Free Wizards’ Worlds by Andre Norton

of the hexagon. He had not moved, but rather stared
     straight ahead at whatever awaited him. His sword was belted at his side, the curve
     of his bow was a pointing finger behind his shoulder. He had come fully armed, yet
     he made no move to draw weapon now.
    Hertha stumbled on. That struggle upslope had taken much of her strength. Yet in her
     was the knowledge that she must be there. Before her now, just beyond her touching
     even if she reached forth her arm, was Trystan. His head was uncovered, the loose
     hood of his surcoat lay back on his shoulders. His arms dangled loosely at his sides.
     Hertha’s gaze followed to the object of his staring concentration.
    There were the green blocks. But no toad forms humped upon them. Rather lights played
     there, weaving in and out in a flickering dance of shades of blue—from a wan blight,
     which might have emanated from some decaying bit on a forest floor, to a brilliant
     sapphire.
    Hertha felt the pull of those weaving patterns until she forced herself (literally
     forced her heavy hands to cover her eyes) not to look upon the play of color. When
     she did so there was a sensation of release. But it was plain her companion was fast
     caught.
    Cupping her hands to shut out all she could of the lights, she watched Trystan. He
     made no move to stepacross the low curbing and approach the blocks. He might have been turned into stone
     himself, rapt in a spell which had made of him ageless rock. He did not blink an eye,
     nor could she even detect the rise and fall of his chest in breathing.
    Was this their judgment then, the making of a man into a motionless statue? Somehow
     Hertha was sure that whatever use the Toads intended to make of the man they had entrapped
     through her aid, it was more than this. Down inside her something stirred. Angrily
     she fought against that awakening of an unbidden thought, or was it merely emotion?
     She drew memory to her, lashed herself with all shameful, degrading detail. This had
     he done to her and this and this! By his act she was homeless, landless, a nothing,
     wearing even a toad-face. Whatever came now to him, he richly deserved it. She would
     wait and watch, and then she would go hence, and in time, as Gunnora had promised,
     she would bear a son or daughter who had none of this father—none!
    Still watching him, her hands veiling against the play of the ensorceling light, Hertha
     saw his lax fingers move, clench into a fist. And then she witnessed the great effort
     of that gesture, and she knew that he was in battle, silent though he stood, that
     he fought with all his strength against what held him fast.
    That part of her which had stirred and awakened grew stronger. She battled it. He
     deserved nothing but what would come to him here, he deserved nothing from her but
     the justice she had asked from the Toads.
    His fist arose, so slowly that it might have been chained to some great weight. When
     Hertha looked from it to his face she saw the agony the movement was causing him.
     She set her shoulders to the rock wall—had she but a rope she would have bound herself
     there, that no weakness might betray her plan.
    Strange light before him and something else, formlessas yet, but with a cold menace greater than any fear born of battle heat. For this
     terror was rooted not in any ordinary danger, but grew from a horror belonging by
     rights far back in the beginnings of his race. How he had come here, whether this
     be a dream or no, Trystan was not sure. And he had no time to waste on confused memory.
    What energy he possessed must be used to front that which was keeping him captive.
     It strove to fill him with its own life, and that he would not allow, not while he
     could summon will to withstand it.
    Somehow he thought that if he broke the hold upon his body, he could also shatter
     its would-be mastery of his mind and will. Could he act against its desires, he might
     regain control. So he set full concentration on