any we have
believed in for centuries. We have heard of witches. In the modern day
we discount the legends about them. The Foanna bring those legends
alive. And I promise you this--if they turn those powers loose"--he
paused--"it will be such a war as this world, perhaps any world has
never seen!"

"That is so." The Foanna had returned from the place to which they had
withdrawn. "And this is also the truth or one face of the truth. The
Rovers are right in their belief that we have kept some measure of
balance between one form of change and another on this world. If we were
as many as we once were, then against us these invaders could not move
at all. But we are three only and also--do we have the right to evoke
disaster which will strike not only the enemy but perhaps recoil upon
the innocent? There has been enough death here already. And those who
are our servants shall no longer be asked to face battle to keep an
empty shell inviolate. We would see with our own eyes these invaders,
probe what they would do. There is ever change in life, and if a pattern
grows too set, then the race caught in it may wither and die. Maybe our
pattern has been too long in its old design. We shall make no decision
until we see in whose hands the future may rest."

Against such finality of argument there was no appeal. These could not
be influenced by words.

"Gordoon, there is much to be done. Do you take with you this younger
brother and see to his needs. When all is in readiness we shall come."

One minute Ross had been standing on the carpet of living moss.
Then ... he was in a more normal room with four walls, a floor, a
ceiling, and light which came from rods set in the corners. He gasped.

"Stunned me, too, the first time they put me through it," he heard Ashe
say. "Here, get some of this inside you, it'll steady your head."

There was a cup in his hand, a beautifully carved, rose-red container
shaped in the form of a flower. Somehow Ross brought it to his lips with
shaking hands, gulped down a good third of its contents. The liquid was
a mixture of tart and sweet, cooling his mouth and throat, but warming
as it went down, and that glow spread through him.

"What--how did they do that?" he demanded.

Ashe shrugged. "How do they do the hundred and one things I have seen
happen here? We've been teleported. How it's done I don't know any more
than I did the first time it happened. Simply a part of Foanna 'magic'
as far as spec