These clothes are good enough for Arjuna and Tamul Proper,
neighbor,’ Sparhawk told the shopkeeper later that same day,
but they don’t exactly turn the trick in a duststorm. I think that
last one put about four pounds of dirt down my back.’
The shopkeeper nodded sagely. ‘Other races laugh at our customary
garb, good Master,’ he observed. ‘They usually keep
laughing right up until the time when they ride through their
first duststorm.’
“Does the wind blow all the time out there?’ Talen asked
him. :Not quite all the time, young Master. The afternoons are usually
the worst.’ He looked at Sparhawk. ‘How many robes will
you be needing, good Master?’
There are six of us, neighbor, and none of us are so fond of
each other that we’d care to share a robe.’
“have you any preferences in colors?’
“Does one color keep the dust out better than the others?’
“Not that I’ve noticed.’
“Then any color will do, I guess.’
The shopkeeper hustled into his storeroom and returned with
a pile of neatly-folded garments. Then he smiled, rubbed his
hands together and broached the subject of the price.
“He overcharged you, you know,’ Talen said as they emerged
from the cluttered shop into the dusty street.
Sparhawk shrugged. ‘Perhaps,’ he said.
“Someday I’m going to have to teach you about the finer points
%~S.’
“Does it really matter?’ Sparhawk asked, tying the bundle of
Cynesgan robes to the back of his saddle. He looked around
‘Anarae?’
‘I am here, Anakha,’ her whispered voice responded.
‘Were you able to find anything?’
‘Nay, Anakha. Clearly the messenger hath not yet arrived.’
‘Berit and Khalad are still several days away, Sparhawk,’ Talon
said quietly. ‘And this isn’t such an attractive place that the
messenger would want to get here early to enjoy the scenery.’
He looked around at the winter-dispirited palm trees and the
muddy pond that lay at the center of the cluster of white houses.
‘Attractive or not, we’re going to have to come up with some
reason for staying,’ Sparhawk said. ‘We can’t leave until the
messenger gets here and Anarae Xanetia can listen to what he’s
thinking.’
‘I can remain here alone, Anakha,’ Xanetia told him. ‘None
here can detect my presence, so I do not need protection.’
‘We’ll stay all the same, Anarae,’ Sparhawk told her. ‘Courtesy
and all that, you understand. An Elene gentleman will not permit
a lady to go about unescorted.’
An argument had broken out on the shaded porch of what
appeared to be a tavern or a wine-shop of some kind. ‘You don’t
know what you’re talking about, Echon!’ a wheezy-voiced old
man in a patched and filthy robe declared loudly. ‘It’s a good
hundred miles from here to the River Sama, and there’s no
water at all between here and there.’
‘You either drink too much or you’ve been out in the sun too
long, Zagorri,’ Echon, a thin, sun-dried man in a dark blue robe
scoffed. ‘My map says that it’s sixty miles – no more.’
‘How well do you know the man who drew the map? I’ve
been here all my life, and I know how far it is to the Sama. Go
ahead, though. Take only enough water for sixty miles. Your
mules will die, and you’ll be drinking sand for that last forty
miles. It’s all right with me, though, because I’ve never liked
you all that much anyway. But, mark my words, Echon. It’s one
hundred miles from the Well of Vigay there to the banks of the
Sama.’ And the old man spat in the direction of the pale brown
pond. Talon suddenly began to laugh.
‘What’s so funny?’ Sparhawk asked him.
‘We just had a stroke of luck, revered leader,’ the boy replied
gaily. ‘if we’re all finished up here, why don’t we go back to
where the others are waiting? We’ll all want a good night’s
sleep – since we’ll probably be leaving first thin in the morning.’
‘Oh? For where?’
‘Cyrga, of course. Wasn’t that where we wanted to go?’
‘Yes, but we don’t know where Cyrga is.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong, Sparhawk. We do know the way
to Cyrga – at least I do.’
CHAPTER 23
‘Did he die well?’ Betuana asked. Her face was very pale, but
she gave no other outward sign of distress.
