Some of the warmth which had been among the song's notes and had flowed from the great third ring caressed him softly again. He tried to bow, though with his twisted body it was an awkward salute.
"For such farseeing as you give me – thanks. Lady."
"One does not give thanks for the truth. But there is another matter for us now. Come!"
The other three who shared the dais turned as one and started away, and he fell in behind while Maelen and Lord-One Krip followed, Farree still between them. So they came into a side passage of the hall and at last into a room which was not all austere and comfortless stone but had around two sides a bench padded with woven lengths. More such hung across the bare stone of the walls. Again by some trick of the long-ago builders there was an opening in the roof through which fed the light of the third ring to give radiance to the room, for there were crystals or gems set in patterns on the flooring now flashing rays from one to another. Parree watched them in wonder, hardly daring to step out upon such a carpeting, as they winked in subtle patterns almost like the lights upon the control board of a ship. Yet these were rocks and gems, and they were far from any off-worlder thing.
The four Elders settled themselves on one bench and motioned the other three to take that nearer the door. He settled down there between the Lady Maelen and Lord-One Krip. Then one of the male Elders pointed with his rod to a portion of the wall and it opened, coming forth from it, on a tray transported as if by wings, a tall goblet which glistened with life in the moonlight.
That was borne to Maelen. She accepted it and drank a single mouthful; then she passed the cup to Farree and nodded encouragingly. He drank and passed it on to Lord-One Krip. Once he, too, had accepted and drank, the goblet turned and was away again.
"It seems that these off-woriders who follow the lower path are here well housed and intend to stay until they have accomplished their purpose." He who looked to be the eldest of the Elders broke the silence first.
"Perhaps it is we who have drawn this trouble upon our people – " The Lady Maelen spoke in answer. "That we did on another world in fear for our lives, and more than just our lives, has sent ripples to Yiktor."
"They were here before," the woman who had spoken to Farree said. "I know not what they seek, but we have our own barriers and guards and they have not penetrated those – "
"Save when they sought to draw us forth." Lord-One Krip spoke sharply. "Those machines were tuned to one persona pattern, thus only Farree was forced to answer. Somewhere they had prepared to so cage us."
All four of the Elders inclined their heads in agreement.
"Therefore the quicker we go, the less the threat – " he continued. But the woman held up a hand in a gesture that silenced him.
"We are the Thassa and the years lie many and heavy behind us. Nor are we the less now because we have discarded much which the off-world holds in high regard. We cannot be hunted by their hounds – "
"Perhaps not, but you can be destroyed. And do not think that such a thing is beyond the minds of those who try to hold the gateway of your land. What they cannot take, they remove."
The faces of all four of the Elders were set sternly, and she who seemed their first speaker slowly shook her head from side to side.
"Let them try." There was such confidence in her words that Farree did not know whether to accept them and be content or whether to wonder at the disbelief of those who had never been off-world and did not understand the spreading and iron-handed power of the Guild.
"Their presence here can be reported." It was Lord-One Krip who offered that. "The Patrol – "
Again her head moved right and then left. "They move against the Thassa in their own lands. These come brazenly to do what they will. We are not so far from our sources even in these days that we cannot defend our own. Do you think that these would retreat even if the three of you were taken and laid at their feet?"
Lord-One Krip's mouth set and his shoulders squared as if he were about to reach for a weapon.
"The tales concerning the Guild are many and black. I cannot believe that any bargain they made would be honored. But there is this – time may be against them. This is not yet a world they control. Their nest in that ruin is the largest consolidation now of their power here – else we would have heard. Therefore a pact with them would buy – "
"Nothing!" Her word had the force of an aroused one's oath. "We do not treat with such as these. However, they may force us back into a path we forswore long ago – that we would meet open force with open force. When we chose what lies here" – she touched her forehead with the tip of her finger and then spread out her hand level and empty between them – "against what we might carry thus, the balance shifted and the Scales of Molester were set anew. It is our thought that these invaders, will not be easily turned aside, bemused by illusion. You say they are mind guarded – thus our first defense is negated. Very well, if illusion cannot grip them, then we shall summon the power. These are the hours of the third ring when the power ascends, and during the height of it we must make our move. No – "
She looked straight at Farree and under that regard he felt like a small crouched animal without any burrow in which to hide, as if all he was was spread out before the four for their reading.
"Picture," she ordered, "what you know of these men."
He began with that force which had drawn him forth from shelter, compelling him to deliver himself to the enemy. He continued with his trip in the flitter, his coming to the ruins, and his imprisonment in the tower – then his meeting with the Commander and Sulve. Then, for the first time he was interrupted by a raised hand of one of the men.
"This Sulve has been heard of. He is outwardly a merchant whose ship is in port for repairs."
"I believe him Guild," Farree answered. "They are supposed to have their men in many places – mostly unknown."
"True enough," Lord-One Krip agreed.
"It matters not what he seems to be." The woman sounded impatient now. "Let us know the rest."
So he told the story of his two interrogations, one under a machine which would prove the truth or falsity of his answers. There was a shade of another expression on the face of the Elder, one Farree could not read.
"So they depend always on machines. They have no trained Deliverer with them," she commented. "This machine" – she spoke now to the Lord-One Krip – "such are in use off-world?"
"The Patrol are said to have them, and they are used by the law on several worlds. But what is known to the law sooner or later comes into Guild hands."
"I do not think," the Lady Maelen said, "that they could read Thassa."
"They will not get a chance!" Again the male Elder flashed with some heat.
"Can you," Farree began slowly, one part of him struggling against the other which was all sober reason, "equip one who is not Thassa with false information and plant him to be retaken?"
For a long moment that seemed to stretch and stretch there was quiet in the room. He wanted to cry out he did not mean what he had said, that there was no way he was going to be trapped into returning into the hands of the Commander. For there would be no games played then – his very mind might be peeled and segmented so that the false would be made plain enough to those whose powers he had feared and held in awe all his life.