Wheel of Stars (18 page)

The guardian reached the foot of the mound, passed between two of the monsters, and stood only an arm’s distance from Tor.

“You cannot take—” Tor said. There was none of the old mockery in him. Anger blazed so that his eyes were as much afire as those of his pack of beasts.

“I cannot take—” the other agreed. “Only you can give.”

Tor’s face twisted in a grimace which must have torn at his burns. He raised his arms high, his hands clenched into fists, if so he might bring them both down in a shattering, killing blow on the man standing so quietly before him.

“No!” He screamed in a denial, which could have been twisted out of him by a torturer’s skill. “I will not! This time it will be me, me!”

While all the time that other only watched. Gwennan had unconsciously moved forward.

“You cannot use the Power against me!” Tor cried.

“I shall not use it. The choice is yours—as it has always been—yours!”

Tor’s arms fell to his sides, his fists uncurled. There was weariness about him like a cloak. Still his eyes blazed.

“You cannot bind me—”

“Only the Blood can do that. Which is why you did not want to face me—is that not so? The Blood is strong—it binds—”

Tor gave an inarticulate cry. “To go—I will not go! I am free—”

“Are you?” Two simple words, yet Gwennan saw Tor’s shoulders quiver.

“I am free—” his voice came muffled because both his hands now covered his face. “I will not be—taken—I am—”

“You are master of such as these,” the other made a slight gesture at the monsters now in circle about them. “Is that what one of the true Blood wants? Will you come to Power by Dark Ways?”

“There are others of us—we stood free—”

“Free? Ah, no. you were more tightly enchained than any man ever was in any time. You wear your chains within—not without. Those of you who took the Power thus: how did it serve them? Think—remember—how did it serve them?”

Tor stood, his face still hidden. “You cannot—”

“Had the wheel not turned, perhaps not. Look upon me!” Now that voice was sharp, cracking with an order which even Tor could not disobey.

He dropped his hands to stare eye to eye at the other.

There was something Gwennan had never seen before in his face—a pain which was not pain of body, a softening, breaking of spirit.

“Had it not been
you
—” he said in a low voice. “You and the time.”

“Yes, the two of us—and the stars which spell the time. It is your choice still—”

Tor made a small gesture. “What choice have I? Already you have set the mark on me. If I could have kept you fast until—Saris—she has won. She called up that other half-blood—” For the first time he glanced at Gwennan— “and against the two of you what chance have I? Have it then as you wish—”

The other shook his head. “Not as
I
wish, no. The wish must be yours. There is no defeat, no victory. Only that which was rent must be mended—that which was sent on a wrong path must be turned aright.”

“And the darkness which is to come—does that mean nothing?” Tor demanded. “Once more the dark, perhaps a slow climb and again a fall, will this then go on forever?”

“Nothing is forever. Nor is even that darkness complete. Which also you know. You cannot achieve any pattern yourself. It needs many to make, with none to claim to be the master weaver.”

Tor turned his head slowly from side to side. He did not look to his monsters, Gwennan believed, but rather at the snow-covered world about them. Then he held up his right arm and pointed to the woods. There was a stirring among the monsters, whines, growls, cries, as if they would dispute whatever unheard order he gave. Then they turned and went, with a fluttering of wings, a padding of paws, a stumping of feet, of hooves. Overhead the grey of the sky darkened with clouds drawing together and Gwennan heard the first roll of thunder.

The monsters reached the edge of the woods.
Tor brought down his arm in a sweep as if flesh, blood and bone were a weapon to cut through an unseen barrier. There followed a burst of lightning near eye-searing. Gwennan blinked and blinked again. The creatures were gone. She could see the staining of the tracks in the snow—and then nothing but unmarked whiteness. They had gone Outside.

Tor grimaced again and staggered. “It is done—so let us finish. I am tired—”

“Not so. This is no release for you. A beginning, not an ending—”

“An ending for what I am. Who knows what I shall become? I am myself—all men hold to that—even you.”

“Even I,” the other nodded. “But I say it still—this is no ending. Come and see—” He held out both hands palm up.

Tor looked from the stranger’s face, to those waiting hands, and then back again. Slowly, so very slowly, his own arms raised, burns red and angry along the one. Then he reached forward. Gwennan saw him set his mouth as if he knew that he walked a way which he feared and yet had no other resource than to follow.

“I come,” he said heavily, laying his hands on those which waited.

So they stood for a moment which seemed to stretch out of the counting of time itself. Tor crumpled, nor did the other attempt to hold or aid him. The body curled in upon itself in the snow, head resting on one arm. In spite of the burn marks it was peaceful—as peaceful as she had seen Lady Lyle in that casket of renewing.

“Is he—” She had come down the rest of the way to stand beside the Guardian.

“Dead? No—look at me!”

She looked, and her hand went to her mouth as she backed a step or two, glancing from the body on the ground to the man standing under a rapidly clearing sky.

