The sword thrust came in fast and low, but awkwardly, the man's retrac-tion before the strike giving the skilled Brynn more than enough time to compensate and set not only her defense, but her return attack. She leaped forward, turning over above the blade in a tight somersault, bringing her legs around to slam down atop the man's shoulders. He brought the sword up in response, but there was no strength behind the movement.
Brynn was quite glad that this one didn't understand how to ignite Flamedancer at that moment!
Her legs clamped about the man's neck as she came over and down, and a quick twist sent the man spiraling off to the side, tumbling headlong against the tent as Brynn let him loose.
She was up before him, and as he tried to turn about and bring his sword to bear, the ranger bore in, too close to be warded by the blade. She shoul-dered the man back against the tent flap, knocking him completely off-balance. Then she went for the sword arm, driving stiffened fingers into his forearm muscle, stealing his strength, while grabbing at the sword hilt with her other hand.
Falling and stung, he couldn't hold the sword away from the strong woman. She pulled it free and stepped up against him, moving just off to the side as she reversed her grip, turning the sword point down and be-hind her.
Even as she began the killing strike, her tent flap flung wide and Pagonel cried out to her, ?Do not kill him! ?
Brynn held the blow, and as the man sorted himself behind her, she launched an elbow into his face, laying him low. Then she came out and swung about, reorienting the sword so that its deadly tip turned in toward the helpless man.
Pagonel came in, bearing a torch, and the woman recognized her at-tacker as Merwan Ma.
She looked to Pagonel, confused, for he and the man had seemed to come to an understanding - so much so that Brynn had relaxed all guard over their captive.
"It was not Merwan Ma!" Pagonel said against her doubting and an-gry look.
The mystic rushed to kneel before the sobbing man. ?It was not you, was it?" he asked.
Merwan Ma waved him away.
"Tell me! ? the mystic insisted, grabbing him by the shoulders and squar-ing him up. ?It was the Chezru Chieftain, was it not? Come out with his soul stone to possess your body? Tell me! Your God- Voice possessed your body. He threw out your free will and substituted his own."
The Shepherd broke down completely then, falling to the floor and cov-ering his head with his hands.
"What does it mean? ? Brynn asked.
"It means that Merwan Ma has seen the lie that is his life," Pagonel an-swered. ?The Chezru religion cannot tolerate such a thing as has happened this night, and yet, it was the Chezru Chieftain himself who perpetrated this horror upon Merwan Ma." He looked down to the sobbing man. ?And he knows it."
"Shackle him and put him under guard," Brynn demanded.
The mystic nodded. ?The danger is mostly past now."
"But tomorrow?"
Pagonel was shaking his head before she ever asked, obviously anticipat ing the question. ?The theft of a body is no easy task, even for those Abelli-cans most skilled with the soul stone. Merwan Ma left an opening for his God-Voice, one wrought of confusion. But now he knows the truth and will be more vigilant, and I will teach him to resist such intrusions."
With Brynn's accepting nod, the mystic helped Merwan Ma to his feet and ushered the man out of the tent and back to his own. He offered a few instructions, a few mental games the man might use to help him battle the attacking spirit, should it return, and then he set a pair of guards outside the Shepherd's tent and returned to his own to contemplate these newest, troubling developments.
There in the dark, in his meditation, Pagonel considered the startling events and the good fortune alone that had allowed disaster to be averted. He thought of his own reasoning as to why Merwan Ma had been pos-sessed, of why the man had not been up to the task of ejecting the attacking spirit. For surely Pagonel would have had no trouble at all in repelling Yakim Douan, and Brynn had done so in mere seconds.
All it took was a little mental discipline, a bit of understanding that such an act was wrong in the extreme.