Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn by Robert Holdstock

Author:Robert Holdstock
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780575119062
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2014-11-27T06:00:00+00:00

Unable to find hospitality that night, they camped in the forest.

‘I have learned one thing at least from this difficult encounter,’ Kylhuk said as he drank from his cup.

‘That you are a fool and easily deceived?’ Manandoun suggested.

Kylhuk finished the cup, then wiped his lips.

‘I have learned two things at least from this difficult encounter,’ he amended. ‘Manandoun has referred to one of them, and I have learned that lesson and no one will deceive me again.’

‘Ho ho,’ said Manandoun.

‘Indeed. Ho ho. But we’ll see about that. The other thing is that something has been passed on to me, some burden, and Uspathadyn is celebrating because he is a free man. He has tricked me into calling down the anger of the dead. But he has also set me the task of finding this hamper and the silver horn.’

Bedivyr muttered darkly, ‘There is more to those gifts than meets the eye.’

‘There is more to the pursuit of those gifts than meets the eye,’ Kylhuk said, and Manandoun added:

‘By the head on my shoulders, you are right to say that. The danger is in the pursuit of the beast, not in the beast itself! I am game for this, Kylhuk. I was born for this hunt. And may my arm fail me if I ever call you a fool again.’

The two of them embraced, while Bedivyr shuffled uneasily by the fire, saying, ‘I have come this far and God Knows, it is not a long way back to the place where I started …’

‘Which particular god are you referring to?’ asked Manandoun.

‘Whichever one follows me noting my deeds in combat.’

‘I’d noticed a certain absence of gods,’ Manandoun said dryly, looking round at the night as he stoked the fire.

‘I will ignore that discourtesy. My point is, I will not return to Pwyll until this man Kylhuk is free of the burden.’

‘Thank you!’ Kylhuk said. ‘Manandoun … Bedivyr … My good friends! This is just the beginning of something!’

‘Indeed!’ said Manandoun.

‘I have no idea what that something is,’ Kylhuk went on, ‘except that it involves a hamper of food and a silver horn filled with drink. When it is ended, we will all three of us look back and celebrate its ending. We will rejoice in its ending. Whatever it might be that has ended. I cannot say fairer than that. Shall we stay together?’

‘I will not leave your company by my own will,’ said Manandoun.

‘Neither oxen nor the wain-ropes they pull will drag me away from this small band,’ agreed Bedivyr, ‘terrible though this situation is.’

‘Well spoken,’ Kylhuk said. ‘And my head on this: I will not abandon either of you until Olwen’s father’s own head is on the end of my spear.’

‘That’s that, then,’ said Manandoun. ‘We are all agreed. And you will certainly need a big spear for the head you propose to sever. But now we must think about what to do next. I would suggest that the three of us are not enough to take on everything that is behind us, and everything that is ahead of us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.