ss Dandtan's jealousy had been aroused and he
was determined to rid himself of a rival.

Believing this, the flyer went willingly to the chamber where the judges
waited. Dandtan sat at the head of a long table, Trar at his right hand
and lesser nobles of the Folk beyond.

"You know the charge," Dandtan's words were tipped with venom as Garin
came to stand before him. "Out of his own mouth has this outlander
condemned himself. Therefore I ask that you decree for him the fate of
that outlander of the second calling who rebelled against the
summoning."

"The outlander has admitted his fault?" questioned one of the Folk.

Trar inclined his head sadly. "He did."

As Garin opened his mouth to demand a stating of the charge against him,
Dandtan spoke again:

"What say you, Lords?"

For a long moment they sat in silence and then they bobbed their lizard
heads in assent. "Do as you desire, Dweller in the Light."

Dandtan smiled without mirth. "Look, outlander." He passed his hand over
the glass of the seeing mirror set in the table top. "This is the fate
of him who rebels--"

In the shining surface Garin saw pictured a break in Tav's wall. At its
foot stood a group of men of the Ancient Ones, and in their midst
struggled a prisoner. They were forcing him to climb the crater wall.
Garin watched him reach the lip and crawl over, to stagger across the
steaming rock, dodging the scalding vapor of hot springs, until he
pitched face down in the slimy mud.

"Such was his ending, and so will you end--"

The calm brutality of that statement aroused Garin's anger. "Rather
would I die that way than linger in this den," he cried hotly. "You, who
owe your life to me, would send me to such a death without even telling
me of what I am accused. Little is there to choose between you and
Kepta, after all--except that he was an open enemy!"

Dandtan sprang to his feet, but Trar caught his arm.

"He speaks fairly. Ask him why he will not fulfill the summoning."

While Dandtan hesitated, Garin leaned across the table, flinging his
words, weapon-like, straight into that cold face.

"I'll admit that I love Thrala--have loved her since that moment when I
saw her on the steps of the morgel pit in the caves. Since when has it
become a crime to love that which may not be yours--if you do not try to
take it?"

Trar released Dandtan, his golden eyes gleaming.

"If you love her, claim her. It is your right."

"Do I not know," Garin tur