when I rode forth on Hiku with fresh
provisions for the trail. Yngilda had spoken the truth; a swimmer
had come ashore, crushing lake reeds and leaving a trace that could
not be mistaken. Beginning there I must follow my lady.
What manner of sorcery had been used on her I did not know, but
that she was drawn against her will I had no doubts. I tracked her
to the valley rim. There she was met by those who were mounted, and
I knew that Rogear and his armsmen had lurked there waiting for
her.
Four they were, and with perhaps such weapons as I could not
imagine, my lady probably well bound so I could not entice her in
any way from their company. I might only follow, trusting fortune
to give me a chance, ready to help fortune when it did.
The trail led west and north, as I thought it might. It was my
belief that Rogear intended to return to his own keep. He had come
to Ulmsdale to obtain power. Perhaps now with the gryphon he had
it.
They did not often halt, and for all my pushing they kept ever
ahead. On the second day I found traces that told me their party
had been augmented by three more riders. Also there were led
horses, so that they could change mounts when theirs wearied.
Whereas I had only Hiku, who was already worn.
Still the rough-coated pony never failed me, and I thought that
any mount supplied by Neevor might be more than he seemed in
outward appearance. It was after I snatched the rest I must have on
the third night and headed on in the morning that I realized we
were skirting lands I knew, coming into the forested fringe which
had been my boyhood roving place.
There could be only one goal for those I followed. They were
heading for the Waste. Well, what else could I expect — they
dabbled in forbidden knowledge; surely they would turn to some
possible source of the Power they wooed. But why had they taken my
lady? To spite me? No, Rogear would have no interest in that. To
his mind I was maimed, not to be considered an enemy any longer.
And he had the gryphon — why must he have Joisan also? I kept
thinking of this as I went, trying this explanation and that, yet
none seemed to fit.
On the morning of the fifth day I reached the edge of the Waste,
near, I realized upon checking landmarks, to that road which ran to
the naked cliff. And I was not greatly surprised to discover the
trail I followed led in that direction.
Once more I rode on that ancient pavement. But it was difficult
to remember that time, as if what had happened to me before had
been the actions of another Kerovan who was not I, or even close
kin. How I wished now for Riwal. He would have known so much more,
though he was no Old One. But the safeguards he had had were not
mine, and those I trailed were far more learned, I feared, than
Riwal.
One night I camped along the road, scanting my rest, on my way
before dawn. Here were the hills where those carvings stood out on
the cliff faces. I found in my going curling runes resembling those
on my wristlet. From time to time, viewing them, I felt a
quickening excitement, as if I were on the very verge of
understanding their meaning, yet I never did.
As before, I believed I was dogged by something that spied upon
me. Though it might not have been dangerous in itself, what it
might serve was another matter. I reached again the place of the
great face. And before it I found evidence of those I hunted.
Set out on a rock before that great countenance was a bowl and,
flanking it, two holders of incense. The bowl still held a film of
oily liquid, and the incense holders had been recently used. All
were of a black metal or stone I did not know. But I would not have
set fingertip to them for my life's sake. Around my wrist once more
that blue warning arose. What I did I was moved to by revulsion. I
hunted about for stones and, with the largest of these, I smashed
all that was set out. There came a shrill noise as they were
powdered into fragments. Almost one could believe that the things
had life of their own. But I did not leave them behind me as a
ready focus for any remnant of the Dark that might linger here.
When I came to that great star, which had so awed Riwal, I found
no similar signs of any ceremony, only marks in the earth to show
that here they had left the narrowed road on the far side, squeezed
by as if they wished to be as distant from that carving in passing
as they could get. This, then, they feared. I paused for a moment
to study it. But it held no heartening message save that — they had
feared it.
Ahead lay only the cliff wall; they could go no farther. I had
come to my journey's end, and I had no better plan in my head than
to front boldly what waited me there. So I dismounted and spoke to
Hiku:
"Friend, you have served me well; return now to him who gave
you." I stripped away bridle and riding pad, dropping them to the
road, because I believed that what lay before me was death. It
would not be their choice of death, however, for my lady and me,
but mine. If need be she would die by my hand, clean of the evil
they might try to lay on her.
My fingers went to the band on my wrist, seeking the pattern
there. It was a thing of power, I knew. Only I had not the key of
its use. However, touching it so, I stared upon the star and longed
to know what would defeat the Dark Ones ahead.
It was at that moment Neevor's words returned to me:
"You shall seek and you shall find. Your own heritage shall be
yours. The discovery of what you are and can be you must make for
yourself."
Brave words — said only to hearten? Or were they prophecy? Riwal
said that to call upon a name in this place would unlock some
force. But I knew no names; I was only human — of mixed blood
perhaps — but human —
It seemed to me in that moment that I had spoken that word
aloud; that it echoed back to me from the walls.
I flung up my arm before the star, and I made my plea, but not
aloud. If there was any power here that might be drawn upon, let it
come to me. Even if it blasted me, let me hold it long enough to
free my lady, to deal with Rogear who sought to bring to this land
that which was better lost. Let — it — fill — me —
It was as if something within me moved, slowly, grudgingly, as
might a long-locked door. There was a flow from behind that door,
one I did not understand. With it came such a maze of shadow
memories as nearly overbore me. But I fought to remember who I was
and why I stood there. And the memories were but shadows after all;
my will was the sun to banish them.
