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talk to him,” I said.
    “And then they will decide what to do with him,” Leif added.
    Moon Man shrugged. “He is not a Vermin. I will tell the others not to kill him, but
    in a large battle it might be hard.”
    “He’s probably with the Daviian leaders,” Marrok said.
    “Marrok—you and Leif find Cahil and take him north of the fighting and I’ll
    rendezvous with you after the battle.”
    “Yes, sir,” Marrok said.
    Leif nodded, but I could see a question in his eyes.
    Problem? I asked in his mind.
    What if Cahil convinces Marrok not to take him back to the Council? What if
    they join together and I’m outnumbered?
    Good point. I’ll ask Moon Man to—
    Assign one of my warriors to stay with Leif, Moon Man said.
    I jerked in surprise. I hadn’t felt Moon Man draw power to link with us.
    What else can you do? I asked.
    I am not telling you. It would destroy my mysterious Story Weaver persona.

    The next morning we saddled the horses and made our way south toward the
    plateau. Even with the weight of two riders, Kiki easily carried us. Stopping only
    once for a warm dinner and sleep, we reached the border in two days. At sunset on
    the second day, we stopped to rest the horses at the edge of the plains.
    The flat expanse of the plateau stretched to the horizon. A few brown clumps of
    grass clung to the sunbaked surface. While the plains had a few trees, rolling hills,
    rocks and sandstone protrusions, the plateau had bristle bushes, coarse sand and a
    few stunted spine trees.
    We had left the cold, cloudy weather behind. The afternoon sun had warmed the
    land enough for me to take off my cloak, but as the light slipped into the darkness, a
    cool breeze stirred to life.
    Moon Man left to find his scout. Even at this distance from the Vermin camp, it
    was too risky to make a fire. I shivered as I ate my dinner of hard cheese and stale
    bread.
    Moon Man returned with another Sandseed.

    “This is Tauno,” Moon Man said. “He will show us the way through the plateau.”
    I peered at the small man armed with a bow and arrows. Only an inch taller than
    me, he wore short pants despite the chilly air. His skin had been painted, but in the
    dim light I couldn’t discern the colors.
    “We will leave when the moon is a quarter up,” Tauno said.
    Traveling at night was a good idea, but I wondered what the warriors did during
    the day. “How do the Sandseeds stay hidden in the plateau?” I asked.
    Tauno gestured to his skin. “We blend in. And hide our thoughts behind the
    Story Weavers’ null shield.”
    I looked at Moon Man.
    “A null shield blocks magic,” Moon Man explained. “If you were to scan the
    plateau with your magic, you would not sense any living creature behind the null
    shield.”
    “Doesn’t using magic to create the shield alert the Vermin?” I asked.
    “Not when it is done properly. It was completed before the Story Weavers left
    the plains.”
    “What about the Story Weavers behind the shield? Can they use magic?” Leif
    asked.
    “Magic can not penetrate the shield. It does not block our vision or hearing, just
    protects us from being discovered by magical means.”
    As we prepared to travel, I thought about what Moon Man had said, and realized
    that there were many things I still didn’t know about magic. Too many. And the
    thought of learning more with Roze quelled my curiosity.
    When the moon had traveled through a quarter of the black sky, Tauno said, “It
    is time to go.”
    The muscles along my spine tightened in apprehension as Moon Man settled
    behind me on Kiki’s saddle. What if my lack of magical knowledge caused me to
    endanger our mission?
    No sense worrying about it now. I pulled in a deep breath, steadied my nerves
    and glanced at my companions. Tauno sat with Marrok on Garnet’s back. From the
    pained expression on Marrok’s face, I knew he wasn’t happy about sharing his
    mount with a Sandseed warrior. And to make it worse, Tauno insisted on being in
    front and