A pale green light shone under the arch. Gallen, Orick, and Maggie each hugged Everynne, said their last good-byes.
Then together they stepped through the cold mist between worlds.
They found themselves on a forest road, beneath large pine trees in the mountains. The morning sun was just breaking over the mountains, a radiant pink ball. Kiss-me-quick birds called from the edge of the roadside, and in the distance an owl hooted. The air tasted as sweet to Gallen as Maggie’s kisses, and he breathed in deeply.
They walked along the road for most of the day until they reached a small town called Gort Iseal and learned that they were in the north of County Obhiann, many miles away from home.
At the inn that night, people looked at them oddly, and Gallen found himself apologizing for his strange attire and hid his mantle in his pack.
Maggie and Gallen took a table near a roaring fire and had a large dinner. Afterward, they sat and talked softly. Some bears came to the door of the inn, begging for leftovers. Orick went outside to talk to one young female. Afterward, he came up to Gallen and Maggie all excited. “That young she-bear has invited me to the Salmon Fest. Can you believe it? We’ve been gone all that time, and we still didn’t miss it!”
Gallen nodded, studied Orick’s face. He was eager, that seemed sure. “So why don’t you go? What’s stopping you?”
“Well,” Orick said, “I took this vow a while back. I promised God that I’d only make jolly with one she-bear in my life.”
Gallen looked deep into Orick’s eyes for a moment, then said, “Orick, there are as many ways to serve God as there are men who serve God. In the past few days, you helped save every person on this planet, not to mention everyone on ten thousand other worlds. And now this she-bear wants you to serve her, and you’re only feeling guilty because you’ll get a little pleasure out of it in the process. Why don’t you help her out? Why don’t you make it two?”
“Yes,” Maggie said. “I’m sure you’ll be the thrill of her life.”
Orick frowned. “All right, you talked me into it.” Orick hung around a bit, promised to come back soon for Gallen and Maggie’s wedding, then left with the she-bear.
The next morning, Gallen sold an oxygen exchanger to a sailor and used the money to buy a brace of horses. He and Maggie began to ride home in style.
But that night, they were almost in County Morgan when a bad storm tore up the sky. They took refuge at an inn, and Gallen and Maggie sat discussing their wedding plans. With Father Heany dead, no one would block their marriage. Gallen would have his cousin in An Cochan perform the ceremony. As they talked of their plans, one of the locals at another table said, “Och, what a nasty storm we have a blowing outside-and it not even yet mid-September!”
Maggie turned to Gallen and whispered, “What day was it when we left here?”
“September fifteenth,” Gallen said.
Maggie turned to the stranger. “What’s the date today?”
“Why, the fourteenth,” the man answered.
And Gallen sat there, stunned. That trickster Everynne had sent them back in time again. He suddenly recalled that later on tonight, he would meet several robbers and a sidhe on the road to An Cochan, some twelve miles distant.
“Maggie, my love,” Gallen said, “would you excuse me for a few hours, darling? There’s something I have to do. I promise, I’ll be back for you early in the morning.”
“I suppose-if it’s important,” she said.
“It’s not a big job,” Gallen said. “But I think I need to save a man’s life.”
He went up to his room and dug through his clothes, put on his mantle. In one corner of his pack, he found the mask of lavender starlight he had picked up on Fale. In Veriasse’s pack, he found the wavy-bladed dagger the sidhe had been carrying.
Gallen dressed himself all in black, like the Lord Protector he was, then strapped on his sword and rode out in the rain and darkness to meet his destiny.