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He could not finish He looked at the ground and held up his hands, stretching his fingers to the sky Then he began a low keening, like the wail of a weary, hopeless child

Vinnevra finished for him "Gamelpar went to the Palace of Pain, but he did not become il He never tels that tale"

The old htened as tal as he could, and wiped his hands on his thighs

"We cae, you have seen Me And hter Alone of al my kin

That is the truth of it" He stood and brushed sand frouely at the backside of the rushing shadow "Then they pushed me out here, to be done with me"

"I told them he had died out in the bush, but his spirit stil keens, and he wil haunt those who hurt me Nobody touched me after that," Vinnevra said "He kno to hunt and take care of himself Stil, he is old"

I did not knohether to speak, their sadness was so profound

But Gamelpar was not finished

He looked fondly upon her "Just before you fel, the sky changed again As the reat ships passed over, splitting open and spinning away in fla--up there" He pointed toward the black streak, or where it would have been, were it not now hidden by errant clouds

"And then caain about the Beast," I said

His ja strong again, and he held out both array jewels, and Green- eye flew beside him, and they talked, and the People were taken away After that tier was there enough food The water turned bad Forerunners fought each other and diedal because of the Beastthe Beast"

He repeated this over and over, as if it had been burned by a hot iron into his memory Finaly he could stand it noaround, shaking out his ar, until he had cleansed himself "Pfaah!"

He spat, then jabbed his splayed hand at the darkness beyond the dying fire "Let us leave this place Nothing here but fools and twisted ghosts"

Gaan to break up the rabbit He handed the pieces to us Vinnevra regarded me with caution and curiosity I had alirl and I settled down to eating, and I thought: the Beast Gamelpar had seen, and the Captive from Charum Hakkor, were they one and the same?

I say yes

My old spirit had seen the Beast; that’s how I could see it, as wel

The old obbled down the rabbit "Tel us what you learned in your travels," he said softly

"Long, long tiht the Forerunners and nearly won"

"Yes," he said

"But then they defeated us and pushed us down They turned us into aniave some of us old memories from dead warriors"

"Why do they torture us?" Vinnevra asked She did not like this talk of carrying ghosts

"Forerunners worry il becoain

They wil keep us down any way they can--some of them"

"You know about the Beast, I am sure of it," the old man said

"I visited where it was once i older than humans or Forerunners Forerunners freed it froht--here"

The old spirit within approved

We ate for a while in silence while Gamelpar absorbed this

"Who rides you?" he asked

Without thinking, I said, "Lord of Admirals"

We stared hard at each other "We knew hiht under his command" His voice trailed off

Then he reached up and again swept his char-s sky "The voices ride us," he said "They hope to live again, but do not knoe face We are weak, like animals There wil be no return to that old war"

He looked away, but not before I saw a glint of tears on his cheeks "Finish this poor rabbit before it gets cold" He pointed toward the near wal "My daughter’s daughter tels o over there, where the land stays in shadow longer"

Vinnevra had already finished She stood up, as if ready to leave right away "You want him to come with us?" she asked the old ht about erous, the way they peered and examined from under her brows

"Yes," the old h "Ga stick from the brush With that, I can walk as wel as you"

"He fel a few days ago," Vinnevra explained "He hurt his hip"

"My hip is fine Eat Sleep Then we leave"

He looked back up at the stars and the sky bridge His face grew sharp again, er

As I tossed away the final clean-stripped rabbit bone, we felt soe, restless animal The sound made the pebbles dance, but I folowed the old h on the bright arc of the sky bridge, where the black mark and rays had once been, an eap in the continual sweep of the band through which I ht stars, quickly hidden by the hoop’s spin

"I have never seen that before," Ga boat crashed!" Vinnevra said

The grued each other, as if together we h to hold down the dirt Finaly, the vibrations dropped to a faint tre at al

The gap in the sky bridge reht Vinnevra curled up close to the dying fire, at the feet of Gae was as bright as a long ribbon ofthe stars difficult

Chapter Five

PRETTY SOON, AFTER a sht crept down the band like a descending river and caught us Clouds crossing the band took fire, rose up in low even into the tilt-shadow and wal-shade

Halo dawn

Then it was light al around, and after several loud thunderclaps and brief shower of war stick froe and the deserted city Gamelpar did indeed walk faster and better with a stick, but Vinnevra and I slowed to alow hiether just behind hihter of daughters," the oldto find my friend," I said

"The little one," Vinnevra explained

"Do you knohere he is?"