Beyond the Burning Lands Read Online Free PDF Page B

all. I pledge myself, by my honor as Prince, by the Great Spirit, and by any other god that may be, to protect and care for him. I say this also: if harm should come to him I will hunt down the man who does it and kill him with my own hands.”
    There was a moment’s silence before they started cheering and banging their pots. He stood there smiling. When at last the noise died down, he said:
    â€œThere will be no dissension between us brothers. By his return Luke declares this also, and renounces the claims that others made for him. So I ask him now to seal the contract as I have done. I ask him, by the Great Spirit, to pledge allegiance to me and to my heirs.”
    I fought to control my face against the feelings that pressed in on me. Apart from anything else I was astounded: I would not have thought he had such guile. Had the Christian priest, perhaps, counseled him? Or Ann? I could not believe it of her. I wondered what Ezzard was thinking; whatever it was he would show nothing. I forced a smile to my lips and kept it there as I rose to face the two long lines of faces. In the strongest voice I could muster, I said:
    â€œIn the name of the Great Spirit, I pledge my allegiance to Peter, Prince of Winchester, and to his heirs.”
    They cheered at that, though I thought the face of Blaine, who sat a little way down the table, showed puzzlement: his eyes in their folds of fat were narrowed. Harding, sitting opposite, was impassive as always.
    My brother put his hand on my shoulder. I felt its weight as strong, oppressive, and would have liked to shake it off. He said:
    â€œThere will be no more talk of dispute between us. Luke stands at my right hand and will always do so. The city is well guarded. If I should die in next summer’s battles, or any summer after that, Luke will see to things until a son of mine is old enough to wear a sword.”
    There was something strange; not in his words but in the manner of speaking them. It was proper for a warrior to face death with a light heart, but the exultation in his voice meant more than that. Others, too, had sensed it. I saw Blaine lean forward, watching, hand tugging at his beard.
    My brother said: “So one more thing: one more toast to drink! And for this we will all stand because we toast one who is not here—not in this room and not yet in this world.”
    He lifted the golden pot that stood between us.
    â€œMy Lady is with child. Drink to my son to be—your future Prince!”

THREE
THE PRINCE’S LADY
    N EXT MORNING I SAT WITH Ezzard in his parlor. Not many people were received there but it was still furnished with the trappings of a Seer. Chairs, stools and table, sideboard and bookcase were of dark fumed oak, and the long curtains at the windows were black velvet. From facing walls a stuffed owl, wings lifted, stared with small glass eyes of frozen fury at a stuffed eagle. There were three skulls on the sideboard and a Book of the Spirits thickly bound in white calf. In the center of the table stood the sphere of milky crystal on an ebony base which Ezzard was thought to use in receiving messages from the Spirits, and from the High Seers in the Sanctuary.
    The radio transmitter and receiver, through which the messages in fact were passed, was in a small room above this. Ezzard showed me the panel in the wall which, pressed at a certain point, opened a way to the stairs that led to it. I asked him:
    â€œAnd such things are in all the Seers’ Houses? But how can you trust the workmen not to talk?”
    â€œWhen a Seer’s House is built,” Ezzard said, “some things are done by the dwarfs, but not all. That which is sacred to the Spirits is left to the Seer and his Acolytes, and the dwarfs accept this. To serve this Order, Luke, requires more than an ability to read books and wear a solemn face and seem to pray: much more. Even the solemnity and the praying are probably less easy than you think, but there are