Ch. 6: The Road Returns

Back to Arheled

             The   mountain   was   silent.

             Deep   hush   lay   over   the   earth. The   lights   of   distant   Winsted   gleamed   as   if   a   net   of   orange   stars   had   been   cast   from   heaven   and   lay, missed   of   its’   target,   sprawled   across   the   land. A   pale   violet   arrowhead   cleft   the   black   hills:   the   Little   Pond,   Tinda   Dillüra. The   Long   Lake   was   concealed   by   the   abrupt   hump   of   the   fell   between   the   quiet   place   and   Winsted. High   and   very   near   above   burned   the   stars   in   a   dull   black   sky,   with   the   faintest   hint   of   purple-blue;   yet   it   was   lighter   than   the   utter   black   of   the   rounded   hills. In   the   clear   bitter   air   not   a   single   star   flickered   or   twinkled,   and   only   their   brightness   revealed   the   Planets. The   air   was   still   and   deeply   cold;   the   mercury   read   12°.

             The   mountain   was   silent.

             Like   a   long   wall   it   lay,   running   NE   above   the   Tinda,   sundering   it   from   the   Red   Lake,   Rugg   Brook   Reservoir   on   the   north. Its’   somber   pines   stood   hushed,   masked   in   shadow   and   the   grey   gloom   of   starlight. The   dreadful   eeriness   it   bore   at   all   other   times   was   muted   upon   this   holiest   of   nights,   and   only   a   solemn   dignity   lay   about   the   clustered   groves   of   robed   hemlocks,   a   quiet   repose   like   an   ancient   church. Lundnoem   Harnda,   the   Silent   Place,   the   Ronmond   Wendtho   Hill   of   the   Road;   the   name   it   was   most   remembered   by,   it   bore   many   titles,   but   tonight   it   waited.

             Temple   Fell   was   silent.

             At   ten   minutes   to   eleven   the   quiet   broke   as   crunching   leaves   and   grass   brittle   with   frost   mingled   with   the   snap   of   twigs   trodden   upon   in   the   dark. Stumbling   now   and   then,   figures   stiff   with   bundled-up   wraps   marched   under   the   old   pines. Flashlights   flickered   like   awful   roving   eyes. One   of   the   figures   bent   to   examine   a   short   slab   leaning   on   a   hickory:   it   had   been   blank   save   for   moss,   but   now   there   were   words   graven   deeply   into   it,   curled   and   antique.

             “The   Second   Milestone.”   murmered   a   woman’s   old   voice. “We   must   hurry   if   we   are   to   set   up   before   they   come.”

             “What   does   it   say?”   a   girl   asked.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “''The   Rd,   M. 0.1.''”   replied   the   woman.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   large   group   tromped   up   the   slow   grassy   slopes   of   the   narrow   ridgetop. They   seemed   to   be   growing   every   moment.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Can   we   really   prevent   the   Road   from   returning?”   asked   another   girl.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Yes,”   a   man’s   tones,   somehow   both   fatuous   and   awful,   said   in   response. “It   will   be   tricky. That   is   why   we   came   on   foot:   anything   else   would   rouse   the   guardians   of   this   place,   and   tonight   is   their   strength.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             They   passed   the   Second   Altarstone,   small   and   peaceful   in   its’   glade   under   the   stars. Here   one   half   of   the   group   remained,   while   the   others   pressed   on   through   the   open   mead   under   the   sparse   hickories   to   their   destination:   the   First   Altarstone,   center   of   the   powers   that   had   rooted   themselves   on   this   mountain. Here   for   many   hundred   years   blood   had   been   spilled   and   sacrifice   offered,   to   drive   in   a   foothold   upon   the   place   of   power.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   witches   poured   into   the   grove. And   as   they   spread   out,   advancing toward   the   stone,   all   at   once   they   became   aware   of   a   black   figure,   standing   motionless   before   the   altar   as   if   waiting. She   made   one   step   forward,   and   all   the   witches   stopped   dead.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             There   was   deep   silence   upon   the   crest   of   Temple   Fell. In   the   violet   sky   the   unwinking   stars   stared   down,   a   cold   blue-white. The   black   shapes   of   spired   pines   stood   like   robed   and   hooded   monks   around   the   grove,   silent   and   somber. Pale against   them   stood   the   leaning   stems   of   the   hickories,   themselves   dark   against   the   starladen   sky,   their   wind-bitten   fingers   crooked   and   tormented,   but   still   and   quiet   in   the   consecrated   night. Pale   and   grey   the   altarstone   sat   in   the   middle,   inert   and   powerless,   the   piled   magic   rocks   scattered   and   spell-bereft   atop   it,   the   coral gone. In   the   deepness   of   the   quiet   the   faint   crinkling   of   the   crushed   frost-stiff   grass   straightening   where   it   had   been   trod,   could   be   heard.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “What   are   you   doing   here?!”   hissed   the   old   woman’s   voice.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “This   is   the   night   divine,   the   silent   night.”   said   the   figure   by   the   altar,   girlish,   soft   and   delicate   of   tone. “It   is   our   night,   Witch   of   Winchester.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “How   dare   you.”   snarled   the   Witch. “We   have   claimed   this   place   as   ours,   with   four   hundred   years   of   blood   and   desecration,   with   black   consecration   to   the   One   who   Has   Returned. How   dare   you   walk   onto   our   mountain   as   if   it   was   your   own?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Because   we   have   the   prior   claim.”   the   girl   said. “The   Road   touched   this   land   before   Middle-earth   was   bent;   ere   the   lands   were   snapped   and   stilled   the   Road   had   claimed   this   as   its’ own.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “A   pedant’s   fobbery,”   sneered   the   Witch. “You   are   new   here,   Moria,   and   you   know   little   of   our   strength. We   do   not   bow   to   empty   formalities. We   deal   in   cold   facts. And   the   cold   fact   is   that   our   magic   stains   this   hill.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Moria   gestured   to   the   fallen   slabs   upon   the   altar. “A   minor   detail,   and   easily   overcome.”   she   said. “Squatters   can   be   evicted. I   have   evicted   you. You   have   not   been   up   here   of   late,   in   the   cold,   serene   in   your   presumed   conquest. Holy   water   lies   on   your   stone. Prayers   have   driven   out   your   power. Your   carefully   forged   bonds   to   this   place   have   been   hewn   apart   by   the   Sword   of   Sorrow   and   the   faith   behind   it.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   became   visible   all   at   once,   in   brown   dress   and   grey   coat,   head   bare to   the   iron   cold   and   brown   hair   gleaming   underneath   with   molten   gold   flowing   from   her   face. In   the   serene   countenance   a   white   light   shone.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “This   is   Temple   Fell.”   Moria   said. “Let   all   who   enter   enter   well!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   witches   howled,   bending   as   before   a   blast   of   wind,   and   from   the   other   altarstone   could   be   heard   the   howls   of   the   dragons. Though   not   a   twig   moved   in   the   bitter   air, their   clothes   flapped   as   in   a   gale,   a   wind   of   power   thundering   against   them. Moria   lifted   her   hand,   and   the   thing   that   was   in   it   burned   too   bright   to   see,   and   at   the   sight   of   it   the   witches   screamed. First   one,   then   another,   lifted   off   the   ground,   the   unseen   wind   tearing   them   off   the   earth   they   clung   to. The   Witch   of   Winchester   stayed   longest,   taking   step   after   staggering   step   forward,   and   beside   her   Cornello   staggered   onward   also,   flickering   between   man   and   dragon. The   laurel   wand   glowered   with   a   wavering   black   light. Moria   said   a   single   word. At   the   sound   of   the   Holy   Name   born   that   night,   the   last   contact   between   their   feet   and   the   ground   was   broken,   and   witch   and   dragon   were   cast   hurtling   through   the   skies.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Moria   lowered   her   hand. She   still   bore   a   serene,   untouched   smile   on   her   young   face. Light   winked   out. Power   ceased. And   grey   night   closed   in   again   to   reveal   the   glade   was   empty.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Once   more   the   mountain   was   silent.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Far   below   in   the   light-netted   valley,   the   faint   ding   of   bells   carried   on   the   bitter   air. It   wanted   still   a   few   minutes   to   midnight   when   crunching   of   twigs   and   frozen   grass   sounded   again   beneath   the   silent   pines. Lights   gleamed   in   the   greyness,   coming   from   no   flashlight. Dark   shapes   paced   into   the   grove. Long   cloaks   swung   from   shoulders. Six   people   walked   into   the   altarstone   grove,   their   eyes   lit   like   lamps,   one   red,   one   clear   blue-white,   one   blue   and   one   leaf-green,   one   grey-white   and   one   a   green   like   still   water. They   walked   along   the   track   of   the   faint   path   of   the   vanished   road   that   traversed   the   Fell,   which   they   could   see   even   in   the   iron   dark. At   the   Altarstone   they   waited,   standing   around   it   in   a   crescent.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Midnight   struck   from   the   bells   of   the   Five   Churches. Though   two   miles   and   more   divided   them   from   the   Silent   Place,   they   rang   incredibly   clear,   as   if   no   distance   could   mar   their   peals   and   even   on   the   far   side   of   the   earth   they   would   be   heard. Midnight   struck,   of   Christmas   Eve,   of   the   Year of   our   Lord   2011   in   the   reckoning   of   the   world,   2017   years   after   the   birth   of   Our   Lord   in   the   true   passage   of   years.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   cold   air   stirred. The   cold   trees   quivered,   and   rippled   as   if   made   of   air   themselves. Along   the   mountain   ridge   of   Temple   Fell   the   ripple   dashed. Beneath   their   feet   the   very   ground   rippled. Something   was   cleaving   into   the   matter   of   the   mountain,   gripping   that   one   spot   on   the   swift-rotating   earth   by   its’   substance,   gripping   the   matter   of   that   mountain   by   the   substance   of   stone   and   the   substance   of   earth   and   ignoring   the   frail   forms   of   its’   quaking   accidentals. The   rotation   of   the   earth   stilled   and   softly   ceased,   its’   entire   surface   held   by   the   power   now   anchored   in   this   one   place. Directly   south   of   them   the   glittering   constellation   of   the   Herald   stalked   the   stars,   now   completely   upright,   his   tilted   bow   aimed   at   the   north,   his   thin   sword   projecting   in   a   scimitar   curve   from   his   gleaming   studded   belt. From   the   arm   that   drew   the   bow   projected   a   small   curved   buckler   of   smaller   stars. From   the   corner   of   his   belt   hung   a   hazy   mass,   two   stars   and   a   galaxy   forming   the   shape   of   a   short   and   narrow   horn. Across   the   stars   from   his   feet   Daslenga   sparkled,   the   river   of   silver   curving   down   through   the   sky. There   gleamed   Sirius,   and   the   concealed   Father   of   Dragons,   and   the   fleeing   Murzim   star   that   marked   the   true   West,   now   poised   in   the   exact   south   of   the   world   that   was   bent.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   Road   had   returned.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Under   their feet,   where   the   faint   trace   of   an   old   way   had   been,   there   now   a   narrow   track   lay. The   frozen   grass   overhung   the   square   and   ancient   stones   with   which   it   was   cobbled. Beside   it   the   great   pines   had   lined   up,   a   row   of   tall   priests   in   cowled   robes   unmoving   in   the   night. The   stones   were   unhidden   by   the   grey   gloom,   but   stood   out   distinct   and   undim   in   the   pale   grass.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   Road   had   returned.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   scattered   rocks   at   the   foot   of   the   altarstone   buried   by   the   grass,   nine   of   them,   had    formed   into   a   single   high   slab,   square-cornered   and   narrow   like   a   gravestone,   and   words   gleamed   within   the   surface,   wrought   of   inner   fire   that   glowed   out   of   the   opaque   rock   in   the   curling   runes   of   the   Elves:

