The Taleweaver
Allies

Andnow we bring bad news to Harbend again. Gods! They all want LordGarak, Master Garak or Harbend de Garak representing our sharedinterests with Keen. Is there no one to see how tired he is?

SighingNakora shrugged and returned inside the canvased group of wagonsserving as their barracks. Emptier than unusual. She had orderednight patrols doubled since the attack. Come morning she'd receivecomplaints from tired soldiers.

Ibelieve you have no such worries, Captain Laiden. What have you seentogether? I see your men look at you as an older brother or father.Paid mercenaries. I wonder.

Suspicionsor not. Captain Laiden still had no way of understanding the ways ofKhi. Had no personal interest invested either, she admitted sourly.Did she really care so much?

Gods!Someone has to lessen the blow.

She wrappedher cloak around herself and went back into the dark coldnessoutside.

"Whatdo you mean they're gone?"

"Thereare clear signs of an attack, M'lord, but we can't replace any bodies.My guess is they've been taken."

Harbend gaveTrindai a helpless look. "So what do we do now?"

"I cansend out scouts tomorrow, M'lord."

"Do youbelieve they can catch up?"

"Maybe,maybe not. But we should have a better chance knowing if anyone'splanning another attack."

Harbendnodded. Sound thinking. "Do so," he said at last.

Trindai roseand left.

Harbendwaited until Trindai was out of sight before leaning forward, face inhands. Now what? Arthur and Chaijrild both gone. Lianin would belivid when he told her. As for Arthur. He didn't even want to thinkabout the repercussions when they finally returned to Verd. If worstcame to worst they'd probably encounter a band of Khraga blaming himfor losing Gring as well.

"So,what do we do now?" he asked himself and was surprised to get ananswer.

"We goafter them or we continue, or maybe even both."

"Who?"

A figureslowly became a visible contour against the night sky. Nakora! Gods!For a moment he thought he'd seen a ghost.

"I hopeI did not scare you. I never intended to."

"No,not at all," he lied. "Have a seat." He pointed at thelow chair Trindai had occupied just a little while earlier.

Nakoragracefully accepted his offer.

"Areyou not cold?" he asked to break a silence starting to becomeawkward.

"Cold?You must be joking, Lord Garak," she laughed. "You havemade a fine fire here, and with the tarpaulin all around us there isno wind."

Harbendsilently agreed. She still wore her leather coat and he sat here inhis shirtsleeves. "So, what to do?" he asked, more tochange subject than to listen to her repeat what she had already saidearlier.

"Send asearch party. You have to. The rest continue to Braka."

"Do Ihave to?"

She lookedat him quizzically and nodded. "Yes, I believe so, but can you?"

He returnedher look and sighed. "I do not know. I honestly do not know."

"Find away, for your own sake. At least thisyou can handle the way you prefer. They shall not demand yoursacrificing your conscience to prove yourself being one of us again.Not with a taleweaver involved at least."

He staredout into the darkness. In his mind he followed the long line ofcircles of wagons stretching out behind them. Ten wagons to eachcircle, thirty circles, and one out of five of the men and women whodepended on him would want him to make the human decision. Only oneout of five who wouldn't ask him to abandon his friend even if noneof the others would ever dare to voice that to his face. Gods! He wasguilty of losing a taleweaver to who knew what kind of destiny.

"Areyou sure?" he asked, and a coldness having nothing to do withwinter crawled down his back as he waited for her answer.

"I amcertain. Not this close to the executions. Who knows, it might be amatter of a couple of days that is needed this time as well."

"I donot know," he whispered hoarsely. "I really do not know."

"Youmust decide. The law requires it. Good night, Lord Garak. I leave younow." The softness in her voice belied the harsh words, andHarbend knew he had an important ally.

Trindai deLaiden was eavesdropping. He lacked the moral restrictions againstgetting information in such an underhanded way, a lack he was wellaware of. None of his superiors would care about how he got hisintelligence, but all of them would most certainly come down on himif he failed to replace out what he should have known.

