"Riding one of our horses, a mount that bolted without warning from our holding and returned two days later only a little before you? By your own telling, oath-breaker, you have consorted with witchery, so all could be of your doing. But the why of it? Why do you move against Hervon? We have no family-feud with you! Who told you to do this?"

"Any holding would have suited me," I said wearily. There was no way of making him believe that. He was determined that I meant ill to his lord. But that private feuds were still alive among the Old Race refugees was new to me. Apparently G.o.dgar expected such now. "A geas was laid upon me in Escore, even as I told you. I was to recruit such of the Old Race as wanted to try to free the land from which they once sprang."

I half expected a second blow, a demand that I speak what he would consider the truth. But to my surprise, G.o.dgar turned his head with deliberation and looked to the east. Then he laughed, a harsh bark.

"Did you think such a story would win you a fighting tail into nowhere, outlaw? Why, I could think of two handfuls of words which would serve you better in Hervon's listening!"

"Have it your own way then," I told him, tired of argument. "This is the bare bones of it. My sister was forced to enter the Place of Wisdom against her will. She shared with me and my brother a gift. Through that she reached Kemoc before the time of her final vow, for she would not be one of the Witches. We had her forth from the Place, since the safeguards of the Power were exhausted by the closing of the mountains. Having won her freedom we strove to preserve it by striking east, into the unknown. We crossed the forbidden pa.s.ses, found Escore, and those there, both enemy and friend, with the need for men to fight on the side of good in a very old war. Through no wish of mine-that I shall swear to by any Sign or Name-it was laid upon me to come here, and seek out any willing to cross the mountains. More than that no wile nor force can learn from me, for that is the full truth!"

He no longer laughed; instead his eyes regarded me very narrowly over the veil of his helm.

"I have heard of the Warder of the South, of Simon Tregarth-"

"And of the Lady Jaelithe," I added for him. "And never has it been hidden that he was an outlander and held some of the Power-is that not so?"

He nodded reluctantly.

"Then can it also be beyond the bounds of belief that we, the flesh of their flesh, have also gifts not usual to others? We were born at one birth, and always have we been locked of spirit, and sometimes of mind. When Kaththea wanted to come forth from that Place, we could do nothing else than bring her. If that makes us meat for any man's sword, then that is the way matters stand."

This time G.o.dgar made me no answer, but set his horse on, pulling sharply at the leading reins. We trotted down the rough road in a thick drizzle. Nor did he speak with me again throughout that long morning. We made a noonday stop in a place of rocks where an overhanging ledge gave shelter and there was a supply of wood laid up by a blackened ring of stones to mark a known camping place.

I walked stiffly when they had me down from my horse, for they left my legs free but not my hands. They produced journey bread, dried meat and fruit, little better than field rations. And they loosed my hands to eat, though one of them stood over me until I was done, then promptly applied the lashings again. But to my surprise they did not mount up after they had eaten. Instead one of them set a fire, which we had not needed for the cooking of food, taking what seemed to me unnecessary care in just how the wood was placed. Then, when light was put to that stack of wood, he took a stand to the right of it, a cloak in his hands.

Signaling! Though the code they used was none I knew from my scouting days. Blink, blink, blink, back and forth he snapped the cloak. I stared out on the gloomy countryside, straining to read anywhere along the darkened horizon an answer to those flashes. But without result.

However, my guards seemed satisfied. They kept the fire going, after letting it die down a little, sitting about it while their cloaks and surcoats steamed dry. I watched the sodden countryside. They were waiting-for whom and why?

G.o.dgar cleared his throat, and the sound was loud in that place, for they had not spoken more than a few words since they had dismounted.

"We wait for those who will take you to deliver to the Council guards," he addressed me. "There will be no one then who can say that you sheltered with Hervon."

"As you yourself said, when they question me under the Power, the Wise Ones will know all." I could not understand why he tried the clumsy cover-up of pa.s.sing me from one party to another.