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Ronnie,”   said   Travel,   “what   do   they   say?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   red   eyes   of   Ronnie   were   clear   as   flames. His   voice   sounded   like   a   mighty   swelling   chant   in   the   silent   forest. ''“I   am   the   Road. Aulë   wrought   me. Ulmin   poured   me. Varda   lit   me. Manwë   made   me. I   am   the   Road.” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Ulmin?”   said   Travel. “Who   is   he?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “With   the   other   names,   that   would   be   Ulmo.”   said   Bell.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “No,”   said   Ronnie,   “Odin.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   looked   up. So   did   the   others. A   shining   figure   of   blue   light   was   walking   toward   them,   white   rays   sparkling   about   him. Strains   of   strange   music   sounded   in   unearthly   haunting   echoes   from   many   directions;   some   bars   of   chants   and   carols   they   all   knew   were   discernible   at   times   amid   the   countless   layered   melodies,   but   most   were   utterly   unfamiliar;   had,   perhaps,   never   been   familiar   to   any   living   man. The   six   mighty   children   slowly   sank   to   their   knees. The   being   of   blue   paused   before   them. Wise   and   ancient   were   the   gleaming   features,   and   yet   transparent,   a   mask,   a   shape,   an   appearance   outward   of   he   underneath. Warmth   and   kindness,   strange   sorrow   and   strange   laughter   radiated   from   him.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Welcome,   you   whom   I   have   fathered,   my   six   children   into   my   image   and   likeness   I   have   remade. Welcome   in   the   name   of   the   name   of   the   Road.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Whom   art   thou?”   Ronnie   said.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Arheled   smiled. “I   am   the   Warden   of   the   Road. I   am   the   pathsman   of   the   Valar,   who   watches   the   walls   of   the   crystal   of   the   world. I   am   Arheled.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “What   art   thou?”   said   Ronnie   Wendy.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   am   venda.”   Arheled   made   answer. “I   am   no   spirit,   for   matter   is   in   me;   but   I   am   alone   in   the   plan   of   the   Father,   of   no   other   specie   than   mine   own   self   alone. I   walk   the   Road,   and   I   steer   the   Road,   and   the   Road   obeys,   though   I   compel   it   not. I   am   Arheled.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   lifted   them   up   to   their   feet. “Come,   you   six   that   I   have   called. It   is   time   once   again   for   men   to   walk   the   Road,   in   this   last   age   of   the   darkening   world.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Start   we   here,   at   the   Third   Milestone. Walk   we   here,   by   blood   and   bone. Pond   and   Lake   and   Wood   and   Stream,   Hill   and   Lane   and   Star   and   Light. Of   the   beginning   you   know. Of   the   bending   you   ken. Of   the   cleansing   you   were   told. But   the   rebelling   you   have   not   yet   seen.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             To   each   of   them   it   seemed   as   if   they   walked   alone,   as   if   their   companions   at   both   sides   and   the   radiant   blue   figure   of   their   divine   father   were   mere   ghosts,   outlines   one   noticed   or   did   not. Blue   streamers   of   luminous cloud   raced   toward   and   past   them,   beneath   their   feet   and   past   their   legs. They   trod   upon   an   immense   nothing,   dark   turbulent   blue   without a   bottom. Wheels   of   whirling   misty   flame,   white   and   pinkish-red,   flashed   overhead. Their   feet   rose   and   fell   as   slowly   as   if   time   itself   had   grown   thick   and   viscous. Voices   grew   around   them. Voices   as   eerie,   chill   and   tingling   as   wind   and   sun,   as   ice   and   rain.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             ''“Bun   zhúníz   inglo   tinglar   lí   ningo   rongron…” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Sh’ar,   szehú   tí   unglar   zengnong   ingar   senglü,   Arcturosár…sar   ‘hyn   a’   hyn,   harn   i   nangna   tí   Arnga,   Angar…” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Dar! Barfastû,   inthís   marfooton! Temra’úno   morvos?” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest’s   eyes   filled   with   light. Light   made   hard   and   moveless   as   solid   rock,   yet   weighted   by   nothing,   floored   with   empty   air. Arches   and   palaces   of   hard   light   stood   about   him,   spire   on   spire,   peaked   sharp   arches   leaping   upward   on   every   side   with   all   the   vicious   energy   of   a   Gothic   unemcumbered   with   gravity   or   the   memory   of   it. Many   hues   shimmered   in   the   brilliant   walls,   along   edges   or   trim   or   in   angles   of   fashionings,   but   blue,   white   and   silver   predominated,   along   with   the   subtlest   blendings   of   rose and   browny-red.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   Stars   walked   about   him. Some   were   in   what   seemed   to   be   their   regular   form,   manlike   save   for   the   fluid   elongations   of   limb   and   face,   and   the   queer,   hard,   alien   beauty   of   their   features. All   were   bright,   as   if   their   flesh   was   of   light   or   of   luminous   cotton;   but   the   lendar    were   rougher   of   surface   like   cloth,   while   the   lennar   had   surfaces   that   were   as   pure   and   smooth   as   satin   or   shiny   silk. Some   seemed   to   have   a   form   of   clothing,   in   luminous   flowing   or   fluttering   robes   of   faint   contrasting   hues,   while   others   either   wore   garments   as   close   of   fit   as   gloves,   or   were   naked;   their   shapes   were   so   unhuman   it   was   difficult   to   tell. Forest   saw   one   of   these   latter   distend   her   curving front   until   two   shining   breasts   protruded   and   gleamed;   and   lendar   zipped   in   from   all   sides   like   meteors,   until   the   lenna   was   enclosed   in   a   flashing   maelstrom   of   male   admirers   stroking   her   satiny   breasts. Clear   tingling   soft   laughter   and   many   jubilant   voices   bubbled   to   his   ears,   the   universal   note   of   salacity   saturating   them. It   was   fairly   obvious   who   the   males,   the   lendar,   were   as   opposed   to   the   females,   the   lennar:   the   lennar   had   an   eerie,   breathtaking   beauty   while   the    lendar   exuded   more   fascination,   more   maleness:   it   was   hard   to   describe,   but   extremely   definite.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   could   not   understand   the   speech;   it   was   different   from   the   powerful   sonorous   language   Arheled   made   use   of,   being   hard   and   tingling   of   sound,   with   many   notes   like   ringing   metal   or   bells. Quite   suddenly   meaning   flashed   into   his   ears,   as   one   might   catch   a   phrase   in   a   nearby   conversation   in   a   room   full   of   voices:   he   understood   these   particular   speakers,   though   they   still   spoke   the   language   of   the   Stars.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Charosa   will   not   disclose   the   father.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   speaker   was   a   lend   of   lofty   stature   and   appearance,   his   robes   being   made   of   many   flowing   bands   of   long   glowing   blue,   many   soft   merging   shades. His   queer   alien   but   amazingly   attractive   face   gave   Forest   an   impression   not   only   of   age   but   of   careworn,   and   the   blue   glow   of   his   eyes   was   a   worried   light.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “So   let   her   hold   to   her   darkening. It   matters   not,   my   friend. All   of   us   hold   things   we   deem   dear   but   keep   dim,   so   that   only   ours   enjoy.”   This   star   was   garbed   in   a   soft   mauve   robe,   his   glowing   rough   white   figure   stark   against   it. His   features   were   broader   and   more…earthy,   would   have   been   the   term   Forest   would   have   thought   of   them   if   he   had   seen   them   on   a   solid   earth-dweller.