"You're an idiot," said Rilpo fondly.( 36 ).. . keep away fro dy s-ad a- to in our MY.

et,the f rorn( 37 ).Diver drew me aside before the mounting up, and I did my best to explain the plan. One thing bothered him. Were Rilpo and Tewl male or female? I shook my head; frankly I had no idea. "Who cares? They're grandees." I looked again, as Rilpo helped Tewl mount on Harper Roy's back, and indeed it was hard to tell. No question here of a vented robe or a hidden child. Grandees were notorious for having more or less mating life than mountain folk ... Their adults were not called to the mating tents in the spring only. I solved the problem by asking Tsammet.

The omor flared up, aiming a blow at my head. "Cheeky brat! Tewl is the Galtroy's female partner. They have a pair-family, city style. She has carried him two fine children, what more do you want!"

Diver took some of this in, grinning. He knelt down, and I helped Tsammet onto his back. She weighed heavily, but he was equal to it. As I went scudding off on my errand,'I heard her say to him slowly, as if speaking to a child, "We've got a strange thing in the net, up ahead . . ."

Then I was alone, running on down in the wind, with only the plaited-rope soles of my boots to keep me from slithering off into the valley. I ran and ran until I thought I must be nearly down the mountain, but there was no sign of the convoy. Then I paused, and over the side of the pa.s.s I saw the ship in the net far below, almost on the outskirts of Cullin. But the lack of the palanquin had been noticed; four va.s.sals were toiling towards me up the next curve in the road.

I hailed them, still out of breath, told the tale and handed over Rilpo's message skein. They were all hefty and stern, with three knots on their tunics; any one of them could have been a bravo who seized me, back in the glebe. Their manners improved when they read the skein, and they went on, cursing, to dig out the litter. I sat idle on the roadside, watching the roofs and tents of Cullin and the cloud shadows moving over the Great Plain. The river Troon, behind its broad groves, flashed gray as metal in the wintery light. Presently there came a sound of singing, and there they were: Rilpo riding now on Harper Roy, Tsam- met grinning from Diver's back and Tewl, striding along, strumming Roy's precious harp and singing an old moun- tain air, "Sweet Bird of the Snow".

So we all went on down. I walked beside Tewl an~ looked my fill at a grandee. There was a gaiety, a brightnes, about Tewl and Rilpo that was all of a piece with thei finery. I could almost understand serving such persons being a loyal va.s.sal like Tsammet. I had an impulse to trus them, to ask Diver to trust them and tell his story and shoN them his magic and reveal his knowledge of the air ship But I kept these dangerous thoughts to myself, and w came at last, in the darkness before the rising of the secon sun, to the riverbank outside the town.

The Troon rises on the west face of Hingstull and pa.s.so through great falls and caverns, so that it is a sizeable rivo when it curls round the mountain's base and is joined I the Stone Brook. Then, beyond the joining place, it curv, through the town and on into the Great Plain. We saw t]

convoy with the air ship in its net, drawn up on the Troi bank where the two waters meet. There was a paddle bar ready and a smaller pa.s.senger boat. As we made our way the riverbank, the va.s.sals in charge of the convoy w( preparing to load the ship on the barge.

Diver was able to set down Tsammet at the landi stage, and all of us pressed closer to watch the loading. I sooner was the air ship laid on the barge than it was covei with vast sheets of canvas and bound with ropes into a gr bundle of ordinary merchandise.

"Secrecy," whispered Harper Roy. "Tiath Gargan i not have it borne through Cullin." Diver was restless tense, but he made no move.( 38 ).

