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Kane's grip as it clumsily threw back the star-blade. For a fraction of a second it turned free in midair. Dragar exulted that he had at last torn the blade from Kane's grasp--as he raised his arm for a killing stroke.
    But Kane's right hand caught up the spinning blade with practiced surety. Wielding the sword with skill scarcely inferior to his natural sword arm, Kane parried Dragar's flashing blow. Then, before the startled barbarian could recover, Kane's sword smashed through Dragar's ribs.
    The force of the blow burled the stricken youth back against the bed. Wizard's Bane dropped from nerveless fingers and skidded across the wide oaken planks.
    From Dessylyn's throat came a cry of inexpressible pain. She rushed to him and cradled Dragar's head against her lap. Desperately she pressed ineffectual fingers against the pulsing wound in his chest. "Please, Kane!" she sobbed. "Spare him!"
    Kane glanced through burning eyes at the youth's ruined chest and laughed. "I give him to you, Dessylyn," he told her insolently. "And I'll await you in my tower--unless, of course, you young lovers still plan on running off together."
    Blood trailing from his arm--and darker blood from his sword--he stalked from the room and into the night mists.
    "Dragar! Dragar!" Dessylyn moaned, kissing his haggard face and blood-foamed lips. "Please don't die, beloved! Onthe, don't let him die!"
    Tears fell from her eyes to his as she pressed her face against his pallid visage. "You didn't believe him, did you, Dragar? What if I did engineer our meeting, dearest! Still I love you! It's true that I love you! I'll always love you, Dragar!"
    He looked at her through glazing eyes.
    "Bitch!" he spat, and died.
    How many times, Dessylyn?
    How many times will you play this game?
    (But this was the first!)
    The first? Are you sure, Dessylyn?
    (I swear it!... How can I be sure?)
    And how many after? How many circles, Dessylyn?
    (Circles? Why this darkness in my mind?)
    How many times, Dessylyn, have you played at Lorelei? How many are those who have known your summoning eye?
    How many are those who have heard your siren cry, Dessylyn?
    How many souls have swum out to you, Dessylyn?
    And perished by the shadows that hide below,
    And are drawn down to Hell by the undertow?
    How many times, Dessylyn?
    (I can't remember...)
VII: "He'll Have to Die..."
    "You know he'll have to die."
    Dessylyn shook her head. "It's too dangerous."
    "Clearly it's far more dangerous to let him live," Mavrsal pointed out grimly. "From what you've told me, Kane will never permit you to leave him--and this isn't like trying to get away from some jealous lord. A sorcerer's tentacles reach farther than those of the fabled Oraycha. What good is it to escape Carsultyal, only to have Kane's magic strike at us later? Even on the high sea his shadow can follow us."
    "But we might escape him," murmured Dessylyn. "The oceans are limitless, and the waves carry no trail."
    "A wizard of Kane's power will have ways to follow us."
    "It's still too dangerous. I'm not even sure Kane can be killed!" Dessylyn's fingers toyed anxiously with the emerald at her throat; her lips were tightly pressed.
    Angrily Mavrsal watched her fingers twist the wide silk and leather collar. Fine ladies might consider the fashion stylish here in Carsultyal, but it annoyed him that she wore the ornament even in bed. "You'll never be free of Kane's slave collar," he growled, voicing his thought, "until that devil is dead." "I know," breathed the girl softly, more than fear shining in her green eyes.
    "Yours is the hand that can kill him," he continued.
    Her lips moved, but no sound issued.
    Soft harbor sounds whispered through the night as the Tuab gently rocked with the waves. Against the quay, her timbers creaked and groaned, thudded against the buffers of waste hemp cordage. Distantly, her watch paced the deck; low conversation, dimly heard, marked the presence of other crewmen--not yet in their hammocks, despite a hard day's