Andre Norton - WW - Horn Crown

Horn Crown

A Witch World novel by Andre Norton

Version 1.0

1•

The rain fell with sullen persistence to make one's

travel cloak a sodden burden weighing upon the shoul-

ders, even as fear can weigh heavily on heart and mind.

Those among us who were simple and unlettered, who

had never stirred far from the fields they tilled or the herd

pastures known to their long-kin before them, muttered

together of Glom the Weeper and looked upon the gray

sky as if they expected moment after moment to see her

two welling, tear-filled eyes above us, her sorrow hanging

as heavily as a curse.

Even those who were lettered and learned could be dis-

turbed by the thought of curses and condemnation after

this exile came to us.

Were our Bard-Sages right to use their knowledge so

that when we passed through the Gate, household by

household, lord-kin by lord-kin, we not only left behind

us our homeland, but also a part of all memory? Now we

might question for a while why we had come to ride this

rain-washed, dreary land. However that questioning dimin-

ished as we rode north. That the reason for our flight was

dire we carried ever in our minds. Not only did Sword

Brothers ready for instant alarm ride before us to scout

this strange land, but a full company of them were the

last at the Gate as a rearguard. With them were Laudat

and Ouse, whose singing had opened that world portal

and who now closed it with the clack-clack of their

spirit-drums so that there could be no retreat, and per-

haps, mercifully, no pursuit.

Those who rode in the van as our guides had met us

this side of the Gate. They had been near a full moon-

tally of days here, spying out what must be faced. Their

report was strange. They told of tall hills and dales, once

held by men -- or else some life-form which was near

enough like our own to pass for men -- for our scouts had

found the land now deserted, save for relics of that earlier

race.

Not that the land was entirely safe. There were places

here and there where other forces had been awakened

and lingered, which we must take good care to avoid.

However, there was much clear land waiting for the plow,

hillsides rich in tall growing grass to feed our sheep, our

cattle, the horses which carried our packs and pulled

heavily loaded wains.

Each lord-kin moved in company, possessions well

stacked, and the old and the very young riding either on

wagons or on the most docile of our mounts, while swords-

men and liegemen of each clan kept on alert to wall

them in.

We moved at a slow pace. Sheep and cattle cannot be

overdriven. Also, I think, the strangeness of this land

weighed upon us, perhaps because, as we went, we sighted

certain pillars or structures here and there and, too, the

sun did not make a welcome warmth or light for us.

My Lord was Garn and our household was not equal to

most in either wealth of gear or strength of liegemen. Our

small flock of sheep were easily numbered and we had

only a single bull and five cows to watch. Relics of the old

life we had brought with us filled only three wagons, and

some of the younger women rode, many with a child be-

fore and another behind, holding to their girdles.

I was lord-kin, though not heir, being a late-born son

of Garn's father's brother. Still I carried kin-shield and

there were four crossbow men who rode at my com-

mand -- a very small company to be sure. I was young

enough to be seriously concerned with my responsibilities,

and now, as I rode with my men strung out behind me at

intervals, I kept to the right flank of the clan, searching

among the hills for sight of anything that might move.

We had debated -- or rather the Lords had, when they

had come through the Gate -- the advisability of this route.

Only the Sword Brothers had affirmed that it led straight

through a deserted land and there were none of the other

people's traces near it.

It was, however, a true road -- running straight, the

blocks of its making showing now and again through the

overgrowth of grass and plants. Our wagons jolted along

it with better going than we might have found had we

taken to open country.

The rain was not all that veiled this new-old land from

us. There were patches of mist which hung about the

crowns of some of the hills on either side. In places, that

mist was not the expected gray-white but had a bluish

gleam, or was darker, which gave one a feeling of uneas-

iness.

One of the Sword Brothers spurred past me, heading

from the rear guard toward the fore. I watched his pas-

sage with outright envy. They were men apart, owing no

kin once they had taken Sword Oath, having no clan ties.

Their skill with sword, bow, and short-spear was so well

known that they carried much authority without ever hav-

ing to touch steel. However, they made no demands upon

the kin, supplying themselves from their own flocks and

herds which the foot-brothers tended.

To be accepted into their number was the dream of

most of the youth of the clans. For most that dream was

never realized, for they remained always the same in

numbers, adding no one except on the death of a brother.

