Hem dropped down by a large sage bush, squatting to make himself less visible, and prepared to hide himself with magery if it became necessary. He watched cautiously as the lone horseman slowly moved along the Bard Road. Behind him, there trailed what looked like a large dog. Something about the horseman's intentness told Hem that he was searching for something, or someone, and a shiver ran down his spine.

As the horseman moved behind the higher buildings of the tavern, Hem lost sight of him. He waited impatiently to see if he would reemerge, but he didn't. Perhaps he had gone inside to salvage some belongings, or to loot what goods remained in the wreckage; or perhaps he was looking for signs that he and Saliman had stayed there. It seemed a long time before he came out, this time without the horses, but still followed by the dog, walking slowly. He wandered along the West Road, looking from side to side. Hem crouched lower, to keep himself off the skyline. The walker then turned aside, up the same path that Hem and Saliman had used to climb up the ridge days before, which led to where Hem was crouching. There wasn't much of a path left; it had briefly become a river in the rains, and now was a deep, slippery runnel in the hill, which made it hard to climb. The figure steadily worked his way up the hill and Hem became more and more anxious.

As it drew closer, he thought that it wasn't a man after all, but almost certainly a woman. A refugee from the floods, most likely, as he had thought. Why she was toiling up this steep hill was a mystery, especially as she was clearly exhausted: her head was bent low, and she often stumbled. He could sense no sorcery about her, although if it was a Hull, and was hunting him and Saliman, it would most likely shield its sorcery. Soundlessly, Hem moved behind the bush, keeping the woman in constant view. She stopped and rested for a time, and the dog sat on its haunches and waited for her. Then she stood up and stubbornly began walking uphill again. As she drew closer, Hem became more curious about what she was doing. She slipped, and Hem heard her curse under her breath, then she stood up straight, looking up the hill, shading her eyes with her hands. Hem at last saw her face.

It was Hekibel; and of course the dog was Fenek. Hem cried out in surprise, and stood up, waving, and began to run toward her. Fenek growled and Hekibel swung around, and Hem saw that in that brief moment she was terrified.

"Hekibel!" he cried. "What are you doing here?"

Fenek recognized Hem and jumped up and tried to lick his face, but subsided when Hekibel told him to stay down, and just stood beside them, his tail wagging furiously.

"Hem?" As he reached her, Hekibel took his arms. "Hem? Is it really you?"

"Yes, it's me." Hem studied Hekibel's face: she looked haggard and drawn as if she hadn't slept for a long time, and the skin around her eyes was puffy and red. She was dressed in men's clothes, and she was filthy, smeared with mud. "What's happened? You look exhausted."

"I am," said Hekibel, her voice breaking. "I am so tired .. . Oh, Hem, I so hoped to find you, but I thoughta"I thought I didn't have a chance. But tell me, how is Saliman?"

"Saliman is healed," said Hem.

Hekibel was silent for a moment, clearly amazed, and Hem saw something like awe in her eyes. "Did you heal him, Hem?" she asked at last.

Hem nodded, feeling awkward.

"By the Light." Hekibel sat down very suddenly, as if all the wind had been taken out of her. "You healed him of the White Sickness. Marich said it couldn't be done ..."

"He's not sick anymore," said Hem. "But he's still weak. And I left him this morning before he woke up, so he won't know where I am. Why don't we go back to the hut?"

Hekibel nodded. "Is it far?"

"Over that next ridge," said Hem, pointing. He stared at Hekibel with concern; he had noticed that her hands were trembling. "Can you walk that far? And then I could make you some breakfast."

Hekibel smiled. "Of course I can," she said. "I've come this far. It might take me a little longer than I would like, that's all."

By the time they reached the hut, the sun was well up in the sky. Hekibel didn't speak during the walk; she breathed heavily, her lips pressed hard together, conserving all her energy for walking. Fenek followed close at her heels protectively, aware that his mistress was suffering. On their way, Irc touched down briefly: Saliman had told him to look for Hem. Hem sent him back with a message to prepare some breakfast, and by the time they arrived at the hut, Saliman had a pot of porridge bubbling on the fire. Irc had already warned him that Hem was bringing Hekibel, so he showed no surprise when he saw her. He greeted her gently, and offered his arm to lower her down to sit.