At themoment he was trying to handle a problem, one that had currently notreached anything like a satisfying conclusion. Arthur Wallman had tobe found and rescued. That, at least, was what Madame de Felder wouldwant, but then she didn't have all the facts. She'd charged him withkeeping the outworlder celebrity safe while at the same time makingcertain the golden opportunity to make a show of increasing Keen'strade didn't fail. She had no possible way of knowing that the creepyoutworlder had turned out a taleweaver. The Roadhouse was too faraway from Keen for that, but, he thought sourly to himself, he didn'thave the benefit of ignorance.

Now ArthurWallman had to be found and rescued before news about his capturereached kings, councils and other untranslatable bodies ofgovernments deciding to set up rescue missions of their own. Thosecould, if poorly handled, grow into a conflict that would make theperpetual war between Rhuin and Khanati pale in comparison.

"AndI'm the unlucky bastard with this shit in my lap," he mutteredsilently under his breath. Well, shit or not, it wouldn't do to bediscovered here.

Trindaiedged himself between the wheels under the wagon where he was hiding.He didn't like what he was hearing. Some traders were apparently notas interested in heroic rescue missions as in protecting their owncoffers, and at the moment two of them were voicing their concerns toa group of their colleagues.

Youidiots! Why can't you keep your greedy thoughts to yourselves? Idon't need a mutiny on my hands now.

Trindaicrept back and silently made his way to the horse he'd left far awayenough from the circle of wagons not to be seen from it.

A shortride, a few barked commands and a couple of questions later he satdown in the wagon where the Vimarin brew mistress had set up hermobile tavern. The other guests scrambled to their feet and left thewagon as fast as their feet could carry them when he made it clear hewasn't above using his saber on anyone overstaying their welcome. Allbut one, that was. Trindai had to physically prevent Harbend fromjoining the exodus.

"Wehave a problem, M'lord," he said after he'd forcefully turned astartled Harbend to face him.

"We, oryou?" Harbend asked regaining some of his composure.

Trindaigrinned. He had to give the master trader the credit of being morecoldblooded than the average civilian. "We have, or moreprecisely, you and I have."

"Howso?"

"Thereare traders who don't want to stay put while we send out patrols toreplace Arthur Wallman."

"Gods!Not you as well. Yes, yes, yes, I want to replace my friend and get himback here. I just do not want to order more executions in order to doso."

"I wantto make one thing absolutely clear," he growled. "I don'tcare a bastards fate about your friend, but darkness, it's imperativethat we bring the taleweaver to safety."

"Iknow," Harbend murmured, "but how?"

"That,M'lord, is your decision, but to make that decision easier you shouldknow that I'll leave this caravan with all my men if somethingdoesn't happen very soon."

Harbendlooked as if he was going to explode, but then a smile crept up hisface. "That," he began, smiling even wider, "is anargument I believe my fellow traders will have no problemsunderstanding."

"Good.Then I have things to do." Trindai made as if to leave.

"Whythe hurry?"

Trindai satdown at the unexpected question. There had been an edge of command toit he didn't like.

"Captain,if you are indeed a captain, what is your role here?"

Somethingcold ran down Trindai's spine. Darkness,have I blown my cover?

"You'renot a mercenary escort captain, and your troops are not a bunch ofmen you happen to command for this trip, long as it may be,"Harbend continued relentlessly. "You act with the coordinationof professionals. Gods! You somehow made me hire an entire unitrather than random men at arms."

"Idon't understand, Lord Garak." Darkness,Mairild will have my skin for this! "What do youmean?" I failed to keep asecret even to a civilian.

"I sawyour reluctance at the executions. Tired of killing civilians areyou?"

"Huh?"Now Trindai was honestly surprised. Where was this going?

"Toomany years spent in the glorious Inquisition doing that dirty work?Captain, are you escorting us, or are you running from yoursuperiors?"

Oh,oh he believes... Lucky day of mine. "You're tooperceptive for my taste, Lord Garak. Does it make any difference whatwe were before you hired us?" Trindai barely managed to keepfrom sighing with relief.

