Koris' ax lifted from his shoulder. Simon's hand was on his gun. The door showed a wedge of opening and that low, characterless voice had come through it to them.

A young man stood in that crevice between wood and brick. He was much shorter than Simon, less in inches even than Koris, and light of limb. The upper part of his face was overhung with the visor of a battle helm, and he wore mail without the badge of any lord.

From Simon he looked to the Captain, and the sight of Koris appeared oddly to rea.s.sure him, for he stepped back and motioned them within. They came into a garden with brittle stalks of winter-killed flowers in precise beds, past a dry fountain rimmed with the mark of ancient sc.u.m where a stone bird with only half a beak searched endlessly for a water reflection which no longer existed.

Then another door into a house, and there the stream of light was a banner of welcome. The young man pushed before them, having sped from the barring of the wall door. But another stood to bid them enter.

Simon had seen this woman in rags as she fled from a pack of hunting hounds. And he had seen her in council, wearing the sober robes of her chosen order. He had ridden beside her when she went girt in mail with the Guards. Now she wore scarlet and gold, with gems on her fingers and a jeweled net coifing her short hair.

"Simon!" She did not hold out her hands to him, offered no other greeting save the naming of his name, yet he was warmed and at peace. "And Koris." She voiced a gentle laughter which invited them both to are some private joke, and swept them the grand surtsy of a court lady. "Have you come, lords, to consult the Wise Woman of Kars?"

Koris grounded the half of his ax on the floor and dropped the saddle bags which had been looped over his wide shoulder. "We have come at your bidding, or rather your bidding to Simon. And what we do here is for your saying. Though it is good to know that you are safe."

Simon only nodded. Once again he could not find the proper words to express feelings he shrank from defining too closely.

LOVE POTION.

Koris put down his goblet with a sigh. "First a bed such as no barracks ever boasted and then two meals like this. I have not tasted equal wine since I rode out of Estcarp. Nor have I feasted in such good company."

The witch clapped her hands lightly. "Koris the courtier! And Koris and Simon the patient. Neither of you have yet asked what we do in Kars, though you have been a night and part of a day under this roof."

"Under this roof," Simon repeated thoughtfully. "Is this perchance the Estcarp emba.s.sy?"

She smiled. "Now that is clever of you, Simon. But, no, we are not official. There is an Estcarp emba.s.sy in Kars, housing a lord with impeccable background and not a single smell of witchcraft about him. He dines with the Duke upon formal occasions and provides a splendid representation of respectability. This house is located in quite a different quarter. What we do here-"

When she paused Koris asked lightly: "I gather our aid is needed or Simon would not have had that aching head of his. Do we kidnap Yvian for your pleasure, or merely split a few skulls here and there?"

The young man who moved quietly, spoke little, but was always there, whom the witch named Briant and yet had not explained to the Guardsmen, reached for a dish of pastry b.a.l.l.s. Stripped of the mail and helm he had worn at their first meeting, he was a slender, almost frail youngster, far too young to be well-schooled in the use of the weapons he bore. Yet there was a firm set to his mouth and chin, a steady purpose in his eyes which argued that the woman from Estcarp had perhaps chosen wisely in her recruiting after all.

"How, Briant," she said to him now, "shall they bring us Yvian?" There was something approaching mischief in that inquiry.

He shrugged as he bit into the pastry. "If you wish to see him. I do not." And that faint emphasis on the "I" was lost on neither of the men.

"No, it is not the Duke we plan to entertain. It is another member of his household, the Lady Aldis."

Koris whistled. "Aldis! I would not think-"

"That we have any business with the Duke's leman? Ah, you make the mistake of your s.e.x there, Koris. There is a reason I wish to know more of Aldis, and an excellent one to urge her to come."

"Those being?" prompted Simon.

"Her power within the duchy is founded upon Yvian's favor alone. While she holds him to her bed she has what she wants most, not gauds and robes, but influence. Men who wish to further some scheme must seek out Aldis as a pa.s.sage to the Duke's ear, even if they are of the old n.o.bility. As for women of rank-Aldis has repaid heavily many old slights.

"When she first climbed to Yvian's notice the gauds and glitter sufficed, but through the years her power has come to mean more. Without that she is no better than a wench in a dockside tavern, as well she knows."

