Why not? Kelder asked. Whats going to bother us?

Irith looked back at Shan, still visible as a dark, uneven line on the horizon and a faint glow in the sky.

Besides, Kelder said, if anything comes after us, well see it in plenty of time. You can grow wings and fly away.

Itll still getus, Asha said, momentarily concerned.

It would, Kelder agreed, if anything were going to come after us, but nothing is. And besides, if Irith got away, shed find some way to save us, I'm sure.

Irith looked at Kelder doubtfully, suspectingwith reasonthat he was being sarcastic.

All right, she said, we can rest here for a little while, I guess. She folded her legs and sank to the ground.

None of them really intended to sleep; the idea was merely to rest for a few minutes.

On the other hand, none of them had had much more than four hours sleep in the past twenty-four, and they had walked a very great distance in that time, as well as going through the various excitements in Shan. Kelder had punched an old man, Irith had pried a severed head off the point of a spear, and Asha had participated in the rescue, as she saw it, of her brothers soul.

Within five minutes, long before the sun rose or the greater moon set, they were all sound asleep.

Even as he lay sleeping, something nagged at Kelder. He knew he shouldnt be asleep, and that knowledge troubled his dreams.

Still, exhaustion had a firm grip on him, and he slept on.

The sun rose, and its warmth on his face, its light on his eyelids discomfited him; he struggled to wake up.

Something threw a shadow over him briefly, and the sands shifted slightly; the sound of footsteps reached Kelder, even asleep. He stirred slightly, and tried to pry his eyes open, tried to make his arms and legs move.

A low voice spoke, something brushedand Irith shrieked.

Kelder was awake at last, scrambling to his feet.

Irith screamed, long and piercing; she was sitting up, hands out to fend off, and as Kelders eyes focused her wings appeared and spread. She kicked off, flapping, and skittered across the sand for a moment, heels dragging, before she managed to get herself airborne.

As she did, a dark, ragged shape that Kelder could not immediately identify threw itself at her, trying to grab her, hold her down, bring her backbut unsuccessfully. She slipped away and soared upward. Kelder and Asha watched her go.

She didnt hesitate, didnt slow, didnt look back; she flapped strongly and steadily as she drove southward toward the horizon.

The ragged creature wailed and wept, calling after her; most of the words, if they were words, were unintelligible, but the name Irith was repeated frequently. It staggered along for a few paces, then collapsed, sobbing, into a miserable, huddled heap. Then it lifted its head. With a shock, Kelder realized that the creature was the old drunk who had accosted Irith back in Shan.

Irith, the old man called, come back! I wont hurt you, I swear it, I just want to talk!Please!

The distant speck that was Irith the Flyer continued to dwindle.

Nowwhat do we do? Asha asked.

Kelder looked about. His pack was still lying where he had left it; the bundle containing Abdens head was there, as well. He looked up. It didnt look as if Irith was coming back right away.

He considered. He knew that he would find her againZindrés prediction was that he would marry her and bring her home to Shulara with him, so he knew he would find her again.

He didnt know when, where, or how, though.

That would have to take care of itself; there were more immediate concerns. We can go on and build the pyre ourselves, Kelder said. But first, I want to know just what in the World is goingon here! He stepped forward and grabbed the old man by the shoulder.

The filthy cloth of his tunic felt greasy and unpleasant under Kelders hand, but Kelder ignored that. The old man started slightly at the youths touch, but didnt resist; he didnt even turn to look, but instead kept staring after Irith.

Old man, Kelder said, whoare you?

The drunk simply stared at the departing Flyer.

Talkto me, damn it! Kelder shouted. Who are you? Why is she scared of you?

That penetrated.

Scared of me? The old man turned and looked up at Kelder, astonishment plain on his face. Why would she be scared of me?

Thats whatI want to know! Kelder snapped. Who are you?

The man blinked, as if considering a new and surprising idea.

Whats your name? Asha asked, stepping up beside Kelder.

Ezdral, he replied. My name is Ezdral.

Just Ezdral? Kelder asked.

The old man shrugged. Mostly, he said. Back in Shan they call me Ezdral the Sot, mostly. He blinked. Thatll do. I'm not drunk right now, havent touched a drop since I saw Irith in the arcade last night, but Ive been pretty sodden for a long time, theres no sense in denying it.

All right, Ezdral, Kelder said, withdrawing his hand and resisting the temptation to wipe it on his own tunic, how do you know Irith?

The old man looked down, coughed, spat something out, wiped his mouth on a grubby sleeve. He turned, squatted, and then sat down, crossing his legs slowly and carefully.

Kelder waited.

Ezdral looked up at him, and then gestured at the ground. Asha took the hint and dropped down, sitting facing Ezdral. Kelder took a moment longer, but joined them.

When I was eighteen, Ezdral began, I met...

When was that? Asha interrupted.

Ezdral frowned. What year is it now?

5222, Kelder told him.

Then I'm... let me see... sixty-two, is it? Born on the first of Thaw, 5159...

Sixty-three... no, sixty-two, Kelder agreed.

So it would have been forty-four years ago. He looked at them for agreement.

Asha nodded. Kelder said, Go on.

Ezdral took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

When I was eighteen, he said again, I met a girl, a beautiful girl with golden hair, like Id never seen before. I was working in a stable in Mezgalon, and she was passing through, and I thought she was the most beautiful thing Id ever seen. We got to talking, and she said her name was Irith the Flyer, and when I asked how she got a name like that she showed me how she could grow wings and fly.

Kelder and Asha looked at one another.

Forty years ago? Kelder asked.

Ezdral nodded.

It cant be the same one, Kelder said. Shes only fifteen. She said so.

Ezdral shook his head wearily, and peered at Kelder from beneath heavy lids.

She was fifteen then, too, he said.

Kelders lips tightened. Go on with your story, he said.

We talked, and I fell in love with her, Ezdral said. I mean, wildly and madly in love. She wasso beautiful, so sweet. And we left Mezgalon together, and we traveled the Small Kingdoms from Shan to Lamum, Fileia to Lurethon. He smiled.

Oh, we had some good times, we did. Filched a jewelers best stones once in Hlimora just so Irith could play with them. Danced naked in the Forest of Amramion. Got roaring drunk with the crown prince of Tuyoa, and Irith challenged his court wizard to a duel of magic and almost got herself killed.

She could do other magic, not just shapeshifting, you knowhad maybe half a dozen spells. Wasnt any match for a real wizard, though. He sighed.

The recitation paused for a moment, but Kelder and Asha waited without protest this time.

We were together a little over a year, I think, Ezdral said, resuming his tale. I was nineteen, maybe twenty, by then. I started to think about maybe settling down somewhere, maybe having children someday. And one day I woke up and Irith wasnt there. Wed been at her favorite inn in Shan on the Desert, a place called the Crystal Skull, and I still was, but she wasnt.

Kelder glanced down at Asha; she was sitting rapt, taking this all in. Why did she leave? the child asked.

Ezdral turned up an empty palm. Who knows? he said. Maybe she just got bored with me.

So what did you do?

Well, I waited, at firstI waited a month, to see if she would come back. When she didnt, I went out looking for her, going up and down the Great Highway and around to all the places wed gone together, but I didnt find her. Id hear about her now and thenhow she had flown over Angarossa Castle shouting insults, or been seen playing with the Queen of Opheras catsbut I never caught up to her, never saw her myself. And after a time I sort of drifted back to Shan, doing odd jobs or begging, and I stayed there and waited for her.

Why didnt you just forget about her? Kelder asked. Find yourself another girl?

Because Icouldnt, damn it! Ezdral shouted, in the first display of temper Kelder had seen from him. Icouldnt! Dont you think Itried? But I couldnt go to sleep at night without thinking about her, couldnt look at another woman without thinking that Irith was prettier... I was inlove with her, so damnably in loveand I stillam, damn it all to the Nether Void! He pounded a fist on the sand, and then went on more calmly, I started drinking to try and forget her, I just drank all the time, whenever I could get money, and it was even starting to work, a little, after twenty years or soand then last night I looked up and there she was, I saw her walking past me, as big as life, looking just as she always had. And at first I thought I was dreaming, or that the wine was giving me visions, though I hadnt drunk that much, and then I thought I was dead and had died and this was her ghost, and I could see her because I was a ghost, and then I finally realized it was real, shed come back, and I called to her.

He fell silent for a moment, and Kelder remembered the previous nights events, not with satisfaction, but with a growing dismay, like a weight in his belly.

I called to her, Ezdral repeated, and she said she didnt know me, she ran away screaming, and then you hit me, and I fell down.

I'm sorry, Kelder whispered.

You didnt know, Ezdral said, waving it aside.I knew, though. I knew she had been deliberately avoiding me all these years, that that was why she hadnt come back to Shan, and I knew shed leave again now that she knew I was there, but I had to talk to her, I had to tell her that I loved her, so I went to the gate and waited, and I hoped she wouldnt just fly over the wall. And she didnt, but you were with her, and I didnt want a fight, so I followed, trying to think of what I could say, what I could do that would make her talk to me, make her stay with me. He let his breath out in a long, shuddering sigh.

Asha didnt know what to say. Kelder couldnt say anything at all, and Ezdral had finished. For a time they all sat silently on the sand, thinking their own thoughts.

Chapter Eighteen

Maybe it was her mother, Asha suggested, or her grandmother.

Ezdral shook his head.

But Irith is only fifteen, Kelder pointed out. The thought that his intended bride was not just a Tintallionese runaway who had visited Shan as a child was deeply disturbing; the idea of his own Irith roaming the Small Kingdoms with another man, before Kelder had even been born, was intolerable, and he was groping for a way to deny it.

Oh, yes, Ezdral agreed, shes always been fifteen.

Kelder sat back and considered that, and considered Ezdral, as well.

He looked every day of his claimed sixty-two years, and then somehis hair and beard were long, white, thinning, and uncombed; his face was rough and lined, his eyes sunken and bloodshot. His lips were a pale, unhealthy color, his skin yellowish. He wore a tunic that hung loose on his sunken chest; the garment had once been brown, but was now blotched, stained, and faded, so that it was black here, grey there, and a washed-out tan elsewhere. His breeches were tanned leather, with large shiny patches on the kneesand probably, Kelder guessed, on the backside as well. They ended in tatters just below the knee, and from there down, his legs and feet were bare.

His hands were thin and bony, and stayed curled and claw-like at all times, apparently involuntarily; the nails were cracked and blackened, the hairs on the back white and wirelike. When he lifted a hand to gesture, it shook. His wrists were bone and tendon and loose skin, with no fat at all, no muscle tone. He wore no ornaments of any kind, and his garments had no trim or embroidery and were of the plainest possible cutnot only were they decrepit, they hadnt been much to start with. His belt was a twisted strip of rawhide, with a single pouch hung on it, a drawstring bag about the size of Ashas head.

It was very hard to imagine him as a strong young man, adventuring with Irith.

On the other hand, why would he have made up such a tale? And he spoke with an unquestionable sincerity.

But itcouldnt be the same Irith as the one Kelder meant to wed. Her grandmother, it must have been, he said.

Ezdral shook his head. I dont think so. Shesmagic, remember?

Shes only fifteen, Kelder repeated.

Even as he said it, though, he was remembering all the puzzles and peculiarities about Irithhow she claimed to have done so much since leaving her apprenticeship, even though that couldnt be more than a year or two; how she remembered an inn in Shan that had obviously been abandoned for years; all the other references to times and places and doings that she could scarcely have fit into fifteen years. The Tintallionese theory didnt explain it all; in fact, it hardly explainedany of it, really.

If she were actually sixty or seventy years old, her youth and beauty magically preserved,that would explain it.

But it wouldnt explainher, Kelder thought. It wouldnt explain the person that Irith was.

Kelder liked to think of himself as grown up, not a kid any more; compared to a few years ago, hewas grown up. Realistically, though, he knew he was hardly a mature adult. It wasnt a matter of size or strength, of gray hair or wrinklesadults acted differently, presumably because they had learned better, had been changed by experience.

But Irith didnt.

Irith acted like a girl of fifteen. And it wasnt just acting, like players in the annual pageant taking the roles of ancient heroesshewas a girl of fifteen.

But how could she be?

It didnt make sense. There was all this evidence that she was far older than she lookedher own stories about what shed done, and everything Ezdral said, and the fact that she was known to people all along the Great Highwayand then there was an equal amount of evidence, in her appearance and behavior, that she was just what she claimed to be, a girl of fifteen.

Kelder couldnt make the two possibilities resolve themselves.

Irith would be able to settle the matter, of courseif she ever came back, or when he found her again. He looked up at the southern sky, but could see no trace of her.

He knew he would marry her anyway, but thisthis changed things, somehow.

I guess I believe you, Kelder said. Maybe itis the same girl. But it doesnt really matter, since shes gone now. He knewhe would find her again, but there was no reason to think Ezdral or Asha would.

