The Forever Wind

Orbit Unlimited, part four, 7.

Joshua Coffin and Jan Svoboda continue their search for Coffin's lost son, Danny, and the wind continues to punctuate Poul Anderson's account of their activities. 

(i) When Svoboda strikes a cigarette and Coffin wishes that this good fellow would not poison himself:

"The wind ruffled Svoboda's hair, as it did the leaves at their backs and the grasses beneath." (p. 140)

An unthreatening wind on this occasion. Indeed, it ruffles that good fellow's hair! 

(ii) While their conversation continues:

"The wind blew the sweat out of [Coffin's] clothes so fast that he was soon chilled. The forest roared with wind. Its velocity was not great, but the pressure made it a near gale.

"Windpower would be valuable when men were finally able to move down off the plateaus." (ibid.)

Back to threatening but also a hope for the future. (The future has a future.)

(iii) When they argue, Svoboda, striking the ground to master himself, says:

"'Have it your way.' The wind harried his words." (p. 142)

Sure. The wind joins in the argument! 

(iv) When Coffin stands up to attack Svoboda:

"The wind pushed at his back, he must lean into it, the wind hooted and tried to push him southward along the canyon, which resounded with its noise." (ibid.)

Man and wind rise together.

(v) As they fight, Coffin wonders:

"Was it the wind that shouted in his ears, or was he about to faint?" (p. 143)

We suspect both.

(vi) After fighting and pulling apart, they check how each other is:

"'Are you all right?' Coffin whispered.

"His words could not have crossed through the wind, but Svoboda must have understood. 'Yes. I think so. But you.'" (ibid.)

(vii) The wind even helps:

"Svoboda started south... This direction was a slightly better bet than northward. Danny would have preferred the wind at his back..." (p. 144)

(viii) - but remains unsympathetic:

"[Coffin's] consciousness withdrew from pain and thirst and hunger and the mockery of the wind." (ibid.)

I did not know how many wind references I would find in this section but Poul Anderson's texts never let us down.

Immortality And The Wind On Tanith

 

"World of the Mad."

Tanith reads like the source of the wind that blows through Poul Anderson's multiverse:

"A wind blew through drifting clouds, and it seemed as if the wind had language too and spoke to the men, if they could but understand it."

Yet another sf rationalization of "immortality": whereas life elsewhere is metastable, on Tanith it arises spontaneously from complex chemistry and human bodies are free from any chemical or colloidal degradation. In Anderson's "What Shall It Profit?," shielding an organism from all radiation made it immortal.

"There was a storm outside; the cottage shook to a fury of wind and was filled with its noise and power."

"The wind roared and boomed, with a hollow voice that seemed to shout words in some unknown tongue..."

"Her voice was very small in the racket of wind."

Langdon "...would go striding through [fire-storms] like a god shouting back at the wind."

Eileen remembers in "...winter storms on Terra... a big wind driving snow against the house."

"The wind yammered, banging on the door."

"There was a new voice in the storm now, a great belling organ was crying to him to come out..."

"The storm sang outside, and he heard music and lure and enchantment."

"The wind called and called."

When Eileen is alone because Langdon has answered the call and gone out in the storm, it seems to her that all the powers of Tanith are against her:

"The wind hooted and whistled, piping down the chimney and skirling under the eaves."

"All the old forgotten powers of night and dark and Hell were abroad, whirling on the wind and slamming against the door and banging their heels on the roof."

"...the wind sang to him. It filled him, the song of the wind, the song of Tanith. He was lost in it..."

This is when he knows that he approaches allness and peace.

He experiences fire, wind, trees, a chant, living forests, dancing hills and an ancient Tanithian flying in the storm while Eileen has a miscarriage. The wind that was exultation to him was devastation to her. They leave Tanith and return to mortality.

Wind In Ys II

Gallicenae, VIII, 4.

As Gratillonius sets off to face the challenger in the Wood:

"The wind shrilled, sent dead leaves scrittling along the street, roused little breakers on rain puddles." (p. 184)

Dead leaves lead the King to a death, either his or the challenger's. Or so we think.

"...a squad of marines formed a line to hold back the crowd.

"Through the wind, Gratillonius heard shouted wishes for his victory." (p. 185)

The wind symbolizes the forces ranged against him and, against that, is the support of his subjects.

