"Isnt that the word the Portuguese use for bear?" Orozco asked tentatively.

Urso laughed so hard the ground shook. "So it is! So it is!"

"Well you get no argument from me," Orozco replied, gulping from his wineskin.

"Hah-hah! I like you, little man!" He drummed his fingers on his knees, rendering an approximation of the sound of approaching dray-horses. "This is...rather nice, isnt it? I mean, I rather like the rare company of intelligent humanfolk. Even with your little conceits and your pompously tinkling armaments-only dont get too close. I dont want to feel you skittering all over me with your tiny hands and feet. Thats one of my worst nightmares, you know."

Gonji sat with arms folded, a look of amus.e.m.e.nt crossing his face. The others began to relax as well, even in their astonishment at the event.

"So you work for the warlock, then?" Gonji asked.

"Si, we have an agreement," Urso allowed. "But its not what you likely think. I take it you havent found him yet, eh, wonder-seeker?" He chuckled thickly and scooped a barrel full of water from the pool.

Gonji shook his head, and the giant rambled on.

"Si, I promised Id do my best to scare off soldiers, you see. Not so many of them anymore, but those that come are a h.e.l.luva lot bolder, Ill say that."

"Ill drink to that," Orozco piped in.

Urso smiled crookedly, then waxed morose. "I didnt promise to kill any. Im sorry about the man who rode this horse. I just lost my head when he shot me. Im tired of being shot. Youre not using poisoned arrows, are you?" He examined his wounds again.

Salguero a.s.sured him that they were not. "Youre a giant with a sense of morality, then?"

"Of course," Urso said gruffly. "You little men think you occupy a place of-of singular dignity. And yet look at the wretched things you do! But still, youre sentient beings. And there are G.o.ds to appease for randomly killing you. What I did was in self-defense, so I dont think theyll mind if I eat this horse."

There were a few shudders as Urso went on.

"I dont like this killing business, thats why I didnt agree to any. I think the worst thing about killing little humans-apart from the sickly squashing sounds they make-the worst thing is that theyre fully formed, just like Anakim. Theyre completely articulated. Arms, legs-theres something terrible about crushing the life from something thats a tiny version of yourself."

"Youre a philosopher," Gonji observed.

"Among other things," Urso replied. "Im an explorer, you know. Im an observer and recorder of strange new worlds, everything on them-rocks, plants, animal life. I have quite a collection from this one in the cave behind the waterfall. Oh, dont look so surprised. Is it so hard to believe that there are worlds both within and without this one, given even the little that youve seen? They say that at one time all these worlds were connected, accessible to all. Then something happened. It all came apart. Now only the privileged few are guided between the worlds, exploring and mapping as they go. Thats me. Urso, the Explorer. Only I lost my way-or something prevented me from returning to my world. Seems like a long time ago. My worlds quite a bit larger than this one. What do you call this, a cliff?" He slammed a ma.s.sive fist against the mesa wall. "I dont know what wed call it. A step, maybe. Aside from exploring, I like eating-" Here he made an eager slurping sound as he licked his lips again. "-and, of course, rapturing."

The company glanced about quizzically, uncertain of his meaning.

"You know," Urso clarified, "moving the earth with a lover-copulating."

More at ease in his presence now, the lancers began to howl with laughter at the thought of two rutting behemoths.

"Whats so funny, hombres pequenos? Ive seen the jerky little thrashings you call lovemaking. To see Anakim in the throes of pa.s.sion is an awesome sight. Its said that the ecstasies of giants once caused earthquakes. Thats why we were removed to a larger world."

When their mirth had been brought under control by Salgueros look urging caution, Gonji addressed Urso again.

"Then I take it this is still Spain, despite the odd changes weve seen in the land?"

"Parts of the Spain you know, parts of another, from what I can gather," the son of Anak responded. "Its Domingos doing. His attempts to find the doorway back to my world for me. That was his part of our agreement. Why do you want to attack him?"

"Hes evil," Salguero said. "Hes slowly destroying Barbaso. He kills-something you say troubles you. So I wonder how you can feel comfortable in his employ."

"What you do to one another is no concern of mine. You all look alike to me anyway. With exceptions-the wonder-seeker here-hes different somehow, in addition to being more valiant than any Spaniard Ive encountered. And as for evil-I dont understand your definitions of evil. I wont even guess at whats going on between the powers that vie here. Wont even attempt a judgment. All I can say is that there are more powers operating in these environs than you think. Ive seen things pa.s.s in the night that even make me shudder."