Ezdral looked up, and said hopefully, She might come back, thoughshe likes you, I saw that she likes you.

Kelder shook his head. I dont think so, he said. At least, not whileyoure here. Shes scared of you.

But I'm nothing to be afraid of! Ezdral wailed.

Kelder shrugged.

You do look scary, Asha said. Your beard goes all over, and your hands look nasty, and youre all dirty, and you smell of wine, oroushka, or something.

Ezdral looked down at himself.

I suppose youre right, he admitted. He looked up again, first at Kelder, then at Asha. Are you two going to wait here for her to come back? Maybe I could get cleaned up, and then come back here and meet you...?

No, no, Kelder said quickly. We cant stay. Weve got a very important errand to run, back in Angarossawe need to hold a funeral for Ashas brother.

Oh, Ezdral said.

We should get going, Asha suggested, with a meaningful glance at Kelder.

Kelder knew what she meantthat they should get away from this crazy old man as quickly as possible. He felt something of the same urge himself.

For one thing, he wanted Irith back, and as he had just told Ezdral, she wouldnt be coming back while the old man was there.

Youre right, he said, getting to his feet and picking up his pack. Come on. He turned to Ezdral and said, Have a safe journey back to Shan, and I hope you find your Irith someday.

As long, he thought, as Ezdrals Irith was not Kelders Irith.

Ezdral leaned forward on his hands, struggling to rise. I'm not going back to Shan, he said. Shes not going to go to Shan again for years, after this. Ill have to go looking for her elsewhere.

Oh, Kelder said, a bit disconcerted. Well, good luck, then. He took Asha by the hand and started walking, southward across the trackless sands, toward the cliffs that he knew lay just below the horizon.

A moment later he realized that Ezdral was following them. He started to turn and protest, and then stopped.

What could he say? After all, the man had a right to walk on the same sand as everybody else. As long as he stayed out of reach, what harm could he do? And what could Kelder do to stop him?

You know, Ezdral called out, Id love to talk to you two about Irith. What have you done together with her? Where have you been? Do you have any idea where she might be?

At first Kelder ignored this, but as they walked on Ezdral kept up an intermittent barrage of questions, shouted across the intervening five-yard distance.

Come on, Kelder told Asha, hurry up; if we move fast enough he wont be able to keep up, hes a sick old man.

Asha nodded, and hurried, but it did no good. Kelder by himself could easily have outdistanced Ezdral, but Asha was only nine, and small for her ageshe didnt have the long legs or the stamina to keep up with Kelders pace when he hurried.

And Ezdral, decrepit as he was,could keep up with Ashas best pace.

If Kelder left Asha behind, he could easily get away from Ezdralbut what sort of champion of the lost and forlorn would he be then? Reluctantly, he gave in and slowed down again, and the three of them proceeded, two in front, and the old man a few paces behind.

By the time they reached the escarpment that marked the end of the Great Eastern Desert and the beginning of the Small Kingdoms, Kelder had yielded to the inevitablethe three were walking side by side, chatting companionably.

Ezdral was sadly unaware of recent eventshe hadnt heard about the Angarossan kings support of banditry, or the use of demonologists as caravan guards, or the rumors about someone named Vond the Warlock building an empire in the south. He didnt even know what a warlockwas, though he did remember all the disturbances on the Night of Madness, twenty years ago.

That was when the Crystal Skull got wrecked, he said.

Kelder was not pleased to hear that. It might be that the old drunk was running two different memories together, or simply fantasizing, but it did seem to make sense, and if it were true it would completely destroy any possibility that Irith was really only fifteen.

Unless she had somehow acquired the memories of someone older? She seemed too certain of things to have simply been told about the Crystal Skull, but what if those memories had been magically transferred to her, somehow? Kelder had heard of witches doing that sort of thing, so maybe wizards could, too.

Or what if she had been simplygone somewhere for forty-odd years? Suppose that wizard shed duelled with had turned her to stone, and then she had finally been turned back just recentlywouldntthat account for everything?

Kelder thought it would; he rather liked the theory, in fact. It still meant that his Irith had once wandered the Small Kingdoms with someone else, with the young Ezdral who had deteriorated into this drunken wreck in the intervening years, but at least she really would have only lived fifteen years or so, not sixty or more. Somehow, the thought of her being an unchanging fifteen for all that time was far more discomfiting than any knowledge of a previous boyfriend.

He didnt mention the theory to Asha or Ezdral, though. He told himself that he wanted to work out the details a little more, first, but the truth was he was afraid they would find enough flaws in the idea to unravel it completely.

Of course, if thatwas what had happened, then Irith might not have deserted Ezdral at all, she might have been kidnapped from his sideand while knowing that might comfort the old man, Kelder decided that he didnt want to discuss that possibility.

What if it were wrong, he asked himself, why get the old mans hopes up?

Even as he thought that, though, he knew he wasnt really as concerned with Ezdrals feelings as his own.

When they reached the escarpment they had missed the road completely; studying the sky and the landscape, Kelder finally decided they had arrived somewhere to the east of their intended destination, so with a shrug he turned right and led the party along the foot of the cliff.

It was midafternoon when they finally found the road again, and by the time they reached the top and were back on the relatively level ground of Dwerra the sun was almost on the western horizon.

Ezdral looked about at the patchy grass and weeds and remarked, Been a long time since I was up here, and saw things growing out of the ground like that.

Asha gazed around, and then up at Ezdral, wonderingly. The idea of going for years without seeing greenery was very strange to her, indeed.

Kelder remarked, Maybe you should go on to Amramion, then, and see the forests.

Maybe I will, Ezdral agreed, if my feet hold out. I'm getting tired, though.

Isnt it about time we found an inn, or at least something to eat?

Kelder grimaced. If you want anything to eat, he said, I'm afraid youll have to beg for it. Thats what well be doing. And I guess well just have to sleep by the roadside. We dont have any money.

You dont?

No, Kelder snarled, we dont. I spent all mine, and Asha never had any, and Irith was paying our way back in Shan, before you frightened her off. I'm just glad we had full canteens when we left! A thought struck him. Doyou have any money?

A little, Ezdral admitted. A few bits. Not enough for an inn, but I can get us all some bread.

You can? Asha looked up at him, surprised and grateful.

He nodded. He looked at the road ahead, curving gracefully around the Castle of Dhwerra, and at the scattered buildings along its length. Which inn is best?

Asha looked at Kelder, and Kelder looked at Asha.

I dont know, he said. Just pick one.

With a shrug, Ezdral picked one.

Chapter Nineteen

The bread was rough and a bit stale, but it was filling, and the innkeeper had had leftover cabbage that she had thrown in free; the three had hardly dined well, but at least their bellies were relatively full when they settled onto a hillock at the roadside for the night.

Kelder had two blankets, one for himself and one for Asha; Ezdral claimed he was fine without one.

Ive got this to keep me warm, he said, pulling a squat black bottle out of his belt-pouch. Been saving it.

What is it? Asha asked.

Oushka,Ezdral replied, grinning. The very bestoushka, Adréans Pure Barley Liquor, from Sardiron of the Waters. It fell off a caravan wagon last month, and I picked it out of the mud. He displayed the label.

Asha turned away; Kelder nodded politely, but showed no further interest.

Been saving it, Ezdral repeated to himself as he pried the cork out.

As he huddled under his blanket Kelder wondered whether he should have asked for a drink. Something warming might be nice, and he had no philosophical objection tooushka. He had tasted it on occasion, back home in Shulara, for various special events.

Asha, though, with her drunken, malevolent father, wanted nothing to do with any sort of alcohol, and Ezdral, even after he had cleaned himself up a little for dinner, was scarcely an advertisement in favor of strong drink.

Are you sure you dont want some, Kelder? Ezdral said, his voice already starting to slur. Its good stuff, and one hates to drink alone.

Kelder curled himself up more tightly, pretending to be asleep, and decided that he would never drinkoushka again.

Its your loss, if you dont, Ezdral said, shrugging. He gulped noisily, pouring the liquor down his throat, and Kelder shuddered.

A moment later the bottle clinked against a stone as Ezdral dropped it; a heavy thud followed as the old man fell back against the ground. Kelder lay still, huddled and waiting, finding now that he was not really all that sleepy yet.

A snore sounded, and Kelder uncurled enough to peer over his shoulder.

Darkness was descending, the sun down and the lesser moon still low in the east, the greater moon not due up for an hour or more; the little party had not bothered to build a fire. All Kelder could see of Ezdral was a shadowy lump.

He could hear him plainly enough, though; the old drunkard was snoring steadily and loudly.

Hes asleep, Asha said, in a conversational tone.

Hush! Kelder called in a hoarse whisper. Youll wake him!

No, I wont, Asha said, speaking normally. Hes too drunk. Nothings going to wake him up for hours. He got that whole bottle ofoushka down in about five minutes; even my father couldnt do that!

Kelder watched Ezdral uneasily. Are you sure? he asked.

I'm positive, Asha replied. She sat up, a vague shape in the gloom. Kelder watched as she crept over and prodded Ezdral with a finger; the drunkard snored on without stirring. See?

Kelder nodded. I see, he said.

So are we going to stay here with him, or are we going to get away and lose him?

Kelder considered. I'm not sure, he said. Hes not so bad, really.

He stinks, and hes dirty.

Thats true, Kelder admitted. But if he were cleaned up... He knows a lot, hes done a lot of traveling. He might be useful. Having an adult along could be helpful. Having someone along who had money could be helpful, for one thing, he thought, but he didnt say that aloud. Nor did he mention that he wondered what else the old drunk might know about Irith.

Yourean adult.

Kelder shook his head. Not really, he said. I'm only sixteen; if I were an apprenticewell, in most trades Id still be an apprentice. Itll be another two years before I really count as an adult.

Oh, Asha said, I didnt know.

Theres no reason you should have, Kelder said.

The two of them sat for a moment, on opposite sides of the sleeping Ezdral, not saying anything.

Is he asleep? a voice called from somewhere overhead.

Kelder looked up, startled, and found Irith hovering above them, wings gleaming rose in the light of the lesser moon.

Yes! Asha shouted up to her. Come on down!

The winged girl descended slowly and cautiously, and settled to the ground a few yards away. Asha jumped and ran to her, and gave her a long, enthusiastic hug.

Kelder was a little more controlled about it, but he, too, came over and embraced her.

When they had exchanged greetings, Irith said, Come on then, lets get away from him while we can! She gestured for the others to follow, and started down the slope toward the highway.

Kelder noticed that her wings did not vanish, as they usually did when she walked anywhere; she was keeping them ready, in case Ezdral woke and she had to flee again.

Of course, that would mean leaving Asha and himself behind again...

Wait a minute, he said.

What? Irith asked, startled. She turned back to face him.

I'm not sure this is right, he said. He glanced down at Ezdral. Drunk and snoring, the old man looked lost and forlorn, and Kelder was the prophesied champion of the lost and forlorn, wasnt he?

And it was time to settle a few things. If he was going to marry Irithwell, marriage was a partnership, and he intended to be an equal partner, at the very least, not giving in to Irith on everything. Her magic gave her an advantage; he had to make up for that by stubbornness.

What do you mean? Irith asked. Of course it is! Why would we want to be anywhere near a dirty old drunk? Come on, lets get away while we can! Hell be fine where he is, he doesnt need us.

How do you know that? Kelder countered.

Well, he got along just fine all those years in Shan by himself, didnt he? the Flyer demanded, hands on her hips.

Its not the same, and you know it, Kelder told her. Besides, there are things we need to settle.

Such as what? Irith demanded. Has he been telling you lies?

I dont know, Kelder said. Maybe they were lies, maybe they werent. Did you hear any of what he told us?

Only a little.

Asha was standing at Iriths side; now she looked up, startled. You did hear a little?

Maybe, Irith admitted. I'm not sure.

Asha asked, How could you have heard?

She has ways of not being seen if she doesnt want to be, Asha, Kelder said. I dont know just what they arebut Id like to.

Irith glared at him; even in the darkness he could see that.

You want to talk about all this, Kelder? she asked.

Yes, I think I do, Kelder replied.

Do we have to do it outhere, in the cold and the dark, with that old drunk snoring like a pig?

No, Kelder said, but I'm not going any farther than the nearest inn without him, until youve explained a few things.

Irith stamped her foot in annoyance. She looked down at Asha, then back at Kelder.

Well, allright, then, she said. We probably couldnt get very far tonight anyway, in the dark. Well talk at the inn over there, all right?

All right, Kelder agreed.

Chapter Twenty

By the time they reached the inn Iriths wings were gone, and some of her annoyance was gone as well. She didnt so much as grimace when she realized that she would be paying for everything.

At least well be comfortable in here, she said.

The inn was arranged with tables along the walls and high backs to the benches that accompanied them, forming booths and providing an unusual degree of privacy. The three of them took one of these booths and ordered two ales and a lemonade from a young man with an apron and a tray.