Harbend madeit clear he would join the rescue mission, a decision that met withseveral protests early on, but he insisted and with the help ofNakora he eventually managed to convince the other members of thecaravan he wasn't needed to personally oversee the slow trek towardsBraka. That honor fell to the oldest of the traders coming from RiKhi.

Harbendnoted, with some satisfaction, that Captain Laiden was always absentfrom the meetings, but for those not in the know it was maybe not sostrange.

LastlyHarbend chose the two mages from Khanati, who had followed Arthuraround earlier, to accompany him. After all they had played the roleof heroes during the blizzard in the mountain pass, and the one namedEscha was the only one with the gift to jump.

They leftearly in the morning, winter chill biting their faces and even theslightest puff of wind an icy razor of cold. Harbend couldn't imaginea place colder, but he had been told that the farther east and northyou traveled, the colder winter became.

They walked.The Transport Khar, Escha, didn't want to jump with horses, and withhim available, horses wouldn't make much of a difference anyway.Harbend glanced at his companions. Different now, both of them. Lessand less of the arrogance and more of the hard professionalismrequired of anyone rising in a society where war was a part of dailylife. He corrected himself. They must have changed during thejourney, but he'd been too preoccupied with his own business to paythem proper attention.

Trai hadsaved lives on more than one occasion without ever claiming any gloryfor it, and Harbend had been too ungrateful to recognize the valor ofa man he considered to be nothing more than a fop. Gods! He needed tobe more observant, especially now when he was placing his life in thehands of men he previously discarded as little more than useless.

"Thereis something you should know," he said silently, as if hisunease wouldn't allow him to admit failure.

"Yourthoughts, Lord Garak?" Trai asked.

There was noturning back now. "I have been less than the host you deserve."

"Howso?"

"Yousaved us in the mountains. Twice probably, and you were there when weneeded you during the attack. It shames me that you have not receivedany thanks. I want you to know I appreciate all you have done evenwhen unasked."

"Thereis no need to ask, Lord Garak," Trai said with a smile. "Iknow we are but strangers here, and I know you have no reason to makeenemies of your own people on our behalf."

"I wantyou to know anyway."

"NowI'm told, and I'm grateful, Lord Garak."

Strange,he talks like a normal being for once. Embarrassed or just angry Iwaited this long with common decency?

Theycontinued walking in silence. Muted rumbling of hooves broke thatsilence. A single rider was catching up. A messenger? No, it wasNakora, but she wouldn't have ridden out herself only to bring amessage. Then what?

"MasterGarak, do you think you can escape me so easily?" Her face wasred from the hard ride.

"I failto understand what you mean," Harbend responded. Unfortunatelyhe suspected why she was here, despite his words to the contrary.

"Itmeans I am joining you. You are not doing this without any kind ofmilitary experience."

Harbendgroaned. So he had guessed right. He played with the thought ofstarting a discussion or even giving her an order to return, but atthis distance he saw her flushed cheeks probably were not only theresult of straining herself during the ride. He allowed his groan toturn into a sigh.

"Iguess we could use your expertise."

"Do notguess, Lord Garak. Just do!"

Harbendspread his arms and stared at Trai. A bemused smile was the onlyresponse Harbend received.

"Thenwe are four. I assume that shall not be a problem to you, KharEscha?"

"Nohorse."

Harbendlooked questioningly at Nakora. She was already emptying hersaddlebags.

"Nohorse," Harbend agreed.

Nakorareturned with her weapons, a quiver, some bags with food and ablanket in which she wrapped her water skins.

"I amready. Are you?"

Harbendsmiled and nodded. "Khar Escha?"

"Comecloser, both of you. I'll jump us to where we can get a view of wherethey are."

"Whynot directly to them?" Nakora asked.

"Escha,wonderful and mighty as he is, still needs to know where to jump,"Trai answered affectionately.

They jumped.

