But it wasn't. I knew that. The frost hurting my face, the sound of
shod steel on stones, the vivid colors around me, told me I was wide
awake. Dreams are not techni-colored. And through all this I was riding
hell-for-leather, my knees gripped on the saddle, guiding the horse
with the grip of my thighs--and I'd never been on a horse's back in my
life. Rode--and rode--
We had ridden about seven miles, and stopped twice to breathe the
horses, but we were still beneath the great archway of trees. The
sky's pink sunset light had faded; the land was flooded with a blue,
fluorescent starlight, a light I'd never seen before. I strained my
eyes upward through the black foliage. I suppose I had some confused
idea of guessing _when_ I was by the stars. But the view to the
North was hidden by mountains, and I don't know one constellation
from another, with that single exception. A glance at Karamy, in this
fright, un-nerved me; I touched the reins, dropped back till I rode
between Gamine and the girl in flame-color. "Adric," the spell-singer
saluted coolly, and the girl in the winged cloak threw back her hood;
I saw dark eyes watching me from a pure, sweet young face. Before the
luminous innocence of those eyes I wanted to cry out in protest. I was
not Adric, warlock of Narabedla. I was just a poor guy named Mike, I
was just--me. I rode beside Gamine for minutes, trying to think what I
would say.
Gamine's musical voice was not raised, yet it carried perfectly to my
ears. "You seem wholly yourself again."
I didn't answer. What was there to say? Still, there seemed to be
sympathy in the sharply-edged tones. "You will remember--perhaps too
much--at the Dreamer's Keep."
"Gamine," I asked, "Who is _Narayan_?"
I saw the blue robes quiver a little; across from Gamine, I saw a
curious flickering look pass across the face of the girl in the orange
winged cloak. But Gamine's answer was perfectly even and disinterested.
"The name is not familiar to me. Have you heard it, Cynara?"
The girl did not answer, only moved her dark head a little.
"I should know," I mused. But the name _Cynara_ had touched
another of those live wires within my mind. Narayan. Cynara. Cynara and
Narayan! If I could only remember! Suddenly I turned. "Gamine--who are
you?" Gamine sat quiet, eerily motionless on the tall horse. The robed
figure seemed to blend into the starlit shadows around us. I had the
sudden feeling of having re-lived this moment before, then the veiled
shoulders twitched impatiently.
"Is this an inquisition?"
Rebuked, and stung by the arrogant voice, I touched my heel to my
horse's flank and rode forward to rejoin Karamy. Gamine! The hell with
Gamine!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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