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comparison whatsoever with The Stratemsk, and yet many and many a time they halted enemy invasions
in relatively poor country, and turned them back. The shock had proved disastrous to many armies, not
least the Gorgrens on the single long-ago occasion when they had managed to reach the mountains; and
the men of Djanduin had roared their merriment.
Truly, they were the Mountains of Mirth!
From Djanguraj to the outermost western limits of the Yawfi Suth is about a hundred and seventy
dwaburs. So this night we had to fly approximately fifty dwaburs, for the Mountains of Mirth stand
roughly a hundred dwaburs from the capital, roughly seventy from the Yawfi Suth.
The firm steady beat of the flutduin I rode impressed me. I have ridden impiters, corths, fluttrells,
mirvols, and many other of the marvelous saddle-flyers of Kregen, and it is difficult to choose the
absolute best, for all have their good points as well as their weaknesses. We passed over the sleeping
countryside and as She of the Veils rose before us and we blustered on against the rushing wind, the night
filled with the pinkish moons-radiance. We followed the pink-glimmering reflections of the River of
Wraiths. This river rises in the Mountains of Mirth and curving boldly southward flows westward through
Djanduin and so to the Bay of Djanguraj where the Tarnish Channel meets the Ocean of Doubt. On that
river stands Djanguraj, and also Cafresmot, our destination. Up and down, rising and falling with the long
smooth wing-beats, we hurtled on through the level air and all about us fell the pink moons-light.
This part of Djanduin is rich in agriculture and husbandry, and we passed over the wide fields and the
farms and the carefully tended grazing, and presently we saw beneath us the darker splotches of shadow
against the pink glimmer, and so knew we had reached Cafresmot. The town is small but active, with a
good cattle and ponsho market and with a thriving trade in corn and other staples. Felder Mindner, who
knew the area well, had received directions from Dolar, and we swung a little north and swooped down
toward a lightless ranch house set among missals. The night wind rustled the branches as Felder Mindner
dropped his flutduin beyond the trees and we settled to the earth screened from the house by the missals.
Cautiously we crept along a track rutted by cart wheels and pocked by the hooves of calsanys. No one
spoke. We were aware of the need of surprise, and I was quite content to let this Jiktar Mindner lead,
for he seemed to know his business. Also, and the real reason, was that I recognized I was here only as a
friend of Coper s. Dolar had been to other houses in Djanguraj and aroused friends of the Pallan.
Chuktar Naghan, visiting here, had been met by Pallan Coper, but had been treacherously slain by
disaffected members of an army unit stationed here, well back from the front. If Kov Nath had instigated
this murder, and we had yet to prove that, he had struck a shrewd blow. It would have been useless for
Dolar to have flown eastward to summon assistance from the army of the east, for, as he had told us,
Coper suspected treason among them. If an army mutiny was to be added to the troubles of Djanduin I
could see little hope for the country.
This troubled me as I crept forward through the pink radiance from the moons, my sword in my fist.
A Horter of Havilfar will carry his thraxter with him as a mere matter of dress; but I had taken nothing
else in the way of weapons to what should have been a pleasant evening of swimming and feasting with
the Demons, and so they had lent me a soldier s gear. The thraxter gleamed silvery pink. The shield I
held high on my left shoulder. At my waist swung a djangir. Some of Vad Larghos men carried
crossbows, the others the compound reflex bow. We padded on like a wild hunting pack of drangs,
scenting our quarry.
No lights, no sounds, came from the ranch house.
We passed the corrals on our left and heard the sleeping snorts of joats and the restless snuffling of
totrixes. Mindner waited for us to come up and he spoke in a whisper to Vad Larghos and me.
I fear we are too late, Vad. If the Pallan was not dead there would be sounds of fighting
If you are right, Felder Vad Larghos took a shuddering breath. If you are right, my boy, we must
take our revenge upon these mad leem!
As you know I am not a man much concerned with revenge. Justice of a suitable kind usually
satisfies me. But I own I shared a little of the Vad s anger. Punishment must be seen to be inflicted, for
the country was falling to pieces and good men were dead.
We crept on and reached the final packed-earth space before the row of tall windows fronting the
house. I looked carefully in the streaming moonlight and could see no sign of movement.
The Vad waved his men to left and right and, their bows nocked, they spread out.
Lara stood close to me, breathing in quick excited gasps, her face pale in the moon-glow. I put my hand
on her left upper arm, and pressed, and she turned quickly to me and would have spoken, but I took my
hand and the thraxter away swiftly and touched the hilt to my lips. I was indicating silence upon her; I
think, now, she understood that little gesture differently.
Those around me were aware of the tense and jumpy business this was. At any moment a storm of
arrows and bolts might spurt from those dark windows and cut us down. Someone had to go up to the
front door and find out the truth of the situation.
Why I did what I did, I think, is easy to explain. Such boredom, such bitterness, such hellish misery had
been my portion ever since I had been parted from Delia that a kind of fey recklessness had overtaken
me. As I marched up to the door with my shield high and thraxter low I knew Iknew the ranch
house would be deserted when I broke in.
I am not given to having my nerves racked by the various frightful experiences that befall me from time to
time and which make life on Kregen so fascinating. If a bolt flicked toward me I would take it on my
shield. I wanted to know what had become of Coper and Sinkie. I marched up to the door and kicked it
in and smashed my way inside.
The darkness was partitioned by the long angular parallelograms of pink moonlight from the windows,
paired from She of the Veils and the Maiden with the Many Smiles, softer and stronger, as one is the
fourth and the other the first moon of Kregen. I padded in, vicious and ready for instant combat.
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