That night Kelderek slept on the bare ground beside Shardik, with no thought of fire or food, of leopards, snakes or other dangers of darkness. Nor did he think of Bel-ka-Trazet, of the Tuginda or of what might be taking place in the camp. As Melathys had laid the sword's edge to her neck, so Kelderek lay secure beside the bear. Waking in the night, he saw its back like a roof-ridge against the stars and returned at once into a sleep tranquil and reassured. When morning came, with a grey cold and the chittering of birds in the branches, he opened his eyes in time to catch sight of Shardik wandering away among the bushes. He rose stiffly to his feet and stood shivering in the chill, flexing his limbs and touching his face with his hands as though his wondering spirit had but newly entered this body for the first time. In some other place, he knew, in some other region, invisible yet not remote, insubstantial yet more real than the forest and the river, Shardik and Kelderek were one creature, the whole and the part, as the scarlet trumpet-flower is part of the rough-leaved, spreading stolon of the trepsis vine. Musing, he made no attempt to follow the bear, but when it was gone turned back to seek his companions.

Almost at once he came upon Rantzay alone in a clearing, cloaked against the cold and leaning upon a staff. As he approached she bent her head, raising her palm to her brow. Her hand shook, but whether from cold or fear he could not tell.

'Why are you here?' he asked with quiet authority.

'Lord, one of us remained near you all night, for we did not know - we did not know what might befall. Are you leaving Lord Shardik now?'

'For a while. Tell three of the girls to follow him and try to keep him in sight. One should return at noon with news of where he is. Unless he can find it for himself he will need food.'

She touched her forehead again, waited as he walked away and then followed behind him as he returned to the camp. The Tuginda had gone down to bathe in the river and he ate alone, Neelith bringing him food and drink and serving him in silence on one knee. When at last he saw the Tuginda returning he went to meet her. The girls with her at once fell back, and again he talked with her, alone beside the fall. Now, however, it was the hunter who questioned, the Tuginda paying him close heed and answering him carefully yet without reserve, as a woman answers a man whom she trusts to guide and help her.

'The Singing, saiyctt,' he began. 'What is the Singing and what is its purpose?'

'It is one of the old secrets,' she replied, 'of the days when Lord Shardik dwelt upon the Ledges. It has been preserved from that time to this. Those long ago who offered the Singing showed, by that, that they offered their lives also. This is why no woman on Quiso has ever been ordered to become a singer. Each who determines to attain to it must do so of her own accord: and though we can teach her what we know ourselves, always there is a part which remains a matter of God's will and her own. The art cannot be sought for self-advancement or to please others, but only to satisfy the singer's own longing to offer all that she has. So if the will and devotion of the singers were to falter - or so I was taught - the power of the Singing would falter too. Before yesterday evening no woman now alive had ever taken part in offering the Singing to Lord Shardik. I thanked God when I saw that its power had not been lost.'

'What is the power?'

She looked at him in surprise. 'But you know what it is, Lord Kelderek Zenzuata. Why do you ask for words, to go on crutches, when you have felt it leaping and burning in your heart?'

'I know what the Singing did to me, saiyett. But it was not to me that it was offered last night.'

'I cannot tell you what takes place in the heart of Lord Shardik. Indeed, I believe now that you know more of that than I. But as I learned long ago, it is a way by which we come nearer to him and to God. By worshipping him thus we put a narrow, swaying bridge across the ravine that separates his savage nature from our own; and so in time we become able to walk without stumbling through the fire of his presence.'

Kelderek pondered this for some little time. At length he asked, 'Can he be controlled, then - driven - by the Singing?'

She shook her head. 'No - Lord Shardik can never be driven, for he is the Power of God. But the Singing, when it is offered devoutly, with sincerity and courage, is like that power which we have over weapons. It overcomes for a time his savagery and as he grows accustomed to it, so he comes to accept it as the due worship which we offer to him. Nevertheless, Kelderek she smiled - 'Lord 'Lord Kelderek, do not think that any man or woman could have done what you did last night, simply because of the Singing. Shardik is always more dangerous than lightning, more uncertain than the Telthearna in the rains. You are his Vessel, or you would now be broken like the leopard.' Kelderek, do not think that any man or woman could have done what you did last night, simply because of the Singing. Shardik is always more dangerous than lightning, more uncertain than the Telthearna in the rains. You are his Vessel, or you would now be broken like the leopard.'

