År av enhörningen
DetärdenförstabokenavAndreNortons High Hallack Cycle, set i hennes Witch World-serie .
Längs från Simon och Jaelithes belägna hem, i fredliga Norsdale möter vi Gillan, som längtar efter att lämna sitt tråkiga liv i ett avskilt landkloster. Men när hennes önskan blir sant, hittar hon mer än ett litet äventyr. När hon går ut, är inte bara hennes liv i fara utan också den kraft som ligger i henne och väntar på att bli upptäckt. ~ Goodreads
Tolv plus en brud lovades av herrarna av Hög Hallack, som desperat kämpade för att befria sitt hemland från Alons Hundar till en mystisk och kraftfull grupp av trollkarlar i utbyte mot deras hjälp:
Shape-changers, warlocks, sorcerers...rumours had it they were all that and more. But also when they spoke upon oath they held to that oath-taking and were loyal. Thus they would fight, under their own leaders and by their own strange ways, yet for the right of High Hallack.
he promises of the Riders had been two: that they would come to the support of the Lords; and then, they would ride out of the wastelands, withdrawing from the land they had helped to cleanse, leaving it to the humankind alone. And the other side of that bargain-the payment the Lords of High Hallack had sworn dire and binding oaths to render? That was to be in their own blood, for the Riders demanded wives to carry with them into the unknown.
Ryttarna hade ganska specifika krav som kvalificerar sig som en brud:
Twelve and one maids they asked for-maids, not widows, or those who had chosen to live beyond custom’s bonds. And they must not be younger than eighteen years of age, nor beyond twenty. They were also to be of gentle blood, and well of body. Twelve and one to be found and delivered on the first day of the Year of the Unicorn at the borders of the waste, thereafter to ride with their strange lords into a future from which there would be no return.
När historien börjar, är kriget vunnet och processionen med de utlovade brudarna kommer till Norstead Abbey, där Gillan, en flyktingflicka från ett avlägset land, rymde sig som ett barn. Gillan, att springa iväg från sitt monotona liv i abbeyen, byter plats med en av brudarna:
Thus it went as we had hoped. When Lord Imgry, who had avoided me heretofore, came to lead me forth, I went bent and weeping, so I hoped, in a piteous fashion. The last test came as we knelt for the Abbess’s blessing. She gave each the kiss of peace and for that I needs must throw back my veil for a moment. I waited tensely to be denounced. But there was not a flicker of change on the Abbess’s face as she leaned forward to press her lips to my forehead. “Go in peace, my daughter-“ She spoke the ritual words, but I knew they were truly meant for me and not Marimme. Thus heartened, I was aided by Lord Imgry into the saddle and so rode out of Norstead for ever, after some ten years of life within its never-changing walls.
Gilian ställer sant syn och kan se förbi illusionerna vävda av trollkarlarna:
And then he leaned a little towards me and asked, more sharply than he had yet spoken: “What lies about your shoulders, Gillan?” “A cloak of grey and brown and fur-“ It was as if he caught his breath in a swift gasp. “And in me what do you see, Gillan?” “A man young and still not young, wearing chain mail and furred clothing, with a belt about him buckled with silver and milk white stones, with black hair on his head-“
... vilket komplicerar hennes redan svåra situation, eftersom trollkarlarna inte tar vänligt mot dem som kan motstå deras magi:
Who are you?” His demand came with some of the same heat as Lord Imgry had shown at our night meeting. “I am Gillan, beyond that I do not know.” The truth I gave him because even then I knew that the truth was his right. “A war captive from overseas, fostered among the Dales of High Hallack, and come here by my own will.” He had dropped the veil into the mist, now his fingers moved in the air between us, sketching, I believe, some sign. There was a faint trail of light left by their moving so. But the smile was gone from his mouth and now he wore a battle-ready face. “Cloak-bound we are-and there is no chance in that, only destiny. But this I ask of you, Gillan, if the double sight is yours-see with the outer eyes only for this while-there is danger in any other path.”