In the Wood where the fight must take place:

"Wind eddied about, wailed and mumbled." (p. 186)

Incessant threat.

When, by the royal oak, the Speaker for Taranis signs the kneeling King and challenger with holy water and invokes the Father God:

"Wind boomed. A raven flew overhead." (p. 187)

When Gratillonius and the challenger, Rufinus, already known to each other, go off alone and converse before fighting:

"Wind brawled, swirled under armour, made the Wood groan." (p. 189)

They do not want to fight. Groaning is appropriate.

When Rufinus promises to be gentle with the Queens and their daughters if he wins, he:

"...traced a sign with his spear, in the wind." (p. 189)

When they prepare to fight:

"Wind keened; the raven, settled on an unrestful bough, croaked hoarsely; fallen leaves squelped." (p. 190)

The Greek chorus of the wind has been joined by the raven and the leaves.

And again:

"Wind blew." (ibid.)

It never lets up. While they fight:

"Through the wind, Gratillonius heard how Rufinus panted, while blood soaked his breeches and footsteps." (p. 191)

When Gratillonius should, by the law of Ys, kill the defeated Rufinus, he remembers that Mithras forbids human sacrifice and:

"It was as if Bodilis were suddenly there in the wind and the wet, Bodilis whom Gratillonius would seek back to as soon as he was able." (p. 192)

Gratillonius extracts Rufinus' surrender and spares his life. The wind brings death and life.

Weather And Seasons

As events in Ys approach a climax, weather conditions and seasonal changes seem to sympathise.

"Rain lashed from the west..." (p. 269)

"Weather cleared. The morning sun stood low...nearly heatless." (p. 272)

"The afternoon grew mild." (p. 275)

"Clouds drove low on a wind that howled..." (p. 278)

"Weather turned clear and cold." (p. 295)

"Wind woke anew..." (p. 300)

"The winter sun was barely aloft." (p. 305)

"Rain and sleet scourged the streets." (p. 307)

"...Gratillonius stood before the winter Council..." (p. 309)

"Snow fell in small dry flakes." (p. 328)

"Weather turned bitterly cold and clear." (p. 333)

"Snow returned, this time on a wind from the sea..." (p. 342)

"During the night snowfall ceased and freezing weather moved in." (p. 347)

"The cold spell ended. Snow began to melt." (p. 366)

"Rain mingled with sleet dashed down the streets of Ys. Wind clamoured, Ocean roared. This had become a stormy year." (p. 368)

"Clouds raced on a wild wind." (p. 380)

"Wind blustered outside." (p. 387)

"The wind yowled." (p. 390)

"A gale from the west drove an onslaught of rain before it." (p. 392)

" 'The weather...It's been vile throughout, this year.' " (p. 394)

"Suddenly came a quiet spell among the storms ramping over Armorica at that winter's close." (p. 394)

"The night...was the first clear one of their homeward journey." (p. 406)

"Foul weather returned and worsened. Wind came..." (p. 410)

"Ocean raged...Wind was an elemental force...The blast had been strengthening throughout this day...The Wood of the King surged under the storm..." (p. 413)

"If the storm got much worse, they would have been in danger." (p. 416)

"Still the wind mounted. By dawn it was like none that chronicles remembered. And still it mounted." (p. 422)

"The wind wuthered, the sea thundered." (p. 425)

"By sunset the wind had indeed lessened. It was still such as few could travel in..." (p. 428)

"The wind keened. The sea rumbled." (p. 432)

Also, a Witch-Queen learns by clairvoyance that above the clouds there is an unpredicted lunar eclipse. And shortly afterwards there is a comet. All this parallels the spiritual storms experienced by the characters and expresses the turmoil of their Gods.

Wind On A Planet In The Cloud Universe

"Starfog."

Poul Anderson describes the natural setting in detail but I have become used to focusing on the wind and usually find multiple references. When Laure, exploring the centre of the Cloud Universe cluster, lands on a planet:

"An unexpectedly strong wind shoved at him. Though thin, the air was moving fast. He heard it wail through his helmet." (p. 779)

When there has been a burst of radiation in the sky:

"...after a minute, no shock wave had hit him, no sound other than a rising wind..." (p. 780)

"The wind screamed louder still. He felt how it pushed him..." (ibid.)

