Norton, Andre - Year of the Unicorn

VIP免费

2024-12-13 0 0 350.72KB 115 页 5.9玖币

侵权投诉

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

Andre Norton-Year of the Unicorn (1965)

(Scanned by: Kislany)

----------------------------------------

In the days of the first spring flood in the Year of the Gryphon the Lords of High Hallack

made their covenant with the Were Riders of the Waste. Those who came to speak with the lords wore

the bodies of men but they were not of humankind. They were dour fighters ...men-or creatures-of

power who ranged the wilderness and were greatly feared. How many there were no man knew but that

they had a force beyond human knowledge was certain. Shape-changers, warlocks, sorcerers...rumour

had it they were all that and more.

Exiles from afar in space and time, who had opened doors on forbidden things and loosed

that which could not be controlled, they wandered until the stars moved into new patterns and they

might again seek the gate into their homeland and ask admittance.

Now, in the Year of the Unicorn, they took brides from among men, according to the

bargain, and rode eastwards. And among them rode Gillan, the waif, the nameless, who seemed to see

beyond the shape of things that were.

News of Far Faring at Norstead

How DOES one know coming good from coming ill? There are those times in life when one

welcomes any change, believing that nothing can be such ashes in the mouth, such dryness of days

as the never altering flood of time in a small community where the outside world lies ever beyond

gates locked and barred against all change. From the bell tower of Abbey Norstead-and how many

years had sped since a bell had pealed from there?-one could see the unending rippling of the

Dales, on and on to the blue-gray of Fast Ridge. On bright days, when the sun drove away the mist

curtain, the darkened fringe of the forest cloaking Falthingdale broke the moss-carpet to the

west, and the harsh, sky-clutching claws of Falcon-Fist made a sharp point to draw the eyes

eastward. But otherwise there were just the Dales with their age-old shutting out of man and his

affairs. They had lain so before his coming; they would remain so at his going. But as yet he had

his part in them, and here in Norsdale it would seem that quiet land had conquered the natural

restlessness of the breed of mankind, slowing all life force to the pace of those everlasting

hills.

Yet this was a land lately embattled, wherein war flashed like a drawn sword, thrust as a

cruel spear, sung in the flight of arrows, or lay panting of breath behind a half-riven shield.

War...uneasy peace for a hand-finger count of years...then war again. In the first days open field

battle, with one army at the throat of another. And then, as men fell, as time gnawed, small

raiding bands flashing out of a wilderness to use wolf-fangs. Then-with the invaders from overseas

driven back to their first handhold on the coast-a final destruction and peace which those, who

had been nurtured from their cradles under the flapping hawk banners, who had heard naught but

sword talk for the span of their lives, met awkwardly and ill at ease.

This we of Norsdale knew, yet the war tongues had never licked inland so far as to sear

our valley. And only those who had survived terror and worse and fled to us for refuge bore battle

tidings within the gates of the Abbey. We had never seen the Hounds of Alizon at their harrying,

and for that, the Dames of Norstead gave thanks on their knees night and morning in the Chapel.

Abbey Norstead held me because of that war tide, and there were times when I thought that

its stifling peace would choke me. For it is very hard to live among those who are no kin to you,

not only in blood but in spirit and desire and mind. Who was I? Anyone walking those precise paths

in the garden below could have given me name and past, and would have told you at the asking:

"That one? Ah, that is Gillan, who works with Dame Alousan in the herbarium. She came here

eight years ago with the Lady Freeza, being a handmaiden of her household. She has some small

knowledge of herbs, a liking for her own company, no beauty, no great kindred-naught to give her

any importance in the world. She comes to the Chapel services morn and night, she bows her head,

but she takes no vows. She sits with the maids at times and plies her needle as is fit, but she

has not asked to serve the Abbey. She speaks little-"

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (1 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

Aye, she speaks little, my Dames, and maids, and those ladies who have taken refuge here.

But she thinks much, and she tries to remember. Though that is another thing which time denies, or

perhaps the unchanging pattern of this land and life denies.

For Gillan is not of the blood of High Hallack. There was a ship. Always can I remember so

much, of the tossing of a ship on a sea where waves ran high, avid to feed upon the work of men's

hands. A ship of Alizon, that much also I remember. But that I am of Alizon-no. There was a

purpose in my being on that ship, and, small and young a girl child as I then was, I feared that

purpose. But he who brought me there was under a mast which the wind and wave brought down upon

the deck. And then no other of his company knew why I was among them.