After the passing of the rider my own overlord, Garn,

came at a lesser pace, his two sworn men at his back,

checking upon those of us who rode as a side guard. He

was a man near as dour as this land and the weeping sky

over us, not given much to talking, but with a quick eye

for any failure in service, or possible cause of trouble.

Silence was the best praise a man could hope for from

Garn. I felt my hands tighten on the reins as his hawk

face turned toward where my small company trotted. I

had expected him either to voice some disparaging com-

ment on my deploying of that part of his forces, or to

check upon the rear guard who were ordered by his son

Everad. Instead his horse matched pace with mine, his es-

cort dropping back a little, until he rode stirrup to stirrup

with me.

I did not expect any comments from him about the

land about us, the discouraging weather, or the past. I

merely waited, recalling hurriedly all I might have done

lately that was not to his liking. His head turned slowly as

his gaze swept from one ridge bordering the road to the

other -- though I did not think he was trying to see the

rear riders of the Household clan of Rarast which

preceded us.

"There is good forage." I was astonished at his words,

though I knew that Lord Garn was one to judge well the

worth of land and the uses it might be put to. I knew all

those around me, I knew their likes and dislikes, their

faults and virtues, and how we were allied one to the

other. I knew my own part in the kin-clan, the training in

weaponry which I had had, I knew -- everything but why

we had come into this other world and what danger we

had eluded by coming.

"There shall be a council at the night camp," Garn was

continuing. "Then shall be decided where we settle. The

Sword Brothers have scouted well. This land is wide. For-

tune may favor even those of us who have not grown so

great in the past."

I still sought the reason for this frankness of speech

from him. It was as unlikely as if my plodding horse had

spoken. What Garn said began to sink into my mind past

the surprise that he spoke so at all. A large land -- open

for settlement. There was near a hundred clans, most of

them far beyond us in numbers of kin, stock, all which

might put a lord into the first consideration. Only no lord

would want to spread his meiny so thinly that it could not

be easily defended. Thus there was a very good chance

that even so small a clan as ours might come into land

riches.

Garn was continuing: "Those of the kin-blood will be

present and there will be a drawing of lots. This has been

agreed upon -- that there will be only one choice. Either

for shore lands or for the inner ways. Siwen, Uric,

Farkon, Dawuan have already spoken for the shore. The

rest of us will have the choice. I think," he hesitated, "I

would speak with you, Hewlin, and Everad, also with

Stig, when we halt for nooning."

My agreement was perhaps unheard, for abruptly he

wheeled his mount and rode to where Everad held his

place in our march. He left me still surprised. Garn made

his own decisions; there would be no need for any consult-

ing, even of his heir. It was doubly startling that he would

ask any advice of Stig, who was the headman of the field

workers, the non-kin.

What was in his mind? Why had he mentioned the

shore lands? We had had no such settlement in the past.

To turn aside from long custom was not in our way of

life. Still -- we had come into a new world, which was per-

haps reason enough to break with that custom and lead us

into new ways.

I tried to remember how far we might be from the

shore, which the Sword Brothers had explored only in

very small part. There had been talk of harsh cliffs and

reefs leading cruelly into the sea. We were not a sea-going

people, though those of the four clans Garn had men-

tioned were fisherfolk -- or had been.

The morning drizzle was lifting. Before nooning a

watery, pallid sun shone. Under it the land shook off

some of the brooding shadow which had made it so alien

to our eyes. We camped where we were on the road, not

pulling the wains away, the households strung out along

its length like loosened beads on a too-long string.

Those small braziers of coals which had been so care-

fully tended in the foremost wain were brought out and

charcoal sparingly fed into them -- enough to warm pots

of the herb drink which strengthened the traveler, washed

down bites of journey cake. I hurried over my share that I

might not keep Garn waiting.

He sat a little apart on a stool which had also been

taken from the gear and waved us to less lofty seating on

a strip of thick woven matting which had been unrolled at

his feet. I noted that beside Everad and Stig, was Hewlin,

who was the eldest of his guard, his face near as grim as

his lord's.

"There is the choice," Garn began as soon as we were

seated. "I have had word with Quaine who rode the shore

way the farthest." He took from his belt pouch a strip of

skin which had been rolled into a thin tube, spread this

out so that, leaning forward, our heads close together, we

could see running on it a number of dark lines.

There was one heavy black line which curved in and

out, and feeding into that from one side, three thinner

ways, also uneven. Two indentations of the larger line

were already marked with a thick black cross, and to

these Garn pointed first.