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we ndsses iver by rves the roon arge ay to wereNo ered a greatgan will tiess andRilpo Galtroy, who had been speaking to the va.s.sals, drew us all aside. "Friends . . ." he said "I must cha you all-explain it to your quiet sib if you can-never speakof what you have seen here.""You mean that vessel?" asked Harper Roy. "Where doesit come from, Highness?"Rilpo and Tewl became still and silent. "You read those crests," said Tewl. "The Great Elder has expressed aparticular need for silence."I will say this," put in Rilpo carefully. "It is believed that a foreian race has flown from the void and made a nestin the islands.""But we charge you most solemnly." Tewl's eveswere luminous in the dusk. "Say nothing even to yournearest kin. Do not betray our trust.""Believe me, Highnesses," murmured Harper Roy, "I speak for us all and sav we will not breathe one ord out ofDlace in this matter.""Highness . . ." I plucked Tewl gently by the mantle.

"Is it not possible that a foreign race might be ourfriends? They may resemble us in form? They may pa.s.s among us and join with us, like Moruians indeed?""I pray it may be so, dear child," said Tewl. Her voice was sweet and brittle. She took from her finger a little ring of silver, made like a rope, with a blue brilliant on the knot, and slipped it onto my finger. I blushed and kissed her cool hand,Rilpo smiled. "Come, you have saved our hves and stiNta us immensely. We can't repay that kind of service. I have had my eye on this poor fellow Diver, your sib. He is very strong, though simple in the head. I think Tsammet likes him. Let us pay you a consideration for his first year's wages and let him be our Luck and come with us toRintoul."

ves cried Tewl. "Sweet Rilno. . . you nave such kind ideas. Let Diver be our Luck. We had a deai Luck, a dwarf, but she died, poor creature."

"Highness," said Harper Roy, "we would not disobligi you for the world, but in truth and according to bond wi cannot part with Diver. He is our Luck, signed and sealed.

"Too bad," said Rilpo. "What Family? Brin's Five? Well so be it. I am sure he is most valuable."

He reached into the furry sleeves of his tunic an produced, carelessly, a handful of pure silver credits an gave them to me, filling my cupped hands. It w,.

politeness-giving the child a present rather than tippir the adult. So they parted from us and joined the va.s.sals Tiath Pentroy. The giant paddle wheel, turned by t( heavers in the bow, began to churn the dark water, and t) barge with its shrouded cargo moved slowly from shor Tsammet had been helped aboard the smaller travellii boat, and now the grandees joined her.

The two vessels moved on downriver, and we were li on the sh.o.r.e, wrapped in our cloaks. Diver bared his fa, we laughed together, rather shakily.

"Danger!" said Harper Roy. Diver understood.

"It is not over yet . . ." he said. In the light of Esder,, Far Sun, newly risen and moving towards its fullnesq detachment of Pentroy va.s.sals were marching on ahead us into Cullin.

"We must seek guidance," said Harper Roy. "Be Ulgan will help us."

It was a cold evening, and I was sorry we could not i any of our usual haunts. There were blood kin and gi neighbors wintering in their warm tents on the slopes al: f'he - down over river. We went looldng for a meal in the broad, s, streets of Cullin, between the fixed houses. The tall I C~t xkxe e- kmvq ~n curv'mv . krMs Ok 'On'ska '01-1 -4 MVM~,.

d s 9.of n e re.

ngleft ace;. the ss, a d of eetht visit glebe above er the swept I house d bent other themain wharf and "Vanuyu" or the House of the Four Winds. This is a hunting lodge built by some Pentroy ages ago on the river before the weavers bought out the landand gained the t.i.tle for a free town.Vanuyu is a beautiful house-for years the only fixed house I believed could be beautiful-and it is built partly of brick, with curtain walls of plaster to either wing. It is inhabited by some of our town grandees or climbing weavers-the Wharf Steward and the Fair Caller and their Fives. We showed these wonders to Diver by the bright light of Esder, and I was impressed, as always, by the lights used in the town ... candles, oil lamps, rush-lights, for the townees are far less chary of fire than mountain folk.