"We dont threaten the warlock," Gonji said. "We seek only to take counsel with him."

"Is that so?" the giant replied. "Well, good luck to you, then. Hes rather insular, it seems."

"Dont you have contact with him?"

Urso shook his huge bearded head sadly, poked at the spluttering horse carca.s.s. "No, I dont think so. He contacts me when he wishes, and thats not often. I dont think Ive actually seen him, to be truthful. Not the real him. But, then, I said you all looked very much alike."

Gonji pondered this while they exchanged banter a while, trying to guess at what might lie ahead, filling in his mental portrait of the enigmatic sorcerer. The roasting horse was done, and Urso tore into it with a zest that had the soldiers gaping and elbowing one another. Orozco and the giant seemed to strike up a curious rapport, and the sergeant fell into his cups, despite Salgueros piercing glances. It would become a private joke between them in the future: If Salguero pushed him too hard, Orozco would tell his friend the giant to reduce him to meal.

But now Salguero had moved apart from them, slumping against the cliff base, withdrawn and introspective. Gonji came close and knelt in the snow, tipping a waterskin to his old comrade.

"Weve had no chance to speak," the samurai began. "It seems-does it bother you, senchoo, that the men are looking to me for leadership? So sorry to be so frank-"

Salgueros eyes widened, and he smiled. "Ahh, dont be ridiculous. We need you right now. They need you, just as you are. There are other things troubling me these days. Im tired of leading men into battles I dont believe in. Paying lip service to allegiances I dont feel. I know that stings you, amigo, with your exalted sense of duty. I just dont know what to do about it. I think much of my wife, my children. Of what might be happening to them in Port-Bou.

"If we live through this madness-I just dont know..." His voice drifted off, drowned by the bizarre human-giant revelry. Gonji felt his pain and was moved by compa.s.sion. But he knew not what to say that might comfort his old friend.

They deemed it wise to allow the troopers to vent their tensions. More wineskins appeared-though they had been prohibited, at first-and the relaxation seemed to do the lancers some good. They stayed the night in the grotto, keeping minimal watch while in the comfort of the giants presence, though Gonji himself eschewed any strong drink and slept only in short s.n.a.t.c.hes, ever vigilant and suspicious, keeping his swords always at hand.

The morning dawned, gray and bleak, and as they mounted to leave, Urso pointed the way ahead.

"I see youre within sight of your destination," he said. Castle Malaguer shifted ominously in and out of the shroud of mist on the horizon. "This is as close as Ive come to it. I hope the wizard knows what hes doing."

"Why dont you accompany us?" Gonji inquired. "Your presence in our midst might spare more bloodshed. We might gain a peaceful audience with Domingo Negro."

"No. Ive had my fill of involvement with tiny folk for a while. In any event, I cant leave this area. Perhaps h.e.l.l open the doorway for me into my own world before you...destroy him, or whatever youre about."

Gonji nodded and wheeled off to rejoin the column.

"If you find any other little men seeking wonders," Urso called after him in his booming voice, "do me a favor and dont send them in this direction, eh?"

His bellowing laughter followed them for a long time. When it had dwindled to an echoed memory, anxiety again crept over them. Nervous eyes flickered on somber faces, scanning the unknown trail that twisted off before them.

CHAPTER NINE.

The terrain changed again before noon.

A timber forest swallowed the track the lancers coursed, its alien strangeness setting the column to buzzing. Gonji advised steering around the obvious killing ground, taking to the treacherous hillocks to its right.

As they negotiated the tricky slopes, all eyes riveted on the treeline, day turned to night with the swiftness of a cloud enveloping the sun.

The banshees spine-chilling wail preceded her appearance in the sky above. She descended with directed menace this time, her filmy gray gowns spreading their deathly pallor to encompa.s.s the column.

Gonji shouted orders, reminding them of their need to hold fast, to face their terror with all possible courage. He pushed Tora up to the hillocks summit, where he drew the Sagami and postured defiantly before the grisly apparition.

Some of the men began to back their steeds as they muttered incomprehensibly, sounds of childish fear puling from trembling lips. Salguero and Orozco, swallowing their own fears and tearing their eyes from the death-witch, yelled for them to hold their ground. But two or three broke ranks and ran. Their panic began to spread through the column. Others shuffled backward, earnestly begging their fellows to join them in the hollow safety of flight.

