etoc
destroyed Ofrid, a hundred years before. As a wayfarer on the Plains
of Ofrid, he had aged in those hundred years. And he had shrunk and
shriveled with approaching senility. "Tell me, Ylia," he asked,
panting, "is this Bram Forest you speak of indeed the--the god of the
legend? The God of the Tower come to right the ancient wrongs?"

A frown marred the beauty of Ylia's matchless face. "At first," she
said with a far-away look in her lovely eyes, "at first I thought he
was. Hadn't he come, suddenly, from nowhere, at the ordained moment?
But then when he did not slay Retoc, when instead he allowed Retoc the
use of his whip-sword and was almost slain by Retoc, when he bled like
any mortal, when he--" All at once Ylia was blushing.

"What is it, child?" Hammeth asked.

"Nothing. It is nothing."

"Ylia. You were the infant daughter of a lady in waiting of the royal
court of Ofrid. I was a captain of the Queen's Guards. When Retoc's
legions brought their death and destruction, I fled to the wilderness
with you. I raised you from infancy. I--" the old man's eyes clouded
over with emotion--"you have no secrets from me, child."

Ylia was still blushing. But a serene smile replaced the frown on her
face. "Very well, Father Hammeth, I will tell you. There in the cave
as I nursed the stranger back to health, as he grew stronger and could
move about, as we conversed and came to know each other, I--I desired
him."

Hammeth said nothing. His face was stern.

"Please," said Ylia, laughing now that her secret was out. "It wasn't
the kind of desire that could make me a candidate for the Golden Ape,
but--I desired him. It was a pure, sweet emotion, such as I have never
felt before. I wanted him. I wanted to serve him. I wanted to spend my
life helping him and ... Hammeth ... Father Hammeth ... loving him.
There, I have said it."

* * * * *

Hammeth only muttered. They plodded on through the snow, which here
was deep and powdery so they floundered sometimes to their knees.

"But a girl shouldn't feel such desire for a god, so I told myself he
was mortal." Abruptly and for no reason that Hammeth could fathom,
Ylia began to cry.

"What is it, child? What is it?"

"He--he fled. He had lost much blood and he was weak, yes, but he
didn't even stay to protect me. He fled from Retoc. Is that a god? Is
that even a man who can bring retribution to Retoc? Is it, Hammeth? Is
it?"

"Yet you're taki