"You shouldn't even be talking with them! You should throw them out!"

The girl shook her head slowly then. "Hush, grandfather," she cautioned. "They mean us no harm. Whisper would know if they did."

Brin glanced quickly at the big cat, who was stretched out almost playfully in the tall gra.s.s bordering the little pond, one great paw flicking idly at some hapless insect flying past. The great oval eyes shone like twin beacons of light as he glanced over at them.

"That fool animal won't even come when I call him!" the old man groused. "How can you depend on him?"

The girl looked at the old man reprovingly, a hint of defiance crossing her youthful features. "Whisper!" she called softly and pointed at Brin. "Track!"

The big cat suddenly came to his feet and without a sound padded over to Brin. The Valegirl stiffened as the beast's black muzzle sniffed tentatively at her clothing. Cautiously, she started to step back.

"Stand still," the girl advised her quietly.

Brin did as she was told. Forcing herself to remain outwardly calm, she stood frozen in place as the huge animal sniffed downward along her pant leg in a leisurely fashion. The girl was testing her, she realized-using the cat to see how she would react. The skin on the back of her neck p.r.i.c.kled as the muzzle pushed at her. What should she do? Should she continue just to stand there? Should she touch the beast to show that she was not afraid? But she was afraid, and the fear was spreading all through her. Surely the animal would smell it, and then...

She made up her mind. Softly, she began to sing. The words hovered in the dark stillness of the evening, floating in the quiet of the little clearing, reaching out, touching like gentle fingers.

It took only a few moments for the wishsong's magic to weave its spell, and the giant cat sat back on its haunches, luminous eyes on the Valegirl. Blinking in sleepy cadence to the song, he lay docilely at her feet.

Brin went still. For an instant, no one spoke.

"Devils!" the old man shrilled finally, a shrewd look on his weathered face.

The girl came forward wordlessly and stood directly in front of Brin. There was no fear in her eyes, merely curiosity. "How did you do that?" she asked, sounding puzzled. "I didn't think anyone could do that."

"It's a gift," Brin answered.

The girl hesitated. "You're not a devil, are you? You're not one of the walkers or their spirit kin?"Brin smiled. "No, nothing like that. I just have this gift."

The girl shook her head in disbelief. "I did not think anyone could do that to Whisper,"

she repeated.

"They're devils!" the old man insisted and stamped his sandaled foot.

Whisper, meanwhile, had come back to his feet and moved over to Rone. The highlander started in surprise, then shot Brin an imploring look as the beast pushed his black muzzle against him. For a moment longer Whisper sniffed the highlander's clothing in curious fashion. Then abruptly the great jaws opened and fastened loosely about his right boot and began to tug. What remained of Rone's composure began to slip rapidly away, and he tried to pull free.

"I think he wants to play with you," the girl announced, a faint smile forming on her lips.

She directed a knowing look at the old man, who merely grunted his displeasure and moved several paces further away from them all.

"Well...could you...make sure?" Rone gasped in exasperation, struggling valiantly now to keep his feet as the great cat continued to pull and tug vigorously at the worried boot.

"Whisper!" the girl called sharply.

The huge creature released his grip instantly and trotted to her side. She reached out from beneath the short cloak and rubbed the s.h.a.ggy head roughly, her long dark hair falling down about her face as she leaned forward to place her head close to his. She spoke softly to him for a moment, then glanced back at Brin and Rone.

"You seem to have a way with animals. Whisper is quite taken with you."

Brin cast a quick glance at Rone, who was struggling to pull his boot back in place on his foot. "I think Rone would be just as happy if Whisper didn't take to him quite so much," she observed.

The girl smiled broadly then, a hint of mischievousness flashing briefly in her dark eyes.

"I like you, Brin Ohmsford. You are welcome here-both you and Rone Leah." She extended a slim brown hand in greeting. "I am Kimber Boh."

Brin accepted the hand, feeling in its grip a mixture of strength and softness that surprised her. She was surprised, too, when she caught sight of a brace of wicked-looking long knives strapped to the girl's slim waist beneath the sh.o.r.e cloak.

"Well, they're not welcome as far as I'm concerned!" the old man snapped from behind the girl, making a gesture of brushing them all aside with a broad sweep of one sticklike arm.