'Saiyett, why did you let the Baron go? He hates Lord Shardik.'

'Was I to murder him? To overcome his hard heart with a harder? What could have come of that? He is not a wicked man, and God sees all. Did I not hear you yourself begging him for forgiveness as he strode away?'

'But do you believe that he will be content to leave Lord Shardik unharmed?'

'I believe, as I have always believed, that neither he nor anyone can prevent Lord Shardik from performing that which he has come to perform and imparting that which he has come to impart. But I say yet again - what will ensue we can only await with humility. To devise some purpose of our own and try to make use of Lord Shardik for that end - that would be sacrilege and folly.'

'So you have taught me, saiyett; but now I will dare to advise you also. We should perfect our service of Lord Shardik as a man prepares the weapons with which he knows he will have to fight for his life. Worship yields nothing to the slipshod and half-hearted. I have seen men's worship which, if it had been a roof they had built, would not have kept out half an hour's rain; nor had they even the wit to wonder why it left their hearts cold and yielded them neither strength nor comfort. Lord Shardik is in truth the Power of God, but his worshippers will reap only what they sow. How many women have we, both here and on Quiso, who are adept in the Singing and able to serve close to Lord Shardik without fear, as they did long ago?'

'I cannot yet tell - perhaps no more than ten or twelve. As I said, it is more than a matter of skill and brave hearts, for it may turn out that Lord Shardik himself will accept some but not others. You know how a child in Ortelga may train to be a dancer and dream of breaking hearts in Bekla; but she grows up unshapely or too tall and there's an end.'

'All this we must search out and prove, saiyett - his singers must be sure as an Ortelgan rope in a storm, his hunting-girls observant and tireless. He will wander now; and as he wanders, so we can perfect our work, if only we are given time.'

'Time?' she asked, standing still to face him - and he saw once more the shrewd, homely woman with the ladle who had met him below the Ledges. 'Time, Kelderek?'

'Time, saiyett. For sooner or later, either Shardik will go to Ortelga, or Ortelga will come to him. On that day, he will either prevail or be extinguished; and whichever way it goes, the issue will come about through us alone.'

15 Ta-Kominion

Kelderek crouched listening in the dark. There was no moon and the forest overhead shut out the stars. He could hear the bear among the trees and tried once again to make out whether it was moving away. But silence returned, broken only by the vibrant rarking of the frogs on the distant shore. After some time his straining ears caught a low growl. He called, 'Peace, Lord Shardik. Peace, my lord,' and lay down, hoping that the bear might rest if it felt that he himself was tranquil. Soon he realized that his fingers were thrusting into the soft ground and that he was holding himself tense, ready to leap to his feet He was afraid: not only of Lord Shardik in this uncertain, suspicious mood, but also because he knew that Shardik himself was uneasy - of what, he could not tell.

For days past the bear had been wandering through the woods and open places of the island; sometimes splashing among the reeds along the southern, landward shore, sometimes turning inland to climb the central ridge, yet always tending eastwards, downstream, towards Ortelga behind its jungle wall of traps and palisades. Night and day his votaries followed him. In all their hearts burned the fear of violent death, overborne by a wild hope and faith - hope for they knew not what, faith in the power of Lord Shardik returned to his people through fire and water.