"Does Yvian grow restive now?" Koris wanted to know.

"Yvian has wed."

Simon watched the hand at the pastry dish. This time it did not complete its mission, but went instead to the goblet before Briant's plate.

"We heard talk in the mountains of the wedding of Verlaine's heiress."

"Ax marriage," the witch explained. "He has not seen his new bride yet."

"And the present lady fears a compet.i.tion. Is the lady of Verlaine then counted so beautiful?" Simon asked idly but he caught a sudden swift glance from Briant.

And it was the boy who answered. "She is not!" There was a note in that hot denial which baffled Simon with its bitter hurt. Who Briant was or where the witch had found him, they had no idea, but perhaps the boy had nursed a liking for the heiress and was disappointed by his loss.

The witch laughed. "That, too, may be a matter of opinion. But, yet, Simon, I think that Aldis does not lie easy of nights since she heard the decree read forth in Kars' marketplace-wondering how long Yvian will continue to reach for her. In this state of mind she is ripe for our purpose."

"I can see why the lady might seek aid," Simon conceded, "but why yours?"

She was reproachful. "Though I do not go under my colors as a Woman of Power out of Estcarp, I have a small reputation in this city. It is not my first visit here. Men and women, especially women, are ever intrigued to hear of their futures. Two of Aldis' waiting maids have come here in these past three days, armed with false names and falser stories. When I named them for what they are and told them a few facts, they went scuttling back wry-faced to their mistress. She will come soon enough, never fear."

"But why do you want her? If her influence with Yvian is on the wane-" Koris shook his head. "I have never pretended to an understanding of women, but truly am I now in a maze. Gorm is our enemy-not Karsten, at least, not actively."

"Gorm!" There was some emotion stirring behind the smooth facade of her face. "Here also Gorm finds roots."

"What!" Koris' hands slapped down hard on the table between them. "How comes Gorm to the duchy?"

"It is the other way around. Karsten goes to Gorm, or a part of her manpower does." The witch, resting her chin upon her clasped hands, her elbows on the board, spoke earnestly.

"We saw at Sulcarkeep what the Kolder forces did to the men of Gorm, using them for war weapons. But Gorm is only a small island and when she was overrun many of her men must have died in battle before they could be . . . converted."

"That is true!" Koris' voice was savage. "They could not have netted too many captives."

"Just so. And when Sulcarkeep fell Magnis...o...b..ric must have taken with him the major parts of the invading force with the destruction of the hold. In that he served his people. Most of the trading fleet were at sea, and it is the custom of the Sulcarmen to carry their families with them on long voyages. Their haven on this continent is gone, but their nation lives and they can build again. Only, can the Kolder so easily replace the men they lost?"

"It must be that they lack manpower," Simon half questioned, his mind busy with the possibilities that suggested.

"Which may be true. Or for some other reason they cannot or will not face us openly themselves. We know so little concerning the Kolder, even when they squat before our door. Now they are buying men."

"But slaves are chancy as fighting men," Simon pointed out. "Put weapons in their hands and you ask for revolt."

"Simon, Simon, have you forgotten what manner of men we flushed from ambush on the sea road? Ask yourself if they were ready for revolt. No, those who march to Kolder war drums have no will left in them. But this much is also true: for the past six months galleys have come to an island lying off the sea-mouth of Kars' river and prisoners from Karsten are transferred to those ships. Some are from the prisons of the Duke, other men are swept up on the streets and docks, friendless men, or ones not to be missed.

"Such dealings cannot be kept secret forever. A whisper here, a sentence there-piece by piece we have gathered it. Men sold to the Kolder for Kolder purposes. And if thus it happens in Karsten, why not in Alizon? Now I can better understand why my mission there failed and how I was so speedily uncovered. If the Kolder have certain powers-as we believe that they do-they could stalk me or any such as me, as the hounds hunted us by scent on the moors.

"It is our belief now that the Kolder on Gorm are gathering a force to the purpose of invading the mainland. Perhaps on that day Karsten and Alizon shall both discover that they provided the weapons for their own defeat. That is why I deal with Aldis, we must know more of this filthy traffic with Gorm and it could not exist without the Duke's knowledge and consent."

Koris stirred restlessly. "Soldiers gossip also, lady. A round of wine shops made by a blank shield with tokens in his purse might bring us tidings in plenty."