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   two   stars   stood   in   a   chamber   in   a   palace:   floored   with   what   seemed   to   be   crystal,   it   was   shot   through   and   suffused   with   the   palest   and   most   delicate   shades   of   lilac   and   rose   as   well   as the   overall   strong   blue   of   a   noon   sky. The   arches   of   the   vaults   were   sharp   and   high   and   narrow,   soaring   to   swift   points,   their   carved   crystal   edges   pure   milky   white,   their   frames   the   pale   blue   of   shadow   upon   snow. Columns   of   darker   purple   crystal   with   vertical   bands   of   black   rose   to   capitals   of   curling   fountain-spray   forms,   a   deep   red   and   purple. The   vaults   were   somber,   a   beautiful   indigo-violet-maroon   Forest   had   never   seen   before:   he   stared   at the   color,   almost   oblivious   to   the   worried   conversation   of   the   two   eternal   beings   pacing   below him. Windows   marched   along   the   far   wall,   high   sharp-pointed   windows   like   spires;   their   frames   were   of   blue   metal   deepening   to   violet,   enclosing   many   curving   panes   like   the   patterns   of   a   frost-flower,   a   large   open   pane   in   the   center   like   a   tall   diamond. This   alone   was   clear,   the   rest   being   stained   in   pure   deep   reds   and   vivid   blues,   and   many   softer   hues   Forest   had   not   known   glass   could   be   stained,   down   to   purple   and   violet   and   maroon. He   saw   no   green,   nor   yellow,   but   silver   gleamed   everywhere,   bordering   the   crystal   carvings,   forming   strange   and   intricate   patterns   among   the   borders   of   the   vaults,   even   what   must   have   been   inscriptions   in   some   queer   lettering   as   sharp   and   pointed   as   the   arches.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Not   perhaps   to   thee,   close-shiner,   nor   to   me,   thou   might   say. But   what   the   Sun   and   Moon   make   of   it,   may   affect   us   all. Heard   not   how   huge   were   the   twins   she   birthed? She   had   to   shape   her   joyhole   to   fit   around   them. No   Star   sired   them,   good   Arnga.”   said   the   careworn   star,   pausing   at   a   window   that   gave   out   upon   the   celestial   city below. Forest   saw   a   great   panorama   of   high   soaring   churchlike   structures,   but   somehow   far   wilder   and   more   eerie   and   tremendous   than   even   the   loftiest   of   Gothic   steeples. They   sparkled   like   snow caught   in   the   sun,   with   ten   thousand   diamond   spickles,   roofed   with   sheetlike   scales   in   many   hues   of   violet   and   brilliant   blue,   and   columns   lined   every   door,   and   windows   yawned   in   the   strangest   places. Balconies   of   wrought   silver   sprang   from   the   crystal   walls,   trellised   in   dreadful   rising   curls   like   a   fountain.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Earthbegotten   are   not   unknown   among   our   shinings,   near-light. Why,   myself   can   glow   at   when   I   wooed   a   stonemaiden;   my   form   I   had   to   make   as   hard   as   hers,   or   she   would   have   bruised   my   joyheart   beyond   mend! And   prick   not   out   thee   Mirzon   and   Myargna,   who   are   half   Man? Yet   they   shine   well   enough   out   East,   my   Lord   Arcturus.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   like   it   ill,   this   softening   of   every   wall.”   the   first   star   said   morosely. “When   vend   blends   with   vend,   how   soon   before   the   bastard   is   a   monster? How   many   earthwalkers   beneath   have   our   blood   I   care   not   to   think. But   I   was   there,   friend. I   saw   the   power   in   those   twins. Their   naming   will   be   soon,   unless   the   Moon   recognises   them   not.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest’s   foot   touched   the   ground   and   lifted. He   looked   down   in   some   surprise:   he   stood   on   a   solid   floor   of   stone,   and   the   stone   was   rank   with   mold   and   slime. An   abominable   odor   of   urine   and   rot   and   mildew   choked   the   dark   air. The   room’s   very   walls   were   damp   with   ooze,   and   white   furry   icicles   of   mildew   covered   the   wood   of   the   ironbound   door. It   was   lit   only   by   the   person   standing   within   it,   a   tall   star   with   hair   that,   surprisingly,   was   black,   and   no   light   came   from   it,   only   a   luster. His   robes   were   black   and   grey,   muting   his   glow   so   that   face   and   hands   alone   gave   light. Facing   him   was   a   lenna   apparently   naked,   and   shining   only   dimly. Her   hair   was   utterly   white.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Thou   knowest   no   Star   can   break   through   a   chamber   sunk   in   the   Earth.”   the   dark   star   said. “I   have   thee   helpless. Now   perhaps   you,   being   after   all   young,   may   not   have   knowledge   of   me,   and   thought   to   defy   me   in   ignorance. If   that   is   so   I   can   be   reasonable.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   stargirl’s   shape   bulged,   her   bosom   and   hips   becoming   far   shapelier   and   more   prominent. A   sweet,   alluring   smile   softened   her   hauntingly   lovely   face. “I   thought   we   might,   my   Lord   Angar.”   she   purred. Men   would   have   found   her   voice   alluring;   but   Forest   it   merely   annoyed. “Let   me   soften   you…”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   flattened   on   the   floor,   as   if   turned   into   a   stain   of   white   paint. Slowly   her   form   thickened,   peeling   itself   off   the   slimy   flags,   and   behind   it   leaving   a   dense   and   horrid   redness. She   managed   to   assume   her   previous   shape,   but   it   was   a   ruin   of   itself,   limply   flopping   against   the   walls. Angar   was   panting   and   his   eyes   burned   with   a   queer   and   horrible   lust.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “My   lord…”   she   whimpered.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar’s   face   jerked. It   folded   suddenly   into   harsh,   hideous   lines,   as   if   someone   else   was   thrusting   out   of   him. “Pain.”   a   voice   came   from   him,   rough   and   dreadful,   grating   as   stone. ''“Sin. Sacrifice. You   gave   yourself   to   me…I   will   enjoy   you.” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   star   shifted,   springing   and   bouncing   from   wall   to   wall   like   a   ray   of   light. Angar   laughed,   great   monstrous   laughter   that   shook   the   walls. The   star’s   orbits   grew   smaller;   she   slowed,   spiralling   in   toward   him. ''“I   will   breathe   you   in,   and   I   will   consummate   you   in   utter   union,   indissoluble   by   death   or   power;   we   will   be   one   forever,   and   that   one   will   be   I.” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Angar!”   she   screamed.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “No,”   <span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">the   monster   said   as   it   absorbed   her, ''   “he   is   no   longer   Angar. I   am   him. I   am   Chaos.” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   turned   his   head   with   an   agonizing   effort. Numb   horror   filled   him. With   apathy   at   first   he   stared   at   the   scene   he   saw   there;   until   it   suddenly   dawned   on   him   he no   longer   stood   in   the   dungeon   of   horror. He   was   in   a   vast   assembly   of   Stars. Rows   over   rows   of   them   stood   on   the   air,   standing   above   as   well,   standing   beside   buildings. In   the   center   glowed   Charosa;   her   naked   shape   was   so   tremendously   lovely,   and   so   full   of   wanton,   provocative   emanation,   Forest   interposed   his   hand   between   her   and   his   eyes,   her   flaunted   glory   as   painful   to   him   as   a   stab. She   was   holding   up   two   shining,   squalling   infants;   at   every   squall   light   burst   from   their   mouths,   and   power   was   in   them. Charosa   spoke,   her   rich   gorgeous   voice   ringing   through   the   crowd:

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Artollo! Dîanna!” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Even   as   the   cheers   and   cries   of   the   Stars   resounded,   Forest’s   foot   finished   rising   and   fell   in   another   step,   and   he   left   them   behind.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   found   himself   upon   the   water   of   a   lake.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Beauty   danced   and   flickered   all   around   him,   wavering   whips   of   light   and   flame   of   such   loveliness   that   when   he   merely   saw   a   glimpse   of   it   a   year   ago   it   almost   destroyed   him. But   now   he   stood   among   them   as   if   sheathed   in   stone,   the   wonder   and   delight   dancing   outside   him,   himself   unharmed:   he   was   walking   on   the   Road. Ancient   firs   and   deep   great   writhen   trees   towered   and   crouched   on   every   hand,   their mighty   limbs   grey   and   soft   in   the   frosty   light   that   filled   the   air. The   light   came   from   below,   for   the   skies   were   overcast   with   deep   mauve   and   grey-purple   clouds,   and   the   eerie   magic   singing   of   the   Stars   echoed   all   around   him. Upon   the   water   the   figures   sparkled   and   sighed,   and   the   grim   firs   and   dark   oaks   gleamed   with   the   luster   of   their   glow,   green-black   and   dreadful   in   the   starlight. The   sound   of   the   stars   rang   and   echoed   around   him,   queer   and   tingling   and   solemn,   a   thousand   stars   singing   each   one   a   different   tune,   and   yet   each   one   blending   out   of   instinct   his   own   with   the   rest,   so   that   a   single   wild   weird   melody   soared   and   rumbled   all   around   him;   notes   gripped   his   heart,   notes like   blue   and   silver   blades,   and   he   stood,   entranced,   sheathed   in   the   Road.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   looked   down   at   his   feet,   curious   as   to   what   he   stood   on. Ripples   played   about   his   feet,   though   not   wetting   them;   he   stood   in   that   which   was,   and   could   not   alter   it,   nor   could   it   alter   him. Black   water   met   his   eyes,   revealing   nothing:   it   was   night,   and   the   sky   above   his   head   was   thick   with   black   clouds. While   the   skies   were   hidden,   the   stars   came   down   and   danced. Hills   leaned   close   and   above   on   both   sides,   and   to   the   north   there   was   a   weird   gleaming   wall,   reflecting   the   flashing   lights   of   the   dancing   of   the   stars   as   if   it   was   made   of   ice. But   it   was   so   high! It   dwarfed   the   hills. Clouds   shrouded   its’   top. It   might   well   have   gone   up   forever.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Arcturoha.”   a   lovely   voice   nearby   caught   his   ear. Forest   turned   and   saw   two   more   static   shapes   drifting   on   by   him,   one   graceful   and   gorgeous   with   silver   hair,   the   other   a   lend   of   such   majesty   and   nobility   Forest   knew   at   once   who   he   was:   Arcturus,   the   strange   sad   lord   of   the   court   of   the   Stars. Forest   heard   Travel’s   voice   nearby   gasp   and   exclaim,   “That’s   the   pizzeria   owner!”   and   Lara   say   severely,   “No,   that   is   Sophia.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest’s   attention   instantly   riveted   on   the   starmaiden. She   was   exactly   like   what   he   had   fancied   from   the   description   Lara   had   given   of   her,   as   well   as   Hunter   Light. She   was   young,   he   knew   somehow;   young   and   merry,   while   her   lover   was   burdened   with   gloom. He   had   long   stern   features,   the   forehead   wrinkled   with   worry   and   care;   yet   he   was   splendid   of   beauty.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Arcturoha,   what   dims   thy   face?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Sophiala,”   the   great   lord   made   answer,   “how   you   can   be   so bright   even   as you   dance   under   yonder   shadow   of   doom   is   beyond   my   illuminating.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Urwendí   will   dispel   it,   my   lord. I   do   not   fear   the   wall   of   ice.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “All   the   North   save   here   lies   crushed   and ground   beneath   it.”   he   answered. “It   reaches   now   even   to   the   middle   of   the   New   Land,   many   hundred   beams   south   of   us. Only   this   one   spot   has   the   light   of   Urwendí   kept   warm   enough   that   the   Wall   melts   faster   than   it   flows;   yet   so   swift   does   it   press   that   each   year   it   grows   closer.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Illumine   me,   Arcturoha   of   the   dim   face. Why   would   Urwendí   suffer   it   to   gather   at   all?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “My   lady   the   Sun   is   not   the   sole   power   on   the   Arda.”   he   said. “Something   resists   her. The   Lord   of   Winter   has   been   cast   from   his   throne   and   walks   the   earth. And   there   are   other   powers   as   well,   powers   we   cannot   touch   but   only   dree:   for   it   is   drawn   from   us. The   North   grew   cold. However   strong   Urwendí   shone   the   air   would   not   warm. Snow   would   not   melt. Snow   fell   constant. Summer   came   seldom. All   rain   was   snow. As   the   wheelings   built   up   so   did   the   ice,   until   it   began   to   flow;   and   though   Urwendí   shone   her   sharpest,   some   power   is   in   the   ice   and   it   does   not   cease   flowing,   even   when   the   land   sinks   beneath   it. Soon   it   will   consume   this   place,   and   spill   the   Long   Lake,   and   we   will   have   to   dance   on   the   warm   lakes   of   the   south.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Faugh.”   grimaced   Sophia. “We   do   not   shine   well   in   warmth. For   cold   were   we   made.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Yet   warm   water   is   pleasant   in   which   to   please   to   one   another,   Sophiala.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   gave   a   marvellous   laugh. “Is   that   a   shine   upon   me,   my   lord?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “It   is   what   you   make   of   it,   Sophiala. You   know   how   much   I   please   to   you.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “And   you   know   my   walls   are   ever   soft   to   you,   dear-light.”   she   said   softly,   and   their   forms   wrapped   around   each   other,   and   danced   away   upon   the   water.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Two   other   voices   came   to   his   ears. Forest   turned   his   head;   or   rather   the   scene   around   him   turned   as   if   he   had,   while   his   feet   continued   their   slow   and   endless   rise   and   fall. Two   tall   and   gleaming   figures   stood   upon   the   water,   taller   than   the   normal   forms   of   any   other   Star,   a   man   and   a   woman. Something   about   them   seemed   different   from   the   stars   dancing   around   them;   they   were   more   solid,   and   more   powerful. The   power   in   them   beat   on   Forest’s   face   like   heat   from   a   fire. Both   of   them   carried   strange   curved   bows   with   evil   points   that   shone   queerly. As   they   passed   the   dancing   stars   split   before   them,   bowing   before   reforming.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             At   first   Forest   thought   they   were   the   King   Silmo   and   the   Queen   Urwendí,   for   there   was   resemblance;   but   a   closer   look   proved   them   not. Their   words   removed   any   further   doubt.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Angar’s   craft   is   exquisite,   brother. Never   have   I   seen   such   deadly   purpose,   such   pure   grace   of   deed,   in   any   instrument. Were   these   arrows   to   strike,   even   one   so   powerful   as   our   most   precious   grandparents   would   fall   before   them.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Be   wary,   Dîanna.”   the   man   replied. “Such   words   may   be   overheard. Thou   knowest   we   are   held   in   both   honor   and   wariness   among   the   court,   being   greater   than   any   of   the   other   sons   of   the    Alarnplontông.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “As   long   as   our   parentage   remains   locked   inside   my   mother,   Artollo,   we   are   safe. Yet   would   I   greatly   desire   to   learn   my   father,   to   behold   my   sire. It   is   my   only   desire.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   cannot   enshrine   how   you   can   remain   so   free   from   pleasure,   from   even   the   desire   of   it. Do   not   your   walls   long   to   soften   when   you   walk   by   a   delicious   lifted   joyheart?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “You   disgust   me,   brother.”   Dîanna   replied   icily. “These   people   disgust   me. So   weak   they   are. A   lenna   has   but   to   touch   her   rear   and   twitch,   and   every   lend   in   sight   will   fall   over   themselves   trying   to   get   to   her. The   strength   of   virginity   is   unknown   to   them;   and,   brother,   that   is   why   I   am   stronger   than   any   of   them.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   taste   whatever   walls   are   soft   to   me,   and   I   suffer   no   dimunition   of   strength,   my   sister. Do   not   scorn   them   overmuch,   lest   they   be   stronger   than   you   deem.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “You   speak   justly,   brother,   despite   your   grossness. That   is   why   I   walk   by   you   alone   among   all   this   polluted   people. A   shadow   lies   upon   them,   a   madness   of   softness. Angar   alone   is   above   it. He   too,   he   told   me,   is   virgin   among   these   unvirgins.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   fear   Angar.”   said   Artollo. “I   fear   the   strange   laughter   in   his   eyes. I   fear   the   darkness   of   his   words.