That was during the time of raids when the lords of High Hallack, fighting to free their

homeland from the Hounds of Alizon, swept down and struck a lightning blow at the port through

which came the invaders' life-blood of supplies and men. And so was I also swept up with those

supplies and taken to one of the mountain holds.

The Lord Furlo, I believe, had some private knowledge or suspicion of my past. For he sent

me under guard to his lady wife, with the command that I be well cared for. Thus I was a

fosterling in that household for a space. But that also did not last, for Alizon arose in might

and the Lords were driven back and back. In the depths of harsh and heavy winter we fled across

the barren land and into the upper dales. At last we came to Norstead, but the Lady Freeza came

only to die. And her lord lay with an arrow in his throat back in the passes-whatever he had

suspected concerning me unsaid. So that I was again adrift in strange, if placid, waters.

I need only to look into any mirror within these walls to know that I was not of the breed

of Hallack. Whereas their womenkind were fair of skin, but with a fine colour to their faces,

their hair as yellow as the small flowers bordering the garden walks in the spring, or brown as

the wings of the sweet singing birds in the stream gullies, I was of a flesh which browned under

the sun, but held no colour in cheek. And the hair I learned to plait tightly about my head, was

of a black as deep as a starless night. Also...I thought odd thoughts. But even before I came to

Norstead, while still I played the part of fosterling, I had learned to keep such thoughts to

myself, for they alarmed and dismayed those about me.

There is a loneliness of spirit which is worse than loneliness of body. And in all

Norstead during those years, I had found only two to whom I might turn for company of a kind. The

Dame Alousan was past the span of middle life when I came. She, too, was apart from her companions

of the Order. Her life was in the gardens, and in the rooms wherein she worked with herbs,

distilling, combining, making those powders and salves, those flasks of liquids, which soothed,

healed, pleasured mankind. Noted she was, so that fighting bands in the high hills would send men

trained for swift travelling to beg her for those products of her knowledge and hands which would

aid in the healing of sore wounds, or the fevers and rheums which came of living in the open no

matter what the season or weather.

And when I was set adrift in Abbey Norstead, she looked upon me, keenly, as usually she

looked only on some herb new come to her (for she was sent packets of strange things from time to

time, by her ordering gifts). Then she took me into her service and I found that at first all I

needed, for it was learning of a demanding kind, and my mind was thirsty for occupation. For some

years thereafter I was content.

I was working in the garden, weeding beds, when I first knew that other one who was to

trouble my balance of learning and labour. There was always a humming of bees, since bees and

gardens needs must lie close together, each serving the other. But now there came another thread

of sound, entering my ears, and then my mind. And I sat back on my heels to listen, because my

memory stirred, yet I could not summon aught clearly to the surface of my mind.

As if that humming were a cord to draw me. I arose and went through an arch into the inner

garden which was for pleasure only, a place with a fountain and a pool, and flowers according to

the season. A chair had been placed there, half in sun, half in shade. And in it, well cushioned,

draped about with shawls though the day was warm, was one of the very ancient Dames, those who

seldom ventured from their cells, who were almost legend among the younger members of the

community.

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (2 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

Beneath her hood and coif, her face was very small and white, yet the wrinkles of age were

tight only in the corners of her eyes and about her lips. They were wrinkles, too, such as come

from smiling, and looking upon the world with a blithe spirit. Her hands were much crooked with

the painful twisting of one of the blights of ageing, and they lay in her lap unmoving. But on one

of her fingers perched a jewelled lizard, its small head raised, its sparks of eyes fixed upon her

as if they two communed happily together.

She looked still at the lizard, but the humming stopped and she said quietly, "Welcome, my

daughter. This is a fair day."

So short a speech, and words such as you might hear from any lips, yet they drew me into a

warmth of spirit, and I came and knelt by her chair eagerly. Thus did I meet with Past-Abbess

Malwinna and from her, too, I learned. But hers was not the lore of plants and growing things, but

of those winged and four-footed, and wriggling lives which share our world, and yet so often are

made servants or foes of man.

But the Abbess was in the far twilight of her life, and she was to be my friend for only a

short, so short, a time. In all of Norstead she knew my secret. I do not know just how I betrayed

myself to her, but she showed no uneasiness when she learned that sometimes I could see the thing

behind the thing that was. On the last meeting between us-she was abed then and could not move the

body which imprisoned her free ranging spirit-she asked me questions, as she never had done

before. How much could I remember...aught at all behind the ship from Alizon? And when had I

learned that I was not like those about me? And to those questions I made the fullest answers.

