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"Epiny!" I cried "Pull out my hair! It will free me Rip out this topknot!"

She heard what I said I feared that she would think it odd that I bade her attack me, but without hesitation she obeyed me Or attempted to obey She flew atas a flickering light She seized at his topknot of hair, but it did not even stir as her hands passed through it In this world, she was the insubstantial spirit, powerless against as physical here He laughed then, loud and delighted, and reached through Epiny for Spink

Futile as it was, I kneould challenge him The only weapon to hand was the cavalla saber thrust into the earth and securing the footrope of the bridge It was the same weapon Dewara had once bid me use on Tree Woman Hoished I had heeded him! I set my hand to it and, with a tremendous pull, tore if free of the earth and stone that clasped it I intended to e at my other self I did not doubt that Tree Wo me back, but I had to try

The round, a peculiar thing happened As Tree Woh ic ofit here, for her own ends Noould use it for ave a cry of dismay He lifted his hands to his scalp-lock, for it had co itself

In that second, I perceived all I turned back to the bridge The golden threads offree They looked alreenery and drifted away in the abyss below The bridge began to fail from this end Almost all of the spirits that had turned back had now safely reached the other side I did not knohat they would do there; I did not know if they would return to life or seek the peaceful pool that the other spirits had entered All I kneas that I would destroy the crossing I had inadvertently created No others of my felloould be dooe and swung the saber furiously, hacking through the vines that made up the other supports Tree Woe parted, unraveling, I heard ic heavy and cold inwineskin, a pale vapor exiting from the spot where his scalp-lock had been My features faded fro face Tree Woman screamed and strained toward him, but could not reach hied into athat had beenti desperately to Spink, her slender diaphanous arms locked around his neck "Nevare!" She looked frogle to understand and then discard that for a one What will become of us?" she wailed Spink’s face reht to him!" I told her Sword at the ready, I toiled up the hill toward her As I advanced on Tree Wohed at h was earthy, musical, and rich To my dismay, I loved it I loved it, and I loved all she represented The wild lands and the forests and the great trees were in her eyes I loved all of her I suddenly perceived that she was not old, but eternal She held out her ared to rush into her eo Or I’ll kill you"

She shook her head, and wind rustled through leafy treetops "Do you think you can kill me here, inof iron? You stand in ic!" She bent doard me, and suddenly she was tree and woman, all in one Her leaves rustled as she swayed down at me Her branches reached to draw me to her

"You said it yourself!" My voice caic here, through ic of your kind Just as you gained a hold on ic, so I think mine has taken power over you!"

Onto e, but for flesh, not bark and wood I put all I had into the swing, expecting the shock of hard contact I thought I had a chance of hurting her Instead, it was like cutting butter My saber slid through her, and then caught and stuck I let go of it It had opened a horizontal gash in her soft belly, in her trunk, in all that she was She screamed, and it cracked the sky Golden sap, warm as blood, flowed from her wound and onto the earth She fell backward froh the trunk When she hit the ground, the earth split Light burst up frooddess of the world had fallen at my feet, my saber still stuck in the stu down in shock at what I had wrought I had triu