fear.
“Stay away from me!” Par hissed.
Rimmer Dall remained unmoving before him for an instant
more, huge and black and unyielding. Then he drew back his
fire, lowered his gloved hand, and stalked from the room with-
out a word.
Par Ohmsford let the fire of his magic die as well. He stood
staring into the shadows that surrounded him, wondering at
what he had done.
All about him, his demons danced in seeming glee.
“How long is he going to stay like that? ” Many Roh finally
asked.
Morgan Leah shook his head. Walker Boh hadn’t moved for
more man an hour. He was in some sort of trance, a self-
induced half sleep. He sat wrapped in his dark cloak, his eyes
closed, his breathing slow and barely discernible. He had told
them to keep watch and wait for his return. He hadn’t told
them where he was going. In truth, it didn’t appear that he had
gone anywhere, but Morgan knew better than to question the
Dark Uncle.
They were gathered in a stand of spruce high within the for-
ests bordering the cliffs of the Runne—Morgan, Matty, Dam-
The Talismans of Shannara 385
son Rhee, Coil Ohmsford, and Walker Boh. In the darkness
beyond where they waited. Rumor’s eyes gleamed watchfully.
The night was deep and still, the sky a blanket of clouds from
horizon to horizon, the air fresh with the smell of a north wind
out of the trees. Five days had passed since Walker had found
Morgan and saved him from the encircling Shadowen. He had
tricked the dark things by cloaking one of them in Morgan’s
image and letting the others tear it to pieces. It had satisfied the
Shadowen that the intruder they were tracking was destroyed,
and they had drifted back into Southwatch. Yesterday the
Valeman and his rescuers had reappeared, crossing the Rain-
bow Lake in a small skiff. Walker and Morgan had intercepted
them at the mouth of the Mermidon and brought them here.
“What do you think he is doing? ” Matty persisted, her
voice anxious and uneasy.
“I don’t know,” Morgan confessed.
He leaned forward for a closer look but moved quickly back
again when he heard Rumor growl. He looked at Matty and
shrugged. The other two sat silent, faceless in the gloom. They
were better rested and fed than they had been in a while, but
they were all emotionally drained and physically worn from
the long struggle to stay alive. What kept them going was their
common determination to find Par Ohmsford and the sense
they got from Walker Boh that their journey from the
Hadeshom was coming to a close.
“He’s looking for Par,” Damson said suddenly, her voice a
low whisper in the silence.
He was, of course. He was following the secondary trail of
the Skree to Southwatch to see if the Valeman was a prisoner
there. Coil had always been certain his brother was in
Shadowen hands, and so were the rest of them by now. But
Walker was searching for something more, Morgan sensed. He
would not talk about it yet, had been careful to keep it to him-
self, in fact. He knew something he wasn’t telling them, but
then that was the way it was with the Druids, and that was
what Walker was now. A Druid. Morgan breathed deeply and
relaxed, staring off into the dark. How strange. Walker Boh
had become the very thing he had once abhorred. Who would
have believed it? Well, they had all come from different worlds
386
The Talismans of Shannara
than this one, he thought philosophically. They had all lived
different lives.
He was staring right at Walker when the other’s eyes
opened, and it startled him so he jumped. The pale face lifted
within the cloak’s hood, ghostly white, and the lean body shiv-
ered.
“He is alive,” the Dark Uncle whispered, coming back to
himself as they stared at him. “Rimmer Dall and the Shadowen
have him imprisoned.”
He rose tentatively, hugging himself as if cold. The others
rose with him, exchanging uncertain glances. Rumor moved in
from the dark.
“What did you see? ” Coil asked anxiously. “Did you have