‘It was a suitable death, Betuana-Queen,’ the messenger
replied. ‘We were at the bottom of a gorge and the Klael-beast
was hurling the sides of it down upon us. Androl-King attacked
the beast, and many escaped that would have died if he had
not.’
She considered it. ‘Yes,’ she agreed finally. ‘It was suitable.
It will be remembered. Is the army fit to travel?’
‘We have many injured, Betuana-Queen, and thousands are
buried in the gorge. We withdrew to Tualas to await your
commands.’
‘Leave some few to care for the injured, and bring the army
here,’ she told him. ‘Toea is no longer in danger. The danger is
here.’
‘It shall be as you say, my Queen.’ He clashed his fist against
his breastplate in salute.
The Queen of Atan rose to her feet, her still-pale face betraying
no emotion. ‘I must go apart and consider this, Itagne-Ambassador,’
she said formally.
‘It is proper, Betuana-Queen,’ he responded. ‘I share your
grief.’
‘But not my guilt.’ She turned and slowly left the room.
Itagne looked at the stony-faced Engessa. ‘i’d better pass the
word to the others,’ he said.
Engessa nodded shortly.
‘Could you speak with the messenger before he leaves,
‘Engessa?’ Itagne asked. ‘Lord Vanion will need casualty figures
before he can change his strategy.’
‘I will obtain them for you, Itagne-Ambassador.’ Engessa
inclined his head shortly and went out.
Itagne swore and banged his fist on the table. ‘Of all the times
for this to happen!’ he fumed. ‘if that idiot had only waited before
he got himself killed!’
Betuana had done nothing wrong. There had been no stain
of dishonor in her concerrn for Engessa, and if she had only had
a week or two to put it behind her, it would probably have been
forgotten – along with the personal feelings which caused it.
But Androl’s death, coming as it did at this particular time Itagne
swore again. The Atan Queen had to be able to function,
and this crisis might well incapacitate her. For all Itagne knew,
she was in her room right now preparing to fall on her sword.
He rose and went looking for paper and pen. Vanion had to
be warned about this before everything here in Sama hell
apart.
‘It all fell into place when I heard that old man call their little
pond ‘the Well of Vigay”,’ Talen explained. ‘Ogerajin used
exactly the same term.’
‘I don’t know that it means very much,’ Mirtai said dubiously.
‘Cynesgans call all these desert springs wells. Micay was probably
the one who discovered it.’
‘But the important thing is that this is one of the landmarks
Ogerajin mentioned,’ Bevier said. ‘How did the subject come
up?’ he asked Talen.
‘Stragen and I were spinning moonbeams for Valash,’ the boy
replied. ‘Ogerajin had just arrived from Verel, and he was sitting
in a chair with his brains quietly rotting. Stragen was telling
Valash about something he’d supposedly overheard – some fellow
telling another that Scarpa was waiting for instructions from
Cyrga. He was fishing for information, and he casually asked
Valash what route a man would have to follow to get to Cyrga.
That’s when Ogerajin jumped in. He started rambling, talking
about the “Well of Vigay” and the “Plains of Salt” and other
places with names that sounded as if they’d come right out of
a story-book. I thought he was just raving, but Valash got very
excited and tried to hush him up. That’s what made me pay
closer attention to what the crazy man was saying. I got the
feeling that he was giving Stragen very specific directions
to Cyrga, but the directions were all clouded over with those storybook
names. This “Well of Vigay” business makes me start to
wonder if the directions were as cloudy and garbled as I thought
they were at first.’
‘What were his exact words, young Talen?’ Xanetia asked.
‘He said, “The pathway lies close by the Well of Vigay”. That’s
when Valash tried to shut him up, but he kept right on. He said
something about wanting to give Stragen directions so that he
could go to Cyrga and bow down to Cyrgon. He told him to
go northwest from the “Well of Vigay” to the “Forbidden
Mountains”. ‘
Sparhawk checked over his map. ‘There are several clusters
of mountains in central Cynesga, and that’s the general region
Aphrael pointed out back on the island. What else did he say,
Talen?’
‘He sort of jumped around. He talked about the “Forbidden
Mountains” and the “Pillars of Cyrgon”. Then he doubled back
on himself and started talking about the “Plains of Salt”. From