"When you are quite ready, Squire Revel, I wonder if you'd kindly set me down?"
He had forgotten her, slung over his shoulder like a slain doe. Hastily he slipped her off and set her on her feet. She was like a forest nymph, one of those legendary wild women who haunted the trees near towns and lured men to their death; tall and whitely lovely, her stark naked body shone against the greensward with a perfection that made Revel's throat constrict.
Then she doubled up a fist and hit him in the eye.
"You lout!" said the gorgeous creature. "Can't you at least get me something to wear?"
"I can have clothes for you in two minutes, Lady Nirea," said Jerran. "Man's clothes, I'm afraid. No woman has ever seen the meeting place before you."
"Man's clothes—rucker's clothes," she said caustically. "If I'd known what—"
Then her words were muffled by a terrible sound, a noise as of the earth exploding beneath them. Nothing moved, yet they had the sensation of being shaken intolerably by a giant blast of wind. The roar dwindled away, reluctant to cease, and Revel said, "What is it?"
"Come on," said Jerran urgently, "we'll go to the dome and see."
"The dome?"
"The roof of the sanctuary," barked Jerran impatiently. "It holds the weight of a score of men without quivering. We build slowly, but well." He sprinted away.