Quentin stood at the high parapet overlooking the tranquil forest. His

just donned upon entering the chamber. His eyes gleamed in
anticipation of the evening's work, for, whatever it was, it would
involve him in close communion with other sharp minds, a thing he
dearly loved.
 
"Greetings, Fatur. Thank you for coming along so quickly. We have
only to await... ah! Here he comes now." Yeseph nodded to the curtain
and Clemore, the most recent addition to the group upon the death of
Asaph, the oldest member, entered, bowing low.
 
/ 443 I
 
"Good evening, brothers. I pray you are well." The others nodded, and
they all took their places.
 
Yeseph looked from one to the other of their familiar faces. These
were his most trusted friends; yes, Clemore was right, his brothers.
He could tell them his dream and they would shoulder its burden, no
matter how small or great it would prove in the end. He fell better
just being in their presence and wondered if any of them ever felt the
same way about him. He supposed they did, as often as they had sought
his counsel singly or with the others. Now it was his turn to put a
problem before them.
 
"Good Yeseph, do not keep us in suspense any longer. Tell us what
disturbs you, for I see in your eyes that your spirit is distressed by
something," said Fatur.
 
"You speak aright; I am troubled." He paused as he collected his
thoughts and looked at each of them in turn. "This evening I had a
dream. Very brief it was, and very strange."
 
"You believe it to presage something of significance?" asked Clemore.
"I do."
 
"And have you an interpretation for us?" "No, that is why I have asked
you to come here tonight. I thought perhaps together we might seek
understanding."
 
"Very well," said Jollen, "tell us your dream as it came to you. We
will ask the Most High to enlighten us with its meaning."
 
Yeseph nodded slowly and, closing his eyes, began to recite his
dream.
 
"I had just stepped into the courtyard when a great drowsiness came
over roe, even though I had not eaten. I quickly fell asleep where I
sat and began to dream. And the dream was this:
 
"I saw a river running through the land, and wherever the river touched
the land it sprang forth abundantly with green shoots and trees and
food for all living things. And the water was clear and good; men came
to the river's edge to drink, and the wild creatures drank and were
satisfied.
 
"But then a dark storm came out of the east and began to blow. The
river still ran, but the water began to change, becoming the color of
blood. At first Just a trace of red clouded the clean water, but it
deepened until the water ran black and the river became fouL
 
"Now no one could drink from the river and live, men who drank of it
died, and animals loo. And all the trees and grass and flowers which
had sprung up along the river's banks now withered and died. The land
became desolate, for all things depended upon the river for their life.
The winds came and blew away the dust and dust filled the air in great
clouds covering the land, and the river dried up."
 
Yeseph paused, drew breath and continued. In the silence of the inner
chamber his words sounded like the toll of a bell.
 
"Darkness fell upon the land, and I heard a voice crying out. It was
the voice of a terrified child, saying, "Where is my father? I am
afraid. Where is my protector?"
 
"The darkness rolled up in answer to the child. It spoke with the
voice of the night and said, "Your father's bones are dust and
scattered to the winds. Your protector's sword is broken. You will
live in darkness all your days, for now you are a child of the
night."
 
"I wept to hear those words. My tears fell like a mighty rain upon the
earth. And the rain of tears washed over the land, which had become a
bowl to catch the tears and hold them all.
 
"Another voice, mightier than the first, called out and said, Where are
my servants? What has become of those whom I call upon?"
 
"I answered, saying, *I am here and only I all others have perished." I
fell on my face in my grief.
 
"The voice answered me and said, "Rise up and take the bowl and pour it
out." I took the bowl in my hands and poured it out, and it became a
sword of living light which flashed in the face of the darkness, and
the darkness fled before it. "Take the swordi' the voice commanded.
 
"I began to tremble all over because I knew I could not take up the
sword. "I have never touched a sword and do not know how to use it," I
argued.
 
" "Then give it to the child," the great voice answered. "He will use
it, and you will guide his hand
 
"But when I looked for the child to give him the shining sword, he was
gone. The night had swallowed him up, though I could hear him crying
as the darkness carried him further and further away."
 
/ 445 I
 
Yeseph opened his eyes once more and looked at his brothers in their
council robes. They sat unmoving as they pondered his words. Their
eyes were grave, and their faces reflected the concern they all felt at
hearing Ycscph's dream.
 
"Brothers," intoned Patur deeply, "this is a most unsettling dream. I
hear in it a warning of some urgency. Let us now ask the Most High to
guide us in our interpretation, for I believe it is given us this night
to oppose the power of darkness bespoken in the dream."
 
At that the Elders of Dekra joined hands and began to pray.
 