Kelderek himself remained constantly near the bear, observing all that it did, attentive to its moods and ways - its frightening habit of ramping from side to side in excitement or anger; its indolent curiosity; the slow-moving strength, like that of a great head of water, with which it would turn over a heavy stone, lift a fallen log or push down a young tree; the dog-like snarling of its lip in suspicion, its shrinking from the heat of the rocks in the mid-day glare and its preference for sleeping near water. At each sunset the Singing was repeated, the women forming their wide half-circle about the bear, sometimes smoothly and symmetrically in open ground, often with more difficulty among trees or on rocky slopes. During the early days most of those in the camp, ecstatic in their wonder and joy at the return of Shardik, came forward to offer themselves, eager to show their devotion greater than their fear and to put to the proof the age-old skills they had learned on the Ledges but never envisaged that they would be required to practise in earnest On the fourth evening, when the singers had formed a wide circle round a grove near the shore, the bear suddenly burst through the undergrowth and struck down the priestess Anthred with a blow that almost broke her body in two. She died at once. The Singing ceased, Shardik disappeared into the forest and it was not until noon of the following day that Kelderek, having tracked him with difficulty for many hours, found him at the foot of a rocky bank on the further side of the island. When the Tuginda reached the place she walked forward alone and stood in prayer until it became plain that Shardik would not attack her. That evening she led the Singing herself, moving without haste and gracefully as a girl whenever the bear came towards her.

A day or two later Sheldra, stepping backwards on a steep slope, stumbled and struck her head. Shardik, however, ignored her, shambling past as she lay dazed among the stones. When Kelderek raised her to her feet she resumed her place without a word.

At length, as the Tuginda had envisaged in speaking to Kelderek of the days gone by, Shardik seemed to become accustomed to the attendance of the women and at times almost to play his part -towering erect and gazing at them, or prowling back and fordi as though to try whether they had their art at command. Three or four - Sheldra among them - proved able to carry themselves steadily in his presence. Others, including some who had spent years in the service of Quiso and acquired every inflection and cadence, after a few evenings could no longer control their fear. To these Kelderek allowed respites, calling in turn upon one or another to play her part as best she could. As the Singing began he would watch them closely, for Shardik was keen to perceive fear and seemed angered by it; glaring with a look half-intelligent, half-savage, until the victim, her last shreds of courage consumed, broke the circle and turned tail, weeping with shame. As often as he could Kelderek would forestall this anger, calling the girl out of the circle before the bear came down upon her. His own life he risked daily, but Shardik never so much as threatened him, lying quictly while the hunter approached to bring him food or examine his almost-healed wounds.

Indeed, as the days passed, returning thoughts of Ortelga and the High Baron came to cause him more fear than did Lord Shardik. Daily it grew harder to find and kill sufficient game, and he realized that in their eastward course down the island they must already have come close to exhausting its never-plentiful resources. As often as their wanderings brought them to the southern shore, the mainland bank of the Telthearna showed nearer across the tapering strait How far were they now from Ortelga? What watch was Bel-ka-Trazet keeping upon them and what would happen when they came - as at last they must - to the Dead Belt, with its maze of concealed snares? Even if he were able in some way to induce Shardik to turn back, what could follow but starvation? Daily, with the women looking on, he and the Tuginda stood before the bear and prayed aloud, 'Reveal your power, Lord Shardik! Show us what we are to do!' Alone with the Tuginda, he spoke of his anxieties, but was met always by a calm, untroubled faith with which, had it come from anyone else, he would have lost patience.

Now, crouching in the dark, he was full of doubt and uncertainty. For the first time since he had found him in the pit, he knew himself afraid of Shardik. All day they had killed no game and at sunset, such had been the bear's threatening ferocity that the Singing had faltered and ceased, ragged and unpropitious. As night fell, Shardik had wandered away into dense forest Kelderek, taking Sheldra with him, had followed as best he could, expecting at any moment to find himself the quarry and the bear the hunter; until at last after how long he could not tell (for he could not see the stars), he had suddenly caught the sounds of Shardik's rambling movement not far off. There was no telling whether the bear would return to attack them, settle to sleep or go further into the forest and Kelderek, already weary, set himself to remain alert and wait.

After a time Sheldra slept, but he himself lay listening intently to each minute noise in the dark. Sometimes he thought he could hear the bear's breathing or the rustle of leaves disturbed by its claws. As the hours wore on he became intuitively aware that its mood had changed. It was no longer surly and ready to attack, but uneasy. He had never known or imagined Lord Shardik afraid. What could be the cause? Might some dangerous creature be close at hand - a great cat swum from the north bank, or one of the giant, nocturnal snakes of which Bel-ka-Trazet had spoken? He rose to his feet and called once more, 'Peace, Lord Shardik. Your power is of God.'