"The wind yelled. It began driving ferrous dust against him..." (p. 782)

When he rises on his gravsled:

"No sense in resisting the wind. He was quite happy to be blown toward the night side." (ibid.)

When he has survived being cast against a mountain by the thin, high-velocity atmosphere:

"Wind hooted. Dust went hissing and scouring." (p. 783)

While he hopes for rescue by Jaccvarie:

"Jaccvarie could overmaster any wind. But the dust would blind both her and him. And deafen and mute them..." (p. 784)

"When he awoke, the wind had dropped from a full to a half gale..." (p. 785)

"The wind yammered." (ibid.)

Then he is rescued. But notice how large a part the wind plays.

Tu Chan And The Wind

The Boat Of A Million Years, II.

Tu Shan refers to:

"'Hsi Wang Mu, Mother of the West...'" (p. 45)

- and her peaches of immortality although it is clear that he himself does not take this mythological story seriously.

He, Tu Chan, is perfectly sensible and honest. He seeks the Tao and an explanation for his own unaging longevity. He has not yet learned to conceal that longevity although perhaps he is starting to realize that need by the end of this chapter. Having attracted Imperial attention, he decides to leave for parts unknown:

"'West into the mountains...'" (p. 45)

- like Lao Tzu before him. Moving west, he might meet others - Hanno is the only other immortal that we know, or at least suspect, so far.

As readers sensitized to the role of the wind in Poul Anderson's texts, we anticipate its arrival and are not disappointed. When the inspector and the subprefect walk down to meet Tu Shan:

"A wind had arisen. It boomed from the north, cooling the air, driving clouds before it whose shadows went like sickles across the land." (p.40)

Not a gentle wind. Booming is not a good sign, especially not when sending sickle-like shadows.

When Tu Shan has declined the invitation to become an Imperial adviser and the nobles as well as the audience of commoners have withdrawn:

"Tu Shan and his disciples stood alone by the well. The wind blustered through silence. Shadows came and went." (p. 45)

Again, this wind threatens, instead of confirming that all is well, which wind can also do. Indeed, Tu Shan says:

"'...it is well to be gone. This wind smells of trouble.'" (ibid.)

The brashest young disciple says that the master can tell and must often "'...have caught that scent in his many years.'" (ibid.)

Sure, but Tu Shan is assessing the whole situation, not just smelling the wind. He says:

"'The times are evil.'" (p. 46)

As often, the wind has the last word. Tu Shan continues:

"'We must seek a place apart, and the Tao.'

"They walked onward through the wind." (ibid.)

The reference to "disciples" does not mean that Tu Shan is misleading or exploiting anyone. Quite the contrary. Three young men have come to him and he has declined others. He repeatedly warns the three that he has no inspiration or secret. He is marked out only by his agelessness and he himself seeks to understand that. They can either listen or leave with his blessing.

The three Ways of China are conservative Confucianism, anarchic Taoism and imported Buddhism. I have read persuasive explanations that Zen is a Buddhist-Taoist synthesis.

A Taoist sage, asked how he would fare under Mao, replied, "Would it not be laughable if a lifelong follower of the Lord Lao were to fear change?" However, Taoists deal in cyclical seasonal changes, not in historical turning points incorporating violent social upheavals. But, in general, the sage was right not to fear change.

Wind In Greenland And Elsewhere Later

Poul Anderson, The Merman's Children (London, 1981).

When Eyjan questions the local chief, Haakon Arnorsson, in his steading:

"Haakon brooded. The wind moaned, the folk whispered and made signs in the air, not all of the Cross." (VIII, p. 164)

Brooding, moaning, whispering and signs portend evil. Of course the wind joins the chorus.

When, during their lengthy exchange, Haakon discloses that he and his men have slaughtered some Inuit:

"Shadows closed in as the fire waned. Dank chill gnawed and gnawed." (p. 169)

Shadows, dankness and chill underline the evil.

When Haakon requests the merfolks' help:

"Again was a windy hush." (p. 171)

When they refuse, Haakon's men overwhelm them. When they have spent a night bound on the floor:

"Wind blew whetted. Tauno wondered if the wind was always keening around this place." (IX, p. 173)

The wind keens throughout Poul Anderson's universes. When Tauno and his captors sail to battle, the cries of the black guillemots:

"...were lost in the sinister singing of wind. The sun was a dull and heatless wheel, barely above the mountains; it was as if cold radiated from their snows and the glacier beyond." (p. 175)

Wind sounds sinister when battle is imminent. Cold does not radiate but can seem as if it does.

