"Oh, her—I think they both went off together."

"Both?"

"Her and the dark-haired woman."

"Where did they go?"

"What's it worth to tell you what I know?" The guard looked cunningly at me.

"I will speak to Morda Kohn. He owes us a favor. I will ask him to show mercy to you."

"You'll keep your word?"

"Of course."

"I think they went to the Mountains of Argzoon."

"Ah-but why?" Darnad broke in. "Why should a Vladnyar willingly go to Argzoon? The Blue Giants are no-one's friends."

"There is something mysterious about Horguhl's association with the Argzoon. Perhaps when we find her we will learn the answer," I said. "Could you lead us to the Mountains of Argzoon, Darnad?"

"I think so." He nodded.

"Come, then—let's make haste after them. With luck we may even catch them before they reach the mountains."

"Best that we did," he said. "Why?"

"Because the Argzoon literally dwell in the mountains—in the Caves of Darkness that run under the range. Some say it is really the Bleak World of the Dead, and from what I've heard it's possible!"

We spoke briefly to Morda Kohn, telling him to show the guard mercy. Then we strode outside, mounted our daharas and rode into the nightheading for the dreadful Caves of Darkness.

We were not lucky. First Darnad's beast cut its foot on a sharp rock and went lame. We had to travel at walking pace for a full day until we came to a camp where we could exchange Darnad's prime mount for a rather stringy beast that looked as if it had little stamina.

Then we lost our bearings on a barren plain known as the Wilderness of Sorrow—and we could understand why anyone would feel sorrowful on encountering it.

On the other hand, the mount that Darnad had exchanged was in fact very strong—and my own beast wearied before his did!

We finally crossed the Wilderness of Sorrow and emerged on the shores of an incredibly wide river—wider even than the Mississippi.

Another pause while we borrowed a boat from a friendly fisherman and managed to cross. Luckily Darnad had a precious ring on his finger and was able to convert this into pearls, which were the general currency of these parts.

We bought supplies in the riverside town and learned—to our relief, for there had always been the chance that the guard was lying maliciously— that two women answering to the description of Horguhl and Shizala had passed that way. We enquired if Shizala had seemed to be under restraint, but our informant told us that she did not appear to be bound.

This was puzzling and we could not understand why Shizala should seem to be travelling to the terrible domain of the Argzoon of her own free will.