The Dark World Relit

you traded worlds. Would you like to visit Earth again, Lady Ganelyn?'

  It was my turn to laugh.

  'You could not. And if you could, you wouldn't, after you hear me.'

  His blue eyes searched mine. --

  'You want something desperately,' he said in a slow voice. 'Your very presence here, offering me terms, proves that. I never thought to see the Lady Ganelyn face to face unless she was in chains or in a berserker battle-mood. Your need of me, Lady Ganelyn, serves as chains for you now. You are fettered by your need, and helpless.'

  He turned back to the fire and sat down with graceful smoothness, his huge body under perfect control. Across the flame in its crystal bowl he faced me.

  'Sit down, Ganelyn,' he said again, 'and we will bargain, you and I. One thing first -- do not waste my time with lies. I shall know if you tell the truth, Covenanter. Remember it.'

  I shrugged.

  'Why should I bother with lies for such as you?' I said. 'I have nothing to hide from you. The more of truth you know, the stronger you'll see my case is. First, though -- those slaves who came in before me?

  He nodded toward the back of the cave.

  'I sent them into the inner mountain. They sleep. You know the heavy sleep that comes upon those loosed from the Spell, Lady Ganelyn.'

  I sat down, shaking my head.

  'No -- no, that I can not quite remember. I -- you asked for the truth, old man. Listen to it, then. I am Ganelyn, but the false memories of Edwina Bond still blur my mind. As Edwina Bond I came here -- but Ares told me one thing that brought Ganelyn back. He told me that the Coven, in my hour of weakness, had dressed me in the blue cloak of the sacrifice and I was riding for Caer Secaire when the woodsmen attacked us. Must I tell you now what my first wish in life is, witch-woman?'

  'Revenge on the Coven.' He said it hollowly, his eyes burning into mine through the fire. 'This is the truth you speak, Covenanter. You want my help in getting your vengeance. What can you offer the woodsfolk in return, save fire and sword? Why should we trust you, Ganelyn?'

  His ageless eyes burned into mine.

  'Because of what you want. My desire is vengeance. Yours is -- what?'

  'The end of Llyr -- the ruin of the Coven!' His voice was resonant and his whole ageless face lighted as he spoke.

  'So. I too desire the ruin of the Coven and the end -- the end of Llyr.' My tongue stumbled a little when I said that. I was not sure why. True, I had been sealed to Llyr in a great and terrible ceremony once -- I could recall that much. But Llyr and I were not one. We might have been, had events run differently. I shuddered now at the thought of it.

  Yes, it was Llyr's end I desired now -- must desire, if I hoped to live.

  Freydyr looked at me keenly. He nodded.

  'Yes -- perhaps you do. Perhaps you do. What do you want of us then, Ganelyn?'

  I spoke hastily:

  'I want you to swear to your people that I am Edwina Bond. No -- wait! I can do more for them now than Edwina Bond could do. Give thanks that I am Ganelyn again, old man! For only she can help you. Listen to me. Your foresters could not kill me. I know that. Ganelyn is deathless, except on Llyr's altar. But they could fetter me and keep me prisoner here until you could work your spells again and bring Edwina Bond back. And that would be foolish for your sake and for mine.

  'Edwina Bond has done all she knows for you. Now it's Ganelyn's turn. Who else could tell you how Llyr is vulnerable, or where Mathwyn keeps her secret weapons, or how one can vanquish Edurn? These things I know -- or I once knew. You must help me win my memories back, Freydyr. After that -- 'I grinned fiercely.

  He nodded. Then he sat quiet for awhile.

  'What do you want me to do, then, Ganelyn?' he asked, at last.

  'Tell me first about the bridging of the worlds,' I said eagerly. 'How did you change Edwina Bond and me?'

  Freydyr smiled grimly.

  'Not so fast, Covenanter!' he answered. 'I have my secrets too! I will answer only a part of that question. We wrought the change, as you must guess, simply to rid ourselves of you. You must remember how fiercely you were pressing us in your raids for slaves, in your hatred of our freedom. We are a proud people, Ganelyn, and we would not be oppressed forever. But we knew there was no death for you except in a way we could not use.

  'I knew of the twin world of Earth. I searched, and found Edwina Bond. And after much striving, much effort, I wrought a certain transition that put you in the other world, with memories of Edwina Bond blotting out your own.

  'We were rid of you. True, we had Edwina Bond with us, and we did not trust her either. She was too like you. But her we could kill if we must. We did not. She is a strong woman, Covenanter. We came to trust her and rely upon her. She brought us new ideas of warfare. She was a good leader. It was she who planned the attack upon the next Coven sacrifice --'

  'An attack that failed,' I said. 'Or would have failed, had I not swung my weight into the balance. Edwina Bond had Earth-knowledge, yes. But her weapons and defenses could only have breached the outer walls of the Coven. You know there are powers, seldom used, but powers that do not fail!'