Gods!The power! Trai may have been prone to flowery languageand exaggerations, but all boasts concerning Khar Escha wereunderstated if anything. Harbend blinked. Where?Ri Nachi, the capital of Ri Khi?

"Why?"Nakora asked before looking around her in wonder.

"Becausesuch are the laws for jumping," Trai answered as if he hadn'tnoticed that they were several eightdays worth of travel from wherethey had started. "In order to jump safely a Khar needs to knowthe destination, and only the mightiest of Khars can jump to adestination seen only in the mind."

"I failto understand," Nakora admitted. "And why are we here?"

Harbendsmiled. "A guess?"

"Ofcourse, Lord Garak."

Harbendfaced Trai. "You want to replace us a Mindwalker."

"LordGarak, you're a dangerous man. Do you have talents you haven't toldus about?"

"No, atleast not the kind you think I have. There was a Mindwalker where Igrew up. She showed me many places in Khi before I was old enough togo there myself."

Trai smiledin response.

"Master,shall we replace one to help us?" Escha asked.

"Ofcourse, my love. Captain Weinak, would you care to lead the way?"

Nakora bowedand started walking.

They were atthe outskirts of the capital, almost where a jump tower had once beenerected, but that was a hundred years ago, before it was torn downduring the last major conflict to hit Ri Khi. Harbend guessed onlytradition made the Transport Khars choose the site these days, butthen tradition was always a strong power in itself.

He gave thewalls an appraising look. The second time he was here, and yearsspent in Verd made them less impressive than he remembered. Hesuspected the town itself would disappoint him, home to a mere twentythousand or so. Still it lacked any competition in size for eightdaysof travel around it, and apart from Verd few towns in Keen housedmore.

Streetpeddlers offered them food, cloth and other items. Harbend wonderedif selling was the main reason for the gawking and shouting -- theKhars from Khanati, in their unfamiliar garbs, attracted their fairshare of attention.

Childrenplayed in the snow and an old crone passed by close enough that hecould see her shocked expression when she stared at the two Khars.

Some newhouses had been erected since his previous visit here, and as was theway with wooden constructions, a few demolished as well. The town wasalive in a way Verd wasn't. Verd didn't have an outer town. Apartfrom a few official buildings nothing was allowed to be built outsidethe city walls, and somehow Verd was always the same. Here a longstretch of the southeastern road from the town had become a town ofits own with narrow streets feeding blocks of houses further awayfrom the road that had become the main street.

They walkedalong the muddy street until finally coming to the bridge leading toone of the gates. The city on the rivers. Not really accurate, butdescriptive. The river flowing through the town had been diverted,split into two arms joining again south of Ri Nachi with canalscrisscrossing the entire town.

Gates flungopen, only guarded by a couple of men who lazily eyed those passingby, and Harbend soon walked upon the paved streets of Ri Nachi. Therewas a certain glory to the town, a peculiar mixture of efficient Keenand aesthetic Khi. The streets regular, but the houses allowed apersonality never seen in Verd apart from a few grandiose monumentsbuilt to put visitors in stunned awe.

Even a fewhalf houses built in the way typical to Khi. They rose like stairs,or a terrace so that each story would have a small garden on the roofof the story below. A reminder for aging soldiers who maybe nevergave up hope of coming home one day.

Harbendwondered how many of them had lived out their days here; maybe evenwith new families, and still never managing to think of this as home,dying in the belief that they were in a foreign land. He shook thethought away. It made him depressed, and it was just a little bit tooclose to his own feelings.

"CaptainWeinak, do you know where we are going?" Harbend asked, mostlyto change his line of thoughts.

She smiledback. "Should our mighty mages not know that?" she answerednodding at Trai.

Harbendfrowned at her.

"Sorry,Lord Garak. I can replace the way here easier than any of you,"Nakora said.

"Thankyou, Captain."

"Themagehealers should know where to replace a Mindwalker."

With thosewords she took the lead and guided them over a bridge separating twodistricts, through the next one and over yet another bridge. They hadentered the district of mages.