"You are wise for one so young, my daughter," she said then, her voice the thinnest thread

of speech. "It is our nature to mistrust that which we do not understand. I have heard tales of a

country overseas where some women have powers beyond the common. And also that Alizon stands enemy

to those people, just as her hounds now tear at us. It may well be that you are of that other

race, prisoner for some reason."

"Please, Mother Abbess"-I took fire from her words-"where lies this country? How might I-"

"Find your way thither, my daughter? There is no hope of that. Accept that fact. And if

you venture to where Alizon may again lay hands upon you-that may be courting greater pain than

any sword thrust which ends life cleanly. Do not shadow your years with vain longings. Naught

moves save by some purpose of Those Who Have Set The Flames. You will find that which is meant for

you to do in the proper time." Then her eyes smiled, through her lips could not. "Ill hearing for

the young this promise of a better future. But accept it as the last gift I have to give you, my

daughter. I say it by the Flames, there will come that which will fill your emptiness."

But that had been said three winter seasons past. Now there was a stirring within Norstead

with the war's end. Lords would come riding to claim wives, sisters, daughters. There would be a

marrying season and there was a fluttering in the narrow rooms below my tower perch.

A marrying-which made me think of that other tale which had come to us through many lips-

the Great Bargain. Now would come the settling of the Great Bargain.

It was during the days of the first spring flood in the Year of the Gryphon that the Lords

of High Hallack had made their convenant with the Were Riders of the waste. They had been sore

driven by Alizon, knowing the fading hope of very desperate men, and the fear that they faced the

final shadow of all. Thus hate and fear drove them to set up a call banner in the salt dunes and

treat with the Riders.

Those who came to speak with the harried lords wore the bodies of men, but they were not

humankind. They were dour fighters...men-or creatures-of power who ranged the north-eastern

wilderness and who were greatly feared, though they did not trouble any who touched not upon the

territory of their holding. How many of them there were no man knew, but that they had a force

beyond human knowledge was certain.

Shape-changers, warlocks, sorcerers...rumours had it they were all that and more. But also

when they spoke upon oath they held to that oath-taking and were loyal. Thus they would fight,

under their own leaders and by their own strange ways, yet for the right of High Hallack.

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (3 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

The war continued through the Year of the Fire Drake, and that of the Hornet, until Alizon

was utterly broken and downcast. From overseas came no more ships to supply her men. And now that

last port was taken. Her forts on the high places were stinking rubble, and she was erased from

the coast she had invaded.

Now approached the new Year of the Unicom, and the Great Bargain must be kept with the

Riders as they had kept theirs with High Hallack. The promises of the Riders had been two: that

they would come to the support of the Lords; and then, they would ride out of the wastelands,

withdrawing from the land they had helped to cleanse, leaving it to the humankind alone.

And the other side of that bargain-the payment the Lords of High Hallack had sworn dire

and binding oaths to render? That was to be in their own blood, for the Riders demanded wives to

carry with them into the unknown.

As far as the Dales knew, the Riders had always been. Yet among them no female had ever

been sighted, or talked of. Whether they were the same, with a life span far beyond that of

humankind, was not known. But it was true that no child had ever been sighted among them-though

Lords from time to time had sent envoys into their camps, even before the Bargain.

Twelve and one maids they asked for-maids, not widows, or those who had chosen to live

beyond custom's bonds. And they must not be younger than eighteen years of age, nor beyond twenty.

They were also to be of gentle blood, and well of body. Twelve and one to be found and delivered

on the first day of the Year of the Unicorn at the borders of the waste, thereafter to ride with

their strange lords into a future from which there would be no return.

How would they feel, these twelve and one? Fearful? Yes, fear would be a part of it. For,

as Abbess Malwinna had said, fear is our first reaction to that which is alien to us. Yet to some

of them it would be an escape. For the girl who had no dowry, nor face bright enough to excuse

that lack, no kinfolk who would shield and care for her, or who might perhaps have kin who wished

her ill-for such this choice might be the better of two evils.