"This is the shore as Quaine has seen it. Here and

there are bays which are open and this land will be taken

by two of those who have already said they want only the

sea." His fingertip now moved on, still along the pictured

coastland, until it tapped against a much smaller indenta-

tion.

"Here is a river, not as great a stream as the others,

but of good water and it leads inland to a wide dale. A

river is an easy road for traveling, for the carrying of

wool to market -- "

Wool! I thought of our sorry herd of sheep. What did

we have to market? All that was ever shorn from their

backs was woven and worn by our own people and there

was never more than enough for perhaps a new kirtle, a

new under jerkin, at three or four years' time.

It was Everad who dared ask the question that was in

all our minds: "This is what you would choose, my lord,

if the lot comes to you and it is not already taken?"

"Yes," Garn said shortly. "There are other things -- "

He stopped short and none of us had the courage to ask

what those other things might be.

I stared at the lines on the bit of skin and tried to

imagine what they were meant to represent -- land and

sea, river and wide dales to welcome our plows, our small

herds and flocks. Only they remained stubbornly but lines

on skin and I could not see beyond them.

Garn invited no advice or comments from us. I had not

expected that he would. He had called us together only

that we might know his will and be prepared for the deci-

sion he was about to make if all went favorably for him at

the lot drawing.

That river he had indicated lay well to the north, be-

yond the bays which he had said would be the first

choices of the sea lords. I wondered how long a journey

northward it would be, also how many days of foot travel

it would take us. The time was spring, we should be get-

ting into the ground the precious bags of seeds which

weighed down half of our last wain -- if we expected any

sort of a crop at all this year.

There was no telling how chill the winter seasons might

be here, or how swiftly they would come, how short or

long the growing tune could last. Too lengthy a journey

might bring us under the dark shadow of winter want, a

specter to haunt any clan. Still, the choice was Garn's and

no lord ever led his people into outright disaster if he

could help it.

The night's council was held at the midsection of our

strung out line of march, near where Lord Farkon's long

parade of wains and folk wagons were in place. They had

ready a fire and around that the lords sat, their blood

kin behind them while Laudat and Ouse, both pulling

their gray cloaks close about them as if they felt the damp

chill even more than any others, and Wavent, Captain of

the Sword Brothers for this Ten Year, were in the center

of that circle.

Both the Bards looked thin, tired, their faces nearer to

gray in color. The opening and the closing of the Gate

might have worn them close to death, but they held them-

selves to the task before them. However, it was Wavent

who spoke.

He described again the land ahead, saying that it was

uneven, lacking any strength of plains. Rather, it was

ridged by hills and between those were dales, some wide

and well covered with vegetation, some narrow and stony.

He also spoke of the rivers that were on Garn's crude

map and of the two well shaped and open bays.

He had scarcely finished when Lord Farkon broke in:

"You have said little, I note, Sword Captain, of these

strange places left by an Elder People -- or of such people

themselves. Do any linger -- and if so will they not take

sword to defend their own lands as any lord will do?"

There was a murmur which ran from lord to lord. I

saw Ouse's shoulders straighten, almost as if he were

about to rise and speak in answer. Still he did not, but left

that to Wavent.

"Yes, this was once a land well held," the Captain ad-

mitted readily. "But those who held it have gone. We

have found things of theirs -- but in most there is no harm.

In fact, there are places of peace and safety which are

welcoming. But there are others, and I do not deceive

you, my lords, which are pools of evil. These you shall

know by the very stench of them. Also, it is well that you

have no dealing with any building or ruin which you may

find. We of the Sword have quartered and requartered

this land and have seen nothing but beasts, have found no

trace of any land holder. It is empty now; we do not

know why."

Lord Rolfin shook his head, the firelight flashing from

the three bits of red gem set in his helm just above his

eyes.

"You do not know why those others withdrew," he re-

peated. "Thus we may be facing an unknown, unseen en-

emy here."

Again there was a stir and murmur among the lords.

This time Ouse did stand, shrugging the hood of his cloak

back so that his gray-haired head was fully bared and all

could see his thin, lined face.

"The land," he said quietly, "is empty. Since we have

come into it we have sensed nothing which we may term

enemy. This night before you came to council, my lords,

Laudet and I sang the warn words and lit the torches of

the Flame. It burned fair, there was no stir at our invoca-

tion. There are traces of old power -- of a kind we do not

know -- but the Flame can burn nowhere when there is

war rising and evil moving in."

