the white banner floating above them.
While his attention was distracted she sprang forward, swinging her sword as though berserk. He got his shield up just in time, parried, and thrust, driving her back again.
“We have you now, Valmar Hadros’s son,” she gasped. “You belong to us!”
He dropped his shield to swing his sword furiously, two handed. Its song was sweet and wild. She saw the blow coming, and for a fraction of a second her eyes widened. Then at the last instant she twisted-was she mocking again? — and lowered her own shield. The edge of his sword struck her in the side of the neck, just below the lip of the helmet, and was immediately bathed in crimson blood.
In the summertime of long, long ago Moikaa the hero sailed his ship alone across the deep and briny sea. There the spray leaped high and the wind tasted of salt, and in the midst of the sea he saw a maiden. Her hair was black, her eyes green, and her waist light and slender, and she walked across the water’s surface on shoes of leather.
“Come into my ship, oh maiden!” he called. “Come and rest upon my pillows!”
But she laughed with green eyes flashing. “Let disease rest upon your pillows,” she called, “but never I!”
In the autumn Moikaa went alone to the deep woods, timbering. The shadows were deep, the scent of pine strong. And there he saw a maiden, black-haired, green-eyed, walking across the treetops on shoes of leather.
“Come into my cart, oh maiden!” he called. “Come and rest upon my blankets!”
But she laughed with dark hair swirling. “Let destruction rest upon your blankets,” she called, “but never I!”
And in the winter the hero drove his sled alone across the ice fields. The sun threw diamonds onto the snow surface, and the wind bit into his lungs. And there he saw a maiden whose waist was light and slender, walking on the deepest drifts on shoes of leather.
“Come into my sled, oh maiden!” he called. “Come and rest upon my bearskins!”
She stopped then and considered him. “And why should I rest upon your bearskins?”
“Because there you shall enjoy a hero’s embraces!”
She laughed then as she came to him and stepped within his sled. When Moikaa tried to kiss her she twisted away, as slippery as an eel, as swift as a jay, as cold as a shard of ice. But the hero pinned her though she fought him, embraced her with his mighty arms, and finally she yielded to him upon the bearskins.
They lay then comfortably, and Moikaa asked, “Who are your mother and your father? You must be born of mighty heroes!”
“I have not seen my parents for long, long years,” said the maiden. “When I was just a little girl, I went berry picking with my mother. Foolish girl, I wandered far, seeking the reddest berries. When evening came I realized I was alone. I became afraid, but no one heard my calls. For hours, for days, I wandered, until the animals found me. I was raised then by the sturgeons of the sea, the eagles of the air, and the ice bears from the north. But still I carry my father’s name, for I am Laaiman’s daughter.”
When the hero did not answer, she turned green eyes to him and asked, “Who are your mother and your father? You must be born of mighty heroes!”
“Woe!” he cried, “that I was born! That disease did not suck out my life within the crib, that destruction did not fall on me before I learned to crawl! When I was just a little boy, my twin sister became lost, berry picking, when she wandered from our mother. I went to find her, searching far, becoming lost myself, but no one heard my calls. I was raised then by war giants and dragons, but still I carry my father’s name, for I am Laaiman’s son.”
They stared at each other and spoke together. “We have dishonored our parents. We have dishonored the beasts who raised us. We have made the lords of voima turn their backs upon us.” And they went, hand in hand, to a cliff that stood near by, and they hurled themselves over.
CHAPTER TWELVE
1
She was not dead yet. She collapsed at Valmar’s feet, holding a hand ineffectually across the gaping wound, but her eyes still flashed at him. “They will kill you when they find what you’ve done to me!” she croaked.
He stared at her aghast, his sword dangling from his hand and still incongruously singing. Blood ran across the grass, staining her armor and matting her hair.
“The rest of the Hearthkeepers,” she said in a slightly stronger voice when he did not answer. “They are coming. Go!”
The horned riders were closer now, and the piercing blast of the horn came again.
“If you still want to serve your Wanderers,” she gasped desperately, “you cannot let the Wanderers’ enemies kill you! Go! Go now!”
Her words finally penetrated. She was right. The Hearthkeepers were the Wanderers’ enemies and-since he had just killed one-his. It would be not honor but utter folly to try to fight a whole band.
He thrust his sword, still all bloody, into its sheath and whirled, half-blind, toward the stallion. He had just destroyed whatever shred of honor he might still have had by killing a woman. The only spot of light left was that he might be able to warn the lords of voima that death was already present in their realm, warn them before their enemies found them.
“Valmar!” she called weakly behind him. “Take me with you!”
He had no time to argue, consider, or even think. The steel-clad riders were only a few hundred yards away and coming fast. He scooped her up and threw her across the horse’s neck. She seemed now to weigh almost nothing. The stallion began to run even before he was fully into the saddle.
With a leap, they were across the stream and running all out. Valmar dared a glance over his shoulder to see the riders stop, with cries and exclamations, at the pool of blood. While they hesitated the white stallion gained another quarter mile on them.
For this, he realized, was a true horse of voima. Far faster than it had run yesterday (yesterday?), they soared across the Wanderers’ realm, over hills and hedgerows, through woods and valleys. Most of the time they seemed airborne, as if the horse scarcely needed to put down a hoof to remind itself of earth. Not even Goldmane, Valmar thought, could have kept pace now.
He held the woman to him with one arm, his other hand on the reins but not really guiding, for this horse seemed to know where it was running. Her head, still helmeted, drooped, and the blood flowed from her neck onto the stallion’s mane. Then slowly the flow of blood ceased.
He expected her to go cold and stiff against him, but she still felt warm, and his hand on her breastplate could feel a beating as of her heart. Unless it was his own.
The stallion’s pace gradually slackened. Valmar realized he had not seen the band of Hearthkeepers in what must be hours. Maybe when they realized a mortal could kill one of them they had hesitated in their pursuit.
He pulled up on a hilltop from which he could see miles in all directions and where a spring broke gurgling from the earth. He slid from the stallion’s back and gently lifted the woman down.
She smiled, eyes bright as mirrors, and slipped her arms slowly around him. “I hope you are satisfied, Valmar Hadros’s son!” she said with a faint smile. “You terrified me as I have never before been terrified.”
He lowered her carefully to the grass and removed her armor and clothing. She still seemed very weak, and when he brought water from the spring in his helmet to wash away the congealed blood she lay still, watching his movements, letting him rinse the blood from her skin and hair.
“Don’t forget to wash yourself, including your sword,” she said, trying to laugh. “And your horse!”
There was now no wound at all on the side of her neck. His shirt, protected by his mail, was the only piece of clothing either of them had that had not been splashed with blood. It was much too big for her, but he slid it over her head and rolled up the sleeves. Karin, he realized with a pang, had sewn that shirt herself; there was the tiny
