Blade planned to stay clear of anything larger than a farming village until both he and Lorya were so heavily disguised that their own mothers wouldn't have recognized them. In the villages and farms there were also men who would bear tales to the Wizard, but not quickly enough to help the Wolves in their search.

To confuse matters further, the Wolves would doubtless expect anyone who'd so openly rebelled against the Wizard to be making a dash for the borders of Rentoro. What lay beyond those borders was unexplored wilderness, with land that would grow no crops and forests swarmed with wild animals and savage cannibals. Here and there a handful of outlaws had carved out a small territory for themselves, but were so busy defending it that the Wizard could afford to ignore them. The borderlands offered nothing to tempt anyone-except a man who'd slain three of the Wolves. He might expect a more merciful death from the outlaws, the bears, or the cannibals than from the Wolves.

Instead, Blade and Lorya would be heading straight for the Wizard's castle, something few sane men in Rentoro ever did. Even those who gladly served the Wizard usually preferred to do so from a safe distance.

But-suppose the Wizard had tapped Blade's mind and read his thoughts? Blade wondered if this could happen without his being aware of it, and thought of last night's dreams. The problem was, he was dealing with a phenomenon far beyond not only his own experience but all of Home Dimension's scientific knowledge. There were no guidelines, only more educated guesswork.

He could be certain that he was nearly impossible to hypnotize. He could suspect that if telepathy existed, it involved something not too far from hypnosis. Therefore a man hard to hypnotize might also be very hard to reach telepathically, at least without his consent. That was as far as he cared to go at the moment. He would assume that neither the Wizard nor the Wolves knew which way he was going-and keep his sword sharp while he rode.

Lorya was uncomfortable with the idea of riding straight on to the Wizard's castle, but not frightened. She trusted Blade's judgment, and in any case a clean death held no real terrors for her. Her objections were all simple, common-sense ones.

«The castle of the Wizard is also the lair of his Wolves. For many miles outside the walls they keep a close watch. How shall we pass through them to reach the castle? Do we slip in by night?»

Blade shook his head. «No. We go in by day. That way no one will think us people who have anything to fear from the Wolves.»

«Then the Wolves will surely find us.»

«Yes, but we can say that we have business for the Wizard, and for him only.»

«Will they believe us?»

«Lorya, I have been in many lands and met several men who behave like the Wizard. Their servants go in mortal fear of displeasing them and would not dare risk turning aside a man who says he has business with their master. Believe me, the Wolves will not lift a finger against us.»

«And then? After we enter the castle? What do you hope to do?»

«Meet the Wizard. I am traveling to learn as much as I can about each land I visit.»

«Why?»

«I am curious.»

Lorya shook her head. «I think a better word might be mad.» She laughed. «Perhaps the Wizard will also think you are mad and let you go.»

Blade wasn't sure what he wanted the man to think. Even if the Wizard turned out to have nothing but swordsmen and dungeons at his command, facing him in his den would be a risky business. If it hadn't been for the strange powers the Wizard might have, Blade would have been quite willing to study him from a safe distance.

Blade and Lorya kept to the trail all morning, then spent the afternoon cutting across country. They camped for the night in the forest a mile from a small village. In the chill darkness of the early morning, Blade slipped into the village and stole a heuda for Lorya. They were on the move again well before daylight, and did not stop until evening, twenty miles away from the village and anybody who might recognize the stolen animal.

That was how they made their way across Rentoro toward the Wizard's castle-one improvisation after another, always with the idea of confusing their trail. Lorya cut her hair short, darkened her skin, and dressed in man's clothing, passing as Blade's servant. Blade acquired one set of clothing after another, each a little fancier than the one before it. He paid for the clothes, for Lorya's saddle, for their food and wine, and for their lodging at inns or farmhouses with pieces of the gold necklace.

Blade did not explain who he was, and no one asked him to do so. Each piece of the necklace was worth a year's wages for a skilled worker. No sensible man would risk losing that much money by asking pointless questions.

There was another reason for people's lack of curiosity, as Lorya explained. «In Rentoro, a man like you, who travels without saying why, is almost always high in the service of the Wizard. Such men often take lodging, meals, heudas, even women as their natural right. If one of them is generous enough to pay, no Rentoran in his senses is going to argue.»

Rentorans might not go to the Wizard's castle, but even the children knew where it was. Day after day the directions grew more precise, and day after day Blade pushed on faster. An eagerness to get to grips with the Wizard and dig out his secrets was beginning to fill him. Lorya saw this and found it more and more difficult to hide her doubts. Sometimes Blade caught a glimpse of her when she didn't think he was looking, and her face was drawn and troubled. Dark circles grew under her eyes, and flesh melted off her already slim body.

On the eleventh day they reached the last village on the road to the castle. South of the village, white wooden posts with the wolf sign in green rose on either side of the road. They marked the beginning of the area patrolled by the Wolves. No man willingly passed those posts without some very good reason, and not all those who did came out again.

The village itself was no more than a dozen houses, four of them inns with stables attached. The inns all looked prosperous, for there was money to be earned from the Wizard's servants as they passed back and forth on their master's business. But even that money could not make men happy about living here in the Wizard's back yard, with the Wolves never more than half an hour's ride away. All the men and women in the village had a hunted look, and there were only a few children.

Blade stopped in sight of the village, but well out of earshot of any of its people, and motioned Lorya up close beside him.

«We spend the night here,» he said. «Then I ride on, to the Wizard's castle.»

«Alone?» Her eyes widened. «But I-«

«Let me finish. I hope to be back within ten days, for better or worse. If I am not back within ten days-«

«I can ride in after you.»

«No. Wait another five days. Something quite harmless may have happened to delay me. At the end of the extra five days, sell everything you can spare and ride north as fast as you can. Find some town where no one knows you and use the rest of the gold to settle there. Perhaps you may be able to return to Dodini someday, but it will not be safe for a year or two at least.

«If I'm not back in fifteen days, one of two things will have happened. Either I'll be dead, or I'll have had to flee so quickly that I'd be putting you in danger by trying to pick you up. Either way, you won't do anything by going to the castle except fall into the hands of the Wolves and throw your life away for nothing.»

The woman seemed about to protest, but Blade raised a hand and continued. «Lorya, you've had more than your share of bad luck in your life. But that life isn't over and your luck could change. Give it a chance, why don't you, instead of getting yourself killed at twenty?»