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Yet   he   alone,   he   tells   me,   possesses   the   secret   of   our   siring. Others   know   of   his   knowing,   but   he   speaks   of   it   not. Only   to   me   will   he   speak   it,   when   he   deems   the   time   right.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “And   not   to   me,   thine   own   brother?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Ah,   but   you   are   lend. I   am   lenna. Even   two   virgins   of   unlike   gender   may   find   affection,   and   I   think   he   bears   me   some.”   She   smiled.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Artollo   laughed   and   jostled   her. “One   of   these   days,   my   sister…”   he   teased. She   pursed   her   lips   and   they   moved   on,   and   were   gone   in   the   crowd.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             A   chamber   enclosed   Forest. At   least,   it   must   have   had   walls   somewhere,   but   it   was   so   filled   with   delicate   devices   and   instruments   that   they   were   completely   hidden. Clusters   of   spider-thin   wire   rotating   and   coiling   endlessly   among   loops   of   glowing   energy,   implements   of   many   different   metals   wrought   and   twisted   into   graceful   forms   and   pulsing   with   blue,   or   red,   or   pale   violet   light;   complicated   shapes   and   webs   of   patterns   of   gleaming   energy;   silver   stretched   in   overlapping   curls   that   radiated   power;   all   flashed   and   sparkled   from   a   hundred   shelves   and   alcoves. Jewels   and   crystals   pulsed   with   queer   lights   in   vials   of   flame. Beakers   and   goblets   of   wonderfully   twisted   glass   flashed   with   glowing   fluids. Tanks   of   metal   cast   in   beautiful   designs   simmered   over slow-rotating   coils   of   blue   power,   and   exotic   and   marvelous   smells   rose   with   the   steam.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar,   the   Dark   Star,   of   the   Nine   Planets,   straightened   up   as   Dîanna   entered. The   virgin   goddess   was   barely   shining   at   all,   her   costume   a   severe   huntress’s. Her   gleaming   gold   hair   swished   about   her   cold   proud   face. Yet   there   was   pleasure   in   her   eyes   as   they   rested   on   the   Dark   Prince;   and   he   too   seemed   glad   to   see   her.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Dîanna!”   he   greeted. “Even   my   dimness   brightens   at   your   approach.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Angar.”   she   said,   almost   tenderly. They   placed   hands   on   each   other’s   shoulders   and   then   dropped   them. “I   had   need   of   clean   company.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “It   troubles   you?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “It   is   as   though   I   am   the   only   one   with   eyes   among   all   the   hosts   of   heaven.”   she   answered.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Let   us   go   where   we   can   talk   at   length,   my   child. It   is   crowded   among   the   forms   and   the   essences   I   work   upon,   and   it   is   difficult   to   speak   without   breathing   essence,   and   essence   may   corrupt   the   formative   ether.”   said   Angar. They   passed   out   a   tall   sharply-arched   door,   with   carvings   of   oblong   globes   in   chains   forming   patterns   up   the   frames,   but   instead   of   snowy   milk,   they   were   of   obsidian,   gleaming   and   black   and   faintly   transparent. The   door   was   of   black   metal,   the   sharp   sweeps   of   the   inlayings   pure   silver   brilliant   against   the   blackness,   and   the   knob   was   wrought   and   fashioned   like   a   frost-flower   taken   on   dimensional   roundness. He   led   her   up   a   twisting   flight   of   narrow   and   beautiful   steps   in   a   multiarched   passage,   each   arch   rising   from   each   step,   the   sharp   narrow   vaults   a   gleaming   black,   the   edges   of   the   groins   a   frosty   blue-white,   and   from   them   snowflake-patterns   spread   a   little   way   into   the   black   vaults. They   came   out   into   a   lofty   room,   with   pillars   wrought   like   severe   and   stony   trees   rising   in   sharp   and   sudden   sweeps   of   bole   along   the   sides,   but   spreading   out   in   networks   of   ribs. The   trees were   black,   and   the   vaults   were   black   fading   into   maroon,   and   the   ribs   were   purple   fading   into   rose. Severe   statues   stood   in   ranks   down   the   hall,   grim   figures   in   strange   sharp-fashioned   armour,   hands   resting   on   terrible   implements,   their   features   frowning   and   stern. Eyes   of   black   jewels   gazed   coldly   down   upon   the   two   stars. They   were   fashioned   of   deep   blue   crystal,   fading   to   black   in   every   hollow,   like   nighttime   ice.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">   “I   am   but   one   thousand   wheels   of   age,   a   mere   child   among   them.”   said   the   woman. “The   Sun   and   Moon   are   troubled   too,   but   they   do   nothing,   they   tend   their   ships   and   seldom   hold   court. The   North   is   held   by   grinding   ice,   and   not   even   the   Fell   is   free   of   it. The   Road   has   not   been   able   to   breach   it   for   a   full   Age. Arda   wanders   amid   the   Void,   far   from   her   destined   plane,   and   the   Warden   is   afraid. What   will   happen,   Angar? Will   we   be   smashed   by   some   unseen   cosmic   force   if   we   wander   from   our   place?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   caressed   her   chin. In   his   strange   eyes   there   was   only   concern   and   a   distant   sadness. “I   have   walked   where   have   few   others,”   he   said   slowly,   “and   I   know   the   Voids   are   not   wholly   so. I   think   what   the   Warden   fears   is   that   Arda   may   wander   overclose   to   the   Walls   of   the   World. But   they   are   so   far   distant   that   the   fastest   Star   could   fly   an   age   ere   he   reached   them. The   Warden   is   old,   and   too   accustomed   to   deep   thought. The   danger   he   fears   is   not   the   danger   that   looms.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Then   what   is   the   danger,   Angar?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   considered   her   for   some   time,   and   the   statues   considered   her,   also,   the   weird   weapons   in   their   hands   hollow   blue   and   edged   with   black. “Children   vanish.”   he   whispered. “Maidens   disappear. So   many   new   Star-infants   are   born,   little   is   noticed   if   they   are   seen   no   more. Even   mothers,   perhaps;   every   lenna   is   so   soft   in   this   Shadow   they   bear   children   almost   every   other   month,   and   you   know   our   children   are   wise   almost   from   birth,   unlike   the   helpless   earthwalkers. But   I   see   it;   and   those   with   eyes,   like   Arcturo   and   thyself,   and   even   the   Sun   and   Moon,   see   it. Even   thy   lusty   brother   sees   it. Some   evil   stalks   among   us,   maddening   us,   intent,   we   fear,   upon   consuming   the   host   of   heaven.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “What   can   we   do? Thou   knowest   our   curse. None   of   us   dare   fight,   for   fear   of   incurring   it.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   smiled   darkly. “So   they   speak   aloud,   to   all   save   those   they   think   they   trust. No   one   dares   to   speak   the   hidden   truth   that   everyone   knows,   for   no   one   knows   the   others   know   it. To   each   it   seems   secret   and   held   by   himself   alone. No   one   believes   in   the   curse,   Dîanna.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “But   it   is   true,”   she   said   earnestly,   “it   is   no   lie. I   feel   it   inside   me.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   laughed. So   dark   and   bitter   was   the   sound   that   she   started   back. Strange   echoes   murmered   along   the   cruel   edges   of   the   sharp   vaults   over   her   head,   and   the   statues   themselves   had   a   glint   in   their   black   eyes   as   if   they   too   were   laughing. Queer   dark   green   gleams   appeared   in   the   hollows   of   the   black   boles. “The   curse   is   not,   as   thy   silly   sires   teach,   a   spiritual   doom   imposed   by   the   Gods   and   enforced   by   the   Gods. It   is   a   doom   wrought   into   our   natures   and   wound   into   our   power,   triggered   by   commission   of   combat. And   as   it   is   a   thing   of   nature,   so   it   can   be    circumvented   by   nature.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “You   surely   deny   not   the   Gemini   twins? I   saw   their   ruins,   Angar. Ere   the   Sun   and   Moon   were   wrought,   while   Silmo   and   Urwendí   were   still   tending   the   Two   Trees,   they   defied   the   curse   and   attacked   the   Rider   of   the   Darkness   himself   as   he   stalked   south   in   search   of   the   Spider. He   never   felt   them,   never   knew   they   were   there. As   they   laid   into   him   their   power   backfired,   exploded   their   hearts;   they   transformed   into   gas,   into   stones   drifting   about   the   airs   until   they   fell   as   stars   and   smote   the   earth,   to   serve   as   ores   of   power   for   the   forging   of   fell   swords;   and   the   Sun   and   Moon   ordained   the   creation   of   a   new   constellation   in   their   honor. None   were   so   justified   as   them;   yet   the   curse   smote   them   down   without   regard   for   right   or   wrong.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   deny   them   not. I   am   older   than   you,   lenilli. I   walked   the   heavens   when   the   Sun   and   Moon   were   fresh   in   matrimony. I   have   seen   the   symbols   of   the   5th   Arcade,   and   they   it   was   that   gave   to   me   the   key   I   needed. And   I   have   discovered,   not   only   the   method   of   the   curse,   but   the   nature   of   it.