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"I a his pony to a trot after the two had puthis hat off gracefully
Luthien started to likewise introduce hi was not finished "I used to say &039;highwayhalfling,&039; " he explained, "but the merchants did not take that so seri-ously and I had to more often use my rapier blade To " As he spoke, he snapped the rapier from the loop on his baldric and thrust it Luthien&039;s way
"I understand," Luthien assured hierous weapon away He tried to introduce himself but was promptly cut off
"And this isthe yellow pony "Not the prettiest, of course, but smarter than any horse, and y mount and started to say, "Riverda--"
"I do appreciate your unexpected help," Oliver went on, oblivious to Luthien&039;s attempt to speak "Of course, I could have defeated them by myself--there were only six, you see But take help where you find help, rateful to "
"Luth--" Luthien began
"Of course, ratitude will not carry beyond the split of the profits," Oliver quickly added "One in four for you" He eyed Luthien&039;s rather plain dress with obvious disdain "And that will probably be more wealth than you have ever seen"
"Probably," the son of the eorl of Bedwydrin said i to hide his sh, that he had left his hoh to cross on the ferry and support him-self for a few days, but when he had left Dun Varna, he hadn&039;t really thought much beyond that
"Not in debt, then," Oliver said, barely pausing for a breath, before Luthien, for the fourth time, could offer his name "But I will allow you to ride beside me, if you wish That merchant-type was not surprised to seethat he could have kept uards openly Yet he hid the to hiht at Luthien so quickly that he startled the young man
"I do think that he hid the one-eyes in the hopes of luring me in!"
Oliver exclaioatee with one of his green-gloved hands
"Yes, yes," he went on "The merchant-type kneas on the road--this is not the first tiot him outside of Princetown once, I do be-lieve" He looked up at Luthien, nodding his head "And of course, the merchant-type would have heard my name in any case So you may ride with me," he offered, "for a while Until we are beyond the traps this er is not behind us?"
"I just said that"
Luthien again hid his smirk, amazed at how the little one had just puhwayh theto his
father&039;s house in Dun Varna often brought tales of thieves along the road
"I assure you," Oliver began, but he stopped and looked at Luthien curiously "You know," he said, see somewhat perturbed, "you really should properly introduce yourself when traveling beside someone you have never met There are codes of etiquette, particularly for those ould be known as proper highwayh, "perhaps you will learn better in your ti Bedwyr shouted quickly, be-fore Oliver could interrupt hio by an alias But he couldn&039;t think of one at that moment, and he really didn&039;t see the point "Luthien Bedwyr of Dun Varna And this is Riverdancer," he added, giving the horse another pat
Oliver tipped his hat, then pulled up short on his pony "Bedwyr?" he asked, as h he wanted to hear the ring of the naain "Bed-wyr This name is not unknown to me"
"Gahris Bedwyr is the eorl of Bedwydrin," Luthien said
"Ah!" Oliver agreed, pointing one finger up into the air and snition That smile went away in an incredulous blink
"Family?"
"Father," Luthien admitted
Oliver tried to respond, but nearly choked instead "And you are out here on the road--for sport!" the halfling rea-soned In Gascony, where Oliver had spent most of his life, it was not uncoet into all sorts of trouble, including a that their family connections would keep them free
"Draw your sword, you silly little boy!" the halfling cried, and out whipped his rapier and his auche "I soRiverdancer about to put so "What are you talking about?" As the halfling turned his pony to pursue, Luthien grudgingly drew his weapon
"You bring disgrace to every reputable highway went on "What need have you of co-ins and jeels?" Threadbare sidled up close to River-dancer, and the halfling, though he was sitting at only about half Luthien&039;s height and could barely reach the man&039;s vital areas, thrust forward his rapier
Luthien&039;s sword intercepted the weapon and turned it aside Oliver countered with a rapid series of thrusts, feints and cuts, even slipping in a deceptive jab with the auche
Skilled Luthien defeated every move, kept his balance per-fect and his sword in proper defensive posture
"But it is a game for the son of an eorl," Oliver remarked sarcastically
"He is too bored in his daily duties of cowering his subjects" The thrusts beca for a kill
That last line got to Luthien, though, insulted him and in-sulted his father, who had never acted in such a way He rocked back in his saddle, letting Oliver play out his fury, then ca the rapier out wide and swiping his sword across fiercely Oliver&039;sthat he could send Luthien&039;s weapon flying, as he had done to the cyclopian
Luthien was quicker than that brute, and he turned his blade before Oliver could twist the trapping dagger, nearly taking thethe sword so that it could coround, and both the halfling and Luthien knew that Oliver&039;s head would have still been inside if Luthien had so desired
A tug on the reins sent Threadbare back several feet, putting so," the halfling ad," Luthien answered sternly "You could find fault with Gahris Bedwyr, that I do not doubt He does not follow his heart if that course would go against the edicts of King Greensparrow, or the duke of Montfort, or any of the duke&039;s ain speak of Gahris as a tyrant!"
