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claim none."
"Sheer nonsense! Only a person of great bravery would have done as you did."
Dhrun gave a bitter laugh. He touched his talisman. "The fairies
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- - - - Vance uses many footnotes in this volume knew my fearfulness and gave
me this amulet of courage; without it
I could have dared nothing."
"I'm not at all certain of that," said Glyneth. "Amulet or none, I
consider you very brave."
"That is good to hear," said Dhrun mournfully. "I wish it were so."
"All this to the side, why would the fairies give you such a gift, or any gift
whatever? They are not ordinarily so generous."
"I lived with the fairies all my days at Thripsey Shee, on Madling
Meadow. Three days ago they cast me out, though many of them loved me and gave
me gifts. There were one or two who wished me ill and tricked me so that when
I looked back and incurred seven years of bad luck."
Glyneth took Dhrun's hand and held it against her cheek. "How could they be so
cruel?"
"It was strictly the fault of Falael, who lives for such mischief.
And what of you? Why are you here?"
Glyneth smiled sadly into the fire. "It's a dreary tale. Are you sure you want
to hear it?"
"If you want to tell it."
"I'll leave out the worst parts. I lived in North Ulfland, at the town
Throckshaw. My father was a squire. We lived in a fine house with glass
windows and feather-beds and a rug on the parlor floor.
There were eggs and porridge for breakfast, sausages and roasted pullets at
noon dinner and a good soup for supper, with a salad of garden greens.
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"Count Julk ruled the land from Castle Sfeg; he was at war with the Ska, who
already had settled the Foreshore. To the south of
Throckshaw is Poelitetz: a pass through the Teach tac Teach into
Dahaut and a place coveted by the Ska. Always the Ska put pressure
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- - - - Vance uses many footnotes in this volume on us; always Count Julk
drove them back. One day a hundred Ska knights on black horses raided
Throckshaw. The men of the town took up arms and drove them away. A week later
an army of five hundred Ska riding black horses drove up from the Foreshore
and reduced Throckshaw. They killed my father and mother, and burnt our house.
I hid under the hay with my cat Pettis, and watched while they rode back and
forth screaming like demons. Count Julk appeared with his knights, but the Ska
killed him, conquered the countryside, and perhaps Poelitetz as well.
"When the Ska left Throckshaw, I took a few silver coins and ran away with
Pettis. Twice I was almost captured by vagabonds. One night I ventured into an
old barn. A great dog came roaring at me.
Rather than running, my brave Pettis attacked the beast and was killed. The
farmer came to investigate and discovered me. He and his wife were kind folk
and gave me a home. I was almost content, though I worked hard in the buttery,
and also during the threshing. But one of the sons began to molest me, and to
suggest careless behavior. I dared no longer walk alone to the barn for fear
he would find me. One day a procession came by. They called themselves Relicts
of Old Gomar* and were on pilgrimage to a celebration at Godwyne Foiry, the
ruins of Old Gomar's capitol, at the edge of the Great Forest, over the Teach
tac Teach and into
Dahaut. I joined them and so left the farmhouse.
*Gomar: ancient kingdom comprising all of North Hybras and the Hesperian
Islands.
"We crossed the mountains in safety, and came to Godwyne Foiry. We camped at
the edge of the ruins and all was well, until the day before Midsummer's Eve
when I learned of the celebrations and what would be expected of me. The men
wear the horns of goats and elk, nothing more. They paint their faces blue and
their legs brown.
The women plait the leaves of ash trees into their hair and wear cinctures of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]