pass again. They had seen the
creatures of the valley, and they were still afraid.

They gave mounts to the three. They themselves walked behind Ciara, and
their heads were low with shame.

They came into Kushat through the riven gate, and Stark went with Ciara
to the King City, where she made Balin follow too.

"Your sister is there," she said. "I have had her cared for."

The city was quiet, with the sullen apathy that follows after battle.
The men of Mekh cheered Ciara in the streets. She rode proudly, but
Stark saw that her face was gaunt and strained.

He, too, was marked deep by what he had seen and done, beyond the Gates
of Death.

They went up into the castle.

Thanis took Balin into her arms, and wept. She had lost her first wild
fury, and she could look at Ciara now with a restrained hatred that had
a tinge almost of admiration.

"You fought for Kushat," she said, unwillingly, when she had heard the
story. "For that, at least, I can thank you."

She went to Stark then, and looked up at him. "Kushat, and my brother's
life...." She kissed him, and there were tears on her lips. But she
turned to Ciara with a bitter smile.

"No one can hold him, any more than the wind can be held. You will learn
that."

She went out then with Balin, and left Stark and Ciara alone, in the
chambers of the king.

* * * * *

Ciara said, "The little one is very shrewd." She unbuckled the hauberk
and let it fall, standing slim in her tunic of black leather, and walked
to the tall windows that looked out upon the mountains. She leaned her
head wearily against the stone.

"An evil day, an evil deed. And now I have Kushat to govern, with no
reward of power from beyond the Gates of Death. How man can be misled!"

Stark poured wine from the flagon and brought it to her. She looked at
him over the rim of the cup, with a certain wry amusement.

"The little one is shrewd, and she is right. I don't know that I can be
as wise as she.... Will you stay with me, Stark, or will you go?"

He did not answer at once, and she asked him, "What hunger drives you,
Stark? It is not conquest, as it was with me. What are you looking for
that you cannot find?"

He thought back across the years, back to the beginning--to the boy
N'Chaka who had once been happy with Old One and little Tika, in the
blaze and thunder and bitter frosts of a valley in the Twilight Belt of
Mercury. He remembered how all that had e