As soon as the young man had departed, Asha asked Irith, How could you watch us without us seeing you?

Irith sighed. Do I really have to tell you?

I think so, Kelder said. At least, if you want us to travel with you.

All right, then, she said. Mostly I was either a cat or a bird; sometimes I was invisible, but I have trouble with that.

Whats invisible? Asha asked.

It means I'm still there, but nobody can see me. Except its not comfortable and I cant see very well when I do it, and it only lasts a few minutes, so mostly I didnt get very close or anything, I just stayed a bird and flew overhead, or a cat and watched you from a distance. Except cats and birds...

well, cats cant hear low noises very well, so I couldnt hear what anyone was saying when I was a cat. Birds can hear low noises, but they dont hear verywell sometimes. So when you were coming up the cliff I snuck up close as a cat and then turned invisible and listened, and you were talking to that old man and he was talking about going to Shan with me years ago, but hedidnt, I never went there with him!

Youre sure of that? Kelder asked.

Ofcourse I'm sure! I never traveled with that scruffy old drunk!

Well, he wasnt a scruffy old drunk, back then, Kelder pointed out.

When? Irith demanded.

Forty years agoforty-three, I think it was, actually. Kelder watched her reaction closely. Would she be surprised, declare the whole idea of her doinganything forty years ago to be ridiculous?

Forty years ago? Irith stopped and stared.

That was ambiguous, Kelder thought; she hadnt dismissed it as ridiculous, but she hadnt accepted it, either. Were you around forty-three years ago? he asked.

Well, of course I was, but I wasnt associating with dirty old men!

There it was. She had been around back then; it wasnt her mother or grandmother. Asha stared. Kelder swallowed, and said, He was nineteen, maybe twenty.

Oh, Irith said, taken aback. Oh, I guess he would have been, wouldnt he?

Kelder nodded.

I hadnt thought of that, she said.

Did you know him?

She frowned. I dont know, she said. Whats his name?

Ezdral.

Irith stared. Her eyes grew wider than Kelder would have thought possible.

Ezdral?she said.Thats Ezdral of Mezgalon? Itreally is?

Thats what he says, Kelder told her.

I was sort of afraid it might be somebody I knew once, you know, Irith said, the words spilling out in a rush. And I really hated to think about anyone I know getting old and icky like that, and drinking so much and lying around, so I didnt like it when he said he knew me and I wanted to get away from himbut Inever thought it might be Ezdral! She blinked. Thatsawful!

He says you traveled with him when he was young, and then one day he woke up and you werent there.

Well, thats sort of true, Irith admitted. I mean, I was there, at first, but he didnt see me. And Ill bet he didnt mention that wed had a fight the night before, did he? Or that hed been being a real pest, talking about all this stupid stuff about settling down and raising kids.

Whats stupid about it? Asha asked, before Kelder could react.

I'm tooyoung, thats what! Irith said quickly.

Asha and Kelder looked at each other. Kelders visions of a life of domestic bliss with Irith suddenly seemed much less attainable.

Oh, it was all a long time ago, anyway, Irith said.

Irith, Kelder said, itwas a long time ago, more than forty years ago, but you keep saying youre only fifteen.

Iam only fifteen! she retorted angrily.

Howare you only fifteen? Kelder asked. Where were you between then and now?

Were you under a spell or something?

A spell? Irith stared at him.

Turned to stone, maybe?

Silly, she said, almost laughing, of course not! Ive been traveling, enjoying the World.

For forty years?

Longer, really.

How long?

Oh, well...

Howlong? Kelder demanded.

Idont know, she said defensively. I havent kept track.

Kelder found himself momentarily baffled by this response. How could anyonenot know something like that?

Irith stared at him in mild irritation. Why are you asking so many questions?

What difference does it make?

When were you born? Kelder asked. What year?

Oh, well, if you put it like that, Irith said, I was born in 4978.

Thats more than two hundred years ago! Kelder said, shocked.

Yes, I guess it is, Irith admitted.

So youre more than two hundred years old? Asha asked, fascinated.

No, Irith insisted, I'm fifteen! Ive been fifteen for two hundred years, and Illalways be fifteen!

Always? Kelder asked.

Irith nodded. Its part of the spell, she said.

Asha and Kelder exchanged glances. So youare under a spell? Asha asked.

No, not like that, Irith said.

Kelder asked, Then like what? What spell are you talking about?

Well, the one that made me what I am, of course, Irith said. The one that made me a shapeshifter and everything.

Just then the young man in the apron returned with their drinks; they accepted them, and waited until the young man had departed again.

Kelder sipped his ale, then turned back to Irith. I think, he said, that youre going to have to tell us all about it.

Irith looked at him, at the unsmiling expression on his face, and then down at Asha, sitting beside him, her own little mouth set firmly.

Irith sighed.

Oh, all right, she said, Ill tell you the whole story. She shifted on the bench, and then remarked by way of preamble, You know, you two arent being any fun atall!

The others just sat, and Irith began. Its called Javans Second Augmentation of Magical Memory, she said. The spell, I mean.

Tell us about it, Kelder said.

How did you learn it? Asha asked. Were you a magician?

Irith frowned. I guess Id better start all the way back at the beginning, she said.

She took a deep breath and began, I was born in the Third Military District of Old Ethshar, which was already being called Driait was run by someone we called a Colonel, but he declared himself king when I was five. It was a lot bigger then than Dria is nowthe Colonel ruled everything as far east as Thuth.

She saw the rather blank expressions on both Kelders and Ashas faces, and explained, Thats all on the eastern plains, between the mountains and the desertsouth of here.

But thats not Ethshar, Asha protested, Ethshars way off to the west.

Thats thenew Ethshar, Irith said. The Hegemony of Ethshar, its called. That was originally all conquered territory, and Old Ethshar was where the Small Kingdoms are now. It sort of fell apart, though.

Go on, Kelder said.

Well, anyway, Irith said, I grew up in Dria, and it was still part of Old Ethshar, sort of, but only because of the Great War. You know about that, right? How we were all fighting against the Northern Empire? And they had demons and sorcerers fighting for them?

Kelder said, We know about the War.

Well, because we were all scared of the Northerners, none of the Small Kingdoms fought each other much, and a lot of people just kept breaking off little pieces and setting up their own kingdoms, and nobody could do anything about it because we couldnt afford to fight amongst ourselves, you see? But it made it harder and harder for the four generals to raise armies and protect us. So the war had been going on for hundreds of years, maybe a thousand years, but it was beginning to look like we might lose, or at least thats what my parents thought. The news from the generals was good, mostlyGeneral Gor was doing well in the west, and General Anaran was raiding the Empires borders, and everythingbut Old Ethshar was coming apart.

What does this have to do with your spells? Kelder asked.

I'm getting to that! Irith glared at him.

Get to it, then!

She glowered for a moment longer, then continued, So everybody was very worried when I was growing up, and I heard a lot of stories about how terrible the Northerners were, and my parents were always talking about how everybody had to do everything they could for the war effort, and the king was always issuing proclamations about how Dria would fight to the last inch of ground and the last drop of blood, and all this stuff, and it was all exciting, and really scary, and I think it was a pretty bad way to grow up, but I didnt have any choice, you know? So I was scared all the time, but I wanted to do my part, so I went and got tested at Dria Castle when I turned twelve, and they said I would make a good wizard, and the war effort always needed good wizardswe had much better wizards and theurgists than the Northerners did, which is why they didnt win, even though they had much better sorcerers and demonologists.

Kelder, seeing that this might actually lead somewhere, nodded encouragingly.

So they signed me up as apprentice to a wizard who had retired from combat duty to train new wizards, Irith went on. Not in Dria Castle, up in the hills to the west. And he was a nice enough master, I guess, but he was older than anything, hundreds of years old, and hed never married or had any kids or anything, so even though he knew just about all the wizardry there was, he wasnt very easy to get along with, and he didnt understand anything about what it was like for me, being a girl growing up like that.

Kelder made a vaguely sympathetic noise.

And I never really wanted to be a wizard anyway, and old Kalirin wanted to send me out to General Terrek on combat duty when Id finished my apprenticeship, and he talked about my maybe doing research, but I knew that research wizards all get killedI mean, theyre lucky if they last a month! And I hated it, all that fussing around with weird, icky stuff like lizard brains and spider guts and teardrops from unborn babies, and I mean, yuck! Who wants to be a wizard?

Asha started to say something, and Irith cut her off. Oh, all right, so its really great when a spell works the way its supposed to and everything, but theres all that preparation and set-up and ritual first, and everything has to be just perfectit isntall fun, you know. And they wanted me to learn all these awful spells for fighting with, that werent going to be any use for anything else, like blowing people into bits, and they didnt care about any of thegood stuff, like flying or shape-changing or anything. So I hated it. And by the time I was fifteen and was getting the hang of it all, the war was going badly in the east, and General Terrek was falling back, and how wasI supposed to know he was luring the northern army into a trap? I thought we were going to lose the war, and the Northerners were going to come in and rape everybody and then kill us all, or torture us forever, or something. So one day when he was out somewhere I borrowed Kalirins book of spells and looked through it for some way to get myself out of it all, and I found Javans Second Augmentation.

Kalirin was your master? Kelder asked.

Thats right, Irith agreed, Kalirin the Clever. Hed been training wizards forever, practicallyI must have been about his two hundredth apprentice.

Kelder nodded. So whatis Javans Second Augmentation of whatever it is?

Well, Irith said, do you know anything about wizardry?

Kelder considered for a second or two, then admitted, Not really.

All right, its like this, she explained. Wizardry, as near as anybody can figure out, works by tapping into the chaos that reality is made out ofand if you dont understand that thats fine, because I dont either, thats just what Kalirin told me. It does this by taking magically-charged symbolsstuff like dragons blood or mashed spider legsand ritually combining them in patterns that break through into that chaos. Or at least, thats what the wizardsthink theyre doing, but nobody really knows for sure, they just know that if you do this and this and this, then thatll happen. If you put a pinch of brimstone on the point of your... um, on your dagger and fling it in the air while you say the right magic word, itll start a firebut nobody really knowswhy it does that, and why it doesnt work if you try it with, say, phosphorusI mean, phosphorus burns better than brimstone, so it ought to work, right? But it doesnt. And it has to be a dagger thats enchanted a particular way, too.

Kelder nodded.

And some of the spells takehours to do, or evendays, Irith said. And some of the ingredients are a real nuisance to get hold of, you know? So its just not veryconvenient, being a wizard. Its not like theurgy, where you can just call on a god and ask for a favor, or warlockry, where I dont knowwhat they do but it seems to work right away without any spells or equipment or anything.

So... Kelder prompted.

So,Irith said, this wizard Javan, who was some kind of genius or something, started looking for ways to get rid of all the rituals and magic words and rare ingredients and things. He wanted to find some way to get right at that chaos or whatever it is without all the in-between stuff. And he figured that if the ingredients are just symbols for something in the underlying chaos, then why cant we usesymbols of symbols? The way we use words as symbols, maybe. And he found a way he could sort of do this, sort of. He found a way to put spells right into a wizards brain, or his soul, or somewhere. He still had to do the whole ritual and everything, but he didnt have to do it all just when he wanted the spell to work, he could do it in advance, and sort of store the spell in his head, ready to go. I mean, he could take some petrifaction spell or something that would take two days to perform, and he would run through the whole two-day ritual, and then his own little spell with it, and that would put the whole thing in his head, and then he could carry it there as long as he wanted, and then when he saw the person he wanted to petrify, he could just point and say a word, and that whole big fancy two-day spell would come pouring out of his head and down his arm, and bang! The person would be turned to stone. Irith paused. I think witchcraft works sort of like that, too, she said, but I'm not sure.

Kelder nodded; Asha looked slightly confused. But then, if wizards can carry spells around like that, why... she began.

Kelder hushed her. Irith will explain.

Right, Irith agreed, I will. So, Javan came up with this, and he called it Javans Augmentation of Magical Memory, JavansFirst Augmentation of Magical Memorybecause you carry the spells in your head like memories, you see?

Anyway, its a pretty good spell, its hard to do but its useful, and its still around, but not all that many wizards know it, because itis hard to do, and besides, there are some problems with it.

Like what? Asha asked.

Like, you can only do maybe three spells with it, four if theyre simple ones, maybe only two if theyre big, complicated ones. You can store them away in your headbut while any of them are still in there, you cant do anyother magic.

And sometimes they go bad while theyre stored, and they dont work right when you try them. And each one is only good onceuse it, and its gone. So if you did a petrifaction spell, and the person you want to use it on has a couple of friends with him with swords, you could be in big trouble, because itll only work once. Oh, and theres no way to get the spells outwithout using them, so if you store up a curse, and then your victim dies before you use it, you need to find someoneelse to put the curse on, or itll stay in your head forever and you wont be able to do any other magic at all until you get it out. So its not allthat useful a spell.