At this moment, from somewhere in the darkness, a man whistled.

Kelderek stood rigid. The blood pulsed in his head - five, six, seven, eight. Then, quietly but unmistakably, the whistler ran through the refrain of a song, 'Senandril na kora, senandril na ro'. 'Senandril na kora, senandril na ro'.

An instant later Sheldra grasped his wrist 'Who is it, my lord?'

'I cannot tell,' he whispered. 'Wait'

The girl strung her bow with barely a sound and then guided his hand to the hilt of the knife at her belt He drew it and crept forward. Close by, to his left, the bear growled and coughed. The thought of Lord Shardik pierced by the arrows of unseen enemies filled him with a desperate haste and anger. He began to push his way more quickly through the bushes. Immediately, from the darkness on his right a low voice called, 'Who's there?'

Whoever had spoken, at least he himself was now between him and Shardik. Peering, he could just make out the trunks of trees black against a paler darkness - the open sky above the river. A faint wind stirred the leaves and a star shone twinkling through.

Now came the sound of movement like his own - the snapping of sticks and rusde of foliage. Suddenly he saw what he had been waiting for - an instant's flicker between one tree trunk and the next, so close that he was startled.

Ten paces - eight? He wondered whether Bal-ka-Trazet himself might be close at hand and in the same moment remembered the Baron's trick by the pool, when he had distracted the bear. His groping fingers could not find a stone, but he squeezed together a handful of moist earth and tossed it upwards through the space between the tree-trunks. It fell beyond with a disturbance of leaves, and as it did so he dashed forward. He blundered into a man's back - a tall man, for his head struck him between the shoulders. The man staggered and Kelderek, flinging one arm up and round his neck, jerked him backwards. The man fell heavily on top of him and he twisted clear, raising Sheldra's knife.

The man had not uttered a sound and Kelderek thought 'He is alone.' At this he felt less desperate, for Bel-ka-Trazet would have known better than to send one man to tackle Lord Shardik and his armed and devoted followers. He pressed the point of the knife against his throat and was about to call to Sheldra when the man spoke for the first time.

'Where is Lord Shardik?*

'What's that to you?' answered Kelderek, thrusting him back as he tried to sit up. 'Who are you?'

The man, amazingly, laughed. 'I? Oh, I'm a fellow who's come from Ortelga through the Dead Belt with a fancy to be knocked half silly for whistling in the dark. Was it Lord Shardik that taught you to crush a man's throat from behind like a Deelguy footpad?'

Whether really unafraid or only concealing his fear, he certainly seemed in no hurry to get away.

'Come through the Dead Belt by night?' said Kelderek, startled in spite of himself. 'You're lying!'

'As you please,' replied the other. 'It's no matter now. But in case you don't know it, you're only a few yards from the Belt yourself. If the wind changes you'll smell the smoke of Ortelga. Shout loud and the nearest shendron will hear you.'

This, then, was the cause of Shardik's uneasiness and sullen fear! He must already have smelt the town ahead. Suppose he should wander into the Dead Belt before morning? 'God will protect him,' thought Kelderek. 'When daylight comes, he may turn back. But if he does not, I will follow him into the Belt myself.'

It crossed his mind also that by morning the bear would be close to starving and therefore still more savage and dangerous: but he put the thought aside and spoke once more to the stranger.

'Why have you come?' he asked. 'What are you seeking?'

'Are you the hunter, the man who first saw Lord Shardik?'

'My name is Kelderek, sometimes called Zenzuata. It was I who brought the news of Lord Shardik to the Tuginda.'

'Then we have met already; in the Sindrad, on the night when you set out for Quiso. I am Ta-Kominion.'

Kelderek remembered the tall young baron who had sat on the table and bantered him in his cups. He had felt confused and uncertain then, a common man among his betters, facing trouble alone. But matters had changed since.

'So Bel-ka-Trazet sent you to murder me,' he said, 'and you found me less helpless than you expected?'

