Once in the boat, Sandreena ordered Farson to rest as best he could, and Keandar needed no urging to cross his arms, drop chin to chest, and lose himself in sleep. Sandreena knew her best choice was to somehow keep awake until nightfall and then wake Farson, give him two clear guides in the heaven to steer by, then she would give herself permission to rest. Her only concern now was the marauders that plied these sea lanes. By striking straight for Sorcerer’s Isle she would quickly leave the coastal routes behind, with their attendant risk of pirates. Three armed warriors in a city with plenty of defensible positions from which to defend themselves—and the risk that the usually indifferent city watch might choose to take a hand—was one thing. Three armed warriors in a small boat come upon by a full company of armed men at sea was quite another. Sandreena knew that should pirates heave into view, she and her companions would be quickly bound back to Durban and the slave pens.

Sandreena stayed awake by sheer strength of will, and when finally the sun set and the stars rose, she nudged Farson. With a nod of her head she indicated they should let the dwarf sleep, though from what she saw, waking him might prove difficult.

She quickly gave him a brief lesson on steering the little craft. With a single boom sail and no jib, it only took her a few minutes to demonstrate the simple task of running abreast a following wind. She made it clear that if something proved too difficult for him, he should wake her at once. He nodded, and she pointed to a star rising directly ahead. “That will be your point of reference, that large slightly blue star. If you keep pointed directly at it, you’ll eventually come north and we’ll be sailing west of where we want to be. So in about three hours you’ll see three small stars rise about the same place. They form a tiny triangle, point down. Put the bow of the boat between where they rise and that blue star until the blue star is over there.” She pointed off to her left. “Once it’s past the highest point in the sky…” She blinked. Then she yawned uncontrollably. “If it starts to go down…” She lay down. Closing her eyes, she said, “Between the blue star and the three until the blue star starts to sink, then straight at the three. You’ll zig and zag, but we’ll get there. Wake me when the eastern sky starts to brighten. I’ll need a quick look at the sky to see…how…far…” She fell asleep.