How came ye fight with your own blood kin,

Brother, tell me, tell me,

Your father’s sons and your mother’s sons

Who dwelled in peace with thee.

Lew was still talking, through the sound. “The Comyn has been too often unjust. They threw Danilo aside like a piece of rubbish, for no better reason than that he had offended a wicked and corrupt man who should never have been in power. Danilo is a catalyst telepath. I suggested they bring him here—I had no idea they would take him by force—and his services be enlisted to a larger loyalty. I had it in mind he could serve all our world, not a sick, power-mad clique of aristocrats bent on keeping themselves in power at whatever cost … ”

The mournful harp-chords were very soft, the woman’s voice very sweet.

We sat at feast, we fought in jest,

Sister, I vow to thee;

A berserker’s rage came in my hand,

And I slew them shamefully.

Lew said, “Enough of this, you are tired and anxious about Dani, and you must have some rest. When you are well recovered, I want you to know all about what we are doing. Then you will know why those who are really loyal to Darkover may serve us all best by putting some check on the Comyn powers.”

Regis could feel Lew’s sincerity through the touch on his hand, yet there was some hesitation too. He slid his hand up Lew’s arm to touch the tattooed mark there. He said, “You’re not completely sure of this either, Lew. You are sworn, sealed to Comyn.”

Lew took his hand away, saying bitterly, “Sworn? No. Vows in which I had no part were sworn for me when I was five years old. But come, we’ll talk of this another time. If you’ve been imagining Danilo a prisoner it will reassure you to find him in the best guest suite, the only one, I suppose, fit to entertain a Hastur. If he’s your sworn man he should be lodged with you.”

He turned, briefly making his excuses to the women. In his sensitized state Regis could feel their emotions, too: sharp resentment from the older, the singer. The younger one seemed aware of nothing but Lew. Regis didn’t want to be part of these complexities! He was glad when they were alone in the corridor.

“Regis, what’s really wrong with you? You’re ill!”

Regis tried—he knew he didn’t succeed too well—to cut off the rapport entirely. He knew that if he told Lew he had threshold sickness on the road, Lew would be immensely concerned. Even Javanne had treated it as a serious matter. For some reason he was anxious to avoid this. He said, “Nothing much; I’m very tired. I’m not used to mountain riding and I may have a chill.” Actively he resisted Lew’s solicitude. He could feel his kinsman’s anxiety about him, and it made him irritible for some unknown reason. He wasn’t a child nowl And he could sense the bafflement with which Lew gently but definitely withdrew.

Lew paused at an ornate double door, scowling at the guard stationed there. “You guard a guest, sir?”

“Safeguard, DomLewis. Lord Beltran ordered me to see that no one disturbed him. Everybody’s not friendly to the valley folk here. See?” the guard said, thrusting the door open. “He’s not locked in.”

Lew went in and called, “Danilo?” Regis, following him, took in at a glance the luxurious old-fashioned surroundings. Danilo came from an inner room, stopped short.

Regis felt overwhelming relief. He couldn’t speak. Lew smiled. “You see,” he said, “alive and well and unharmed.”

Danilo flung back his head in an aggressive gesture. He said, “Did you send to have him captured, too?”

“How suspicious you are, Dani,” Lew said. “Ask him yourself. I’ll send servants to look after you.”

He touched Regis lightly on the arm. “My own honor pledged on it, no harm shall come to either of you, and you shall depart unharmed when you are able to travel.” He added, “Take good care of him, Dani,” and withdrew, closing the door.

previous | Table of Contents | next

previous | Table of Contents | next

Chapter EIGHTEEN

When I came back to the fireside room, Thyra was still playing her harp, and I realized how short a time I had been away; she was still singing the ballad of the outlaw berserker.

And when will you come back again,

Brother, tell me, tell me?

When the sun and the moon rise together in the West,

And that shall never be.

It must be immeasurably old, I thought, and alien, to speak of one moon instead of four! Beltran had returned and was gazing into the fire, looking angry and remote. He must have gotten the scolding he deserved from Kermiac. Before this, the old man’s illness had kept any of us from telling Kermiac what Beltran had done. I was distressed because Beltran was distressed—I couldn’t help it, I liked him, I understood what had prompted his rash orders. But what he had done to Danilo was unforgivable, and I was angry with him, too.

And he knew it. His voice, when he turned to me, was truculent.

“Now that you’ve put the child to bed—”

“Don’t mock the lad, cousin,” I said. “He’s young, but he was man enough to cross the Hellers alone. I wouldn’t.”

Beltran said, “I’ve had that already from Father; he had nothing but praise for the boy’s courage and good manner! I don’t need it from you, too!” And he turned his back on me again. Well, I had little sympathy for him. He might well have lost us any chance of Danilo’s friendship or help; and Danilo’s help, as I saw it now, was all that could save this circle. If Beltran’s larancould be fully opened, if with Danilo’s aid we could discover and open up a few more latent telepaths, there was a chance, a bare chance but one I was willing to take, that we might somehow control the Sharra matrix. Without that it seemed hopeless.

Marjorie smiled and said, “Your friend wouldn’t speak to me or look at me. But I would like to know him.”

“He’s a valley man, love, he’d think it rude and boorish to stare at a maiden. But he is my good friend.”

Kadarin’s lip curled in amusement. “Yet it wasn’t for yoursake he crossed the mountains, but for the Syrtis boy.”

“I came here of my free will, and Regis knew it,” I retorted, then laughed heartily. “By my probably nonexistent forefathers, Bob, do you think I am jealous? I am no lover of boys, but Regis was put in my charge when he was a little lad. He’s dearer to me than my own brother born.”

Marjorie smiled her heart-stopping smile and said, “Then I shall love him, too.”

Thyra looked up and taunted, through the chords of her harp, “Come, Marjorie, you’re a Keeper! If a man touches you you’ll go up in smoke or something!”

Icy shudders suddenly racked me. Marjorie, burning in Sharra’s flame … I took one stride toward the fire, wrenched the harp from Thyra’s hands, then caught myself, still rigid. What had I been about to do? Fling the harp across the room, bring it down crashing across that mocking face? Slowly, deliberately, forcing my shaking muscles to relax, I brought the harp down and laid it on the bench.

“ Breda,” I said, using the word for sister, not the ordinary one but the intimate word which could also mean darling, “such mockery is unworthy of you. If I had thought it possible, or if I had had the training of you from the first, don’t you think I would have chosen you rather than Marjorie? Don’t you think I would rather have had Marjorie free?” I put my arm around her. For a moment she was defiant, gazing angrily up at me.

“Would you really have trusted me to keep your rule of chastity?” she flung at me. I was too shocked to answer. At last I said, “ Breda, it isn’t you I don’t trust, it’s your training.”