The Ambassador's Mission: Book One of th - By Trudi Canavan Page 0,147

probably best forgotten.”

“Yes.” Unh grinned. “I like you, Kyralian.”

Dannyl blinked in surprise. “Thank you. I like you, too.”

The man turned away. “We get back to camp now. I found trail.”

It was much harder to get out of the cave than into it, with the stones sliding out from under their feet, but the tribesman set his toes into the rough surface of one side of the crack and climbed out that way. Dannyl created a small disc of magic under his feet and levitated out. Unh seemed to find this very funny.

The walk back to camp was much quicker, since Unh no longer needed to stop and examine the ground. Dannyl was relieved to find that the magicians had let their slaves go to sleep, sprawled on the ground behind them. They were drinking some sort of liquor from the ornate cups each had brought with them. Dannyl accepted a measure of the fiery liquid. He only half listened to their conversation about an Ashaki’s son who had no skill as a trader and was going to ruin his family.

His mind kept returning to the fear that had coursed through him when he’d seen the walls of gemstones. I never even thought to wonder the worth of them as mere jewels, even after I calmed down. Hmm. I don’t think I did last time, either. But then, I was rather distracted …

A memory flashed through his mind of waking up utterly drained of power. Of Tayend, and the realisation of what he’d been hiding from himself for most of his life. That he was a “lad.” That he loved Tayend.

He felt a wave of sadness. A pity we had to change so much. Instead of growing around each other like that romantic notion of couples being like entwined trees, we became uncomfortably tangled, competing for water and soil.

He snorted softly. Such sentimental imagery was more the taste of Tayend’s poet friends. He looked at the Sachakans and Unh. They’d find such notions foolish, though in quite different ways.

Do the Traitors know of the cave? Unh said the crack was recent. I doubt the Sachakans do. From what I recall, the Duna’s main trade is selling gemstones. I wonder if Unh plans to come back with some of his people and harvest them before the Traitors discover them.

Then he recalled what Unh had said. The Duna knew how to make gemstones with magical properties. It was hard to imagine that a people like his could have access to such rare knowledge, yet live a simple, nomadic life.

Maybe it’s not all that simple, after all.

How was it that the Traitors could have such power, but have never left their hidden city? Clearly there were limitations to the gemstones. Maybe they had to be fixed to a surface, in a cave, in great numbers, in order to be an effective weapon.

The records of the storestone did not say it was fixed to anything. If it had been, removing it would have made it worthless. So why bother chasing after the thief?

Lorkin would be very interested to know what he’d learned tonight. But Lorkin was with the Traitors …

… and the Traitors had knowledge of magical gemstones.

Dannyl caught his breath.

Suddenly he understood something that was going to cause him considerable awkwardness with the men he was with, the Sachakan king, the Guild and, not the least, Lorkin’s mother.

Suddenly he understood there was a good chance Lorkin did not want to be found.

Not long after dawn, Savara had called a halt on a high, exposed ridge. The way had grown steeper and more rugged through the night, and all of the Traitors in their group had used tiny, faint lights hovering close to the ground to illuminate the way. After posting guards and sending out scouts, she told the rest of the group to settle just beyond the crest of the ridge, out of sight, and try to sleep.

“Our pursuers are several hours behind us now,” she said. “They’ll have to stop to rest, too, and they’re not as used to moving about in such rough territory as we are. We’ll continue on after sunset.”

The rest of the Traitors wore small packs like the ones Lorkin, Tyvara and Chari had carried since leaving the cart. He now discovered what the rolled-up bundles of thick fabric were. They were unrolling them for use as a mattress. He’d assumed they were some sort of blanket. But it made sense they’d carry a mattress over a blanket: magicians