'I will not leave you!' Fenn cried. 'I have come so close to losing you that I will never leave you again.'

'I am not a messenger, Magus. You owe me more respect than to treat me as one. Like Fenn, I will stay with you. Send Hilto,' Meren declared.

Taita made a gesture of resignation. 'Will no one take an order from me without argument?' he demanded of the night sky.

'Probably not,' Fenn answered primly, 'but you might try speaking gently to Hilto.'

Taita capitulated and called Hilto forward. 'Ride ahead at first light as fast as your horse will carry you. Find Colonel That Ankut and say that I have sent you. Tell him that Aquer knows we are aiming for the Kitangule river, and is in hot pursuit. That must send a small detachment of fighting men ahead to seize the boats at the headwaters of the river before the Jarrians can destroy them. Tell him his plan to hold

the Kitangule Gap until all our people have been embarked is a good one, but he must send me twenty of his best men. This is desperately urgent. Hilto, you must lead the men he gives you back along the1 east road towards Mutangi until you find us. Go now! At once!' Hilto saluted and, without another word, cantered away.

'What we need is an ambuscade where we can wait for Aquer.' Taita turned back to Meren. 'You know precisely the kind of place we are looking for. Ask Sidudu if she knows of one.' Meren spurred forward to Sidudu, who listened intently to his request.

'I know just such a place,' she said, as soon as he had finished speaking.

'You are such a clever girl,' Meren told her proudly, and for a moment the two of them were lost in each other's eyes.

'Come, then, Sidudu,' Taita called. 'Show us if you are truly as clever as Meren declares you are.'

Sidudu led them off the track they had been following and turned towards the great starry cross in the southern sky. Within an hour's ride she had reined in at the top of a low, wooded hill and, in the moonlight, pointed down at the valley that opened before them.

'There is the ford of the Ishasa river. You can see the glint of the water. The road that Lord Aquer must follow to reach the Kitangule Gap crosses there. The water is deep so their horses will have to swim. From the top of the cliff we can shower arrows and rocks on them once they enter the water. They will have to ride forty leagues downstream to find another ford.'

Taita studied the crossing carefully, and nodded. 'I doubt that we will find a better place.'

'I told you,' said Meren. 'She has a warrior's eye for good ground.'

'You carry a bow, Sidudu.' Taita nodded at the weapon that hung over her shoulder. 'Can you use it?'

'Fenn taught me,' Sidudu replied simply.

'During your absence Sidudu has become an expert archer,' Meren confirmed.

'It seems there is no end to the virtues of this young paragon,' Taita said. 'We are fortunate to have her with us.'

They swam the horses through the ford, whose current was strong.

Once they reached the eastern bank they saw that the path followed a narrow, rocky defile between the cliffs. It was only wide enough for horses to pass in single file. Taita and Meren climbed it and from there surveyed the ground below.

'Yes,' Taita said. 'This will do.'

Before he allowed them to rest, he went over his plans for the ambush and made each in turn repeat the role he had assigned to them. Only then did he allow them to unsaddle and hobble the horses, fill their nosebags with crushed dhurra meal and turn them loose.

It was a cold camp because Taita would not allow a fire. They ate dhurra cakes and slices of cold roast goat's meat dipped in a fiery pepper sauce. As soon as they had finished Nakonta took his spears and went to stand sentry at the ford. Imbali followed him.

'She is now his woman,' Fenn whispered to Taita.

'That comes as no surprise, but I trust that Nakonto will keep at least one eye on the ford,' Taita remarked drily.

'They are in love,' said Fenn. 'Magus, you have no romance in your soul.' She went to untie her bedroll from the back of Whirlwind's saddle, selected a sleeping spot in the lee of a rocky outcrop well away from the others and spread her sleeping mat on the ground with a fur kaross.

Then she came back to Taita. 'Come.' She took his hand and led him to the mat, helped him out of his tunic, balled it up and held it to her nose. 'It smells very strong,' she remarked. 'I will wash it as soon as I have the chance.' She knelt beside him on the mat and covered him with the kaross, then took off her own tunic. Her body was very pale and slim in the light of the moon. She slipped under the kaross beside him and pressed her body to his.

'I am so glad that you have come back to me,' she whispered, and sighed. After a while she stirred and whispered again, 'Taita.'

'Yes?'

'There is a little stranger with us.'

'You must sleep now. It will soon be morning.'

'I will, in a moment.' She was silent again for a long while as she explored his altered body. Then she said softly, 'Taita, where did he come from? How did it happen?'

'Miraculously. In the same way as my appearance was changed. I will explain it all later. Now we must sleep. There will be many other opportunities for you and the little stranger to become better acquainted.'

'May I hold him, Taita?'

'You are already doing so,' he pointed out.

She was quiet again for a while. Then she whispered, 'He is not so little, and he is growing bigger and bigger.' A little later she added happily, 'It seems to me that he is already a friend, no longer a stranger.

So now there are three of us. You, me and him.' Still holding him, she fell fast asleep. It took Taita much longer to do the same.

It seemed only minutes later that Nakonto woke him. 'What is it?'

Taita sat up.'¦ 'Cavalry on the road from the west.“

'Have they crossed the river?'

'No. They are bivouacked on the far side. I think that they did not want to chance a crossing in the dark.'

'Rouse the others and saddle up, but do it quietly,' Taita ordered.

In the faintest glimmer of dawn Taita lay on his belly on the rim of the cliff overlooking the ford. The two girls were at either side of him.

On the far bank of the river the Jarrian bivouac was stirring, the troopers throwing wood on the watch fires. The smell of roasting meat drifted to where the three lay. Now the light was strong enough for Taita to count heads. There were about thirty men in the troop. Some were at the cooking fires, others at the horse lines tending their mounts. A few were squatting among the bushes at their private business. Soon it was light enough to make out the features of some.

'There is Onka,' Sidudu whispered fiercely. 'Oh, how I hate that face.'

'Truly I understand your feelings,' Fenn whispered back. 'We will seek the first chance to deal with him.'

'I pray for it.'

'There is Aquer, and that is Ek-Tang with him.' Taita pointed them out.

The two oligarchs were standing a little apart from the others. They were drinking from bowls that steamed in the cool morning air. 'They have not been able to contain themselves. They have rushed ahead of their regiments.

They will start to cross the ford soon, and when they do so they will give us an opportunity. If they don't, we will shadow them until Hilto brings up our reinforcements.'

'I could put an arrow through Aquer from here.' Fenn narrowed her eyes.

'The range is long and the dawn wind treacherous, my darling.' Taita laid a restraining hand on her arm. 'If we give them warning, the advantage passes to them.' They watched as Onka selected four of his men and gave them curt orders, at the same time gesticulating towards the ford. The men ran to their horses and mounted, then trotted to the river and plunged in. Taita signalled their movements to Meren.