Hammen struck at it in anger and humiliation and terror and it retreated with frictionless speed.
The Snake took something with it.
It took Gordus, and it left that part of the woman, Isodel, that he had been able to capture. But the part of Isodel matched by Gordus' mind was jerked free.
She was freed of hate, anger, lust....
She was left an impossibly ideal woman—all Mother, Sister, Lover....
Against his will, by immutable laws of nature, Hammen fell monstrously in love with her.
Hammen was among the first of Companions or Witches to join the Suicide Squadron.
He did it to protect Isodel and her descendants for all time to come, and he did it in impotent fury at his reason for doing it.
The Companions transmitted in droves to abolish their profession. They transmitted against the Mindsnake.