She looked dubious. "Yvian is far from stupid. He has his eyes and ears everywhere. Let one such as you appear in the wine shops you mention,Captain, and he shall hear of it."

Koris did not appear worried. "Did not Koris of Gorm, a mercenary, lose his men and his reputation at Sulcarkeep? Doubt not that I shall have a good story to blat out if any should ask it of me. You," he nodded to Simon, "had best lie close lest the tale we told to get through the gates trips us up. But how about the youngling here?" He grinned at Briant.

Somewhat to Simon's surprise the generally sober-faced youth smiled back timidly. Then he looked to the witch as if for permission. And, equally to Simon's astonishment, she gave it, with some of the same mischief she had shown earlier.

"Briant is no ruffler of the barracks, Koris. But he has been prisoned here long enough. And don't under-rate his sword arm; I'll warrant he can and will amaze you-in several ways!"

Koris laughed. "That I do not doubt at all, lady, seeing that it is you who says it." He reached for the ax by his chair.

"You'd best leave that pretty toy here," she warned. "It, at least, will be remarked." She laid her hand on the shaft.

It was as if her fingers were frozen there. And for the first time since their arrival Simon saw her shaken out of her calm.

"What do you carry, Koris?" her voice was a little shrill.

"Do you not know, lady? It came to me with the good will of one who made it sing. And I guard it with my life."

She s.n.a.t.c.hed back her hand as if that touch had seared flesh and bone.

"Willingly it came?"

Koris fired to that doubt. "About such a matter I would speak only the truth. To me it came and only me will it serve."

"Then more than ever do I say take it not into the streets of Kars." That was half order, haif plea.

"Show me then a safe place in which to set it," he countered, with openly displayed unwillingness.

She thought a moment, her finger rubbing at her lower lip."So be it. But later you must give me the full tale, Captain. Bring it hither and I shall show you the safest place in this house."

Simon and Briant trailed after them into another room where the walls were hung with strips of a tapestry so ancient that only the vaguest hints of the original designs could be surmised. One of these she bypa.s.sed to come to a length of carved wall panel on which fabulous beasts leered and snarled in high relief. She pulled at this, to display a cupboard and Koris set the ax far to its back.

Just as Simon had been aware of the past centuries within Estcarp city, solid waves of time beating against a man with all the pressure of ages, as he had also known awe for the non-human in the Hole where Volt had held silent court for dust and shadows, so here there was also a kind of radiation from the walls, a tangible something in the air which made his skin creep.

Yet Koris was brisk about the business of storing his treasure and the witch shut the cupboard as might a housewife upon a broom. Briant had lingered in the doorway, his usual impa.s.sive self. Why did Simon feel this way? And he was so plagued by that that he stayed when the others left, making himself walk slowly to the center of the chamber.

There were only two pieces of furniture. One a highbacked chair of black wood which might have come from an audience hall. Facing it was a stool of the same somber coloring. And on the floor between the two an odd collection of articles Simon studied as if trying to find in them the solution to his riddle.

First there was a small clay brazier in which might burn a palm load of coals, no more. It stood on a length of board, polished smooth. And with it was an earthen bowl containing some gray-white meal, that was flanked by a squat bottle. Two seats and that strange collection of objects-yet there was something else here also.

He did not hear the witch's return and was startled out of his thoughts when she spoke.

"What are you, Simon?"

His eyes met hers."You know. I told you the truth at Estcarp. And you must have your own ways of testing for falsehood."

"We have, and you spoke the truth. Yet I must ask you again, Simon-what are you? On the sea road you felt out that ambush before the Power warned me. Yet you are a man!" For the first time her self-possession was shaken. "You know what is done here-you feel it!"

"No. I only know that there is something here that I can not see-yet it exists." He gave her the truth once again.

"That is it!" She beat her fists together. "You should not feel such things, and yet you do! I play a part here. I do not always use the Power, that is, greater power than my own experience in reading men and women, in guessing shrewdly what lies within their hearts or are their desires. Three quarters of my gift is illusion; you have seen that at work. I summon no demons, toll nothing here from another world by my spells, which are said mainly to work upon the minds of those who watch for wonders. Yet there is the Power and sometimes it comes to my call. Then I can work what are indeed wonders. I can smell out disaster, though I may not always know what form it will take. So much can I do-and that much is real! I swear to it by my life!"

