tools, all forms of power. Any form of power can be misused. The ordeal is a form of power. The power you have over the young. A power you have misused.'
He heard the sharp intake of breath, the instinctive protest at what they considered to be an insanely unfair accusation. Bluntly he pressed on.
'A boy ran from the only home he had ever known. He left his mother, his friends, his people. He plunged into the unknown-and yet some of you call him a coward. You never even considered that he might have a reason. And none of you seem to care about the boys who vanish, or the ones who are found turned into ghosts. Do you want to continue sacrificing your youngsters? Do you enjoy the tears of their mothers? The misuse of your power?'
'It is a test,' rapped Aryan.
'An initiation. We have always had it,' echoed Croft.
Barog, more observant than the others, less blinded by pride said, 'You misjudge us. We are not evil men.'
'You know,' said Usdon. He looked at his hands, they were trembling. Too late, he thought bleakly. No matter what happened now, it was too late. Sham was gone-nothing could bring him back. Nothing. And yet, others could be saved if Dumarest had not lied. If he could prove his accusation to be just. 'You know,' he said again. 'Know what happens to the boys, what robs their brains.'
'Yes,' said Dumarest. 'I know and I will tell you-for a price.'
* * * * *
Iduna shivered as she stepped from the door of the house, a reaction caused less by the chill than the sight of armed men looming in front of her in the starlight. The waking had been abrupt, a touch and a whispered command, her demand for explanation ignored. Perhaps, now, she was to be taken to some secluded place, there to be quietly disposed of, speared to death and buried.
Varg Eidhal's voice was a rumbling reassurance.
'Don't worry, we mean you no harm. It is just that you are wanted in the Council Chamber.'
'Why?'
'Just walk beside us.'
To a mockery of a trial, questions which could have no answers. A sentence which, somehow, she had to avoid.
She stumbled a little as she entered the warmly lit chamber. Eyes, accustomed to the outer darkness, unable to see detail immediately. Then she saw men seated at a table, more guards, the tall figure of Dumarest.
'Earl! What-'
'It's nothing serious, Iduna.' He was, she saw, relaxed, apparently in command of the situation. She drew a deep breath of relief. 'I just want you to answer some questions.' He nodded to where Vestaler sat at the head of the table. 'The truth now, there is no need to lie.'
He watched the ring of faces as she verified what he had already told the Council. Yes, she had accompanied her brother on an expedition. They had crashed. He had died in the crash and their guide had also been killed. By a beast? Well, yes, in a way.
'In what way?' Aryan was quick to note the hesitation. He frowned as she explained. 'So Dumarest killed him. Are you accusing him of murder?'
'No, the man was badly hurt, dying, in great pain. There was nothing else we could do.'
'We?'
'He, Dumarest, he was merciful.'
A type of mercy to which they were unaccustomed, and Vestaler frowned. Yet, the point was not worth pursuing at this time.
'Tell us of the Kheld.'
'The Kheld?' She glanced at Dumarest. 'Why, we, that is my brother, thought they could be found in the mountains. An ancient form of life native to this world, which at one time had threatened the town. My brother,' she added, 'was suffering from strain.'
'He was deranged?'
'No.'
'Deluded, then?' Vestaler rapped the table as she hesitated. 'You must answer the question. Was your brother wholly normal?'
'Yes. It was just that he had this determination to find the Kheld.'
'Did he?'
'No.'
'Have you any proof, any kind of proof whatsoever, that such creatures exist?'
Again she hesitated, not knowing just what to say, wondering what the assembly was all about. To lie and perhaps damn herself and Dumarest, or to tell the truth and perhaps do the same.
'Shall I repeat the question?'
'No, that will not be necessary.' The truth, Dumarest had said. For want of a better guide she obeyed. 'No, I have not.'
'You have never seen them? The Kheld, I mean.'
'No.'
From where he sat Croft said, harshly, 'A lie. I knew it. Another to add to the rest.'
A logical summation, but Usdon wasn't satisfied. A stubborn hope, perhaps. A confidence in the boy which had never been shaken. Sham could not have failed. There had to be an explanation.
Dumarest gave it.
'Iduna did not share my experience,' he said. 'She was asleep at the time. I told you that, but you insisted on questioning her.'
'With reason,' said Aryan. 'Your story is preposterous. An invisible something which you heard, but did not see. The stuff of legends, stories to terrify children. If they exist, why haven't we seen them?'
'Or heard them?' said Croft, triumphantly. 'Answer that if you can.'
He was trapped, thought Vestaler bleakly. Dumarest had bargained well. His life and that of the woman, to be spared for the sake of his information, the proof. The information he had given, the lack of proof would snap shut the jaws of a trap of his own making.
'You haven't seen them,' said Dumarest, quietly, 'because if you had, you would have become a ghost. As for hearing them, perhaps you have. Think,' he urged, 'remember. You have all undertaken the ordeal. Did none of you hear a thin sound in the air then? A chittering? Feel an impression of menace?'
He waited for an answer, but it was too long ago. Even if they remembered, none would admit it. Perhaps with cause. To be the first to back his claim would be to share his implied guilt.
'The Kheld are old,' he said. 'Perhaps now very few in number. They must be an aerial form of life, and so would never enter the valleys. The updraft would be too strong. The pinnacles are high, ideally placed for the creatures to reach. On them you set boys, easy targets for such predators. They come, take what they need, leave without trace.'
'If what you say is true, then why are not all the boys affected?'
A shrewd question, Barog was no fool.
'I said they were few,' reminded Dumarest. 'Perhaps they maintain a territorial area, perhaps each boy provides food for more than one. Frankly, I don't know. But I can guess what happens. The boys are lone, afraid, each a prey to his own fears and imagination. And then the Kheld draw near. I have heard the sound. It numbs, clogs the brain-and I am a grown man. A boy would be terrified. Perhaps the very emotion induced by the Kheld is what they feed on. That, or some form of nervous energy-again I am not sure. But there is a way to find out.'
'And that is?'
'You are all grown men. Prove it.'
Usdon sucked in his breath, quick to understand.
'Prove it,' snapped Dumarest. 'Do what you demand children do. Undertake the ordeal.' His finger rose to point at Aryan. 'You!' At Croft. 'You!' At the others, one after the other. 'Prove that you are men-if you dare!'
* * * * *
