The Sword and the Stallion - 06 Read Online Free PDF

tonight, Jhary-a-Conel."
    Jhary gave a bow. "I thank you."
    Corum said:' 'Is there no other place we can go, Goffanon? Must it be Cremmsmound?"
    "Cremmsmound is the nearest place of power," said Goffanon simply. "It would be too far to travel elsewhere."
    Corum still did not move. He listened carefully to the sounds of the forest. "Do you hear the strains of a harp?" he asked.
    ' 'We are not close enough to the hall to hear the musicians,'' said Hisak Sunthief.
    "You hear no harp in the wood?"
    "I hear nothing," said Goffanon.
    "Then I do not hear it," said Corum. "I thought for a moment it was the Dagdagh harp. The harp we heard when we summoned Oak Woman."
    "An animal cry," said Medhbh.
    "I fear that harp." Corum's voice was almost a whisper.
    ‘ 'There would be no need,'' Medhbh told him .' Tor the Dagdagh harp is wise. It is our friend."
    Corum reached out and took her warm hand, "It is your friend, Medhbh of the Long Arm, but it is not mine. The old seeress told me to fear a harp, and that is the harp of which she spoke."
    "Forget that prophecy. The old woman was plainly deranged. It was not a true prophecy." Medhbh stepped closer to him, her grip tightening. "You, of all of us, should not give in to superstition now, Corum,"
    Corum made a great effort and pushed the fear into the back of his mind. Then, momentarily, he met Jhary's eye. Jhary was troubled. He turned away, adjusting his wide-brimmed hat on his head.
    "Now we must go quickly," growled Goffanon. "The time is near."
    And, fighting off that morbid sense of doom, Corum followed the Sidhi dwarf deeper into the forest.
     
    THE FOURTH CHAPTER
    THE SWORD SONG OF THE SIDHI
     
     
    It was as Corum had seen it before, Cremmsmound, with the white rays of the moon striking it, with the leaves of the oak trees shining like dark silver, all still. Corum studied the mound and wondered what lay beneath it. Did the mound really hide the bones of one who had been called Corum of the Silver Hand? And could those bones indeed be his own? The thought barely disturbed him at that moment. He watched Goffanon and Hisak Sunthief digging in the soft earth at the base of the mound, eventually drawing out a finished sword, a heavy, finely-tempered sword whose hilt was of plaited ribbons of iron. The sword seemed to attract the light of the moon and reflect it with increased brightness.
    Careful not to touch the handle, holding the sword below the hilt, Goffanon inspected it, showing it to Hisak who nodded his approval.
    "It will take much to dull the edge of this," said Goffanon. "Save for Ilbrec's sword Retaliator, there is no blade like it now in all the world.''
    ' 'Is it steel?" Jhary-a-Conel stepped closer, peering at the sword. "It does not shine like steel”
    "It is an alloy," said Hisak proudly. "Partly steel, partly Sidhi metal."
    "I thought there was no Sidhi metal left upon this plane," Medhbh said. "I thought it all gone, save for that in Ilbrec's and Goffanon's weapons."
    "It is what remains of an old Sidhi sword," said Goffanon. ' 'Hisak had it. When we met he told me that he had kept it for many years, knowing no way in which to temper it. He got it from some miners who found it while they were digging for iron ore. It had been buried deep. I recognized it as one of a hundred swords I forged for the Sidhi before the Nine Fights. Only part of the blade remained. We shall never know how it came to be buried. Together Hisak and I conceived a way in which to blend the Sidhi metal with your Mabden metal and produce a sword containing the best properties of both."
    Hisak Sunthief frowned. ' ‘ And certain other properties, I understand."
    ''Possibly," said Goffanon. "We shall learn more in time." "It is a fine sword," said Jhary, reaching toward it. "May I try it?"
    But Goffanon withdrew it swiftly, almost nervously, shaking his head. "Only Corum," he said. "Only Corum."
    ' 'Then ..." Corum made to take the sword. Goffanon raised his hand.
    "Not yet," said the dwarf. "I