"Perhaps."

Then it came to me: there was one way in which I could not be questioned, and that was if I was delivered dead! If my body was so brought in by a middle party, there could be no connection then with Hervon's people.

"Why leave the throat cutting to another?" I asked then. "You have a sword to your hand."

When he did not reply I continued: "Or do you wear a rune sword which will flame out with blood on it-to be read thereafter by all men? Your lord was not one with you in this. He would not set point or edge to a man with tied wrists!"

G.o.dgar stirred. His eyes were hot again; I had p.r.i.c.ked him then. Hard as he was, old customs still held. And there flashed now into my mind, as if some voice spoke the words into my ears, an oath considered so potent and binding that no man who had ever borne a sword in war could break it.

"You know me-I am Kyllan of Tregarth. I have ridden with the Border Scouts-is that not fact? Have you heard any ill report of such riding?"

He might not understand the why of my asking, but he returned frankly enough: "I have heard of you with the Scouts. You were a warrior-and a man-in those days."

"Then listen well, G.o.dgar and you others-" I paused, and then spoke each word that followed with emphasis and measured slowness, as my sister might have delivered one of her chants to summon the Power.

"May I be slain by my own blade, struck by my own darts, if I ever meant any ill to those within the House of Dhulmat, or to any man of Estcarp."

They stared at me across their veils. I had given them the strongest a.s.surance any of our calling might ever use. Would it hold?

They stirred uneasily, and their eyes went from me to each other. G.o.dgar tugged at his helm veil, bringing it in a loose loop from his jaw as if he were about to eat once more.

"That was ill done!" he barked angrily.

"Ill done?" I shot back. "In what way, G.o.dgar? I have given you Sword Oath that I mean you and yours no ill. What evil lies in that?"

Then I turned to his men. "Do you believe me?"

They hesitated, then he in the center spoke.

"We believe because we must."

"Then where lies the ill doing?"

G.o.dgar got to his feet and strode back and forth a few paces, his frown blackly heavy. He stopped and rounded on me.

"We have begun a thing for the sake of those to whom we owe allegiance. You are no one, nothing. Why must your fate be made now a shadow on our shield honor? What witchery have you used, outlaw?"

"No witchery, save that which you, and you"-I pointed to each-"and you, and you, G.o.dgar, share with me. I am warrior bred; I did what I had to do in the support of my own allegiances. That put me outside the law of the Council. I came back here because I was laid under another command-the why of it and by whom I have no knowing. But that I meant ill by my coming no Power can prove, for it is not so."

"Too late." Another of the guards was standing, pointing into the open.

Dim as the clouds made the scene, the coming riders could be counted. Five . . . six of them.

G.o.dgar nodded in their direction. "Those owe us a battle debt. But since you say you came to Hervon by chance, and have taken oath on it-well, they will turn you in living, not dead. With the Witches you can take your chances and those will not be bright. I-I am not honor broke in this, outlaw!"

"You are not honor broke," I agreed.

"Wait!"

He who had indicated the riders now spoke more sharply.

"What is-what is that?"

Between the distant riders and our shelter there was open country, covered only with the tall gra.s.s. It was at that gra.s.s he pointed now. It rippled, was like the sea with each wave troubled and wind tossed. And through it came such a regiment as no man among us had ever seen. p.r.o.ng-horns, not leaping away in alarm, but gathering with purpose towards us. A shambling bear taking no notice, a gra.s.s cat-yellow-brown, but equal to his brothers of the snow lines-smaller things we could not distinguish save for the movement in the gra.s.s . . . all headed to us!

"What will they do?" G.o.dgar was disconcerted as he would never have been to see an armed party about to attack. The very unnaturalness of this advance was unnerving.

I struggled to my feet and none reached a hand to stay me, for they were too awed by what they now witnessed.