“You are—”

“I am whole. The wheel has truly turned. I am both parts—that which held the ambition and the will and the need for power—and that which was perhaps a wiser essence. Half-blood he called himself. No, he was rather half-part, though he did not know it. We did not altogether escape the madness of the Day of Ending. Some of us were affected by it in other ways. So I was—”

“You were the Arm—and Tor—and—”

“Others, many others—always lacking part of what should have been the whole. Now it is whole.”

“Tor—”

He laughed and there was a joyfulness she had never heard in any voice before—or so it seemed in that moment. It was his turn to fling wide his arms, as if he would draw to him the whole of the world about, make it his, and him its in every way. He was indeed whole in a strange way which she could not describe, yet she knew it was a state of being which the world had seldom known since that day when Ortha saw death come.

“That is my name in this time.”

“And him—” She looked to the burnt and battered body and gasped. It had shriveled, fallen in upon itself, darkened. There was no hint of

corruption in its disintegration, merely a return to ashes, as if some tree had been burnt by an all consuming fire.

“That wornout clothing is no longer needed,” Tor told her. “Two are made one as was promised—and the wheel has turned. We have that before us now—and this time we may deal better—”

“We?”

“The Blood has found its way across the world,” he told her. “And the Blood always rules. Kin knows kin no matter how far apart the years of birthing and dying have separated them. This is so—you know it now. Open your heart—and your hand—and see!”

He held out his hand and once more she took it, this time with her full will, feeling again the rise of the tie warm and strong between them.

1st
House:
Sagittarius ascendant (rising). Sagittarius gives height—makes one tall and well-built. Jupiter Conjunct asc. (just as in 12th) gives added height—Sun also is tall. Possibly red hair.

Neptune in 1st in Sagittarius gives her mystical aspects and thoughts of fantasy. She daydreams a lot and often feels alienated and not belonging. Neptune here makes her an orphan and, as it
rules the 4th of home environment, it emphasizes her lack of a true home and identity.

Jupiter rules the 1st and Conjunct asc., giving her an expanded awareness and philosophical mind with desire for true justice—a driving force to right wrongs she sees—to do the task from her previous existence. Jupiter rules dreams, so she has dreams that reveal her true mission and other existence.

12th House:
Scorpio governs this house of the subconscious, secret enemies, institutions, the hidden side of life, self-undoing and is the door to past lives. Jupiter is in the 12th (Conjunct the asc. by 1°) lending protection as a guardian angel. Jupiter here reveals she has carried a mission from the other existence to the present life to be completed now Jupiter guards and gives protection from enemies. Scorpio rules this house and is the Sun sign of the man she is to meet whom she is drawn to but cannot trust. His penetrating eyes are a Scorpio trait and key to who he is. Also, he falls in her 12th—from the past and a secret enemy. He is not revealed to her because the 12th is veiled from conscious awareness. She will have to learn to beware of him.

The ruler of the asc. Jupiter fading in the 12th makes her tend toward a reclusive life.

8th House:
Is Cancer ruled—Cancer is a psychic sign and its ruler—the Moon is also in Cancer in the 8th. While Capricorn governs her 2nd house of finances and shows restrictions of money—the eighth house is inheritance and legacies. The
Moon here and in positive aspect bestows a legacy upon her. The Moon here gives her psychic abilities which is enhanced by it being part of a grand trine. This indicates she will survive the crisis in her life and experience a natural death. Jupiter and Moon help her go through the karmic experience.

The grand trine is in the element water from the Moon in Cancer to Pluto in Scorpio to Mercury in Pisces. A grand trine is abilities, talents and gifts from another life brought into this one.

Pluto is in the giving her a friend who will benefit her—the legacy from the friend. Pluto is well placed in its own sign of Scorpio and rules transmutation or metamorphosis, all vital parts of her and that which is called death, present life experience and mission.

The 3rd part of the grand trine is Mercury in Pisces in the 4th house. Mercury is communication and in Pisces, which is other realms, she is able to communicate and further exercise her psychic abilities. Mercury governs travel and in Pisces as part of the trine she will travel through time and space.

3rd House:
Is Aquarius with her Sun and Uranus therein. Being an Aquarius with its ruler Uranus in close Conjunct, she is exceptionally quick and bright with sudden flashes and insights into the future and past. Uranus rules the future.

The 3rd house is the mind and journeys—Uranus gives her sudden and unusual journeys.

Uranus governs lightning.

One of the most significant configurations in the chart is the Yod or Hand of Destiny. It is drawn to look like a giant “Y” between three planets which must be specific degrees from one another to form this configuration. It is a rare aspect and indicates the person will experience some event that completely changes their life into a different direction. In this chart the Hand of Destiny points to the 12th house of karma—the house of secrets; doorways to other dimensions, the key to other lives.

This may be activated by the transitting planets as they touch the points of the planetary positions.

The Moon, as part of the Yod, is at 13° Cancer exactly on the degree of the Star Siribls.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1983 by Andre Norton

ISBN: 978-1-4976-5702-1

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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