"Grandfather!" Kimber Boh admonished. She gave him a sharp look of disapproval and then turned back to Brin. "You mustn't mind him. He is very protective of me. I am all the family he has, so he sometimes feels..."

"Don't be so quick to tell them everything about us!" the old man interrupted, shaking his wispish head in dismay. "What do we know of them? How can we be sure what really brought them here? That girl has a devil's voice if she can back off Whisper like she did! No, you are much too trusting, girl!"

"And you are much too quick to distrust," Kimber Boh replied evenly. Her pixie face tightened with resolve. "Now tell them who you are."'

The old man's mouth screwed into a vise. "I'll tell them nothing!"

"Tell them, grandfather."

The sandaled foot stamped petulantly. "Tell them yourself. You think you know so much more than me!"

Rone Leah had come forward to stand next to Brin, and the two glanced at each otherawkwardly. Whisper looked up ac the highlander, yawned and dropped his ma.s.sive head back onto his paws. A deep, purring sound rose out of his throat as his blue eyes slipped shut.

Kimber Boh turned to face the Valegirl and the highlander. "My grandfather forgets sometimes that the games he is so fond of playing are not real. One of the games he plays often involves changing who he is. He does this by deciding to bury the old self and start life over. He last did this about a year ago." She gave the old man a knowing look. "But he is who he always was. He is, in fact, the man you have come to find."

"Then he really is Cogline." Brin made it a statement of fact.

"I am not Cogline!" the old man insisted heatedly. "He's dead and buried, just like I told you! Don't be listening to what she has to say!"

"Grandfather!" Kimber Boh admonished once more. "You are who you are, and you cannot be otherwise. Pretending is for children. You were born Cogline and that is who you will always be. Now please try to e a good host to your guests. Try to be their friend."

"Ha! I didn't invite them here, so I don't have to be a good host!" Cogline snapped obstinately, determined to have nothing whatsoever, to do with either the Valegirl or the highlander. "As for being their friend, you be their friend if you want-that's up to you!"

Brin and Rone looked at each other doubtfully. It did not appear that they were going to have much luck obtaining help from the old man in finding their way through Darklin Reach.

"Very well, grandfather-I shall be host and friend for the both of us." Kimber Boh sighed.

She faced them squarely, ignoring the old man.. "It's growing late. You have come a long way and you need food and rest. Home is just a short distance from here, and you are welcome to stay the night as my guests-and my grandfather's."

She paused to consider something more. "In fact, it would be a great favor to me if you would stay. Few travelers come this far east, and even then I seldom have a chance to talk with them. As I said, grandfather is very protective. But perhaps you would consent to talk with me-to tell me something of your home in the Southland. Would you do that?"

Brin smiled wearily. "For a place to sleep and something to eat, I think that is the least we could do."

Rone nodded in agreement, although not without an apprehensive glance at Whisper.

"It is settled then," Kimber Boh announced. She called to the big cat, who rose, stretched leisurely and padded up to her. "If you will follow me, we can be there in a few minutes' time."

She turned, with Whisper beside her, and disappeared back into the forest. The Valegirl and the highlander hitched up their backpacks and followed. As they pa.s.sed Cogline, the old man refused to look at them, staring at the ground in grim determination, his heavy brows furrowed.

"Dratted trespa.s.sers!" he muttered.

Then with a wary glance about, he shuffled after them into A moment later, the little clearing stood empty.

31.

Home for the girl, the old man, and the disappearing cat was a pleasant, but very average-looking stone and timber cottage situated in a broad, gra.s.s-covered clearing sheltered by centuries-old oak and red elm. Porches ran along the front and rear of the cottage, and the walls were grown thick with flowering vines and bush evergreens. Stone walkways ran from the home through gardens that lay all about-some flower, some vegetable, all carefully tended and neatly draw.

Spruce and pine lined the perimeter of the clearing, and hedgerows ran along the borders of a gardens. A great amount of work had gone into the care and nurture of the entire grounds.

The same care was evident inside the cottage. Neat and spotlessly clean, the sanded wood plank floors and timbered walls gleamed in the soft light of the oil lamps, polished and waxed.

