_I love you, girl of Tarth, he thought. I love you, Ylia, more than words and more than worlds._ Something whisperingly cold plucked at him, and for an instant his heart was stilled. _Ylia!_ Could his love for the girl of Tarth draw him across the unthinkable abyss? "... immodestly attired and ..." the desk sergeant was saying. _Ylia, Ylia, call me! Draw me to you, girl of Tarth._ _... bramforesthelp...._ _Ylia! I hear you! I hear you!_ "What the heck's he doing? Praying?" the patrolman asked. For Bram Forest was staring devoutly at nothing, staring at the air in front of his face there in the mundane precinct room as if it held a radiant vision. Suddenly the desk sergeant's jaw dropped open. The patrolman said: "Hey, wait a mo...." Bram Forest was becoming tenuous, vanishing. * * * * * Insubstantial, transparent, the image of Bram Forest soared past the encampment of the Golden Apes. "Bylanus!" he called, and his voice was not insubstantial. Bylanus came at once. "If the Abarian legions move, attack them, Bylanus." "As you will, Bram Forest. But you...." "Don't worry about me. I can control it, I can control it." Bylanus passed an enormous hand through Bram Forest's body. "I'll materialize, when I find Ylia. She draws me...." Already the vision was fading. "Farewell, Bram Forest." _Farewell...._ Was it merely the sound of the wind along the banks of the River of Ice? Bylanus wondered. * * * * * Something struck Pirum's shoulder. The girl crouched, sobbing, at his feet. Pirum whirled. His face went white when he saw the man. He swung his fist desperately, and the man blocked it without effort. His arm was caught, as in a vise. He screamed. Something snapped in his arm. Something streaked at his face.... He took the blow from Bram Forest's fist under the point of the jaw. His head snapped back against the dungeon wall and memory and desire and lust and life oozed out through his smashed skull. "Ylia!" "You came, Bram Forest." "I'll never leave you again." "Yes, now, in the amphitheater. I think...." Overhead, the crowd roared. Bram Forest listened for a fraction of a second, and raced for the stairs. When word of the duel between Bontarc and Retoc came by courier to Laugrim, second in command of the Abarian army under the missing Hultax, Laugrim decided it was time to attack. He gave the signal for his army to march on the city, and the signal was passed from signal-fire to signal-fire in the huge encampment. In a very short time, the army's vanguard began to march. _There's no force on all Tarth strong enough to stop us now_, Laugrim thought exultantly. _This day, Retoc would rule Tarth._