"We know it now, my lord," said Tunigorn.

"And I have been traveling through the kingdom of my enemy, thinking in my foolishness that all I needed to do was speak soft words, and open my arms in love, and the Danipiur would smile and the Divine would bless us once again. But in truth the Danipiur and her people have been waging a terrible war against us all the while, and—"

"No, my lord," Deliamber said. "Not the Danipiur. Not so far as we know."

"What do you say?"

"The one whom Y-Uulisaan served is named Faraataa, a being consumed with hate, a wild man, who could not get the Danipiur to give her backing to his program, and therefore went off with his followers to launch it himself. There are two factions among the Metamorphs, do you see, my lord? This Faraataa leads the radical ones, the war-hungry ones. It is their plan to starve us into chaos and compel us to leave Majipoor. Whereas the Danipiur appears to be more moderate, or at least less fierce."

"Then I must continue toward Ilirivoyne and speak with her."

"You will never find Ilirivoyne, my lord," said Deliamber.

"And why is that?"

"They have taken the city apart, and they carry it on their backs through the jungle. I feel its presence when I cast my spells—but it is a presence that moves. The Danipiur flees you, my lord. She does not want to meet with you. Perhaps it is too dangerous politically—perhaps she is unable to control her own people any longer, and fears they will all go over to the faction of Faraataa if she shows any favor toward you. I am only guessing, my lord. But I tell you, you will never find her, even if you search in this jungle a thousand years."

Valentine nodded. "Probably you are right, Deliamber. Certainly you are right." He closed his eyes and sought desperately to quell the turmoil in his mind. How badly he had misjudged things; how little he had understood! "This communication between Metamorphs through the minds of sea dragons—how long has that been going on?"

"Perhaps quite some time, my lord. The sea dragons appear to be more intelligent than we have thought—and there seems to be some kind of alliance between them and the Metamorphs, or at least with some Metamorphs. It is very unclear."

"And Y-Uulisaan? Where is he? We should question him further on these things."

"Dead, my lord," said Lisamon Hultin.

"How is that?"

"When the storm struck, all was confusion, and he attempted to escape. We recaptured him for a moment, but then the wind tore him from my grasp and it was impossible to find him again. We discovered his body the next day."

"A small loss, my lord," Deliamber said. "We could have extracted little else from him."

"I would have liked the chance to speak with him, all the same," Valentine replied. "Well, it will not happen. Nor will I speak with the Danipiur either, I suppose. But it is hard for me to abandon that idea. Is there utterly no hope of finding Ilirivoyne, Deliamber?"