THE YNGLING AND THE CIRCLE OF POWER by John Dalmas

“Why did Achikh say that about the moon?” he asked.

The Northman, who lay on his back, face up, didn’t turn.

“His people believe that moonlight will give evil spirits power over them. They avoid it when they can; especially they avoid sleeping in it.”

75

“What utter nonsense!” The words were out before Baver could stop them. They were a major professional malfeasance: he was not to correct or disagree, or evalu­ate aloud in any way. He was only to collect, record. Well, he thought, it’s too late now. And anyway it’s the Northmen I’m studying, not Achikh’s people. But still he was uncomfortable over having said it. “Do—” he began tentatively, “do your people believe in evil spirits?”

“No. My people do not.”

Baver felt relief; he had not offended. “How do you suppose such beliefs get started?”

‘Because evil spirits do sometimes trouble people’s thoughts and dreams,” Nils replied. Then after a moment he added: “But my people aren’t aware of this. To them, dreams are dreams, though some may be prophetic.”

Baver stared at him in the darkness. Nils went on: “Evil spirits don’t have power of their own, as his people think. They have only the power that people give them. My people, not knowing of evil spirits, give them none. Achikh’s people, knowing of them and believing them dangerous, sometimes find they are.

“In the war, Achikh rode beneath the moon more than once, and sometimes slept beneath it. Nothing bad hav­ing happened, his belief has weakened, but he prefers not to take the risk.”

Remarkable, Baver thought, and wondered how Nils came to believe in evil spirits when his people didn’t. “Before Achikh gave you his name, he said he was giving you power over him. What did he mean by that?”

“His people believe that if a shaman, or someone with the powers of a shaman, knows your name, especially your full name, they can work spells on you. So they’re careful about giving their name to strangers.”

“And can they? Work spells?”

“They can cast a spell. So far as I know, it’s the victim though, not the shaman, that makes the spell work.”

“You said you gave him back the power with more. What did that mean?”

“I gave him my cognomen, Ironhand. The cognomen

76

is thought to contain something of the person’s soul; holding it is supposed to give the shaman particular power over you.’

Baver lay a long minute examining what Nils had said. “Have you been around Achikh’s people much before?” he asked. “You know so much about them.”

“Only this evening, with Achikh. When he speaks, it opens his mind to me, or those parts of it which lie beneath his words.”

The answer sent a wave of chills over Baver. Telepathy again! He still doubted, but suddenly he was uncomfort­able being there with Nils.

In the morning, Achikh squatted down with them, to breakfast on marmot and talk with Nils. When they’d finished, an agreement had been made. They’d travel together until such time as one or the other chose to separate.

TEN

Actually, invisible attributes, Achikh was no more dan­gerous-seeming than a Neoviking warrior; less than the giant Nils Järnhann. But it took more than a week for Baver to feel reasonably comfortable around him. It was partly the thick dark leathery skin, and partly the promi­nent facial scar. And partly the rolling, bowlegged walk, when he was out of the saddle. But perhaps more than all of those and subsuming them, Achikh was different.

When they first traveled together, Baver had hopes that Achikh would leave them. Having a remount, the horse barbarian rode almost continuously; surely he could travel faster on his own. But he stayed with them, seemingly glad of Nils’s company.

The thin short grass of the country they were in now was easier for the horses to walk through. Thus Baver, without asking, had skipped some of the running breaks for a week before Achikh had joined them. He was wor­ried about wearing out his boots. Nils had accepted this without reaction, as if he didn’t notice. Hans, on the other hand, continued to run when Nils did, though his weight was much less a burden for his horse.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *