Elinore said, “I have heard of such things happening with mages. They say that they follow the light, a common enough expression among some who control magic. I think it tells them where to find friends.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“Meaning that you did not arrive here by accident,” she said.
Warnings cluttered my mind, all centered on the Young Mage. “Who directed me here?”
She shook her head, “No, I don’t think it was a person. I believe the occurrence is far simpler to explain. Your mind searches for something, a place, destination, or objective. Without knowing how, it reaches out and locates those things. The glint or flash you believe you saw was probably only in your mind. That is how I’ve heard the process explained but have never experienced it.”
Her explanation was better than thinking a random act of chance had brought us together. I turned to Kendra. “Can we delay our trip a few days?”
She nodded. “If these good people will allow us to remain here. We have so much to learn and finally have found people who know much more than us.” She turned to them. “We can pay.”
Elinore was already shaking her head, refusing payment. Big Salim said, “We also have things to learn from you.”
Little Salim spun and strode away as if angry or fearful. He was at the age where anger rules his daily life.
“He has chores to complete,” his father said lamely.
I’d never been so anxious to do my chores that I’d almost ran to them but said nothing. Instead, I allowed my mind to wander, thinking of subjects to speak about. It seemed obvious we’d been drawn here, probably by my mind as Elinore had suggested. Since arriving, in the space of eating a meal, we’d learned so much. What else were we going to find out? What questions should we ask? Where should we begin?
*We were ambushed,* Anna’s voice burst into my mind like being struck on the back of my head with the blade of a shovel.
*What happened?*
*They came in the night where the lakes narrowed, probably a hundred soldiers in twenty boats. Instead of fighting, Will ordered the sails raised and all of us to row. They chased us, but as the old fisherman said, they were not very good rowers.*
*You all escaped?* I asked.
*Yes, for now. We are in another large lake but along the shore are soldiers on horses keeping pace with us. The lake is narrower and we will never be out of sight of them.*
I turned to Kendra. “We have to leave.”
“Trouble?” she asked.
“There are soldiers on horseback keeping pace with them.” I glanced at Elinore and Big Salim. “Our friends. We have to go help them.”
Big Salim said, “Then you must go. Elinore will gather food for travel while we talk.”
“About?” I asked, anxious to leave but knowing to remain. We needed food to take and he wanted to talk.
“We are in hiding. This place,” he threw his arms wide to indicate the small valley, “was a desert with a small spring. Using magic, this is what we made of it. I failed at being a mage, and because of that, Kaon wanted me dead. All who fail to meet their standards are put to death.”
“You escaped?”
“And found Elinore a year later. We hid in Dagger for years, then came here when a new mage came into power and detected me. He is in Kaon, the leader of all mages, but he was only a child back then. He started searching for any who failed the mage society and lived. Those who didn’t agree with him were killed. We were lucky to escape. You must be wary of him.”
I said, “Our name for him is the Young Mage. We’ve had a few confrontations already.”
“Then you are either more powerful than I suspected or very lucky.”
CHAPTER TEN
We departed the green valley and our new friends a short while later, our horses laden with food, our water jugs filled to brimming, and our minds overflowing with new information to mull over. We had spent only one precious day with them. That short time left me feeling empty. There was so much to learn—and that they could teach us. Even Little Salim knew far more about magic than us. His initial fear of our appearance had eventually turned to friendliness.
Our destination was to ride north again, to quickly reach the lakes and attempt to help our friends trapped on the waters of a smaller lake. How we would help them was still an unknown, but with an army pacing them on each shore, they couldn’t leave the boat. Sooner or later they would have to row ashore and surrender. There was no trail or path to follow left by Big Salim and Elinore on the few trips where they had departed their secure valley because paths and trails are two-way. They could take them from their home but could also lead others to it, so they left no trace of their passing.
Kendra said, “Any ideas of what we can do? Does Anna have any information?”
“No. But I think before we do anything at all, I need to communicate with Anna again and let her know we’re coming, as well as ask for their ideas. Will might have something.”
“Really?” she asked, her voice jabbing at me for stating the obvious. I might as well have told her the sun was in the sky.
I should have said something clever and biting in response, but the jostling gait of the horse was making my behind tender again and my mind slow. It hurt my full stomach, jarred my teeth, and blurred my vision as I peered into the distance. While the animal under my behind was bred to be adapted to the desert, it seemed to me that the breeders could have considered the comfort of the riders too. I longed for the smooth, easy stride of the horses at Crestfallen.
They rode so easy after being trained by the Stablemaster that I’d slept in the saddle more than once. Ahead of us spread a vast openness and more brown sand. Here and there a withered plant clung to life. The horizon was obscured by waves of heat rising.
Kendra called over her shoulder, “Big Salim never asked me how we crossed the Brownlands. Did he ask you?”
“No. He must have made some assumptions. That means he either did the same when he crossed it, or he has another method. I wish we could have spent the time for me to learn from him.”
Kendra pulled up, so we could ride side by side, our knees bumping now and then despite the emptiness of the Brownlands. It was as if the horses wanted to walk closer to each other because they were the only animals alive. “He helped us understand more in a day than we’ve ever known. I agree. There is so much for him to teach you and me if he is willing. We will return to their valley and spend time with them.”
I glanced at her and in all seriousness said, “It’s dangerous when you think of all we don’t know. For instance, we could have died out there in the Brownlands if you hadn’t forced me to make it rain.”
She laughed. When I didn’t, she said, “Think about it. We needed a drink, a jar full of water, so you made an entire storm and soaked us all, small as it was. It was a thousand times what we needed. Don’t you think that’s funny?”
I glared at her. “No. Maybe it was a hundred times too big, no more than that.”
Her laughter rang louder in the empty desert air. Whatever animals that might have heard it probably dived deep into their burrows or raced away at full speed. I just looked directly ahead and tried to think of how I’d gotten myself to be the butt of another joke. No doubt, she would tell Princess Elizabeth and together they would giggle half the night.