Asha nodded.

So thats the First Augmentation, Kelder said. Whats the second one?

I'm getting to that, Irith said. So Javan had this spell, but it wasnt everything he wanted, right? I mean, you could only carry three spells and they didnt always work right, and it was a hard spell to perform in the first place. So he tried to come up with an improvement on it.

The Second Augmentation, Kelder suggested.

Thats right, Irith agreed. Except it wasnt exactly an improvement after all, its just different. It lets you carry about a dozen spells, if you do it right, and you can use each one over and over, as many times as you likebut theynever come out. And you cant learn any more magic, ever.

Kelder blinked. He thought that over.

And there isnt any counter-spell, at least not that anyones ever found. Which is why there wasnt any Third Augmentationbecause Javan tried out the spell, and loaded a dozen spells into his head, or maybe a dozen anyway, and from then on he could use them all as easily as snapping his fingers, but he couldnever get them out, and he couldnt doany other magic,ever, and no other wizardry would evenwork on him, he was so charged full of magic, and since he hadnt used any youth spells or immortality spells or anything in his experiment, that was the end of himhe lived about another thirty years, I guess, and he could do those ten or twelve spells all he wanted, but he wasnt any use for anything else. She grimaced. Anyway, hed written the whole thing down, so anyone who wantedI mean, any wizard who could work high-order magic, because its not an easy spellanyway, anyone who wanted to could see how the spell was done, but nobody ever tried it again. She took a deep breath.

Except me, she said.

Chapter Twenty-One

Irith had paused in her story, but Kelder and Asha just waited, and after a moment she began where she had left off.

It was... well, Id heard the story from Kalirin, about how the great Javan went and ruined himself, and I was worried about the war, and I didnt want to be a wizard, and I was really sick and tired of being an apprenticeI mean, for three years I had worked the skin right off my fingers, doing all this weird stuff, Irith said. And it seemed like a good idea, to go ahead and do the spell, and then Id know some magic, but I couldnt go into combat because I wouldnt know theright kind of magic, and Idnever be able to do researchI wouldnt be able to do any other magic, ever. So I started picking out the spells, and practicing up. The book said that Javans Second Augmentation was a seventh-order spell, but it looked alot easier than that, and I was doing fourth-order spells without much trouble, and I figured that if it didnt work I wasnt anyworse off. I mean, usually, when a spell doesnt work right, nothing happens at all. Sometimes it goes wrong, and all kinds of horrible things can happen when that happens, but usually it doesnt, you see?

Kelder nodded.

So I started picking out the spells I wanted, and collecting all the ingredients for everything. I can still remember what I needed for the Augmentationmaybe one reason I liked the idea was that there wasnt anything really yucky in it. I needed three left toes from a black rooster, and a plume from a peacocks tail, and seven round white stones, six of them exactly the same weight and the seventh three times as much, and a block of this special incense that had been prepared in the morning mist of an open field, and then I needed my wizards dagger. Irith smiled dreamily, leaning on one elbow. You know, I havent thought about this stuff inages! All that stuff, to work magic!

You dont have a wizards dagger now, do you? Asha asked.

Of course not, Irith said, sitting up again. I had to break it as part of the spell. I cut my knee doing it, too.

Go on, Kelder said.

Well, it took a couple of months to get ready, Irith said, and then an entire sixnight to work all the spells together. They didnt all workId picked some that were too hard for me. And some that sort of worked didnt work right, like the invisibility spell. It was supposed to be Ennerls Total Invisibility, but it doesnt act the way Kalirins book said it would; its a fifth-order spell, and I didnt really know how to do stuff above fourth-order, but I figured I could give it a try. She shrugged. Its better than nothing.

So what other spells did you try? Asha asked.

Oh, I picked all the best ones I could find, Irith said, but not stuff that the army would want. And I didnt make Javans silly mistake; the very first one I did was a spell of eternal youth, and if that hadnt worked I wouldnt even have done the rest, I dont think. I'm not really sure, because the magic messed up my memory a little bitbut anyway, the spell worked, so I was fifteen then, and Ill always be fifteenI cant get any older unless something breaks the spell, and thereisnt anything that can break the spell! She smiled brightly.

What else? Kelder asked.

Well, theres a Spell of Sustenance that they used to use on soldiers so they didnt have to feed themsee this? She lifted her head and displayed her throat, pulling away the velvet ribbon, and for the first time Kelder realized that the bloodstone she wore there was not on a choker, but set directly into her flesh. As long as that stone is there, I dont need to eat or drink or even breathebut I usually do anyway, because its fun, and besides, if I go without too long it feels really weird and I dont think its good for me. And I dont get tired if I use it, I mean, not the usual way, but it... I dont like to use it too much. That explained how she could dance along the road for hours, Kelder realizedand also why she didnt always, why she had gotten tired when carrying Asha on horseback.

(Could she use her other magic when not in human shape? She hadnt said.) And I can change shape, of course, Irith continued. I have seven shapes. Thats Haldanes Instantaneous Transformation, and it was the hardest partI had to make bracelets from the skin of each animal, and soak them in my own blood stirred with butterfly wings.

Kelder remembered the bands around her ankle, and once again, a mystery evaporated.

Seven shapes? Asha asked. What are they?.

Irith hesitated. Oh, I guess it wont hurt to tell you, she said finally. I can be a horse, or a bird, or a fish, or a cat, or me, or me with wings, or a horse with wings. And before you ask, I cant carry much when I fly, even as a horseI couldnt have just flown us all to Shan. Flying with anything more than my own weight ishard.

How did you get skin from a flying horse? Kelder asked. He had never heard of flying horses, and certainly had never seen any.

Well, I didnt, really, Irith admitted. I used strips of ordinary horsehide braided together, with dove feathers woven in. And for just growing wings, I used dove feathers wound in my own hair.

Kelder nodded. Anything else? he asked. Shape-changing, invisibility, eternal youth, the Spell of Sustenancethats four, and you said there were a dozen.

I said you couldmaybe do twelve, she corrected him. I only tried ten, and half of them didnt work. She shrugged. I was only an apprentice, after all.

Halfso is there one more?

Irith bit her lip, and Kelder thought she blushed slightly; he couldnt be sure in the dimness of the tavern.

There is, isnt there? he said. Atleast one more.

Just... just one, I think, she admitted. And I wish it didnt work, and Id gotten one of the protective spells instead, or the one that would let me walk on air, or the one to light fires. Istill cant believe I messedthat one upthe fire-lighting spell. I mean, its about the simplest spell there is, one of the first things every wizards apprentice learns. I think I must have left it until last, and I guess by then I was really tired...

Irith, Kelder said, cutting her off, whats the other spell? He was not going to let his wife keep any important secrets from him, and while Irith wasnt his wife yet and didnt know she would ever be,he knew.

...I mean, she said, here I was doing seventh-order wizardry, and I couldnt get Thrindles Combustion...!

Irith.

Or maybe, she went on desperately, I never even tried it after allmaybe I forgot, or decided it would be too useful for the army. After all, if you use it on something thats already burning, it explodes, so that would be almost like a weapon, wouldnt it? So I must have decided not to use it, and my memorys been playing tricks on me...

Kelder leaned across the table and grabbed her by both wrists.

Irith, he said, in what he hoped was a low and deadly tone,what was the other spell?

She stared at him for a moment, then surrendered.

It was a love spell, she said. Fendels Infatuous Love Spell.

Kelder sat back, puzzled; why had she been so reluctant to name it? What was so terrible about a love spell? The local farmers back home had told some stories about love potions, and they hadnt sounded particularly horrible.

There might have been another one, maybe, Irith said, speaking quickly, I dont know. Its really, really hard for me to think about magic sometimes, now, and everything I remember from when I was getting the spell ready is all sort of blurry. But if there were any others, they were one-time things, like the youth spell, not anything I can use over and over...

She was trying to distract him again. A dreadful thought struck him.

Irith, he said, did you try that love spell onme?

She stopped in mid-breath and stared at him, shocked. Then she burst into giggles.

No,silly! she said. Ofcourse not! You dont love me that much, or you wouldnt be arguing with me all the time, and asking me all these questions! Dont you know how love spells... well, no, she said, calming. No, I guess you dont know.

No, I dont, he said coldly.

Even as he spoke, he was thinking. The possibility still remained that she might use the love spell on him in the future; maybe that was why he would marry her. No, he told himself, that was silly. He already wanted to marry her, without any spelldidnt he?

It isntall love spells work that way, anyway, she explained, but theres a reason this one is called FendelsInfatuous Love Spell.

Youve used it? Kelder asked.

Well, she said, I was worried about the Northerners, you see. So I picked the transformation so I could grow wings and fly away, or turn into a fish and swim away, and I picked the invisibility spell so I could hide from them, and the sustenance spell so I wouldnt need any food while I was hidingand the youth spell didnt have anything to do with the Northerners, I just didnt want to grow old and mean like Kalirin. But the love spell was so that if the Northernersdid catch me, somehow, I could make them love me, so they wouldnt want to hurt me, you see? Thats all.

But the Northerners never came, Kelder pointed out.

No, they didnt, Irith agreed. After I made the spell, and it worked, mostly, I ran away and hid, and then when I didnt see any fighting or anything I snuck into a tavern and listened, and I found out that General Terrek had just won a big battle, his retreat had just been a trick, and the Northerners werent coming. But I didnt dare go back, thenId deserted in time of war, and that meant a death sentence. So I hid out in the mountains for three years, working my way north toward the Great Highway and sneaking down to get news sometimes, and in 4996 the Northerners turned a whole army of demons loose and blasted General Terrek and the eastern territories into the Great Eastern Desert, and I thought we were all going to die after all, except it would be demons instead of Northerners, and they could probably find me no matter how well I hid and the love spell probably wouldnt work on them. But then the gods themselves came and fought the demons off, and wiped out the Northerners, and the war was over, and I stopped worrying, and after awhile I stopped hiding.

And I ran into Kalirin one day, and I thought he was going to kill me, but he didnt care any more, he said that with the war over it didnt matter, and there wasnt any point in punishing me anyway, because of the spell. So I stopped hiding, but I didnt have anywhere to go back to, so I just started traveling around the Small Kingdoms, mostly along the Great Highway. She took a deep breath and concluded, And Ive been here ever since.

And you used that love spell on someone anyway, even though there werent any more Northerners, Kelder said, certain that Irith would have been unable to resist testing it out. He still didnt see why she was so embarrassed and secretive about it, though.

On Ezdral, I bet, Asha said.

Kelder started. That idea, obvious as it now seemed, had not yet occurred to him; he threw Asha an astonished glance in response to her unexpected perspicacity, then looked back to Irith.

The shapeshifter nodded. Thats right, she said. I enchanted Ezdral.

So thats why hes in love with you? Kelder asked. Thats why hes been looking for you all these years? The embarrassment and reticence suddenly made sense.

Irith nodded unhappily.

Well, why didnt you take the spelloff when you left him, then? Kelder asked.

Irith stared at him in surprise.

Because Icant, stupid! she shouted. I dont know how! All I can do is put iton, not take it off!

This revelation left Kelder speechless.

Irith filled the silence by babbling on, trying to explain.

I didnt know how it worked, dont you see? I mean, I'm only fifteen, and Id been cooped up in Kalirins stupid house in the hills near Degmor ever since menarche, and the only people I ever saw were wizards and army officers and a few servants with the brains of a turnip amongst them, so I didnt knowanything about love or sex or infatuation or any of that stuff, and there wasnt anyone I could try the spell out on, to see how it worked, and theres a counterspell, yes, but it isnt part of the spell itself, and I didnt include it, maybe I tried, I dont remember, Icant remember, andI cant do any other magic! I couldnt eventouch Kalirins book of spells any more!

But that spell... From what Ezdral said, it ruined his whole life! Kelder said.

Well,I didnt know it would do that! Irith said defensively. I didnt know how it worked! Id used it a couple of times, but those were different, and theyre all dead now, and Ezdral was socute, when I saw him therehe was big and handsome and he was so good with those horses, they calmed right down when he petted them, I mean, I almost wanted to turn into a horse so hed petme that way, and he wouldnt even look at me hardly, and before I knew it Id done it.

And he came and talked to me, and he was so sweet, and it was justwonderful, and we had a great time, we went all over the place together and did all sorts of stuff, and he was the best-looking man everywhere we went, and he was gentle and playful...

Then why did you leave him? Kelder asked.

She shrugged. Well, it got boring, she said. And he was talking about us staying together forever, and I knew we werent going to do that, because I'm only fifteen, I'm not ready to settle down, and he was getting older, and everything, and besides, I knew he didntreally loveme, he was enchanted, and I was young and pretty and everything, and eventhat was magic, so it wasntreal, you know? So it didnt count. So I didnt want to stay with him forever, and I knew Id have to leave sooner or later, and when we had that fight about my dancing I decided it might as well be sooner, andI thought it would wear off!

