A Heritage of Stars by Clifford D. Simak Page B

out?”
    â€œNo,” he said, tightly, “they did not throw me out.”
    â€œThen, sonny, there must be more to it than I ever dreamed. Although I should have known. There was the great excitement in you. University people do not go plunging out into the world unless there are great events at stake. They huddle in their safety and are scared of shadows.…”
    â€œI was a woods runner,” he said, “before I went to the university. I spent five years there and now I run the woods again. I tired of potato hoeing.”
    â€œAnd now,” she said, “the bravado of him! He swaps the hoe for a bow and marches toward the west to defy the oncoming horde. Or is this thing you seek so great that you can ignore the sweep of conquerors?”
    â€œThe thing I seek,” he said, “may be no more than a legend, empty talk whispered down the years. But what is this you say about the coming of a horde?”
    â€œYou would not know, of course. Across the river, in the university, you squat behind your walls, mumbling of the past, and take no notice of what is going on outside.”
    â€œBack in the university,” he said, “we knew that there was talk of conquest, perhaps afoot already.”
    â€œMore than afoot,” she said. “Sweeping toward us and growing as it moves. Pointed at this city. Otherwise, why the drumming of last night?”
    â€œThe thought crossed my mind,” he said. “I could not be sure, of course.”
    â€œI’ve been on the watch for them,” said Meg. “Knowing that at the first sign of them I must be on my way. For if they should find Old Meg, they’d hang her in a tree to die. Or burn her. Or visit other great indignity and pain upon this feeble body. They have no love of witches, and my name, despite my feeble powers, is not unknown to them.”
    â€œThere are the people of the city,” Cushing said. “They’ve been your customers. Through the years you’ve served them well. You need only go to them. They’ll offer you protection.”
    She spat upon the ground. “The innocence of you,” she said, “is terrible to behold. They’d slip a knife between my ribs. They have no love of me. They hate me. When their fears become too great, or their greed too great, or something else too great for them to bear, they come to me, yammering for help. But they come only when there’s nowhere else to go, for they seem to think there’s something dirty about dealing with a witch. They fear me and because of this fear, they hate me. They hate me even when they come to me for help.”
    â€œIn that case, you should have been gone long since.”
    â€œThere was something told me I should stay,” she said. “Even when I knew that I should go. Even when I knew I was a fool not going, I still stayed on, as if I might be waiting for something. I wondered why and now I know. Perhaps my powers are greater than I dreamed. I waited for a champion and now I have one.”
    â€œThe hell you have,” he said.
    She thrust out her chin. “I am going with you. I don’t care what you say, I am going with you.”
    â€œI’m going west,” he said, “and you’re not going with me.”
    â€œWe’ll first move to the south,” she said. “I know the way to go. I’ll show you the way to go. South to the river and then up the river. There we’ll be safe. The horde will stick to higher ground. The river valley is hard traveling and they’ll not go near it.”
    â€œI’ll be traveling fast,” he said, “moving in the night.”
    â€œMeg has spells,” she said. “She has powers that can be used. She can sense the minds of others.”
    He shook his head.
    â€œI have a horse,” she told him. “No great noble steed, but a gentle animal and intelligent that can carry what we need.”
    â€œI carry what