Hekibel was so clearly at the end of her endurance, and so transparently glad to sit down somewhere dry, to warm herself by a fire, to eat a hot meal, that neither Hem nor Saliman asked any questions until she had finished eating. Fenek simply curled up by her feet and went to sleep.

Hem took advantage of the silence while they ate to mind-touch Saliman, and to briefly tell him about what had happened the night before.

Maerad summoned me last night, he said.

Saliman almost dropped his spoon. Hem felt his astonishment and relief as he answered, She summoned you?

Yes, said Hem. I have never felt anything like it; she was so strong. She's north of us. I know where to go now. He gave Saliman an image of what he had seena"the bright, shimmering path that led to Maerad.

Good, said Saliman. That is good news, Hem. I was thinking this morning that it is time we moved on from herea"all the better if at last we have some idea of where to go. We'll talk more of this later. At the moment, I wish to know what Hekibel has to tell us. Something is very wrong and I fear that it bodes ill for us.

Hem nodded and ate his porridge. After they had all broken their fast, Saliman offered Hekibel some medhyl. She drank a few sips, and a little color returned to her face. She leaned back against the wall of the hut, shutting her eyes.

"I suppose you want to know why I came looking for you," she said.

"Yes, if you feel able," said Saliman.

"I have to tell you. That's why I was looking for you, to tell you, although I thought that probably both of you were dead ..." She paused, struggling with herself, and didn't speak until she had regained control of her voice. "Saliman, I cannot say how sorry I ama""

Saliman cut her off with a gesture. "Hekibel," he said. "As I said to Hem, and as I would have said to you had I the chance, leaving us behind was the only sensible option. Hard, I know ... but the truth. Do not distress yourself, I beg you."

Hekibel looked down at the floor, her face dark. "That is gracious of you, Saliman. I thank you. I'm not sure that I would have such grace, especially after you hear ... Whether or not it was the right thing to do, I still felt as if I were abandoning friends in need. But, as you will see, it may have been more fortunate for you than it seemed at the time." She paused, biting her lip, and the others waited.

"It's hard to tell this story," she said at last. "But I suppose, as players say, the best tunes run swift and simple. As you know, we left the tavern and continued up the West Road as swiftly as we could. Just out of Hiert the waters were rising so fast it was terrifying; I thought that we would be swept away Obviously we couldn't leave the road unless we abandoned the caravan, and Karim wouldn't hear of that... He said there was a stone road that turned to higher ground just past Benil if we could make it, so we pushed the horses as much as we dared. Karim thought if we could reach Trigallan, we would probably be out of the worst of the flooding. There were many people on the road with the same ideaa"children crying, panicked beasts. It was chaos." She shut her eyes for a moment.

"Anyway, to cut the story short, we got to Trigallan. It was a big island: when the sun rose the next day, there was water in every direction, as far as you could see, with roofs and trees and little hills sticking out of it. I've never seen anything like it. You could see people on the roofs or clinging to trees, and others went out in boats to rescue them. The townspeople took in as many as they could, but there were more needing help than those to give it, there were so many in trouble .. . and all sorts, Saliman. There were many soldiers as well as farmers and townspeople, and lots of children who didn't seem to belong to anybody. But everyone was in the same trouble, and I didn't see anyone arguing or fighting, even though there wasn't enough of anything to go around. The headwoman of Trigallan, Narim, made sure of that.

"I was very glad we had the caravan, because at least we had somewhere to sleep; there were people just sitting out in the rain, because they had nowhere else to go. So we found a spot, and unharnessed the horses, and waited for the rain to stop. And, eventually, it stopped, and then the water began to go down, quite fast, as fast as it came up ..."