"I said I could be wrong," Oliver replied soberly
"As for me " Luthien went on, his voice subdued, for he was not sure of how to proceed What of me? he won-dered What had happened this day? It all seemed a surrealis-tic blur to the suddenly confused Luthien
For once, Oliver rehts, understanding that whatever Luthien ht have to say could be ier claihts that accompany the name of Bedwyr," Luthien said fir the corpse of a cyclopian guardsman behind And now I have chosenits fine blade shine in the sun, though it was still a bit stained with the blood of the uard "I am as much an outlaw as are you, Oliver deBurrows," Luthien proclai Thus willfor justice"
Oliver raised his own rapier in like salute and outwardly proclaiht Luthien a silly little boy, though, who didn&039;t understand either the rules or the dangers of the road Justice? Oliver nearly laughed aloud at the thought Luthien&039;s swordfor justice, but Oliver&039;s rapier jabbed for profit Still, the young hty ally--Oliver couldn&039;t deny that And, Oliverto Luthien, if justice was truly Luthien&039;s priority, then ht fall Oliver&039;s way
Suddenly, the highwayhalfling was beginning to think that this arrangeht not be so teize for ain, then realized that it was lying on the ground Luthien saw it, too, and started tolow off the side of his saddle, the halfling tipped his rapier low, slipping the point in under the hat A flick and twist brought the hat spin-ning atop the rapier&039;s tip as Oliver lifted the weapon He thrust it up, then jerked his rapier away, and the hat dropped in a spin, landing perfectly atop the halfling&039;s head
Luthien sat a smile with a shake of his head
"But we are not safe on the island, fellow outlaw," Oliver said, his expression turning serious "That merchant-type knew me, or of me, and expected anize a hunt for Oliver deBurrows" The halfling paused and snorted He looked at Luthien and his chuckle becah
"Oh, wonderful irony!" Oliver cried "He goes to the eorl for assistance, while the eorl&039;s own son corow, and Luthien joined in, s of mirth
They did not make the ferry that afternoon, as Luthien had hoped He explained to Oliver that the ferries would not cross the choppy seas at night In the darkness, the island spotters could not see if any dorsal whales had come into the narrow channels A description of the ten-ton man-eaters was all that Oliver needed to be convinced that they should forgo plans to be off the island that sa into the night in the drizzle beside the hissing and s low campfire To the side, Threadbare and Riverdancer stood quietly, heads bowed, and across the fire, Oliver snored contentedly
The youngoff the chill He still could not believe all that had happened over the last few days: Garth Rogar, his brother, the cyclopian guardson It re-mained unreal to Luthien; he felt as if he had fallen into a river of uncontrollable events and was si in their tide
No, not uncontrollable, Luthien finally decided Undeni-able The world, as it turned out, was not as he had been brought up to expect it to be
Perhaps his last actions in Dun Varna--his decision to leave and his fight with the cyclop-ian--had been so for the naive child of a noble house
Perhaps, but Luthien knew that he still had no solid an-swers He knew, too, that he had followed his heart both in Dun Varna and when he had seen Oliver&039;s fight with the uards He had followed his heart, and out there, on the road, in the drizzle of a chill August night, Luthien had little else to guide hiray and wet, but the coood time out of their encampment Soon the s in their mouths
"If the day was clear," Luthien explained, "we could see the northern spurs of the Iron Cross from here"
"How do you know?" Oliver asked him sarcastically "Have you ever had a clear day on this island?" The banter was light and so were their hearts (Oliver&039;s always seeh he would find his freedom when he crossed the narrow channel and stepped onto Eriador&039;s et across
Froot their first view of the Diaate Ferry, and of the mainland across the narrow channel The place was called Diaate for a small, diamond-shaped isle, a lump of wet black rock in the middle of the channel, halfway between the shores
Two flat, open barges sat at the ends of long wooden wharves whose supporting beams were as thick as ancient oaks Off to the side loomed the remains of the older wharves, equally well constructed, their dees, including the t ned and built by the dwarves of the Iron Cross more than three hundred years be-fore, and had been meticulously maintained (and replaced, when the rocks or the currents or a dorsal whale took one) by the islanders ever since Their design was sio and travelers, anchored at each corner by
