“What’s that supposed to mean? None of us can block her out.

The damn nightmares are relentless! It’s gotten so that I

can’t stand the thought of going to sleep. I know that every time

I close my eyes, I’m going to see some horrible vision of somebody

getting torn to pieces. “

“You mustn’t let it get to you.”

“It’s already gotten to me! What the hell am I supposed to do?

Tell myself it’s just a dream? It would be bad enough if they were

only nightmares, but we know they’re really happening! Every

night, we’re seeing somebody getting horribly murdered! It’s driving

me crazy! And the runestones are no goddamn help at all!”

“Get a hold of yourself, ” said Modred. “We all know exactly what

you’re going through. We’re all having the same dreams.”

“Doesn’t it even bother you?” she said.

“No, it doesn’t, ” Modred said flatly. “I don’t let it. I don’t like it,

but I’ve seen more than my share of death. I’ve learned to live with

it.”

“Well, I haven’t!”

“You must. We are at war. There are no battle lines, no

boundaries, and we can’t see the enemy, but we are at war just the

same. And you must not give the enemy the psychological

advantage over you.”

He paused. “I once served with a mercenary unit in the Belgian

Congo. It was back in 1964. We were up against the tribes of the

Maniema district, who had a long history of violence, cannibalism,

and witchcraft. Their elite, communist-backed troops were called

the Simbas, a word that meant lion in Swahili. They went into

battle dressed half like soldiers, half like savage cannibals, wearing

bits of uniform, feathers, and animal skins, brandishing automatic

weapons, spears, and panga knives, led by their prancing witch

doctors and chanting the ‘Mai Mulele. ’ Their witch doctors gave

them all small vials of water to drink, which they had ‘blessed’ and

which were supposed to render them immune to bullets. It did not,

of course, but the point was the Simbas believed it would, so they

were fearless. Those who were killed died not because their ‘sacred