Later and elsewhere, when Ingeborg and Niels bear good news to Margrete:

"A flaw of wind swooped into the court, raw and boisterous. A cloud passed overhead like a white banner. Crows laughed." (XI, p. 187)

Nature changes its tune. Wind is not sinister but boisterous. The text mentions not a cloud shadow but a white banner. Birds do not cry but laugh.

Draught In A Spaceship And Wind From Mountains

The wind is a pervasive presence in some of Poul Anderson's texts. It punctuates dialogue, functions as a pathetic fallacy and sometimes becomes almost a participant in the action as when it whips Dahut in Ys. There is no wind in a spaceship but there might be draughts and:

"A ventilator murmured not only with draft but with a barely heard rustle, the distance-muffled sound of wingbeats from crewfolk off duty cavorting in an enormous hold intended for it."

-"Lodestar," p. 641.

Ythrian wings move a lot of air. They are The People of the Wind.

Anderson has sensitized me to interventions by the wind in the works of other authors, e.g.:

"Then the wind came in with Bart and blew the vase of roses from the table. I stood and stared down at the crystal pieces and the petals scattered about. Why was the wind always trying to tell me something? Something I didn't want to hear!"

-Virginia Andrew, Petals On The Wind (London, 2011), p. 435.

"How strange the wind wasn't blowing when I stepped out the door..."

-ibid., p. 443.

"...I can hear the cold wind blowing from the blue-misted mountains so far away."

-ibid., p. 486.

I noticed these three references only because of reading Poul Anderson.

Lucas, The Wind And Polaris

Rogue Sword, CHAPTER XVIII.

We have reread to the end and will shortly have to find another Poul Anderson work to reread although it is going to have to compete for time with renewed gym, other reading and, from tomorrow, a week of family reunion events, beginning with a canal cruise and a barbeque. 

When En Jaime realizes that he is being attacked by his old friend, Lucas:

"'Is that indeed you?' he said..." (p. 270)

There is nothing unusual about that but does the wind have any say in the matter? Yes, the quoted sentence continues and concludes:

"...so low that the wind in the trees nearly smothered it." (ibid.)

This wind serves to emphasize surprise. 

When Lucas tries to barter:

"The wind skirled.

"'Well?' Lucas' voice cracked over.

"'No, I cannot.'" (p. 272)

Skirling wind accompanies turbulent thoughts.

When the battle has been won:

"Lucas went out onto the portico. The wind bit and whistled." (p. 282)

The violence has just finished but everything has not settled down yet.

When Djansha joins him:

"The wind filled his lungs and blew the ache from his head. A good wind for their voyage. Northward glittered his oldest friend, Polaris, the wander-star." (p. 283)

The wind is good at last and there is another welcome reminder of the stellar universe. Enough Said Department.

All The Wind III

"An autumn gale came down off the pole. It gathered snow on its way across the steppe..."

-Poul Anderson, "A Message in Secret" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 341-397 AT X, p. 379.

"Winter came early to the northlands. Flandry...saw snow endless across the plains..."

-ibid. XII, p. 383.

I classified the gale as a wind, then noticed the transition from autumn to winter. These are just descriptions of the Altaian environment but they also recall chapters in Poul Anderson's works of historical fiction that begin by tracing the cycle of the seasons - in The King Of Ys (with Karen Anderson), "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" and "Star of the Sea."

Returning to the Polesotechnic League period:

"'No one stirred for a time that went on eternally, in that Fimbul wind."

-Poul Anderson, "The Master Key" IN Anderson, Trader To The Stars (New York, 1966) AT p. 131.

Yet again wind accompanies a pregnant pause in the dialogue. This time it is entirely appropriate. Natives of Cain have just threatened the merchants and, in Norse mythology, the Fimbul winter precedes the Ragnarok.

During a later confrontation, the wind shredded Per Stenvik's words and a ripple through the Cainites was:

"'...like wind dying out on an ocean.'"

-ibid, p. 139.

This second wind is analogical. 

