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Eventually a resident brave enough to stop at Ehomba s request directed them to a large dispatch house
where wagons of many sizes and descriptions were being fitted out with sails. The travelers had already
encountered several of these sturdy, wind-powered vehicles steering their way around the city.
According to the helpful citizen, the dispatch center was a good place to find not only transportation
inland, but also a guide to convey them there.
Their inquiries met with the same kind of amused skepticism Ehomba had encountered before. It was a
reaction that, on repetition, was beginning to grow tiresome. Was he the only man who believed that to
travel from one place to another, no matter how reputedly dangerous or difficult, all that was required
was for one to start walking in the requisite direction?
Lissen, you, stammered the ancient pathfinder who was too bored not to talk to them, we all every
one of us knows where Ehl-Larimar lies. Raising a shaky finger that resembled a strip of rolled saddle
leather, he pointed westward. Behind Ehomba, huge hands clapped delightedly together.
See, Etjole, see! Hunkapa know, Hunkapa guide!
Be quiet, Hunkapa, the mildly annoyed herdsman admonished his hulking friend. The matted one fell
silent.
If you all know how to get to Ehl-Larimar, why cannot one of you guide us there?
Because the difficulty s not in the knowin , it s in the goin . Peering behind his questioner, the elderly
guide considered the herdsman s blond hair. Why you braid up your locks like that, man? Seen
wimmens do it, but never til now a buck.
It is the style among the men of my village. Uncharacteristically, Ehomba was becoming impatient with
this short, skinny sage, who reminded him of chattering macaws. What is so difficult about the going to
Ehl-Larimar that you and all your colleagues refuse to take us?
Aged eyes that had seen much rolled in their sockets as if loose. Why, out west there s dangerous wild
critters everywhere, some of em monstrous big, others with long fangs that drip poison. To emphasize
the latter, he protruded his upper jaw far beyond the lower and flapped it to simulate biting motions.
First you have to get through the Hexen Mountains. Then there s the demons what live in the interior,
and hostile tribes of things thet ain t always human. He was waving his birdlike arms wildly now, using
them to magnify the drama of his own declamations.
Get past them, and then there s the Tortured Lands, and beyond thet, the Curridgian Mountains with
their ice fields and rock slides. Lack of wind finally forced him to call a halt to the hymn of horrors.
And after that? Ehomba asked quietly.
After thet? After thet! Calming himself with an effort, the senior pathfinder took a deep breath. Why,
after thet is Ehl-Larimar its very self, and beyond there, the Ocean Aurreal.
Another ocean? Raising himself up, Simna had his hirsute nurse place him on the ground. On shaky
legs, he confronted his lanky friend. By Guisel s gearing, Etjole, no more long sea voyages! I beg you!
Ehomba s brows rose slightly. I thought you enjoyed our sojourn on the sea.
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Anxious eyes gazed up at him. Hoy, long bruther, it wasn t the voyage that leaves me looking like this.
It were the arrival.
The herdsman nodded noncommittally. Somehow I do not think we would face a similar situation on
another ocean entirely, but I will certainly keep your concerns in mind. I do not see why it would be
necessary for us to take passage on this western ocean anyway, since if it lies to the west of Ehl-Larimar,
we should reach our destination before we encounter it. Turning back to the guide, who was by now
feeling sorely left out of the verbal byplay, he offered his thanks for the information.
While not one of the available pathfinders could be induced to travel with them, the master of the
dispatch center was persuaded to sell them a windwagon and supplies. Ehomba was once more
astonished to see in what exalted regard other peoples held the humble colored beach pebbles he had
brought with him from the shore just north of the village. While the supply in the little cotton sack was
diminished, it was by no means exhausted, suggesting that if the same responses were to be encountered
elsewhere, they might be able to pay for their needs the rest of the way to distant Ehl-Larimar without
misgiving.
Though with Hunkapa Aub and the black litah aboard, the windwagon was a bit crowded, it held them
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