Diver drew in his breath. The captain and the sailors were dead, dead as tree stumps on their wicker stools; threeancients, all female, old as Gwin.They were still, their faces hidden, their limp bodies moving a little with the motion of the old keel boat. And I saw whv the sight of them strange and terrible as it was,I.moved me to pity rather than terror"It is a death-Dact," I said. "See . their hands." Thewrists of the three old t)ersons were firmlv bound with a redcord."How)" whisi)ered Diver."Poison. It is an old thread we follow. See the cups."

Two cuns and a cracked beaker rolled about on the tabletop."Come awa " said iver "Poor old creaturesAren't thev female?""Yes " I said. "We must go do n.""No need."icy I es." I was urgent. I did not dare look back to thefriendly shape of the barge in case my nerve failed."Please Diver We are the first finders of a death-nact.We must Drav and take their message skein."Diver nodded, and we went down the slippery ladder into the hold. I began the prayers as soon as I came to the( 63 ).

foot of the steps, stumbling over the words in my haste. I picked at the fringe of my tunic and drew out a red thread; this was going to be the hardest part. With Diver, solemn- faced, watching me and shining the light, I drew back the captain's leather coat and laid the thread to her forehead. It was not terrible. She was old, wrinkled, pale; -ncjw she slept. The same with the other two. Three old sibs, most probably, or relicts of some Five with a new bird-boat in happier days.

There on the table lay a long message skein in yellow flax fibre, teased from a rope. I finished my prayers and took it up, with the required response, near as I could recall. Diver saw that I was ready. He flicked the light around, examined the piece of the twirler's cape, then flung it aside. We hurried away, catching our breath.

"Anything else?" asked Diver, on the deck.

"We must show Brin the skein."

It had grown much darker, and the crossing from one vessel to the other was more difficult. Coming back to my Family, even so short a distance, was enough to make me shudder and sob with relief.

We sat in the tent, except Mamor who kept watch, while Brin read the message skein again and again. Her eyes flashed golden in the, light of Diver's torch.

"What's in the wind?" asked the Harper.

"Evil . . ." said Brin in a fierce tone.

"What became of those spirit dancers?" demanded Old Gwin. "Child, tell us. . . "

I looked at her and saw the three pale faces in my mind, in contrast to her lively brown wrinkled face. Brin read the skein:"Our birds have flown.

Our sweet singers have been hauled from the hold.

We plied our trade honestly and gave shelter to travellers, But now our good keel is dishonored.( 64 ).

hile eyesOldind, d theellers,Mother North Wind accept all we can give, Ourselves compacted in death.

Mother North Wind bring deepest ruin Upon the hand that strangles the spirit warriors.

Spirit of Eenath, his own kin, Be stern upon the Elder Tiath.

First finders, remember your charge.

'Be. blessed if vou be not accursedItho, Lanar, Meedo.

Bird carriers (~ut 0i c.u.mn."She read the message aloud several times until even Diver understood, with our prompting. Harper Roy went out and told it to Mamor.

I have put too many in danger," said Diver. "The twirlers were speaking about my ship. .

"Not you . . ." Old Gwin flashed her favorite finger sign before her eyes like bone scissors. "Not you, young Luck.

There's only one hand at work here and a b.l.o.o.d.y one.

Strangler Tiath has dishonored these poor old bird run- ners.

"Dragged the twirlers off their boat!" said Brin. "That means he may not be far away. I could wish we were all safe at Whiterock Fold."

"Does this mean Tiath Gargan killed all the twirlers?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Mamor had come to warm up and talk.

"They're hardy outcasts. Perhaps some escaped."

"What is the first finder's charge?" asked Diver. No one liked to tell him.

Brin sighed. "Dorn," she said, "you were very brave, but the charge may never be complete." I agreed.

"The first finders are charged, according to the old threads, to deliver any curse or blessing in a death-pact skein," she explained.

"To blazes with that!" said Mamor. "The child has done 77.

( 65 ).

more than enough. Don't put ideas in his head."

"Don't worry," I said. "I hope I never get within offering distance of Tiath Gargan."

The full darkness was slipping away, and I was suddenly bone weary, as if I had climbed Hingstull. I fumbled my way into the sleeping bag and fell deeply asleep before Old Gwin had finished brewing me a herb drink. I dreamed that a brown bird, a night-caller, sat on our tent by day, and I knew, in my dream, that it was Odd-Eye, our old Luck. I told him all was well with us and the new Luck he had found for us was the best in all the world. Then the dream dissolved; I woke once, and the barge was still not unde way. Narneen, half in the sleeping bag, was peerin through a slit in the deck tent, and I joined her. Outside i the silvery light of the Far Sun I saw figures moving on th west bank; Mamor and Diver and the Harper were diggi in the sand, laying the dead to rest. I slept again and did no dream; by the time I woke, we were far downstream. Th bird-boat had been towed out of the channel and moored i a marshy inlet, among the mud-trees.

The broad stream stretched before us; it was the thir day, and I felt as if I had spent all my life on the river. Yet was troubled, and so were the rest; I could not get th image of the death-bound ancients out of my mind. Th looms clacked slowly in the tent; Narneen had fits o weeping; Mamor cursed invisible shoals. Diver sat amid ships with the Harper, trying to master the knots of th woven symbols with a practice skein. The fine weather tha had echoed our happiness turned round now that we we downcast. It was gray and chill at midday; we pa.s.sed one o two small craft travelling upstream.

In the distance, on the west bank, there was a break i the thick groves of willow and mud-trees: a larger town Wellin, the last place we must pa.s.s before Whiterock Fold Idly, at the rail, I lobbed a fish spine at an odd blue piece o flotsam, then felt my skin dimple with cold as I realize( 66 ).

n e 9.ot he inrd t I the he of id- the that ere e ork inwn, old.

ce of lizedwhat it was. I shouted, and Mamor held down the sweep. I crossed the deck to stand with Diver and the Harper as the body of the dead twirler was borne slowly past.

"Great Wind!" breathed Roy. "There was some sense in that death-skein."

Diver brought out his gla.s.s; it looked like a light-tube, but he could draw it out to twice the length. It had a lens inside to make distant things look closer; Mamor said that such things were made in Rintoul and the Fire-Town to guide sailors on the Great Ocean Sea. Diver scanned the stream ahead and the landing stage at Wellin, his face darkening. He handed the gla.s.s to the Harper, who took one look and went to Mamor.

"What is it?" I tugged Diver by the sleeve. His blue eyes rested on me.tt "A black barge," he said, moored at this place ahead.

Some grandee . . ."

Already I knew which one. "Pentroy?"

"There are three knots on the sail."

Mamor altered course to the east bank and presently, when we saw a little wicker crossing-boat approaching, he sent us all into the tent. We heard him hail the solitaryrower. 4 "What doings in Wellin, friend?" We were huddled together, beside Brin, at the loom; the voice came thinly over the water.

". . . a.s.size .

"Great Wind save us!" Mamor was shocked, or pretend- ed to be. "Thought I saw a drowned spirit warrior?"

The voice of the pa.s.serby became urgent, telling some long tale; then as the coracle was rowed closer, we caught a few words.

". . . no friend to the twirlers .. . the river or the peThere was a cackling laugh. We heard Mamor wish the rower a surly good-day and felt the vibration as he began heaving on his capstan to turn the paddle wheel.

We could guess the story Mamor had to tell. "Tiath Pentroy lies at Wellin wharf. He held a.s.size there yester- day. The Town Five went along with him, threw in some local troublemakers-a thief, a bush weaver who killed a cook-shop servant in a brawl. Ten persons hanged, most of them twirlers that the Elder had chained on the deck of his barge."

"Where did he capture them?" asked Brin.

"On the river itself ... the twirlers made good speed to Fanne and Nedlor, so I gather, and danced in these hamlets."

I seemed to hear the thud of bare feet on packed eart and the jingle of sh.e.l.l bracelets . . . with a new message Beeth Ulgan's words had told of "a true spirit warrior bringing peace and honor."

"The Strangler caught up with them at Nedlor," said Mamor, "as he bore downriver on that black palace moore up ahead. His va.s.sals went to watch the twirler dance .

"He seized them in Nedlor village?" asked Old Gwin.

"Not he! The Great Elder is cunning as a honey-stealer His dark craft lay off Nedlor, and when the va.s.sals brough back word to him, he decided to put down the twirlers. 0 so I read this fellow's.skein ... his family have to do with bean plot in Nedlor. The twirlers set sail in the bird-boa after their dance, and Tiath pounced. The villagers saw i by Esder light, just about the rising of the Great Sun. Th grand barge grappled the bird-boat, va.s.sals dragged off the twirlers . . . some were drowned, some put in chains.

reckon that some escaped too ... maybe the villagers go them to safety . . . this bean-grower knew more than h was telling."

"Cunning is the word for the Great Elder," said Harpe Rov. "Twirlers have no fight in them once the dance i done."

"But the old persons on the bird-boat( 68 ).... who witnesse r-d toeseearth sage.

0.

rrior,11 said oored irlcrswin.

stealer.

rought lers. Or o with a ird-boat rs saw it un. The off the chains - I agers got e than heid Harper e dance isbound bv custom to carrv Da.s.seneers."his crime and were carrying the twirlers Diver was puzzled. "Why did he let them go free?""Tsk! No crime, young Luck!" chuckled old Gwin.

"When will you learn? Tiath Pentroy commits no crimes.

He is first of all a Judge, who may hold a.s.size at request, inany place on these his lands. He works by the old threads.

He had no quarrel with the bird carriers . . . they are"He arrested the twirlers . . ." put in Mamor. "They were brought up at Wellin a.s.size for 'poisoning the river'."

"Old stuff . . ." sighed Gwin. She rocked her body to and fro, chanting under her breath for the departed twirl-ers"A false charge!" said Diver."Of course," said Brin. "It's an old slander against the twirlers. Town Fives and sheDherds use it to move themon. They carry herbs for their ecstasy . . .""The bird carriers were so old and helpless," I said, "that the Elder gave no thought to them or their poor honor."

" U tsagara neri fogoban, " said the Harper. "Can you make anything of that old skein row, Diver?"

"I know 'fire' and 'goes on burning'," said Diver.

"One fire-seed, one spark, goes on burning," said Brin."We are peaceful people, here in the north, but very stubborn. A seed of injustice, of dishonor, settles behindour eyes and may drive us to death in order to put it right.So it was with the bird carriers The boat scraDed against a tree and Mamor ho hadI I.propped the sweep, ran out to steer clear. We came out of the tent fearfully into the gray noon light. The smooth surface of the Troon was choppy with wind-waves, and the"

trees lashed about over our heads. It was decided that wewould he over all day, where we were, a mile or so short of Wellin, and on the opposite bank. Come the last light we would make haste downstream and slip through the deep channel by the wharf. We had to pa.s.s close to the Elder's0~.

barge because the river narrowed at this point-there we snags and sandbanks to the east.

I thought the darkness would never come; my inside were knotted like an ill-threaded loom. I sat apart on th deck, clutching the long, loose message skein woven by th three bird carriers. Presently Diver came and sat besid me.

"Those names . he said, "let me see if I can rea them." He felt his way through the final grouping of th knots, consulting the learning skein that Roy had twirle up for him.

"Itho ... La-bar?"

"Lanar," I said. "Itho is right. Then Lanar and Meedo.'

"Poor old women." He used the word from his ow tongue, and I wondered if there was much differenc between women and female Moruians. I am still not sure o the answer; when first I saw a "woman", I only knew tha she was of Diver's race. She was wrapped up in her clothes s.e.xless and strange as a female grandee.

Diver went on to tell me a strange tale, a spirit legen from his own world. It seems there were three ancie spirits who were said to rule over the lives of humans an control their destiny. They sat in a cave, and two spun th thread of life while the third sat by, ready to snip it off.

labored over the names as he did over the woven symbol "Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos."

"When I saw the ancients,". said Diver sadly, "they p me in mind of that tale."

"I wish it would get dark."

"What are you thinking?" Diver caught my eye: he sa too much. Thought-blind maybe, but quick in his unde standing. "You are thinking of the first finder's charge ...

"We will pa.s.s so close!" I whispered, half-fearful th Mamor or Brin might hear me. "Diver ... couldn we? . . ."

"Maybe." His blue eyes were hard. I trusted hi( 70 ).

then against the might of Tiath Gargan"Give me the skein."I should be the one to throw it."d dn ce Of hat es,end cient s and n the off. I bols:M."No!" He was firm. "Leave it to me. This Great Elder is too dangerous. We'll do it from a safe distance.""Don't tell!"I must " he said. "Onlv ait until dark "So I thought my plan-one for hurling the skein aboard the Elder's barge as we slipped through the channel-was quite lost. I trusted Diver, but he was, after all, a grown-up. I expected a bit of chiding from the Five.We reefed the sail but did not stow the mast . . . Mamor planned to use all speed. When the Great Sun was down, we swung back into the current in the wake of a small gray fishing boat. Their riding flare bobbed ahead of us; therecame a soft hail."Na-hoo the barge 11"Na-hoo the fisher . . ." boomed Mamor softly. "Are youbound for Wellin?""Beyond," came the faint answer, "fishing the reach byWhiterock. You going to Wellin wharP"

