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The roof, e reached it, was not flat; and the pitch was great enough forat every step Its hard, uneven surface see and clattering against the others until it fell over the edge and smashed on the uneven slabs below

When I was an apprentice and too young to be entrusted with any but the iven a letter to take to the witches' tower, across the Old Court froood reason for selecting only boys well below the age of puberty to carry the es our proximity to the witches required) Nohen I know of the horror our oer inspired not only in the people of the quarter but to an equal or greater degree in the other residents of the Citadel itself, I find a flavor of quaint naivete in the recollection of my own fear; yet to the small and unattractive boy I was, it was very real I had heard terrible stories from the older apprentices, and I had seen that boys unquestionably braver than I were afraid In that ely colored lights burned by night The screah the ports of our dorround exahest levels; and we knew that it was the witches themselves who screamed thus and not their clients, for in the sense we used that word, they had none Nor were those screaony, as ours were

I had been made to wash my hands so they would not soil the envelope, and I was very conscious of their da the puddles of freezing water that dotted the courtyard My nified and huto carry a letter to her in red hands and would send me back with a scornful report to Master Malrubius as well

I must have been very small indeed: I had to jump to reach the knocker The sainst the thin soles of my shoes remains with me still

"Yes?" The face that looked into her thanall the hundreds of thousands of faces I have seen - that are at once suggestive of beauty and disease The witch to whoed seemed old to me and must actually have been about twenty or a little less; but she was not tall, and she carried herself in the bent-backed posture of extreht have been a mask carved in ivory by some master sculptor

Mutely, I held up my letter

"Come with me," she said Those were the words I had feared, and now that they had actually been given voice, they seemed as inevitable as the procession of the seasons

I entered a tower very different from our own Ours was oppressively solid, of plates of o, diffused into one another to become oneNothing sees were Much later, Master Palaemon explained to me that it was far older than most other parts of the Citadel, and had been built when the design of toas still little more than the iy, so that skeletons of steel were used to support a fabric of fli of the centuries, that skeleton had largely corroded away - until at last the structure it had once stiffened was held up only by the pieceenerations Oversized rooms were separated by walls not much thicker than draperies; no floor was level, and no stair straight; each banister and railing I touched seereen, and purple had been chalked on the walls, but there was little furniture, and the air see several stairs and a ladder lashed together frorant tree, I was ushered into the presence of an old wo through a glass tabletop at what appeared to be an artificial landscape inhabited by hairless, crippled aniave her lanced at -old woraven in my mind

I mention all this now because it seemed to me, as I laid Jolenta on the tiles beside the fire, that the women who crouched over it were the same It was impossible; the old woman to whom I had handedone (if she were still living) would be changed beyond recognition, as I was myself Yet the faces that turned toward me were the faces I recalled Perhaps there are but titches in the world, who are born into it again and again

"What is the er woman asked, and Dorcas and I explained as well as we could

Long before we finished, the older one had Jolenta's head in her lap and was forcing wine from a clay bottle into her throat "It would har to harm," she said "But this is three parts pure water Since you do not wish to see her die, you are fortunate, possibly, to have come across us so Whether she is also fortunate, I cannot say"

I thanked her, and inquired where the third person who had been at their fire had gone

The old wo her attention to Jolenta

"There were only the two of us," the younger woman said "You saw three?"

"Very clearly, in the firelight Your grandmother - if that is who she is - looked up and spoke to me You and whoever ith you lifted your heads, then bowed theain"

"She is the Cumaean"

I had heard the word before, but for a er woave me no clue

"The seeress," Dorcas supplied "And who are you?"

"Her acolyte, My nanificant, possibly, that you, who are three, saw three of us at the fire, while ho are two at first saw but two of you" She looked to the Cumaean as if for confirh I saw no glance pass between them

"I'er than either of you," I said

"This is a strange evening, and there are those who ride the night air who so The question is why such a poould wish to show itself to you"

The effect of her dark eyes and serene face was so great that I think I gested with an almost imperceptible roup about the firethe roof and hiding on the farther side of the ridge

"She aze froh she does not wish it"

"It's a good thing for her that the two of you had so much wine," I said

The old wo only, "Yes, it is For you and possibly even for her"

Merryn picked up a stick and stirred the fire "There is no death"

I laughed a little, er quite so worried about Jolenta "Those of my trade think otherwise"

"Those of your trade are mistaken"

Jolenta murmured, "Doctor?" It was the first ti

"You do not need a physician now," Merryn said "Someone better is here"

The Cumaean muttered, "She seeks her lover"