Due to the difference in written language, landmarks such as the wells were drawn as icons on the chart. Will nodded his understanding.
'My guess is, if he found water, he'd stay close by it. If he's not there, I can't advise you what to do next,' Selethen said. Will said nothing, studying the map, then looking up from it into the empty space to the north.
'Light a fire at night. There are lions in the desert and a fire will keep them at bay. You'll know if there's one around.' He glanced at the roan horse. 'Arrow will tell you quickly enough. He's what the lion will be hunting.'
'Anything else to look out for?' Will asked.
'Sand cobras. They're deadly. They look for shade and moisture – as most living things do in the desert. They blend in with the sand and you don't know there's one around until it rears up. When that happens, you have less than two seconds before it strikes.'
'And what do I do if I'm bitten?' Will asked. Selethen shook his head slowly.
'You die,' he said.
Will raised an eyebrow. That wasn't exactly the answer he'd been looking for. He shook hands with Selethen, rolled the map up and tucked it inside his jerkin.
'Thanks, Selethen. I'll see you in a few days.' Selethen touched his hand to mouth, brow and mouth.
'I hope the god of journeys wills it so,' he said.
Will turned to the others, forced a grin and took Arrow's rein from Horace.
'Better be off,' he said with mock cheerfulness. 'Can't keep the sand cobras waiting.'
He swung easily into the saddle and turned Arrow's head to the north, trotting away from the little camp by the wadi. When he had gone a hundred metres, he turned back and immediately wished he hadn't. He felt a huge lump of sadness in his throat and breast at the sight of his friends. Evanlyn, Horace, Gilan and Svengal were all waving sadly. Halt didn't wave. He stood a little apart from the others, watching his apprentice ride away.
He'd continue to watch until well after the horse and rider had faded into the shimmering desert haze.
'Come on, Halt. Selethen says it's time we were moving.'
Gilan placed a gentle hand on the older man's shoulder. Halt had remained where he stood when Will left, staring across the heat-shimmering ground, willing his apprentice to travel safely.
He started at Gilan's words and finally turned away from his vigil. He was a little surprised, and quite touched, to see that Gilan had saddled Abelard for him. But he was still heavy-hearted as he walked to where his horse waited.
Abelard and Blaze seemed to sense Tug's absence as well, he thought. In other horses, that might have been a fanciful notion. But Ranger horses, like their riders, were a close-knit breed. And, of course, Abelard and Tug had been in each other's close company for nigh on five years. Halt sensed the restlessness in his own horse, the urge to turn towards the north where he sensed his young friend had gone. He patted the soft nose and spoke gently.
'He'll find him, boy. Never fret.'
But as he said the words, Halt wished he could believe them himself. He was worried and apprehensive for Will – in no small part because his apprentice had gone into a countryside about which he, Halt, knew little himself. Normally he would have been able to advise and counsel him of the dangers he might face. This time, he was allowing him to venture into a great unknown.
He swung into the saddle and glanced around the faces of his companions. He saw his own doubt and worry reflected there and he realised that for their sake, if nothing else, he must adopt a more positive stance.
'I don't like it any more than you do,' he told them. 'But let's look at the positive side of things. He's well armed. He's well trained. He's got a good horse. He's an excellent navigator and he has his Northseeker and Selethen's map. What can go wrong?'
Their spirits lifted a little as he listed the positives. Will was capable, intelligent and resourceful. Any one of them would trust him to come through in a crisis. All of them had, at one stage or another. There was a general lightening in their mood as the Arridi outriders clattered out of the camp.
But as he turned Abelard's head round and headed away from the direction Will had taken, Halt had a gnawing feeling that there was an element he had left out of his calculations.
Chapter 23
In days to come, Halt would berate himself savagely for the problem that Will was about to face, and for the danger it placed his young friend in. He should have known, he told himself. He should have realised.
When Halt thought about it, with the crystal clarity that comes of hindsight, he realised that he had spent years living in a castle named Redmont – or Red Mountain. It was so called because the rock that comprised its massive walls lent the castle a reddish tinge in the afternoon light. The rock was ironstone, and it contained a high percentage of iron ore.
Halt knew that Will would be travelling through an area named the Red Hills. In his own mind, he told himself he should have made the connection: ironstone, Redmont, iron ore and Red Hills.
The hills were, in fact, the site of massive deposits of iron – so rich that at times the ore itself was visible in large veins on the surface. The red coloration was the result of rust forming. The problem for Will was that as he rode among these huge iron deposits – and some of the hills were almost completely composed of iron ore – his magnetic Northseeker needle would deviate from the earth's magnetic field as it was attracted to the metal all around him.
Selethen knew of the iron, of course. Most of the iron and steel the Arridi used was quarried from this area – principally because it was so easy to access, requiring no deep shafts or complicated equipment. But the Arridi knew nothing of the secret of the Northseekers and the three Rangers had been careful to keep them hidden. So Selethen had no way of knowing that Will's navigation would be severely affected by the iron as his needle deviated first one way, then the other.
Between them, the two men had the knowledge that might have kept Will safe. But neither of them realised, so neither of them said anything.
It might have become apparent to Will if he simply rode with his eyes glued to the Northseeker. If that had been the case, he might well have noticed that from time to time the needle swung and deviated wildly. But that wasn't how he was trained to navigate cross country. After all, one can't ride through potentially dangerous territory staring down at a magnetic needle.
Instead, Will would rein in and hold the Northseeker at eye level until the needle settled to its final position. Then he would turn the graduated ring round the rim of the Northseeker until the needle coincided with the N mark. Then, peering through the aperture sight on the side, he would line his eye with the NE marking, all the while keeping the Northseeker facing the N marking. Looking through the aperture site, he would search from a prominent landmark maybe five or ten kilometres away, then ride north-east towards it. As he reached that landmark, he would repeat the process, finding another landmark that lay to the north-east of his position and riding towards that.
The fact that each time he went through this process, he was in fact deviating further and further to the east of his desired course was never apparent to him.