They had chosen an attractive place to spend the night. It was a large basin, almost as level as a plain, and wide enough to hold the entire enemy force. On three sides, it was sheltered by shallow hillsides that good horses could ascend at a gallop. To the west lay a sharper bluff marked by bare rock and gorse. There an overgrown rift spilled fresh water into smaller streams wandering through the lowland. In almost every way, the basin was ideal—for an army that did not fear an attack.

For the el-Algreb, however, the camp was uniquely vulnerable.

For Hellick, one glance was enough to clarify Suti al-Suri’s intentions. The Cleckin herd appeared to number more than three thousand head. Of course, the horse-warriors would not simply shoot the animals. But if they contrived to steal even a third of those beasts, they might force the raiders to reconsider their commitment to the Great God’s war.

The Cleckin had an obvious counter. They could ignore the bait. Before their losses became severe, two thousand raiders massed and mounted could force their way out of the basin.

But that would require them to leave their supplies behind. They would have to ride north with no food and little water. And they had one other detail to consider: they could not know how many el-Algreb had come against them.

As Suti al-Suri had predicted, the raiders would lose this contest whatever they did.

The sub-Commander was satisfied. Sure of himself now, he sent his first signal to General Klamath. It said:

The el-Algreb can hold.

That was enough.

EIGHTEEN

“WHO AND WHAT YOU ARE”

Apprentice Travail’s lessons saved Queen Estie from long days of chewing on her inability to make her most personal decision despite her uselessness in every other aspect of impending war. She studied the language of finger-taps with an indirect hunger that bordered on fever. Travail had suggested that learning Magister Rummage’s code might help her make up her mind about her sleeping gift. She closed her mind to everything else whenever the Apprentice felt strong enough to teach. At other times, she practiced avidly with Commander Crayn. When other duties called him away, she sought out Magister Oblique.

Crayn was responsible for the honor guardsmen in Queen Estie’s escort. They needed exercise and training. Guided by Magister Oblique, he led them with their horses and weapons out of the Repository and down a trail to an open expanse of stone below the keep. It lay midway between the library’s immense plateau and the northward sweep of the road, and it provided more than enough space for mounted drills and combat exercises. The Commander spent his afternoons there, honing his men.

But he did not let that task preclude his service to his Queen. In the evenings, he and Estie worked on finger-taps until their hands ached and their concentration blurred.