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 I thought it was stone, too, he told Hob, instead,  but it was something
the Dark Powers just made to look like stone; and whatever it was made of
caught fire from that bit of burning wood I summoned.
Privately, he was thinking of the nests made by wasps out of chewed-up plant
fibers, or the strands a spider produced from its own body to make a web. The
Dark Powers could have somehow produced some creature which could build the
rock-appearing Nursery in some similar fashion.
He checked his runaway thoughts, realizing his mind was trying to escape what
he was forcing himself to watch.
 It s burning up all over, said Hob, craning his head out from Jim s, so
that Jim could see him from the corner of his eye, staring at what was below.
 There s our harpy: and see all the other strange... beasts.
 Yes, said Jim emptily, looking down with him. Creatures of all sorts of
shapes and descriptions were coming out of the bases of the great boulder
shapes; and some of them were huge.
There were ten-foot ogres, like the one Jim, in the dragon body of Gorbash,
had fought at the Loathly Tower; and Worms as thick as main-line sewer pipes.
But there were also others that Jim had never seen or imagined before. Such
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as a great flat thing like an enormous landgoing flounder, with a massive head
owning two mouths full of jagged teeth. It was legless and seemed to move by
throwing its whole body forward-as if it wanted to crush any opponent as much
as to slash them to death with its teeth... and there was a sort of great
serpent that struck at the surrounding rock shapes it passed as it fled from
the fire.
These four types were the most numerous. There were things of other sizes and
shapes-but no other flying ones except the Harpies. Most of them, however,
seemed to have come forth only to die-or at least collapse. They made their
way only a little distance from the aperture from which they escaped before
sinking to the earth and lying still, or falling over and moving only feebly.
It was, thought Jim as he watched, as if they had only a small hold on an
imitation of life; and the mere act of escaping the flames had been too much
for them.
All together, though, Jim s blunder seemed to be more than a small help for
those of Lyonesse-that was, if the Dark Powers had to take some time to
replace them. He had started out with the thought of seeing what could be done
to delay or bother Them. He had never expected to be able to do this much
damage.
His next step now was take a look at the Borderland invaders and see how
close they were to actually showing up on the Empty Plain-
 Sit back straight up and take a good hold, Hob, he said harshly.  We ve got
to get going.
 But m Lord-what about the harpy?
 The harpy? Jim looked down. The harpy body he had been in-strangely
familiar from his having been in it; and evidently equally so to Hob-had
pulled itself perhaps as much as fifteen feet out onto the round, rock-colored
surface by the slit from which they and it had escaped; and so far at least,
the fire had not followed it. At first glance, Jim had assumed it was already
dead; but then he saw its body shiver slightly-as if it wanted to move
farther, but did not have the strength.
 Never mind the harpy, Hob, he said.  It s done for anyway; and we ve got to
go.
 But my Lord, it s your harpy!
There was an emphasis on the word your that did not escape Jim. In this world
the relationship between any two individuals was a street than ran both ways.
The serf, tenant, servitor in the Castle (or whatever passed for a castle)
owed service and life to his overlord. But that overlord owed him in
return-defense, the right to justice against others, enough leadership and
forethought so that the lesser one did not starve. That and a host of other
duties according to such things as past practice and established custom. There
was no free lunch.
The harpy s body had been used by Jim. As Hob saw it, Jim owed it something
in return. And everyone from Brian to-probably even-Morgan le Fay would have
agreed with him. There were those, of course, who did not honor such debts.
They filled up the ranks of the men led here by Cumberland.
 Can t we go down to it for a moment, my Lord?
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 Yes. All right, Hob, we ll go down.
Jim descended, accordingly, to beside the now-still body. Hob leaped down
immediately; and tried to put his arms around the disproportionate head with a
madwoman s face. The harpy pulled back its lips, exposing the vicious poison
fangs, but did not have the strength to reach out and bite him.
 We re here, Lady, said Hob to it softly.  We re here with you.
The harpy abandoned its attempt to bite, but stared at Hob with eyes like
black fires.
 Just rest, Hob was saying.  All things come out all right. Just rest. Close
your eyes...
To Jim s surprise, the harpy s eyelids flickered down, flickered up, half
closed, then closed. It lay still; and then another strong shiver ran through
its whole body and wings. The shivering stopped, and it relaxed. The wings
drooped, the head sagged-until its sharp chin touched the gray surface; and as
Jim watched, a slow change came over its fierce face, as even that relaxed...
relaxed, until it looked sane, almost happy... and asleep.
 It s dead, Hob, said Jim softly.
 I know, m Lord, said Hob, slowly taking his arms from around the head.
 Goodbye, Lady. He looked up at Jim.  Do we go now, m Lord?
 You re a better man than I am, Hob, said Jim as he took off.
 My Lord? Is there someone else with us?
 No, said Jim.  Forget I mentioned it. It s part of a line from a poem a man
wrote and I read-a long time back.
 But I m not a man, m Lord. You know that. Hob s voice was puzzled.  I m a
Hob.
 A very good Hob. Never mind. It doesn t matter-sort of talking to myself,
anyway.
Jim had to climb to almost two thousand feet to find a current of air moving
toward where the Borderland camp was, or had been. But from that height he
could see it was now deserted; ugly with litter, but deserted. He looked away
to his left.
The Empty Plain was still empty.
Mentally drawing a line from the camp to the Plain through the thickly leaved
treetops, he began to glide down toward that line at its Borderland end.
He reached that point with surprising swiftness; and turned to soar along
above the treetops beside the imaginary line he had drawn. For some little
distance he saw nothing; and then there was movement visible below him on the
ground. As he went, the movement began to have the purpose and shape of men
and horses moving together in a single direction, though spread out from each
other some little distance.
Cumberland s force was indeed on its way from the surrounding woods into the
Empty Plain. How could they be so sure of their destination, he asked himself;
and the answer came back immediately.
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Of course. Morgan, Modred, or any of that inclination could have told them of
the Plain s existence and led them to it.
Meanwhile, they were under the trees, and the trees-for they were now over
the border into Lyonesse itself-were a threat. They probably knew that; but
even if they did not realize the trees could reach down with their limbs and
strangle them, plants could not move that swiftly. The men would have to
pause, or at least go very slowly, to be in such danger. Those moving below
Jim now were probably safe as long as they were in constant movement. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]