'Well, you're right this far,' replied Ta-Kominion. 'It's true that Bel-ka-Trazet is seeking your death, and it's true that that's the reason why I'm here. But now listen to me, Kelderek Play-with-the-Children. If you suppose that I've come alone through the Dead Belt on the off-chance of coming across one man in miles of forest and killing him, then you must believe I'm a sorcerer. No, I came to look for you because I want to talk to you; and I came by land and darkness because I didn't want Bel-ka-Trazet to know of it. I had no idea where you might be, but it seems I've been lucky - if what you call luck's a half-broken neck and a blow on the elbow. Now tell me, is Lord Shardik here?'

'He is not a bow-shot away. Speak no ill of him, Ta-Kominion, if you want to live.'

'You must understand me better, Kelderek. I'm here as Bel-ka-Trazet's enemy and the friend of Lord Shardik. Let me tell you something of what has been happening in Ortelga since you left.'

'WaitI' Kelderek gripped the other's arm. Crouching together and listening, they could both hear Shardik moving in the forest 'Sheldral' called Kelderek. 'Which way is he going?'

'He is returning, my lord, by the way he came. Shall I go back and warn the Tuginda?'

'Yes, but try not to lose him if he should wander further.'

'So,' said Ta-Kominion after a few moments, 'they obey you, do they, Lord Kelderek? Well, if all I hear is true, you deserve it. Bel-ka-Trazet told the barons that you struck him down.'

'I threw a stone. He was about to kill Lord Shardik while he lay helpless.'

'So he said. He spoke to us of the folly and danger of allowing the people to believe that Lord Shardik had returned. "Those women'll ruin us all," he said, "with that half-burnt bear they've got hold of. God knows what superstitious rubbish will come of it if they're not packed off where they belong. It'll be the end of all law and order." He sent men out to look for you at the western end of the island, but you'd gone from there, it seems. One of them tracked you eastwards almost as far as this; but when he came back, it was to me he spoke and not to Bel-ka-Trazet.'

'Why?'

Ta-Kominion laid a hand on Kelderek's knee.

'The people know the truth,' he said. 'One of the Tuginda's girls came to Ortelga - but even if she had not, truth blows through the leaves and trickles between the stones. The people are weary of Bel-ka-Trazet's harshness. They are speaking secretly of Lord Shardik and waiting for him to come. If need be they are ready to die for him. In his heart, Bel-ka-Trazet knows this and he is afraid.'

'Why,' answered Kelderek, 'that morning when he left the Tuginda, I saw the fear already in his eyes. I pitied him then and I still pity him, but he has set himself up against Lord Shardik. If a man chooses to stand in the path of a fire, can the fire take pity on him?'

'He thinks -'

Kelderek cut him short. 'What do you want with me, then?'

'The people are not BcI-ka-Trazet. They know that Lord Shardik has returned to them. I have seen decent, simple men in Ortelga weeping for joy and hope. They are ready to rise against Bel-ka-Trazet and to follow me.'

'To follow you? you? Follow you where?' Follow you where?'

In the solitude of the forest, Ta-Kominion dropped his voice still lower.

'To Bekla, to regain what is ours.'

Kelderek drew in his breath. 'You're seriously planning to attack Bekla?'

'With the power of Lord Shardik we cannot fail. But Kelderek, will you join us? They say you have no fear of Shardik and can persuade him as you will. Is that true?'

'Only in part. God has made of me a vessel let down into Shardik's well and a brand lighted at his fire. He suffers me; nevertheless, to be near him is always to be in danger.'

'Could you bring him to Ortelga?'

'Neither I nor anyone can drive Lord Shardik. He is the Power of God. If it is so ordained, he will come to Ortelga. Yet how can he pass the Dead Belt? And what is it that you mean to do?'

'My own men are ready to strike now. They will make him a path through the Belt: along this shore - that's the easiest place. Only let Lord Shardik come and every man will join us - yes, join you and me, Kelderek! As soon as we are sure of Ortelga, then we'll march at once on Bekla, before they can learn the news.'

'You make it sound easy, but I tell you again - I cannot bring Lord Shardik here and dierc like an ox. He acts by the will of God, not by my will. If you had seen him - faced faced him - you would understand.' him - you would understand.'

