He did not speak. He supposed finally that he merely stared at her, until he felt her hand slip from his arm, and she moved away. He watched her begin the long slope, Siptah refusing it at first. She took firm grip on the reins and began to force the animal against his will, driving him brutally until he decided to go, gathering himself in a long climb into the dark.
And was gone.
We are not brave, we that play this game with Gates; there is too much we can lose, to have the luxury to be virtuous, and to be brave.
He sat still a moment, looked about the slope, and consid-
ered the tormented trees and the cold, and the long ride to Morija, cast off by her, begging Erij to bear his presence in Andur-Kursh.
And there was pain in every direction but one: as the sword had known the way to its own source, his senses did.
Of a sudden he laid heels to his horse and began to drive the beast upslope. There was only a token refusing. Siptah had gone: the black understood what was expected of him.
The gulf yawned before him, black and starry, without the wind that had howled there before. There was only enough breeze to let him know it was there.
And dark, utter dark, and falling. The horse heaved and twisted under him, clawing for support.
And found it.
They were running again, on a grassy shore, and the air was warm. The horse snorted in surprise, then extended him self to run.
A pale shape was on the hill before them, under a double moon.
“Liyo!” he shouted. “Wait for me!”
She paused, looking back, then slid off to stand upon the hillside.
He rode in alongside and slid down from his exhausted horse even before the animal had quite stopped moving. Then he hesitated, not knowing whether he would meet joy or rage from her.
But she laughed and flung her arms about him, and he about her, pressing her tightly until she flung back her head and looked at him.
It was the second time he had ever seen her cry.
Continued in: BOOK TWO WELL OF SHIUAN
The End