charm truly has a god, then help me now!” she prayed
silently. A slow tingling sensation rose in the fingers that
held the charm. It was so slight that she wasn’t certain she’d
felt it. She waited expectantly. Nothing happened. She
suddenly felt foolish and angry with herself for even testing
the charm.
Forcing herself to relax, she pressed against him,
though his hot breath on her face sickened her.
“That’s better,” Hollow-sky whispered, squeezing her
tighter. “Oh, Goldmoon, you’ll get used to the idea. You’ll
discover that I’m more of a man than . . . than that shepherd
there.” He motioned at the still figure behind his back and
moved his face close to hers. “You are so beautiful,” he
murmured, and then he kissed her again, even more
intimately than before.
As Hollow-sky kissed her, she was astonished to detect
movement in Riverwind’s sleeping-bag. His head poked
above the edge, two fingers pressed against his lips in a
gesture for silence.
She roughly pushed Hollow-sky back. He scowled and
thrust the dagger toward her threateningly, but it never
reached the skin. The forever charm gleamed brilliantly,
and a single arc of lightning leaped from it and flashed
down the dagger, causing Hollow-sky to yelp in pain and
drop the weapon. Goldmoon gasped in wonder.
As Hollow-sky stared disbelievingly at his burned hand,
Riverwind threw back his bedclothes and stood.
The man reputedly raised by leopards stalked his prey so
silently that Hollow-sky was totally unaware of him until
Riverwind’s two fists landed on his neck. Hollow-sky
stumbled forward, stunned, letting go his grip on
Goldmoon, who fell back away from him.
The shepherd could have drawn his sword and finished
Loreman’s son before he ever knew what hit him, but
instead Riverwind slid his sparring pole off his back and
waited for the other man to recover.
Hollow-sky turned about, his eyes widening with
astonishment. “How – ?” he started to gasp.
“Draw your pole, carrion crow,” Riverwind snarled. “I
didn’t eat your drug-tainted porridge.”
Hollow-sky’s hand went for his sword, but Riverwind’s
pole lashed out. Hollow-sky cradled his injured hand in his
other already stinging hand.
“I didn’t hurt you badly. Draw your pole before I do,”
Riverwind warned.
Hollow-sky drew out his sparring pole. The two
warriors circled each other warily. Goldmoon crouched on
the grass in the pearl-gray of the predawn sky as the
echoing crack of wood shattered the silence.
The men thrust and blocked, using jabbing maneuvers
that she hadn’t seen at the games. With a sharp intake of
breath, she realized they weren’t sparring but using moves
meant only for real combat. Riverwind took a fierce jab
under the kneecap, and she heard his gasp of pain. But pain
seemed to spur the Plainsman on, for he suddenly whirled
his pole aggressively, trying to disarm his opponent.
Hollow-sky twisted his pole vertically and stopped the
twirling of Riverwind’s stick, nearly disarming the
princess’s champion.
The men were more evenly matched than Goldmoon
had thought. Hollow-sky was good. Why he had bothered to
sabotage his opponent’s poles for the contest, Goldmoon
could not understand. Is it possible he did not believe in his
own skill, or is he simply so inured to his father’s
treacheries that he just automatically cheated? she
wondered.
Goldmoon bit her lip anxiously.
The sky had taken on a faint reddish light, indicating
that the red moon, which would open the doors to the hall,
was about to rise. The dawn of the sun was brightening the
sky all about her. She could see the combatants’ faces
clearly now. Riverwind’s features were grim and
determined. Hollow-sky’s eyes were filled with bloodlust
and hatred. Goldmoon shivered, but not with cold.
Sweat trickled off the men’s bodies despite the cool
mountain air. They circled each other again, waiting for an
opening in the other’s defenses. Goldmoon’s fingers dug
into the flesh of her arms as the tension rose like the mist in
the meadow.
Suddenly, Riverwind snarled like a wild cat. The sound
mocked a real wild cat’s so accurately that it flushed a small
flock of birds from the trees. The noise of their wings
diverted Hollow-sky’s attention for just an instant, but that