She shifted her gaze back to the oasis, marveling at the sight of the huge body of clean water amidst the parched desert wasteland. The Fountain could be felt in the trickling of the waters, but she realized it was also flowing from the man beside her. Intuition told her he was doing it deliberately to reveal himself to her.

“You are Fountain-blessed,” she said.

Again, he bowed his head. He clasped his hands behind his back. “I have no chance of defeating Gahalatine,” he said in a resigned tone. “I had hoped Chandleer Oasis would be too insignificant for him to consider. But he is running out of nations to conquer. And when one of his Wizrs arrived and emptied out our pools”—he said it with a shrug, but Trynne could sense the anger lurking behind the words—“I knew we would be overrun. He will give the oasis to one of his other leaders, someone from his spoke of influence. It will be a place where his people come to relax after their conquests. I have worked hard to maintain the oasis and protect its people. But Gahalatine will strip my position from me. That is what he does. I’ve heard too many of the stories to disbelieve it. And the strange thing is that since he, too, is Fountain-blessed, I will probably thank him for taking this away from me.”

There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, not that he could be blamed for it. Trynne, too, had heard about Gahalatine’s unique gift from the Fountain. It gave him such power of leadership that he had gathered to him a mighty host of kings who “wanted” to serve him.

“You said you had three daughters,” Trynne said. “What of the other two?”

King Sunilik beamed proudly. “My eldest is already married and they have a child, my granddaughter. My second is far from the oasis, studying to be a healer. I will need someone to care for me when I reach old age, so I thought it wise to invest in her learning.” He gave her a grin and a wink, but then his manner turned more serious. “It is my youngest, Sureya, who concerns me. The Fountain has whispered to me that I must send her away. I expected it would take a month for me to hear back from the queen. I wasn’t sure Chandleer would even exist as it does by then. It calms my troubled soul to see you here so soon. Will you bring Sureya to safety? I have taught her about my gifts from the Fountain and how they are replenished. She may have the aptitude for it. She is only sixteen.”