Handcrafts of woven cloth and cross-st.i.tch hung from the walls, and bright tapestries draped the rough wooden furniture and windows. Odd pieces of silver and crystal sat upon tables within a broad-shelved hutch, and the long trestle table at one end of the main room had been set with earthenware dishes and crafted utensils. Flowers blossomed from vases and clay pots, some grown from plantings, some cut and arranged. The whole of the cottage seemed bright and cheerful, even with the nightfall, and there was that feeling of a Vale home at every turn.

"Dinner is almost ready," Kimber Boh announced when they had come inside, casting a reproachful glance in Cogline's direction. "If you will seat yourselves, I will put it on the table."

Grumbling to himself, Cogline slid onto the bench at the far side of the table, while Brin and Rone sat down across from him. Whisper padded past them to a braided throw rug situated in front of a wide stone fireplace where a small stack of logs burned cheerfully. With a yawn, the cat curled up before the flames and fell asleep.

The meal that Kimber Boh brought to them consisted of wild fowl, garden vegetables, fresh-baked breads, and goat's milk, and they consumed it hungrily. As they ate, the girl asked them questions of the Southland and its people, eager to hear of the world beyond her valley home. She had never been outside Darklin Reach, she explained, but someday soon now she would make the journey. Cogline scowled his disapproval, but said nothing, his head lowered in unyielding concentration on his plate. When dinner was finished, he rose with a sullen grunt and announced that he was going out for a smoke. He stalked through the door without a glance back at any of them and disappeared.

"You really mustn't mind him," Kimber Boh apologized, rising to clear the dishes from the table. "He is very gentle and sweet, but he has lived alone for so many years that he finds it difficult to be comfortable with other people."

Smiling, she removed the dishes from the table and returned with a container of burgundy-colored wine. Pouring a small amount into fresh gla.s.ses, she resumed her seat across from them. As they sipped at the wine and chatted amiably, Brin found herself wondering as she had wondered on and off from the first moment that she had laid eyes on the girl how it was that she and the old man had managed to survive alone in this wilderness. Of course, there was the cat, but nevertheless...

"Grandfather walks every evening before dinner," Kimber Boh was relating, a rea.s.suring look directed to the two who sat across from her. "He wanders about the valley a good deal when the late fall comes. All of our work is done for the year, and when winter comes he will not go out as much. His body hurts him sometimes in the cold weather, and he prefers the fire. But now, while the nights are still warm, he likes to walk.""Kimber, where are your parents?" Brin asked, unable to help herself. "Why are you here all alone?"

"My parents were killed," the girl explained matter-of-factly. "I was just a child when Cogline found me, hidden in some bedding where the caravan had camped that last night at the north edge of the valley. He brought me to his home and raised me as his granddaughter." She leaned forward. "He has never had a family of his own, you see. I'm all he has."

"How were your parents killed?" Rone wanted to know, seeing that the girl did not mind speaking of it.

"Gnome raiders. Several families were traveling in the caravan; everyone was killed except me. They missed me, Cogline says." She smiled. "But that's been a long time ago."

Rone sipped at his wine. "Kind of dangerous here for you, isn't it?"

She looked puzzled. "Dangerous?"

"Sure. Wilderness all around, wild animals, raiders-whatever. Aren't you a little afraid sometimes living alone out here?"

She c.o.c.ked her head slightly. "Do you think I should be?"

The highlander glanced at Brin. "Well...I don't know."

She stood up. "Watch this."

Almost faster than his eye could follow, the girl had a long knife in her hand, whipping it past his head, flinging it the length of the room. It buried itself with a thud in a tiny black circle drawn on a timber in the far corner.

Kimber Boh grinned. "I practice that all the time. I learned to throw the knife by the time I was ten. Cogline taught me. I am just as good with almost any other weapon you might care to name. I can run faster than anything that lives in Darklin Reach-except for Whisper. I can walk all day and all night without sleeping."

She sat down again. "Of course, Whisper would protect me against anything that threatened me, so I don't have much to worry about." She smiled. "Besides, nothing really dangerous ever comes into Hearthstone. Cogline has lived here all his life; the valley belongs to him. Everyone knows that and they don't bother him. Even the Spider Gnomes stay out."