Hekibel trailed to a halt, and was silent for a while, her head bowed. Hem thought that she might have fallen asleep, and briefly wondered whether he ought to wake her, but then she shook herself and sat up straight.

"When we reached Trigallan, I did what I could to help Narim and the others who were trying to do something about the chaos. So I wasn't around the caravan much. And anyway, you know what it was like with Karim and Marich. I was glad to get away from them, to be honest; they were squabbling all the time, much worse than ever before. I think Marich felt bad about leaving you two behind, much worse than he would admit. So it was better to be out and doing something. So I wasn't there when ..."

Her face briefly crumpled, but she controlled herself, and when she spoke again, her voice was steady. "A Hull came to our caravan, and he was looking for you. Marich told me." She paused, clenching her hands together. "I came back to the caravan late in the afternoon, and Karim was dead, and Marich wasa"well, he had been stabbed and left for dead, but he wasn't dead, he was ..."

Saliman took her hand, and she squeezed his tightly and then pushed him away. "It was terrible," she said. "I didn't know what to do, there was blood everywhere . . . Marich was in such pain, and I didn't know how to help him. The Hull had walked in, pretending to be an old a.s.sociate of Karim's, and when it found that you both had been left behind in Hiert, it was furious. It dropped its disguise, I suppose. Marich said he knew it was a Hull, although he had never seen one before, and it justa"frozea"Karim, so he couldn't move, and then it brought out a dagger and said it would make him suffer. Marich tried to stop him, but the Hull just turned around and stabbed him, and Marich pa.s.sed out, and when he came to, Karim was dead. But Marich told mea"he told me some things as he lay there, before he died."

Hem stared at Saliman, his eyes wide with shock. He had liked Marich, and much as he had distrusted Karim, he would never have wished such a fate on him. He remembered all too clearly the casual cruelty of Hulls.

"Marich said the Hull was looking for you both, and he thought it would come to Hiert," said Hekibel, her voice steady. "He didn't know why. What's terrible is that Karim had been spying on you for the Hull. I would swear that Karim didn't know it was a Hull, but all the same, he had been taking money to report whatever you said. And he was supposed to keep you and Hem with the troupe, so the Hull knew where you were. Whether or not he knew it was a Hull he was dealing with, he must have known it bode you no good. Stupid, stupid Karim. He was always so greedy for money . . ." She whispered the last few words, her cheeks scarlet with shame. "I don't know what to say. If you don't want to speak to me ever again, I understand..."

Saliman was silent for a time. "Hekibel," he said, his voice very gentle. "Be comforted that I already suspected as much, as did Hem. And be sure I wouldn't blame you for another's act."

"I took the horses right away and justa"I just couldn't stay there. I went and saw Narim and she gave me some saddles so I could ride the horses. She was very shocked that there was a Hull in Trigallan. Shea"she saw that I had to find you, if I could, to warn you. I've ridden all night and all day to get here. I kept a watch on the road, and I saw no one else, not one single person, but I thought maybea"well, they have sorcery, Hulls, and perhaps I wouldn't have seen it even if I pa.s.sed it. I'm so glad I found you ..."

Now, having told the burden of her story, Hekibel began to cry in earnest. It was some time before she could speak again. Hem put his arm around her and waited until she stopped sobbing. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, sniffing and wiping the tears from her face with her hands. "It's been so terrible . . . such a terrible time."

"It has," said Saliman. "I am very grieved to hear that Karim and Marich are dead. I was very fond of both of them; and if Karim was greedy, he didn't deserve such a death. Always it is the way of the Dark, to work our faults to its advantage."

He was silent for a time.

"I wonder why the Hull didn't attack us before," he said at last. "I'm sure it was tracking us from the moment we left Til Amon. And I would dearly like to know why we have sparked their interest. Do you think that they have guessed, Hem, that Hem of Turbansk is the same Hem who escaped from them in Edinur?"

Hem shuddered, thinking of the Hulls who had taken him in Edinur, and the nightmares that still pursued him. "I don't know," he said. "Do you think they could add it up? Hardly anyone knew I was in Norloch ..."

"It is a small chance, but a chance all the same," said Saliman, frowning. "I think it more likely that it was following me. I did not disguise my ident.i.ty in Til Amon, after all, and there would be some who would want to know why I am traveling through Annar. That makes sense, without looking for other reasons."

Hem nodded. "I wonder too why we were not attacked when we were on the road?" he said. "It could have, at any time..."

"Perhaps there was only a single Hull following us, and it felt that it could not contest us, which is the truth. I have a certain reputation as a warrior, after all." Saliman smiled grimly.

"It's possible that it is looking for reinforcements before it seeks me. Or that it believes that we are dead."

Hekibel was looking from Hem to Saliman, trying to follow their discussion, and Saliman turned to her. "I thank you, Hekibel, for your brave soul, and for telling us this. Well, we will have to decide what to do now. I fear I am not strong, and you do not look as if you could go another step today. If we are cautious, I think we can risk another day here, to be the stronger to travel tomorrow. Hem and I must journey north from here; we will not stay by the roads. Do you wish to come with us, or do you have some other destination in mind?"

"I have nowhere to go," whispered Hekibel.

"You will be in peril, if you travel with us," said Saliman.

"I can't see that I would be any safer, traveling friendless and alone ..." Her voice caught, and to cover her emotion, she reached down and stroked the sleeping dog at her feet. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be full of self-pity. I'm just so tired."

Saliman smiled somberly. "You would be a welcome fellow traveler," he said. "You said earlier that you rode here, but where are the horses?"

"I put them in the stables in the tavern," Hekibel said. "There was some dry hay high up that hadn't been spoiled, and they were hungry, the poor things, and so tired. I didn't feel I could push them any farther."

Saliman looked at Hem. "Hem, do you feel able to go down to the village and bring them up here?" Hem nodded. "Put a glimveil over yourself and the horses, and do not walk on the road but on the gra.s.s, so their hooves cannot be heard. And see if you notice anything while you're there."

Hem made a glimveil, strapped on his shortsword, and walked across the hills for the second time that day, his senses alert for any trace of sorcery. Irc accompanied him, either riding on his shoulder or flying ahead. Irc had been all over Hiert, he told Hem, and he had seen no sign of Hulls, nor any living human being.

It's empty, he said. There is no one here but wet chickens and goats.

A brief glance down the West Road seemed to prove Irc correct. It was covered in a layer of slimy mud, and lined by dark, melancholy houses that were stained by water to the ceiling of the first floor. A rank stench of mold and stagnant water hung over everything. Hem's nerves were rattled by Hekibel's story, and as he neared the road, he checked the glimveil again and doubled his vigilance. He didn't want to step into the mud and ruin his boots, and in the end he took them off and carried them, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g his face up as his toes slid into the ooze. He trod carefully, trying to leave as few footprints as possible.

The air bore no taste of sorcery, and he could pick up no sense of the dark presence of Hulls, although there was something uneasy in his earth sense, a p.r.i.c.kle of premonition that made him move with as much haste as was compatible with caution. Perhaps Saliman was correct, and the Hull had given up the trail, believing that they were both dead. But he thought it more likely that there might be more than one Hull riding to Hiert at this moment. The urgency to move on boiled inside him; he felt the visceral pull of Maerad's summoning, and he was very afraid of Hulls. Yet he knew that unless he left on his own, they would be stuck at the hut until at least first light tomorrow.

He walked to the end of the village and found nothing further. The wrecked houses oppressed him. When he pa.s.sed the damp, ashy ruins of the burned house where he and Saliman had been attacked, he vividly remembereda"with a shock that went through his body and left him sweatinga"how the White Sickness had touched his body when he had healed Saliman.

Feeling depressed, he turned back and hurried to the tavern. The horses were in a stable that was damp and stank of moldy straw but had somehow escaped the mud. Minna and Usha were picking in a desultory fashion at a manger of hay. They greeted Hem with whinnies of recognition.

We have to go a little farther, he told them.

The horses snorted in dismay, but Usha said: I do not like it here. It smells of death.

Usha was loaded with a pack that he guessed contained food or clothes. Hem inspected them briefly; Minna looked well, but Usha was still a little lame, and her hoof was hot, so he soothed it with some hasty magery. Hekibel hadn't taken off the horses' saddles, and they looked uncomfortable with dried sweat: if they were not groomed soon, they would get saddle sores. Hem looked around and found a comb he could use later, shoving it hastily into his pack; then he cast a glimveil over the horses, mounted Minna, took up Usha's lead rein, and coaxed them out into the road. Here he felt very exposed, even though he knew no eyes could see through his magery, and in the clear, watery sunlight he trotted the horses as quickly as he could back over the bare hills to the hut, where Saliman and Hekibel were waiting.

They left at dawn the following day, just as the sun's edge lifted over the horizon. It was a dank and cheerless morning: the wind had fallen, and a heavy mist rose up from the damp ground, bringing with it a bitter cold that seeped into their bones.

Hem's night was filled with strange dreams, none of which he could remember, although he knew Maerad's voice wove through them, calling him. He woke restless and impatient, angry that he had lost a day's journeying, although he knew that there had been no choice if he was to travel with Hekibel and Saliman.

Saliman looked a little stronger, and Hekibel had recovered from her exhaustion, although her face was still haunted by shadows. The day before, as Hekibel slept, Saliman and Hem had gone through their supplies, which were quite healthy. Hekibel had brought a good stock of food with her on Usha to add to their own. Saliman thought that they had enough to keep them on the road for the next couple of weeks.

They had also checked the horses over carefully. Usha's lameness wasn't as bad as Hem had feared; she still stepped gingerly, but Saliman judged that she had suffered no worse than bruising when crossing the Imlan River, and that it was mostly healed. He suggested that they split their baggage between the horses, and that Hem and Hekibel, being lighter, ride together on Minna.

"They're strong beasts, and fit, but we shouldn't burden them overmuch," he said, patting Minna's ma.s.sive shoulder. "And we will travel all the faster on hoof. It is a lucky chance that Hekibel found us. If luck it was." He squinted at the sky, studying the clouds that were gathering high up. They didn't threaten rain as yet, but the next day would be chilly. "There are forces moving that I do not understand, Hem. My heart tells me that there will be much that is beyond my understanding, before the end of this. My Knowing tells me nothing of this path we are now following, and I am as full of dread as I am of hope. All my trust is in you now."

Hem nodded, wishing that he felt that he knew what he was doing. Saliman's faith in him was a little daunting. All he knew was that they had to find Maerad as soon as they could. It wasn't as if he understood why. He had tried earlier, stumbling over his words, to talk about Maerad's summoning, and Saliman had listened intently, his eyes bright in his thin face. He had asked if Hem was sure it was Maerad, and when Hem had nodded, he had said nothing more.

That night he and Saliman shared a watch, for the first time since they had been at the hut. They were a safe distance from the West Road, so they decided not to make a glimveil; Saliman said frankly that he didn't feel capable of it. The night pa.s.sed with neither seeing anything more perilous than hunting owls and foxes, but as Hem watched in the empty night, scanning the sky as the clouds scudded over the stars, he felt a shadow pressing on his mind, a sense that something inimical was drawing closer.

It didn't take them long to pack and mount the horses and then, followed by Fenek, with Irc drawing lazy circles around their heads, they headed across country, bearing northwest. They came down to the floodplains by midmorning, and stood before them, dismayed. The floods had spread great swathes of black silt over the plains, and even if they detoured, it was still impossible to avoid the mud. Although it wasn't very deep, their tracks would be as clear behind them as if they walked over a virgin snowfield. And it stank.

"I suppose we have no choice," Saliman said at last. "We'll just have to go through it."

"I suspect that's easier said than done," said Hem. "And we'll have to be really careful that the horses don't stumble into holes we can't see under that muck."

Minna and Usha took some persuading, and stepped into the mud with as much disgust as a horse could express. Then began a long, tedious business of crossing what were effectively wide, shallow lakes of black mud. In places the silt was surprisingly firm after a couple of dry days, but in others the horses often floundered up to their fetlocks, and once Minna lost her footing and sank up to her belly. By the time she had been freed, all of them were black with filth. Fenek was lighter than the horses and fared better, but his lips were raised in a constant snarl of distaste. Sometimes there were drifts of rubbisha" broken trees, branches, dead animalsa"that rose as high as their shoulders, and the stench of rot made the horses skittish. At least here they saw no deserted, wrecked houses, which would have made the landscape more melancholy. This part of Ifant, north of Hiert, was largely uninhabited.

The combination of constant watchfulness and tedium was wearing, and by the end of the day their only thought was to seek some gra.s.sy ground out of the mud where they could make a camp. Although the hills they had left were now far behind them, Hem felt as if they hadn't made any progress at all. It had been a long, dispiriting day, and n.o.body talked much as they made their evening meal and prepared their camp. All of them, including the horses, were exhausted. Hem studied Saliman with concern. He was so haggard his eyes had sunk back into his skull, and he scarcely spoke, except to ask Hem if he could make both a glimveil and a ward, so they could all get some rest that night. Hem nodded, although making both charms was almost more than he could manage. At least this way they would get some sleep.

The next day wasn't much better. They saw some higher land to the north, and changed their direction slightly. This meant that they were not taking the shortest route, as Hem reckoned it, toward Maerad; but although he felt the summoning as strongly as ever, he didn't argue. By now he never wanted to see or smell mud ever again, and he would have given everything he owned to bathe.

They climbed onto dry ground at twilight, and found a likely campsite in a grove of ancient rowan trees. A small stream ran nearby, full of blessedly clear water, and one by one they all cleaned themselves of the mud. The water was icy, but Hem didn't mind: he splashed it over his head, watching the black mud twirl away in the current. When they had washed, they changed into less filthy raiment from their packsa" nothing they had was really clean anymorea"and rinsed their clothes and hung them from the trees. No matter how tired they were, their first concern was to get the stink of the mud out of their belongings.

Lastly, Saliman led the horses into the stream and scrubbed the mud from their winter coats. The horses stamped and snorted, glad to get the smell out of their nostrils, and then rolled delightedly in the gra.s.s. Fenek splashed noisily into the stream, snapping at the water, and rolled with the horses. Irc watched the other animals rather smugly from a low branch. He was the only one of their party who had not a spot of dirt on him.

A pale yellow light suffused the sky with a gentle radiance as Hem and Hekibel gathered kindling to prepare a meal. When he had finished with the horses, Saliman came back to the grove, looked around him, and laughed. Then, to Hem's surprise, he bowed down to the trees, and greeted them in the Speech, as gravely as if he were entering the palace in Turbansk.

"Hem, remember your manners," said Saliman. "Greet these n.o.ble trees. And you, Hekibel."

Mystified, Hem bowed and made the formal greeting. "Samandalame."

Hekibel made a graceful bow, looking at Saliman out of the corner of her eye as if she thought he was either out of his mind or playing some elaborate joke.

"The Light is with us," Saliman said. "This is a Bardhome. We need fear nothing here, and need set no glimveil; we can sleep soundly tonight, blessed by the trees that protect this place."

Hem and Hekibel looked around them in wonder. At first glance, the grove seemed no different from any other. It was a small dingle, and around it stretched the bare arms of rowans ripening with spring blossom. But as they felt the rich silence of the place rise inside them, it seemed that the air was more luminous among these trees, that the stars shone through their branches more brightly, that the gra.s.s between their boles grew softer and greener and more fragrant than beyond their circle. Hem felt his earth sense quicken with a deep gladness like that he had felt in the home of the Elemental Nyanar far south from there in a time now long past, and breathed in deeply. He had been told of such places by Maerada"she and Cadvan had used them sometimes when they had journeyed to Norlocha"but he had never seen such a place himself.

"It couldn't just be chance," said Hem. "Maybe Maerad is helping us somehow."

"Perhaps," Saliman said, smiling more broadly than Hem had seen in weeks. For a moment he looked like the old Saliman in Turbansk, and Hem's heart lifted. "Or perhaps some Knowing beneath our awareness guided us here. These are ancient places: they were made when the Bards first came to Annar, long before the Great Silence. Whether there is reason or no, I am thankful to the depths of my soul. It is enough, I confess, just to be out of that mud; to be safe from the threat of darkness for even one night seems like a blessing beyond hope. And it is healing to sleep beneath these trees. The only disadvantage is that it is forbidden to light fire here; but I think we can bear the cold."

Hekibel and Hem exchanged a glance, and threw away their kindling. Hem spread the tent on the ground to keep out the damp, and they slept under the trees, curled up in blankets and cloaks, with Fenek snuggled close by and Irc fluffed up in a branch above them, his head tucked under his wing. All of them slept deeply, without dreams, and awoke refreshed, as if the griefs and travails of the past few days had loosened their grip for those few hours.

The healer in Hem saw with relief that the haggardness had left Saliman's face. Hem had watched him carefully since he had healed him, concerned that Saliman was on the edge of collapse; after such a serious illness, he should have been abed, instead of making a grueling journey through the wilderness. Although he had never complained, Saliman could not hide his weariness from Hem, who noted how his friend's lively expression had been replaced by a grim mask of endurance. Hem thought sadly that an inner light in Saliman had been quenched, and he feared that it might never return. He missed it more than he could say.

As they packed up their belongings, Hem looked around the grove with regret; he hadn't felt such peace since he and Saliman had ridden through the pine forests of the Osidh Am.

"One day, I'd like to stay here for a long time," he said as he strapped a pack onto Minna's saddle.

"And live on nuts and berries and nettles like a hermit, eh?" said Hekibel from the other side of Minna, gently teasing him. "Somehow I can't see it. I think you should try some other things first."

"There's a lot of things I'd like to try," Hem said somberly. "I'd have liked to stay at the Healing Houses in Turbansk too. But they are probably all rubble now." He scowled down at the saddle. "I hate this war."

The light in Hekibel's eyes went out, and she fumbled with a buckle, her mouth trembling. Hem was suddenly furious with himself for his thoughtlessness. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I'm just always finding places I like to be, and then having to leave them. And it's so beautiful here ..."

Hekibel smiled sadly. "It is. Ah well, Hem, maybe when this is all over, if it is ever over, we can come back and visit, and you can stay as long as you like."

Now they could journey along the northern edge of the flood-plain, with no need to cross any more mud. They rode swiftly over moorlands dotted with ancient thickets of gorse, where the tough heathers were grazed by flocks of wild sheep and goats. This gradually gave way to a landscape of gentler hills running with many streams, lightly wooded with stands of oak and ash and linden: a pleasant countryside, but lonely. Two days' hard ride brought them into inhabited regions again. They pa.s.sed a deserted shepherd's hut like the one they had stayed in near Hiert, and then another. Then on the third day they saw thin lines of smoke rising in the distance into the still morning air. Saliman told them they were now at the edges of the Fesse of Desor, one of the largest and most powerful Schools in Annar.

"Cadvan used to believe that this was one of the Schools that had been corrupted by the Dark," Saliman said, as they broke their fast that morning. Hem glanced at him swiftly; it was the first time Saliman had mentioned Cadvan since they had heard of his death in the letter Hem had received from Maerad in Nal-Ak-Burat. "He thought there were Hulls here. In Turbansk, we did not trust the Bards of Desor. Certainly, the First Circle here has always been one of Enkir's strongest allies."

"What do you mean?" asked Hekibel.