'Let me face him, then. I will stand before him and beg him to help us. I'm not afraid. I tell you, Kelderek, all Ortelga is eager only to serve him. If I entreat him, he will give me a sign.'

'Very well. Come with me. You shall speak with the Tuginda and face Lord Shardik for yourself. But if he gives you death, Ta-Kominion -'

'He will give much where much is offered. I have come to offer my life. If he takes it, why then I shall not live to be disappointed. If he gives it back to me, I will spend it in his service.'

For answer Kelderek got to his feet and began to lead the way through the undergrowth. The night was still so dark, however, that he found it all but impossible to tell in which direction the camp lay. Feeling before them, they stumbled repeatedly; once Ta-Kominion nearly put out his eye on a pointed branch that pierced him under the lower lid. Kelderek could not tell how far they had gone or whether they might not have wandered in a circle. At last he glimpsed, still some distance off, the glow of the fire. He made towards it cautiously, expecting at any moment to be challenged by one of the girls, or even to come upon Lord Shardik himself, prowling in his angry hunger. But they met no one and at length, looking about him in perplexity, he realized that they had already reached the outskirts of the camp. They walked on side by side over the open ground, strewn with cut branches and garments, where the women had been sleeping, and so up to the untended remains of the fire.

Kelderek's perplexity became bewilderment. The place was deserted. Apparently there was no one whatever in the camp. He called, 'Rantzay! Sheldra!' Receiving no reply, he shouted, 'Where are you?'

The echo died and for some moments he could hear only the frogs and the rustle of the leaves. Then he was answered.

'Lord Kelderek!' It was Rantzay's harsh voice from the direction of the shore. 'Come quickly, my lord!'

He had never heard her so much excited. He began to run and as he did so realized that it was growing light - light enough, at all events, to enable them to see their way to the river. As they approached he could make out the canoes and closer at hand the cloaked shapes of the women crowding together, some apparently up to their knees in the water. All were pressing forward, pointing, moving their heads one way and another and peering through the reeds. Beside the tall figure of Rantzay he recognized that of the Tuginda and ran towards her.

'What is it, saiyett? What has happened?*

Without speaking she took his arm and led him down into the shallows, among the reeds taller than his head. Between these, something had smashed a path and down this narrow lane he gazed out towards the Telthearna beyond. Over it the light was increasing, a windless, twilit grey without shadows. The far trees were motionless, the flowing water smooth. Still the Tuginda waded forward and still he followed, wondering at her haste. Waist-deep, feet groping, they reached the outer edge of the reed-belt and to right and left the extent of the river opened before them. The Tuginda, one hand on his shoulder, pointed downstream to where a wide ripple like an arrow-head was breaking the calm surface. At its apex, the only living thing to be seen in all the expanse of trees and water, Shardik was swimming, his muzzle thrust upwards at the sky as the current carried him towards Ortelga.

16 The Point and the Causeway

Without an instant's hesitation Kelderek flung himself forward into the deep water. Immediately - almost before his shoulders had broken the surface - he felt the current turning him bodily and sweeping him downstream. For a few moments he struggled, afraid as he found himself helpless against it. Then, awkwardly, he began to swim, bending back his neck to keep his head above water, splashing with his arms and bobbing up and down. Looking ahead, his water-blurred eyes could still make out the shape of the bear like a rick swept away in a flood.

Soon he realized that some freak of the river was carrying him towards the centre, where the flow was swifter yet. Even if he should happen to touch upon a random spit or submerged bank, such as formed and dissolved continually in the strait, he would not be able to stand up in a current of this strength. Already he was beginning to tire. He tried to look about him for a floating branch or anything to which he might cling, but could see nothing. His feet, trailing deep, encountered some tangled, loom-like thing, intersticed and pliant, and as he jerked himself free pain flickered up his leg and was gone as quickly as a spurt of flame. An instant later he spun round in an eddy, swallowed water, sank and, as his head came up again, found that he was facing upstream and still drifting on. The women among the reeds were now far-off, indistinguishable figures, appearing and disappearing as his eyes rose and fell. He tried to turn and face ahead, and as he did so heard across the water a spluttering call - 'Kelderek! Inshore!'