But I knew! The shadows left behind that much. I had a weapon.
Whether it would stand against what those others might marshal I
could not tell until I put it to the final test. And the time was
now!
I trotted ahead, urgency driving me. A sound broke the silence,
a chanting that rose and fell as waves pound a coast I rounded the
bend and came upon those I sought. But of me they took no notice.
They were too intent on what they would do here.
Upon the ground was a star enclosed in a circle. And that circle
had been drawn in blood, blood that smoked and stank and had been
drained from the armsmen who lay dead at one side like so much
refuse.
On each point of the star was a spear of darkness, of oily
smoke, that struck up into the sky, adding its stench to that of
the blood. And before each of the points stood one of their party,
four facing inward, the fifth placed before the wall to stare
blank-eyed at it.
Hlymer, Rogear, Lisana, the Lady Tephana and, with her face to
the wall, my Joisan. The four chanted, but she stood as one who
walked through nightmares and could not help herself. Her hands
were at her breast, and between them she held the gryphon.
It was if they shouted their purpose aloud, for I knew it. They
were before a door, and Joisan held the key. By some fate she alone
could use it, and so they had brought her for that task. What lay
behind that door to which this road ran — who knew. But that I
would let them open it — no!
Still they did not see me, for they were so intent upon what
they did that the world beyond their star-in-circle had ceased to
have real existence for them. Now I perceived something else around
that line of smoking: blood-edged creatures as wispy as shadows.
Now and then some dreadful snout sniffed at that barrier or dabbled
in it. Fresh blood drew these remnants of ancient evil, but they
were worn by centuries to such poor things they were shadows only.
Of them I had no fear.
Some sighted me and came padding in my direction, their eyes
glinting like bits of devilish fire. Without my willing it
consciously, my arm swung up and they cowered away, their eyes upon
my wrist band. So I came to the circle of blood. There the smoke
made me sick to the center of my being, but against that body
weakness I held firm.
Now I raised my voice and I named names, slowly, distinctly. And
my words cut through the spell their chanting raised.
"Tephana, Rogear, Lisana, Hlymer — " As I spoke each, I faced a
little toward the one I so named. There was a shadow nicker in my
mind. Yes, this was the right of it! This had I done once before in
another place and time.
All four of them started as if they had been quick-awakened from
sleep. Their eyes no longer centered on Joisan's back; they turned
to me. I saw black rage flare in Rogear's, and perhaps in those of
Lisana and Hlymer. But the Lady Tephana smiled.
"Welcome, Kerovan. So, after all, you prove the blood runs
true." Her voice was sweeter than I had ever heard it, as she
counterfeited what should have bound us together and never would.
But if she thought me so poor a thing that I could be so deceived,
she reckoned little of what she had once wrought.
Again that shadow knowledge moved in my mind, and I made her no
answer. Instead I raised my hand, and from my wristlet a beam of
blue light shot to touch the back of Joisan's head.
I saw her sway, and she gave a piteous cry. Still that which
controlled me kept me to the attack, if attack it was. Slowly she
turned around, seeming to shrink under a blow she could not ward
off. Now she was away from the wall, facing me across the
star-in-circle. Her eyes were no longer empty of what was Joisan.
There was intelligence and life in them again, as she looked about
her.
I heard a beast's growl from Hlymer. He would have leaped for my
throat, but the Lady Tephana gestured, and he was silent and quiet
in his place. Her hands moved back and forth in an odd manner as if
she wove something between them. But I had little time to watch,
for Rogear had moved also. He had Joisan in his hold, keeping her
between us as a shield.
"The game is still ours, Kerovan, and it is to the death," he
said. We might have been facing each other across a gaming board in
a keep hall.
'To the death — but to yours, not mine, Rogear." With my upheld
hand I sketched a sign, a star without a circle. Between us in the
air that star not only glowed blue-green, but it traveled through
the space between us until it was close to him at face level.
I saw his face go gaunt, old. But he did not lose his belief in
himself. Only he dropped his hold on Joisan and stepped forward
saying, "So be it!"
"No!" The Lady Tephana raised her eyes from what she wove
without substance. "There is no need. He is — "
"There is every need," Rogear told her. "He is much more than we
deemed him. He must be finished, or we shall be finished too. Spin
no more small spells, Lady. You had the fashioning of him flesh and
bone, if not spirit. Lend me your full will now."
I saw for the first time uncertainty in her face. She glanced at
me and then away swiftly, as if she could not bear to look upon
me.
"Tell me," Rogear pressed, "do you stand with me in this? Those
two" — he motioned to Hlymer and Lisana — "can be counted as
nothing now. It is us against what you sought to make and failed in
the doing."
"I — " she began, and then hesitated. But at last the agreement
he wished came from her. "I stand with you, Rogear."
And I thought — so be it. From this last battle there would be
no escape, nor did I wish it.