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“Rest in safety is yours at the asking,” said the man with exquisite courtesy, and Melitta sighed relief; they were among people of familiar ways. “Will you wait in the gate house, my lord and
 
damisela
 
? I will have your horses looked to. I cannot disturb the Lord of Aldaran without his consent, but if you are his kinfolk, I am sure you need not wait long. I am at your service, and there is food for all travellers if you are in need of it.”

Waiting in the bare, small gate house, Storn smiled briefly at Melitta; “Aldaran keeps the old ways ofcourtesy to strangers, whatever else may have befallen his household.”

In an almost unbelievably brief time (Storn wondered if some signaling device had been used, for therehardly seemed time for a messenger to come and go to the castle on the heights) the guard returned: “The Lady Desideria bids me conduct you to the main house and make you welcome, Lord and Lady; andwhen you are rested and refreshed she will receive you.”

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Storn murmured to Melitta, as they climbed the path and the steps leading upward, “I have no idea whothe Lady Desideria is. Old Kermiac would hardly have married; I suspect it is one of his son’s wives.”

But the young woman who greeted them was no man’s wife. She could hardly have been more thanfifteen years old. She was a striking red-haired beauty whose poise and self-confidence made Melitta feelshy, countrified, and ill at ease.

“I am Desideria Leynier,” she said. “My foster mother and my guardian are not at home; they will return tomorrow and give you a proper welcome.” She came and took Melitta’s hands in her own, searching her face with gentle eyes.“Poor child, you look tired almost to death; a night’s sleep before you face your hosts will do you good; and you too, Master, you must rest and not stand on ceremony. The Storns are unknown to me but not to my household. I give you welcome.”

Storn returned thanks, but Melitta was not listening to the formal words. In the presence of this queerlyself-possessed child, she sensed something more than poise; an awareness, an inner strength, and thetouch of an uncannily developed sensitivity, so far beyond her own as to make her feel like a child. Shemade a deep reverence. “
 
Vai leronis
,” she whispered, using the ancient word for a sorceress wise in theold skills.

Desideria smiled merrily. “Why, no,” she said. “Only one, perhaps, who has a little knowledge of the oldcrafts—and if I read rightly, child, you are no stranger to them! But we can talk of that another time, Iwished only to give you welcome in my foster parents’ name.” She summoned a servant to conduct them,and herself went before them along the long halls. It was evidently a busy hour before the evening meal;people went back and forth in the halls, including some tall thin men whose presence and careless regardmade Storn draw breath and clamp his fingers hard on Melitta’s arm.

“There are Terrans here—this deep in the mountains,” he whispered, “what in the name of Zandru’s hells is going on here at Aldaran? Have we walked from the trap to the cook pot? I would not believe that any Terran alive had ever come into these mountains. And the girl is a telepath—Melitta, keep your wits about you!”

Desideria turned Storn over to a servant and conducted Melitta into a small room at the top of a tower,one of four tiny pie-shaped rooms on that level. “I am sorry the accommodations are not moreluxurious,” she apologized, “but there are a great many of us here. I will send you wash water, and amaid to dress you, and although you would be more than welcome in the hall, child, I think you would bebetter to have dinner here in your room, and go to bed at once; without rest you will be ill.”

Melitta agreed gratefully, glad that she need not face so many strangers tonight. Desideria said, “He is astrange man—your brother,” but the words held no hint of a prying question. She pressed Melitta’shands and kissed her cheek. “Now rest well,” she said in that oddly adult way, “and don’t be afraid ofanything. My sister and I are near you in the rooms across the hallway.” She went away. Left alone, Melitta took off her dirty and cold riding clothes and gratefully accepted the services of the quiet,incurious maid who came to wait on her. After bathing and eating the light, delicious food brought to her,she lay down in the soft bed and for the first time since the alarm bell had pealed Brynat’s presence at thewalls of Storn, she felt she could sleep in peace. They were safe.

Where is Storn? Is he, too, enjoying the luxury of safety and rest? Surely he must be mistakenabout Terrans here. And it’s surely strange
—
 
to find a
vai leronis
 
deep in the mountains
 
.

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XII

«^»

STORN WOKE in the early light, and for a few minutes had no notion of where he might be. Aroundhim were unfamiliar airs and voices, and he lay with his eyes closed, trying to orient himself, hearingfootsteps ringing on stone, the sound of animals calling out for food, and strange voices rising and falling. They were peaceful morning sounds, not the sounds of a home in the hands of conquerors, and thenmemory flooded back and he knew he was in Castle Aldaran. He opened his eyes.

A curious apprehension lay on him, he did not know why. He began to wonder how long he could keepthe upper hands over Barron—if it would be long enough to carry through his aims before he lost holdand found himself back in his own body, lying helpless in trance, guarded against personal attack, but stillunable to do anything for his family and his people. If that happened, he had no illusions about whatwould happen, sooner or later. Barron would go his own way, confused by a period of amnesia orperhaps false memories—Storn really did not know what happened to a man in Barron’s position—and Melitta would be left alone without anyone. He would never know what happened to her in that case, hesupposed.

And he did not want to return to his own body, blinded and helplessly imprisoned. If he did, what wouldhappen to Barron, an Earthman alone in these strange mountains? For the very sake of his victim, he mustmaintain hold at all costs.

