“That’s impossible!”

“Dahlaine said the same thing, but Yaltar definitely said ‘Balacenia’ when he spoke of her. Our big brother may think he’s put a wall between our Dreamers and their past, but I think that wall may have just a few holes in it.”

Eleria and the archer Longbow came in out of the rain a little while later. Eleria was dripping wet, but Longbow had evidently been watching her from a sheltered place on the deck. “Did you have a nice time, dear?” Zelana asked.

“It was sort of nice,” Eleria replied. “Not as nice as swimming, but Hook-Big’s people get all excited when I jump off the rail, and the water here’s awfully dirty.”

“Go dry yourself off and change clothes, dear,” Zelana told her. “You’re dripping all over the floor.”

“Yes, Beloved,” the little girl replied, going to the place where she slept and taking up a thick cloth.

Veltan was more than a little startled by Zelana’s Dreamer. She was by far the most beautiful child he’d ever seen, and he sensed a towering though not fully developed intelligence in her.

“Longbow,” Zelana said to the tall, silent Dhrall, “this is my brother, Veltan of the South, and he’s brought us some news about what’s been happening at home.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Veltan,” Longbow said. “Has Zelana’s Domain been attacked as yet?”

“Not as far as I know,” Veltan replied, “but I’m afraid it won’t be too much longer.”

“We’d better go home, then, Zelana,” Longbow suggested.

“I think you’re right,” she agreed. “Sorgan’s cousin should be in the harbor of Lattash by now, but if the creatures of the Wasteland come now, Skell could be badly outnumbered. We might have more time than I originally thought we would, but I’d rather not take any chances. As soon as Hook-Beak returns, I’ll talk with him.”

“It could just be that the advance fleet of Trogites I’ll be sending will reach Lattash before Sorgan’s fleet does,” Veltan suggested. “That could be very useful in the event of a sudden emergency.”

“That’s assuming that the Maags and Trogites don’t kill each other before the war even starts. They aren’t really very fond of each other.”

“We’re the ones in charge, Zelana, and we’re the ones who’ll pay them. I don’t think you fully understand the power of money, dear sister. They won’t have to like what we tell them to do; they just have to do it. If they decide that they’d rather not, we just tie the purse shut. That river that comes down the ravine to Lattash has two sides, though. If we deploy the Maags on one side and the Trogites on the other, we should be able to keep the bloodshed to a minimum.”

Eleria came back from changing clothes and climbed up into Longbow’s lap. Veltan gave his sister a questioning look.

“It’d take much too long to explain, Veltan,” she said with a sigh.

Captain Sorgan returned to the Seagull as the rainy afternoon was moving on toward evening, and the crewmen who’d been loading supplies for the long voyage to Dhrall made their final trip of the day at about the same time. Zelana sent word to the Maag ship captain that she needed to talk with him and with two other sailors as well: one she called Ox, and another known as Ham-Hand. Maags, Veltan noted, had peculiar and usually unflattering names. Veltan immediately saw that Sorgan, like most of the other Maags he’d encountered, was about half again the size of an ordinary man, and he and his friends seemed to be very grubby and dirty. Maags evidently didn’t bathe very often. If Zelana was anywhere close to being right, though, the Maags were very clever. Veltan smiled faintly. Zelana’s Maags and his Trogites probably weren’t going to get along very well.

“This is my brother Veltan,” Zelana introduced him to the oversized Maags, “and he’s brought us some interesting news about certain events in the Land of Dhrall.”

“It’s always good to know what’s going on,” Sorgan said. He looked at Veltan. “What’s afoot over there?” he asked.

“We had a stroke of luck here recently,” Veltan told him. “We managed to discover exactly where our enemy’s planning to make its initial attack, and as luck has it, it’s going to take place in the vicinity of a spot you’re familiar with, and better yet, a part of your fleet’s already bound for that region.”

“The enemy’s going to attack Lattash?” Sorgan demanded shrewdly. “So that’s what this has been about right from the start, hasn’t it?”

“I don’t think I quite follow you,” Veltan confessed.

“Lattash is the place where Lady Zelana keeps all her gold. Didn’t you know that? Now this war’s starting to make sense.”

“I think we’d better haul anchor and put on full sail, Cap’n,” the burly Ox said. “If we don’t get to that Lattash place afore the enemy does, we’ll come up empty when pay time rolls around.”

“He’s got a point, Cap’n,” the Maag named Ham-Hand chipped in. “Skell might get there in time to hold the enemy off, but might is pretty shaky ground to stand on right now. You’ve been hiring just about every Maag ship along this coast with promises about the gold in that cave, and if the cave’s empty when we get there, you ain’t going to be none too popular.”

“The enemy knows that you’re coming, Captain Sorgan,” Veltan told him, “and they’re doing everything they can to delay you. I was coming through the town of Weros a few days ago, and I happened to overhear a conversation between a couple who don’t care much for you. They were very unhappy about what had happened to a fellow named Kajak. They wanted you dead with all their hearts, but as I understand it, Longbow sank their scheme without so much as a ripple. Kajak wanted your gold, but those strangers wanted your life. Without you, Lattash lies helpless before the enemy.”

“Let’s haul anchor, Cap’n,” Ox repeated his suggestion.

“I’d really like to gather up more ships and men,” Sorgan said, “but I think you might be right, Ox.”

“Isn’t your kinsman Torl still here, Sorgan?” the archer Longbow asked. “Couldn’t he stay behind and gather more ships and men?”

“I suppose he could,” Sorgan conceded, “but he might have trouble persuading other ship captains to join us if he doesn’t have any gold to show them.”