Hanse had received coded messages beforetimes, and had devised the meaning. Hedid so this time. He knew where he was invited. (Invited? Bidden! Summoned!)Away up on the craggy hill now called Eaglebeak was a long untenanted manse. Itlay partially in ruins, that magnificent home its long-ago builder and tenanthad called Eaglenest. Nearby, beyond scattered fallen columns and tumbledstones, rotted planking marked a well. Down in that well languished two leathernbags. Saddlebags. Hanse knew they were there, for he had put them there, in away, though it had not been his intent.

He hoped they were there, for they contained a great deal of silver coins, and afew that were gold.

They were the ransom of the Rankan symbol of power, the staff called Savankh,which a thief called Shadowspawn had stolen from the palace of the PrinceGovernor. The P-G knew they were there, but had agreed that they would remainHanse's property. Hanse had, after all, uncovered a spy and a plot and savedPrince Kadakithis's face, if not his life.

But for a horse and a dead man named Bourne, Hanse would have had all thatgleaming fortune in his possession, rather than "banked" down in the earth, atopa hill, in a narrow well that was like to have been the death of him!

He was to go to Eaglebeak, then. To dine in dark and deserted aerie: Eaglenest!So he quietly told Moonflower. For aye, once again he betook himself to her inquest of information and advice. (Mignureal was not about when he approached,and neither he nor Moonflower was sorry.)

He sat before her now in his nondescript tunic the color of a field mouse, hisfeet in dusty buskins, knees up. And only three blades showing on him. He sat onthe ground and she on her stool. The fact that she overflowed all around wasdisguised by her voluminous skirts; Moonflower wore red and green and ochreand blue and another shade of green. Across her lap lay his new clothing.

She fondled and sniffed and tasted it, closed her eyes and drew it through herdimple-backed hands. And all the while she was moving her lavender-tinted lips.The vastness of her bosom was almost still as her breathing slowed, herheartbeat slowed, her muttering slowed and she slid away from herself, a greatgross kitten at her divining.

No charlatan, this mother of eleven who had raised nine, but one with the Gift,the power. Moonflower Saw.

Now she Saw for Hanse as she had before, and he was not all that happy with it.Nor was she, even in trance.

"I See you, darling boy, all nobly turned out in this finery, and I See a greatlight hosting y-oh! Oh, oh Hanse ... it is, it is He! Here is Hanse, aye, andhere is He, Himself-Us, god of gods! And I See... ah! Hmp. I like not whatelse I See, for it is Mignue, my Mignue, with you and the Lord of Lords."

He nodded, frowning. That was her pet name for her daughter. He accepted thatsomehow Mignureal was a part of this... whatever this was.

"Ah! Here is Hanse with a sword, and wielding it well, well ... for a god,Hanse, soldierly Hanse I See... for a god, against a god!"

Against a god. Father Ils, what means this all? What would you make of me? Andhe had an idea: "Who... who gave me the sword?"

"A bas-no, no, a foster son. Ah-a stepson. Yes. A s-"

"And who gave me the clothing? Is that Mignureal?"

"Mignue? No, oh no, she is a good g-ah. I see her. Eshi! It is Eshi Herself whohas given you this clothing, Han-" And she shuddered of a sudden, and sagged,and her eyes came alive to stare into his. "Hanse? Did I See? Was it of value?"

He nodded. He was unable to look other than grim. "You Saw, 0 Passionflower.This time I must owe you, beyond the binding coin." (Which she had alreadydropped into that warm crevasse she called her Treasure Chest.)

Eshi, Hanse thought. Eshi!

A jealous and passionate god, Ils created all the world, and from his bodilywastes He peopled it. The gods He created from his two extra toes, and the eonspassed and the first-created challenged Ils. This was Gunder, and he lost. Hewas hurled to the earth. His daughter Shipri, though, was thrice-fair, and herthe great Lord Ils spared-and couched. By him Shipri became All-mother; of himshe bore Shils, and Anen, and Thufir, and the twins Shalpa and Eshi, theirfirst daughter, and another; the god no one spoke of. Now Anen was calledfirstborn, for jealous, passionate Ils sinned; in rage he slew his firstbornson, Shils.

Eshi. Much spoken of She was, and prayed to as well, but it was little reverenceshe gained. Everyone knew that she was a sensuous beauty who sought out and hadher way with each of her brothers, and indeed sought to bring to couch even herfather. In that She failed; even Ils was not that passionate, and one sin for agod was enough.

Eshi was fond of jewellery, and so gemworkers took a manifestation of her aspatron. She was known to love love, and thus lovers, of course. Cows werespecial to her, and so were cats. Her sign was the liver, which any childlearned early was the seat of love and its younger sibling, infatuation. Eshi!

Aye, Hanse thought. She loves jewellery and thus the ring; cats are sacred toher and thus the stone: the eye of a cat. Somehow it was pleasant thus to findsome small comfort of logic in all this that clearly had naught to do withlogic. Gods! He was involved with the very gods!

Mignureal came along just as he was departing. She asked about the handsomeclothing he carried! Obviously she had never seen it before, and Hanse blinked.His eyes swerved in her mother's direction. She was staring at her daughter.

"Into the house, Mignue," she said, with uncommon sharpness. "See to thepreparation of the leeks and yeni-sprouts your father fetched home for dinner."

Hanse went away thoughtful and shaken while Moonflower sat staring at nothing.She was a mother, and she too was shaken, and passing nervous.

For Hanse the next twenty-six hours rode by on the backs of snails. He slept notwell and his dreams were not for the repeating.

Attired in such a way as to arouse the envy of a successful merchant, Hansecompleted his ascent to Eaglebeak just after the sun began sliding off the edgeof the world. Continuing cautious and too apprehensive to hurry, he picked hisway through a jumble of tumbled columns and jagged stones habited only byspiders and serpents, lizards and scorpions, a few snails, and the mostinsistent of scrubby plants. These owned Eaglebeak now, and Eaglenest. All herehad been murdered long and long ago. They were said still to haunt the place,that merchant and his family. And so the hilltop and once-fine estate-house wereavoided.

Even so a great portion of the manse stood, and some of it was even under roof.Green-bordered blue cloak fluttering, his emerald-hued tunic with its purflingof yellow gold an unwontedly soft caress on his thighs, Hanse approached adoorless entry. It yawned dark, and still the ancient dark stains splashed thejamb; the blood of murder. He cast many anxious looks this way and that, and hedid not hurry. For once he was not pleased to go into shadows.

He was met and greeted. Not by Ils or a beauteous woman, either!

Oh she was female, all right, and indeed shapely in a warm deep pink, a longgown sashed with red and hemmed with silver. The dress was lovely and rich andher figure was lovelier than that but even so the most striking aspect of herwas her face. She had none.

Hanse stopped very abruptly and stared. At nothing. It was as if his gazesomehow swerved away from the face of this woman who greeted him, putting forthone lovely smooth hand.