If there
 
were
 
Terrans at Castle Aldaran, what could it mean? Sick with unanswered and unanswerablequestions, he flung back the covers and went to the window. Whatever happened in the end, he wouldenjoy these few days of sight out of a lifetime in darkness. Even if these days were his last.

From the window he looked down at the commotion in the courtyard. Men were going to and fro withan indefinable sense of purposiveness; there were Terrans among them, a few even in the leather dress ofthe spaceports—
 
how do I know that when I see it, never having been there
?—and after he hadwatched a while there was a stir among the men. One man and two uniformed attendants rode throughthe gate.

The man was tall, dark-bearded, well past middle age, and had an air of authority which reminded Stornvaguely of Valdir, although this man was clearly one of the mountain people. Storn realized from thehubbub surrounding him that he must be looking down at the arrival of the Lord of Aldaran. In a fewhours he must face this man and ask for his help. Deep depression lay on Storn, for no discerniblereason. Could even a whole army, if Aldaran were willing to put it at his disposal (and why should he?)dislodge Brynat? Storn Castle had been besieged before and it had never even been necessary to defendit.
 
Now that Brynat holds it, could anyone retake it? Army? We would need a god
 
.

The scene below melted away and Storn seemed to see within himself the great chained shape of Sharra, flame-crowned, golden-chained, beautiful and awesome. It was the vision he had seen when helay helpless and blind behind the magnetic force-field at

Storn Castle, his body tranced, his mind free ranging time and space in search of help from
 
somewhere
 
.

Sharra again! What does the vision mean?

Melitta came for him late in the forenoon with Desideria, who told them that her guardian was ready toreceive them. As he followed the girls down the long corridors, stairs and hallways, Storn was quietly

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evaluating the poise, the strength and the obvious telepathic awareness of this very young girl, and coming up with a disquieting answer. She must be a Keeper—one of the young girls trained from infancy to work with the old matrix crystals and screens which would have made the few things at Storn Castle look like children’s toys. But, overhearing snatches of conversation between them— Desideria seemed to have taken a fancy to Melitta, and talked to her freely—he gathered that there were four of them. In the old days a matrix circle, isolated from the world and giving all their time to it, had barely managed to train one Keeper in about ten years. If Aldaran had managed to train four in the few years since Storn had been here last, what was going on in this place?

But when he asked her a random question, using the polite form of address,
 
leronis
 
, Desideria gave hima merry smile and shook her head. “No, my friend, I am not a
 
leronis
 
; my guardian does not like theword and its connotations of sorcery. I have been trained in a skill which anyone can learn who is a goodtelepath, just as anyone who is strong and fit enough can learn hawking or riding. Our world hasaccepted foolish ideas like sorcery for all too many years. Call me, if you like, a matrix technician. Mysisters and I have learned this skill, far better than most; but there is no need to look at me with reverencebecause I have learned well!”

She went on looking at him with a girlish, ingenuous smile, then suddenly shivered, flushed and droppedher eyes. When she spoke again it was to Melitta, almost pointedly ignoring Storn.

He thought with a certain grimness,
 
Training or not, she is still conventional in the old ways
 
—
 
and Iowe my life to that. If she were old enough to look at it that way
—
 
a trained telepath of hercaliber need only look at me to know what I have done. Only the convention that girls of her agemay not initiate any contact with men other than their blood kin, has saved me so far
.

The thought was strangely poignant—that this young girl of his mountain people, of his own kind andcaste, and trained in all those things which had been the major solace of his life, was so guarded againsthim—and that he dared not reach out to her, mind or body. He felt as if he could have wept. He set hislips hard and followed the girls. He did not speak again.

Aldaran received them, not in a formal audience chamber but in a small, friendly room low in the castle. He embraced Storn, calling him cousin, kissed Melitta on the forehead with a kinsman’s privilege, offeredthem wine and sweets, and made them sit beside him; then he asked what had brought them there.

“It is far too long since any of your kinsmen have visited us at Aldaran; you live as isolated at High Windward as eagles in their aerie. It has come to mind in the last year or so that I have neglected kinship’s dues and that I should ride to Storn, there is much astir in the mountains these days, and no one of our people should hold himself aloof too far; our world’s future depends on it. But more of that later, if you are interested. Tell me what brings you to Aldaran, kinsman? How can I help you?”

He listened to their story gravely, with a gradually darkening and distressful face. When they hadfinished, he spoke with deep regret.

“I am ashamed,” he said, “that I offered you no help before this, to prevent such a thing. For now it has happened, I am powerless to help you. I have kept no fighting men here for more than thirty years, Storn; I have kept peace here and tried to prevent feuds and raids rather than repelling them. We mountain people have been torn by feuds and little wars far too long; we have let ourselves go back to barbarian days.”

“I, too, had no fighting men and wanted peace,” Storn said bitterly, “and all I gained from it was

Brynat’s men at my outworks.”

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“I have Terran guards here and they are armed with off-world weapons,” Aldaran said. “Would-be

invaders knew enough, after a time or two, to let us alone.”

“With—weapons? Force weapons? But what of the Compact?” Melitta gasped in genuine horror. The

law which banned, on this world, any weapon beyond the arm’s reach of the wielder, was even more

reverenced than the taboo against meddling with the mind. Aldaran said quietly, “That law has delivered