I thought that if I wasnt there, the spell would wear off and hed forget all about me.

Really? Asha asked.

Irith blushed again, and looked down at the table.

I thought itmight, she muttered. I didntknow. I thought it might wear off. But I guess it didnt, at least not right away.

Notever, Asha said. Hes still in love with you.

Irith shuddered. Well, I'm certainly not in love withhim, she said. Cant we just forget about him and go on without him?

Kelder knew at once what the answer to this wasno, they couldnt. Maybe Irith was capable of that sort of selfishness, maybe even Asha was, buthe wasnt. Not when he was who he was, and not when he was fated as he was.

He did not say so immediately, however; he paused to think it over, to consider not just what to say, but the entire situation.

He expected to marry IrithZindrés prophecy said he would, and he had liked the idea very much. Irith was bright and cheerful, incredibly beautiful, and her magical abilities gave her all the appeal of the mysterious and exotic.

He still liked the idea, but it was obvious that Javans Second Augmentation had changed her into something that wasnt quite the girl she appeared to be, and the thought of loving and marrying a creature that might not be quite human any more was a bit frightening.

And he knew that Irith was far from perfect; she could be selfish and thoughtless. In particular, it was obvious that she would leave him when he started to show any sign of ageor maybe even just signs of maturity.

He did not want a wife who would leave him when he aged; the Shularan custom, and his familys tradition, was to marry for life. He had assumed that that was what Zindré had prophesied for him, that he would have Irith with him for the rest of his life, but now that he knew Irith, knew who and what she was, that looked very unlikely.

But then, was that really all that bad? He would survive if she left him, just as he would if he were widowed, and while the marriage lasted, she could certainly be an agreeable companion when she chose to be.

Still, he had doubts. This whole adventure was turning out differently than he had expected, and he was not sure yet if it was better or worse. The Great Highway was a dirt road, most of it ugly. He had seen the great city of Shan, but only very briefly and without pleasure; he had seen the vast plain of the Great Eastern Desert, and it had frightened and depressed him more than it had awed or exhilarated him. The wife he had been promised appeared to be a flighty and unpredictable creature, an immortal shapeshifter rather than an ordinary woman. Championing the lost and forlorn he had expected to be a matter of facing down thieves or slaying a dragon or some such traditional act of heroism, not stealing a dead bandits severed head on behalf of an abused child, or defending the rights of an ensorceled drunkard.

If this was the destiny he had been promisedand really, how could he doubt that it was?then he had to consider whether hewanted it.

And if he decided he did not, could he refuse it, or was he foredoomed?

He really couldnt say; he had hardly been thinking of such things when he spoke to Zindré as a boy of twelve. He might be doomed to carry out his destiny, or he might not, he simply didnt know.

If he wasnt trapped, did hewant to go on?

Well, discharging his promise to Asha was easy enough now; he would certainly go on and hold Abdens funeral, as he had said he would.

But did he still want to marry Irith?

She was as lovely as ever, and he thought he would enjoy her company for as long as they were together, but there was the little matter of what she had done to poor Ezdral. That was not something he wanted hanging over his married life, that some dismal old sot was madly in love with his wife, that she had been completely responsible for it and didnt seem to care.

And that spell of hersthat wasnt anything he wanted hanging over him, either.

What if Kelder tired of her before she tired of him, or even if he just refused her now and turned awaywhat if he decided not to marry her after all, and she decided otherwise? Would she use her spell onhim?

Would he know it if she had? Would he evencare? Ezdral knew that Irith had deserted him, had avoided him, but he was still in love with her, still looking for her.

Kelder had no desire at all to live out his life under such a curse.

Of course, spells could be brokenKelder knew that, at least in theory. Irith had said there was a counterspell for the love charmor at least, that she thought there was; by her own admission, she was unreliable on any question having to do with magic.

Could the love spell be broken?

CouldIriths spell be brokenJavans Second Augmentation of Magical Memory? Irith hadnt been able to do any new magic for two hundred years, so anything she might say would be out of date; maybe a counterspell had been found long ago.

If she were restored to an ordinary, non-magical existence, that would certainly simplify any marriage plans.

Of course, he didnt know if Irithwanted all her spells broken, but there was certainly one she would like to be rid ofFendels Infatuous Love Spell.

There was supposed to be a counterspell for that. The prophecy hadnt mentioned anything about it specifically, but Kelder knew where all the great wizards were supposed to be, and Zindré had said he would see cities, plural. Shan was one; there had to be another.

The three of them had been sitting in silence for several seconds, thinking their several thoughts; now Kelder broke the silence.

Listen, he said, suppose that after were done in Angarossa, after Abdens funeral is all done and his soul set free, we all go on along the highway, all the way to Ethshar, all four of usyou, Irith, and you, Asha, and me, and Ezdraland see if we cant find a wizard who can break the love-spell.

All four of us? Irith asked, startled.

Thats right, Kelder said, gathering enthusiasm, all four of us! It would give poor old Ezdral a chance to be with you one last time, just as far as EthsharIm sure we could find a wizard there who could cure him of his infatuation.

But why bother? Irith asked.

So Ezdral can live out the rest of his life in peace, of course, Kelder said, annoyed. And so you can either get rid of the love spell permanently, so you wont accidentally use it again, or so at least you can learn to dispell it if youdo use it.

As he finished saying this he suddenly realized that he might be making a mistakeif she could turn the love spell on and off, Irith might well use it more often. That was scarcely a good thing.

She would be able to use it onhim, whenever they argued.

Well, he told himself, the words were out now, and it was too late to take them back.

Youre probably right, Irith agreed thoughtfully. If one of themcould break the spell, I guess that would be nice for poor old Ezdral, wouldnt it? I mean, it wouldnt give him his forty years back or anything, hed still be a horrible old man, but maybe he wouldnt be so bad. She brightened. And then he wouldnt have any reason to follow me around any more, or bother me at allnot even sit and wait for me, or anything!

Kelder nodded, pleased that she seemed to have missed his accidental suggestion.

That would be great! Irith said. I dont like the idea of that awful old man thinking about me all the time. She paused. Do weall need to go?

Well, Kelder said, we probably need to have you there so the wizard can see how your spell works, and we need Ezdral so we can use the counterspell on him, and Asha doesnt have anywhere else to go except with us, andI want to see that everything works out all right.

Irith nodded. I dont like the idea of being around him, she said, but I guess I can stand it as far as Ethshar.

Why do we have to go all the way to Ethshar? Asha asked plaintively.

Because thats where all the best wizards are, of course, Irith told her.

There are wizards in other places besides Ethshar, arent there? Asha asked.

Of course there are, Kelder agreed, and well look them up along the waywell ask in every village and castle along the Great Highway. Ive always heard, though, that for real, serious wizardry, the best place to look is Ethshar of the Spices. Besides, Zindrés predictions clearly implied that he would see Ethshar before returning home; what other great city was there? The Great Highway ran between Shan and Ethshar, it didnt go to Sardiron of the Waters or Tintallion of the Coast or any other important cities.

You can find good magicians in any of the three Ethshars, really, Irith said, but Ethshar of the Spices is supposed to be the biggest and best, and its certainly the closest. Ive never been to the other two. She sipped her ale, and added, And I havent been to Ethshar of the Spices inages!

There are three Ethshars? Asha asked, in a pitiful little voice.

Four, actually, Irith said, counting them off on her fingers. There are the three in the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars, of courseEthshar of the Spices, Ethshar of the Rocks, and Ethshar of the Sandsand then theres a place that calls itself Ethshar of the Plains thats one of the Small Kingdoms, one of the smallest, over to the southeast of here, just south of Thuth. It split off from Dria right after the Great War ended, I think. Or maybe even before the war ended.

I didnt know that, Kelder remarked. I thought there were just the three big ones.

Irith shrugged. Well, nobody knows all the Small Kingdoms, she said, or at least I dont think so. There are more than a hundred in all, and who could remember that many? But I know a lot; Ive traveled all over the northern half of them, not just along the Great Highway.

Well, Kelder said, lifting his ale in salute, youve certainly had time for it.

Irith eyed him, trying to decide whether he meant anything insulting, and decided that he did not. She smiled at him and sipped her ale.

Kelder watched her, wondering whether her enchantments could all be broken, whether she would be any different if they were, and whether, if both of those were the case, the changes would all be for the better.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The first sign that Ezdral was finally waking up was when he let out his breath in a long, loud whoosh, and stopped snoring.

Kelder and Asha turned to watch him; Irith, sitting by the window brushing her hair, paid no attention.

The old man had not stirred, his eyelids had not so much as flickered, when the three of them had carried him inside, hauled him up the stairs, and dumped him unceremoniously on the little rag rug in their rented room. He had slept the night through without complaint.

Fortunately, his snoring had not been constant, so that the others were able to sleep, as well.

Now he smacked his lips noisily, wheezed slightly, and then blinked.

His eyes opened, widened, and then closed again. His hoarse breath stopped for a moment. He made a guttural noise, and brought one clawed hand up to wipe at his gummy eyes. Then he slowly, carefully, lifted his lids.

He was looking at a tidy little rug, a well-swept plank floor, and one corner of the featherbed Kelder and Irith had innocently shared. (Kelder wished that they hadnt been quite so innocent, but with Asha in the cot nearby and Ezdral on the floor, he hadnt pressed his point.) The old man turned his head and spotted first Asha, and then Kelder. He blinked, and slowly, cautiously pushed himself up into a sitting position. He made a noise that might have been construed as Good morning by someone who spoke archaic Mezgalonese, then cleared his throat and said the same thing, more clearly, in Traders Tongue.

Then he turned and looked around the roomor at least, he started to.

When his gaze fell upon Irith, sitting by the window humming to herself, it was as if he had been struck. His mouth fell open, his eyes widened; his shoulders tensed, jerking his hands up off the floor, and he swayed unsteadily.

Irith, he said hoarsely.

Good morning, Ezdral, Irith said, not looking at him.

Irith, he said again, his voice stronger now. He started to rise.

Irith turned to face him and announced, If you touch me, Ezdral, Ill be out this window and flying away before your fingers can close, and I swear by all the gods that if that happens, youll never see me again.

Ezdral froze as he was, crouched on one knee, staring at her.

And dont stare at me, Irith said pettishly. Its rude.

Ezdral quickly averted his gaze, looking at the rug instead.

Irith, he said, its been so long...

Yes, I know, she said. I guess it must have been pretty awful.

I love you, Ezdral said.

I know, Irith replied. You cant help it.

Illalways love you, the old man insisted.

Well, maybe not, Irith said. were hoping to fix that.

Ezdral blinked, and risked a quick look at Irith.

The window faced southeast, and the sun was pouring in behind Irith, turning her freshly-brushed hair into a halo of golden fire, outlining her in light.

Ezdral gasped in awe.

Kelder, Irith said beseechingly,you tell him. She looked away, out the window.

Tell me what? Ezdral asked, still staring at Irith. Kelder could see him trembling at the sight of her.

Ezdral, Kelder said gently, do you knowwhy you love Irith so much, even after she deserted you and you havent seen her in so long?

Because shes the most perfect, beautiful creature in the World... the old man replied, before his voice trailed off uncertainly.

No, Kelder told him uneasily, its because she enchanted you.

Ezdral frowned, and glanced quickly at Kelder before turning back to his object of worship.

Sheenchanted you, Ezdral, Kelder insisted. She used a love spell on you, a charm called Fendels Infatuous Love Spell, and its permanent, and she didnt know how to take it off! Its all magic! Its just a spell, a trick! His voice rose until he was shouting as he concluded,Thats why you love her!

Ezdral frowned again.

No, he said, that cant be it. I mean, maybe she did, but Id love her anyway, I know I would. By all the gods, justlook at her! Have you ever seen anything so radiantly lovely?

Involuntarily, Kelder looked, and had to admit to himself that in fact no, he had never seen anything else so radiantly lovelybut he didnt say it aloud.

That didnt matter. Ezdral was enchanted, and besides, looks werenteverything.

She certainly was beautiful, though; Kelder had to swallow hard before he could continue.

Its a spell, Ezdral, really. Maybe you would have loved her anyway, but it probably wouldnt have been such an obsession. Anyway, we talked last night, and we all agreed that it wasnt right for you to be enchanted like this, and were all going to take you to Ethshar of the Spices and find a wizard who can break the spell. Or maybe well find one on the way.

You dont need to do that, Ezdral said, his gaze still fixed entirely on the object of his adoration. I'm perfectly happy like this.

But youwouldnt be, Kelder said desperately, if Irith werent here.

Ezdrals head snapped around. Shes not leaving, is she? he asked. It snapped back. Irith, you arent leaving?

Irith put down the hairbrush and let out a sigh. She stared helplessly at Kelder.

No, shes not leaving, Kelder said, as long as you agree to come with us to Ethshar and get the spell removed.