Norstead now sheltered five maids who answered all the requirements. Two of those,

however, were already betrothed, waiting impatiently for marriage in the spring. The Lady Tolfana

was the daughter of a lord so highly born that surely a great alliance would be arranged for her,

in spite of her plain face and sharp tongue. And Marimme, with her flower face, her winning

softness-no, her uncle would have her out of this Abbey and off to the first Fold Gather where he

could pick and choose wisely among her suitors for good addition to his standing. Sussia-

Sussia-what did anyone know about Sussia? She was older, she kept her own council, though

she talked readily about the small concerns of Norstead in company. Perhaps few realized how

little she ever spoke of herself. She was of gentle blood, yes, and had, I thought, a good and

even quick mind. Her home was in the lowlands of the sea coast, and so she had been exiled from

her birth. She had kin with the host, but how close they were...Yes, Sussia was a possibility. And

how would she welcome news that such a choice had fallen upon her? Would that outward amicability

crack and let us see what lay beneath it?

"Gillan!"

I looked down over the parapet of the tower. There was the sheen of rime, the covering of

snow across the gardens. I had a doubled shawl about me against the bite of the wind, yet the sun

made a diamond glitter on the cloak of winter and a small, sharp wind tugged at Dame Alousan's

coif veil.

To be summoned by my mistress in this fashion was a thing out of daily pattern. And in me

stirred a feeling which I had half forgotten since I had so well schooled myself against that

which was trouble. The dust of time was being blown upon-Dared I hope for a wind of change?

Though I had learned to walk calmly, with unhurried step according to Abbey custom, yet

now I ran down the stairs, round and round the wall of the bell tower, setting a curb on my haste

only when I came into the open.

"Dame?" I sketched the curtsy of greeting and she gestured in return.

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (4 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

"There has been a message, and a full convocation is ordered." She was frowning. "Go you

and tend the small still. This is not a time when my work should be so interrupted."

She pulled at the flapping ends of her veil and went past me with a firm step as one who

would speedily answer some hail that she might the more quickly return to her task.

A message? But no one had ridden through the Dale, past the village. The flapping of wings

past the tower when I had first ascended? A bird? Perhaps one of the trained, winged messengers

used by the host. Abbess Malwinna had lessoned many of them in her active days. The war-had our

belief in peace been only rumour? Did the Hounds now bay on the borders of Norstead?

But these were only thoughts, and come war or lasting peace, if I did not give thought to

Dame Alousan's distilling there would be real trouble for me in due time.

The still room was odorous as always, though most of those smells were sweet and clean.

And now there was a fragrance, arising from the vessel by the still which was so entrancing that I

feasted my nostrils as I obeyed the orders laid upon me. That task was done, the liquid safely

bottled, the apparatus washed thrice as was the custom, and yet Dame Alousan returned not. Outside

afternoon became early winter evening. I blew out the lamps, latched the door, and crossed to the

main hall of the Abbey.

There was the twittering of voices, growing the shriller by the moment as women's voices

do when there are no lower masculine notes to hold them in scale. Two lay sisters were setting out

the meal for guests on the fable, but none of the Dames was present. By the fireplace gathered all

those who had taken refuge, some for years, within these walls.

I hung my shawl on the proper hook by the door and went to the fire. In that gathering I

was neither bird nor cat. I do not think that some ever knew just how to accept me: whether as a

fosterling of a noble house once on a time and of the rank, say, of a Captain of company's

daughter; or whether I was to be counted one of the community though I did not wear the veil and

coif. Now, as I joined them they took no note of me at all, and the chitter-chatter was deafening.

I saw that some, usually sparing of word, were now striving to out-talk their companions. Truly a

stoat had been introduced into our house of hens!

"Gillan, what think you!" The Lady Marimme was all rounded lips and wide, astonished eyes.

"They are coming here-they may reach here by the Hour of the Fifth Flame?"

Kinsmen home from the wars, I thought. Truly something to set the Abbey a flutter. But-why

the convocation lasting to this hour? The Dames would not be moved by any such guesting, not even

that of a full company of horse. They would merely draw into their apportioned section of the

Abbey until the men of the world had departed beyond their gates once again.

"Who comes?" I then named her nearest kin. "Lord Imgry?"

"He and others-the brides, Gillan, the promised brides! They march to the waste border by

the north road and they will guest here this night! Gillan, it is a fearsome thing they do-Poor,

poor ones! We should offer prayers in their names-"

"Whyfor?" The Lady Sussia came up in her usual unhurried way. She had not the soft beauty

of Marimme. But, I thought, she will be regal all her life, and eyes will follow her after other

beauty fades with the years.

"Whyfor?" repeated Marimme, "Whyfor? Because they ride into black evil, Sussia, and they

will not come forth again!" She was indignant.

