the lowing of some cattle and the braying of a donkey. Also, I heard a weird
call, but I don’t know if it was from a bird or an animal. And I heard a
peculiar grunting sound, but it wasn’t from pigs.’
‘That camel’s eye looks like a good place for a sentry,’ she said. ‘I got the
impression from Benna that that is where he entered the caves. It must’ve been a
very dangerous climb, especially during the dark.’
‘Benna was a good man,’ Smhee said. ‘But he wasn’t prepared enough. There are
eyes watching now. Probably through holes in the rocks. From what I heard, the
mage had his servants buy a number of excavating tools. He would have used them
to enlarge the caves and to make tunnels to connect the caves.’ She took a final
look in the sunlight at the sinister purple mass and turned away.
9
Night had come. The winds had died down. The sky was cloudy, but the covering
was thin. The full moon glowed through some of these, and now and then broke
through. The nightbirds made crazy startling sounds. The mosquitoes hummed
around them in dense masses, and if it hadn’t been for Smhee’s ointment would
have driven them out of the trees within a few minutes. Frogs croaked in vast
chorus; things plopped into the water.
They shoved the boat out to the edge of the reeds and climbed in. They wore
their cloaks now but would take them off when they got to the isle. Masha’s
weapons were a dagger and a short thin sword used for thrusting only.
They paddled silently as possible, the current helping their rate of speed, and