"You ... killed him!" Jon said uncomprehendingly. "Why?"
The Wild One shook his head uncertainly. "I don't know," he said. "I—I suddenly realized he had to die."
Exhausted, Jon leaned against the Tower to support himself, and shook his head. "Why did you save me? The Tower was yours. Why?"
"I think I understand," the Wild One said slowly. He threw his sword to the ground. "It is something I have long thought of. We fight you because we hate you—because we envy your free life. You have something to fight for, in this Tower. I—I want to join you. I want to join the Free People!"
Jon smiled. "You're welcome to come to our village with me," he said. "We believe in freedom—the way the Old Ones did."
"And the Tower? What is its meaning?"
Jon shrugged. "That we do not know, but we defend it because we think it is sacred to us—to freedom. An old legend, perhaps." He clapped the other on the back. "Come, friend. Let's signal the mainland that the battle is over and the Tower still in free hands."
He glanced up at the massive Tower, at the huge statue of the woman with her hand outraised, stretching a torch out over the harbor. "I suppose we'll never know what the Tower really was, to the Ancients. But to us—to us, it's a symbol of liberty."