The big man pulled at his beard, squinting downriver. "One day to the rapids," he replied, "then one day to make the portage around them. Then about two days after that."

"Four days," she said in a small voice. He nodded.

"I wish it was over," she sighed.

"All in good time, Ce'Nedra," he told her. "All in good time."

Chapter Fifteen

THE SHIPS WERE horribly crowded, even though scarcely half the army could squeeze aboard them. The Algar clansmen and the Mimbrate knights patrolled the banks as the Chereks rowed downriver toward the rapids, and those infantry elements that could not be carried by the ships rode in close files on the spare horses of the cavalry.

The Thullish grasslands on either side of the river were gently rolling, long hillsides covered with deep, sun-browned grass. Just back from the river there were sparse clusters of the twisted, sprucelike trees that had dotted the lower foothills, and near the water itself rose thickets of willow and creeping brambles. The sky remained clear, and it was still hot, though the river added enough moisture to the air to alleviate the parched aridity that had plagued men and horses alike in the vast, stony uplands. It was an alien landscape for all of them, and the cavalry patrolling the banks rode warily with their hands close to their weapons.

And then they rounded a wide bend and saw the white, tumbling water of the rapids ahead. Barak swung the tiller of his big ship over and beached her. "Looks like it's time to get out and walk," he grunted.

A dispute had arisen near the bow of the ship. The brown-bearded King Fulrach was loudly protesting the decision to leave his supply wagons behind at the rapids. "I didn't bring them all this way just to leave them sitting here," he declared with uncharacteristic heat.

"They take too long to get anyplace," Anheg told him. "We're in a hurry, Fulrach. I've got to get my ships past Thull Mardu before the Murgos or the Malloreans wake up to what we're doing."

"You didn't object to having them along when you got hungry or thirsty in the uplands," Fulrach told him angrily.

"That was then. This is now. I've got to take care of my ships."

"And I'm going to take care of my wagons."

"They'll be all right, Fulrach," Rhodar said placatingly. "We do have to hurry, and your wagons can't move fast enough to keep up."

"If somebody comes along and burns them, you're going to get very hungry before we get back to the forts, Rhodar."

"We'll leave men to guard them, Fulrach. Be reasonable. You worry too much."

"Somebody's got to. You Alorns seem to forget that the fighting's only half of it."