Alodar opened his mouth to speak, but Grengor cut him off. 'Fear not, master. After your deed, not a man among us begrudges your weight. Your litter will be carried all the way back to the palace halls in Ambrosia if it need be. Each bearer remembers that, because of your wounds, he did not receive any.
'And the barbarians regard you as some great hero from the sagas. We tell them that you sleep in peace, that if they do not heed your followers' commands, once again they will face your terrible wrath. Why, in the eight days that you drifted in and out of your swoon, the first tribe's terrified tale and Basil's beads have swollen our forces many fold. We are nearly a hundred now, moving southward for the queen.'
'It is not quite so simple, Grengor,' Aeriel said. 'I have seen the petty quarrels and heard the whispered conversations among these hastily assembled allies. Basil's gems and Feston's promises for greater reward will not keep their attention forever. As the ranks swell, they will become much more difficult for the few of us to manage.'
'I am as aware of the truth as you, my lady,' Grengor assured her. 'Under the circumstances, our present course seems the best. A hundred men will make no difference in Procolon's defense, but there is no time to build a large and disciplined army. We must move down the line of hills that parallels the coast as rapidly as we can, convincing whomever we find along the way to enlist in the cause of the fair lady. Each of us now directs six or seven of the nomads. With a bold front, perhaps we can command ten times that number. If we are lucky, we will cross the border with more than a thousand swords.'
Alodar struggled to sit up. 'Grengor,' he said, 'the crag, the wizard's tower to the west, where the snow dips to the hills. How many days for all of us on foot? We must go there.'
'Be not alarmed, my lady,' Grengor told Aeriel. 'It is but a delirium. A small phantasm from having undergone the charm of the sorcerer. As the body mends, so will the mind.'
Alodar still felt sick and dizzy from his miscast charm. The sweetbalm was no longer potent enough to blot out all of the pain. 'Fetch Kelric, I say. He must interpret the vision. We cannot choose our course until it is settled.'
'He alone of our troop has perished,' Grengor said. 'Even with the aid of the eye, he gave up the little power that remained within him to quell your pain and guide your final thrust into the chieftain's brain. Indeed, had he not so passed from us, you still would be only what he chose to make of you.'
Grengor paused and looked off into the distance. 'But in the end, I think he judged his choice to be the right one. As he sank away, the queen pronounced him a suitor for his deed in her behalf. His last expression was a smile rather than a scowl.'
Alodar was silent for a moment as the news sank in, But the feeling of urgency grew and pushed his reflection aside. 'There is more to the eye than just a sorcerer's tool,' he said at last. 'I saw and felt far beyond what Kelric impressed upon me.'
'And what if it is so, master?' Grengor persisted. 'The deed of the eye is done, and we must soon return to Procolon with whatever forces we can muster. Aeriel even replaced the thing in your pouch as you slept; no one else coveted it. Leave thoughts of sorcery here in the uplands. What can they possibly matter to you now?'
Alodar leaned one hand back to steady himself and closed his eyes. The scene of the hills with the mountains behind sprang into his mind, almost as vivid as it had under enchantment. Mentally he soared over the terrain and unerringly sped to the one spot that had compelled him before. The giant spire was there and inside it was a tomb. A tomb to be opened. A wizard to be questioned. The answer to a riddle for which he could not even formulate the question.
He thought of his quest for the queen; but beside this great yearning, it did not seem to matter. He wrinkled his brow in puzzlement and reached out to stroke Aeriel's arm at his side. How could the spire connect with what he strove for? It must be an enchantment produced by the eye itself, independent of the wielder. Had he not looked, it would be no more than an idle thought to be consumed by the fires of his ambition. But the compulsion tugged and he knew he must respond.
Alodar opened his eyes and thought through what he would say. Waving aside Aeriel's restraining arm, he slowly rose to face the sergeant. He swayed for a moment and then drew in a deep breath and was steady.
'I know that it will take time as well as sweetbalm to mend my body, Grengor,' he said in a slow, deliberate tone. 'But my mind is clear, clear enough to know what we must do. If we continue directly south as we have, we will find only more of the smaller tribes in our path. But in my vision of far-seeing on the boat, I looked down on larger camps higher in the interior, larger tribes hunting where the game is more plentiful. It will take us longer to return to Procolon, but we must strike to the west so that we increase our chances of finding greater numbers.'
'But, as lady Aeriel says,' Grengor objected, 'it would also mean greater risk of losing control of whatever forces we now command.'
'I cannot ignore what I have seen under the spell of the eye, Grengor,' Alodar said. 'I must go west and seek out the answer. This beckoning I cannot explain, but the truth of it I do not doubt. If you will trust me as your leader, then I ask you to join me.'
Grengor looked back at Alodar's face. 'The other suitors will not be convinced easily. And if we argue in front of the barbarians, the feeble hold we have on them may vanish.'
'I will go alone if I must,' Alodar said, looking out over the campfires. 'But if you marines and the nomads you command come, then the others will follow. We are the majority. As you say, the suitors will not risk a confrontation. They will reason that a few days detour is far better than proceeding southward with a small fraction of our party.'
Grengor rubbed his chin. 'The south or west; we do not know for certain the outcome of our fortunes either way,' he mused.
'You followed me onto the wargalley's deck and into the longboat in a raging sea.'
Grengor was silent for a moment. 'And into the nomad's camp.' He slapped his side at last. 'Forgive my hesitation, master. If you command to the west, it is to the west we will go. Rest lightly while I pass the word. We will strike into the interior tomorrow.'
Grengor went off, and Alodar felt Aeriel's touch on his shoulder. 'There is still time for rest,' she suggested. 'Come, make yourself comfortable.'
They settled to the ground and Alodar looked up into dark eyes that reflected the flickering glows of the campfires. 'I still quest for the fair lady,' he said. 'I do not know what we will discover in the west, but I hope that somehow it will aid in my cause.'
'I understand that.' Aeriel continued her gentle stroking, 'Your charge into the camp redeemed your loss of face for the miscast sorcery. That is all in the past now. The queen's favor will shift to the one who can aid her best on the morrow.'
For a long while Alodar thought of his thirst for glory, the granite spire, Vendora, and the foggy memory of Aeriel's nursing in the days past. Finally he reached out and grasped her hand in his. 'But were it not for the quest…'
Aeriel smiled. 'And I understand that as well,' she said.
The huge fire crackled in the first light of dawn, and Alodar huddled close for its warmth. He tentatively stretched one of his legs forward and felt the stiffness in his calf. Idly, he fingered a chip of agate he had found on the trail and then tossed it among the clippings of herbs, twigs, rocks, and other thaumaturgical and alchemical gear he had scavenged along the way. He slapped at one of the fleas that he had acquired from the nomadic tribesmen.
'Despite its age, the sweetbalm has done its work well, Alodar,' Aeriel said beside him. 'Only twelve days of healing, and already you are nearly well.'
'Yes I think I am ready to try some of the trail on my own feet,' Alodar responded, rubbing his shoulder with his free hand as she leaned against him. And I will need to be far more supple when we finally reach the spire.'
'It is well that you are so steadfast in your determination,' she said. 'You know full well that Duncan and the others accompany your marines against their will. They seek only the smallest opportunity to show you still bemused from Kelric's spell. Once even a hint of doubt creeps into your manner, they will try to exploit it to gain control.'
Alodar nodded and looked down the trail. They were higher now, and the valley walls closed together. Rather than scattered on a broad floor, their troop snaked back in almost single file, the row of campfires strung like fiery
