Beau groaned. "I just knew it would be blocked in the winter." He clambered onto the bed beside Tip and under the remaining cover, flopping and flapping the one he had used for wrap in a futile attempt to spread overtop all.

"Thou art right, wee one," said Phais, handing Beau's clothing to him. "The city of Dendor lies far beyond the Grimwall, and the most direct and swiftest way through the chain is now barricaded with snow."

Beau, sorting through his bundle and mumbling to himself, said, "Dendor in Aven, that's where Agron lives."

Tip pulled his jerkin over his head. "And the straight way east is now blocked and we'll have to wait till spring?"

Loric nodded. "After the thaw, when the road through Crestan Pass is clear."

"Say, now," said Beau, "the thaw, that's what-two, three months off? Isn't there another way? Slower, perhaps, but passable? I mean, the Kingsman who was delivering the coin, well, wouldn't he have known about this Crestan Pass, it being blocked and all?"

Loric shrugged and looked at Phais, and she said, " 'Twould seem so. Yet mayhap he was riding south for Gunarring Gap, to circle 'round and then north."

Tip glanced at Beau. "If we had our ponies, we could go that way."

Beau nodded, his lips pursed in regret.

"But we do not," continued Tipperton, now struggling to slip into his breeks under the cover.

Seeing his plight, Phais smiled and then deliberately turned her back to the bed. And both buccen threw off the blankets and quickly began to dress, Beau saying, "Well then, bucco, I suppose we'll just have to walk, though it'll take us awhile to reach Dendor. Oh, my aching feet."

Tip, pulling on his socks, said, "I suppose you are right, Beau. But by the time we get there, the import of the coin may have little or no meaning."

"Be not distressed, wee ones," said Loric, "for Alor Tala-rin has heard thy tale and knows of the need to deliver the token in a timely manner. Even so, he cannot perform miracles; he cannot banish the ice and snow standing across thy way. Still, knowing Talarin, he will find means to aid ye."

Both buccen hopped down from the bed and sat on the floor to pull on their boots. Phais turned back 'round and said, "After breaking our fast, we'll look at the maps and decide what to do, for I deem that waiting for the thaw and riding directly east will prove to be more expedient than traveling far south through Gunnar and all the way northward again."

Fully dressed, the buccen caught up their quilted jackets and followed Loric and Phais to another long, low building, where they found Elvenkind at meal. Taking up trenchers and spoons and knives and a cup, they moved through a serving line and received biscuits and butter and a flagon of milk and bowls of porridge sprinkled with pine nuts. They took places at a long table, both Tip and Beau kneeling on the bench rather than sitting, for the table was sized for Elvenkind rather than Waerlinga. Loric passed an earthenware jug of milk to pour over the porridge, along with a small crock of honey to sweeten the meal. Too, Phais filled their cups with hearty tea, adding milk and honey to the drink.

They ate for a while in silence, but then Tipperton looked across at Loric and said, "Tell me this: thrice yesternight you named Lady Rael crystal seer. Why so?"

Loric remained silent for a moment, and Tip thought he wasn't going to answer, but at last he said, "Dara Rael is a rarity among Lian: she can at times divine things to come."

"Oh," replied Tip. "Like Lady Arin? They said she had wild magic and could see the future in flames."

Loric nodded, adding, "Aye, Dara Arin was indeed a flame seer, though it was the Mages themselves who named her talent 'wild magic' "

"And Lady Rael has this same kind of wild magic?"

Loric pursed his lips, then said, "Mayhap. But instead of flames, Dara Rael divines her auguries using a crystal as her focus."

"Huah," grunted Beau. "It must be a rather dull life when you already know what's going to happen each day."

Phais laughed. "Nay, Sir Beau. Dara Rael does not know the everyday future. Instead she catches rare glimpses of portentous events, or occasionally speaks a rede, and not even she knows at times what they may foreordain."

"Oh, my," said Beau, now disappointed. "I mean, it would have been nice to know how our mission will turn out."

Phais sighed. "Would that it were so for all, for then mayhap we could take certain steps to thwart Modru."

"According to Delon's 'Lay of Arin and Egil One-Eye,' they took steps to prevent a foreseen disaster," said Tipperton.

At a puzzled frown from Loric, Tip continued: "What I am leading to is that if Lady Rael has foreseen anything of what is to come, then like Arin and her band, we could take steps to turn aside disaster."

Loric shook his head. "Not even Arin Flameseer could tell to what end her venture would lead. Whether or no she averted calamity, none knows."

"Even after all this time?"

"Even so."

"Say," said Beau, "if she had gotten together with Lady Rael, perhaps together they could have ciphered it out."

"But they did meet, Sir Beau," said Loric.

"They did?" exclaimed Tipperton.

"Aye," said Loric. "In Darda Galion. An ill-starred day, that, for 'twas when the Nine were felled."

"Yet well fated, too, for 'twas the same day Dara Rael and Alor Talarin pledged their troth," added Phais.

"Oh, my," said Beau. "Sorrow and joy mixed."

"Indeed," said Phais, "as is oft the case."

Tip took a deep breath and expelled it, and they finished their meal in silence.

Talarin peered down at the map lying open on the table. At hand, both Tipperton and Beau stood on chairs and gazed at the map as well.

Beau glanced up at Talarin. "So the southern route is three hundred leagues and some longer? I say, that's a bit over nine hundred miles, eh?"

Talarin nodded, adding, "Mayhap e'en a thousand." Then he looked across at Phais. "Thou art right, Dara. To wait for the thaw and travel directly east proves swifter than to ride south now through the remainder of winter and then angle northerly for Aven."

"Not if we use enough remounts," said Loric.

Talarin shook his head. "Given the state of Modru's gathering, we have none to spare, I fear, for war will be upon us soon."

Tipperton made a negating gesture. "Look, even if you could spare the horses, we couldn't use them; they're altogether too big for the likes of us. I mean, simply hoisting a saddle up on one would be a chore, the great, tall things they are."

"We could stand on stumps," said Beau.

Tip grinned. "Oh, right. And I suppose we'd have to camp only where stumps are, eh? That or chop down a tree each night."

"Perhaps we could carry a ladder," suggested Beau.

Tip laughed, then sobered. "I'm sorry, Beau, but I was envisioning one of us on a ladder leaned against the horse, and him shifting 'round to see what this fool was about, and then fool and ladder splatting to the ground. No, my friend, stumps, slopes, rocks, ladders-Warrows learned long past that ponies are for the likes of us."

Talarin turned to the buccen. "None of us knows the import of the coin ye intend to convey, yet if that slain band of Kingsmen were taking it unto Agron, it must bear some weight. Hence, this will I do: when the season permits, I will send ye forth on swift horses with an escort." Now Talarin looked across the table at Loric and Phais. "I am of a mind to ask ye twain to accompany the Waerlinga unto Dendor."

Loric glanced briefly at Phais and then asked Talarin, "E'en in these troubled times, Alor, with Modru at Arden's door?"

"Even so," replied Talarin.

At these words both Loric and Phais canted their heads, and Phais said, "It has been awhile since Alor Loric and I rode together in common cause 'gainst the Ruptish foe."