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And Gelimer went on to expound further on the behavior of Cosmo Malolo on that last night of his
life. "Things might have gone differently, had he not fallen from his riding-beast and injured his
head. Or the outcome might have been the same who can say, now?"
"I still think," said Mark, "that Cosmo's goal when he left his manor that night must have been
simply to take the Sword of Vengeance out into an empty land somewhere such as these mountains
might provide and lose it there."
"Or perhaps," said Yambu, "to kill himself with it out there, where neither his body nor the Sword
might ever be discovered."
"We'll never know."
"What's that?"
Gelimer was pointing up into the sky.
The others squinted, shading their eyes against the sun and peering.
"Some truly giant bird."
"No. No, surely that's a griffin, carrying someone."
Wood was known for using griffins. And now one of the bizarre creatures, bearing on its back a
single human figure, was swiftly crossing the river from north to south, heading in the direction
of Malolo manor.
Chapter NINETEEN
MARK and his companions embarked again, leaving Gelimer and Lady Megara behind them on the bank.
At the last moment the hermit had asked to be allowed to bury Black Pearl's body. This wish was
readily granted, and the body unloaded from the boat. Zoltan made no protest; with every minute
that passed, the horrible thing under the wet canvas seemed to have less and less connection with
the girl he had begun to know three years ago. And in any case, he felt that duty now compelled
him to go on with his uncle Mark without delay.
Lady Megara, though saying very little, had conveyed to the others that she wanted to stay with
Gelimer, and to climb with him to the cemetery where Cosmo lay.
The remainder of the party got into the boat and pushed off. The prince, seated amidships, urged
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on his four rowers in a princely way. And those men, finding themselves now on a direct course for
home, complied to the best of their ability. The boat sped downstream, headed straight for the
fishing village in which Yambu and Zoltan had spent their first night in this country.
Soft Ripple, as Zoltan observed without being able to understand the fact, was still accompanying
the boat. It occurred to him to wonder whether the village ahead had once been her home and
possibly Black Pearl's also.
"Are you armed?" Mark asked Yambu, when they had been under way for a minute in silence.
"Only with my wits," she answered calmly. "In this most recent epoch of my life I have forsworn
the use of steel. Except of course in dire emergencies."
"Then probably you are better armed than I, my lady," Mark admitted. "Still there are times when
steel has its uses."
"And such a time, you think, lies close ahead of us. I think it quite likely you are right."
Mark looked at his nephew. "If the Sword comes within reach of anyone in Malolo manor, they are
likely to dispute its ownership with us. Especially if Bonar is still alive."
Zoltan nodded, and made sure that his own short sword and his knife were ready. Then he squinted
ahead, looking along a western reach of river. The other boat, the one that had preceded them
carrying Ben, Bonar, and Gesner, must by now be very far ahead indeed, Zoltan, shading his eyes,
was unable to see it on the river at all.
"Quite likely," said Mark, as if reading his nephew's mind, "they've already landed."
Ben, Bonar, and Gesner had indeed docked and come ashore at the fishing village. There their
oarsmen had vanished at once among the huts, pausing only long enough to tie up their boat. The
other inhabitants of the village, Ben noticed, were keeping out of sight also, as if perhaps they
expected trouble.
Gesner, Ben, and Bonar, the latter looking around him in vague apprehension, at once started
walking inland from the village, along the road that led toward Malolo manor.
Ben's presence put an obvious damper on conversation, a fact which did not bother him in the
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