also a beast?
"Gillan!" The grasp which held me tightened. I was shaken to and fro, not in punishing anger as my Lord Imgry had used me, but as one would awaken another caught in a nightmare.
I looked-into green eyes, but they were not set in a beast head. Only, still could I see them so. And above them was that helm on which crouched a cat-a stark reminder. I was too weak to pull away from Herrel's hold yet my flesh shrank from it.
"She saw us-she knows-" Words from beyond the narrow world which was mine, in which only the twain of us stood.
"She knows more than you think, pack brothers. Look upon what she has in her hand!"
Anger rising about me. Almost I could see that with my eyes as a dull red mist. I stood on a high and open place and they would stone me with rocks of their hate.
"Doubtless sent to lead us into some trap-"
There was an arm about me, holding me close, promising security. Once I thought I could accept that with open eyes. Now there was such a revulsion working in me that I had to force my will to stand fast, lest I run screaming into the wilderness. And the anger continued to thrust spears of rage at me.
"Cease! Look you well, this is what she holds within her hands. Take it-you, Harl, Hisin, Hulor-Magic, yes, but where is there any evil in it, unless evil was intended in return? Harl, say the Seven words while it rests in your fingers."
Words-or sounds-so sharp they hurt ears, rang into one's skull-words of alien power.
"Well?"
"It is a charm, but only against the powers of darkness."
"Now-look yonder!"
The red wall of anger was gone. I saw again with my eyes and not my emotions. From where I had trampled and broken that shaft I had found in the rock arose a line of oily black smoke, as if from a fire feeding on rottenness. And there was a sickly smell from it. The smoke swirled, formed into a rod which had the likeness of the unbroken shaft.
"A screamer, and one under a dark power!"
Again they spoke words, this time several voices together. The rod swayed back and forth, was gone in a puff.
"You have seen," Herrel said, "you know what kind of a spell that bore. One who wears such an amulet as Gillan can not dabble in dark learning. And there was another charm here also. Harl, I ask of you, look to the fetlock of Roshan's left forefoot."
I saw him who wore the eagle go to Herrel's mount, kneel to feel about the hoof. Then he arose with a thread between his fingers.
"A hinder-cord!"
"Just so. And this also do you say is of the enemy, or of my lady's doing? Perhaps," Herrel looked at each of them for a long instant, "it was a trick for amusement. But almost it worked to my bane, and likewise to those of you who came hither. Or was it more than a trick, a hope that I fall behind to some undoing by fate or enemy?"
"You have the right to ask sword-battle then!" flashed
Halse.
"So I do, as I shall call upon you all to witness-when I find the one who tried to serve me so."
"This is one thing," boar-crest broke in, "but she-" he pointed to me, "is yet another. She who deals in out-land charms, who and what is she?"
"All peoples have their wise women and healers. We know well the skill of those of High Hallack. Gillan had for mistress one who was well learned in such arts. To each race its own powers-"
"But such a one has no place in our company!"
"Do you speak for all the pack, Hulor? Gillan," Herrel spoke to me, far more softly, as one who would win words from a sorely frightened child, "what know you of this other thing-this shaft?"
And as simply as a child I made answer. "The Amulet burned my hand when I rested it on the rock. There was a break in the stone and that stood within it. I-I pulled it loose and broke it with my foot."
"Thus," he swung back to the others, "it would seem, pack brothers, that we owe herewise a debt. With that still potent what might have happened
"Gillan!" The grasp which held me tightened. I was shaken to and fro, not in punishing anger as my Lord Imgry had used me, but as one would awaken another caught in a nightmare.
I looked-into green eyes, but they were not set in a beast head. Only, still could I see them so. And above them was that helm on which crouched a cat-a stark reminder. I was too weak to pull away from Herrel's hold yet my flesh shrank from it.
"She saw us-she knows-" Words from beyond the narrow world which was mine, in which only the twain of us stood.
"She knows more than you think, pack brothers. Look upon what she has in her hand!"
Anger rising about me. Almost I could see that with my eyes as a dull red mist. I stood on a high and open place and they would stone me with rocks of their hate.
"Doubtless sent to lead us into some trap-"
There was an arm about me, holding me close, promising security. Once I thought I could accept that with open eyes. Now there was such a revulsion working in me that I had to force my will to stand fast, lest I run screaming into the wilderness. And the anger continued to thrust spears of rage at me.
"Cease! Look you well, this is what she holds within her hands. Take it-you, Harl, Hisin, Hulor-Magic, yes, but where is there any evil in it, unless evil was intended in return? Harl, say the Seven words while it rests in your fingers."
Words-or sounds-so sharp they hurt ears, rang into one's skull-words of alien power.
"Well?"
"It is a charm, but only against the powers of darkness."
"Now-look yonder!"
The red wall of anger was gone. I saw again with my eyes and not my emotions. From where I had trampled and broken that shaft I had found in the rock arose a line of oily black smoke, as if from a fire feeding on rottenness. And there was a sickly smell from it. The smoke swirled, formed into a rod which had the likeness of the unbroken shaft.
"A screamer, and one under a dark power!"
Again they spoke words, this time several voices together. The rod swayed back and forth, was gone in a puff.
"You have seen," Herrel said, "you know what kind of a spell that bore. One who wears such an amulet as Gillan can not dabble in dark learning. And there was another charm here also. Harl, I ask of you, look to the fetlock of Roshan's left forefoot."
I saw him who wore the eagle go to Herrel's mount, kneel to feel about the hoof. Then he arose with a thread between his fingers.
"A hinder-cord!"
"Just so. And this also do you say is of the enemy, or of my lady's doing? Perhaps," Herrel looked at each of them for a long instant, "it was a trick for amusement. But almost it worked to my bane, and likewise to those of you who came hither. Or was it more than a trick, a hope that I fall behind to some undoing by fate or enemy?"
"You have the right to ask sword-battle then!" flashed
Halse.
"So I do, as I shall call upon you all to witness-when I find the one who tried to serve me so."
"This is one thing," boar-crest broke in, "but she-" he pointed to me, "is yet another. She who deals in out-land charms, who and what is she?"
"All peoples have their wise women and healers. We know well the skill of those of High Hallack. Gillan had for mistress one who was well learned in such arts. To each race its own powers-"
"But such a one has no place in our company!"
"Do you speak for all the pack, Hulor? Gillan," Herrel spoke to me, far more softly, as one who would win words from a sorely frightened child, "what know you of this other thing-this shaft?"
And as simply as a child I made answer. "The Amulet burned my hand when I rested it on the rock. There was a break in the stone and that stood within it. I-I pulled it loose and broke it with my foot."
"Thus," he swung back to the others, "it would seem, pack brothers, that we owe herewise a debt. With that still potent what might have happened
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