"Silent,is it not?" Nakora asked as if she'd heard his thoughts.

"Andlarge," he agreed. "It serves all of Ri Khi?"

"Yes,and Ri Kordari as well. Sometimes we have people from as far away asErkateren here."

"Andsome of the magehealers journey to the more distant parts of the landI guess."

She laughedquietly. "Maybe we are not that far removed from Khi then if youare so familiar with procedures here."

"Maybenot," Harbend affirmed.

"Well,this should be as good as any other place," Nakora saidcheerily. "Should I go in and ask for directions?"

"Pleasedo," Harbend answered, grateful for something to interrupt histhoughts. The town brought strange and troublesome musings to hismind.

She ran up ashort flight of stairs and vanished into a doorway. The threeremaining men waited, and rather than face more of the uncomfortablesilence Harbend explained what had happened to the Khars. SpeakingVeric was cumbersome as always, but he had some practice from hisjourneys. All educated men in Khi got at least some schooling inVeric as Khi traded with Khanati as well as Rhuin.

Of course,there were some people in Khanati who resented the use of Veric asVeraike had been little more than a Rhic province for severaleightyears, but it was an ancient culture, far older than either ofthe warring empires and open complaints were few and far between. Heknew better than speaking De Vhatic. That offended anyone livingaround the Sea of the Mother, but then the people from Keenaggravated almost anyone with their peculiar hatred of the gift.

They waitedsome more until Nakora returned. She was smiling as she ran down thestairs.

"Areyou ready?" she asked as if they hadn't been waiting for her allalong.

"Yes,is it long?" Harbend replied.

"No,just a few houses." She pointed at a building further down thestreet.

"I didnot know magehealers and mindwalkers shared quarters."

"Neitherdid I, but apparently at least two of them do. We are to visit IrikaHankar, the magehealer whose house it is and her companion, NerikaHavik."

She took thelead. They made their way close enough to the river turned moat thatHarbend could see it was flowing slowly enough to have startedfreezing over. Thin sheets of ice covered the surface, still brittleenough to give way should anyone try to walk across. There was stillsome defensive magic in work here then. It was cold enough for themoat to freeze solid. Old magic, no longer of any real use.

This part ofthe world hadn't seen full scale wars for hundreds of years, and ahundred had passed since the last major unrest. That one had been badenough though, Harbend recalled from lessons. A fanatical, religiousmovement, set on bringing the end of the world. Originating inErkateren it spread to Ri Khi, Ri Kordari and Vimarin. It had takenKeen's intervention and over thirty years of bitter fighting tofinally crush it, and the process had given birth to the FreeInquisition, as unwanted a boon as any could be.

Preoccupiedwith his musings Harbend almost walked into the back of Nakora whenshe suddenly halted in front of him.

"Herewe are," she said with a cheerfulness that seemed to cling toher this day. Maybe she was just happy to be back home again, even ifonly for a short while.

Harbendtilted his head to get a better view of the house. Almost circular.He frowned at its peculiar design. First floor made of bricks orstone and the second wooden, as if the builders had run out of moneyhalfway through its construction. The roof barely jutted out from thewalls, and splotches clearly showed that whenever it rained water randown them rather than falling to the street at his feet.

"Areyou sure?" Harbend asked, and realized his voice must have shownthe disdain he felt. "I apologize, of course it has to be here,"he added in a feeble attempt to remove some of the sting.

He stillreceived a hurt look, but Nakora didn't retort. She just climbed thestairs and knocked on the door.

Trai andEscha followed her up the stairs, and both glanced at him as theypassed. Even though they couldn't have understood what he said, histone and her silent reply surely told them something was amiss. Gods!He didn't need to invent new ways to alienate those around him.Harbend slapped himself mentally, closed his eyes, exhaled and tookthe first step up the stairs. Before his third step the door ahead ofhim opened, and a man in his early twenties beckoned them to enter.