I heard a grunt from Lord Rolfin. He was ever apt, as

all men knew, to go seeking menaces in each new place,

though he could have no answer to Ouse's reassurance. It

was true that the Undying and One Flame could not sur-

vive if evil ringed us round, and I am sure that I heard

several sighs of relief at that reply.

Now Wavent pushed forward with his right foot a basin

of bronze which Laudet had set out for him. The Captain

stooped and picked this up, holding it with both hands.

"Here, Lords of Hallack," his voice becoming more

formal, as if speaking ritual words, "are your choices by

lot. In the Light of the One Flame are all kin-chiefs

equal. Thus it was in the past, so shall it be here. Let

each of you now draw by chance, for at midmorning to-

morrow we shall reach the first of the open dales and one

of you may there withdraw from our journey to take up a

new home."

Holding the bowl just above the eye level of the circle

of lords, he then passed from right to left, pausing before

each man who reached up, scrabbling fingers among the

strips of hide he could not see and bringing out the lot

which fortune dealt him, though all knew that afterward

there could be changes made if both parties agreed.

Ouse let Wavent come well along before he followed

with a smaller bowl, this one being of silver somewhat

tarnished, which he offered to a handful of lords who had

refused the first choosing. This we knew represented the

chances of the seacoast. As he had told us he would,

Garn refrained from drawing from Wavent's bowl, a hap-

pening which appeared to make his near neighbors glance

at him in surprise. When Ouse reached him his hand went

up forthwith and there was something of eagerness in his

action though no emotion showed on his impassive face.

None looked yet upon their luck but waited until all

had drawn. There were some slips left in Wavent's bowl

but Ouse, though he had few takers, turned his upside

down before he was well around the circle and went back

to his own place.

It was only when Wavent also returned to stand by the

fire that each lord unrolled the scrap of hide his groping

fingers had brought him and looked down at the runes

marked there -- for the Sword Brothers, together with the

Bards, had made these for guidance even before we had

come through the Gate, and each carried clear directions

for travelers and settlers.

We were eager to know Garn's luck, though he did not

turn to show his drawing to his kin as many of the lords

were doing. The hum of talk arose and already there were

those who bargained for exchange, some wanting more

pasturage, others more land for crops. We waited with

what patience we could summon until at last Garn did

speak: "The Flame has favored us. We have the river

land."

It was a piece of fortune such as men seldom come

across. That he should have drawn the very land he had

marked down for his own seemed almost too well done,

as if fortune (which is always undependable) had been

this time reinforced by a more powerful ally.

I saw one of the Sword Brothers coming through the

shadows beyond the inner circle to which the fire gave

light. It was Quaine, he who had first told our lord of this

possible holding. Now he joined Garn and asked: "What

luck, my lord?"

Garn had arisen, the piece of hide stretched taut be-

tween his two hands. He favored Quaine with one of

those piercing, near accusing glances by which he was

able to reduce any man to instant acknowledgment of his

orders. Yet Quaine was not of his meiny or kin, but stood

easily as if he spoke but of pleasant weather.

Quaine was Wavent's age, and he had been Captain in

the last Ten Time. He was, I thought, near Garn's own

years, though there was no gray in his hair and his body

was slim as any youth's. He walked with the grace of a

fighting man who was well trained in the most skillful of

swordplay.

"I have it," Garn returned shortly in answer to the

question. "It is yet a long journey." He made no question

of that, still he continued to look at Quaine as if he

waited for some other and more important word from the

Sword Brother.

Quaine made no comment and Garn glanced now from

him into the flames beyond. He was a man whose

thoughts one could never read, though at that moment I

wondered if he were not as well pleased with the result of

the drawing as he might have us believe. I held to a small

shred of doubt that this fortune came to him by luck

alone, although neither Wavent nor Ouse would have lent

himself to any arrangement of favor for even the greatest

lord among us, and Garn was one of the least of that

company when it came to wealth or ranks of kin.

"It is best," Quaine continued, "that those for the shore

take trail together. There is another road leading east and

then north, but it is much older and it may prove difficult

passage. If you ride together then there is aid at hand

should any accident occur."

Garn nodded sharply, thrusting his drawing into his

belt pouch. Then he only spoke four names, making a

question of them: "Siwen, Uric, Farkon, and Dawuan?"

"Also Milos and Tugness," Quaine added.