All right, Ezdral said. Whatever you want, Irith, Ill be glad to do it. If you want the spell off, thats fine.

I want the spell off, she said. And dontstare at me like that!

Ezdrals gaze instantly dropped to the floor again.

Whatever you want, he mumbled. Anything, Irith, anything at alljust dont leave me again.

Kelder watched this display of utter devotion with growing dismay. Ezdral was so abject, so docile, so completely at Iriths disposal.

No one, Kelder thought, should ever be so much in someone elses power.

If this was what a love spell did, he told himself, they shouldnt be allowed.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Before they left the inn Irith decreed that Ezdral must be cleaned up; Irith refused to go anywhere with him in his filthy, bedraggled state. Ezdral yielded to this without protest, and while the girls ate their breakfast, Kelder and two members of the inns staff set about the task.

Hair and beard were trimmed; a comb was brought, and promptly lost in tangles.

Hair and beard were trimmed again, and the comb recovered and put to use.

One assistant cook, male, tackled that, while the other, female, took away the tunic and breeches to see what could be done with them.

Kelder drew a bath, and vigorously applied washrags and sponges to the old mans back while Ezdral addressed the front himself.

Once dried, Kelder thought, he might be almost presentable.

Then the old mans clothes were returned.

The breeches had come apart; the thread holding the seams was rotten, and had given way under the stress of cleaning.

The tunic was still in one piece, but looked worse than eversome of the stains had come out, but others had darkened, and yet others had bleached, giving the garment a much wider range of colors than it had had before. Threadbare patches were more obvious with the protective layer of grease removed.

Kelder looked at the fabric in despair.

Nowwhat do we do? he said. You cant go marching down the highway naked!

The assistant cooks conferred quietly, the female one casting occasional smirking glances at Ezdrals nudity.

Do you have any more money? the male asked.

Kelder looked up at the young man, then at Ezdral, who shrugged. I dont know, Kelder said. Irith might.

Well, Ive got some old clothes Id sell, the cook said. They ought to fit.

I dont have any better idea, Ezdral said.

Irith did have money, and the clothes did fit.

This is getting expensive, she complained as the four of them trudged away from the inn.

Kelder glanced at Ezdral, who was now neatly clad in a light green tunic trimmed with yellow, and a dark green kilt with black embroidery at the hem.

The old man was barely recognizable as the drunk who had accosted them in Shan.

Isnt it worth it, though? Kelder said. And I think you owed him something.

Irith didnt reply.

Due to their late start they didnt reach the village of Sinodita until mid-afternoon, and by then both Asha and Ezdral were too tired to continue.

They settled in at the Flying Carpet and rested.

Kelder apologized to Bardec the Innkeeper, but even so, that gentleman insisted that Irith pay for the room and meals in advance.

Irith grumbled, but paid, and Kelder spent the remainder of the afternoon looking around the town for odd jobs whereby he could earn a few coins. By sunset he had accumulated seven bits in copper and a pouch of dried figs by chopping wood, stacking it, and helping capture an escaped goat. He had also heard scandalous gossip about the company Queen Kiramé kept in her bedchamber, gripes about the idiocy and malevolence of King Caren of Angarossa, theories that Irith the Flyer was actually a minor goddess in disguise and her presence an omen of good fortune, and considerable discussion of the prospects for the coming harvest in the richer farmlands to the south, and what the effects would be on markets and the local livestock-based economy.

It was rather pleasant, really, to hear the everyday chatter of ordinary people, to listen to voices other than Iriths velvet soprano, Ashas high-pitched whine, and Ezdralsoushka -scarred muttering. When he joined the others for supper he was tired, but in high spirits.

Kelder was too tired to even mind particularly when he discovered the sleeping arrangementsthe largest bed was too narrow to hold two adults, so Irith and Asha shared that, while he took the other bed and Ezdral got a pallet on the floor.

They made better time the following day, passing Castle Angarossa at midday and coming upon the battlefield early in the afternoon. Abdens cairn was undisturbed, but the other corpses were gonenone of the travelers could do any more than guess at what had become of them. Kelders own guess was that some of the local inhabitants had been sufficiently public-spirited to remove such an obvious health hazard.

The hard part of their self-imposed task proved to be finding enough combustibles to build a proper pyre; with the highway tidied up there was very little to be found, and in the end Kelder resorted to knocking at the door of a nearby farmhouse and paying far too much of Iriths money, as well as all his own seven bits, for a wagonload of stovewood and some flammable trash. Pleas that it was needed for the humanitarian gesture of a proper funeral were countered with remarks about the expense and effort involved in obtaining the wood in the first place, and the discomforts of eating undercooked food or sleeping in a cold house.

Several wagons and a full-blown caravan passed during the period between their initial arrival at the cairn and the eventual lighting of the pyre, and none of them stopped or provided any assistance at all. In the end, though, Kelder struck a spark, fanned it into a flame, and stepped back as it gradually spread through the pile on which Abdens mutilated remains lay.

I wonder if well see the ghost, Asha said, staring.

You probably wont, Irith said. People usually dont, especially after so long.

She paused, then added, Sometimes I do, though, because of the magic.

Tell us if you see him, Asha said. Tell me if hes smiling.

Irith nodded agreement, then leaned over and whispered to Kelder, Hes probably gone mad by now, being trapped in two places for so long.

Kelder frowned and whispered back, If he has, will he recover?

Irith shrugged. Who knows? I'm no necromancer.

It took the better part of an hour before the corpse was consumed, and Irith did not have the stamina to watch constantly; finally, though, she glanced up and started.

There! she said.

The others looked, but saw nothing more than rising smoke and crackling flame.

Was he smiling? Asha asked eagerly.

I didnt see, Irith said. He was facing the wrong way, and I just caught a glimpse. She hesitated. I'm not really sure I saw anything. She noticed the expression on Kelders face and added,Really!

Hes gone, then? Ezdral asked.

I guess so, Irith said.

Kelder noticed that Asha was crying silently, tears running down her cheeks, her chest heaving.

I guess we can go, then, Ezdral said, with a look at the descending sun. Which way? Back to Castle Angarossa?

Asha looked up at him. Why would we go back there? she asked through her tears.

For someplace to sleep, Ezdral said. Its the closest place.

But its the wrong direction, Kelder pointed out.

Its ten miles to Yondra Keep, Irith responded. We couldnt get there before dark.

We can sleep outdoors, then, Kelder said.

Irith considered that as Kelder turned away from the pyre and set out westward. She ran after him and said, Listen, Kelder, maybe we could find a wizard in Castle Angarossa who could break Ezdrals enchantment...

Are there any good wizards there? Kelder asked, cutting her off.

Well, not that I know of, she admitted, but I mean, I dont reallyknow...

Kelder didnt answer; he simply walked on, away from Castle Angarossa.

Look, you like to do good things for people, right? Irith persisted. And all this trouble with Ashas brother was King Carens fault, right? So maybe you could do something about it...

Like what? Kelder demanded. I'm an unarmed traveler without so much as a bent copper bit in my pocket, and hes a king, with a castle and guards. Championing the lost and forlorn had to have limits; a child and a drunk were quite enough. The people of Angarossa and the traders who used the highway did not strike Kelder as being sufficiently lost and forlorn to merit his attention; he couldnt tackleeverybodys problems.

Well, but I have my magic...

Soyou can do something about King Caren?

Irith didnt like that idea at all.

Oh, all right, she grumbled. I suppose one night outdoors wont kill me.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The rain trailed off to nothing a little after midnight, and half an hour later Irith finally stopped complaining and telling the others that they should have gone back to Castle Angarossa.

When they arose and Kelder saw Asha shivering in her sopping blanket he felt mildly guilty about his insistence on continuing westward, but he set his mouth grimly and said nothing.

Damp and miserable, they set a slow pace at first, but the clouds burned off quickly, their clothing dried, and they gradually picked up speed, reaching Yondra Keep shortly after midday. As they ate a late lunch in a little cafe in the village, Asha asked, How far is the next town?

Only a league, Irith said, before Kelder could remember.

Asha nodded. What about the one after that?

Irith had to stop and think about that. From the town of Amramion to Hlimora Castle must be, oh... three leagues? Four?

Amramion? Asha asked. Are we near Amramion?

Of course, Irith said, startled. I think its less than two miles to the border.

Maybe I should go home, the little girl said uncertainly, peering down the highway.

What about your father? Kelder asked quietly.

Asha looked down at the table, and began to pick carefully at a protruding splinter. She gave no answer, and the subject was dropped.

They ate in silence for a moment, and then Asha said, At least its all over for Abden. Hes out of it all.

No one said anything in response to that.

I think well stop at Amramion for the night, Kelder said, breaking the silence.

That was what they did.

They were questioned briefly by the guards at the border post, but they knew Irith, and could see no harm in an old man and a child. Kelder they had reservations about, but eventually they took Iriths word that he was harmless and let him pass.

The party reached the village of Amramion a little past midafternoon, where they stopped at the Weary Wanderer and took a room; Irith admitted after they left the building that her funds were now running low, and they would need to find some way to obtain more, or else would need to start relying on charity or theft.

With that in mind, the party split up; Kelder went to look for work in the village, while the other three climbed the little hill to the castle and knocked at the postern gate, seeking a consultation with the kings wizard, Pirra the Mage. Irith was recognized immediately, and the three of them ushered in.

Kelder heard about it that night at supper, as he massaged sore muscles and wondered why the only work he seemed to get was chopping wood. It wasnt work he enjoyed at all.

Of course, he knew that was why he was able to get itnobody else liked it either. And it was simpleanyone with strong arms could do it, and you didnt need to worry about coaxing hostile animals or tying knots wrong or anything like that. It was something you could trust to a stranger who might be clumsy or half-witted.

Of course, since it meant giving him an axe, you didnt want to ask a stranger who lookeddangerous to chop your wood.

Thinking that through, he only half listened to the tale of how everybody at the castle had recognized Irith, and how Pirra had been eager to talk to her, and then had been really disappointed when she discovered that Irith didnt remember how to prepare all the spells she used.

...and shedheard of Fendels Whatever-it-is Love Spell, Asha said, and she was pretty sure theres a simple countercharm, but she doesnt know what it is. She knows adifferent one of Fendel the Greats love spells, Fendels Aphrodisiac Philtre, and she knows one thats a lotlike Iriths, but its Cauthens Remarkable Love Spell, and its different, it uses mares sweat and stallion hairs, and she says that there are two countercharms forthat that she knows, but she doesnt know any for Iriths spell.

That caught Kelders attention.

Did she say what the two countercharms are? he asked. Maybe we could try themif the spells are alike, they might work.

I dont think so, Irith said.

Well, would it do any harm to try? Kelder persisted. Did she say what the charms are?

Irith and Asha exchanged glances; Irith let out a sigh.

Yes, she said, the shapeshifter admitted, but Kelder, I dont think we want to try them. Not until we know theyre the right ones.

Whynot?

Well, because theyre difficult, Irith said.

What are they?

The easy one, Irith said, is for the victim to drink a cup of virgins blood each night at midnight, for four nights. Afull cup. Without spilling a drop, or choking, or throwing up. And he has to go to sleep immediately afterward; if he speaks a word or sets foot on the ground, it wont work. She grimaced.

Have you ever drunk blood? The hardest part has to be not throwing up. And all the blood has to come from a single fertile virgin human female who has never been enchantedno mixing blood from different people, or anything.

Kelder looked at Asha, who shook her head and said, I'm too young.

No, Kelder said hurriedly, I know that, I didnt... I just... I mean, is that really what Pirra said? I know Irith has trouble remembering magic... He trailed off, flustered.

Its right, Asha said. And thats theeasy one.

Whats the other? Kelder asked, though he didnt really expect it to be any better.

Its just one drop of blood on the back of the tongue, Irith said. Dragons blood.

Well, whats so difficult about that? Kelder asked, puzzled. I thought wizards used dragons blood all the time.

They do, Irith agreed, but theres another requirement. The blood has to come from agelded dragon.

Kelder thought about that.

Oh, he said. He sighed. Maybe we could find someone... he said.

Kelder, Irith said, thats aquart of virgins bloodif shes as small as I am or smaller, I think that taking that much could kill her, and we dont even know if it wouldwork. It probably wouldnt; it really is a different spell, and I already told you that magic doesnt make sense. You cant use phosphorus for brimstone and still work Thrindles Combustion, and I dont think you can break Fendels Infatuous Love Spell with virgins blood.

Well, maybe if you got a young enough dragon...

The others just stared at him.

Youre right, Kelder admitted. Its not the same spell. So its on to Ethshar, then.

On to Ethshar, Irith agreed.

And that, Kelder thought as he took a bite of pear, wasnt really anything all that terrible. It would be exciting to see Ethsharthe largest city in the World! Another city, and another prophetic phrase satisfied.

But it would have been nice, he thought as he watched Ezdral down a large mug of wine, if theyd been able to break the love spell that much sooner.