But it was still cold; we pulled into one food shop by the wharf and found it full of Pentroy va.s.sals guzzling bowls of hot tipsy-mash. We moved on to another, near the open circle, where we smuggled Diver into a dark corner, back of the steaming cook Dots, and HarDer doled me out a credit tobuy our supper.We ate delicious, hot tipsy-mash and venison stew with flour dumplings, real town food, in glazed earthenware dishes that had been hardened in fire. The spoons had metal bowls, but the handles were safe wooden ones, tocheer up superst.i.tious country visitors."How do vou like our to n?" e asked Diver."Good!" he said. "A town."We were i)leased."Like the towns in your land?" asked the Harper, slyly."Like the towns in my land ... long ago.""Never fear," I said, "wait until you see Rintoul.""Ah, Rintoul . . ." sighed the Harper. "The Golden Net of the World!""My ship goes to Rintoul.""Diver . . ." I was bold now, with the warmth of th shop and the tipsy-mash rising into my head. "Are ther "Yes ... but not Family." Diver tried to explaii"Friends, workers ... helpers."

"How many?" asked Harper Roy.

"Three and myself. They will think me dead," sa Diver solemnly.

"Females and males?" I thought of the strange shape the female creatures in his drawings. "Will you make Family?"

"Two males, two females," he replied sadly. "We cai as scholars. To see what lived, what could breathe ...

Torin."

Then a drunken townee from the front of the cook-sh saw Roy's harp and called for a song. He moved am cheerfully, leaving us in shadow, and began to si sweetly as ever, a whole string of his mountain melodie sat in the gloom, at Diver's side, growing warm and slee The shop was no more than half-full with townees some travelling Families; suddenly there was some sor commotion by the round doorway that looked out on circle. The Harper finished abruptly; customers v making a move. I stiffened, thinking of Pentroy vas!

then I heard the jingle of sh.e.l.l-bracelets and the thu dancing feet. "Twirlers!" I whispered to Diver.

The shop emptied quickly; even the cook downed 12 and ran out. I gulped down my food and tumbled out the dark street after Roy and Diver. A blue flame shot i the center of the gra.s.sy circle-Twirlers' Fire. It is a, harmless flame, so they say, but it was flame enoul send a thrill through the crowd. The Leader stood ii midst of the circle, beside the flax-bound stake hissing blue fire. A tall figure, brown and twisted like a bt tree, painted with clay and naked except for a long cl( blue rag-bunches. Around the circle there danced fifteen others, thumping the ground rhythmically their heels, between leaping and prancing. The bracelets on their wrists clashed and jingled and caug( 42 ).

f ae np ay 91.. I.

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nd t of the ere als, d ofdles into in oll to n the with urned p co ghoak of ten, with sh.e.l.l- ht theblue and bro n.light of the fire. Their blue rags were spattered with mud they were sweating, and the dark streaks on their skin might already have been blood. The twirlers' sh.e.l.l- bracelets are sharp and they cut their flesh as they dance,until the blood runs down.Every so often one dancer would advance into the circle and twirl on the spot, slowly at first, then faster and faster, unbearably fast, until there was a thin blurring column of"Trouble!" whispered Roy, as we stood in the shadows.

"Time we went to the Ulgan's house." The twirlers had drawn a crowd, even in winter. One or two of the Watch, employed by the Town Five, were lounging about with their staves, not expecting trouble. But the Pentroy va.s.sals could be seen too, pushing their way through the quiet, hooded, cl.u.s.tering crowd. None came our way, and we didnot make a oveOne by one the twirlers dropped to the gra.s.s like wounded birds, and the Leader, who had twirled and gestured close to the burning stake, began to cry out.

"Avert!"The twirlers, in ecstasy on the bruised gra.s.s, took up thec in echoing tones. "Avert! Avert! Avert!""Avert the emon!"

Again the shout went round. "Avert the Demon who comes from the void ... who flies on Hingstull who flies in the night, encased in metal . . . with claws forhands!"The crowd hissed with fear. The Pentroy va.s.sals, I saw, had an officer, a grim figure in a leather mask-helmet, whowas drawing them together"Avaunt!" screamed the twirlers. "Devil came down!

Descended on Cullin! The devilish Silver Ship was shipped through the town! Here! Where is the Devil! The Devil!

The Devil! The Demon with claws! The Devil is here!"

The Leader's voice was high and chilling; I wondered,( 43.

how did the twirlers know? I shivered and clutched Diver's arm, to rea.s.sure myself that he was no devil. Roy led the way through the edges of the crowd, heading for Sidestreei Four, where Beeth Ulgan's house stood.

Suddenly the Pentroy officer made a booming blast or his roarer and the va.s.sals moved in. The twirlers, disturbe( in ecstasy, fought and screamed like mad things. A pani spread among the poor wintry citizens; a few ran to help th twirlers or beat feebly at the va.s.sals who were hustlin them out of the way. The burly members of the Tow Watch waded into the fray, striking-I saw-mainly , va.s.sals and calling aloud for the townees to clear the street Through an opening in the crowd came two va.s.sa struggling with a poor naked twirler, wide-eyed ar streaked with blood. I tried to dive out of the way, but movement of the crowd bore me to the ground. I rememb flailing about and screaming like a twirler myself befc Diver hauled me up again. We tried to continue on c way, but the va.s.sals and their prisoner were behind i pressine avainst the frightened, angry bystanders. Some them, including the Harper, set up a shout.

"Let the twirler go! Shame! Set down the spirit warri Out Pentroy! To ' blazes with the va.s.sals!"

The va.s.sals came on, grim-faced.

"They'll dump the twirler in Street Four," said Harper, in my ear. We struggled out of their path; when the crowd drew back, we followed the va.s.sals their shrieking burden into the dark mouth of the stre, Diver had taken the lead. My heart was poundin thought I knew what he was about to do, but I was wri He had no need for a weapon. When we were out of sig) the crowd, he threw back his cloak and downed one o va.s.sals. Diver had an extraordinary way of fighting. I seen no one to match him save Blacklock himself.

chopped the va.s.sal across the back of the neck with th( of his hand, and the creature dropped like a stone.( 44 ).

n t S.

Is d a er re ur us, oflorlthe and and eet.

ng; rong.

ght of of the I have if. He e side"One for you!" he shouted to Harper Roy.

The Harper, nothing loath, did a hip roll on the other.

got into position, crying, "Tree trunk," and together we took the staggering va.s.sal by the arms and ran it headfirst into the nearest wall. The tree trunk, which is the oldest mountain wrestling trick in the skein, works even better in a town, there are so many walls. I was trembling with excitement and fear; the experience of using the tree trunkto bring down a person, instead of practicing it in sport and stopping long before the head hit the tree, was too much forMe.We turned to the twirler, who was propped upright against a wall. The Harper moved in, uttering soothing words but the twirler was still mad. A hand laid on thesbivering brown arm caused more shrieks more kicking.Alreadv the mouth of the street was full of townees."Come on!" said Diver. He seized the slight figure of the twirler, trying to inion those flailin arms and sharpsh.e.l.ls."Quiet!" he said in his clumsy Moruian. For an instant the torchlight rested on Diver's face: then with one shriek-at the sight of those blue eyes-the twirler faintedaway.Diver hoisted the limp body, and we ran off into the shadows. Round two corners, with the sound of the riot fading, and Harper Roy was hammering on the door of Beeth Ulgan's house, beside the weathermaker's shuttered booth. We stood shivering until a deet) voice answered.whoe"Brin's Five"' cried the Harper. "Dear Ulgan, open tofriends in need!"

There was the sound of the door-pole being hastily drawn, and on the threshold in the dim light stood the tall,sagging figure of the Diviner."Great North Wind!" cried Beeth Ulgan. "Harpe "Refuge we pray panted the Harper. "Pentro3 va.s.sals . . ."

