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monstrous enemy. There was no rounded warty shape as large as a trade boat. Lamaril stood over one
of the small reed dwellers she had long known. He stooped to prod at its puffed body, which deflated
under that touch.
Illusion  all illusion! It was still hard for the girl
to believe it true. She crawled to the Hassitti who
lay facedown where that powerful leg had felled
her Tostlet... No!
As the amulet swung back and forth on her breast, Kadiya used both hands as gently as she could to
turn over the small scaled body. There was an impression in the ground; she had not imagined that. And
Tostlet rolled limply beneath her touch.
Kadiya's fingers flew to the Hassitti's throat, searching for a sign of life. How could one be slain by an
illusion  or could belief in it be the real weapon?
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"Tostlet?" She sought for mind send, for reas-surance that the healer still lived. "Tostlet, it was all
illusion!" Even as Lamaril's word had reached her she strove now to reach the Hassitti mind.
The long nose quivered. That tunneled tongue showed a tip and the small eyes opened.
"It was an illusion, Tostlet!" The girl had drawn the small body up against her, the scales rasping her skin
unnoted. "An illusion  look!"
Kadiya supported Tostlet so that she could see the lumpish reed dweller which Lamaril was still
examining.
The healer gasped, uttered a chittering cry. One of her hands closed on Kadiya's arm as she turned her
head upward to see the girl's face. Kadiya nod-ded to enforce her mind words.
"A trick, Tostlet, a trick to set us against our-selves."
"True." Salin hobbled over, sank painfully to her knees, still gripping her support staff. "But such a strong
one"  she shook her head from side to side  "this is indeed of the great Dark."
"Who?" Kadiya still held the healer. "What Power?" And why had the sword failed her? She shivered.
Had she come to depend too much onher Power, that which in truth she did not and had never
understood?
Lamaril at last turned away from the toad thing.
"Again it is the old pattern: the land turning what it holds into a weapon." There was a twist to his mouth
below the edge of the helm. "But this is a game for those unknowing. How could Varm's creature believe
it would hold against us?"
"Because it did  against some of us," Kadiya re-turned bleakly. "I saw death  and Tostlet felt it. The
belief held us, if not those who follow you. Can he know how full our Powers may be? Even my sword
failed."
"But that which you wear did not," Lamaril returned.
"Only because of your warning," she said stub-bornly. "Otherwise ... I think these illusions would have
indeed brought us death. Is that not so?"
For a moment he gave no answer.
"Is that not so?" she demanded a second time. "I am not of your race, nor are the Oddlings, nor these
little ones who cherished your memory so long. If we cannot read illusions sent upon us by one who is a
master, then cannot our deaths ensue?"
"Yes," his answer came at last. "But such illusions have now been revealed for what they are and we are
warned  "
"Warned so that we must mistrust all our eyes see, our ears hear. This is a land which is already against
us in part. Every bog and muck patch can be turned into traps now."
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His nod was one of agreement and Kadiya shivered again. She had wanted more from him,
re-assurance that this was not so. She had known fear  but always before it had been real, issuing from
some confrontation she could understand. Now she was helpless.
"King's Daughter  Kadiya." Lamaril moved closer. "We are what we were born to be. You have
wrought much in the past. Do not dwell upon what you lack, rather look to what can be done. If the
sword failed you, your birth gift did not. You are not without resources."
She hoped his mind touch could not sink deeper and release to him the whirl of her feelings, the doubts
which arose like black shadows to lessen her confidence. Always she had been termed reckless, one to
take chances without proper thought. Now  now thought was blanking out her courage, showing her a
chasm which she might never be able to cross.
"I do what I must do," she muttered and was very glad when he turned away in answer to the sum-mons
of one of his command.
Tostlet sat up straighter within the girl's hold.
"Noble One  "
Kadiya winced. "Please, Tostlet, you can see that I am not of the company of these great ones. My
name is Kadiya and I would that you would call me also 'friend.' "
"Friend," the Hassitti repeated. "Yes, there is goodness between us, Kadiya. But also you are not less
than we have called you. You wear Power." She had wriggled around in the girl's hold and now held her
hand toward the amulet but did not touch it. The glow of the trillium, caught forever within the casing of
the amber, was steady  warming even  to look upon.
"Do not lessen yourself in your own eyes, friend," Tostlet continued. "We go to match Power with
Power, each of us has something to offer. When a worker in metal fuses one kind with another he creates
a stronger weapon. We shall be such a weapon as can free this land."
If illusions had been sent to delay their march the mage who had summoned them was not well served.
They pushed on following that encounter at a pace which was even faster, the Sindona taking turns with
the scouts to seek out any more such traps.
Whether their enemy wished to lull them into carelessness might be a question, but they were not so
involved again during the next two days of march. On the second day they took again to boats, but these
had come to meet them. They were not only Uisgu-manned but also harnessed to rimoriks, giv-ing them
speed which Kadiya had thought beyond their hopes. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]