Andre Norton - Gryphon's Eyrie

Kerovan looked around blankly at the walls of the Great Hall, and I knew, even though his expression did not change, the depth of his feeling for this place—a place that had claimed him as lord, where he finally felt at home. “And we and Kar Garudwyn lie in a direct path from that other peak,” he said. “It will sweep over this place, then continue on through the valley, toward Anakue and, eventually, the Kioga grazing grounds.”

“It will be free to rove wherever it wishes—or Maleron chooses to take it,” I made swift agreement.

“And Nidu was the cause of this?” Guret asked.

“Aye,” Kerovan said. “But I doubt greatly that the woman has even the faintest idea of what she has so thoughtlessly unleashed. She can no more control such a Power of the Dark then she could stem a flood with her naked hands.”

“Who is Nidu?” Jervon wanted to know. “And how came you and your lady here, Kerovan?”

As my lord swiftly recounted the barest bones of our story to the Dalesman, I quietly arose and set about gathering up the herbs, candles, and other materials that might prove necessary in a contest of spelling, carefully placing them in my bag of simples. My hands shook as I did so, for I hated to even imagine myself pitted against Nidu’s sorcerous powers—not to mention the aroused wrath of one of the true Adepts, freed now after centuries of bondage.

“What are you doing, Cera?” Guret asked, coming over to watch me.

“Gathering together my materials,” I said, carefully locating my wand and placing it in the top of the bag.

“But Cera”—Guret was pale—“you cannot hope to stand against such a foe!”

Swift as a blade in battle, Kerovan was by my side, though there had been no true mindsharing between us—rather simple knowledge of a common threat to all we had gained at such hardship. “My lady has courage for two, but she will not stand alone. Kar Garudwyn is my home— our home—and I will not lose it after the finding of it has taken years of wandering and fear! We must stop that thing”—he looked down at me earnestly—“and stop it we will.”

“No, my lord!” The Kioga youth shook his head violently, then his eyes traveled from me to Joisan. “We have no chance against such an enemy, Cera!”

I put a hand on his shoulder, feeling tremors I could not see. “Rest easy, Guret. Joisan and I travel alone in this attempt. I have another duty for you this night, and that is to ride southward to warn the people in the fisher-village of Anakue, and then your own people, of what may come their way in the event we are overrun.”

“M’lord, you are mad!” Guret’s voice broke slightly in his vehemence, but his gaze was level as it held mine. “You did not see Jerwin after he stood in the path of that… thing … and I did. My lord, there was naught remaining for us to even bury! Lumps of flesh…” He swallowed. “Shards of bone no bigger than the tooth of a yearling. You also did not see my blood-friend, Tremon, wither like a sapling uprooted, shrinking into himself with each dawn until we all waited for him to die with hope , rather than fear!”

“Guret…” Joisan reached forward from beside me to lay hand on the boy’s arm. “Kerovan and I—”

“No!” He faced us. “You don’t understand what I’m trying to tell you! It’s death to cross the Shaman, and doubly so to stand in the path of that thing! It is folly to throw your lives away in such a fashion!”

Joisan glanced up at me, and I caught her wry unspoken words. He may very well have the right of it, my husband …

Probably , I agreed with her mindsharing, but aloud I said, “Guret, this will not be the first time we twain have faced the might of an Adept from the Left-Hand Path.” I did not add that three years ago we had had allies like Neevor and Landisl, creatures whose command of Powers dwarfed that possessed by any of humankind.

The youth might have mindshared, so quickly did he seize on my unspoken thoughts. “But this time there is no crystal gryphon… no talisman or ally out of the past to aid you. You have said over and over to me that you are not one who commands Powers, m’lord. True, I have seen you do things here in Kar Garudwyn that I know I could not do—but are you equal to this? I think not. Two of humankind cannot face—”

“Three,” said Jervon from across the circular chamber, his tone as flat as one who comments on the weather. “I company with you, Kerovan.”

“No, Jervon,” my lady protested, “if Kerovan and I have little Power with which to defend ourselves, you have—”

“Even less,” he agreed tonelessly. His hand sought the pommel of his sword, resting there as if he grasped the I land of an old friend. “However, I can wield cold iron, which many of those of the Shadow cannot endure. And I am not one to be easily amazed or bemused, after these many years roving the Waste with my lady Witch. You are going to try and rescue Elys, as well as save this land. I ran do no less than stand with you.”

I pulled my mail shirt over my head to give myself a heartbeat’s duration to think, then my eyes sought and measured his expression from across the chamber as I settled the cold metallic weight around me. His gaze challenged and captured my own for a long moment, and I could see therein the pain that he had kept so well masked. Realizing how I would feel in like circumstances, if Joisan were the one trapped within the bowels of a Shadowed One, I nodded. “Very well. You share our path tonight, Jervon.”

“And that is another thing!” Guret broke in. “The path! You cannot even reach the other peak now that the sun has set. You must needs ride back down the valley and around the mountain to come in from the north—you will be too late! The thing travels its run before midnight, that I remember clearly!”

Drawing my sword, I checked its edge, making sure its sweep out of my scabbard was smooth, swift. When I was satisfied, I made short answer. “Not if we take the old trail running between the two peaks.” Picking up the saddles, I nodded to Joisan to carry the hackamores. I noticed that she also had donned her sword and mail. Briefly, I wished I could induce her to travel southward with Guret but knew better than to broach the subject. I knew the look in her eyes when her mind was made up.

“The trail between the peaks?” Guret sounded even more aghast, if that were possible. “In daylight that path looked treacherous—by night, you’ll kill yourselves and the horses, too!”

“The moon is waxing near full again,” Joisan said. “We’ll manage.”

“Nekia has good night-sight,” I added. “She will find the trail. We will be cautious.”

The Kioga youth threw his hands into the air, emitting a hiss of exasperation. “By the Mother of Mares! I can see there’s no turning you, m’lord. But in that event, I ride with you tonight—not southward.”

“ No.” I said flatly. When he began to protest, Joisan moved toward him, drawing him aside.

Guret, you must do as Kerovan says . … I caught part of her thought, then her mind slipped away from me.

The Kioga youth shook his head, then whispered something to her. My lady’s lips thinned and she flushed, her ryes sparkling with anger. The lad smiled faintly as he confronted her. With a movement that whipped her chestnut braid like a horse’s tail before battle, she turned and addressed me, her words very fast and clipped.

“Kerovan, Guret has just pointed out to me that to reach Car Re Dogan in time, we must ride, all three of us. Vengi will not suffer a stranger, but he will carry double. And you alone must ride Nekia—she trusts you. I have never ridden the stallion, and neither has Jervon. I think we must perforce take Guret with us.”