"That I believe," Simon returned. "For in my world, too, there were things which could not be explained with any sober logic."

"And you had your women to do such things?"

"No, it came to either s.e.x there. I have had men under my command who had foreknowledge of disaster, of death, their own or others'. Also I have known houses, old places, in which something lurked which was not good to think about, something which could not be seen or felt any more than we can now see or feel what is with us here."

She watched him now with undisguised wonder. Then her hand moved in the air, sketching between them some sign. And that blazed for an instant in fire hanging in s.p.a.ce.

"You saw that?" Was that an accusation or triumphant recognition? He did not have time to discover which, for, sounding through the house was the note of a gong.

"Aldis! And she will have guards with her!" The witch crossed the room to rip open that panel where Koris had stored the ax. "In with you," she ordered. "They will search the house as they always do, and it would be better if they do not know of your presence."

She allowed him no time for protest, and Simon found himself cramped into s.p.a.ce much too small. Then the panel was slammed shut. Only it was more spyhole than cupboard, he discovered. There were openings among the carvings, which gave him air to breath and sight of the room.

It had all been done so swiftly that he had been swept along. Now he revolted and his hands went to that panel, determined to be out. Only to discover, too late, that there was no latch on his side and that he had been neatly put into safe keeping, along with Volt's ax, until the witch chose to have him out again.

His irritation rising, Simon pressed his forehead against the carven screen to gain as full sight as he could of the room. And he kept very still as the woman from Estcarp reentered, to be pushed aside by two soldiers who strode briskly about, flipping aside strips of tapestry.

The witch was laughing as she watched them. Then she spoke over her shoulder to one still lingering on the other side of the threshold: "It seems that one's word is not accepted in Kars. Yet when has this house and those under its roof even been a.s.sociated with ill dealings? Your hounds may find some dust, a spider web, or two-I confess that I am not a notable housewife, but naught else, lady. And they waste our time with their searching."

There was a faint jeer in that, enough to flick one on the raw. Simon appreciated her skill with words. She spoke as an adult humoring children, a little impatient to be about more important business. And subtly she invited that unseen other to join her in adulthood.

"Halsfric! Donnar!"

The men snapped to attention.

"Prowl through the rest of this burrow if you will, but leave us in private!"

They stood aside nimbly at the door as another woman came in. The witch closed the portal behind them before she turned to the newcomer, who dropped her hooded cloak to let it lie in a saffron pool on the floor.

"Welcome, Lady Aldis."

"Time is wasting, woman, as you pointed out." The words were harsh, but the voice in which they were spoken surrounded that bruskness with layers of velvet. Such a voice could well twist a man to her will through hearing it alone.

And the Duke's mistress had the form, not of the tavern wench to which the witch had compared her, over-ripe and full-curved, but of a young girl not fully awakened to her own potentialities, with small high b.r.e.a.s.t.s modestly covered, yet perfectly revealed by the fabric of her robe. A woman of contradictions-wanton and cool at one and the same time. Simon, studying her, could well understand how she had managed to hold sway over a proved lecher as long and successfully as she had.

"You told Firtha-" again that sharp note swathed in velvet.

"I told your Firtha just what I could do and what was necessary for the doing," the witch was as brisk as her client. "Does the bargain suit you?"

"It will suit me when it is proved successful and not before. Give me that which makes me secure in Kars and then claim your pay."

"You have a strange way of bargaining, lady. The advantages are all yours."

Aldis smiled. "Ah, but if you have the power you claim. Wise Woman, then you can blast as well as aid and I shall be easy meat for you. Tell me what I must do and be quick; I can trust those two outside only because I hold both their lives with my tongue. But there are other eyes and tongues in this city!"

"Give me your hand." The woman from Estcarp picked up the tiny bowl of meal. As Aldis extended her beringed hand, the other stabbed it with a needle drawn from her clothing, letting a drop or two of blood fall into the bowl. She added more moisture from the bottle, mixing it into a batter. And coaxed the charcoal in the tiny stove to a blaze.

"Sit down." She pointed to the stool. When the other was seated, she slapped the board across her knees, putting the stove upon it.