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “What   are   you   saying?”   whispered   Dîanna.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   paused   at   a   great   window;   the   sharp   arches   were   double-spired,   a   spire   at   each   corner,   like   the   edge   of   a   shrine,   and   the   frames   were   more   severe   in   shape,   wrought   of   black   metal   rising   in   vertical   and   harsh   forms,   and   the   glass   was   stained   in   hues   of   dark   red   and   dark   purple   and   deep   blackish-blue. Seen   through   these   the   crystal   city   looked   weird,   diseased,   as   if   under   a   shadow   of   lurid   darkness   that   corrupted   every   color. “They   walk   in   the   heavens,   and   they   comprehend   them   not;   they   are   gods   among   creation,   and   they   pay   it   no   attention. So   lofty   is   our   race   that   the   mere   transport   of   our   beauty   as   we   sing   from   the   heavens   is   enough   to   starstrike   the   hearts   of   hearing   mortals;   and   yet   were   they   to   overhear   our   words   or   walk   unstricken   down   our   airy   streets,   so   appalled   would   they   be   that   they   would   despise   us   as   beasts. How   strange,   that   the   highest   should   be   lower   than   the   slimeborn   Men   themselves   with   all   their   smallness,   and   that   the   savages   in   their   skins   are   wiser   than   the   Stars.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             In   the   eerie   light   that   filled   the   sad   hall   from   the   clear   panes   of   the   stained   windows,   Diana   seemed   wrought   of   snow   and   frost,   her   white   marble   flesh   and   her   fair   but   severe   features   pale   against   the   dark   blues   and   black-greens   of   her   costume. She   pulled   her   dark   red   mantle   closer   about   her. Her   brilliant   eyes,   pale   grey   and   silvery,   stared,   troubled,   at   her   uncle   as   he   turned   from   the   window. Among   the   carven   trees   it   seemed   to   Forest   that   they   stood   both   in   a   wood   and   not,   as   if   this   crystal   maiden   was   half   earth   as   well   as   half   heaven.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Come,”   said   Angar   as   he   went   back   down   the   hall. “It   is   time,   I   deem,   to   display   what   I   have   darkened   to   you,   and   illumine   the   subject   of   my   murmerings.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Your   words   are   dark   and   strange   in   my   ears,   fair   uncle,   and   fill   me   with   disquiet. What   manner   of   light   are   you   shedding   this   time?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   turned   to   his   devices,   cords   of   power   lancing   from   his   fingers   as   he   manipulated   them. “If   a   power   is   natural,   nature   can   oppose   it. All   that   is   natural   has   a   counter   to   it   in   nature. It   is   a   mere   task   of   isolating   that   counter,   from   isolating   that   effect   I   wish   to   counter.”   He   held   up   a   dark   beaker. Threads   of   scarlet   fire   twisted   in   its’   depths. “This   is   the   essence   of   our   curse. I   distilled   it   from   my   own   body   and   my   own   power. Once   separate   from   me,   I   could   study   it.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   raised   another   flask,   twisted   into   so   many   knots   it   defied   the   nature   of   glass. A   net   of   threads   of   power   encompassed   it,   and   crystals   were   strung   on   the   threads. It   made   a   sweet   but   faintly   deadly   hum. The   contents   glowed   a   beautiful   deep   blue.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “And   this   is   the   counter   to   it.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             For   a   long   time   Dîanna   gazed   at   the   blue   beaker,   as   at   a   treasure   beyond   price. “But,   Angaroha,”   she   whispered,   “have   you   an   idea   of   what   this   means?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   did   not   see   the   slight   twitch   of   mockery   on   Angar’s   lips,   but   Forest   did,   and   a   cold   fear   crept   into   him. “The   problem,   my   dear,”   he   said   softly,   “is   that   I   am   not   the   only   one   who   has   found   this   secret.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   gazed   at   him   with   wise   and   fearful   eyes.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Whoever   be   the   unseen   evil   among   us,   he   too   saw   the   symbol,   and   deduced   as   I   did. For   he   is,   I   fear,   far   more   cunning   than   I. Than   any   Star. Perhaps   even   than   the   noble   spirits   my   sires   were   in   their   beginning. And   he   has   spread   the   knowledge   abroad.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   mockery   was   buried   as   if   it   had   never   been,   and   in   his   eyes   there   was   only   grave   concern. “Everyone   knows   about   this   flask,   Diannala. And,   I   fear,   everyone   has   a   similar   flask   concealed   in   their   house.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “What   does   it   do?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   pushed   back   a   ruby   hovering   above   the   end   of   the   flask. “You   do   not   drink   it. You   enter   it,   until   it   soaks   into   you. I   wanted   to   wait   before   I   did   it   myself,   Diannala. I   wanted   to   do   it   with   you.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Must   we   enter   alone,   or   together?”   said   Dîanna   in   a   hard   voice.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “We   may   enter   together,   but   there   are   conditions. Remember,   this   vial   is   not   only   for   our   bodies,   but   our   power   as   well. There   are   ceremonies   to   do.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Let   us   do   them.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   nodded. “Doff   then   thy   vesture,   lovely   Diana,   and   let   us   stand   naked   in   the   rays   of   the   flask.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             The   clothing   of   Diana   whisked   off   of   her   and   fell   on   the   floor. Her   gleaming   skin   shed   a   soft   light. She   had   changed   her   shape   so   that   her   private   areas   were   concealed,   and   though   graceful   of   figure   she   was   no   more   exposed   than   a   woman   in   a   swimsuit. Angar   dropped   his   robes,   revealing   a   similar   change   in   him. The   flask   hovered   by   itself,   and   the   hum   increased. The   blue   light   coming   from   it   meshed   with   the   faint   silvery   glow   of   the   flesh   of   the   stars,   and   the   eerie   laboratory   sparkled   in   strange   black   and   purple   shadows,   and   dark   red   lights   flickered   in   the   devices.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “We   must   each   be   wrapped   around   the   other   until   our   hearts   beat   together.”   murmered   Angar. Diana   looked   both   startled   and   pleased,   and   their   limbs   flowed   slowly   around   each   other,   sliding   along   the   other’s   skin. Angar   made   no   sound,   and   in   his   eyes   was   a   cold   sardonic   light;   but   Diana   gasped   with   pleasure,   for   she   had   never   been   touched,   and   Forest   saw   little   gleams   of   power   coming   from   Angar   where   his   skin   slid   along   hers:   he   was   arousing   her. Forest   felt   both   entranced   and   slightly   sickened:   it   was   like   watching   a   python   eat. Soon   their   separate   shapes   were   no   longer   discernible,   for   they   had   so   flowed   over   and   around   each   other   that   they   formed   one   figure.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Now   we   must   pour   ourselves   into   the   flask.”   said   Angar’s   voice. “It   is   wonderful,   is   it   not,   Diannala?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Oh,   Angaroha!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             They   elongated,   pouring   in   a   single   smooth   stream   through   the   air,   funnelling   into   the   flask. The   blue   fluid   sparkled   and   boiled. The   contents   churned.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Somehow   Forest   knew   it   was   much   later. The   flask   was   empty   and   the   hum   had   ceased. Two   figures   lay   on   the   floor,   dripping   with   blue   water:   they   were   both   naked,   and   this   time   their   parts   were   not   hidden. Forest   felt   nothing   from   the   sight,   only   a   queer   remoteness:   the   Road   was   protecting   him. Angar   slowly   finished   pulling   himself   out   of   Diana,   leaving   her   limp   and   drugged   with   pleasure   upon   the   floor. There   was   only   a   cold   contempt,   a   sort   of   lofty   disgust,   in   his   eyes. When   he   spoke   his   lips   did   not   move,   and   his   voice   was   a   shock:   deep,   grinding   and   rough,   the   voice   of   Chaos.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;">''<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Thus   even   your   virginity   is   rendered   a   sham,   O   mighty   Diana,   whose   walls   are   hard   as   stone   and   who   stands   in   her   own   strength. Thy   heart   may   still   be   virgin,   for   I   had   to   overpower   her   with   pleasure. How   I   hate   giving   delight. But   I   will   feed   on   her   pain,   on   her   torment;   oh   yes,   she   will   suffer   for   daring   to   stay   chaste.” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             He   kicked   her   with   one   bare   foot;   she   moaned   with   pleasure   and   flopped   limply   on   her   back. He   rolled   his   eyes   in   disgust''. “Why   the   Foefather   would   pollute   the   pure   Theme   with   such   despicable   delights,   I   cannot   comprehend. I   wanted   a   Music   clean   of   life. I   had   such   wonderful   ideas. He   countered   me   by   poisoning   the   Music   with   pleasure;   and   now   I,   a   spirit,   must   wriggle   in   the   mud   with   the   other   swine.” ''

