Yurth Burden Two races of people share the world of Zacar: a telepathic mountain-dwelling folk called the Yurth; and a farming folk called the Raski who do not possess the Upper Sense that is a Yurth child's gift from birth. The farmers hate the telepathic mountain-dwellers and blame them for the destruction of a Raski civilization that once flourished on Zacar. Every thousand years or so a Raski warrior king attempts to annihilate the Yurth, but his armies flee back out of the mountains under the spell of Yurth illusions. The normal state of affairs is a stalemate between a powerless underclass and a race of peaceful supermen who are clueless as to why anyone should hate them--- At least until the Yurth makes his or her journey to the sacred mountain. Each Yurth child is expected to go on a pilgrimage as a ritual of passage into adulthood. Some do not return from their journey, and the ones who do come back are burdened with a terrible secret. When Elossa, the heroine of "Yurth Burden" is called to the sacred mountain, her pilgrimage is complicated by a Raski warrior who trails her into near-death, deadly illusion, and beyond. Together they learn the secret within a secret that fuels the enmity between their people, but not before the Raski warrior, Stans has made several attempts to kill Elossa. Read "Yurth Burden" for Norton's eerie descriptions of the Dark king whose hatred long survived the accidental destruction of his people.