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She had certainly come back to where she started, to the very place in the land of the Ashioi where she had once dwelled That tower had stood in ruins at the crest of a hillside which, in exile, had dropped precipitously into a vale of ether with the wall Fresh chalk brightened the White Road, as the Ashioi called it: the border of their land The knife edge along which the ancient spell had cut the land of the Ashioi away froear, to let the hanging grass conceal her If the Ashioi captured her, she would have to escape, and therefore she would have to fight If they shot her with poisoned arrows, she ht not survive a second brush with the toxin

She would not go back

She held out her hand, er extended, and o The sun stood one span above the rosy horizon Above, ht, and she could e the season and, possibly, her latitude, cole and azi of stars written into Da’s Book of Secrets and the cunning astrolabe were lost to her, but Da had taught her well enough that she was not dependent on thes easier, and more accurate Shejourney to Wendar, but she had hed and closed her eyes, and perhaps because of the lazy glaainst her face or perhaps because she was really just that exhausted, she slipped into a doze

Woke

Day old at the horizon, caught in a notch in the distant hills and visible only because of that last spas next to her, perfectly still and quiet

She choked down a cry of surprise, and reached for the sword she no longer carried

"It’s just hed as her heart pounded and her hands shook

"Shhh!" he whispered "We ht One"

"How did you find me?"

He smiled "Despite your attempt to conceal yourself, you are visible froood ’s walk fro walk does ht patrol Best we hs "Yes What do you suggest?"

"Only the patrols walk the outer roads these days The great armies have run west and east to coone to war?"

"There is much news to tell you"