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             A   bolt   of   dark   power   came   from   one   fist. Diana   contorted,   screaming   with   pain. Angar   smiled   hideously   as   his   robes   flew   back   upon   him. “Wake   up,   lenilli.   It   is   time   for   the   haughty   princess   to   learn   what   a   monster   she   really   is.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Diana   pulled   herself   to   a   seat,   shivering,   arms   wrapped   protectively   around   her. Tenderly   Angar   draped   her   hunting   garb   over   her   as   she   shapeshifted   into   it. His   eyes   shone   now   only   with   concern.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Are   you   all   right?”   he   asked.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “That   was….did   that   happen? What   was   that?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “The   purifying   of   your   entire   nature   can   be   a…very   ecstatic   experience.”   he   replied. “I   am   told   it   is   a   height   of   pleasure   reached   only   during   love. Now   I   have   felt   it,   I   know   it   is   more.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   am   grateful   to   you,   Angaroha. Can   it   only   be   felt   once?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Only   once.”   he   agreed. “But   we   can   enjoy   the   shining   on   each   other   as   often   as   we   wish.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “We   are   virgin,   Angaroha.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Yet   you   love   me,   do   you   not,   Dianala? I   see   it   in   the   light   your   eyes   bear   when   they   rest   on   me. See   it   reflected   in   mine. I   love   thee   also,   lovely   one.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “You   are   uncle,   not   cousin. Even   in   the   madness   of   the   Shadow,   is   not   that   forbidden?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Angar   sighed. They   stood,   hands   on   each   other’s   shoulders,   their   heads   resting   brow   to   brow. “When   I   flowed   around   you,   I   felt   your   love. Do   not   deny   it. There   is   not   the   consanguinity   among   the   Stars   as   there   is   among   humans;   uncles   have   entered   the   walls   of   nieces,   and   nieces   were   soft   to   them. Of   course   the   Sun   and   Moon   frown   on   it,   but   in   these   days,   when   they   cannot   even   restrain   Charosa,   can   they   stop   us?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Do   not   the   children   of   incest   of   brother   and   sister,   or   son   and   mother,   grow   monstrous?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “We   are   neither. Our   love   is   not   forbidden,   though   perhaps   not   good;   we   can   be   virgin   and   still   in   love. It   is   as   well. For   it   is   not   from   incest   that   thy   children   may   be   poisoned.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Then   from   what?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “It   is   because   of   whom   thy   father   was.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “You   have   spoken   darkly   of   my   sire   before,   Angar. Perhaps   you   should   cease   to   darken   it   longer.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Perhaps.”   he   sighed. “For   long   I   forbore,   for   thou   art   fair,   and   I   love   thee,   but   I   can   hold   it   from   thee   no   longer.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             There   was   only   concerned   pity   in   the   Dark   Star’s   eyes. “I   came   upon   them,   for   I   was   hunting   my   sister   on   an   errand   of   summons. I   saw   him   first,   so   big   that   as   he   writhed   he   knocked   over   trees;   I   saw   her   next,   as   big   as   he,   and she   was   glad   to   be   under   him.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Thy   father   is   a   Frost-giant.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Cold   night   air   struck   Forest,   deep   with   bitter   frost. He   breathed   in   sharply   and   looked   up. The   hemlocks   of   Temple   Fell   loomed   around   him,   their   dark   green   overlaid   with   the   faint   glow,   and   the   Road   shone   a   clear   blue-white,   and   so   did   the   ground,   as   if   it   was   spreading. He   and   the   others   stood   in   a   glade,   and   the   Second   Altarstone   lay   rounded   and   silvery   on   their   right. Arheled   turned   to   them.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Thus   it   began.”   he   said   softly.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             They   moved   forward,   and   as   they   took   their   second   step   the   Fell   again   faded   from   their   sight.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Someone   was   running   in   front   of   them.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Forest   saw   her,   faintly   shining,   dashing   through   the   dense   pine   forest. She   smashed   into   trees,   and   heeded   them   not. She   was   whipped   by   branches,   and   seemed   to   feel   them   not. Wild   wailing   was   carried   on   the   wind. All   around   the   deep   dark   pines   creaked   and   groaned   with   the   cold   air. Their   ancient   green,   more   black   than   pine-hued,   glistened   with   frost;   the   night   was   far   below   zero. Frost   furred   every   twig   of   the   lower   limbs,   dark   and   dead   in   prickly   beards   of   twigs   that   had   expired   from   the   oppressive   shadow   of   the   great   canopies   above   them. The   huge   trees   were   knarled   and   writhen,   so   contorted   and   stooped   as   to   be   but   half   the   height   of   normal   trees;   Forest   knew   instantly   that   they   never   grew,   it   was   so   cold   here   in   the   summer   that   they   could   only   grow   in   centimeters   and   not   even   in   inches. Soon   it   would   be   too   cold   for   even   these   harsh   trees   to   root,   and   their   great   dead   stems   would   rise   out   of   the   ever-caking   snow like   bones.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   burst   out   of   the   forest   and   stopped. A   cliff,   dirty,   pale,   gleaming   thick   blue   and   white   from   within,   towered   to   the   stars. Vast   fissures   split   it,   and   a   skin   of   dirt   lay   upon   it,   gathered   in   hollows   and   leaving   bare   large   white patches;   the   edges   of   the   fractures   were   dark   brown   and   dirty   yellow,   like   the   blades   of   some   jagged   sword,   though   farther   in   were   still   greyish-white. Underneath   it   trees   jutted,   leaning   and   cracked,   branches   bending   up   as   if   stepped   on,   as   if   the   cliff   had   crunched   them   up. As   if   it   was   moving.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   smote   the   ice   with   her   fist. Ice   flew   up   in   mist   and   splinters,   raining   around   her. Great   gouges   of   dirty   yellow   and   stained   blue   and   tarnished   white   appeared   at   the   blasting   force   of   her   blows,   and   ice   slivers   filled   the   air   around   her   in   clouds   of   frost. Snow   condensed   upon   the   trees,   snow   and   a   prickly   greyish-silver   hoar. Still   she   beat   mindlessly   on   the   ice,   her   weeping   both   infantile   and   awful   to   behold.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Sister!”   cried   a   tall   beautiful   man,   white   and   gleaming,   running   up   behind   her. “At   last   I   find   you! Why   do   you   lament?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Why?”   the   woman   sobbed,   lifting   a   ravaged   face   to   him. “I   am   betrayed! I   am   destroyed!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “How?”   the   man   shouted,   seizing   her   by   the   wrists. The   moon   shone,   cold   and   sad,   far   above,   seeming   more   than   ever   like   a mighty   silver   face;   and   Forest   observed   at   once   it   was   not   our   moon,   for   it   had   no   pocked   craters   or   splotched   meres,   though   marked   it   was   and   in   much   the   same   places:   the   battered   hull   of   the   Ship   of   the   Moon. “Who? What   has   he   done?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   collapsed   against   him,   sobbing   once   more. “I   am   with   child,   Artollo!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Indeed?”   he   drawled. “Is   a   sudden   softening   of   thy   walls   such   cause for   lamentation?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Thou   art   blind. Thou   knowest   nothing.    I   was   virgin!   Proud   I   walked   among   the   madness,   myself   pure,   myself   unstained. Proud   I   walked,   and   pure   I   loved,   mine   own   uncle   Angar   cursed. I   thought   him   like   me,   unlike   all   others;   my   love   returned,   chaste   were   we. Then   he   took   me   into   the   flask. Pleasure   engulfed   me,   a   maid   unknowing. And   now   I   am   with   child,   and   the   power   I   sense   in   him   is   the   power   of   Angar!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Pleasure?”   frowned   Artollo. “Why   would   that   be? I   too   entered   the   flask. I   felt   only   saturated,   in   power   as   in   body.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             She   looked   at   him   with   growing   fury. “It   is   worse   than   I   feared,   then!”   she   shrieked. “All   his   holy   pledges,   his   chaste   smiles,   designed   to   have   me,   meant   to   enter   me! I   had   thought   perhaps   he   did   so   in   weakness,   in   a   moment   of   madness. Cursed   be   Angar! Angar   cursed!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “But   why   are   you   so   tormented,   sister? Now   you   will   be   welcomed   by   all,   will   have   our   delights;   you   can   enjoy   yourself   at   last.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   am   not   like   them,   brother. I   am   monster-blooded,   and   a   monster   moves   in   me. Angar   told   me   who   my   father   is.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “Who,   then?”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Diana   shoved   her   face   forward   until   it   was   almost   close   enough   to   bite,   and   she   looked   like   she   wanted   to. “A   Frost-giant.”   she   hissed. ''   “Do   you   ken   that? A   Star   has   laid   with   a   Frost-giant!''”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             From   the   dawning   horror   in   Artollo’s   eyes,   it   was   clear   the   gravity   of   things   had   at   last   registered   with   him. “Why   now?”   he   whispered. “Why   not   reveal   it   when   I   was   first   old   enough   to   look   after   the   lennar? Why   wait   near   a   thousand   wheelings,   when   the   babes   that   I   have   sired   are   in   the   number   of   legion? I   would   have   made   my   seed   sterile;   every   Star   knows   how   to   do   that. You   are   big   with   one   monster…I   have   fathered   thousands.”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             “I   am   monster-blooded,   monster-hearted.”   lamented   Diana. “I   am   born   of   Planet   and   Moon   and   Sun;   the   virgin   goddess,   virgin   huntress. A   sham   my   pride,   my   body   mocks   me;   innocent   I   am,   but   in   flesh   guilty!”

