Gulamendis paused to read out of the journal to ensure he was not making any mistakes. ‘If I understand this correctly, we must climb that ridge over there,’ he pointed to the south, and Laromendis could see it about a mile away, and the long flow of basalt that had created a relatively smooth ramp leading up to it. ‘The cave is somewhere on the other side.’
They moved slowly and an hour later made it to the top of the ridge. As they surveyed the landscape, Laromendis said, ‘Gods and fathers!’
Before them spread mile after mile of more twisted and broken rock. In the distance they could see gas plumes and steam vents, and they knew they were seeing the outer boundary of volcanic activity. Since coming to this world, the taredhel had witnessed two eruptions, neither of which had been violent enough to threaten the fortification in the south, but large enough to deter exploration in this region. The brothers speculated that the taredhel explorers would have found the human fortress to the north, had the volcanoes not stirred. Of course once the demons had reached this world, it lay behind their lines.
‘Where now?’ asked Laromendis.
‘Somewhere out there?’ said Gulamendis.
‘Can you be more precise?’
‘No,’ said his brother, as he started walking down the side of the solid lava flow.
CHAPTER TWELVE - Allies
SANDREENA GALLOPED FORWARD.
Farson and Kendra urged their lagging mounts to keep up as they started down the final hillside into Durbin. Dust blinded those without shelter as another hot wind blew hard out of the desert. Sandreena had set an unrelenting pace, pushing the poor animals to the limits of their strength, knowing that the three fine warhorses would only be fit for the knackers yard when this ride was over; they would never again be fit for battle.
Still, she judged it a necessary sacrifice, just as she judged Jaliel’s loss necessary. Each night she prayed to the Goddess for protection, and hoped that Jaliel had been fortunate enough to become a captive not a corpse. With the Goddess’s mercy, he and the other slaves there might be freed if the mystery she had discovered in the Valley of Lost Men could be further unravelled.
Durbin was the most dangerous city on the Bitter Sea by a measure. It was the titular seat of Imperial Keshian government in the Jal-Pur desert and the Bitter Sea, and was effectively a law unto itself. Occasionally, an Imperial edict would be handed down from the Emperor’s Court in Kesh instructing reform, but strength of arms, gold, and power remained the only real means of safe passage in the city.
Three ragged riders entering at a gallop would hardly elicit a second glance from the city watch and anyone else studying the party only considered them as potential prey.
Sandreena drew the most attention, for despite the dark circles of fatigue under her eyes, the road dirt, sweat and filthy hair, her face was still beautiful. However, her arms and surcoat warned that whatever profit the slave pens might offer, it would be hard won. Any Knight-Adamant of the Order of the Shield of the Weak would offer far more than she received in a melee. The other knight and the dwarf were equally dismissed as not worth the trouble, and so the three proceeded through the city untroubled.
Sandreena pulled up her mount before a stable near the docks and found the owner. A quick round of haggling got her enough gold to buy a boat. No captain in Durbin would take people to Sorcerer’s Isle, no matter what the price, so she knew they were on their own.
A quick stop in an inn for food and they took possession of their craft. The boat was small, less than twenty feet in length, and if they encountered bad weather, they would drown. Even so Sandreena mustered up her meagre sailing skills, said a prayer to the Goddess, and they departed.
Sandreena had one advantage at sea, she knew how to read the stars, and she had no doubt she could find Sorcerer’s Isle. She dead reckoned going north by northeast, during their first day, and would adjust that when night fell. Both Farson and Kendra were ignorant of boats and got a swift instruction in what she needed them to do. It would be cramped and uncomfortable and there would be no privacy, but by now they were used to one another.