form, apparently. If you have a falcon, forewarning, and some silver shot Not to mention the assistance of a Master of Ghosts who doesn't get rattled.' The unshakable Master of Ghosts collected the egg using a pair of heavy sticks. He wrapped it in rags, being careful not to touch it.
'I see. Good to know.' Else was not reassured. Sorcerers, sorcery, and the Tyranny of the Night were beyond his simple understanding. He did not believe them capable of being straightforward or positive, whether they were on his side or opposed. Nor had he ever encountered any evidence to suggest that his attitudes were overly pessimistic.
'Captain!' One of the coin hunters beckoned.
'What have you got?' The man was quite wide of eye.
'A dead man. And not that long gone, either.'
The corpse was charred. What remained of clothing and jewelry was foreign. Likewise, his weapons, though his sword was a horseman's blade. Around him lay what looked like foreign tools of sorcery.
Al-Azer said, 'There should be horses around here somewhere. They'll tell us a lot.'
'He what I think he is, Az?'
'Probably. Long way from home.'
'Find those horses. You think he was spying on us and got part of the falcon's load?'
'Looks that way. He had no idea what the falcon was.'
'Interesting. Is he the one who raised the bogon?'
'No. He was too young. But he might've worked for the man who did. As an eyewitness. On the other hand, he might have been following us because he knew about the mummies.'
'Too many might haves, Az. What I'd like to know is how one of his kind can be down here, south of Lucidia. Bone! Are you ready to travel?'
'Just give the order, Captain.'
Al-Azer said, 'We'll know more after we look at his horses.'
'You're sure there'll be more than one?'
'If he's really what he looks like he'll have had at least three.'
A soft tone from a ram's horn sounded an alert. That horn's voice did not carry far. Else and al-Azer hastened toward the source of the sound.
A youngster named Hagid — not to be confused with Heged the cannoneer — crouched just inside the northeast edge of Esther's Wood. Hagid was remarkable because he was second-generation Sha-lug. His father was an intimate of Gordimer the Lion. Hagid had been sent with Else for tempering. With the courtier expecting that the boy would return alive, with his parts all still attached. But Else knew the Lion. He understood that the mission meant more than the survival of any privileged boy.
Hagid pointed. A cloud of dust shone brown-orange in the light of the rising sun. The men raising that dust were not moving in a tight column. They were scattered. Later in the day, when the sun stood higher, that dust would be much less obvious.
'Over there,' Az said. 'More of them.'
The second cloud, due east instead of north-northeast and emerging from the desert, owned a more yellow cast and was much more obvious.
Else grumbled, 'Bone! Where's Bone? Az. Who's likely to be coming at us out of the east?' That was all desert in that direction. The little principalities of the Holy Lands lay all tangled up with one another nearer the coast, to the north and west.
Az said, 'It's time to go, Captain. One of those parties will be responsible for our spy. I'd guess the other would include the people who raised the bogon. Which is probably somebody who has something to do with the Kaif of Qasr al-Zed.'
Bone finally turned up. 'We found the dead man's horses. Three of them. We brought the stuff that was on them.'
Else examined bridles, blankets, a saddle, saddlebags containing little but dried food, and things Az said a wizard might carry on a trip. One closed case contained arrows. Another contained a fine recurved bow made of laminated horn. Else said, 'This stuff didn't belong to any Lucidian. Az, check this stuff over with your third eye.'
'Captain…'
'I know. Don't get technical. Do what needs doing. Just be careful. He was out spying while your monster king was hunting. Hagid. Tell Agban to move out now. Due west, toward the coast road.' The sea was less than thirty miles away.
The wood would mask the dust the company raised. And those hunters out there would have to worry about one another.
They would not be friends.
Else examined the bow. 'This is horse people work. They must be sending scouts out to see what comes after Lucidia.'
'They've never been defeated, Captain,' Bone said. 'Not in twenty years.'
'They haven't met the Sha-lug.' That might be an interesting encounter. The horse barbarians of the steppe were cruel, fearless, and disciplined. Their numbers were supposed to be inexhaustible but that could not be true. They made the best of what they had. They were, first and foremost, nomadic herdsmen.
The Sha-lug knew no life but war and preparation for war. They purchased boy children in slave markets everywhere, though mainly in Qasr al-Zed. Those boys grew up with weapons in their hands. The best and strongest became Sha-lug, the slaves who were masters of the sprawling, wealthy kingdom of Dreanger, the heart of the Kaifate of al-Minphet.
The Kaif of al-Minphet was Karim Kaseem al-Bakr, puppet of Gordimer the Lion, the Supreme Marshal of All Sha-lug, before whom the Enemies of God Wet Themselves in Terror, and so forth, and so forth.
Unlike most Sha-lug, Else was not impressed by Gordimer. He suspected the Lion was less noble than he pretended. Gordimer kept handing him these deadly chores, verging on the impossible. Like Gordimer hoped Else would not return.
In minutes the company was moving toward the coast, where friendly ships would be sure to see them.
Else, al-Azer, and Bone stayed behind.
Bone asked, 'You know we're looking at the Plain of Judgment?'
Else grunted noncommittally. He knew without knowing the significance. Everything in the Holy Lands had historical and religious meaning to someone. Every crag, every dry wash, every wood, and most of all, every mystic well was a thread in a vast and ancient tapestry. Bone or Az would explain. Whether Else was interested or not.
Bone resumed. 'Battles have been fought here since before men began recording history. Eleven major battles have been fought between the Well of Calamity south of us and the Well of Atonement to our north. A distance of nine miles. There've been scores of skirmishes.'
'Indeed,' al-Azer said. 'The Written itself says this is where God and the Adversary will come together in final battle. Some sages, both ancient and modern, say that history began here and that it'll end here.'
Else was no more religious than he needed to get by. He had not connected this place with the Plain of Judgment in the Written.
The scattered riders in the north drew near enough now for individuals to be discerned. They failed to notice the cloud in the east. They were near enough for the combined effect of their hoofbeats to be sensed, more on the edge of feeling than hearing.
The Master of Ghosts said, “Time to leave. Those are the buddies of the guy who got killed last night.'
Else usually listened to his Master of Ghosts. It seemed the safest way to deal with the Tyranny of the Night. So, he was not there to witness a clash between steppe horsemen and cavalry from the northern Kaifate. The Lucidians were led by the famous Indala al-Sul Halaladin.
Not much happened. Neither force got the other to do anything stupid. Arhanders from Vantrad arrived in the afternoon. The earlier forces faded away as twilight gathered.
After dark supernatural forces got busy.