The entranceopened into a wide hallway, two staircases climbing to the secondstory and a short corridor between them leading into whatever roomswere hidden on the first. He followed Escha into the corridor.Harbend came into a room, round as the building itself. Behind adesk, close to a window behind it, a figure sat framed by thedaylight streaming in through the glass.

Deliberateor not, the light shining into the otherwise dark room created a halosurrounding the shape in the chair.

"Welcome,I have waited for you." The voice belonging to the shiningfigure was female, distinctively so. Harbend could feel the tinglingsensation at his temples signaling that he was in the presence of aMindwalker activating her gifts. As she walked closer to them sheilluminated the room with a soft light streaming from her body.

Both Kharsprostrated themselves on the floor. Harbend met her gaze and staredinto a pair of golden eyes. Lifetimes of experience lived there. Atthat moment he knew, and bowed low.

That voice!Words more ancient than any human history, and he was allowed to baskin the glory of hearing them, no, to be one whom they were addressedto. He wanted nothing more than to please the wonderful being who hadso graced him.

"Enoughof that!"

Harbendlooked around, ready to slay the rude offender.

"I saidenough!" This time the harsh order thundered from all over theroom. Escha, no a multitude of him swirled around the room. Steady,pulsing, almost rhythmical waves of power crashed around them."Glorious as you may be, there is little need of playing suchtricks on mere human minds. Not all of us are ready to face yourbeauty in mind and presence. I say hold!" all the Eschas roaredsimultaneously.

Once againan abrupt surge of power and suddenly blinding daylight surroundedthem.

Impossible!I am flying. Outdoors, close to the river and hovering theheight of a full grown man over the ground, but he could still feelthe floor beneath him. At least it felt like the floor, but he couldsee right through it, and that was a dizzying experience. More ofEscha's display of power. Still on his knees Harbend clung to thesolid nothingness under him afraid he might fall off the unseenplatform if he moved. From the gasps around him he knew he wasn't theonly one feeling uneasy.

"Couldwe please return indoors?" the golden female who had addressedthem earlier asked.

"Ofcourse, my lady. If you refrain from your games," Escha'sanswered.

"Youare a very rude man."

"I am avery rude Khar."

"Please,love, leave her be." Trai, from somewhere behind Harbend.

"As youwish, Master."

As suddenlyas they had found themselves outdoors they were inside the houseagain. Harbend let out a deep breath of relief. With a floor he couldsee under him again he dared standing up. The room was not as dark ashe'd believed when he first entered it. The window was one of many,but he only had eyes for the woman rising from behind the desk. Long,silvery hair cascading around a face that still showed signs ofbewilderment. A silken gown shifting in blue and green. She wasbeautiful, and tall, almost as tall as Vildir.

"Whoare you, lady?" Harbend asked when he had gathered his thoughts.

"I amNeritan Hwain, or at least that is my name."

"Whereis Magehealer Hankar?" Nakora asked.

"On anerrand. Midwifery."

"MindwalkerHavik, then?"

"Ah,that's a bit different. She's here, in a sense."

Harbendshook his head. "Where, my lady?"

"Presentand nowhere."

"Please,my lady, I have little time for riddles. A friend of mine is indanger, if not dead already."

"NerikaHavik is a convenience. It's a name I use to avoid prying ears. Callher my second life if you wish."

Harbend'shope sank. "That is bad. We came in search of a Mindwalker."

"I amone."

"Butyou live with a Magehealer!"

"I amone as well."

"I didnot know you mages attempted to master two fields of the gift."

Neritanflashed him a boyish grin. "It used to be quite common."

Howold is she? Ancient one moment and a boy-girl the next.Body and face spoke about a woman somewhere in her early twenties,but with those golden eyes she could be hundreds of years old.

"I amolder that that." Her eyes became icy and hard as she stared atEscha. "I don't want to hear any comment about intruding. Hecould as well have shouted his question."

Harbendblushed. Well, she was a Mindwalker. That was for certain. He studiedthe silent duel between two mages, a fight where the gift wasn't usedat all, but where two minds obviously used to be in mastery of thosepresent measured each other. Then simultaneously they smiled.