FIFTEEN
 
THE SLEEK black stallion seemed to flow down hills and through valleys
like water. Esmc had only to presa with her knees or move a hand to
the right or left and the horse responded, as if to her very thoughts.
The animal was remarkably well-trained so much so that Esme began to
fear for its welfare. Riv would run until his heart burst before
slackening his pace in disobedience to his rider's command.
 
The scene of the ill-fated fight lay far behind her now and still the
horse flew on, the lather steaming off his neck and shoulders in flecks
whipped away by the wind. Esme saw the dark line of a creek snaking
through the lowland valley ahead. Where the creek rounded the grassy
base of a bill there rose a stand of young birches, shimmering white in
the morning light. That, she thought, would be a good place to rest.
 
"Whoa, Riv!" she called, leaning forward in the saddle. She pulled
the reins back with the lightest touch, and the horse slowed to a
canter and then a trot. Esme let him cool down before reaching the
quiet stream, knowing that it would not be good to let him drink his
fill while still hot from the chase and winded. She would need this
horse if she were to reach Asketon.
 
The birches ringed a shady hollow where long grasses grew, fed by the
stream. It was secluded and invisible to any who might come after her.
The stony feet of the hill lay exposed at one side of the hollow where
the stream formed a shallow pool.
 
She slid from the saddle and led Riv into the shady grove walking him
slowly. The hollow was cool and silent and full of golden spatters of
sunlight and green shadow. Warily she advanced toward the running
water heard spilling blithely over a rank of stones set in its course.
She heard the call of a meadow bird above her on the hill and the swish
of the horse's legs moving through the grass. That was all, apart from
the bubbling water. Yes, she was safe.
 
Esme led her mount to the edge of the pool and watched as he plunged
his nose into the water. He drank deeply and pulled his head out of
the stream to shake his gleaming mane in the sunlight Glistening pearls
of water were flung into the air, then splashed back into the crystal
pool. She watched as the horse repeated the procedure several more
times, and each time she was a little closer to forgetting that she had
Just barely escaped with her life.
 
Riv snorted and turned away from the water to stand looking at her
calmly, as if to say. "You may drink I will keep watch." Esme knelt
in the long grass, cupped her hands and brought the clear water to her
mouth. When she had finished, she led Riv to a patch of wild clover
and let him eat his fill. She did not bother to tether him, knowing
that a horse as well-trained as Riv would not abandon his rider to
wander off.
 
She left the horse to crop the clover and turned her attention to the
hill nearby. It presented to her the highest vantage for viewing her
surroundings. Having left the fray at the ravine with little more
thought than to come away with her skin, she had almost no idea where
she might be. As much as possible she had tried to hold to the
direction whereby they had entered the ravine in the first place, her
object being to regain the road they had been following. Once on the
road she would turn north and then hurry to Askelon.
 
Esme climbed the steep slope of the hill as it rose out of the vale and
above the trees. Out of the shade, the air was warmer and alive
 
I 447 I
 
with bees and butterflies beginning their daily chores. A fresh wind
blew ruffles along the tall grass; the sky billowed bright and blue,
unconcerned with the darker deeds of night and desperate men. Here she
could almost forget what had passed Just it few hours earlier.
 
But she could not forget die two gallant men who had so courageously
flown to the aid of the helpless townspeople and who had, without
question, offered her protection as well. As she reached the crown of
the hill she turned her eyes back toward Clem, now leagues behind her.
There was nothing to be seen; not even it smudge of smoke on the
horizon remained to mark the place.
 
For a moment she stood in indecision should she return and try to
discover what had become other friends? Or go on, to complete her
charge and deliver her message to the King?
 
It was an empty choice, she knew. The enemy which had overcome them in
the ravine at Diem was the same which had surprised her and her
companions on the road. Now the lives of two more had been added to
the sum, for there was little doubt in her mind that by now Quentin and
Toli were dead. And were it not for the importance other mission she
would have stayed to share their fate.
 
There was nothing to be done but to go on.
 
' She gazed out over the land, her dark eyes sweeping the horizon for
any recognizable landmark,. Away to the south she saw a thin slice of
spangled blue which merged with the sky. The sea, she thought, / have
not gone far wrong. By squinting up her eyes she could almost see the
road itself as it hugged the coastal hills. She cast one last look
over her shoulder to see if the dark enemy had followed her, but saw
nothing except the radiant sky and the hills of summer. So she turned
with heavy heart to leave.
 
Clambering back down the side of the hill Esme heard the excited whinny
of a horse. Was it Riv or some other? She stopped, her bean now
fluttering in panic. She listened.
 
From beneath the leafy canopy directly below her she heard again the
shrill scream of a horse in distress. In the tangle of leaves and
branches she could not see the animal, nor its assailant. As quickly
and as quietly as she could, she slipped the rest of the way down the
bill, careful not to show herself openly.
 
Once below the treetops she saw Riv, legs splayed, head down,
 
backed against the rocks, shaking his mane and baring his teeth. But
she could see nothing at all that should so upset him. All was as she
had left it. Not a single intruder, man or beast, was in evidence.
 
