Beau nodded and said, 'Aye, and it's vital you get there in time to harvest the rescue and not the ruin.' Beau closed his book and asked Bekki, 'Where is this Nordlake, and how long will it take to get there and back?'
'Just a moment,' said Tip, 'I'll get my maps and then we'll see.'
'Here is a ford,' said Bekki, jabbing a forefinger down to the sketch.
'Wait a moment,' said Beau. 'What about using the Kaagor Ferry? Wouldn't that way be shorter?'
'It is burnt,' said Phais.
'But Valk left behind crafters to rebuild it ere he brought his army here. That was a month or so past. Surely it is done by now, or will be when it is time to go for the mint.'
Loric nodded. 'Even so, it may fall prey again unto the Spaunen, whereas the ford may not.'
Tip stroked his chin, remembering. 'Beau may have a point: the maggot-folk could have wards set up at the ford, just like they did at the Hath River in Rell.'
'And the Crystal River into Aven,' added Beau.
Bekki shook his head and pointed once again at the ford. 'Unlike the ferry, there is nothing vital nigh these shallows: no cities, towns, holts, passes… nothing-not even Squam strongholts, I ween. It is not likely the Grg will think it worthy to spend their forces there. Nay, I deem they will not ward it, though they could use it to cross over to do ill in distant parts.'
Tip frowned and pointed at a spur of the Grimwalls. ' Tis moot, I think, for here the mountains must be rounded; hence, by ferry or ford, I gauge the ways nigh equal.'
Beau peered at the map. 'Oh well, never mind.'
'All right,' said Tip, 'ford it is.' Then measuring with his thumb- 'Um, that's some two hundred seventy, two hundred eighty miles to the ford, and'- he measured again-'another hundred twenty or so to Nordlake.' He looked up at Bekki.
'A day or two to get to the face of the mountain where I saw the mint,' said the Dwarf.
Tip nodded. 'By pony, then, I make it some two weeks to the ford, another week to the lake, and a couple of days to the mint: twenty-three, twenty-four days altogether.'
'Add leeway for unexpected delay,' said Bekki. 'Squam may yet roam between here and there, with Squam in the mountains as well.'
'Perhaps more than just you four ought to go,' said Beau.
'You're not going?' asked Tip, surprised.
'I've got to stay here, Tip, and help out. This dark scourge will get much worse before it gets better. But Phais and Loric can go with you and Bekki.'
A frown crossed Loric's face. 'Nay, we cannot.'
Tip looked up at the Alor.
'Elvenkind does not fall ill to this scourge,' said Loric. 'And if it is as Beau says, then we will be needed here in the days to come. Yet King Agron could lend whatever aid is needed to harvest the mint.'
Bekki shook his head. 'It is better that just two of us go than a large band, for as I said, Grg may lie between here and there, and two alone have a better chance of slipping past their wards than would an entire company.'
'Look,' said Tip, 'we can cross that bridge when we come to it. But for now we will plan on going alone, just you and me, Bekki… in, what, mid-July?'-Tip counted on his fingers-'Say, fifteen weeks from now?'
Again Beau groaned at the length of time.
'According to your book, Beau, it can't be helped,' said Tip. 'I mean, if the mint doesn't come to fruition until the September moon, then I can't see setting out from here before mid-July. That will give us four weeks or so to get to Nordlake in time for the August moon. And then we'll have another four weeks to find all the places where the mint grows, and be entirely ready to harvest it. And lastly, two weeks or so to gather it in. Then three weeks from Nordlake to Dendor'-again Tip counted on his fingers- 'that'd make it around mid-October when we return. That's plenty of time for me to get to the muster in Alvstad by mid-November. -Oh, I say, Beau, we'll need a drawing of what the mint looks like before it turns golden… and tell me, just how much of this mint do you need?'
'As much as you can bring, Tip, but according to the book you also have to leave enough behind so that more will grow in subsequent years.'
Tip frowned, and Bekki growled, 'A gardener I am not, nor an herbalist. How much should we leave behind? Does anyone know how to judge?'
Beau smiled and tapped the faded cover of the book. 'Delgar does. He wrote it all down, and I'll tell you what he said.'
And so, from his Mage-written manual, Beau began educating Tip and Bekki in the ways of the golden mint, though he himself had no experience with the growing of it.
During this same time, in King Agron's war room long into the night, obstacles to the king's war plan were raised and solutions conceived:
'The army is sapped, my lord, many of our best are wounded.'
'That is why we wait for autumn, captain, to give many the time to heal.'
'The crops, sire, what of them? We cannot leave a hungry nation behind.'
'Much will be harvested ere we set forth.'
'Ah, but Alvstad is far to the west, my lord, and it will take many a day for those in the east to reach the muster on the Argon River.'
'Let them ride instead to the Crystal and Green Rivers on the east, for they are Argon tributaries. Let those in the north ride to the Argon as well. By raft and boat they can journey to Alvstad, for river legs never tire and it will make the passage swift.'
'Even so, my lord, still there are late crops to gather in and next spring's tilling and planting as well.'
'In those cases, where oldsters and women and children are not enough, by lottery leave behind sufficient of the able-bodied to bring in their own and their neighbors' crops and plant for the following year.'
A captain on the far side of the map table cleared his throat and said, 'My lord, was it wise to announce to the public your plans to invade Gron? What of spies bearing word to Modru himself?'
Agron's icy gaze swept 'round the table, and he clenched a fist. 'I want him to know we are coming. I want to give him pause. Yet heed, he will not know by what route we will advance, and must needs hold back his forces instead of spending them to carry the fight to others.'
'My lord, how will we enter Gron?' The captain gestured at the map. 'It lies on the far side of the Grimwall, and I have heard that all passes are warded. Do we march north from Alvstad through Jord and take to the Boreal Sea and around?'
Agron shook his head. 'Nay, we do not, though mayhap Modru will think so. Instead We enter by an unexpected way.' The king looked up from the map. 'This knowledge will not leave this room.' After receiving nods from his captains, Agron traced a route across the chart. 'We ford the river here at Alvstad, then march through Jailor Pass and into this corner of Jord. Here we turn to the west and enter the Gronfangs, for at this point there is a narrow twisting pass through that dire range, all but forgotten, blocked by a slide, and who would clear a slide for passage into the cold wastes of Gron, eh?'
At the captains' astonished gazes, Agron added, 'I have seen it myself, for when I was but twenty, Prince Halfar of Jord and I rode in on a lark-a test of bravery then; but in hindsight nought but a foolish risk.
'Regardless, far within there is a slide, but one which an army can clear, providing a way to come upon Gron unawares.'
An elder statesman leaned forward. 'Sire, we will be marching across Jord, or a part thereof.'
The king raised an eyebrow.
'What I mean, my lord, is that we should send an emissary to Jordkeep and apprise King Ranor.'
Agron nodded and said, 'Prepare a missive, Lord Vengar. I will set my seal to it.' The elder statesman nodded.
Across the table a captain said, 'My lord, what of this dark ill which strikes down the healthy?'
'The healers are doing their best, captain. Yet this I say: I have chosen for the muster to take place in Alvstad instead of Dendor for more than one reason, among them is this: my healers tell me that by waiting for the ill to run its course, we isolate the muster from the scourge. Although Modru's disease is in Dendor, we will keep it from spreading.'