The meal continued in silence, for the most part. Asha seemed to be thinking about something; Ezdral was drinking heavily and alternately staring at Irith and forcing himself not to look at her. Irith grew increasingly uneasy under his gaze, quickly becoming too nervous to talknot that she had anyone to speak to anyway, as Kelder was too tired.

When they had all eaten their fill, and a drudge had cleared away the platesbut left the wine bottle, which Ezdral guardedAsha leaned over and asked Irith quietly, Could you do something for me?

Relieved to be able to talk to someone who wasnt Ezdral, Irith asked, What is it?

Could you fly home... I mean, to my fathers house, and tell him about Abden?

And that I'm all right?

Iriths relief vanished; she bit her lower lip and looked at Kelder worriedly.

Go ahead, Kelder told her. He wont hurt you; he doesnt even have to see you.

I'm really sort of tired... the Flyer began.

Oh, do it! Kelder snapped. Ive been out chopping wood to earn a lousy copper, which your old boyfriend there just drank upI think you should earnyour keep!

Dont you speak to me like that!

Kelder started to say something else, but then a shadow fell over him. He turned to see Ezdral standing over him, fists clenched, the neck of the wine bottle in one of them.

You dont talk to Irith like that, he said hoarsely.

For a moment the four of them were frozen into position, Kelder and Irith sitting on one bench, Asha on the other, the three of them gaping at Ezdral standing at the end of the table brandishing the bottle.

No, its all right, Irith said, breaking the impasse. Hes right, I'm not really tired. I think its really sweet that Ashas worried about her father, and Id beglad to go tell him.

Ezdral wavered.

Thank you, Irith, Asha murmured.

Sit down, Ezdral, Irith said.

Kelder, tired and fed up with the whole situation, said, Yes, sit down. Angry that the man he was trying to help was turning against him, he added the cruelest thing he could think of. Then, remembering the nature of the spell Ezdral was under, he immediately regretted it.

Have a drink, he said.

Chapter Twenty-Five

For much of the next morning the Forest of Amramion was visible off to their left, and Ezdral, once he had sobered up sufficiently to focus, marveled at it. He hadnt seen a forest in over a decade.

The guards at the border post between Amramion and Hlimora waved a greeting to Irith, but made no attempt to hinder the party.

Irith had been quiet ever since returning from Abden the Elders house, and didnt return the guards greeting. She had given no details of her encounter with Ashas father, but had merely said that the message was delivered.

Shortly after crossing the border into Hlimora, though, she burst out, Asha, how could youlive there?

Asha looked up, startled but silent.

She couldnt, Kelder said quietly. Thats why shes here.

Itstank, Irith said. The whole place, and it wasfilthy, and the house was practically falling down, and one shedhad fallen down. And your... that man was drunk and singing to himself, and when he saw me he... When I gave him the message and told him his son was dead he started crying, and that wasnt so bad, I expected that, but then he started complaining about how there was no one to help him, and youd run off, and when I told him you were all right he got angry and started swearing and saying all kinds of horrible things, and he tried to grab me, but I turned into a bird and flew away, and I heard him crying again as I left. She shuddered.My father was never like that.

Asha didnt say anything.

Irith looked at Ezdral, and said angrily, He was even worse thanyou were, when we found you!

Kelder expected for Ezdral to make some cutting reply, or to stand silently on his dignity, but instead the old man muttered, I'm sorry, Irith; please dont be mad at me.

Kelder shuddered.

Ezdrals subservience was appallingbut on the other hand, Irith seemed to be showing more compassion than was her wont. Kelder wondered if she might be learning something from Asha and Ezdral.

He certainly hoped so.

And his own presence might not hurt, either.

They were two and a half hours from the border when Kelder stopped and looked closely at the hillside to their left.

What is it? Asha asked.

This is where I first saw the Great Highway, Kelder explained. I slept on the slope there. And its where I met Irith.

The Flyer nodded. Thats right, she said. I remember. At first I thought you were going to just turn around and go back to your farm in Shulara.

I thought so, too, Kelder admitted.

It occurred to him that he could do that nowhe could simply head south, up that hill and down the other side, and go back home to his family, and not worry about where his next meal was coming from, or Ezdrals love spell, or Ashas homelessness.

He started to think about it. He turned to look at the others.

He saw Iriths face and forgot the whole notion. She was obviously not yet ready to come with him and settle down to the life of a Shularan peasant, and he wasnt yet ready to give up on Zindrés predictions and go home without her.

Come on, he said. Weve still got a long way to go.

They had scarcely covered another hundred yards when the turrets of Hlimora Castle came in sight. Kelder remembered how hungry he had been that morningwhen was that, a sixnight ago? If he had known how close the castle was, he would never have turned east.

And in that case, he might never have met Asha or Ezdralbut he might have met other people instead. There was simply no knowing what might have happenednot without magic, anyway.

Zindré would have known, he supposed. She must have known that he would go east, as he hador perhaps she hadnt known any details at all, just the generalities. Perhaps he had been fated to meet someone lost and forlorn, but exactly who had not been predetermined.

The whole question of prophecy was an interesting one; despite his obsession with Zindrés predictions, he had never really thought about the mechanics before. Wereall his actions predetermined? Some, but not others? If so, why?

Ifeverything he was to do was predetermined, then he didnt really have any control over his own life at all, and nothing he did or thought mattered. That was an unsettling notion.

But if he did have control over some of it, then how couldany of it be so certain that Zindré could predict it? That was certainly something to think about, and think about it he did, as the little party trudged onward.

They reached Hlimora Castle perhaps two hours after noon, and the question then arose of whether to stay the night, or press on.

The next village is Urduron Town, Irith said.

Well, how far is it? Kelder asked.

Irith pursed her lips, thinking. I dont remember, she admitted. Three leagues, maybe?

Kelder considered this. They say a mans normal walk will cover a league in an hour, he said. The sun wont be down for about four hours yet.

Come on, then, Irith said.

Naturally, Ezdral agreed with her, and that made the vote three to one. Asha protested in vain.

Maybe you could be a horse for a little while, Irith? she asked.

Kelder expected her to hesitate, or refuse, but Irith simply said, All right.

She vanished, to be instantaneously replaced by the white mare.

Ezdral stared as Kelder helped Asha up onto Iriths back; he crept nearer, and reached out to touch the horses flank.

She shied away and whinnied unhappily; Asha grabbed at the mane to keep her balance.

Dont touch, Kelder advised the old man.

Ezdral didnt touch Irith again, but he stared intently.

It was plain to Kelder that Ezdrals interest was more than just an appreciation of equine grace. At first he was puzzled by the old mans attitude; certainly Irith was a good-looking horse, but she was scarcely as attractive in this form as in human shape. For his own part, his physical interest in Irith vanished when she was in any shape but human.

Then he remembered the love spell, and realized that it didnt distinguish on the basis of appearanceor, it seemed, even on the basis of species. Ezdral was still just as infatuated with Irith as ever, regardless of her shape. To him, in his enchanted state, the important change had not been that Irith was now a horse, but that she was now virtually naked.

That added a whole new level of repulsiveness to the spell, in Kelders opinion; he watched the old man lusting after the mare and felt nothing but revulsion. Even the pity he had felt for Ezdral was overwhelmed by distaste.

He was more determined than ever to see the spell broken, thoughnot for Ezdrals sake, or Iriths, or because of his prophesied role, but just because it was disgusting and unnatural.

They had gone too far to be worth turning back by the time Kelder and Irith realized that just because a man can walk a league in an hour, that doesnt mean a sick old man, a child, and a horse can walk three leagues in three hours. They had not allowed for rest breaks, or even the occasional call of nature; they had not allowed for Ezdrals unsteady shuffle, or the fact that the terrain here was hilly, the road carrying them up and down one slope after another.

With Asha on Iriths back, the real hold-up was Ezdrals pace; he was simply not interested in moving quickly. Kelder and Asha could urge him on, but with little result; he would speed up for perhaps three or four steps, then slow again.

He might have listened to Irith, but she was unable to speak while in equine form.

Kelder tried to find a solution. The obvious one would be to put Ezdral on horseback, but that was out of the question. Irith, he was sure, wouldnt stand for two riders at once, especially not if one of them was the old man. Asha would be no faster on foot than was Ezdraland besides, Kelder didnt want Ezdral any closer to Irith than absolutely necessary, under the circumstances; putting him astride her back was asking for trouble.

Finally, though, he hit upon a much simpler and more satisfactory method of accelerating the pace; he simply whispered in Iriths ear to go a little faster and not worry about Ezdral keeping up.

Ezdral gradually dropped back as the other three marched on unheeding, until finally he called out,Hai! Youre going too fast! Wait for me!

Kelder called back, No; sorry, Ezdral, but we need to get to Urduron. If you cant keep up, you can find us there.

Wait, he puffed. Irith!

Irith neighed, but did not slow down.

Kelder glanced back every so often, and somehow, though Ezdral puffed and panted and struggled, he never fell back far enough to let Irith out of his sight.

Kelder felt slightly guilty about exploiting the love spell in such a waybut only slightly. After all, they were bringing Ezdral along to cure him, for his own goodwhy let him slow them up?

The distance to Urduron turned out to be somewhat more than three leagues; Kelder judged it at at least ten miles, possibly eleven, but unquestionably between three and four leagues. They finally arrived as the sun sank before them.

Here, Irith had sufficient credit and good will to obtain acceptable room and board at an inn inexplicably called The Stone from the Skybut only a small room, so small that Ezdral and Asha took the two tiny beds, Kelder slept on the floor, and Irith took the form of a cat and spent the entire night curled up on Ashas feet. A fourth human being would have been too much, but they didnt have the money for another room, and Iriths credit wasntthat good.

The next days travel was the four-league distance from Urduron to Ophera; they got an early start, and made no attempt to go any farther, but instead set about earning a little money in Ophera, to help defray expenses.

Irith made a few aerial deliveriesprimarily flying a packet of wizards supplies back to Urduron, for which she was paid three bits in silver. She tried to demand more, but gave in when the Opheran wizard threatened to simply conjure up a sylph for the job instead.

Kelder had to settle for coppers, but at least this time he avoided chopping wood, and instead spent a solid three hours weeding the gardens behind the inn Irith had chosen. That covered their room and board in full.

Asha was too young to do any real work, but picked up two bits by watching babies while the mothers went about business.

Ezdral insisted that he had looked for work and failed to find any; he contributed nothing to the common purse.

Both wizards connected with Iriths errand, the sender in Ophera and the recipient in Urduron, knew love spells and countercharms; neither of them, however, admitted knowing a counter for Fendels Infatuous Love Spell.

I dont care for Fendels spells, the Opheran remarked. Theyre tricky, and usually much more powerful than they need to be. Oh, theyre easy to work, but they dont always work the way youwant. The man was trouble; I can spot one of his spells from the style, and theyre all trouble.

Somehow, this did not surprise Kelder at all.

He found himself thinking rather dismally about the ease with which Irith had flown, twice, the distance they had taken most of the day to cover on foot. It made walking seem vaguely futile.

On the other hand, he realized suddenly, it was a sign of Iriths attachment to himselfand, he supposed, her attachment to Asha, and perhaps guilt about Ezdrals enchantment as wellthat she was willing to walk all this way when she could fly.

That was cheering. He had begun to wonder if he would ever be sufficiently sure of her affection to propose marriage, and this provided some encouragement.

That night, despite half-hearted attempts by the others to prevent him from doing so, Ezdral downed three bottles of wine and had to be carried to the room. The only good aspect of his early retirement was that it meant that he got the floor, and Kelder got a bed; there were three cots this time, all narrow.

The leg from Ophera to Krithimion was another relatively short one, and at breakfast Kelder suggested pressing on through Krithimion to Bugoa.

Whats the hurry? Irith protested. Ethshar isnt going anywhere. Itll still be there if we take a few days longer to get to it.

Kelder pointed to the semi-conscious Ezdral, who was leaning against the dining room wall, mouth hanging open, bits of fried egg in his beard. The sooner we get him there, Kelder said, the better.

The way were rushing isnt helping him any, Irith replied. His feet are all blisteredyou shouldnt have done that, making him keep up with me the day before yesterday, when we were trying to reach Urduron.

I'm sorry, Kelder said, shamefaced.

Besides, Irith persisted, we havent been checking all the wizards all that carefully, the way we just rush from one kingdom to the nextwe might miss someone who knows the cure because of your rushing!

I doubt it, Kelder said, recovering some of his composure. If you want good wizards, you need to go to Ethsharthats what my grandmother always said. He wondered for a moment whether the time might be ripe to mention the prophecies, with the mention of great cities, plural, but he decided against it.

Well, I'm not turning into a horse again, Kelder, Irith said, lifting her chin.

Listen, he suggested, lets just get to Krithimion, and well see how were doing, and maybe well go on, or maybe well stay a night there. All right?

