“I should,” he continued. “We would not want to tip off the druid, would we? No. Yes, it must be the other one, the younger one, she protects, not you. You’re often together, so it is hard for poor, poor Lyck. Lyck serves Vupec–he’s a cruel Vilemarc. Vupec serves Bandor, who if you don’t know, serves Eft himself. Do you see the vortex?”

He knew who these creatures were. Eft was the Great Betrayer, whom Grey called Dread, or sometimes, Power. In his dreams the Great Betrayer stood as a giant descended from a race of giants, the Spurls. The Proudhon’s enemies had found him but he continued to look baffled, after all, he was fairly certain he was defenseless.

“I leave you here unharmed for just now,” Lyck continued in Ace. “Do you mind? Ha, ha, ha! I will come back and have you both together and I’ll enjoy it much better–” He stopped and stared at Arck’s hands. “Oh look at you quake? Ha, ha, ha!”

Laughing still, he took out a cylindrical-scanner and waved it near Arck’s head. Arck knew it was an etecc-kloacer, a device which creates a scepter-mirage on brettiscreens or can be made to erase memory, but it wouldn’t work on him. Arck forced an empty smile, and after a minute of applying the etecc, Lyck turned and ran with astonishing speed until he was out of sight. In a moment, Arck could breathe again. He looked back at the field. Only white silence remained. His heart was still pounding. What had the creature meant by his insane rambling?

“Did that really happen?” he asked himself.

He looked at the tracks the Bonelve had left and realized he had absolutely no idea. Would the Great Betrayer, if there was such a creature, personally come after him? He certainly hoped not. His Bonelve slaves were scary enough.

Chapter 2