will do so for some reasons of my own, and you’d best know
what they are.”
His face lowered momentarily into shadow, and the scars
seemed like strands of iron mesh pressed against his skin. ‘ ‘The
Federation has taken your homes from you, from all of you,
taken them and made them their own. Well, the Federation has
taken more than that from me. It has taken everything-my
home, my family, my past, even my present. The Federation
has destroyed everything that was and is and left me only what
might be. It is the enemy of my life, and I would do anything
to see it destroyed. Nothing I do here will accomplish that end
in my lifetime. What I do here merely serves to keep me alive
and to give me some small reason to stay that way. I have had
enough of that. I want something more.”
His face lifted, and his eyes were fierce. “If there is magic
that can be freed from time’s chains, if there are Druids yet,
ghosts or otherwise, able to wield it, then perhaps there are ways
of freeing my homeland and my people-ways that have been
kept from us all. If we discover those ways, if the knowledge of
them passes into our hands, they must be used to help my people
and my homeland.” He paused. “I’ll want your promise on
this.”
There was a long moment of silence as his listeners looked
at one another.
Then Par said softly, “I am ashamed for the Southland when
I see what has happened here. I don’t begin to understand it.
There is nothing that could justify it. If we discover anything
that will give the Dwarves back their freedom, we will put it to
use.”
“We will,” Coil echoed, and Morgan Leah nodded his
agreement as well.
Steff took a deep breath. “The possibility of being free-
just the possibility-is more than the Dwarves dare hope for
in these times.” He placed his thick hands firmly on the
table. “Then we have a bargain. I will take you to find Walker
Boh-Teel and I, for she goes where I go.” He glanced at
each of them quickly for any sign of disapproval and found
none. “It will take a day or so to gather up what we need
and to make an inquiry or two. I need not remind you, but I
will anyway, how difficult and dangerous this journey is likely
to be. Go back to Granny’s and rest. Teel will take you. When
all is in place, I will send word.”
They rose, and the Dwarf embraced Morgan, then smiled
unexpectedly and slapped him on the back. “You and I, High-
lander-let the worst that’s out there be wary!” He laughed and
the room rang with the sound of it.
Teel stood apart from them and watched with eyes like chips
of ice.
VIII
Two days passed, and they did not hear from Steff. Par
and Coil Ohmsford and Morgan Lean passed the time
at the orphanage completing some much-needed re-
pairs on the old home and helping Granny Elise and Auntie Jilt
with the children. The days were warm, lazy ones, filled with
the sounds of small voices at play. It was a different world within
the confines of the rambling house and the shaded grounds, a
world quite apart from the one that crouched begging a dozen
yards in any direction beyond the enclosing fence. There was
food here, warm beds, comfort and love. There was a sense of
security and future. There wasn’t a lot of anything, but there
was some of everything. The remainder of the city faded into a
series of unpleasant memories-the shacks, the broken old peo-
ple, the ragged children, the missing mothers and fathers, the
grime and the wear, the desperate and defeated looks, and the
sense that there was no hope. Several times. Par thought to leave
the orphanage and walk again through the city of Culhaven,
unwilling to leave without seeing once more sights he felt he
should never forget. But the old ladies discouraged it. It was
dangerous for him to walk about. He might unwittingly draw