The imposing figure of Buey looped his steed around behind them as he drew his pistol, snarling at them and motioning them back to the column.

"Come back here, you whining dogs!" he growled after the three who had lost their nerve. But they surged off, mindful only of the terror that lashed them on. One horse lost its purchase on the slippery hillside and fell, animal and rider tumbling over and over toward the forest below.

Gonji saw nothing of the scene on the hillside beneath him. For all he knew, he stood alone against the banshees eager clutch. A stiff wind leaned into him as he sat with raised blade astride a bulging-eyed, snorting Tora. The wind curled in from the west, flaring Toras mane and striving to bowl them over.

He steadied the anxious war horse and clenched his teeth, breathing through them.

"Sado-wa-raaaaaa!"

Roaring his clans ancient war cry, he struck with all his strength at the extended skeletal claw of the banshee. He shivered with the chill that shot through him, felt an ever so slight resistance as the keen blade of his katana sliced the air. The claw recoiled sharply, though with no apparent injury, and he wondered what pain this ghastly being might feel from a warriors steadfast denial of surrender.

For an instant he saw the deaths-head face alter, become his own, contorted in death agony. Some said that in that moment one saw a vision of his own doom in that face; others, merely an evil illusion that devoured ones bravery. It did not matter to him. Nor did he fear it while the Sagami was in his hand. He had once before seen his own face courting him to his death. That illusion had died, as this one would, while he would stand alive.

Or die by his own hand.

The face tilted down at him, grinning foully. Gonji executed a blinding figure-eight of steel that ended in a rock-steady high guard. His legs hugged firmly about Toras flanks in the howling wind.

The voice that came from the banshee gurgled murkily, as though transmitted through ice water.

"You will die here!" it proclaimed. "You...and that other aberration like you."

"Karma," Gonji replied calmly, though venom tinged his tone.

It shrieked at him, the semblance of his face dissolving from its death-mask, and then...it had pa.s.sed him. He breathed deeply and evenly as he replaced the Sagami and patted Tora rea.s.suringly. Shots rang out behind him. Screams in the wind. He turned and broke down the hillside, side-hopping Tora carefully. From its rear he could see nothing of the banshee, and already the hazy day was replacing the beckoning huntress slice of endless night.

There was no a.s.sisting them. Each man had had to deal with the banshee in his own way. If the death wish was strong in him, if he chose surrender to his fear, then neither was there any help for the effects of her touch.

Six men and five mounts lay in the mottled gray paralysis that preceded death. A lancer quickly and shamelessly appropriated the one valiant mount which had resisted its own masters panic.

All of them had seen this ign.o.ble manner of death before, yet the captain insisted that a detail of three men be left behind to attend the victims. Nor would he permit Gonji to bring a quick end to their suffering. It was simply not their way.

The samurai pulled Salguero aside, and the two old friends disputed the matter. Gonjis earnest plea as to the exigency of their situation finally won out: They could not spare men for this pointless vigil; indeed, they would be placing the men left behind in perilous circ.u.mstances; and the victims had already lost consciousness. There was nothing more that could be done for them.

The troop moved on grimly.

They skirted the small forest, paying no heed to the unearthly sounds issuing from therein. Castle Malaguer loomed ever nearer. And now the terrain ahead appeared to change almost with every stride. The hills steepened, became impossible to negotiate in the snow matting. The column was forced to descend to the narrow valley floor again, which almost immediately straitened into a canyon, gorges climbing ever higher up its sides as they advanced.

They crossed a series of rolling mounds on the canyon bottom and followed a gradual curving of its course. The castle appeared to them again, closer now, shimmering on its enchanted hilltop.

But Sergeant Orozco turned their vision skyward, pointing. "Look-the sun shrinks!"

Gonji looked up. The smoky orb of the sun had indeed grown more remote. The spatial distortion again. The sun was too tiny. An illusion, the samurai thought. The cliffs, too, were no doubt much nearer than they appeared.

A fine place for an ambush.

Gonji halted Orozco and waved the column by, instructing the lancers to cling close to their saddles as they rode, minimizing the targets they cut. Then the pair galloped to the front again.

