‘Bring us back,’ put in Ballistar.
‘I go alone,’ said Sigarni. Ballistar was about to argue, when Taliesen cut in.
‘I agree with him,’ said Taliesen, with a rare smile. ‘Take the dwarf. He will be of use.’
Ballistar was surprised. ‘Why do you support me, wizard? I know you have no love for me.’
‘Perhaps that is why I support you,’ said Taliesen. ‘Have you brought weapons?”
‘Yes,’ said Sigarni. ‘Bows, knives and my sabre.’
‘Good. Now, if you are both ready, we should depart.’
Sigarni took a small pouch from her pack and dropped the finger-bone of Ironhand into it. Looping a thong through the pouch, she tied it around her neck.
‘What is that?’ asked Taliesen.
‘A talisman,’ she told him.
Ballistar thought he was about to speak, but Taliesen said nothing. The wizard rose. ‘When you have cleaned and stowed your pots, I will be waiting for you on the other side of the pool,’ he said, and padded out of the cave.
‘Are you sure you want to come with me, Balli?’ asked Sigarni.
‘Always,’ he said.
They found Taliesen waiting by a cliff-face some two hundred yards from Ironhand’s burial place. Sigarni had played there as a child, and she and her friends had often debated the meaning of the strange symbols carved on the rocks. The area was flat, as if smoothed by man, and deep grooves had been chiselled from the rock in the shape of a tall rectangular door. There was also evidence of an inscription, though wind and rain, snow and hail had long since eroded the greater part of it.
‘This is one of the Lesser Gateways,’ said Taliesen. ‘It does not allow movement through our time, but does serve to open time doorways to other realities. Now remember what I said. Do not drink of the water of the black river, nor eat any meat offered to you. This is vital. I knew a sorcerer once who went there and ate a little pork; it swelled inside him and ripped him apart. Yur-vale is a world of great magic, and you are strangers to it. Because of your very strangeness its power will be many times greater around you. Bear this in mind. Now, you know where you are heading?’
‘Seven miles towards the twin peaks,’ said Sigarni.
‘Good. Now my bones are freezing here, so let us begin. Are you ready?’ Sigarni nodded and Taliesen turned to Ballistar. ‘And you, dwarf? There is still time to change your mind. What awaits you is not pleasant. Your worst nightmare is beyond this Gate.’
Ballistar thought he detected a note of concern in the wizard’s voice, and felt his fears rise. ‘I will travel with Sigarni,’ he said stoutly. Reaching up, he took hold of her hand.
‘Then let it begin,’ said Taliesen. The old wizard closed his eyes and spoke softly in a language unknown to either of the Highlanders. It was soft and fluent, almost musical. Pale light flooded from the rectangular grooves in the rock face, which became translucent, and then transparent, and Sigarni found herself staring through it at a cold, grey landscape. ‘Step through quickly,’ said Taliesen. ‘It will hold for a few seconds only.’
The silver-haired woman and the dwarf stepped through the portal. Sigarni shivered as she passed through, for it was like walking through a waterfall, cold and yet not as refreshing. On the other side they found themselves standing within a circle of six tall granite stones. Sigarni swung round in time to see Taliesen fade away to nothing.
‘Well, we are here,’ she said, turning back to Ballistar. The dwarf was lying on the ground, his body twitching. ‘Balli! Are you ill?’
His body began to writhe.
And stretch ..
Dropping her bow and loosing her pack, Sigarni knelt beside him. His limbs were thrashing around, his legs jutting now from his tiny trousers. The small doeskin boots split as his feet grew. His black leather belt snapped. Sigarni moved back from him and waited. Finally the spasmodic twitching eased and she found herself gazing down at a healthy young man in torn clothes and shreded boots. Part of one boot was still around the ankle like an adornment. Ballistar groaned and sat up. ‘What happened to me?’ he asked. Then he saw his arms, full length and strong, with long, slender fingers, and his legs. He scrambled to his feet and found himself staring into Sigarni’s eyes. ‘Oh God, dear God,’ he said. ‘I’m a man!’