'Poor Magus! What will you do without me to care for you?' His voice

was rough. 'I warrant you will not be a day out of my sight before you are in some pretty piece of trouble.' Then he turned to Fenn. 'Take care of him and bring him back to us one day.'

Taita and Fenn mounted and rode down the backslope of the hills.

They halted half-way and looked back at the two small figures on the heights above them. Meren and Sidudu waved one last time, then turned their horses and vanished over the skyline.

'Where are we going?' Fenn asked.

'First we must cross a sea, great plains and then a high mountain range.'

'After that, whither?'

'Into a deep jungle to the temple of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and regeneration.'

'What will we find there?'

'A wise woman who will open your Inner Eye so that you will be able to help me discern the path to the sacred Font more clearly.'

'How long will our journey be?'

'Our journey will be without end, together through all time,' Taita told her.

Fenn laughed with joy. 'Then, my lord, we must begin at once.'

Side by side they spurred the horses and rode out into the unknown.