“Are we there? This is wonderful!” Kalaleq shouted aloud and laughed as he pushed the tiller over, secured it then rushed to adjust the sail. “Oh that I should see this, a whole new world—filled with murgu. Will the murgu be sailing in this sea now?”

“I don’t think so, not this time of year. But after we cross the mouth of Genaglè we will come to the great continent of Entoban* where it is always warm. There we must be careful.”

Murgu, Yilanè, the two words merged in his mind. They would be coming to the island soon. And he must attack them just as they attacked the Tanu on the other side of this sea. As they must be attacking them, even now.

* * *

“They will not fight,” Herilak said, his lips white with anger. “They will not attack us—and when we attack them they hide behind their poison walls where we cannot reach them.”

“They are murgu and murgu cannot be expected to war as Tanu or Sasku do,” Sanone said, reaching out with a stick to stir the fire so that sparks rose high and blew away on the cold breeze. In winter, at night, even in this protected valley the air grew chill, and he was no longer young with the warm flesh of youth. He drew his thick robe closer about him and looked around at the sleeping valley. Only he and Herilak remained awake; the others slept.

“They learn, the murgu learn,” Herilak said with some bitterness. “In the beginning we could spear them at night, cut them down and kill them. Now we cannot reach them at night. Nor during the day. They stay secure and do not advance until we have gone. Then they come on, slowly, but always closer.”

“How close are they now?” Sanone asked.

“They surround us, on all sides. Not within sight, not yet, but still there, four days’ march in any direction. The circle is not complete; they have separate armed camps, but all of them are invulnerable. If we attack one they stay inside and do not move. But while we do that the others come closer. One day they will all be here and the valley will be surrounded and that will be the end.”

“Then we must leave before it is too late, before we are trapped.”

“Go where?” Herilak’s eyes were wide with mixed feelings, their whites glowing in the firelight. “Is there any place that is safe from them? You are the mandukto of the Sasku, you lead your hunters and women. Do you know of any place of safety to lead them to now?”

Sanone shifted uneasily before he spoke. “Across the desert to the west. It is said that there is water, green grass on the other side.”

“Do you wish to lead your Sasku there?”