To be sure,?Dun Jake? will sound a trifle strange at first! ?And I?m gonna be busy this winter myself,? Ed Vogeler said.?It?s our visiting season, and we visit hard. There are important men who?ll listen to me.? ?And women who?ll listen to me,? his wife put in, a little to his surprise.

He glanced at her and nodded.?You?ve opened my eyes, Mr. Mackenzie. And Father Ignatius, and all of you. Ingolf too, of course. These maniacs have to be stopped.? ?Good, because to do that we need the Sword,? Mathilda said, her voice clipped.?We need to get going. The snow?s deep enough now. And the sleds are ready.?

She shot a glance towards Samantha, whom she seemed to have taken in dislike.

Now, is it more annoying to be suspected of what you have done or what you haven?t? She?s been intolerable lately, Rudi thought. The best traveling companion you could want through battle and hardship, and now we?ve found safe haven for a while, and she?s… well, I?d ask her if she was under the Moon?s domain this week, did I want to enrage her even more! ?You?d better wait until there?s some clear weather,? the Sheriff said.

A little reluctantly, Rudi thought. He?d been perfectly honorable, perfectly correct in his hospitality, and once his doubts were overcome full of zeal for their cause-but keeping a party their size fed all winter would be a bit of a strain even for a man of his wealth and power. ?I?ll leave you to it,? he added.

The other Readstowners made their good nights as well, all except Pierre Walks Quiet and Samantha the housekeeper. She smiled at Jake: ?I?ll have a Moon School running for your people too.?

He nodded vigorously.?Gotta get good with the spooks, yeah!? ?And here?s the list of the last supplies,? she said to Rudi, and handed him a paper.?Some things I wasn?t sure we could do before you left.?

He scanned down it.?Blueberry turnovers?? he said.?Good, I?m sure, but-?

She smiled.?Concentrated food value. And they keep well frozen.?

Then she stood, stretched, and said:?And now for the farewell. Farewell to you all!?

They said their good-byes, a little puzzled; those of the Old Religion bowed their heads slightly at her sign of blessing. She extended a hand… and Edain, smiling a bit bashfully, took it. ?Some good-byes take longer than others,? she said, and pulled him to his feet.?Merry met, merry part, and to all a good night before it?s merry met again!?

A ringing silence fell as they left the room. ?Well, well,? Ingolf said meditatively.?So that?s why he?s been so carefree lately.?

Rudi coughed and decided on another slice of the pie; with ice cream this time.

And that would have been clever, if only I?d thought of it. Keep in mind, High King of Montival-you?re not the only one who can be a cunning fellow!

He glanced at Mathilda and raised a brow. She looked back boldly enough, but slowly a blush rose from her neck to her bold-featured olive face, turning it a dusky rose. Then he relented and made a gesture with one hand, one they?d used together since they were children: It?s all right.

She nodded and looked away. Rudi returned to the pie. And you?ll never know just how much I was tempted, acushla!

TheSwordoftheLady

?You are sure the weather will be bad, Master Dalan?? Major Graber of the Sword of the Prophet asked.

The High Seeker smiled. The snow here was falling straight and thick, cutting visibility to a gray blur in the dim sunlight of a winter?s afternoon. It gave the air an odd muffled quality, as if everything had been wrapped with thick soft cloths. ?Yes,? he said.?The butterfly has beaten its wings. That thunderclap echoes across continents.?

Graber nodded. I do not know what that means, and I do not wish to know. ?Hail Maitreya!? he said aloud.

The rolling land here was not totally unlike his home; no high mountains, of course, or any open range, but endless conifers a little like the foothill forests. The cold and snowfall didn?t bother a man reared in the Bitterroot country and the Valley of Paradise; he had a good buffalo-hide robe over his armor and gambeson, thick wool trousers, and for the rest the Sword of the Prophet were trained to welcome hardship. A true man transcended the material with the stuff of his atman.

There had been a village here before the Sword of the Prophet came. Of sorts, patched-up pre-Change houses and sheds built of salvage and scraps of timber; and they had kept most of the buildings that still had roofs intact, so there was shelter and to spare for his men and even for the horses, and food enough for both if they were careful- he didn?t need to keep seed grain for next year, unlike the former inhabitants. Not enough for the two hundred or so savages who?d drifted in over the past week, but they?d brought their own supplies. Their low domed brushwood shelters stretched in little dribs and drabs through the snowy woods, avoiding the open spaces that had been tilled ground and pasture.

He scowled a little as a scream came from one of their camps. The men of the Sword hadn?t killed all the original dwellers, but the newcomers were seeing to that. He?d ever hesitated to do what was necessary, but he didn?t do it for sport. ?The storms will continue,? Dalan said.?And it will be very cold, much colder than usual for this time of year. Air will flow south from the Pole.? ?Good, High Seeker,? Graber said.?But they are still likely to bypass us unless we can get the savages-? ?The Bekwa, most of them are called. Those clans have been drifting in here from the east, in the last few years. And there are some of the local clans here now too.? ?Get the Bekwa in order, so that we can use them to scout. Surely they are not servants of the Ascending Hierarchy?? ?Some of them are. The missions have reached very far. But the Masters are ever-watchful for all of us, you realize.? ?Of course, High Seeker.? That was standard doctrine-all religions had hints of the Truth.?I can?t even speak their absurd language, though. And what English they know is hardly better.? ?I can speak their language. In more ways than one. Come.?

Graber followed him; he made a small gesture with his right hand to keep any of the men from trailing along, thinking his full armor and the fact that he could call on his troops enough. He didn?t fear the Bekwa, anymore than he would so many rabid dogs-but he wouldn?t take chances with a pack of rabid dogs, either. Since he had to work with them, showing fear would be the worst mistake of all. The buildings quickly dropped out of sight in the silent, steady downfall of the snow. There were dogs, not mad but vicious enough; they ran barking and snarling at the two Westerners, until Graber thought he would have to draw his shete and beat them aside with the flat.

Then they stopped, staring at Dalan; their bristling fur fell flat. Some whimpered and fled with their tails tucked between their legs. Others fawned on the High Seeker, scattering only when he kicked one. They walked between the shelters of the savages then. Smoke lay in a haze, trickling from cooking fires under little thatched covers, or through holes in the tops of the shelters. It had a bitter tinge, and even in the cold there was a stink that made him wrinkle his nose. The warriors squatted and watched from the entrances of the huts, or from cruder lean-tos, following the two outsiders in silence. Some were Injun; others looked like white men. They all had something of the same feral menace, eyes staring from under falls of tangled or braided hair.

Not quite complete savages, he thought. Not like the Eaters we saw in Illinois closer to the dead cities. They should be useful, if they don?t kill and roast us all.