“Not half an hour,” replied the rider in the same deep, vibrating voice. As he spoke storm clouds moved across the sky, and the air temperature began to drop precipitously. “You will come now.”

“Roric!” hissed Valmar. “You can’t- Don’t you see- He has no back!”

“Don’t bother me with children’s tales,” Roric hissed in reply. “Two minutes!” he shouted to the rider.

Then he whirled on Valmar and seized him by the shoulders. “Listen very carefully,” he said in a low voice. “Take this message to Karin for me. Tell her I have found at last a place for a man without a family-or that such a place has found me. Tell her I have gone with the Wanderers, but that I shall always love her.”

“That’s not a Wanderer!” protested Valmar. As Roric shook his head, Valmar took in what else he had said. “You mean- You mean you love my big sister?”

The corner of Roric’s mouth curved up slightly. “Yes. Tell her that. And take care of her if I do not come back-especially if you marry her yourself.”

“I couldn’t marry her!” Valmar started to object, but Roric had already turned away and was mounting his stallion.

Valmar looked after them in amazement as Roric and the being who could not be a Wanderer rode quickly away. Could this be not a nightmare but a dream, the dream he had sometimes had of all-powerful beings realizing they were not all-powerful but that they needed something, someone, him? But that he might marry Karin! One of his most vivid early memories was of her, only a few weeks after she had first arrived at the castle, coming to him and saying, “You’re my little brother now. And I’m going to teach you the games you have to play with me.”

He glanced back over his shoulder. His father, really his father this time, was galloping toward him, a crowd of warriors and dogs and housecarls with him.

Valmar suddenly jumped on his own horse. “Roric!” he screamed, his voice thin and high. The two figures were about to disappear into the forest. “Roric! Wait! I’m coming with you!”