Kyrik made the sign of Illis in the air. “Not I! I was sodden with drink at the time. Or with love. I'm not sure which."
He hunged in his pouch for a gold coin, flipped it through the air to the guards captain. "Drink to my health, you and your men, and wish me a safe journey to Uthapor.” .
The officer caught the coin with a deft hand and waved. "Go safely, but keep east of the Thrumm. Otherwise you may find yourself lost in the Barrens."
They rode south along the Thrumm until the topmost towers of Alkinoor City faded from view. Then Kyrik took a side road and began riding northward. From under the shadow of her hood, Myrnis looked at him.
"This is not the way to Uthapor," she pointed Out.
"Na. na. We go north, girl. Away from Uthapor. He turned in the saddle and grinned at her. "You don't think I'd be fool enough to tell that captain my true destination."
They rode all day, and into the shadows of the evening. When Kyrik swung down from his horse, he had to help Myrnis.
She leaned against him for a moment, then straightened up, pushing away. Her face was dark with anger.
"I am a queen. Keep your hands to yourself."
"You'd be a dead queen if I hadn't taken you out of Alkinoor. And disabuse yourself of the notion that you're a queen. You're a Romanoy girl, a gypsy.
She walked away from him in angry strides. Kyrik shrugged and turned to make camp. He fashioned a fire and brought out from a bag some meat which he had found in a guards' kitchen. He cooked the meat and sniffed at it and watched the stars come out.
After a time, Myrnis came back and stood staring down at the fire. Her face was sullen, and still angry.
"I suppose I should be grateful to you, she said, after a time. “But it isn't easy to give up a throne. You saved my life, but I'm not sure I want to go on living."
"Kooshti duvvel," he muttered.
She stared at him, eyes wide. In the gypsy patois, she exclaimed, "I know what that means But—but how do I?"
He chuckled, his anger gone. Because you're a dukkerin girl and nothing more."
Myrnis sat down weakly. “I can talk this tongue you speak. I know what you said, what I'm saying.”
"Maybe now you'll believe me when I tell you that your name is Myrnis.”
She looked into the fire. She accepted the meat he handed her and munched on it. As she did, she frowned thoughtfully. Once in a while she slid her eyes sideways to study Kyrik where he sat cross-legged before the flames.
“Did I know you—when I was a gypsy girl?" she asked.
"You're my woman." . Her eyes widened. “I am a virgin. No man has ever had me."
"That's what they told you when they put you under the spell. Adorla Mathandis was a virgin, too.” He thought about that, then shrugged. “I guess she's still a virgin."
Her eyes were suspicious. “If she was with you very long, I doubt that, very much."
His hand shot out, brought her tumbling against him. She tried to fight him, but he was too strong. He bent her backward onto the ground and his mouth came onto her mouth. He kissed her a long time, until she fought no longer but lay breathless and submissive in his arms.
He said against her mouth, “I could take you now and you would like it, but I won't—not until you remember who you are."
He rose to his feet and walked toward the shadows beyond the fires. A moment he stared northward, where lay the city of Kappaleen. It was a long ride to Kappaleen. It might be a very pleasant ride, if Myrnis could recover her memory.
He thought about the crystal ball, and brought it out of his belt-pouch. “You could help me, Illis,” he muttered. But the crystal was empty.
Myrnis was still sitting before the fire when he swung about and returned. Kyrik took a blanket from the ground and tossed it to her. His own blanket he carried out beyond the fire and rolled up in it. A moment later, he was asleep.
During that night, Kyrik dreamed. Illis came to him in that dream and bent over the sleeping Myrnis, putting her fingers to her face and molding it. Then from the sleeping girl, she turned her head toward Kyrik, and smiled.
“The gods send their gift—as a reward," Illis whispered, and became nothing more than a fragment of smoke that the wind blew away.
Kyrik stirred, still dreaming....
He woke to the touch of a sword-point at his throat. He stared upward into the face of a palace warrior. Aye! He had seen that face when he had been a prisoner in Alkinoor.
Beyond the warrior was Adorla Mathandis, wrapped in costly silks and furs. Her face was bitter, angry.
She gestured with a hand and another warrior jerked Myrnis to her feet, still sleepy, and stumbling a little.
Kyrik choked back a curse. The face of Myrnis was not the face of Myrnis This was a strange woman who stood with the blanket half falling off her, to show her body in the thin shift which barely covered her nakedness.
Adorla Mathandis stared. She said, "I thought—I believed you had taken the false queen from her cell and ridden off with her."
Illis whispered in his mind, and Kyrik said, "She's only a tavern trull. I'm taking her with me north to Kappaleen."
Adorla Mathandis stared at him. There was pride in her face and in her bearing. Yet her eyes spoke to him silently, pleadingly. .
Kyrik shrugged. " A throne is not for me, Adorla. I've had enough of thrones. I want only a horse under me, an adventure waiting for me somewhere —and a pretty girl at my side."
Adorla Mathandis opened her mouth, then closed it. She said, "I would have come with you once. But — not now. Now that I am queen again, I find it very pleasant."
She turned and walked away toward the horse that waited for her. An officer came to assist her into the saddle. She lifted the reins and smiled down at the warlock-warrior.
“If ever you get tired of traveling, you know where to find me." Her eyes touched the strange woman who stood so quietly, almost as if still asleep. "Enjoy her. I'm glad you decided Myrnis was not for you."
She hesitated, then said, "If it had been Myrnis here, I would have slain her. And you, too."
Her hand swung the horse around and she sat the saddle easily, swaying to its strides. Behind her, the troop mounted up and rode away with her.
Kyrik came to the remnants of the fire, putting dry sticks on it, blowing at them until the remaining sparks blazed up. He turned his head and looked at the strange girl, and he remembered his dream and how Illis had changed the shape of Myrnis' face.
He said, “They're gone now." She turned and looked at him, and as his eyes touched her face it changed, blurring a little. Kyrik blinked, and then he found himself grinning.
It was the face of Myrnis now. “My thanks, Illis. My thanks, Avalar. It was a good gift you gave me."
And Myrnis looked around her in bewilderment. ."Kyrik Where are we? I was waiting for you in Domilik and...."
Her voice broke off. She looked very bewildered. "You've been a queen in Alkinoor.
In Alkinoor? I've never been to Alkinoor." She stamped her foot and came across to him. He rose to take her in his arms and hold her close against him as he kissed her. He had Myrnis back Her lips were just as sweet, just as hungry for his kisses as he remembered.
He did not let her go for a long time. When he did, she did not bother to fix her long brown hair that he had disarranged. She nestled closer and put her head against his chest.
“I had a dream," she began. “I dreamed...." She broke off, gasping. Her eyes lifted to look with his. "I did not know you in that dream. And I watched as you were led to an altar to be offered up as a sacrifice. She shuddered. In a low voice she asked, "Was that dream—real?"
His arms closed about her. "Forget your dreamings. We have a long ride before us, before we get to Kappaleen."
"Is Kappaleen very far?" she asked in a low voice.
"Far enough. A dozen leagues or thereabouts."
"Are we in a hurry?"
"We have all the time there is."
"Then le
t's stay here for a day or two." There was mischief in the eyes she turned up to his. Her laughter was soft, tempting. "I haven't been made love to in a long time, if I remember. We can make love here for a time before we go on."
"Three days?" he asked, grinning. Myrnis giggled. "That will take the edge off. After that—"
She shrugged, giggling. "After that, we can ride on to wherever it is you want to go."
Kyrik put his arm about her, and led her toward their blankets.
END
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