Irith gave that a moments thought, and then agreed. All right, she said.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The town surrounding Krithimion Keep actually had a name of its own, to distinguish it from the kingdom it dominated; it was the town of Krithim, with no ending.

Krithimionese, Irith explained as they neared the town, was a patois of Ethsharitic and Traders Tongue; if there had ever been a distinct native tongue, which she doubted, it was now extinct, or perhaps spoken by a few stubborn farmers somewhere.

When I was a little girl, Irith added, people didnt have all these silly languages. There werenthalf so many, and everybody knew Ethsharitic even if they didnt speak it at home.

That must have been convenient, Kelder acknowledged.

Krithim was the largest community he had seen since leaving Shan on the Desert, and a closer match to his original expectations for the Great Highway than anywhere else he had yet visited. The kings castle stood almost half a mile to the south of the highway, and the entire distance from castle to highway appeared to be a network of streets and gardens and houses and shops.

A few of the major avenues were even paved.

The Great Highway itself was not paved, but itwas lined with plank sidewalks, inns, taverns, brothels, and shops, and three broad flagstone boulevards connected it to a generous market square that lay one block to the south.

An elaborate fountain occupied the center of the square, with a basin of red marble surrounding a white marble column topped by a statue of a woman pouring water from a jug, water that flowed endlessly. Smaller carvings of various sorts adorned the rim. Kelder was not accustomed to this sort of civic display.

For a moment he wondered if Krithim constituted a great city, but despite the urban niceties he decided it was just a large townor perhaps a small city, but not a great one.

Children were running about the market in a vigorous game of tag, ducking out of each others reach, dodging back and forth. One of them took a short-cut through the marble basin, splashing wildly, and Kelder shouted a protest, but no one else seemed to mind, and the boy ignored him, so he let it drop.

Asha was watching the carefree game enviously; Ezdral was eyeing the wineshops. Kelders own feet were sore; they were out of the hills now, but the road from Ophera had been rocky in places.

Oh, Hell, he said, I guess well stay here today and go on tomorrow.

Irith smiled radiantly at him.

Wheres a good inn? he asked.

There are a couple of good ones, Irith said thoughtfully.

A cheap one, Kelder suggested. We still dont have much money.

The Leaping Fish, Irith declared.

The Leaping Fish? Kelder asked dubiously. Why would they name it that?

Irith shrugged. I dont know, she said, but they did.

Are we near the sea?

Irith giggled. No, ofcourse not! she said. It must be fifty miles to the sea from here!

A lake, then, or a stream?

Irith shook her head. They just call it that, she said. Its over that way, on the Street of Coopers. She pointed to the west.

Kelder nodded, and looked at the others.

It seemed to him that they had all seen quite enough of each other for awhile.

Asha, he said, you go on and play, if you like, but be at the inn for supper.

The Leaping Fish, its called, over that wayif you cant find it ask someone for directions.

All right, Kelder! She ran off, and a moment later she was shouting and playing with the other children.

Kelder looked at Irith and Ezdral.

Ezdral was eyeing the wineshopsbut he was also watching Irith. The love spell had as strong a hold as ever, and he wasnt going to leave her side, not even to get liquor. Kelder sighed, trying to think what he should do.

Irith, however, had also seen the situation, and had her own solution. She vanished.

Irith! Ezdral screamed, Irith, come back!

People turned to stare at the green-clad old man, standing in the middle of the square, whirling about as if trying to look in every direction at once, groping madly with his arms outstretched, as if he were blind and searching for something.

Ezdral, Kelder shouted, grabbing one flailing arm, Ezdral, its all right!

Shell be back! Shell meet us tonight at supper, at the Leaping Fish!

It took him several minutes to calm the old man; during that time, from the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a small, graceful black cat hurrying away, dashing between legs and scampering around boots. He saw the cat turn and deliberately wink at him before disappearing into an alley.

Ezdral did not notice the cat; he was too distraught to remember Iriths other shapes. Kelder supposed that if hehad seen the cat, he would have been in love with itwith herbut that had not happened.

Which was all for the best.

Eventually, Ezdral did calm down, and stood, drooping and silent, by Kelders side. Shell meet us tonight, Kelder assured him.

Ezdral nodded dismally, and without a word headed for the nearest wineshop.

Kelder watched him go, and then looked around, realizing that he was alone in this pleasant and interesting place. He would have preferred Iriths company, but he saw no sign that she was returning, and could not see any way to be with her out in the open without having Ezdral alongand he didnot want Ezdral along, fawning over Irith, following her everywhere as closely as he dared, constantly lusting after her. The old man was terrible company.

Alone, then, in Krithimionthat wasnt so terrible. He smiled, threw Asha a glance and a wave, and set out toward the castle with the intention of exploring the town a little before finding work.

An hour or so later, after he had had his fill of window-shopping, Kelder arrived at the castle gate, which seemed as likely a place as any to ask for employment. The gate was open, and two guardsmen were chatting idly in the archway.

Hai,Kelder called in Traders Tongue, excuse me!

The guards turned to consider him. They did not speak, giving him no clue as to whether or not they knew the language in its unadulterated form. Here on the Great Highway, though, they reallyought to know it, Kelder told himself.

He forged onward.

Hello, he said, approaching to a polite distance and still speaking Traders Tongue. I'm passing through, and a little short of cash; would you happen to know of any way I might earn a little money around here?

There must be a dozen merchants in town... one soldier began, in the same language, but his companions hand on his arm startled him into silence.

Youre looking for a way to earn money? the other asked, grinning.

Not pleased by the grin, Kelder nodded. Thats right, he said.

Well, it just so happens, the grinning soldier said, that I know of a wizard who said hed pay well for some help.

Kelder did not like the guards attitude at all, but on the other hand he remembered that Irith had been paid in silver for her errand in Ophera.

Wizards did have money, generally, and were free enough with it.

He suspected he had been badly underpaid for the work he had done in the last few towns, but as a beggar, to all intents and purposes, what could he do about it?

Here, though, he had a chance to do bettermaybe.

What sort of help? he asked suspiciously.

Oh, just help, the guard said, exchanging a smirk with his comrade.

It couldnt hurt to check it out, Kelder thought. Where?

Senesson of Yolder, on Carter Street, the guard said, pointing. Down the hill here, turn left at the little blue shrine, turn right on the second cross street, and look for the shop with the green tile over the door.

Green... Kelder said. Green what? He had never encountered the word for tile in Traders Tongue before.

Green roof, the guard said.

That Kelder understood. Thank you, he said, with a polite half-bow.

Down the hill he went, strolling slowly until he spotted the blue shrineit was a fountain, built into the outside corner of a bakery, with a bright blue ceramic glaze lining it and a small golden statuette of a goddess, no more than a foot tall, set into the wall behind it. The gold leaf on the idol had flaked a little, and the water that sprayed from beneath the goddess feet was slightly discolored. He turned left, between the bakery and an iron-fenced garden.

The first cross-street was a muddy alleyway, but he counted it anyway, and turned right onto a narrow, deserted byway. He had gone almost three blocks, and was just deciding that he should not have counted the alley, when he spotted a shop with a rather complex facade. A five-sided bay window, its innumerable small panes hexagonal in shape, took up most of the ground level front, while the upstairs displayed turrets and shutters with elaborate carvings. The front door, just beyond the bay window, was of oiled wood bound in brass, with designs etched in the metal and monstrous faces carved in bas relief on the wood.

And above this door was a small decorative overhang, and on top of the overhang were three rows of curved green tile.

There was no signboard, and the window display was an incomprehensible array of arrangements of silver wire, but it looked like the right place, and when he stepped up to the door he found that the design etched into the brass bar at eye level included a line of Ethsharitic runes reading, Senesson of Yolder, Wizard Extraordinary.

Kelder was about to knock when the door swung open; before he could react even enough to lower his fist, a girl charged directly into him, knocking him back a step.

Get out of the way, stupid, she snarled in Ethsharitic.

Excuse me, Kelder said in the same language, but I wanted to work...

So did I, but I wont do it here! She tried to push past him, and Kelder stepped back, but then he reached out and caught her arm.

She whirled, aiming a punch at his belly, but he sidestepped in time to miss most of it, keeping hold of her other wrist. She was short and thin, her strength unremarkable, so maintaining his grip was not particularly difficult.

Wait a minute, he said, inadvertantly slipping into the Traders Tongue he had been using almost exclusively for more than a sixnight, I need to talk to you.

She yanked her arm free, and he let it go. I dont speak that, she said, still in Ethsharitic, whatever it is.

Sorry, he said, switching back to Ethsharitic. I need to talk to you. For the first time it occurred to him that she might have been speaking the Krithimionese patoisbut then she would have understood Traders Tongue, surely.

No, you dont, she said, turning away.

Wait! he called. Whats wrong with working here?

She took one step, then stopped and turned back. You dont know? she asked.

He shook his head.

Are you from around here? she asked.

No, he said. I'm from Shulara.

I never heard of it, she said.

There was definitely, he noticed, something a little different about the way she spoke Ethsharitic; she spoke slightly faster than he had heard it before, and slurred the consonants a bit. It was not at all like the Krithimionese he had heard spoken around town. Its southeast, he said. Where are you from?

None of your business, she said.

He raised his hands, conceding the point. All right, he said, but whats wrong with the work?

She glowered at him, standing with her hands on her hips, considering, and then snapped, You dont know?

No, he said. The guards at the castle told me I could earn money here. Thats all I know.

She snorted. They were joking, she said. Either that, or they were trying to insult you.

Why?

Because, she said, her tone turning sarcastic, youprobably dont qualify for the job.

Why not?

Senesson isnt looking for workers, she explained. Hes buying materials.

What materials? Kelder asked, still puzzled.

Virgins blood, the girl said angrily.

Kelder blinked, and looked the girl over.

She was roughly his own age, he guessed, despite her diminutive stature; she had long black hair that flowed down across her shoulders in flamboyant masses of darkly-shining curls, a heart-shaped face and a long straight nose, a full bosom, narrow waist, and lush hips.

Its none of my business, he said, but... He stopped.

He had intended to ask if she qualified any more than he did, but that hardly seemed like an appropriate question to ask a stranger.

If shedid, he thought, hed be surprised. She was no incredible beauty, certainly not in Iriths class, but she was attractive enough.

Youre right, she said, its none of your business.

He smiled. Youre right, he said. I'm sorry. He turned away from the brass-trimmed door.

Arent you going to knock? the girl asked.

No, Kelder said, I dont think so, not if thats what he wants.

She stared at him for a moment. I could be lying, she said. You dont have to take my word.

No, I believe you, Kelder said. Do you know of anywhere else I might find work?

She shook her head.

Where are you going, then? he asked.

Back to the market square, she answered.

Me, too, he said.

All right, she said, and together they strolled up the street, away from the shop with the green tile overhang.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

It was half an hour before he got around to asking her name.

Azraya, she said, throwing another pebble at the dove by the fountain, Azraya of Ethshar.

The bird fluttered up into the air, then landed and turned to peck at the pebble, seeing if it was edible.

Youre from Ethshar? Kelder asked, leaning back on the bench.

I just said so, didnt I? Azraya snapped.

No, Kelder replied mildly, you said that was your cognomen, not that you came from there.

Same thing, Azraya said, only slightly mollified.

I suppose it is, Kelder agreed. Sorry.

They were still speaking Ethsharitic, having discovered that Azraya spoke no Shularan, Traders Tongue, Aryomoric, Uramoric, or Elankoran, and that Kelder spoke no Tintallionese or Sardironese. Neither of them spoke Krithimionese, but Azraya could sometimes follow it, and Kelder, knowing both its constituent tongues, understood it pretty well. Still, Ethsharitic was the only language they had in common.

So whats your name? Azraya asked.

Kelder, Kelder said. Kelder of Shulara.

She looked at him doubtfully for a moment, not an unusual reaction to Kelders name, and eventually decided that he was telling the truth. Either that, or that the truth didnt matter.

Kelder, she said, watching the dove. All right.

Youre heading east, on the Great Highway? he asked.

No, she said.

West, then? Back to Ethshar?

Probably. Which way are you going, back to Shulara?

No, to Ethshar.

She nodded. So this is where you hit the highway, coming from Shulara?

No, I reached the highway in Hlimora at first, and went east to Shan on the Desert. Now I'm heading west.

She looked up, interested. Youve been to Shan?

Kelder nodded.

Whats it like?

He shrugged. We didnt stay long, he said. I think its seen better days. He was becoming more comfortable speaking Ethsharitic, now that hed had a little practice.

Oh, Azraya said, disappointed. What about the other towns along the way?

Well, Kelder said, this place, Krithim, is the nicest Ive seen yet.

Oh, Azraya said again. She tossed another pebble, and the dove flapped wildly for a moment, then wheeled into the air and flew away. I guess Ill be going back to Ethshar, then.