The heat of embarrassment rose to his face. "I swore her an oath," he said: half the truth.
"Long ago, Man, there was your like here. You are reckless in your lives, having so much life. But we took khemi,and that life agreed well with such Men and left others free to lead quiet lives in the villages. The hands of the khemiadminister justice and do unpleasant things that want doing, and sometimes brave things, risking themselves in the aid of others. Such recklessness is natural to Men. But when a qhaldies young, he often leaves none behind him, for once and perhaps twice do we bear, and that after some years. In hostile times our number shrinks rapidly. It is always in our interest to keep peace, and to deal fairly with those who have such an advantage over us. Do you not see that it is so?"
The thought amazed him; and he realized how seldom he had seen children of the qhal,even among halflings.
Merir's hand left his shoulder, and the old lord looked across at Morgaine. "I shall lend you help, lady, asked or unasked. This evil has come, and we must not let it touch Shathan. Take Lellin with you, him and his khemeis. Isend my heart with you. He is my grandson, my daughter's child, of a line that is fast fading. He will guide you where you will to go."
"Has Lellin consented in this? I would not take anyone who did not clearly reckon the danger."
"He asked to be the one, if I reached the conclusion that I should send someone."
She nodded sorrowfully. "May he come home safely to you, my lord. I will watch over him with all the force that I have."
"That is much, is it not?"
Morgaine did not answer that probing, and silence hung between them a moment. "My lord, I asked you once for help to reach the master-hold, that would control the Gate at Azeroth. And I still ask that."
"Its name is Nehmin, and it is well defended. I myself would not be allowed to pass there freely. What you ask of me is more than difficult."
"That comforts me. But Roh's allies spend lives recklessly, and they will simply spend them until they have broken its defenses. I must have access there."
Merir sat a moment the fires of the lamp leaping upon his downcast features. "You ask power over us."
"No."
"But you do for with your hand there, you have choices, regarding more than your enemy. Perhaps you would choose what we would choose but you are utterly a stranger, and I wonder if that is likely. And might you not, in that power, be as deadly to us as the enemy you fight?"
Morgaine had no answer, and Vanye sat still, fearful, for Merir surely understood if not the whole truth, surely truth enough. But the old qhalsighed heavily. "Lellin will guide you; and there will be others along the way who will help you."
"And yourself, my lord? Surely you will not be idle and should I not know where you will be? I have no wish to harm you or to expose you to the enemy by mistake."
'Trust to Lellin. We will go our own way." He rose stiffly. "The Mirrindim were amazed at your map-making. Bring the lamp, young Vanye, and let me show you a thing that may help you."
Vanye gartered up the lamp from its hook and followed the ancient qhalto the tent wall. There was a map hung there, age-faded, and Morgaine came and looked on it.
"Here is Azeroth," said Merir, stretching forth his hand to the great circle in the center "Shathan is all the forest; and the great Narn and its tributaries feed the villages-see: each has accessible water. And this is a walk of many days-Mirrind is here."
"Such circles cannot be natural."
"No. In some places the trees fail, and yet there is water; and Men have cleared the rest And where forest fails too much, thy have planted hedges and thickets to change the land so that trees may grow and wild things have their place. The circles are orderly and boundaries between farm and forest are thus distinct. It gives quiet passage for our folk we do not like the open lands; and Men do, who farm and herd. Also" he added, and laid his hand on Vanye's shoulder, "it has prevented war and strife over boundaries Once men rode in great hordes where they would, and there was war. They endangered us but the vitality of Shathan itself is even greater than that of Men; they turned fire against us, and that was worst always we are vulnerable to that kind of attack. But the woods regrew in the end; and the barricades of hedges were maintained by Men who sheltered with us. We are not the only forest or the only place where such a thing has been done; but we are the oldest. There are places outside, where Men have run to themselves, and make wars and ruin and-in some places-make better things, beautiful things. Of these folk too we have hope, but we cannot live as their neighbors; we are too fragile. We cannot admit them here above all, to the place of power: thatmust remain outside their reach. The sirrindim,we call them, these Men outside; they are horsemen and avoid our forests. But do you perceive why I am distressed, lady Morgaine, with the like of the sirrindimsuddenly camped about Azeroth?"
"Nehmin is one dire concern, and I suppose that H is somewhere close about Azeroth, though I do not see it on your map. But the Narn itself could become a threat, a road to lead them through your heart."
"Indeed you do see. It leads too close to the land of the sirrindim.It is a threat much beyond Mirrind we do see that. In war, we would swiftly decline and die. The invaders must be held in Azeroth above all they must not open a way to the northern plains. Of all directions they might have gone, that is the most deadly to us and I think that is the direction they will choose, for you are here, and they will surely find that out."
"I understand you."
"We will hold them." There was sorrow etched deep in the old qhal'sface. "We shall lose many of our numbers, I fear, but we shall hold them. We have no choice. Go now. Go and sleep. In the morning you will go with Lellin and Sezar, and we shall hope that you keep faith, lady Morgaine: I have shown you much that could greatly harm us."
She inclined her head, respecting the old qhal."Good night, my lord," she murmured and turned and left. Vanye replaced the lamp carefully on its hanging chain near the old lord's chair, thinking of his comfort, and when the aged qhalsat down, he bowed too, the full obeisance he would have shown a lord of his own people, forehead to the ground.
"Man," said Merir gently, "for your sake I have believed your lady."
"How, lord?" he asked, for it bewildered him."
"Your manner-that you are devoted to her. Self-love shows itself first that qhaland Man cannot trust one another. But neither you nor she is afflicted by that evil. You serve, but not because you fear. You affect the manner of a servant, but you are more than that. You are a warrior like the sirrindim,and not like the khemi.But you show respect to an elder, and him not of your blood. Such small things show more truth than any words. And therefore I am moved to trust your lady."
He was stricken by this, knowing that they would fail that trust, and he was frightened. All at once he felt himself utterly transparent before the old lord, and soiled and unclean.