Vredech kept his doubts silent.
A little while later they parted.
Vredech looked at Nertha surreptitiously as they rode on.
‘I’m all right,’ she said defensively, catching the look. Vredech allowed his scepticism to show. ‘Well, I’ll confess to still being a little... bewildered,’ Nertha admitted. ‘Being calmly objective about your problems is one thing, being sucked up into them is another.’
‘Bewildered, eh?’ Vredech said. ‘The Whistler said that the response of most ostensibly civilized people when they are suddenly overwhelmed by barbaric, primitive forces, is astonishment. “You’ll be gaping in disbelief at the sword that kills you,” he said. An appropriate comment, do you think?’
Unexpectedly, Nertha’s face contorted and for an alarming moment Vredech thought she was going to burs