  'I know,' he said. 'Yes, I know, Ganelyn. Yet we had to try, at least. And the Coven had been weakened by losing you. Without you, none of the others would have dared call on Llyr, except perhaps Ghyst Rhymi.' He stared deeply into the fire. 'I know you Ganelyn. I know the pride that burns in your soul. And I know, too, that vengeance, now, would be very dear to your heart. Yet you were sealed to Llyr, once, and you have been Covenanter since your birth. How do I know you can be trusted?'

  I did not answer that. And, after a moment, Freydyr turned toward the smoke-blackened wall. He twitched aside a curtain I had not seen. There, in an alcove, was a Symbol, a very ancient Sign, older than civilization, older than human speech.

  Yes, Freydyr would be one of the few who knew what that Symbol meant. As I knew.

  'Now will you swear that you speak with a straight tongue?' he said.

  I moved my hand in the ritual gesture that bound me irrevocably. This was an oath I could not break without being damned and doubly damned, in this world and the next. But I had no hesitation. I spoke truth!

  'I will destroy the Coven!' I said.

  'And Llyr?'

  'I will bring an end to Llyr!'

  But sweat stood out on my forehead as I said that. It was not easy.

  Freydyr twitched the curtain back into place. He seemed satisfied.

  'I have less doubt now,' he said. 'Well, Ganelyn, the Norns weave strange threads together to make warp and woof of destiny. Yet there is a pattern, though sometimes we cannot see it. I did not ask you to swear fealty to the forest-folk.'

  'I realize that.'

  'You would not have sworn it,' he said. 'Nor is it necessary. After the Coven is broken, after an end is made to Llyr, I can guard the people of the woods against even you, Ganelyn. And we may meet in battle then. But until then we are allies. I will name you -- Edwina Bond.'

  'I'll need more than that,' I told him. 'If the masquerade is to pass unchallenged.'

  'No one will doubt my word,' Freydyr said. Firelight flickered on his great frame, his smooth, ageless face.

  'I cannot fight the Coven till I get back my memories. The memories of Ganelyn. All of them.'

  He shook his head.

  'Well,' he said slowly, 'I cannot do too much on that score. Something, yes. But writing on the mind is touchy work, and memories, once erased, are not easily brought back. You still have Edwina Bond's memories?'

  I nodded.

  'But my own, no. They're fragmentary. I know, for example, that I was sealed to Llyr, but the details I don't remember.'

  'It would be as well, perhaps, to let that memory stay lost,'

  Freydyr said somberly. 'But you are right. A dulled tool is no use. So listen.'

  Rock-still, boulder-huge, he stood across the fire from me. His voice deepened.

  'I sent you into the Earth-World. I brought your
double, Edwina Bond, here. She helped us, and -- Ares loved her, after a while. Even Lirynn, who does not trust many, grew to trust Edwina Bond.'

  'Who is Lirynn?'

  'One of us now. Not always. Years ago she had her cottage in the forest; she hunted, and few were as cunning as Lirynn in the chase. Her husband was very young. Well, he died. Lirynn came back to this cottage one night and found death there, and blood, and a wolf that snarled at her from a bloody muzzle. She fought the wolf; she did not kill it. You saw Lirynn's cheek. Her whole body is like that, scarred and wealed from wolf-fangs.'

  'A wolf?' I said. 'Not --'

  'A wolfling,' Freydyr said. 'Lycanthrope, shape-changer. Mathwyn. Some day Lirynn will kill Mathwyn. She lives only for that.'

  'Let her have the red dog,' I said contemptuously. 'If she likes, I'll give her Mathwyn flayed!'

  'Ares and Lirynn and Edwina Bond have planned their campaign,' Freydyr said. 'They swore that the last Sabbat had been celebrated in the Dark World. Edwina Bond showed them new weapons she remembered from Earth. Such weapons have been built and are in the arsenal, ready. No Sabbats have been held since Medeo and his followers went searching to Earth; the woodsfolk held their hands. There was nothing to strike at except old Ghyst Rhymi. Now Medeo and the rest of the Coven are back, they're ready. If you lead against them Ganelyn, the Coven can be smashed, I think.'

  'The Coven has its own weapons,' I muttered. 'My memory fails -- but I think Edeym has a power that -- that -- 'I shook my head. 'No, it's gone.'

  'How can Llyr be destroyed?' Freydyr asked.

  'I -- I may have known once. Not now.'