It was then Sussia repeated aloud what had been something of my own thinking on the

subject. "Also they may ride from evil, birdling. All of us have not soft nests nor sheltering

wings about us." She must be speaking for herself. Did she indeed have some foreknowledge that the

train which would guest with us this night would take her with it in the morning?

"I would rather wed steel, in truth," cried Marimme, "than ride on such a marriage

journey!"

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (5 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

"You need not fear," I said then, for I guessed she spoke the truth, if somewhat wildly.

Her fear was like a sickness, stretching out its shadow from her mind and heart.

But over Marimme's shoulder I saw Sussia look at me oddly. Again it was as if she had

foreknowledge. And in me a second time that warning of my own stirred. I could breathe in trouble

as I could the aromatic smell of the leaves burned with the firelogs to freshen the hall.

"Marimme, Marimme-"

I think she was glad to turn from us to answer that call, to join the maids who were

betrothed and so safe from alarms, as if their safety could cloak her also. But Sussia still faced

me, her face locked as ever against any revealing of herself.

"Watch her, as shall I this night, " she said under cover of their chatter.

"Why?"

"Because-she goes!"

I stared at her, for the moment struck dumb with amazement. Still I knew she spoke the

truth.

"How-why-?" I did not finish either question for she was speaking swiftly, her hand on my

arm drawing me a little away, her voice low and for my ear alone.

"How do I know? I had a private message this seven night. Oh, yes, I thought that I might

be chosen, there was much to warrant it. But my kinsmen have had other plans for a year, and when

the suggestion was made that I might be included in the Bargain, they made sword troth for me at

once. While war raged I was landless. Now that the Hounds are hurled back into the sea from whence

they came, I am mistress of more than one manor, being the last of my immediate line." She smiled

thinly. "Thus am I a treasure for my kin. I go to a wedding indeed this spring, but one in the

Dales. As to why Marimme-beauty draws men, even when there is no dowry to fill the purse or line

manor with manor. But a man who wants power can try for it in different ways. Lord Imgry has the

granting of her hand. He is a man who hoards power as a captain hoards his men-until the attack

trumpet. Then he will risk much to get what he wants. He has offered Marimme in return for certain

favours. And the others believe that such a flower offered the Riders will sweeten the dish, since

all the brides are not so choice."

"She will not go-"

"She will go-they shall see to that. But she will die-such a draught is not for her

drinking."

I glanced across to Marimme. Her face was flushed, she made quick graceful gestures with

her hands. There was a feverish gaiety about her I did not like. Though what was all this to me,

who was an outsider and none of their blood or company?

"She will die," again that statement delivered with emphasis.

I turned to Sussia. "If the Lord Imgry is set on this and the others agree, then she can

not escape-"

"No? Oftentimes have men agreed upon a thing and women changed their thinking."

"But even if another were offered in her place, would they agree to the choice, seeing as

how it is her beauty which made her it in the first place?"

"Just so." Sussia continued to watch me with that strange, knowing look, almost as if she

sensed in me something so closely kindred that we thought with one thought and had no need for

words between us. And I was thinking of Norstead, of the dust of changeless years, of my own place

and part in this my world. And as many thoughts, some less than half formed, sped thus through my

mind, the Lady Sussia retired a little, dropped her hand from my arm. Once again there was a

curtain between us and matters were as they had always been.

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (6 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

I knew a spark of anger then, thinking-"she has used me!" But that lasted only for the

space of an eye-wink. For it did not matter what tool of That Which Abides is used to open the

future. To let some small resentment cloud one's mind is the action of a fool. Twelve brides would

guest here tonight, twelve and one would ride out in the morning. Twelve and-one!

As to planning, I knew much about the Abbey and its inhabitants. Much I could learn

through eyes and ears in the hours to come. And proudly I set my wit and will against any of High

Hallack, be they Dame, lady, or lords of the host!

Brides-Twelve and One

THE HALLS of the Abbey were dim with the winter twilight. Here and there a wall lamp gave

off faint light, which did not draw back the arras of shadows. To leave the fireside and the

company in the great hall was to step into another world, but it was one I knew well. I passed the

chamber of convocation. No light showed beneath its ponderous but time warped door. The Dames must

all have turned to their cells in the wing forbidden to their guests.

Their guests-as I sped along that dark and chilly corridor I thought of those guests. Not

those who had been so long housed at Norstead that they had become a part of its life, but rather

the party which had ridden in before the last close down of night, who had shared our board and

fare about the long table.