Now Garn did stare at him, while I let hand go to

sword hilt without my realizing what I did until my fingers

crooked hard about the metal. We might have had old

memories erased as we passed the Gate, but there were

some which lingered. Among the Lords, Tugness was no

friend to any of Garn's household. It was an old feud

which had meant bloodletting once, but now it was only

that we did not friend-visit with them at any season nor

come to a hosting in which they had a part.

Again Garn made his question curt: "Where?"

Quaine shrugged. "I have not asked. Yours lies farthest

north -- the last dale we rode across in our quartering.

Doubtless he will settle south of that."

"Well enough."

"We turn from the road near sunset," Quaine contin-

ued. "I will lead the Brothers for the sea party."

Garn nodded, giving no farewell, as he turned on his

heel and, with the rest of us, tramped back to our own

camp which was some little distance from the council

place, saying nothing to us.

Though I was well tired by the journeying of the

day -- the everlasting matching of our pace to the slow

turn of wain wheels -- yet as I drew my cloak about me

and used my saddle pad as a pillow, I did not at once fall

asleep. One could hear the small sounds of the camp. A

child was crying in a weak, fretting way where the women

sheltered -- probably Stig's grandson who ailed. I could

hear, too, the movements of our stock as they grazed the

tough, thick grass already well above the earth's edge for

spring, and now and then the snort of a sleeper or a

snore. Garn had gone into the small tent which was his

alone. From where I lay I could see the spark of a strike

light and then the thin gleam of a lantern candle. Perhaps

he was again studying the lot fortune had given him.

I had thought fortune too favoring and been wary, then

I had heard of Tugness's luck and believed that this was

the ill part which I had sought to find. If our future hold-

ing marched with his we must learn to live in a state bet-

ter than an uneasy truce. This was an unknown land from

whence the former inhabitants had withdrawn -- the why

we did not know. Though the Bards and the Scouts had

stressed that there were no enemies, still there was a lone-

liness, a land of withdrawal, which I, for one, felt the far-

ther I rode. We might well need to depend on neighbors

even if such lived a day's journey away. This would be

the time when all men of Hallack must stand together, old

quarrels and enmities forgotten.

This was not Hallack -- that lay behind, lost forever.

Those of our company had come to call it High Hallack,

since it was a country of many hills. This it would be

named in bardic memory from the hour we crossed into

it.

Still sleep did not come, though the lantern candle

winked out. I turned my head to look up into the night,

seeking stars I knew. Then there was a coldness which

crept across me, roughened my skin, and brought a prick-

ling beneath my hair. For none of those groupings of stars

was what I had known all my life. Where was the Arrow,

the Bull, the Hunter's Horn? There was no tracing of any

such to be seen.

The rain had stopped hours ago, and the clouds

cleared. This sky was a background for many clusters and

sweeps of sparkling light -- but they were all new! Where

had our journey through that Gate taken us? To the sight,

this land about us was just such earth, grass, bush and

tree as we had always known. Only the stars were differ-

ent. We were in a land which would support us, but we

were very far from where we had been bom.

I lay shivering at the sight of the unknown stars which,

more than just passing through the Gates (much as we

had been warned that those would influence us), brought

home to me that we were indeed exiles and that we had

now only our own strengths to carry us on, our own

weaknesses to fight. Which lay the more threatening be-

fore us? I thought of the sea, of Garn's choice, and part

of me felt excitement and a wish to explore the new. An-

other part of me searched for a shield against that same

new and the dangers it might hold -- until I dropped at

last from the chaos of my thoughts and fears into sleep.

2.

Behind us lay the wide valleys, which now held the

people of Farkon, of Siwen, of Uric, Dawuan, and to our

right still pounded the sea as our company grew smaller

and smaller. We could take heart only that the land did

remain empty, though there were in plenty the remains of

those who had gone before us, even at times stretches of

ancient road which we followed with greater ease. Quaine

and three of the Sword Brothers scouted ahead, pointed

out those places of the unknown; some they would coun-

sel avoiding, mistrusting the emanations.

There were towers, stretches of pavement surrounded

by pillars, piles of rough stones, even monoliths, about

which we cautiously edged. I was ever curious as to the

manner of folk which had labored to set such stones one

upon the other, wondering at the purposes which had led

them to such labors.

The largest and most fertile of those sea-fronting low-

lands were now behind us. We had been twenty days on

our northward crawl. Twice it had been necessary to

strike inland for near a day's journeying to find a ford

Andre Norton - WW - Horn Crown

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