Moon of Three Rings by Andre Norton

Author:Andre Norton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Epic, Magic, Science Fiction, &WORKING, Juvenile Fiction, Space Opera, Children's Literature, Fiction, Fantasy, Literary Criticism, Adventure, Life on other planets, General, Short stories
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 2010-01-22T07:50:21+00:00

KRIP VORLUND

XI

I LAY ON THE EARTH and around me the smell of it, of the things that grew, roots set deep in its substance, and of the life that walked it, burrowed through it, was thick, teasing, testing. How far was I now from the Valley, how long the road I skulked along, I did not know as I lay and licked sore paws. I was now more Jorth than Krip Vorlund.

Man? Was there any longer a man who had once been Krip Vorlund? The priests of Umphra reported no party out of Oskold’s territory with the husk of a man. Why, then, had I been brought to the Valley? What purpose had I been meant to serve for Maelen’s desire, not mine? When I heard the priests talk among themselves suspicion had leaped into life, and I thought with new understanding of my interview with Orkamor in the garden of peace.

We talked of worlds beyond, but always he wanted to know of the men who sought out such worlds, of what made them become star rovers. And it seemed to me that he had been trying to learn what manner of man would become a barsk to save his life—as if, by such a chance, I had taken a step from which there might be no return, and if I would accept such a fate for all time.

When Maelen spoke of the exchange, there had been a kind of logic to it. She knew the dangers, ah, how well she knew them. For the priests I had overheard not only spoke of my missing body, but also discussed Maelen and what brought her to the Valley, not once but again and again. There had been another who had run in a beast’s body, at her bidding perhaps. And there had been no return exchange. So the man’s body husk now dwelt in the Valley, and of the beast they did not speak. Or was that unfortunate one caged among her little people?

That perfectly trained company—were they all, or most, once men and women, not animals? Was that how the Thassa recruited their beast shows? Perhaps the name they had given to their performers—”little people”—was entirely apt.

She had long wanted to add a barsk to the company, she admitted that. And I had walked into her trap with the naivete of a trusting child. Or had she brought to bear on me some of her power when my mind had been bewildered? What mattered now was not what had happened and could not be changed, but what might still be done. My body—my man’s body—where was it? If it still lived at all— And to find out I must search Oskold’s land. What I would do if I found it, I had no idea. But for the present the burning need to find it possessed me utterly, past logical reasoning. Perhaps I was no longer quite sane-

Hunger and thirst were dim urges stirring now. I scented man, the odors of a farm holding.

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