Lord Imgry, very much in charge of that company-his brown beard cut short to the jaw line

for the better wearing of battle helm, its wiry strength shot here and there with silver, which

showed again above his ears. His was a strong face, but with determination and will in every line

of it, deep graven. This was man to yield not to any plaint, save when it pleased his own plan to

do so, when that yielding meant advantage.

With him two others, lesser men, and one who had little liking for their present task.

Soldiers used to the ordering of their coming and going, never looking beyond those orders to what

prompted their giving-now ill at ease and more centred upon that unease than upon the surroundings

which gave it cause. As for the troop of men-at-arms-they had retired to quarters in the village.

Last of all-the brides. Yes-the brides! My acquaintance with weddings had been limited to

those of village maids, when I had accompanied the Dame delegated to represent the Abbey at such

festivities. Then there had been smiles, and if tears, happy ones, and singing-a festival, in

truth.

Tonight I had faced across the board a new kind of bride. They wore the formal travel

garb, robes well padded against winter blasts, skirts divided for the saddle, and, under their

cloaks the short tabards, each embroidered with the arms of their houses, that they might proclaim

their high birth to the world. But there were no loose locks and flower crowns.

There is a saying that all brides are fair of face on their wedding days. Two or three of

these, now glittering of eyes, feverishly flushed, too talkative, were notably pretty. But there

were heavy, reddened eyelids, too pallid cheeks, and other signs of misery among them.

And in my ear had sounded the too-carrying whisper of the Lady Tolfana sharing her

knowledge of the gathering with her seat mate.

"Fair? Ah, yes, too fair as her sister-by-blood, the Lady Gralya would tell you. Lord

Jerret, her bedmate, is a notable lifter of skirts. It seems that lately he fingers, or would

finger, robes closer to home. Thus you see Kildas in this party. Once wedded to a Rider she will

not trouble that household again."

Kildas? She was one of the feverishly alive brides. Her brown hair was touched with red

gold in the lamp light, and she had the round chin, the full lower lip of one fashioned for the

eyes of men. Even behind the stiff tabard there were hints of a well rounded body, enough to

inflame the lecher her sister's lord was reputed to be. A reason good enough to include Kildas in

this company. Her seat mate was a thin shadow to her ruddy substance. The 'broidery of her tabard

was carefully and intricately wrought. Much care and choice had gone into that stitchery, as if it

were indeed a labour of love. Yet the robe beneath it was well worn and showed traces of being cut

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (7 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

from another garment. The girl sat with her lids tear puffed, downcast and scarce ate, though she

drank thirstily from her goblet.

I searched memory for her name-Alianna? No, that was the small girl at the far end.

Solfinna-that was it. While Kildas had been sent forth in fine trappings, mayhap salving in some

small way the consciences of those who had so dispatched her, Solfinna wore the thread-bareness of

poverty long borne. Daughter of an old but impoverished house no doubt, with no dowry, and perhaps

with younger sisters to be provided for. By becoming a bride she put the lords under obligation to

serve her family.

In spite of Sussia's suggestion, none of the girls was ugly. By the covenant they could

not be diseased nor ill formed. And several, such as Kildas, were fair enough to marry well. For

the rest, youth granted them some pleasantness or prettiness-though their unhappiness might cloud

that now. I began to consider that the Lords of High Hallack were fulfilling their part of the

bargain with honour-save that the brides were unwilling. But then, in High Hallack, weddings did

not come of mutual liking and regard, not among the old houses, but rather were arranged

alliances. And perhaps these girls were not facing anything worse than they would have faced in

the natural course of events.

It was easy to believe that until I looked upon Marimme. She did not display the strained

vivacity she had shown in the hall, but now sat still, as a bird when a serpent eyes it coldly.

And she ever watched Lord Imgry's face, though she made no attempt to attract his eye, rather

turned her gaze from him quickly when it would seem he was about to return it. Had he broken the

news to her yet? I thought not. Marimme, who had never been able to retain her composure when

faced by small difficulties of the day, would have been in hysterics long since. But it was also

plain she suspected something.

And when it did come...Plans made on the spur of the moment may go awry, but also may

those which have been most carefully wrought over days and years. I was shield-backed now by my

own sense that this was one of those times when Fortune not only smiled but put out her hand to

aid, and that I needed only to keep my wits about me to have matters go as I willed.

So now that the feast was past-mock feast and shadowed as it had been-I sought my own

answer for what must happen soon. The shawl over my arm I whipped about my shoulders. To have

sought my own would have perhaps marked my going, so I had one found on the back of a chair-dull

green instead of grey, but no colour in the night.

The way I took was a private one long known to me by my labours in the still room, and it

was to that chamber I went, crossing the winter blasted garden at a run. There were snow flakes,

large and feathery, falling. A storm such as this was another stroke of good luck. Within the

still room the chill was not yet complete, and the good scents hung in the air. What I had come to

do must be done swiftly and yet with care.

There were bags on a side shelf, each quilted into pockets of different sizes and shapes.

One of these in my hands-and then, moving with care, for I dared not show a light, I made my way

about the cupboards and tables, from shelves to chests, thankful that long familiarity made my

fingers grow eyes for this task. Phials, boxes, small vials, each to its proper pocket in the bag,

until at last I slung over my shoulder such a bag of simples and healing aids as Dame Alousan had

supplied to the war bands. Last, not least but foremost, I groped my way to a far cupboard. It was

locked by a dial lock, but that was no bar to me who had been entrusted with its secret years ago.

I counted along a row of bottles within, making that numbering twice, then working loose a stopper

to sniff.

Faint indeed was the odour-sharp, rather like the vinegar from the orchard apples. But it

told me I was right. The bottle was large and difficult to carry. However, to try to decant what I

needed for my purpose was impossible here and now. I gripped it tight between crooked arm and

breast as I relocked the cupboard.

There was always the chance that Dame Alousan might find it in mind to check her

storehouse, even at this hour and season. Until I reached my own room I was in danger of

discovery. Yet in me the exultation grew with the belief that all was moving as I wished.

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (8 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

My small chamber was in a turn of the hall, a meeting place between the corridor of the

Dames' cells and the portion given to visitors and boarders. Lights shown dully about the frames

of some of the latter doors, but only the night lamp was alive at the far end of the cell hallway.

My quick breath slowed as I closed my door behind me, though I had as yet taken only the first and

far lesser steps on the path I had chosen to walk this night.

I set spark to my own lamp on the small table and set down thereon the flask I had brought

out of the still room. A tray-so-then the small horn cup always used for medicinal doses, a spoon-

all laid out. Last of all-the dose! I poured with care-filling the smaller bottle from my cupboard

with the colourless liquid out of the flask. This much, no more-then-into it drops-five, six-from

another phial. I counted under my breath, watching the mixture and its changing colour, until it

was a clear and refreshing green.

Now-to wait-And deep inside me grew a wonder as to how I could be so sure that this would

be the way of it. My long suppression of my "power", if that was the word one might apply to my

strange bits of knowledge and feeling which warred against controls I kept on them, might that not

now have led to deception, a self-confidence which could defeat me? I could not sit still, but

stood by the narrow window looking out into the night and the snow. There were lights in the

village, marking the inn where Lord Imgry's escort now took their ease. Beyond that only the dull

dark of the dale. North-the brides were riding north to the waste border-down Norsdale, and on

past the Arm of Sparn, into Dimdale, and Casterbrook, and the Gorge of Ravens-well, off the map of

our knowing-

Yet all the time my eyes watched the outer world my ears listened for sounds of the inner

one, for I had carefully left my door ajar to better that hearing. And in me excitement bubbled

and boiled.

The swish of a robe, the quick beat of slipper heels on uncarpeted stone-All that was in

me wanted to rush to the door, throw it open to greet who came. But I kept control and at the

scratch of nails on the wood, I moved with deliberation.

It was no surprise to front the Lady Sussia. Nor was she in turn amazed, I was sure, to

find me still dressed as if I awaited a summons.

"Marimme-you are needed to tend her with your heal-craft, Gillan." Her eyes swept past me

to the table where waited the tray and its burden, and there was the faintest curve of smile to

her lips as she glanced back to me. Again there were no words between us, but understanding. She

nodded as if agreeing to some comment unheard by me.

"I wish you good fortune for what you do," she said softly. But it was not of heal-craft

that she spoke, and we both knew it.

I went down the hall, bearing the tray. As I came to the door of Marimme's room I saw that

it also stood ajar and there were voices to be heard. One was low, a murmur which seldom arose to

intelligible speech. The sound of it stopped me, struck against the confidence which had been

heady wine for my drinking all evening.

Abbess Yulianna! To govern any Abbey-stead was a task demanding wit and force of character

which made any Abbess a formidable adversary. And Yulianna was not the least of those who had

ruled here. To play my game before her required far more skill than any I thought would be

demanded of me. Still I had long passed the point where withdrawal from battle-to-be was allowed.