"Not this time . . . too crowded."The fishers laughed. "Too many ropernakers atWellin . . ."ey puthe saw under-ge f ul that couldn'tted himWe went on as swiftly as the current would take us; the lights of Wellin shone out over the river. We saw the fisher slip into the shadow of the grain store then out again, past the great, lighted shape of the Elder's barge, and swiftly on again into the darkness beyond. No one hailed from the wharf or the barge; Wellin lay like the dead. I thought of the trees of Wellin hung with dead twirlers; the hand of theGreat Elder lay heavily over the place.Then we were in the channel; with Mamor working the paddlewheel as fast as he dared, to keep up our speed, and Harper Roy acting tillergrip. I crawled out of the tent and went on crawling right to the rail. Little eddies of sound came out of the night; we were in the shadow of the gra store. I lifted my head and saw white water churning at o bow. I realized that voices and music were coming from t black barge.

We were abreast of it now, and still had a sc.r.a.p shadow to cover us. I saw that Diver was lying on the de with his light stick shaded, looking at some magical engin I looked right onto the deck of the Elder's barge; I could n look away. We pa.s.sed in a few heartbeats, but the sce caught and held me and has lived in my memory from th time.

The barge was enormous, with a tent the size of a fixe house, all draped in fine, black hangings, of outd weight, with swags and pelmets woven and reworked green and gold. There were va.s.sals and their office drinking and gaming round a huge red mat at the bow. Y the stern was a lofty platform and steps, thickly carpete The Elder's people were in attendance, so many that could be called a court, and dressed so fine they could a have been grandees. I looked for Rilpo Galtroy and Tew but did not see them.

The courtiers sprawled on the steps or cl.u.s.tered bes tub gardens and a flowered trellis. Some were wrappedii hel fur-trimmed cloaks,, but others wore light robes; t'i ir ba backs and legs made me shiver. The colors were bright an'

rich: flame, purple, blue green. The musicians played o harp, a box-harp and a matched set of pouch pipes. I open s.p.a.ce before the scrolled wicker throne, a dwar dancing.

In the great scrolled chair there was a silent figure.

was past middle age but not yet an ancient. His dress very plain: a black tunic, leather boots like his own va.s.s A single yellow jewel the size of a fist was strung round chest crosswise, on a thong; a fur-lined cloak of black an~., gray flowed over the chair back. His face had the pallor ofil grandee, and the features were strongly marked. I could( 72 ).

ur theof eck ine.

not cene thatthe deep grooves -cut in the firm, pale skin of the Elder's shaven cheeks and the fine carving of his lips. He filled me with fear and loathing His nose had a high bridge and hiseye sockets were so long that they appeared to join into a single slit under the iuttincr line of a single dark bro . It isI.

the look we call vadorn or three-eved.fixed tdoor ed in fficers W. At rpeted.

that it ould all Tewl,d beside apped in eir bare right and ed on a . In the warf wasfigure. He s dress was wn va.s.sals- round his black and e pallor of a I could seeThe Great Elder sat in his chair, still and brooding, with his hands lightly clenched upon the wings. I was convinced that I saw him now, once for all, as he was. He was fixed in my mind forever as cold, watchful, cruel, immensely powerful ... silent among the jangling throng of courtiers, who went in continual fear of his presence. Then we were past the black barge, churning our way into darkness withMamor and Diver heaving up the sail.Brin stood on deck and I clung to her. "Yadorn," Iwhispered. "Did you see him?""I saw."A soft wind thrust at the sail. My eyes were accustomed to the night again, and the great barge at Wellin wharf was, by now, a glow of light astern. I saw that all of us were on deck, even Old Gwin, muttering a continuous chant and Narneen with her teeth chattering. We had all come out and were standing close together, under the stars, in somesort of defiance.

Mamor said: "Far enough?""Fine," said Diver. He was working with a lightstick onthe deck of the barge. "What do you think, Brin?" he asked.

"Worth the risk!" growled Mamor. "That three-eved"Do it!" said Brin. "Dorn? Where is the death pactskeip?""Diver has it." I was still mystifiedHarper Roy, at the tiller, sent a breathy whisper"Where's your star-gun, Diver?"Diver drew out the skein, and I saw him wind it round a pointed tube, fitted to the firing end of his weapon . . . he called it a stun-gun. Then he went aft and balanced on the rail, aiming high into the air. There was a light thump, a pulse beat or so, and suddenly the air far behind us was filled with green fire. A green star, brighter than any light I had ever seen, brighter than Esto, the Great Sun itself, blossomed in the dark air above, directly over the black barge. We heard the shrieks and cries of the Elder's people.