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The inhuma bent to drink, and he turned his head away and found hi on the sand beside an earlier Horn as seated on a blanket beside Nettle Her right hand was in his; with her left, she pointed to a fish ju silver circles on the cal over them both, invisible as the fish butso beautiful?"

He whispered in Horn's ear You

"When ere on the airship Do you reondola I never told you"

"I would have come with you"

"I know But you were still asleep, and anyway I wanted to do it by ot back to Viron, I'm pretty sure"

"It must have been cold," the Horn beside her said

And he, the walker beside the sea, knew that Horn was thinking of the winter not long past that would soon coain, and the donkey frozen in the little hut he had built for it, and hi that there had been some mistake that it could not be real, the donkey had been so young, not yet a year old, and it could not be happening; but back in the log house on the beach Jahlee had drunk her fill Her fangs had vanished She had licked the child's face and neck, and had wiped her ure with faone

"It was, but not as cold as it was in Viron down on the ground once we got there You couldn't seedown the sun"

"I remember," the Horn beside her said

"Just the sao up I could see it in old dust"

The Horn beside her may have spoken then Or not If he did, the walker beside the sea crouching next to him did not hear him In a moment the sun will be down The stars will coo inside and find Sinew, and it will never be the saain Clasp her to you now Tell her you love her now, before it is too late

It was desperately urgent that he speak-desperately urgent that he be heard and understood He rolled his head from side to side on the soft, crushed stems of the wheat, conscious that no sound issued from his lips

His eyes opened He sat up It had been so real, all of it; but a dreaht still

He should lie down again, sleep again; in the ainst his son's village

We have been riding downhill all day Winter is h it is still wretchedly cold All of us would like very et inside, even the horses and Jahlee's mule-to escape the cold and the wind, if only for an hour

We met other travelers today, four lad to see thelad to see us, because they had quarreled and were eager to air their grievances I listened as long as I cold bear it and longer, re myself of all the foolish quarrels in which I ator It is educational as well as hu cohly bad people of the type to which I -that is to say, bad people who are pleased to think theood

At last Jahlee threw back her hood, leveled a tre and dee between us," said one man, who had spoken less than the others I believe his name is Ziek

I explained that it would be quite useless for e, and one by one they pledged theoddess, I found, just as she was ours in Viron That being the case I made theods er here on Blue, and because I saw that had impressed them, by the Vanished People thement You have so eled yourselves aations that no peace is possible a you There is no need, however, for you to tor A to the same place?"

They were, to a town on the coast called Dorp

"Then o there separately You," I pointed to the largest of them, a man called Nat who seemed to be the richest too, "are to leave at once How many of these horses and o Travel as fast as you can We will rest here for a tiain, it will be with the blond man in front, the one with the red cap between my son and hter In an hour or so, I will send hi you In another hour another, and so on"

Nat protested "What if I'm robbed? One man alone can't resist"

"Of course he can He may be killed, but that is the risk he runs when he quarrels with his friends Have your drivers collect your anio," Oreb seconded er, his eyes blazing with hatred "I won't!"

"Then arrest him," I told the other three "You've sworn to do as I tell you Drag him off his horse and throw him down"

He drew a needler, but I struck his wrist with ret to say, with a valet, two drivers, eight horses, and ten ag tonight so that he could eat, but I was tired and Hide was busy unloading and unsaddling our own horses, and hobbling theot From his size and the redness of his face, a missed meal is h to feed hih for two, but before I sleep I ought to say here that here we have four horses, not counting Jahlee'sOreb, who see: Nat's mount, his valet's and his pack animals, my own mount and Hide's, the white mule, and two pack horses we took froe and some loot

Chapter 2 GREAT PAS'S GODLING

Her husband held the lamp while the woman poured ater on his wounds "What happened to you?"

He shook his head, and her husband snorted

She said, "He doesn't know Can't you see his face?" Then to him: "You can put that one do Hold out the other one Over the bucket"

He obeyed as meekly as a child

"Your cousin Firefly-"

"Firebrat," her husband said

"He didn't know his name after he fell that time"

"You fall?" the husband asked "Hit your head?"

"What's your name?"

He hesitated "Horn"

"Don't want us to know," the husband remarked

"They're clean now," the woman said "Lots of people say wash theood, and wine costs"

He nodded gratefully

She picked up the bucket, which was of wood bound with iron, carried it to the sink, and poured out pink water "Where you from?"

"Lizard" (It had slipped out)

"Lizard sent you? Who is he?"

"Are we in the Whorl?"

Her husband said, "Still here They're tryin' to run us out, but we'll run the talk"

"Then I'rew up there" He felt a twinge of fear "You're not at ith Viron here?"

The husband said, "They don't care about us out here"

"Where are we?" He looked around the kitchen as if the hulking black stove or the strings of onions suspended froht provide a clue