The Sword in the Cave
"One, or All."
"One, or All," repeated the woman, louder.
"ONE, or ALL," they all shouted at the heavens. Drea felt her heart drop.
"One must go to him," said the woman, "One must offer up her sweet body to him, or else..."
"No," said Drea, out loud. Tygg looked at her.
"ONE, or ALL," they all shouted again.
"No," said Drea, louder. They paid her no mind.
"What shall it be, Galka?"
"ONE, or ALL."
"Who shall it be, Galka?"
"I," said a voice from the crowd, and a woman with redder hair than some of the others stepped out of the crowd.
The rest of the women sank to their knees.
Tygg looked at Drea, who was half ready to burst into tears, and he looked back at the scene before him, and he felt
the scowl deep inside his form before it emerged upon his face.
"You will be the One?" said the woman on the hearth
"Upon my body I bear our sufferings," said the reddish-haired woman. The rest of the women spread their arms to
the sky and another song began among them.
"NO!" shouted Drea, as if it her heart shook within her, and she stalked forward and shouted it again. The women
fell silent and turned to her.
"Tell us," said Drea, voice thick, "Show us this Golden One, and we will slay him."
"We will?" said Tygg, but Drea did not hear him. She strode forward into the circle and repeated the claim. Then
she added "No more One, or All. The answer is None."
Silence greeted this, as the women with their soft glowing skin and nude bodies looked at Drea. They did not look
at each other. Finally the woman standing on the hearth stepped down and came to Drea. "For this we have hoped.
For you we have hoped."
"Hoped," said all the women at once.
Tygg looked at the sailors. They were utterly transfixed, their minds performing absurd calculations obvious in their