self like a badger into its hole and became unapproachable.
Nevertheless, when it was nearing midaftemoon. Par hap-
pened on his uncle while wandering me cooler stretches of the
hills surrounding the springs. They slowed on coming together,
then stopped and stood looking at each other awkwardly.
“Do you think he will really come?” Par asked finally.
Walker’s pale features were shadowed beneath the protective
hood of his cloak, making his face difficult to read. “He will
come,” his uncle said.
Par thought a moment, then said, “I don’t know what to
expect.”
Walker shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, Par. Whatever
you choose to expect, it won’t be enough. This meeting wont
be like anything you might envision, I promise you. The Druids
have always been very good at surprises.”
“You suspect the worst,’ don’t you?”
“I suspect. . .”He trailed off without finishing.
“Magic,” said Par.
The Oder frowned.
“Druid magic-that’s what you think we will see tonight,
don’t you? I hope you are right. I hope that it sweeps and re-
sounds and that it opens all me doors that have been closed to
us and lets us see what magic can really do!”
Walker Boh’s smile, when it finally overcame his astonish-
ment, was ironic. “Some doors are better left closed,” he said
softly. ‘ ‘You would do well to remember that.”
He put his hand on his nephew’s arm for a moment, then
continued silently on his way.
The afternoon crawled toward evening. When the sun at last
completed its long journey west and began to slip beneath the
horizon, the members of the little company filtered back to the
campsite for the evening meal. Morgan was garrulous, an ob-
vious sign of nerves with him, and talked incessantly of magic
and swords and all sorts of wild happenings that Par hoped
would never be. The others were mostly silent, eating without
comment and casting watchful glances northward toward the
mountains. Teel wouldn’t eat at all, sitting off by herself in a
gathering of shadows, the mask mat covered her face like a wall
that separated her from everyone. Even Steff let her alone.
Darkness descended and the stars began to nicker into view,
a scattering here and there at first, and then the sky was filled
with mem. No moon showed itself; it was the promised time
when the sun’s pale sister wore black. Daylight’s sounds faded
and night’s remained hushed. The cooking fire crackled and
snapped in me silence as conversation lagged. One or two
smoked, and the air was filled with me pungent smell. Morgan
took out the bright length of the Sword of Leah and began to
polish it absently. Wren and Garth fed and curried the horses.
Walker moved up the trail a short distance and stood staring into
the mountains. Others sat lost in thought.
Everyone waited.
It was midnight when Cogline returned for them. The old
man appeared out of me shadows like a ghost, materializing so
suddenly that they all started. No one, not even Walker, had
seen him coming.
“It is time,” he announced.
They came to their feet voicelessly and followed him. He took
them up the trail from their campsite into the gradually mick-
ening shadows of the Dragon’s Teeth. Although the stars shone
brightly ovehead when they started out, the mountains soon
began to close about, leaving me little company shrouded in
blackness. Cogline did not slow; he seemed to possess cat’s
eyes. His charges struggled to teep pace. Par, Coil, and Morgan
were closest to the old man, Wren and Garth came next, Steff
and Teel behind them, and Walter Boh brought up the rear. The
trail steepened quickly after they reached me beginning peaks,
and they moved through a narrow defile that opened like a pocket
into the mountains. It was silent here, so still that they could
hear one another breathe as they labored upward.
The minutes slipped away. Boulders and cliff walls hindered
their passage, and the trail wound about like a snake. Loose
rock carpeted the whole of the mountains, and the climbers had
to scramble over it. Still Cogline pressed on. Par stumbled and
scraped his knees, finding me loose rock as sharp as glass.