"I'm not surprised. Come in."

We pressed on into the house, where it was beautifull, warm, warm as a proper tent. The outer room had a met"

stove that scared Old Gwin to death when we visite~ Beside it lay the Ulgan's apprentice, a young townee, male, not much older than myself. Diver laid down h burden on a pile of mats in a corner, and the apprenti4 went over curiously to attend to the twirler.

The Ulgan held up a candlecone. "Let me look you ... What have you got there ... a wounded twirle And an outclip? An extra member for Brin's Five? Win forbid! How's Brin? How's the hidden child? How Eddorn Brinroyan?"

"Odd-Eye is dead," said Harper Roy, standing likc child, with bent head, before the Ulgan.

"Alas . . ." Beeth Ulgan stood clutching the candlecc and murmured a prayer of departure.

The Diviner surprised me every time I beheld her. Fc start she was fat, the only fat person I ever beheld before went to Otolor and to Rintoul, and she was also very t Beeth Ulgan had a long, drooping face, very smooth s brown, with thick handfuls of white hair, plaited into gi curtains and baskets around the head. The Diviner's r was of soft wool, of our own weaving, thickly embroidej with loose sleeves full of magical trinkets, sweets and i and message skeins.

"You come in sad time," she said, laying a gentle han4 my head, "but I must ask you again. Has my old teact prophecy been fulfilled? How is the destiny of Brin!s Fi "You have asked that question for years now," said I "and at last I have an answer for you . . ."

"We are blessed with a new Luck . . ." I babbled.

"Hush!" said Harper Roy, pressing Brin's message s into the Diviner's hand.( 46 ).

stepped forward.ts s a er a we nd eat obe ed, utsd on her'sive?17 Roy,skein"Beeth Ulgan, you were ever our friend and guide. What we show must be secret-""Secrets?" The hooded eyes flashed in the dim light; Beeth UlLyan stared at the Harper as she fingered themessage skein."Diver," said Harper Rov. Diver, rearranged in his cloak"New Luck. - - " whispered Beeth, "from Hingstull. Oh great earth and sky!" She seized Diver's hand and led us all into the inner room, a wonderful bright place, full oftapestries and cushions.Diver stood erect before her, and his hood fell back. We had lived too much in shadow. Now the bright light of a dozen candlecones and two lanterns showed Diver for what he was. Utterly strange, a creature of essential difference, bred in the body's weft. By comparison the grandees, whose fine trappings had made me gape, were like our very blood kin. A pale face, blunt-featured, a round head, curling hair with its true darkness still visible at the nape of the strong neck. Keen, round, frontal eyes of bright blue.

Beeth Ulgan drew breath steadily, holding Diver's gaze.

"Who ... what ... are vou?" she demanded. "Whatsort of being do you call yourself?"And Diver answered formally. "I am a man. My name isit.i.t was an odd formula we had worked out while teaching him our language. Diver went on to repeat his identification in his own tongue. By now I recognized it pretty well. The learning went in two wavs-we all had a few words of hisScott Gale."Where do you come from?"

"From another world.""Scott Gale 20496 Lieutenant Navigator, World s.p.a.ce Service/Satellite Station Terra-Sol XNV34 BiosurvevBeeth Ulgan peered heavily at Diver. Finally she turned away, shaking her grand loops of hair as she flicked througl a bundle of silk scrolls and fixed one on the rack. I could se( that it was a chart of some kind, finely woven, like all thi Diviner's scrolls, and overst.i.tched in black thread on th( cream and gold body of the work. Diver stepped close an( looked very hard, turning his head to find a direction. Thei he pointed. I saw with a thump of excitement that it was star chart with the constellations traced out in black, an, red points inwoven for the stars themselves.