Esme dropped to the ground and crouched in the grass for a moment.
Hearing nothing and seeing nothing disturbing, she rose and went to the
frightened animal to comfort it.
 
"There, Riv. Easy, boy." She patted his sleek jaw and curled a slim
arm around his neck. "Easy now. What is it... huh? What has
affrighted my brave one?"
 
The horse canned under her touch and soothing voice. He nickered
softly low in his throat and tossed his head. But he continued to look
away across the creek at nothing Esme could see.
 
"There, now. See? All is well. There is nothing "
 
Before Esme could finish, Riv tossed his head, eyes rolling white in
terror, and broke away from her. She snatched at the dangling reins,
but the horse leaped away and ran through the long grass to stand
whinnying across the hollow.
 
"Riv!" Esme shouted impatiently. "You perverse creature! Come back
here!" She stood with her hands on her hips as the horse bucked and
shied, spinning in circles of fear as she watched- What has gotten into
that animal? wondered Esme. She had seen nothing like it before.
 
Away, foul beast! And take your rider Or be ye still, And stand beside
her.
 
At the strange, singsong words spoken in a rasping gabble of a voice,
Esme whirled around. Her hand flew to the long dagger at her belt.
 
Not hangman's knot, Nor blade of knife Prevail against This sibyl's
life!
 
I 449 I
 
Esme could not believe her eyes. For there, in a huddle of rags on a
rock in the middle of the creek, stood a humpbacked old woman. She
held a long staff in one hand and waved the other before her as if
warding off bees. As Esme watched in mute astonishment, the old woman
hopped lightly as a cricket from stone to stone and so crossed the
stream without so much as wetting a single taller.
 
Upon landing on the bank the old women shook her rags in a flurry and
stamped the ground three times with her staff. Then she proceeded to
hobble toward the spot where Esme stood gaping in amazement. Where had
she come from?
 
"Who are you, old mother?" asked Esme warily.  The withered creature
did not answer but drew closer in her peculiar hopping gait, swinging
the staff and puffing mightily. Her hair hung in a mass of tangled
gray snakes bedecked with bits of leaf and twig. The shriveled face
looked like a dried apple, a mass of lines and creases browned by the
wind and baked by the sun. When the woman moved, Esme imagined she
could hear her brittle bones rattle; she appeared as old as the rocks
under the hill.
 
"Who are you?" Esme repeated her question.
 
The hag made a pass in front of her with her wavering paw. Esme saw
the rough hands and blackened nails and noticed, too, the scent of
smoke and filth which billowed about the old woman.
 
If rock and hill And laughing water Be hearth and home, I'm Orphe's
daughter.
 
She turned her weathered face slyly toward Esme and grinned a leering,
toothless grin. It was then that Esme saw the sunken sockets where
once eyes used to be. The old woman was utterly blind.
 
"You live here ... in this hollow?"
 
So ye say
 
And speak ye true. And I would ask The same of you.
 
"Me? I am Esmc. I did not mean to disturb your home. I heard the
horse...." She turned and noticed Riv had calmed and now stood
watching and cautiously nodding his head as if spellbound. "I will
trouble you no further, but will leave at once
 
Of leaving let No more he spoken, Till I have known You by your
token.
 
The ancient oracle held out her hand and propped her chin on her staff
and waited. She looked like a bent and gnarled tree on a withered
stump offering a lonely branch. Her ragged clothing fluttered in the
breeze like leaves.
 
"I do not have a token, old mother," said Esmc, thinking fast. It did
not do to upset an oracle. Especially one of the caste woo called
themselves the daughters of Orphe, for they were very powerful and
wise. "But let me offer a blessing in your name when next I
 
come to a shrine."
 
The hag threw back her head and laughed, and Esmc saw two lonely brown
teeth clinging like lichens to their place in the elderly law. The old
seeress' laughter rang like the clatter of hail in an empty pot.
 
Of blessings I
 
Have little need.
 
Bless me instead
 
With a noble deed.
 
Esmc started at the old woman's use of the word noble. She asked
suspiciously, "What deed would you have me perform?"
 
The rabbit caught Within yon frraar, Tastes the better When aroast with
fire.
 
The old woman crooked a knobby finger along the stream behind them.
Esme followed it with her eyes and saw a hawthorn
 
/ 451 /
 
thicket rustling vigorously as if something were Indeed caught within
it.
 
"You would have me cook you a meal? This is the deed you require?"
Esme did not like the idea, she was anxious to resume her Journey. The
country was not safe; the enemy prowled the hills at will. She had had
two encounters already and did not welcome a third. She wished she had
some item of value she could give the hag and be on her way. "Very
well," she said slowly, and reluctantly went to retrieve the rabbit she
knew she would find caught among the thorns.
 