"-maidish vapourings! Yes, Lady Abbess, this I will make allowance for. But time marches

along the hills. We ride with the morn to keep our covenant. And she goes to the marriage made for

her! Also she goes without wailing. I have heard you are skilled in heal-craft. Put down her some

potion to end these mad humours she has treated us to this past hour. I would not take her gagged

or tied in the saddle-but if that must be-so it will! We keep our bargain with those we have hand-

sealed to the treaty."

Not choleric was Lord Imgry-no-cold and as one stating facts which not even the winds and

tempests of the heavens could nay-say. He was one who would be as unyielding as the earth and the

stone bones of the Dales.

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%...0World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (9 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt

"Those who use heal-craft for ill are not among us, my lord." As unyielding in turn was

the Abbess. "It remains, do you wish to reach your trysting place with a girl out of her wits with

fear? For this is what well may happen should you force this matter-"

"You enlarge upon this past all reason, Lady Abbess! She is startled, yes, and she had

heard too many wild tales. Makes she any marriage she will do it to order and not to silly liking.

We tryst within three days, so we ride in the dawn. By honour are we bound to give twelve and one

brides into their lords' care. Twelve and one we have under this roof tonight. We do not take

fewer with us-"

I steadied the tray upon my right hand and scratched upon the door with my left during the

small interval of silence which followed his cool statement, one which he certainly did not intend

to be challenged.

There was an exclamation and the door was opened. Lord Imgry looked out and I dipped knee

in curtsy, but as would an equal in blood.

"What's to do?"

"The Lady Sussia says that heal-craft is needed," I schooled my voice. I waited an answer,

not from him, but from her who stood by the bed on which lay Marimme. Her veil was pushed a little

back so that her face was in the light. On it, however, I could read no expression as Lord Imgry

stepped back to allow me entrance.

"Come in then. Come in and be about your work-"

I think he paused then because he did not know just how to name me. Though my underrobe

was drab of colour, I wore neither coif nor veil. Instead I had on a feasting tabard bright with

stitchery. No crest for a nameless, landless one, of course, yet the fabric was richly stiff with

an intricate design of my own wandering fancy.

But for now the Lord Imgry was not my concern. I continued to watch her who looked over

his shoulder. And towards the Abbess Yulianna I launched the full force of what power of will I

could summon, even as an archer on a field of grave doubt would loose the last of his shafts at

the captain of the enemy. Though in this time and wise I did not wish to compel foe but one who

might stand my friend,

"This is not your healer," Imgry said sharply.

I waited then for the Abbess to nay-say me in agreement. But rather did she move a step or

two aside and wave me to the bed.

"This is Gillan who is help-hand to our healer and lessoned in all such matters. You

forget, my lord, it is past the Hour of Last Light. Those of the community must soon be in the

Chapel for night prayer. Unless the need approaches great danger, the healer can not be summoned

from such a service."

He gave a bitten-off exclamation, but even his confidence could not prevail against the

custom and usage under this roof. Now the Abbess spoke again:

"You had best withdraw now, my lord. Should Marimme awake from her swoon to find you here-

then perhaps needs must we again have the wailing and crying which you so dislike-"

But he did not move. There was no scowl on his face ...only the lines of determination

which I had marked at the table grew a fraction deeper. For a moment there was silence and then

the Abbess spoke, and now her tone was that which I had heard now and again, infinitely remote and

daunting.

"You are her guardian-by-rule-and-blood, my lord. We know well the law and will not move

against your will, no matter how ill we think your decision. She shall not be spirited away in the

night-how could she be? Nor is it necessary for us to give oath on such a point under this roof!"

He did then look a little ashamed, for it was plain she had read aright his thoughts. Yet

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre...World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txt (10 of 115) [1/17/03 1:32:02 AM]

文档加载中……请稍候！
如果长时间未打开，您也可以点击刷新试试。

下载文档到电脑，查找使用更方便

5.9 玖币 0人已下载

立即下载 VIP免费下载

摘要：

file:///F|/rah/Andre%20Norton/Norton,%20Andre%20-%20Witch%20World%206%20-%20Year%20of%20the%20Unicorn.txtAndreNorton-YearoftheUnicorn(1965)(Scannedby:Kislany)----------------------------------------InthedaysofthefirstspringfloodintheYearoftheGryphon heLordsofHighHallackmadetheircovenantwiththeWere...

展开>> 收起<<

Norton, Andre - Year of the Unicorn.pdf

共115页,预览23页

还剩页未读，继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

Norton, Andre - Year of the Unicorn

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: