Her ageless eyes burned into mine.
'Because of what you want. My desire is vengeance. Yours is – what?'
'The end of Llyr – the ruin of the Coven!' Her voice was resonant and her whole ageless face lighted as she spoke.
'So. I too desire the ruin of the Coven and the end – the end of Llyr.' My tongue stumbled a little when I said that. I was not sure why. True, I had been sealed to Llyr in a great and terrible ceremony once – I could recall that much. But Llyr and I were not one. We might have been, had events run differently. I shuddered now at the thought of it.
Yes, it was Llyr's end I desired now – must desire, if I hoped to live.
Freydis looked at me keenly. She nodded.
'Yes – perhaps you do. Perhaps you do. What do you want of us then, Ganelon?'
I spoke hastily:
'I want you to swear to your people that I am Edward Bond. No – wait! I can do more for them now than Edward Bond could do. Give thanks that I am Ganelon again, old woman! For only he can help you. Listen to me. Your foresters could not kill me. I know that. Ganelon is deathless, except on Llyr's altar. But they could fetter me and keep me prisoner here until you could work your spells again and bring Edward Bond back. And that would be foolish for your sake and for mine.
'Edward Bond has done all he knows for you. Now it's Ganelon's turn. Who else could tell you how Llyr is vulnerable, or where Matholch keeps his secret weapons, or how one can vanquish Edeyrn? These things I know – or I once knew. You must help me win my memories back, Freydis. After that – ' I grinned fiercely.
She nodded. Then she sat quiet for awhile.
'What do you want me to do, then, Ganelon?' she asked, at last.
'Tell me first about the bridging of the worlds,' I said eagerly. 'How did you change Edward Bond and me?'
Freydis smiled grimly.
'Not so fast, Covenanter!' she answered. 'I have my secrets too! I will answer only a part of that question. We wrought the change, as you must guess, simply to rid ourselves of you. You must remember how fiercely you were pressing us in your raids for slaves, in your hatred of our freedom. We are a proud people, Ganelon, and we would not be oppressed forever. But we knew there was no death for you except in a way we could not use.
'I knew of the twin world of Earth. I searched, and found Edward Bond. And after much striving, much effort, I wrought a certain transition that put you in the other world, with memories of Edward Bond blotting out your own.
'We were rid of you. True, we had Edward Bond with us, and we did not trust him either. He was too like you. But him we could kill if we must. We did not. He is a strong man, Covenanter. We came to trust him and rely upon him. He brought us new ideas of warfare. He was a good leader. It was he who planned the attack upon the next Coven sacrifice -'
'An attack that failed,' I said. 'Or would have failed, had I not swung my weight into the balance. Edward Bond had Earth-knowledge, yes. But his weapons and defenses could only have breached the outer walls of the Coven. You know there are powers, seldom used, but powers that do not fail!'
'I know,' she said. 'Yes, I know, Ganelon. Yet we had to try, at least. And the Coven had been weakened by losing you. Without you, none of the others would have dared call on Llyr, except perhaps Ghast Rhymi.' She stared deeply into the fire. 'I know you Ganelon. I know the pride that burns in your soul. And I know, too, that vengeance, now, would be very dear to your heart. Yet you were sealed to Llyr, once, and you have been Covenanter since your birth. How do I know you can be trusted?'
I did not answer that. And, after a moment, Freydis turned toward the smoke-blackened wall. She twitched aside a curtain I had not seen. There, in an alcove, was a Symbol, a very ancient Sign, older than civilization, older than human speech.
Yes, Freydis would be one of the few who knew what that Symbol meant. As I knew.
'Now will you swear that you speak with a straight tongue?' she said.
I moved my hand in the ritual gesture that bound me irrevocably. This was an oath I could not break without being damned and doubly damned, in this world and the next. But I had no hesitation. I spoke truth!
'I will destroy the Coven!' I said.
'And Llyr?'
'I will bring an end to Llyr!'
But sweat stood out on my forehead as I said that. It was not easy.
Freydis twitched the curtain back into place. She seemed satisfied.
'I have less doubt now,' she said. 'Well, Ganelon, the Norns weave strange threads together to make warp and woof of destiny. Yet there is a pattern, though sometimes we cannot see it. I did not ask you to swear fealty to the forest-folk.'
'I realize that.'
'You would not have sworn it,' she said. 'Nor is it necessary. After the Coven is broken, after an end is made to Llyr, I can guard the people of the woods against even you, Ganelon. And we may meet in battle then. But until then we are allies. I will name you – Edward Bond.'
'I'll need more than that,' I told her. 'If the masquerade is to pass unchallenged.'
'No one will doubt my word,' Freydis said. Firelight flickered on her great frame, her smooth, ageless face.
'I cannot fight the Coven till I get back my memories. The memories of Ganelon.
She shook her head.
'Well,' she said slowly, 'I cannot do too much on that score. Something, yes. But writing on the mind is touchy work, and memories, once erased, are not easily brought back. You still have Edward Bond's memories?'
I nodded.
'But my own, no. They're fragmentary. I know, for example, that I was sealed to Llyr, but the details I don't remember.'
'It would be as well, perhaps, to let that memory stay lost,' Freydis said somberly. 'But you are right. A dulled tool is no use. So listen.'
Rock-still, boulder-huge, she stood across the fire from me. Her voice deepened.
'I sent you into the Earth-World. I brought your double, Edward Bond, here. He helped us, and – Aries loved him, after a while. Even Lorryn, who does not trust many, grew to trust Edward Bond.'
'Who is Lorryn?'
'One of us now. Not always. Years ago he had his cottage in the forest; he hunted, and few were as cunning as Lorryn in the chase. His wife was very young. Well, she died. Lorryn came back to this cottage one night and found death there, and blood, and a wolf that snarled at him from a bloody muzzle. He fought the wolf; he did not kill it. You saw Lorryn's cheek. His whole body is like that, scarred and wealed from wolf-fangs.'
'A wolf?' I said. 'Not -'
'A wolfling,' Freydis said. 'Lycanthrope, shape-changer. Matholch. Some day Lorryn will kill Matholch. He lives only for that.'
'Let him have the red dog,' I said contemptuously. 'If he likes, I'll give him Matholch flayed!'
'Aries and Lorryn and Edward Bond have planned their campaign,' Freydis said. 'They swore that the last Sabbat had been celebrated in the Dark World. Edward Bond showed them new weapons he remembered from Earth. Such weapons have been built and are in the arsenal, ready. No Sabbats have been held since Medea and her followers went searching to Earth; the woodsfolk held their hands. There was nothing to strike at except old Ghast Rhymi. Now Medea and the rest of the Coven are back, they're ready. If you lead against them Ganelon, the Coven can be smashed, I think.'
'The Coven has its own weapons,' I muttered. 'My memory fails – but I think Edeyrn has a power that – that – ' I shook my head. 'No, it's gone.'
'How can Llyr be destroyed?' Freydis asked.
'I – I may have known once. Not now.'
