The Robin And The Kestrel

And he realized a few moments later that she was leading them down the left-hand fork of the road. The overgrown, but obviously older, fork of the road.

'Robin!' he yelped. 'Wh-what are you d-d-doing?'

She stopped the horses, and looked back at him, a little defiantly.

'I told you!' she said. 'I want to climb Skull Hill to meet this Ghost face to_whatever!'

Robin left the mares and brought her lantern back to Kestrel, placing it at his feet. She looked up into his face, carefully gauging his expression. 'I don't think there's any real danger,' she said, calmly and reasonably, watching his eyes. 'Honestly, or I wouldn't even consider this.'

He didn't seem frightened. Of course, he could be hiding his fear. 'N-no d-d-d-danger,' he repeated sarcastically. 'Wh-when wh-who kn-kn-knows how m-m-many p-p-p-people have d-d-died up th-there!'

She took a very deep breath and got a firm grip on her temper. He wasn't saying she was stupid_wasn't even implying it. 'When have I ever done anything really reckless?' she asked him.

He looked as if he was about to say something_but thought better of it, and closed his mouth again. 'G-go on,' he said grimly. 'I'm l-l-listening. If y-you have a r-r-real argument, b-b-besides c-curiosity, I w-want to h-hear it.'

'I've known something about magic for a long time,' she told him. 'At least, about some of the tinier magics. Not Bardic Magic, but little things Gypsies take for granted; healing, animal-charming, that kind of thing. And I think I know how this Ghost kills. I am pretty sure that his only real weapon is fear, and he can't do anything unless you're already afraid of him.'

Kestrel looked skeptical, but a little less grim. 'S-so?'

She licked her lips, and stared at the lamp flame for a moment. 'If you're afraid of him, he can turn that fear against you_he can make it so overwhelming that_that it becomes something the human body just can't deal with. The heart races until it just gives up, he chases you until you drop dead of exhaustion, that kind of thing. Maybe some people don't die_maybe most of them don't die, they just run mad in this wilderness until they die of thirst or starve, or wild beasts get them.'

'Th-that's v-v-very c-c-comforting,' he said with heavy irony.

'But the point is that if you aren't afraid of him, he can't hurt you,' she insisted. 'Or if you interest him, he won't use that weapon of his! Rune wasn't completely terrified of him_and she interested him. So she was able to stand up to him. I don't know why we can't!'

Kestrel shook his head. 'Wh-who s-s-said w-we aren't af-f-fraid of h-him?' he muttered. 'N-n-not m-m- me.'

She chuckled, as if he had made a joke. 'Jonny, do you think I would have suggested this if you weren't a Master Bard in your own right? Think a minute! Rune managed to entertain this Ghost before she was even trained_when she was just a little better than a common traveling musician like all those people back in the Waymeet. Just think for a moment what we might be able to find out from him! Jonny, you're going to be the best thing he's heard in_well, since he got stuck up there!'

The only thing he was vain about was his talent and his ability as a musician. He began to soften as she appealed to that vanity.

'I think we can do this with no danger,' she said, persuasively. 'I think you could do this all alone, but with two of us there, we can keep from getting too exhausted.'

Finally, the stubborn line of his jaw softened, and he sighed. 'You r-r-really want t-t-to d-do th-this, d-don't you?'

'Yes,' she replied, firmly. 'I do. Call it_a sort of test. I want to measure myself against the same standards as the best musicians I know. This is one of them.'

He shook his head. 'All r-r-right,' he replied.

'Th-this m-makes m-more s-sense than wh-what you d-did back in W-Westhaven, anyw-w-way.'

And as she led the horses up to the top of Skull Hill, she was left to wonder_

What in heaven's name did he mean by that?