There was the Sun and the Far Sun. There were tE sibling worlds of Torin: Derin or Far-World and the twh Thune and Tholen and the strange distant world that v called Derindar, Even-Further-World, but which astron, mers call Veer. Beyond our web of worlds were tI constellations: Eenath, the spirit warrior, with her bo, Vano, the great bird; the Spindle; and the Box-Har There was the great constellation of the Loom; Diver hi pointed to a star in the loom bench, where the great wea,.

sits.

He brought out a chart of his own and other objects fr( his pocket vest and laid them on the Diviner's worktab Beeth Ulgan examined everything with an intense conc4 tration, poised over the worktable with a solemn face o hands hovering, as if she were working a conjuration some grandee. Roy stood by and acted as interpret although Diver used the words that he had pretty well.

displayed and demonstrated his wonders; we knew som, them already. There was the flat box, no bigger than palm of my hand, that tells again what is spoken int( There was a thin, fine apparatus like a silkbeam ...

Diver was surprised in his turn when the Ulgan sho, him a box of silkbeam copies.

There was the terrible weapon that he had turned or Pentroy va.s.sals in our glebe. He aimed it at a tall vase, a 4~ringed, but the vase toppled gently onto a cushion ...

power of the thing could be altered from a stunning blo( 48 ).

a feather touch. There were the lightsticks and a set of metal tools and the tiny buzzer that Diver used to shave his face and something called a recharger to make all the marvellous engines well again when their power dimin- ished.

While the Ulgan marvelled at all these things, Diver asked for a map of Torin, and she gave him a colored "Fortune Map" on good willow paper, the kind she had made up by the printmaker two doors away, to sell in her booth. He stared at it sadly and compared it with a map of his own. Then Beeth Ulgan produced larger maps, one on silk, one on parchment, but on these maps also the islands were no clearer, and the distances, though vague, were just as great.

The Diviner looked at Diver's map and shook her head.

"As I thought," she said. "We know nothing about the islands."

The islands on her maps, beyond the western edge of the land of Torin, were huge patches of green, coastlines unfinished or fantastically drawn into bays and sounds. On the old silk map there were the sea sunners, giant water beasts embroidered, and strange beasts on land too. There were five mountains breathing red fire that had split the world asunder in ancient times. Diver could still hazard a guess. He pointed on all the maps to a place on the largest island, the one called Tsabeggan or Nearest Fire.

There were his people-three of his own kind-and they might as well have been on a distant star. Whatever way he chose to reach them-and by contrast the land of Torin, with its plain and rivers and mountains and the desert, was all finely mapped-he must cross a continent and sail the ocean sea. He turned to Beeth Ulgan with a look of despair and spread his hands in a gesture that said plainly, "What shall I do-,"

The Diviner took one of his hands and looked at the palm lines, then turned it away from her, as if it were a scroll in a( 49 ).ed erIn le.

n- nd for ter, He e of the o A.

and wedn the and I . the ow to strange tongue that she found too fascinating. "Are your people safe in the islands?"

"Yes.77"Is their tent strong?"

"Yes.

"Is there food and water?"

77."Yes.

"Are you the leader of this Family?"

"No."

"Have they another air ship?"

"Yes, a larger one."

"Then they will come seeking you!"

"No," said Diver sadly. He explained, and finally we grasped his meaning. His people must follow certain rules; they could search around the camp and the sea nearby, but the larger air ship was of no use in the search. It was not an air vessel at all, but a ship for the void where there is no air.

It was for taking the man Family back to the s.p.a.ce station or larger sky town around Derin. Diver explained that he had done his people a terrible wrong in depriving them of his little ship, which went in the air or out of it, and was meant for short journeys. His people must continue their scholarly tasks, testing the air, numbering the flowers and the creatures, until their time of two hundred days had elapsed and they would return to the s.p.a.ce station.

I found it difficult to believe that they would obey such harsh rules; surely they would continue searching for him and go further afield. His instructions were equally harsh and plain: if he could not return to the party, he must shih for himself.