"They will soon be here, Velia, my heart. You will soon see them. And little Didi." Now I could hear the trampling of sectrixes and the clatter of harness. The overlords of Magdag were riding up for me. A strong party galloped in pursuit of Grogor. They left their comrades to deal with the willful girl and this uncouth man of Gafard’s. They approached slowly, confident in their might. My sectrix still stood, head drooping, reins dangling, waiting for me to mount up and ride. I held my Velia in my arms, her head against my breast, and I would not move.
"It is very dark, Father. Is this the night of Notor Zan?"
"Yes, Velia. The Scarf of Our Lady Monafeyom is all rolled up and put away, and the dark cloak of Notor Zan is unfolded. You will sleep for a while. Then Mother and Drak and Lela and Segnik and your Didi will come to see you."
"I long to see them again, and Jaidur and Dayra and-" Her soft whispering voice gathered strength.
"And my lord?" She tried to move in my arms. "And my lord Gafard? He will come to see me. He is safe
— Father! He is safe?"
"Yes, Velia my daughter, Gafard is safe."
"You will like him, Father. I wished you could have known him. He is a very good man and he loves me so." Her eyes were wide open, not seeing me. "It is very dark. When will Mother come to see me? And Gafard. ."
The overlords of Magdag trampled nearer in their iron and their might. I, Dray Prescot, with a host of stupid titles, sat and held my daughter Velia in my arms. Shadows fell across the bright faces of the moons.
Toward the end her sight cleared. She looked up as I held her cradled and she saw the tiny gold and enamel valkavol she had given me.
"The valkavol!" she said, and the dark blood ran down her white chin, thick and thicker. "Father — it will be all right. ."
I did not care if the whole of Kregen heard her. The overlords meant nothing. The metallic rattle of their war harness sounded loudly now, the stamp of sectrix hooves iron-hard on the turf. She lost that brief spurt of luminous reason. She lay back in my arms, as she had when I had first held her, looking up from her tiny face to the glory of my Delia beyond, smiling. Her hands and her face were ice-cold.
"My lord. ." she whispered. "My love. ."
She was slipping from me.
"Mother," she said. "Here is Father."
The pallor of her face, the coldness of her, and that ugly red dribble from her mouth. .
"Father-" she said again. And then: "Gafard." She spoke his name three or four times. At the end she said, "Oh, to be home in Val-"
The overlords of Magdag rode up to take me.
I sat on the ground holding the broken body of my daughter in my arms as they came for me — as my Velia died.