He stood alone in the gardens of Ryvan's palace looking out over the
city. Perhaps he thought of the hard journey back from the Dark Lands.
Perhaps he thought of the triumphant day when they had sneaked back
into the fastness and then gone out again, the Piper of Killorn and
Red Bram roaring in his wake to smash the siege and scatter the armies
of Ganasth and send the broken remnants fleeing homeward. Perhaps
he thought of the future--who knew? Sathi approached him quietly,
wondering what to say.
He turned and smiled at her, the old merry smile she knew but with
something else behind it. He had been the war-god of Killorn and that
left its mark on a man.
"So it all turned out well," he said.
"Thanks to you, Kery," she answered softly.
"Oh, not so well at that," he decided. "There were too many good men
who fell, too much laid waste. It will take a hundred years before all
this misery is forgotten."
"But we reached what we strove for," she said. "Ryvan is safe, all the
Twilight Lands are. You folk of Killorn have the land you needed. Isn't
that enough to achieve?"
"I suppose so." Kery stirred restlessly. "I wonder how it stands in
Killorn now?"
"And you still want to return?" She tried to hold back the tears. "This
is a fair land, and you are great in it, all you people from the north.
You would go back to--that?"
"Indeed," he said. "All you say is true. We would be fools to return."
He scowled. "It may well be that in the time we yet have to wait most
of us will find life better here and decide to stay. But not I, Sathi.
I am just that kind of fool."
"This land needs you, Kery. I do."
He tilted her chin, smiling half sorrowfully into her eyes. "Best you
forget, dear," he said. "I will not stay here once the chance comes to
return."
She shook her head blindly, drew a deep breath, and said with a catch
in her voice, "Then stay as long as you can, Kery."
"Do you really mean that?" he asked slowly.
She nodded.
"You are a fool too," he said. "But a very lovely fool."
He took her in his arms.
Presently she laughed a little and said, not without hope, "I'll have a
while to change your mind, Kery. And I'll try to do it. I'll try!"