As the gra.s.s was agitated by a gathering of four-footed inhabitants, so was the sky filled in turn. Birds came in flocks out of nowhere, and they swooped, called, strove to reach us under the ledge. These men had endured years of war such as only warrior blood could face, but this was against nature.

I struggled to contact the minds of those closing in upon us. I found that I could contact them, yes, and read their determination-but I could not control them in any manner.

I moved away from the others, who had drawn tightly under the protection of the ledge. The birds whirred, screamed, trilled about me, but they made no move to attack. Gra.s.s dwellers gathered about my feet, and wove circles, always facing-not me-but those who had brought me here. I began to walk, out into the open and the rain, away from G.o.dgar and his men.

"Stand-or I shoot!"

I glanced back. His dart gun was out, aimed at me. Through the air came that which I had sought-blue-green, moving swiftly, straight for G.o.dgar's head. He cried out, and ducked. I walked on, pa.s.sing a gra.s.s cat growling deep in its throat and lashing its tail, looking not to me but to the men behind, past a p.r.o.ng-horn that snorted, struck the earth with blade-sharp hooves, past a gathering army in fur and feathers.

And always I probed, trying to find the will which had launched that army, which held them there. For that such existed I was certain. The horses that had carried us snorted, screamed, reared to break loose from their picket ropes and run, in wild galloping, from feline forms skulking about. I heard shouts behind me, but this time I did not turn to look. If I were to die by G.o.dgar's darts, why face them? Better to walk towards freedom.

I discovered that walking with tied hands was not walking free. The rain had made the ground slippery, and I lost balance with my arms so tightly confined. I had to watch my footing as I went. Then I heard sounds from behind strange enough to make me look.

Just as I had walked away from the ledge, so after me stumbled and wavered my captors-not willingly, but under compulsion. For they were being herded by the animals and birds. What had become of their weapons I did not know, but their dart guns were gone. And, strangely enough, none had drawn steel. So they came, strained of face, staring of eye, men caught up in a nightmare of mad dreaming.

I had headed east, and so east we went in company, the birds always above, and always around us the host of animals large and small. Now they gave voice, squeaks, growls, snorts, almost as if they protested their use in this fashion-for being used they were. I glanced to where we had seen those other riders. There was no sign of them! Could they have been overwhelmed by the weird army?

Of all the marches I had made in a lifetime, that was the strangest. The creatures kept pace with me, and those after me, to the best of their ability. Though, after a s.p.a.ce, the smaller ones fell behind, and only the larger beasts matched us. The birds went in flocks, wheeling and diving. But the blue-green one had once more vanished.

We plodded on, to what goal I had no idea, though not to return to Hervon's holding. Again and again I tried to reach by contact the control over that furred and feathered force. Finally in my mind the old march cadence began its well-known sing-song: "Sky-earth-mountain-stone! Sword cuts to the bone!" Then I realized I was chanting that aloud and the clamor of beast and bird was stilled. Yet silent they marched with a determination not of their natures.

At length I paused and turned to face those behind me. They were pale under the brown weathering on their faces. And they met my gaze gla.s.sily, as men will front something over which they have no domination, against which they can make no true stand.

"G.o.dgar!" I raised my voice sharply to shake him out of that ensorcelment. "G.o.dgar, go from here by your path, as long as it leads back to the House of Dhulmat. As I have said, between us lies no feud, nor the need for any answer to be made to this day's work. If I wore a sword I would exchange it now for your blade in truce."

He had pa.s.sed beyond anger, but he was not broken.

"Captain"-that address of respect came wryly from him-"if it is peace you offer, peace shall we take. But do those who walk with us also offer it?"

That I did not know either, but it must be tested.

"Try them," I replied.

Then, watching warily their flankers, G.o.dgar and his men started south. Slowly, with a semblance of reluctance, a way was opened to them. As he saw this, G.o.dgar's shoulders went back a fraction more. He looked once more to me.

"This must be reported," he said.

"Let it be so," I answered.

"Wait!" He started towards me. A gra.s.s cat crouched, fangs bared, snarling. G.o.dgar stopped short. "I mean you no ill. Walking with bound hands is hard; I would free you."

But the cat would have none of that, despite my silent command.

"It would seem that our oaths are not current coin here, G.o.dgar. Go you in peace, and report as you must. And I say again-I hold no feud thought against you or yours."

He returned to his men and they walked south, behind them trailing a detachment of the creatures, as if they were to be escorted on their way. But for me there was another path-blue-green wings again in the air and a trill of song urging me along it.

XVIII.

IT WAS A little later that I learned I was not being escorted, but after a manner herded also. For once G.o.dgar and his men were out of sight. I paused, faced about-and looked into the snarling mask of a gra.s.s cat, behind it a p.r.o.ng-horn snorting and pawing earth. Ancient enemies, but now united in purpose. The cat growled; I wheeled to face east and the growling ceased. More and more of the furred company had fallen away from the body which had set us moving away from the ledge, but I still led a formidable force, mostly of larger creatures.

A trilling overhead-Dahaun's messenger circled there, urging me on, I thought. So I left the road, tramped on in the sodden gra.s.s which brushed wetly about me almost thigh high and sometimes concealed my escort altogether. When I was on the move once more, the bird flashed ahead.

Dahaun-had she followed across the mountains? But sense was against that. There was so close a tie between her race and Escore that they could not go out of that haunted land. Kemoc? But the command over this company of beasts and birds was not Kemoc's, nor Kaththea's, nor born of any magic ever brewed in Estcarp.

Ahead was the dark ma.s.s of broken mountains. This route would bring me into their foothills. I struggled against the cords about my wrists. Once into that rough country I would need use of my hands. The ties cut into my flesh and I felt the slipperiness of blood oozing from ridged cuts. Perhaps that loosened them sufficiently at last. For, in spite of menacing growls and snorts, I halted now and again to work with all my might at those circlets. Then, with a tearing of skin, I pulled one hand free and brought both before me, congested and purple, blood-stained. I wriggled fingers to restore circulation.

The rain had ceased but there was no lightening of the clouds, now that it was twilight. Not only the coming of dark in this wilderness plagued me, but fatigue had slowed my progress to a weary shuffle. I glanced behind. The head of a p.r.o.ng-horn buck was up, the eyes of a cat watched-but farther back. I took a step or so in their direction. Snarl and snort-warning me on. I could see other bodies crouched or erect in the gra.s.s. There was for me no road to the west.

They did not follow me, merely stood where they were now, a barrier before those lands where I might find others of my kind. Just as those hunters had been on my trail before, so now these were harrying me out of Estcarp.

Seeing a rocky outcrop not too far away, I made for that and sat down to rest aching feet. Riding boots had never been fashioned for steady hours of walking. I could spy those sentinels slipping along the ground if they were felines, treading on determined hooves for p.r.o.ng-horns. The heavily built bears had disappeared, perhaps unable to keep up. But for the others . . . we matched stares while I thought.

It would seem that someone or something wished to send me back to Escore. And I rebelled against such pressure. First send me to Estcarp on a fruitless mission, then drive me out again. I could see no sense in this, nor does any man take easily to the knowledge that he is only a piece on some gameboard, to be moved hither and thither for purposes which are none of his.

Dermont had told me once of a very ancient custom of Karsten, one which had fallen into disuse when the Old Race lost rule there and the newcomers from still farther south had overrun the land. But in dim history there had been a game played each decade. Carven pieces were set out on a marked board. At one side sat him who was deemed the greatest lord, on the other who was landless, followerless, the least, but who would dare the game. And the landless player represented the forces of disruption and ill luck, while the lord those confidence and success. Thus they played, not only for all the great lord held, but also for the luck and fortune of the whole land. For, should the landless topple the lord, a period of chaos and change would ensue in the land.

Was such a game now in progress, with a living man-me-for one of its pieces? In Estcarp abode the settled state of things as they are, well established, even firmer now that Karsten had been dealt with. And uneasy Escore where old troubles stirred was the opposite. Perhaps behind that ancient game had lain some older truth well buried, that a more powerful action once known had been reduced to ritual at a gameboard.

So could I speculate, but I doubted that I would ever know how much of my guessing was the truth. I had certainly been moved into Estcarp, just as I was being moved out again. I shook my head, though only the beasts saw that gesture. Then I began to pull up the gra.s.s about my rock, making a nest bed. The one thing I was sure of was that I could go no farther now.

Though I lay in the open this was one night I felt no need for watch keeping. Perhaps I had been lifted out of the normal courses to the point where I no longer cared, or perhaps I was too tired and worn by what had chanced.

Thus I slept. And if I dreamed, I did not carry the memory of those dreams past my waking. But when I got stiffly to my feet from that ma.s.s of gra.s.s in the morning, I faced the mountains. This was right-if I were a piece on a gameboard, then I had been moved. I started off with empty hands, no food, and a hard climb before me. Twice I looked back. If my herders had kept vigil during the night that had not lasted until this hour. No sign of them was visible. Neither was there in me any need to go out once more into Estcarp.

During the day I was certainly one under some order, though I could not have put it into words. The broken mountains were my goal. Senseless, senseless, one part of my mind repeated over and over. Urge me in, bring me out-what had I accomplished? A meeting with refugees on a single holding, and on them I had made only a negative impression.

I thought I had been sent to recruit-but my feeble effort had not even begun that task. So-and that brought me up short as I halted on the verge of a mountain reaching ravine-so what had been the real reason for my return to Estcarp? I kicked viciously at a stone, sent it rolling from me with a sound to break the general silence.

A use for me-what? None that I could see, and my ignorance gnawed, plunging me into action, the only kind open to me now, the return over-mountain. I scrambled down slope, began to run almost blindly, taking little heed of my body with my mind so bedeviled with frightening half-thoughts to which there were no sane answers.

A fall was the end of that witless race, witless because there was no escaping from fears I bore with me. I lay panting on the earth, beating my still-swollen hands on the gravel until the pain of that contact shocked me back to quiet again.

Once the blood stopped pounding so heavily in my ears I heard the gurgle of water and I was drawn by that, my dry mouth gaping even before I reached a spring fed pool. I lapped up the fresh liquid as might one of the hunting cats. Water cold against my face restored more rational thinking. To run terror stricken was never an answer, so-yield to this mysterious ordering until more could be learned. I was far more a man when I left the spring. There was an explanation somewhere and it could only lie in Escore. For the beast army was not of Estcarp's devising. So the sooner I gained to Escore, that much earlier would I learn my place in the new scheme of things.

Hunger grew in me. It had been a long time since I had chewed those trail rations under the rock ledge. Yet nowhere in this wilderness was there food. But I had known hunger before and kept on the move in spite of its twinges. The mountains-could I find again that valley which led to our climb point? Sometimes when I looked about me, either that peculiar distortion which had plagued us before was in force, or else my lack of food worked upon my vision, for there was a disorientation to this land through which I moved.

Evening did not stop me, for the need of Escore had grown to an all pervading urge. I stumbled on, in a narrow cut, but whether the right one I could not have said. And then-ahead was light! Stupidly I plowed to a halt and blinked. I had a dull fear that I had been forestalled, that I was awaited now by those who would cut me off, take me once more captive.

My mind worked so sluggishly that I could see no way out of such disaster. If I retreated it could only be back to the plains, or to be lost in the foothills where I could never find my way again.

Brother!

So deep was I sunk in my own inner pit that at first that mind call meant nothing. Then-then-Kemoc!

I do not believe that I shouted the name aloud as I began to run towards the fire-but in me was a welling fountain of recognition.