nodded. “Yes, Walker, I have decided to do as the dreams have
asked. I believe they were sent by Allanon, and I believe they
should be heeded. I will go to the Hadeshom. I think I made
the decision just now; I think listening to you helped me decide.
I haven’t told Coil. I don’t really know what he will do. May-
be I will end up going alone. But I will go. If for no other reason,
I will go because I think Allanon can tell me what the magic is
intended to do.”
He shook his head sadly. “I can’t be like you. Walker. I can’t
live apart from the rest of the world. I want to be able to go back
to Shady Vale. I don’t want to go away and start life over. I came
this way through Culhaven. The Dwarves who brought us are
from there. All of the prejudice and greed, the politics and wars,
all of the madness you speak about is very much in evidence
there. But unlike you I don’t want to escape it; I want to find a
way to end it! How can that happen if I simply pretend it doesn’t
exist!”
His hands tightened into fists. “You see, I keep thinking,
what if Allanon knows something that can change the way things
are? What if he can tell me something that will put an end to
the madness?”
They faced each other in the dark for a long time without
speaking, and Par thought he saw things in his uncle’s dark eyes
that he hadn’t seen since his childhood-things that whispered
of caring and need and sacrifice. Then the eyes were flat again,
expressionless, empty. Walker Boh came to his feet.
“Will you reconsider?” Par asked him quietly.
Walker regarded him silently, then walked to the pool at the
center of the clearing and stood looking down. When his fingers
snapped, Rumor materialized from out of nowhere and came
over to him.
He turned momentarily and looked back. “Good luck. Par,”
was all he said.
Then he turned, the cat beside him, and disappeared into the
night.
x
Par waited until morning to tell the others of his meeting
with Walker Boh. There did not seem to be any reason
to hurry it. Walker had made clear his intentions, and
there was nothing any of them could do about it in any case. So
Par made his way back to the cottage, surprising himself at how
easily he was able to retrace his steps, resumed his watch with-
out disturbing the others, lost himself in his thoughts, and waited
for dawn.
Reactions were mixed when he finally related his story. There
was some initial doubt as to whether he was mistaken about
what happened, but that dissipated almost at once. They made
him tell the story twice more after that, interjecting comments
and questions in equal measure as he went. Morgan was out-
raged that Walker should treat them like this, declaring that they
deserved at the very least the courtesy of a direct confrontation.
He insisted that they search the valley again, convinced that the
man must be close by and should be found and made to face
them all. Steff was more pragmatic. He was of the opinion that
Walker Boh was no different from most, preferring to stay out
of trouble when he could, avoiding situations in which trouble
would most probably result.
“It seems to me that his behavior, however irritating you
might find it, is certainly not out of character,” the Dwarf de-
clared with a shrug. “After all, you said yourselves that he came
here to escape involvement with the Races. By refusing to go to
the Hadeshom, he is simply doing what he said he would do.”
Teel, as usual, had nothing to say. Coil only said, “I wish I
could have spoken with him,” and dropped the matter.
There was no reason now to stay longer at Hearthstone, but
they decided to postpone leaving for at least another day. The
moon was still more than half full, and they had at least another
ten days left to them before they were required to be at the