Orphe's daughter turned and followed her with sightless sockets. She
smiled, and the wrinkled old face contorted in a shrewd, lipless
grimace. She mumbled happily to herself and fluttered like a crippled
bird to perch herself upon a nearby rock to wait.
 
Esme had no difficulty catching the rabbit. She could see it
struggling in the thicket. Reaching in carefully, she pulled it out by
the scruff of the neck. She could feel its tiny heart beating madly as
she held it close. It gave a terrified kick and leaped out other arms.
Esme watched as it bounded away, afraid that she had lost it and would
now be cursed by the oracle for failing in her deed.
 
But the rabbit, a plump hare, gave two faltering jumps and then pitched
forward dead. Esme ran to it and picked it up. The racing heart was
still. She took her dagger and cut off its head to bleed it. She left
it dangling by its hind legs from a branch while she went in search of
wood to make a fire.
 
When at last the fire was crackling and the skinned rabbit gutted and
roasting on a spit, Esme went to the seeress and announced, "Your meal
will be ready soon, old mother. And I have found you an apple to eat
with your meat." The apple she had thoughtfully peeled and diced into
a wooden bowl which she retrieved from Toll's pack behind the saddle.
She then ground the large golden globe to mash with the handle of her
dagger.
 
The bag said nothing but hopped nearer the fire and seated herself.
Esme went to the stream and filled a second bowl with water.
 
"Perhaps Orphe's daughter would care to wash her hands before eating,"
Esme said gently, holding the bowl before her.
 
The old woman nodded regally and dipped her hands daintily into the
bowl and rubbed them together. The water turned murky with dirt. The

old woman then wiped her wet hands on her filthy clothes and smiled.

 
Esmc fetched her another bowl of water, took the cooked meat from the
spit and cut it into strips which she shredded and chopped. "Your
meal, my lady," said Esme, for the oracle had assumed a queenly air as
she was presented with the bowl of apple and rabbit, thoroughly
minced.
 
Esme withdrew to watch the old woman dine with obvious pleasure,
licking her fingers and smacking her lips. When she had finished) she
held out the bowl for more. Esme filled it again and sat down beside
her to wait. The sun reached its zenith, dwindling the shadows in the
glade to nothing, and still the old woman hunker cd over her bowl.
Esme clasped her hand around her knees and forced herself to wait as
patiently as possible.
 
At last the old woman had eaten her fill. She placed the bowls on the
ground beside her and rose up with much creaking and snapping of
joints. She shook herself forward to stand before Esme and leaned once
more on her staff. This she did with such surety of motion and without
hesitation that Esme realized for the first time that the hag saw as
much with her inner eye as others did with perfect vision. She
shuddered to think that as a child the woman had probably had her eyes
put out to further enhance her strange gift.
 
The deed was done
 
And with thoughtful art.
 
As best befits
 
A most noble heart.
 
By this I know
 
As by a gold rings
 
Princess ye are
 
And your father King.
 
Esme gasped and Jumped to her feel The hag had spoken rightly, but it
frightened her to have her secret so easily known.
 
/ 453 I
 
"You see much that cannot be seen with eyes alone, priestess. Since I
have served you as you asked, allow me to leave with your blessing."
 
A blessing ye ask
 
And this ye receive^
 
Your secret safe
 
If none you deceive.
 
Full rare is she
 
Whose safety would spend
 
In risking death
 
For love of a friend.
 
But this ye do
 
And this will be found:
 
Your errand done When two are unbound.
 
The old woman turned and scuttled away. Esme felt a nudge at her elbow
and realized that Riv had come to her and was anxious to be off and
away from the queer old woman.
 
Esme climbed into the saddle and watched the shapeless bundle 01'rags
hop from stone to stone back across the stream. "Thank you for the
blessing, daughter ofOrphe. May your prophecy be true."
 
At that the hag stopped and turned once more toward Esme. She raised
her crooked staff overhead with both hands and turned around three
times very fast. Esme wondered that she did not filll off her
precarious perch in the middle of the stream.
 
The old woman's rasping voice rose to fill all the hollow.
 
/ speak what is And not what may be. But since you ask, Hear my
prophecy!
 
The oracle raised her face toward the sky and muttered a long
incantation while the staff waved back and forth over her head. Then
she brought the knobby head of the rod down with a crack upon the stone
where she stood. Her hand shot into the air, finger spread Like a
claw. Her words echoed in the delL
 
Seek ye the sword And do not yield ill If toe be slayed, A King must
wield it.
 
With a skip and a pimp the hag disappeared as quickly and as
mysteriously as she had come. But long after she was gone her words
rang in Esme's ears like the clear peal of a belL
 
SIXTEEN
 
QUENTIN HUNG limply from the wagon wheel, his mind benumbed with the