The doubt came back into Aries’ green eyes. She thrust my hands away and stared at me. And the doubt did not fade.
I gave her glance for glance.
“Well, Aries?” I said.
Her lips quivered.
“It can’t be. I know, but Lorryn is right. You know that; we can take no risks. To have the devil Ganelon back, after all that’s happened, would be disastrous.”
Devil, I thought. The devil Ganelon. Ganelon had hated the woodsfolk, yes. But now he had another, greater hatred. In his hour of weakness, the Coven had betrayed him. The woods-folk could wait. Vengeance could not. It would be the devil Ganelon who would bring Caer Secaire and the Castle crashing down about the ears of the Coven!
Which would mean playing a careful game!
“Yes, Lorryn is right,” I said. “You’ve no way of knowing I’m not Ganelon. Perhaps you know it, Aries—” I smiled at her ”—but there must be no chances taken. Let Lorryn test me.”
“Well?” Lorryn said, looking at Aries.
Doubtfully she glanced from me to the bearded man.
“I—very well, I suppose.”
Lorryn barked laughter.
“My tests might fail. But there is one who can see the truth. Freydis.”
“Let Freydis test me,” I said quickly, and was rewarded by seeing Lorryn hesitate.
“Very well,” he said at last. “If I’m wrong, I’ll apologize now. But if I’m right, I’ll kill you, or try to. There’s only one other life I’d enjoy taking the more, and the shape-changer isn’t in my reach—yet.”
Again Lorryn touched his scarred cheek. At the thought of Lord Matholch, warmth came into his gray eyes; a distant ember burned for an instant there. I had seen hatred before. But not often had I seen such hatred as Lorryn held for—the wolfing?
Well, let him kill Matholch, if he could! There was another, softer throat in which I wanted to sink my fingers. Nor could all her magic protect the red witch when Ganelon came back to Caer Secaire, and broke the Coven like rotten twigs in his hands!
Again the black rage thundered up like a deluging tide. That fury had wiped out Edward Bond—but it had not wiped out Ganelon’s cunning.
“As you like, Lorryn,” I said quietly. “Let’s go to Freydis now.”
He nodded shortly. Lorryn on one side of me, Aries, puzzled and troubled, on the other, we moved up the valley, surrounded by the woodsfolk. The dazed slaves surged ahead.
The canyon walls closed in. A cave-mouth showed in the granite ahead.
We drew up in a rough semi-circle facing that cavern. Silence fell, broken by the whispering of leaves in the wind. The red sun was rising over the mountain wall.
Out of the darkness came a voice, deep, resonant, powerful.
“I am awake,” it said. “What is your need?”
“Mother Freydis, we have helots captured from the Coven,” Aries said quickly. “The sleep is on them.”
“Send them in to me.”
Lorryn gave Aries an angry look. He pushed forward.
“Mother Freydis!” he called.
“I hear.”
“We need your sight. This man, Edward Bond—I think he is Ganelon, came back from the Earth-world where you sent him.”
There was a long pause.
“Send him into me,” the deep voice finally said. “But first the helots.”
At a signal from Lorryn the woodsfolk began herding the slaves toward the cavemouth. They made no resistance. Empty-eyed, they trooped toward that cryptic darkness, and one by one, vanished.
Lorryn looked at me and jerked his head toward the cavern. I smiled.
“When I come out, we shall be friends again as before.” I said.
His eyes did not soften.
“Freydis must decide that.”
I turned to Aries.
“Freydis shall decide,” I said. “But there is nothing to fear, Aries. Remember that. I am not Ganelon.”
She watched me, afraid, unsure, as I stepped back a pace or two.
The silent throng of woodsfolk stared, waiting warily. They had their weapons ready. I laughed softly and turned. I walked toward the cave-mouth. The blackness swallowed me.
VIII. Freydis
STRANGE to relate, I felt sure of myself as I walked up the sloping ramp in the darkness. Ahead of me, around a bend, I could see the glimmer of firelight, and I smiled. It had been difficult to speak with these upstart woodsrunners as if they were my equals, as if I were still Edward Bond. It would be difficult to talk to their witchwoman as if she had as much knowledge as a Lord of the Coven. Some she must have, or she could never have managed the transfer which had sent me into the Earth-world and brought out Edward Bond. But I thought I could deceive her or anyone these rebels had to offer me.
The small cave at the turn of the corridor was empty except for Freydis. Her back was to me. She crouched on her knees before a small fire that burned, apparently without fuel, in a dish of crystal. She wore a white robe, and her white hair lay in two heavy braids along her back. I stopped, trying to feel like Edward Bond again, to determine what he would have said in this moment. Then Freydis turned and rose.
She rose tremendously. Few in the Dark World can look me in the eye, but Freydis’ clear blue gaze was level with my own. Her great shoulders and great, smooth arms were as powerful as a man’s, and if age was upon her, it did not show in her easy motions or in the timeless face she turned to me. Only in the eyes was knowledge mirrored, and I knew as I met them that she was old indeed.
“Good morning, Ganelon,” she said in her deep, serene voice.
I gaped. She knew me as surely as if she read my mind.
Yet I was sure, or nearly sure, that no one in the Dark World could do that. For a moment I almost stammered. Then pride came to my rescue.
“Good day, old woman,” I said. “I come to offer you a chance for your life, if you obey me. We have a score to settle, you and I.”
She smiled.
“Sit down, Covenanter,” she said. “The last time we matched strength, you traded worlds. Would you like to visit Earth again, Lord Ganelon?”
It was my turn to laugh.
“You could not. And if you could, you wouldn’t, after you hear me.”
Her blue eyes searched mine. —
“You want something desperately,” she said in a slow voice. “Your very presence here, offering me terms, proves that. I never thought to see the Lord Ganelon face to face unless he was in chains or in a berserker battle- mood. Your need of me, Lord Ganelon, serves as chains for you now. You are fettered by your need, and helpless.”
She turned back to the fire and sat down with graceful smoothness, her huge body under perfect control. Across the flame in its crystal bowl she faced me.
“Sit down, Ganelon,” she said again, “and we will bargain, you and I. One thing first—do not waste my time with lies. I shall know if you tell the truth, Covenanter. Remember it.”
I shrugged.
“Why should I bother with lies for such as you?” I said. “I have nothing to hide from you. The more of truth