Earlier, Cainite wind had:

"...cut like a laser..." (p. 129)

That is merely a physical description and this time it is the laser that is analogical. But, as the conversation with the Cainites becomes problematic, Per wonders whether:

"'...the wind was whittering louder.'" (p. 130)

The wind is like part of Anderson's grammar.

The Wind

What might the wind signify in myth, scripture, literature and fiction? Many things, no doubt. First, the unknown. There is a New Testament passage to the effect that we hear the wind blowing but do not know where it comes from or where it goes. Of course, we now have some understanding of meteorology. However, much remains unknown - or chaotic and unpredictable.

Poul Anderson's science fiction captures this dichotomy. His characters explore the universe, acquiring a wealth of scientific knowledge and always encountering the unknown. New environments are worth exploring but also dangerous because they are unknown. How often does an Anderson astronaut who thinks that he is safe have his environment blow up in his face? And beyond the merely unknown is the ever mysterious. Anderson's characters include believers in diverse religions and also agnostics who take religious questions seriously.

But, paradoxically, the wind is also associated with knowledge:

"'Wodan-Mercury-Hermes is the Wanderer because he's the god of the wind. This leads to him becoming the patron of travelers and traders. Faring as widely as he does, he must have learned a great deal, so he likewise becomes associated with wisdom, poetry ... and magic. These attributes join with the idea of the dead riding on the night wind - they join to make him the psychopomp, the conductor of the dead down to the Afterworld.'" (Time Patrol, pp. 390-391)

This is mythological reasoning but reasoning nevertheless:

the wind wanders and carries the dead;

therefore the god of the wind is the Wanderer, is the patron of traders and other travelers and the leader of the dead and has learned a lot.

Nicholas van Rijn, interstellar trader, invokes St Dismas and also refers to Mercury. And none of this is what I set out to say when I began this post! There will be more say about the wind...

Winds Between Worlds

Alert readers notice intertextual parallels and links. Creative writers can forge new narratives from such links.

Manse Everard of the Time Patrol meets Sherlock Holmes. 

Holmes visits the inter-universal inn, the Old Phoenix. 

Nicholas van Rijn from the Technic History visits the Old Phoenix. 

Is it possible to pass from the Time Patrol timeline to the Technic History timeline via the Old Phoenix?

While writing The Sandman, Neil Gaiman decided that Cain and Abel (from the first story) now live in the Dreaming (the source of stories). Then he read in Genesis 4:17 that Cain had gone to dwell in the Land of Nod.

When did HG Wells' Time Traveller disappear to? Did he pass through a quantum fluctuation into the Time Patrol timeline? Was the young man in Mark 14: 51-52 a time traveller?

"Dagobert stayed unrestful, though; folk said that was the blood of his father in him, and that he heard the wind at the edge of the world forever calling."

-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 333-465 AT 302-330, pp. 382-383.

(Dagobert's father is a time traveller and believed to be a god.)

"The wind that blows between the worlds chills me as I fall."

-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Preludes And Nocturnes (New York, 1995), p. 109, panel 2.

"There is a wind that blows between the worlds. A cold wind.

"It screams silently through the empty places, the nothing wind, traveling from nowhere to nowhere, in the uncreated wastes."

-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Season Of Mists (New York, 1992), p. 65, panel 1.

"...already the wind is dying back, signaling the transition from nowhere to WHERE."

-ibid., panel 4.

"The cold wind through me whistles the exhaustion out."

-"The Year of the Ransom," p. 710.

"Blomkvist turned the page and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. It was as if a cold gust of wind passed through the room."

-Stieg Larsson, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (London, 2008), CHAPTER 23, p. 387.

Connecting these last five texts, I imagine a cold wind blowing between worlds and past the edge of the world and passing through Wanda Tamberly and Mikael Blomkvist.

Sea Flows; Wind Blows

A passage in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Worlds' End struck me as evocative and Andersonian - and also familiar, as if I had posted about it before. I had. See Wild Wind And Wild Magic.

In the Bible, the sea represents precosmic chaos. In Poul Anderson's works, the wind sometimes represents the elements that pre-existed and still threaten civilization. See The Wind II. The wind wails in pathetic fallacies and almost becomes a character although I would have to search further to find the posts where I discussed the almost-personified wind. There is a lot about the wind (search result) on the blog.

Later: See the role of the wind in Marital Rape, in Prose Packed With Meaning and in Ys Gleams; Wind Mourns.