"Youare strong." Both voices at once.

"Andskilled," Neritan added.

"Andexperienced," Escha acknowledged.

Anexpression of fierce pride grew in Trai's face, but Harbend hadexpected nothing else. The Fire Khar loved his slave. A strangecompanionship, but they were all strange in Khanati.

Nakoragiggled nervously as the tension released. Harbend sympathized withher. No sane man, nor woman for that matter, wanted to be near mageswhen they were angry enough to test their powers against each other.

"Youstated you had been in wait for us," Harbend said to turnattention to himself.

"I didso."

"Why?"There was no reason to ask how she could have known they were coming.

"Afriend of mine asked me to, as a precaution. I've been ready for along time. The moment, however, didn't present itself until today."

Harbenddisliked the sound of that. The caravan was less his own enterprisethan something more important if people powerful or rich enough totrade favors with a golden born mage got themselves involved.

"Nomatter the reason," he started, "I am grateful you arehere. We need to replace friends lost to us."

"I'vesensed as much."

"Then,could you show Khar Escha where they are?"

"Maybe,but first you must eat, and then you must rest."

"But weneed to be there in time, my lady," Harbend pleaded.

"Now,my young man, acting rashly has its own risks. I haven't done that ina very long time." Neritan smiled, but he could see a bitterglint in her eyes. "The last time I acted without precautionsomething very bad happened. We wouldn't want thatto happen again."

Harbenddidn't dare ask her the reason for her caution. He had a sinkingfeeling that whatever bad had happened must have been outright awful,and if she deemed his questions too intrusive she might punish him bygiving him the full answer.

"As youwish, my lady," he answered meekly.

"Thereis another reason for the delay as well. I need to prepare myself forthe travel."

"Thereis no need for you to come with us. I am grateful and honored, nooffense meant, but we would not dream of demanding your presence on adangerous mission like this, and..."

He knew hewas babbling when Neritan laughed. It was a silvery laugh removingall tension and doubt. It was the happy sound of a child seeing thefirst flowers of spring, and Harbend could only stare dumbfounded ather.

"Youngman. You are most refreshing, and I appreciate that. I amgoing to accompany you. That's something I've promised my friend, notyou, so you need not worry you shall end up too much in my debt.Besides, I'll be hard pressed to help the Transport Khar otherwise."Harbend blushed and wanted to protest. "No, no, silence my hastyfriend. No more words that walk astray and wander aimlessly beforeyou can take them back. I beg you."

She clappedher hands, and the doorman who'd been silent all the time left theroom.

"He'llmake sure you get food and drink. There are beds on the second flooryou can use after your meal. Please, get some strength. I'll need todraw a lot on it later."

There wasnothing left for them to do but oblige.

The food wasexcellent, as was the weak wine that went with it, and even though itwas still morning they soon fell asleep on the beds assigned to them,and it wasn't without a certain amount of regret they were awakenedlater that afternoon.

The doormanled them to the room where they had first met Neritan, and she walkedaway with Escha. Harbend could see them talking with each other for along time before returning to the center of the room.

"Please,stand close to us," Neritan said. She locked eyes with Escha. "Ican't promise that they are still there, but I can show you wherethey have stayed long enough to make an imprint clear enough for meto see."

"That,my lady, is all I ask. Whatever location you can clearly show me Ican bring us to," Escha said.

"You'renot a little bold."

"Therehasn't been a Khar like me for a hundred years, and I don't expectanother one for the coming one hundred, at least." There waslittle of boasting in his voice. The words were those of a braggart,but Harbend heard that Escha was only stating a well known fact.

Neritansmiled. "Then, if you are ready?"

"I am."

Harbend sawthem lock eyes again, and soon there was a sense of elsewherein the room, as if they were at two places at the same time. Thensuddenly he felt power flow through his body as Escha released hisgift. There was a short sensation of nothingness and then they wereon the Sea of Grass again.