The column gained the next curve, and the wolves fell upon them from all directions, leaping down from rock niches to rake and tear. Savage fangs snapped out from hurtling furred bodies as the troop dissolved into rearing and neighing confusion.

Shots rang out all about him amidst the screams of ravaged lancers as Gonji drew the Sagami and slashed at a bounding predator, crushing its huge skull. The glancing impact of its leap nearly toppled them as Tora bucked and swayed to avert the surging form. Gonji steadied him, caught his own senses in time to engage another set of powerful, dripping jaws.

Limbs were severed, throats shredded, as both horses and men fell like tenpins in eruptions of splashing blood. Salguero and Gonji cried out words of encouragement as they battled, glowering at the vicious a.s.sailants from under helmed brows as they lashed out with their reddening blades.

Another din of pistols exploding-wolf bodies dropped in death; crawled away, dragging ruined haunches-the clangor of falling armament and traces-fear-maddened visages on frenzied chargers- A nightmare had burst across their waking vision.

Then, abruptly, it was over. The creatures bolted for safety as if from an unheard command. The broken column collected itself. Gonji and Captain Salguero locked eyes an instant, counted heads, and rallied them onward again. The mangled dead rode among the living as the horses pounded along the canyon floor, obeying blind instinct more than command. The last wolf body was trampled under hoof, and the mad ride was on for fair.

They had scarcely clattered a hundred yards when the first shots rang out from over their heads. Pistols fired by unseen mercenaries.

"So, its to be a gauntlet, then," Gonji cried. "Ride! Ride for your lives!"

They poured across the canyon bed with fire in their eyes. One man was knocked sidewise over his steeds flanks by the raining gunfire, boots locked in the stirrups. Now they could see the enemy: the Archmages free company. Gonji recognized clothing and armor-one white steed.

The mercenaries size grew magically as the cliffs and ledges shrank. The bizarre spatial distortion of the area was sorting itself out now, the illusion fading as they neared Castle Malaguer.

The castle bobbed on the hilltop before them, the canyon ending, the mesa leveling to a broken outcrop of landlocked shoals. Another fusillade. A body fell near Gonji. Swords and arbalests were pointed at them from both sides now as the pincering ambushers broke from cover and closed in.

A whirling, apocalyptic vista now spread before Gonjis vision as the sky surrounding the castle went awash in a rapidly spreading purple-black stain. Troopers cried out as a flood tide of darkness filled the domed sky, lightning coruscating above the fortress in uncomfortable patterns.

Gonji pulled them to a halt, sword drawn, and stretched up in the stirrups.

"War-loooooock! Have the courage and dignity to speak with me before you do what you must!"

The mercenaries stayed their charge, looking as one toward the castle. The edges of the drawbridge, now some three hundred yards distant, flared with fingers of fire. The bridge lowered without benefit of chains or winches, and out rode the three black knights Gonji had encountered at the windmill. The free companions backed away slowly, murmuring with disappointment, watched closely by the ragged remnant of the First Catalonian Lancer Company.

Fourteen remained, counting Gonji. Their eyes glimmered with insane lights. Their breaths hissed and clouded as they sat aboard snorting, wounded mounts. They surveyed the crackling, bruised sky; the opponents who ringed them in.

The samurai looked them over, eyes flicking to each man in turn as he kept the black knights on the periphery all the while. The lancers bore the wild mien of the death-defiant. There would be no failing arms among them now. When his eyes framed on Buey, the big soldier bobbed his head at him rea.s.suringly, working thick b.l.o.o.d.y hands over the haft of a pike. Shredded wolf fur still clung to the blade.

Gonji nodded back to him and clopped forward to meet the enchanted knights, the captain swinging beside to join him. Then Sergeant Orozco cantered up behind. The three rode wordlessly until they reined in to face the strange young knights on their richly caparisoned steeds. The centermost knight removed his hinged helm and peered at them each in turn. It was the knight Gonji had tilted with.

He met Gonjis eyes last. "Dost thou speak Latin?" he asked curiously.

Gonji pondered before replying. "With little practice. Poorly," he responded haltingly, then added: "Language of spells."

The knights eyebrows arched. "Yes. Then thou dost understand that invulnerability is mine."

"I-have displayed-that mine own faith...in arms-equal be-to thine armor of faith."

The knight blinked. "Nevertheless," he sighed, "I must kill thee. Dost thou seek death with such eagerness?"