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Artollo   had   left. Diana   slumped   against   the   ice   wall. The   storm   of   her   weeping   was   exhausted. Far   above   her   the   iron   cliff   soared,   a   mile   high,   a   mountain   as   huge   as   any   that   stand   of   stone. The   chill   rock   of   brittle   crystal,   so   different   in   its’   polluted   compaction   and   earthen   distortion   from   the   clear   crystal   of   the   houses   of   the   stars,   lay   behind   her,   silent   and   ominous,   a   gathered   menance   that   moved   with   inifestimable   slowness   forwards,   a   few   inches   a   year,   or   a   few   feet   sometimes. It   lay   there,   silent   and   filled   with   power,   a   power   that   did   nothing   and   a   power   that   did   not   act,   and   yet   which,   in   its’   iron   silence,   was   more   terrible   than   any   blast   of   thunder.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Slowly   a   colder   purpose   awoke   in   her   eyes. She   put   both   hands   on   her   belly. Cloth   flew   aside,   showing   a   swelling   expanse   of   beautiful   marbleine   skin. Her   gleaming   white   flesh   drew   back. A   hole   opened   in   her   womb   like   a   hideous   mouth   as   she   altered   her   shape. Reaching   within   she   seized   something. A   cry   of   pain   broke   out   of   her. Blood   spurted   from   the   hole. Out   came   her   hands,   painted   gory,   and   held   in   them   a   tiny   infant,   red   and   wrinkled   and   helpless.

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">             Red   light   burst   in   Diana’s   eyes. Her   grip   tightened. The   infant   screamed. Blood   burst   up,   flying   in   awful   dark   splashes   upon   the   grim   ice:   the   frozen   face   hissed   at   the   heat,   but   did   not   melt,   and   the   blue   light   cast   the   scarlet   of   life   into   a   darkness   of   purple. Above   her   the   trees   drew   in,   leaning   close,   an   awful   eagerness   in   their   motionless   limbs   and   their   featureless   faces. Above   her   the   moon   shone,   sad   as   silver   tears,   and   the   faint   earthfreed   singing   of   the   crystal   stars   echoed   dim   and   faint   around   her. Hate   in   her   eyes,   she   smote   the   ground,   blasting   a   hole. Into   the   pit   she   hurled   her   child,   and   with   a   sweep   of   her   hand   the   dirt   was   returned.

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