The title of this post refers to Portrait Of Jennie.

All The Wind

Silence grows between Dominic Flandry and a woman who has entered his room on Altai. As she stands watching him for nearly a minute:

"It grew so still in the room that he heard the wind on the lake."

-Poul Anderson, "A Message in Secret" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 341-397 AT IV, p. 354. 

To any new readers: The sound of the wind is a constant background noise or Greek chorus in Poul Anderson's works, to such an extent that we now notice any reference to the wind even when it might not be significant. In this case, the audibility of the wind outside underlines and emphasizes the silence and tension between the two characters. That this silence is full of menace is made clear by the immediately following sentence:

"Shadows were thick in the corners, and the dragons and warriors on the tapestries appeared to stir." (ibid.)

Continuing to read through "A Message in Secret," we come across:

"Wind lulled in long grasses, the whispering ran for kilometers..."

-ibid., VI, p. 362.

Flandry and his new woman acquaintance are now on the run, pursued by the Altaian authorities. However, at this precise moment, they are hidden, concealed by long grass, and able to rest. Therefore, the wind lulls and whispers rather than roaring or threatening.

Above them, the sky is:

"...an infinite vault full of wind and deep blue chill..." (ibid.)

Again, no immediate threat but nevertheless the natural environment from which they must soon find shelter - and hostile airboats search in that sky.

The wind blows unabated but we must take a break.

Wind At Kusulongo

"Territory."

When Nicholas van Rijn and Joyce Davisson ascend the "monstrous" Kusulongo the Mountain to confront the Ancients of t'Kela:

"The wind went shrieking through the empty dark sky, around the crags, to buffet [Joyce] like fists and snap the banner which Uulobu carried on a lance as he rode ahead." (p. 102)

The wind confirms that the situation is threatening. Joyce says something that she regards as "moronic" because she is:

"...driven to say anything that might drown out the wind." (ibid.)

After some conversation:

"They jogged on in silence, except for the wind." (p. 103)

Emphasizing the silence during a pause in the dialogue is one of the Andersonian roles of the wind.

On top of the mountain, streets in Kusulongo the City are:

"...full of wind and the noise of hammering from the metalsmiths' quarters." (p. 105)

Later, when:

"Silence stretched." (p. 111)

- during negotiations, there was also:

"...the boom of wind beyond the doorway." (ibid.)

Whatever else happens, that wind never lets up.

(And it is howling outside here right now.)

Wind Above The Cliffs

Three Hearts And Three Lions, CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.

"...the clouds were breaking up, weren't they? Too much wind for them. The wind went shrieking across a plain of whins and stiff grass, here and there a leafless tree, everything gray under hurried moonlight and unmercifully sharp stars. Holger couldn't see the smoke from the troll's bolthole; the wind scattered it too fast." (p. 147)

"Holger looked across the tumbled gray land. The wind struck him in the face." (p. 148)

"The wind was still loud, but Holger paid no heed." (p. 149)

When Carahue shouts that the huntsmen are coming:

"The noise flew torn in the wind..." (p. 150)

Loud wind breaks up clouds, shrieks, scatters smoke from the fire that killed the troll, strikes Holger's face and tears the noise of Carahue's warning shout and of the approaching horns. As we often observe, Andersonian winds do a lot of work! The wind-driven action builds to a crescendo.

Many Winds

 

The Broken Sword, IX.

When Asgerd, Aelfrida's daughter, agrees with her betrothed that the garth is hollow with its men gone:

"A cold sea-wind, blowing fine dry snowflakes, ruffled her heavy locks." (p. 59)

Then:

"As night fell, a strong wind came with snow on its wings, to howl around the hall. Hail followed, like night-gangers thumping their heels on the roof." (ibid.)

Almost immediately, Valgard and his Vikings arrive, kill men, burn the hall, abduct the sisters, Asgerd and Freda, and depart by sea:

"...rowing against a wind which blew icy waves inboard." (p. 61)

But Valgard, following the witch's instructions, unties a sack that releases a favourable wind. Back at Orm's garth, among the women and children left behind, Aelfrida sits:

"...with hair and dress blowing wild..." (ibid.)

