Page:Harold Lamb--The House of the Falcon.djvu/181

 that barely covered the soles of her stockinged feet. "Besides, you would be turned back by the guards in the passes."

"Haven't you the password?"

"There is no password."

A shadow crossed his expressive face. "The Sayak chiefs are in council and within a day or two there may be fighting in the hills. There are rumors that the Vulture is spreading his wings again. Until the—uncertainty is over you are safest here. I want you to trust me, Edith."

It was the first time he had called her that. The gray eyes glanced at him fleetingly, then fell to her work. "Who is this Vulture, Donovan Khan? A tribal chief?"

"Rather more." He hesitated and Edith thought of the black bird that had passed over the lake.

"Aravang says you are a falcon."

"I wish I had wings."

"But falcons are horrid, destructive things."

"Sometimes they kill what is fitting." John Donovan fell into one of his frequent moods of introspection. "Certain things have no right to live. Destiny, in its course of life, adjusts that. Now, a vulture, flying over that sheepfold across the lake, should be killed."

A new thought startled her. "Donovan Khan, will you be in this feud—in danger?"

He paused to light his pipe, and then spoke casually. "Danger? Well, you have no cause to worry, Edith. And after all this bother is over and I have made good my promise to the Sayaks, I will ask your release from Yakka Arik and learn what kismet has in store."