“You know,” she said. “I believe you"re only the second person ever to have charged at me wielding a sword.”
“What befell the other?”
“Oh, you know, within a year or two he was good as new.”
He almost smiled. She was about to speak again, to tell him the old tale, try and coax that smile out onto his face, when she felt a new presence, distant but clear.
Beltaine"s eyes narrowed, questioning her.
“More vultures circling the corpse,” she said. “Someone comes. Someone on the river.”
“On the river?” Even as Beltaine spoke he was signalling to the remaining two waiting out of sight. “Who?”
“I don"t know,” said Hellen. “It is strange. There is a man, certainly, but he seems to be asleep. His dreams are outlandish, vast buildings and great machines. Very loud noise. There is another mind