She paused. "Do you know about the Spider Gnomes?"

They shook their heads. The girl leaned forward. "They creep along the ground and up trees, all hairy and crooked, just like spiders. Once they tried to come into the valley, about three years ago. Several dozen of them came, all blackened with ash and anxious to hunt. They're not like the other Gnomes, you know, because they burrow and trap like spiders. Anyway, they came down into Hearthstone. I think they wanted it for their own. Grandfather knew about it right away, just as he always seems to know when something dangerous is about. He took Whisper with him and they ambushed the Spider Gnomes at the north end of the valley right by the big rock. The Spider Gnomes are still running."

She grinned broadly, pleased with the story. Brin and Rone cast uneasy glances at each other, less sure than ever what to make of this girl.

"Where did the cat come from?" Rone glanced again at Whisper, who continued to sleep undisturbed. "How does he disappear like that when he's so confounded big?"

"Whisper is a moor cat," the girl explained. "Most such cats live in the swamps in the deep Anar, well east of Darklin Reach and the Ravenshorn. Whisper wandered into Olden Moor, though, when he was still a baby. Cogline found him and brought him here. He had been in a fight with something and was all cut up. We took care of him and he stayed with us. I learned totalk with him." She looked at Brin. "But not like you do, not singing to him like that. Can you teach me to do that, Brin?"

Brin shook her head gently. "I don't think so, Kimber. The wishsong was something I was born with."

"Wishsong," the girl repeated the word. "That's very pretty."

There was a momentary silence. "So how does he disappear the way he does?" Rone asked once again.

"Oh, he doesn't disappear," Kimber Boh explained with a laugh. "It just seems that way.

The reason you can't see him sometimes is not because he isn't there, which he plainly is, but because he can change his body coloring to blend in with the forest-the trees, the rocks, the ground, whatever. He blends in so well that he can't be seen if you don't know how to look for him. After you've been around him long enough, you learn how to look for him properly." She paused. "Of course, if he doesn't wish to be found, then he probably won't be. That's part of his defense. It's become quite a game with grandfather. Whisper disappears and refuses to show himself until grandfather has yelled himself hoa.r.s.e. Not very fair of him, really, because grandfather's eyes aren't as good as they used to be."

"But he comes for you, I gather."

"Always. He thinks I am his mother. I nursed him and cared for him when we first brought him back here. We're so close now that it's as if we're parts of the same person. Most of the time, we even seem to be able to sense what each other is thinking."

"He looks dangerous to me," Rone stated flatly.

"Oh, he is," the girl agreed. "Very dangerous. Wild, he would be uncontrollable. But Whisper is no longer wild. There may be a small part of him that still is, a memory or an instinct buried deep inside somewhere, but it's all but forgotten now."

She rose and poured them each a bit more of the wine. "Do you like our home?'' she asked them after a moment.

"Very much," Brin replied.

The girl smiled, obviously pleased. "I did most of the decorations myself-except for the gla.s.s and silver things; those were brought by grandfather from his trips. Or some he had before I came. But the rest, I did. And the gardens-I planted those. All the flowers and shrubs and vegetables-all the small bushes and vines. I like the colors and the sweet smells."

Brin smiled, too. Kimber Boh was a mixture of child and woman-in some ways still young, in some grown beyond her years. It was strange, but she reminded the Valegirl of Jair.

Thinking of it made her miss her brother terribly.

Kimber Boh saw the look that crossed her face and mistook it. "It really isn't dangerous here at Hearthstone," she a.s.sured the Valegirl. "It may seem that way to you because you are not familiar with the country, as I am. But this is my home, remember-this is where I grew up.

Grandfather taught me when I was little what I should know in order to protect myself. I have learned to deal with what dangers there are; I know how to avoid them. And I have grandfather and Whisper. You don't have to be worried about me-really, you don't."

Brin smiled at the a.s.surance. "I can see that I don't, Kimber. I can see that you are very capable."

To her surprise, Kimber Boh blushed. Then hurriedly the girl stood up and walked to where Cogline had dropped his forest cloak on the arm of the wooden rocker. "I have to take grandfather his coat," she announced quickly. "It's cold out there. Would you like to walk withme?"