thick beams that arched up to a central point ten feet above the center of the landing Here the beah this ran the thick rope that guided the ferry back and forth A large gear showed on each side of the tube, its notches reaching in through slits along the tube&039;s side A crank on the deck turned a series of gears leading to these thich in turn caught the knots on the rope and pulled the ferry along the taut cord&039;s length The beauty of the systele strong man could pull the ferry even if it was heavily laden
But still the crossing was always dangerous The water this day, as every day, shohite tips on its bouncing waves and abundant rocks, especially near to Diaate, where the ferries could dock if they encountered any trouble
One of the barges was always inoperable, taken down so that its guide rope could be replaced, or when its floor plank-ing needed shoring up
Several dozen ate just to keep the place in operation
"They are planning to shut down that one," Luthien, fa to the barge on the north "And it seems as if the other is about to leave We e to cross over" He gave a ticking sound to Riverdancer, and the horse started down the path leading to the landings
A few rabbed Luthien&039;s ar that he should slow the pace
"But the ferry--" Luthien started to protest
"There is an ambush about," Oliver explained
Luthien stared at hi
More than a score of menno weapons and appearing as si to cross This was not common, Luthien knew, for there were few cyclopians on Bedwydrin, and those were only uards or his fa-ther&039;s own
Still, under the edicts of King Greensparrow, cy-clopians were allowed free passage as citizens of Avon, and affairs at Diaate did not sees," Oliver reged and gave in,the path at as fast a pace as Oliver would allow
The two cyclopians, and many of the men, spotted the co, but none estures or even called out to in-dicate that the two h, slowed a bitthis way and that fro that all should e was about to pull out
Luthien started forward i," Luthien protested in a harsh whisper
"Easy," Oliver implored him "Make the"
"Make who think?" Luthien argued
"You see those barrels along the wharf?" Oliver asked Luthien swung his gaze about and Oliver squeezed hard on his forear scolded softly
Luthien sighed and subtly looked at the casks Oliver hadline of the for a caravan to claim them
"They are marked with an X," Oliver remarked
"Wine," Luthien explained
"If they are wine, then why do soasked Luthien looked h, saw that every third barrel had a s
"And if those cyclopians on the landing are simply travel-ers," Oliver went on, "then why are they not on the departing barge?"
Luthien sighed again, this tiree with, the halfling&039;s line of reasoning
"Can your horse jue was slowlywas think-ing
"I will tell you when to break," Oliver assured hiet the chance as you pass!"
Luthien felt his adrenaline building, felt the saot when he stepped into the arena
There was little doubt in the young man&039;s !
They walked their mounts easily onto the boards of the thirty-foot wharf, passing torkers without incident A third
"Next barge is an hour before the noon," he explained cheerily, and he pointed to a s to explain where the travelers could rest and take a !" Oliver cried suddenly, and off leaped Thread-bare, Riverdancer charging right behind Men dove out of the way; the two visible cyclopians shouted and scra short swords from under their cloaks As Oliver had predicted, every third barrel began toaside as cyclopians juained surprise Riverdancer sprang past Oliver&039;s pony and blasted past the two cyclopi-ans, hurling thee of the wharf, along the row of barrels, andthe ferry was fifteen feet out when Luthien got to the end of the wharf, no great leap for powerful River-dancer, and the young ht as he soared across
Oliver ca his hat in one hand as Threadbare flew across, co into Riverdancer atop the se Back on the wharf, a dozen cyclopians shouted protests and waved their weapons, but Oliver, more wary than his less-experienced co down fro out to meet the advance of a cyclopian that suddenly appeared froauche waved in a dizzying blur, a precise and enchanting dance of steel, though they see&039;s opponent The cyclopian gawked at the display, sincerely impressed But when the flurry was done, the brute was not hurt at all Its one eye looked down to its leather tunic, though, and saw that the halfling had cut an "O" into it in a fine cursive script "I
could write my whole na nae, the cyclopian lifted its heavy ax, and Oliver pros and spinning about to poke the brute in the ru proclaimed, "but I see that you are too stupid to know that you are being taunted!"
The cyclopian howled and turned, then instinctively looked ahead again just in ti into its face Oliverhis shoulder into the back of the cy-clopian&039;s knees Over went the brute, launched by Luthien&039;s punch, to land heavily, flat on its back It struggled for just a moment, then lay still