She knelt and handed the food to Roxanne, returning the girl's guarded look with a touch of wariness herself "Do you live in the city?" she asked.

After tasting the stew tentatively, Roxanne obviously found her appetite and began eating, but she didn't take her eyes off Serena. "Yes… Sanctuary."

"Sanctuary? That's what it's called?" It seemed a fitting name for a walled city, Serena thought.

"Yes. Where are you from?"

Serena hesitated, but then opted for the truth. Why not, after all? No one here could possibly recognize the name-and besides, it probably translated as so much gibberish. "It's a city called Seattle."

"I've never heard of that. It's across the ocean?"

"Yes, far away. We-Merlin and I-wanted to see a bit more of the world."

Roxanne's delicate lips twisted. "And you came to Atlantia?"

"It seemed a good idea at the time," Serena murmured. "Your customs are no doubt different from ours, and it's always interesting to encounter a different culture."

After a wary glance toward Merlin, Roxanne said, "He may find Atlantia to his liking. Men, especially wizards, have the best of things here. But you may wish you had not left your Seattle."

"Why?"

"Because women are ultimately powerless here. Even wizards like me. What happened to me in the night happens to many women, thanks to the Mountain Lords." Her voice dripped contempt and hatred when she named the male wizards, the emotions so strong that Serena leaned back.

"The male wizards? They… hurt you last night?"

Roxanne offered a painful smile. "If you mean were they the ones who rutted like animals between my legs, no. Village men-powerless men-did that. For all their arrogance, no male wizard would dare attempt to take his pleasure with a woman of power."

Baffled, Serena said, "Why not?"

"Because she would kill him, of course," Roxanne replied a bit impatiently. "We may be lesser in power compared to most of them, but any female wizard who is taken against her will is quite capable of destroying even the mightiest male. It's the one time we're able to defeat them."

Serena knew she looked as confused as she felt. "I don't understand this. Powerless men hurt you last night?"

"Yes."

"And you couldn't fight them? Couldn't stop them?"

"No, of course not. It was night."

"What does that have to do with it?"

Roxanne looked briefly confused herself, but then her frown cleared. "It must be different in Seattle, as it once was here. Now we are unable to use our powers at night. From sunset to sunrise the Curtain makes all in the valley powerless."

The lean-to was on the right and slightly behind Merlin, far enough away that the girl wouldn't feel unduly threatened by his presence, Merlin thought, but close enough so that he could hear every word spoken there.

What he heard was hardly reassuring, but he listened nonetheless.

It was nearly an hour later when Serena returned to the fire, her face a bit drawn. She was carrying Roxanne's empty bowl, and set it near the fire absently before she sat down on the stump she had earlier used for a seat.

"She's asleep again. It seemed to hit her all at once."

Merlin nodded. "Delayed shock. The next time she wakes, I doubt she'll seem so calm."

"I wondered about that. She seemed… almost detached about what had happened to her."

"Waking to find herself uninjured and with her memory of what had happened to her somewhat distant, she wasn't forced to deal with the trauma immediately. Since we were here, strangers, she was able to concentrate on us. Explaining some of the traits of this place kept her mind off herself. It was a healthy enough response."

"But temporary?"

"She'll have to deal with what happened to her sooner or later."

Serena was silent for a moment, then said, "Is that coffee you're drinking? Do they have coffee here?"

"Yes, it is coffee, and no, they don't have it here. I'm cheating." Merlin gazed broodingly into his mug. "Would you like some?"

"Please."

He conjured a mug of coffee for Serena-fixed with cream and sugar, the way she always drank it-directly into her grasp without even looking at her.

"I'm always impressed when you do that," she murmured.

Merlin felt too unsettled to respond to her light tone. Instead he said, "At least now we know why Roxanne was unable to defend herself against her attackers."

"I suppose it's useless to hope we won't be affected the way they are," Serena ventured.

"Probably. If this Curtain does indeed reflect energy at the wizard who tries to use it, we're vulnerable to it as well."

Serena spoke slowly. "She said it also drains them. That it depletes more than their excess energy. If that's so, men like those three we met could overpower even the strongest wizard during the night. So why haven't they? I mean, if the powerless men resent wizards as strongly as you felt with those three, then why don't they get together one night and-"

Merlin shook his head. "It isn't that simple, I think. The male wizards live high in the mountains, remember? I very much doubt that many of them venture down here often, if at all, and never once the sun sets. Judging by what we saw this morning, the Curtain blankets only the valley. In the mountains the wizards are above it, and probably beyond its effects."

"Then why don't the women move up there?" Serena's voice was a bit tense. "The female wizards, like Roxanne. It doesn't seem to have occurred to her-and the answer is so simple. Why do they remain down here, where their powers are drained night after night? Where they're vulnerable?"

Merlin turned his head slowly and looked at her strained features. He had hoped they could avoid talking about this until there was more information, until he found some painless way of dealing with it, but Roxanne's matter-of-fact words were undoubtedly echoing in Serena's mind just the way they were resounding in his.

… no male wizard would dare attempt to take his pleasure with a woman of power… she would kill him…

That was what Serena wanted to talk about, he knew. Roxanne had drawn an ugly picture of the battle going on between male and female wizards with a few brief but stark sentences, and that was so alien to what Serena knew of wizards that it was deeply troubling to her.

How much time did he have before she figured out why they were here? Not much, Merlin thought. She was a highly intelligent woman, and even now her mind must be filled with a jumble of impressions and speculations.

But he still didn't want to cope with this right now. Roxanne's intense hatred of the male wizards had shaken him very much, because it told him just how ominous the situation was. And his own reaction to the knowledge of a city filled with women of power was just as troubling. Even now he was struggling against the negative feelings.

"Richard?"

Returning his gaze to the mug in his hands, Merlin said unemotionally, "You heard Roxanne. The males are more powerful. The mountains must be their strongholds; so far they've apparently been able to keep the women down here in the valley."

"But why?"

Because female wizards are capable of destroying males-if only when they are taken against their will? Did this hate and mistrust come about because too many females were raped and too many males paid for the crime with their lives?

"I don't know why," he said evenly. "Any answer I could offer would be sheer speculation."

"Then speculate." Serena nearly snapped out the words.

"On the basis of what?" His tone was a bit snappy as well. "We've encountered three village men and one traumatized female wizard-hardly a representative sampling of the population. Roxanne's hatred for the male wizards may be more unique than she's led us to believe; those three men could have been mutant individuals rather than the norm; and the male wizards may have taken to the mountains simply to escape the Curtain or combative females. I-we-just don't know enough yet even to speculate, Serena."