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I will explain to all of them what you are doing for Darkover, plead for you, if need be, before the Comyn Council itself. Do you honestly believe that you are the only man on Darkover who chafes under Terran rule and control? I am as certain as that I stand here, that they will come to ' your support andwork with you freely and wholeheartedly, far better than I alone can do. And they have access to everyknown, monitored matrix on Darkover, and to the records of what was done with them in old times. Wecan find one safe for our purpose. Then I will work with you myself, and as long as you like, for your realaims. Not bluff with a terrible weapon, but a total, concerted effort by all of us, every one of us together,to recover the real strengths of Darkover, something positive to give the Terrans and the Empire, in returnfor what they can give us."

I met Regis' eyes, and suddenly time was out of focus again. I saw him in a great hall, crowded with menand women, hundreds and hundreds of them, every telepath on Darkover\ It slid away and the eight of uswere alone in the little fireside room again. I said to Regis and Danilo, "You would cooperate in such anendeavor, wouldn't you?"

Regis, his eyes gleaming with excitement, said, "With all my heart, Lord Beltran. I am certain that even

Comyn Council would put all the telepaths and towers of Darkover at your service I"

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This was a greater dream than the one which had drawn us together! It must be! I had seen ill Beltranmust catch fire from it too!

Beltran stared at us all, and before he spoke my heart sank. There was icy contempt in his voice andwords.

"You damnable forsworn traitorl" he flung at me. "Get me under the heel of Comyn, would you? That I should get on my knees before the Hali'imyn and take from them as a gift the power which is my right? Better even to do as my doddering old father did, and grovel to the Terrans! But I am lord of Aldaran now, and I will plunge all Darkover into red chaos first! Never! Never, damn you! NeverI" His voice rose to a hoarse shriek of rage.

"Beltran, I beg of you-"

"Beg! Beg, you stinking half-caste! As you would make me beg, grovel-"

I clenched my fists, aching with the need to fall on him, beat that sneer off his face . . . no. That was nothis true self, either, but Sharra,

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"I am sorry, kinsman. You leave me no choice." Whatever happened after, the closeness of this circle was broken; nothing could ever be the same. "Kadarin, you placed Sharra in my hands and pledged to abide my judgment. Before it is too late, the circle must be broken, the link destroyed, the matrix insulated before it controls us all."

"No!" Thyra cried. "If you dare not handle it, I do!"

"Breda-"

"No," Marjorie said, her voice shaking, "no, Thyra. It is the only way. Lew's right, it can destroy us all. Bob." She faced Kadarin, her golden eyes swimming in tears. "You made me Keeper. By that authority, I have to say it" Her voice broke in a sob. "The link must be broken."

"No!" Kadarin said harshly, repulsing her outstretched hands. "I did not want you to be Keeper; I feared just this- that you would be swayed by Lew! Sharra's circle must be preserved! You know you cannot break it without my consent!" He stared fiercely at her, and I thought of a hawk I had once seen, hovering over its prey.

Beltran stood in front of Danilo, facing him down. "I ask you for the last time. Will you do what I ask?"

Danilo was trembling. I recalled that he had been the youngest and most timid of the cadets. His voiceshook as he said, "N-no, my lord Aldaran. I will not."

Beltran turned his eyes on Regis. His voice was level and grim. "Regis Hastur. You are not now in the

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Domains, but in Aldaran's stronghold. You came here of your own free will, and you will not depart fromhere until you command your minion to use his powers as I shall direct."

"My paxman is free to follow his own will and conscience. He has refused you; I support his decision.

Now, Lord Aldaran, I respectfully request your leave to depart."

Beltran shouted in the mountain tongue. The doors suddenly burst open and a dozen of his guards burstinto the fireside room. I realized, in sudden consternation, that he must have meant this all along. One ofthem approached Regis, who was unarmed; Danilo quickly drew his dagger and stepped between them,but was swiftly disarmed. Beltran's men dragged them back out of the way.

Marjorie faced Beltran in angry reproach.

"Beltran, you cannot! This is treachery! He was our father's guest!"

But not my guest," Beltran said, and the words were a snarl, "and I have no patience with barbariancodes under a

pretense of honor! Now for you, Lew Alton. Will you honor your pledge to us?"

"You speak of honor?" The words seemed to rise from

some hidden spring within me, and I spat on the floor at his

feet. "I honor my pledge to you as you honor your father's

memory!" I turned my back on him. Within the hour I would

f be in touch with Arilinn by matrix, and the Comyn would

rfcnow what Beltran planned . . .

I had forgotten the link still strong between us all. Kadarin said, "Oh, no, you won't," and gestured to theguards. "Take him!"

My hand fell to sword-hilt-and found, of course, nothing. Wear no sword, at kinsman's board. I hadtrusted in my safety in my cousin's own house! Two guards seized me, held me motionless between them. Kadarin came to where I was held and raised his hand to my throat, jerking the laces of my tunic undone. He raised his hand to the leather bag con-taming my personal matrix.

I began to struggle now in deadly fear. It had never been more than a few inches from my body since Ihad been keyed into it when I was twelve years old. I had been warned what it meant to have anyoneelse touch it. Kadarin hauled at the leather bag; I brought my knee up into his groin. He yelled with pain,and I felt the shock of the agony through my own body, doubling me up, but it only strengthened his fury. He beckoned to the rest of the guards. It took four of them to do it, but before long I was spread-eagledon the floor, arms and legs pinioned down, while Kadarin knelt atop me, straddling my helpless body, hisfists flailing blows on my face. I felt blood breaking from my nose, my eyes; I gagged "• on my ownblood, streaming down my throat from a broken tooth. I could no longer see Marjorie for the blood inmy eyes, but I heard her shrieking, sobbing, begging. Were they hurting her too?

