“Have you eaten, Lord? Can we discuss it over breakfast?”

“Fine. We’ve been up all night, and had nothing since yesterday noon.”

Over the meal, Hsu Shen said, “We observed what happened both before and after the battle on the Tusghus.” He explained how the woman in white had removed and returned the godling to its home.

“Very good,” Shih-ka’i said. “I appreciate it, Hsu Shen. I’ll remember you. How dangerous is it in its current circumstances? Can it stop us?”

“I don’t know, Lord. When the woman removed it, it seemed happy. No reason to dispute what was happening. When she returned it, it was unconscious. It awakened furious.”

“And now?”

“Angry somnolence? Yes. It’s in a dreaming rage. But we’re really too far away to tell anything for sure.”

“I understand.” After a few minutes, Shih-ka’i said, “We’ll go over tonight. I’d better rest.”

“Tonight, Lord? That’s cutting it fine. I’ll have to send someone now in order to get a portal placed in time.”

“Right. Be careful. Don’t alert it. And wake me if it does get excited.”

“As you command, Lord.”

Shih-ka’i retired to quarters hastily prepared for him. Pan ku and Lord Kuo accompanied him.

Lord Kuo took a chair. “This monster… It’s what I sensed back when?” Shih-ka’i nodded. “What’re you going to do with it once you’ve taken it out of the stone thing?”

“I’ll consider my options when the time comes.”

“Did they notice me? I was too nervous to tell.”

“No. Let’s get some sleep. I’ve been too long without.”

Hsu Shen himself wakened Shih-ka’i. “Sunset, Lord. I’ve moved a team to within a mile. Hard on the men. The heat was insufferable.”

So are you sometimes, Shih-ka’i thought. “Let’s have supper before we go.”

“It’s ready. I’ll have the stewards set it out.”

“Give us time for our rituals.”

“Of course, Lord.” Hsu Shen seemed surprised.

“Yes. I still perform mine. We don’t outgrow the need, Hsu Shen.”

Pan ku came striding into the apartment as Shih-ka’i completed his rituals. “Where have you been?”

“Prowling, Lord. To see if there was any talk about our friend.”

“And?”

“Nothing. And they’d come to me if they had questions about my master.”

“Good. Satisfied, Lord Kuo?”

“Eminently.”

“Pan ku, we may have to leave in a hurry if this raid sours. Be ready. In any case, you’ll be the last man off the island.”

“It’s a good hiding place,” Wen-chin observed.

“One thing, Lord. I’m not a political man. Don’t involve me.”

“You’ve done more than I deserved already. I won’t put you at risk.”

“Thank you. Pan ku, suppertime.”

Shih-ka’i went through the transfer first. One by one, Hsu Shen’s men followed him into the cooling desert. This promised to become a chilly night’s work.

Shih-ka’i prepared protective spells, then seated himself on the crest of a dune. The stone monster loomed before him. The thing within was sleeping. The transfer had not alerted it.