A gale drives the ships and wind whoots in the rigging. The cliffs of Finnmark bear "...wind-twisted trees." (p. 62) The wind blows the ships into a fjord where the waiting trolls, visible only to Valgard's with-sight, wear little or nothing:

"...however freezing the wind." (p. 63)

As already agreed with Valgard, the trolls attack and kill his men who cannot see them.

I have skipped past some details like the disgusting appearance of the trolls and the description of the troll-king's hall. However, for the most part, focusing on the winds has given us a good summary of the action.

Valgard gives Asgerd and Freda to Troll-King Illrede. 

It is my time of night for other reading. But I think that we have done justice to Poul Anderson's winds.

Wanderer And Night-Bridge

The Broken Sword, X.

Leea sings about the wind:

"Seaward blows the wind tonight..." (p. 66)

Women, hearth, kith and kin cannot hold men called to sea by the wind which Leea addresses as "...old wanderer..." (ibid.)

The wind that Valgard had released from a sack blows Skafloc's fleet into the same fjord where the elves find human longships and murdered men.

When they approach Illrede Troll-King's hall:

"Wind shrieked and cuffed them with cold hands." (p. 68)

That is what we expect! However, there is not much more wind in this chapter. During the battle in the hall, Skafloc Elven Fosterling and Valgard Changeling come face to face (the same face!) in combat but they are driven apart. Illrede, Valgard and some others flee. Skafloc frees the human prisoners, Asgerd and Freda, not knowing that they are his sisters.

When the elves, with the freed women, return to their ships, they expect attack because they hear troll horns:

"...blowing ragged on the wind." (p. 72)

Skafloc leads a wedge formation. 

"...they saw the trolls massed black against the wan night-bridge of the gods..." (p. 73)

"Night-bridge" is yet another description of the Milky Way and the trolls are something else seen against it.

When the elven survivors escape, Skafloc's runes shift the wind in their favour.

Lucas And The Wind

Rogue Sword, CHAPTER XIII.

The wind plays an active role for a few pages.

"The draperies rippled. Outside, a noisy wind chased clouds across the sun and away again." (p. 189)

Noisy wind echoes human uproar:

"The next several weeks roared."

-Chapter XI, p. 158.

Such uproar brings rapid changes - bad, then good; darkness, then light - alternating quickly. This continues:

"Lucas wandered among trees that tossed and soughed in the great streaming wind. Light and shadow fled across the world." (p. 189)

Djansha's voice is timid, scarcely audible through "...the gusty air." (ibid.) Wind snatches petals from roses behind her and flaps her skirt, revealing her ankles. Dead leaves whirl. Shadows rush along the Boca Daner, a stretch of water. When Lucas promises to provide Djansha's dowry:

"'The gale alone answered him.'" (p. 191)

His heartbeat outshouts the wind. 

The wind is a constant background with everything else measured against it.

Wind, World's Edge And Time

"Dagobert stayed unrestful, though; folk said that was the blood of his father in him, and that he heard the wind at the edge of the world forever calling." (Time Patrol, pp. 382-383)
-copied from here.

"'I hear hoofbeats,' [Gora] said low. 'I hear hoofs galloping out on the edge of the world. It is Time riding forth, and snow falls from his horse's mane and lightning crashes from its hoofs, and when Time has ridden by like a wind in the night, there are only withered leaves left blowing in the gale of his passage. He rides nearer, I hear worlds sunder before him -'"
-Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword (London, 1977), Chapter XVII, p. 116.

"Now and then on that planet, Jong Errifrans thought he heard the distant blowing of a horn...
"'Some trick of the wind, off in the cliffs yonder,' Mons Rainart suggested."
-Poul Anderson, "The Horn of Time the Hunter" IN Anderson, The Horn Of Time (New York, 1968), pp. 11-26 AT p. 11.

"...the horn of a hunter..." (p. 26)

Once at night, Hadding sees the light elves bounding to the horizon and hears their horn (here).

Dagobert is the son of a time traveler who is believed to be Wodan.
Gora is the daughter of the troll king.
Jong is a space traveler.
Hadding is an incarnation of the god, Njord.

A wind calls from the edge of the world.
Time rides like a wind at the edge of the world.
Time the hunter blows a distant horn - or it is a trick of the wind.
The elves' horn is heard from the horizon.

A knight of ghosts and shadows summons from beyond the world's end. (See here.)

Wind and Time are almost personified. Distance joins them in these evocative passages.