Kadarin drew his dagger. He stared straight down into my eyes, his face flickering with that unholy

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flame. He said between his teeth, "I should cut your throat now and save us all some trouble."

With a swift, downward slash, he cut the thong that held the leather bag; seized it between his hands andwrenched it away.

Until the day I die, I shall never forget that agony. I heard Marjorie scream, a long, death-like shriek ofpain and terror, felt my whole body arch backward in a convulsive spasm,

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then fall limp. I heard my own voice screaming hoarsely, felt steel fingers clutch at my heart, felt my breathing falter. Every nerve in my body was in spasm. I had never known I could live through such anguish. Red haze blurring what was left of my sight, I felt myself dying and instinctively I heard my own tortured shriek:

"Father! Father!"

Then it all went dark and blind and I thought, This is death.

I don't know what happened in the next three days. For all I know, I was dead. I know it was threedays because I was told so later; it might have been thirty seconds or thirty years later that I came up tofoggy awareness that I was alive, and that I would much rather not be.

I was lying on the bed in my quarters in Castle Aldaran. I felt bruised, sick, every separate bone andmuscle in my body with a separate ache. I staggered into the bathroom and stared at my reflection in themirror. From the way my face looked, I can only imagine that my body kept on fighting long after Iwasn't in it any more.

There were a couple of broken teeth ragged in my mouth, and they hurt like hell. My eyes were sobruised and swollen I could hardly get them open to see. My face had been cut by something hard, thebig rings Kadarin wore, maybe. There were going to be scars.

Worse than the physical pain, which was bad enough, was the terrible sense of emptiness. Drearily, Iwondered why I had not died. Some telepaths do die of shock, if they are forcibly severed from theirown personal keyed matrices. I was just one of the unlucky ones.

Marjorie. My last memory was hearing her scream. Had they tortured her too?

If Kadarin had harmed her I would kill him . ..

The thought was wrenching pain. He had been my friend-he could not have pretended-not to a telepath.

Sharra had corrupted him....

I wished he had cut my throat instead.

Sharra. I went to look for the matrix, but it was gone. I was glad to be rid of the damnable thing, but Iwas afraid, too. Would it let us go?

I drank cold water, trying to lessen the dry sickness in me. My hand kept fumbling for the place aroundmy neck where the matrix should have been. I couldn't think straight or see

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properly, and there was a constant dull ringing in my ears. I was really surprised I had survived this

shock.

Slowly I realized something else. Sore and aching as I was, there was no blood anywhere on my face orgarments. Nor had I fouled my clothes. Someone had therefore been here, tended my wounds after afashion, put clean clothes on me. Kadarin, when he came to take away the Sharra matrix?

I found I very much disliked the thought of Kadarin coming here, handling my unconscious body. Iclenched my teeth, found out it hurt too much and made myself relax. Another score to settle with him.

Well, he'd done his worse, and I was still alive.

I tried the door cautiously. As I had suspected, it was bolted on the outside.

I ached so much that the thought of a long hot bath was tempting. The thought of being surprised nakedand defenseless in the bathtub, however, removed all temptation from the idea. I soaked a cloth in the hotwater and bathed my bruised face.

I ransacked the apartment, but of course my sword was gone, and the dagger, too. When I rummagedin my saddlebags for my heavy traveling boots, even the small skean-dhu in the boot was gone from itssheath.

A grim smile touched my face. Did they think me helpless? I had my Guardsman training still, and

Kadarin might-he just might-despise me enough to come back alone.

I dragged up a chair-I still wasn't steady enough on my feet to stand for what might be hours waiting forhim-and sat down facing the bolted door.

Sooner or later someone would come. And I would be ready.

It was a long time before I heard a tiny metallic rasp from the door. Someone was stealthily rumbling todraw the bolt back. Finally the door began, very slowly, to open inward.

I leaped, grabbed the hand that had just begun to steal inward and jerked hard-and felt the delicate wristtoo late to arrest the force of the swing. Marjorie skidded inside, gasping, slammed against thedoor-frame. I dropped her wrist as if it was burned. She staggered and I held her quickly upright

"Quick," she whispered, "shut the door!"

"Gods defend us," I whispered, staring in horror at her. "I could have killed you!"

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"I'm glad you're able-" She drew a quick gasp. "Lew, your face! Oh God ..."

"The loving attention of my kinsmen." I shut the door, shoved the heavy chair up against it.

"I begged them-I begged them-"

I laid my arms around her. "Poor love, I know, I heard you. Did they hurt you?"

"No, even Beltran didn't hurt me, though I scratched and bit him." She said, her voice coming in gasps, "I have your matrix for you. Here, quick." She held the small leather bag out to me. I thrust it inside my tunic, next to my skin. It seemed that my vision cleared at once, the dull ringing inside my head quieted. Even my heart beat more solidly. I was still battered and aching from the terrible beating I had taken, but I felt alive again, "How did you get it?"

"Bob made me take it," she said. "He said I was Keeper, only I could handle it without hurting you. He

said you'd die otherwise. So I took it. Lew, only to save you. I swear it-"

"I know. If anyone but a Keeper had kept it long, I would certainly have died." Not that I credited Kadarin with that much kindness for my well-being. He probably knew what too much handling of someone else's keyed matrix would do to him.

"Where is the Sharra matrix?"

"Thyra has it, I think," she said doubtfully. 'Tin not sure.**

"How did you get in here, Marjorie? Are there guards watching me?"