of rock where the snow was swept clean, and below it was a sheer drop into a narrow valley. Looking down, Stark saw that on the floor of the valley, up and down as far as he could see, were men and beasts and shelters of hide and brush, and fires burning. By the hundreds, by the several thousand, they camped under the cliffs, and their voices rose up on the thin air in a vast deep murmur that was deafening after the silence of the plains. A war party, gathered now, before the thaw. Stark smiled. He became curious to meet the leader of this army. They found their way single file along a winding track that dropped down the cliff face. The wind stopped abruptly, cut off by the valley walls. They came in among the shelters of the camp. Here the snow was churned and soiled and melted to slush by the fires. There were no women in the camp, no sign of the usual cheerful rabble that follows a barbarian army. There were only men—hillmen and warriors all, tough-handed killers with no thought but battle. They came out of their holes to shout at Thord and his men, and stare at the stranger. Thord was flushed and jovial with importance. "I have no time for you," he shouted back. "I go to speak with the Lord Ciaran." Stark rode impassively, a dark giant with a face of stone. From time to time he made his beast curvet, and laughed at himself inwardly for doing it. They came at length to a shelter larger than the others, but built exactly the same and no more comfortable. A spear was thrust into the snow beside the entrance, and from it hung a black pennant with a single bar of silver across it, like lightning in a night sky. Beside it was a shield with the same device. There were no guards. Thord dismounted, bidding Stark to do the same. He hammered on the shield with the hilt of his sword, announcing himself. "Lord Ciaran! It is Thord—with a captive." A voice, toneless and strangely muffled, spoke from within. "Enter, Thord." Thord pushed aside the hide curtain and went in, with Stark at his heels.
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