CHAPTER 22
At night, the shanjin didn’t seem as deadly as the stories told. A light breeze blew the cool, dry air around them as they plodded between two dunes twice as tall as Tirud. Overhead, Zheldesa and the stars marked their travel, and sometime just after the sky began to lighten, the red-skinned sordenu led them up the side of one.
They paused at the top. Nothing broke their view to the horizon except for progressively larger dunes. Their route would take them straight across it. The sky was crystal clear, brightening to their left.
“The shanjin,” Tirud said. “We should travel by day, from now on.”
Blay nodded. “We’ll stop at the base of the dune for a few hours of rest, and this’ll be a short day’s march.” He led them down the slope.
“Why don’t we go on in the night?” Nolen asked, sounding peeved and tired. “Won’t it be cooler?”
“Night is when the dangerous things are most active,” Tirud said. “Snakes and lizards, and the cats that come down from the mountains to eat them. Night is when other Turu will be traveling, and bandits can lay ambush in the dark. We’ll be less seen for traveling when it’s most bright.”
“We should be able to see in the dark better than any Clanless,” Butu said.
“Not all of us,” Retus said, but grinned.
“Also, we’ll be able to see signs of water by day more easily than at night,” Blay said. “Remember our mission, sordenu. We don’t know how big this delegation is or whether they’re going to want to stop during the day for water. We can’t afford to miss any sources of water in our path.”
“We won’t,” Butu said, confident in his ability to find it. He had tried, a few times along the way, and though he had sensed the camels, the squad, a few snakes and the water on their packs, he had not sensed any under the ground.
“You already have,” Blay said gravely.
They all looked at each other disbelievingly.
“How do you know?” Nolen demanded. Phedam shook his head at his shumi’s irritated response. “You can’t use magic.”
“I was out here barely a month ago, and I had to find water to survive the trip to Gordney,” Tirud reminded them. “There are at least six water sources within a day’s travel of the camp. We walked right past half of them last night, and none of you felt anything.”
“We just need a chant,” Retus said. “That’s what Zurburan said. Really young kids can use magic without thinking about it. When they get a little older, chants help them focus on what they want instead of thinking about using magic to get it.”
“Chanting might help,” Blay said. “But we travel by day until you can prove that you can find water using magic.”
“It’ll give me a chance to show you how to recognize signs of water even without magic, too,” Tirud added. “One day, you’ll have to rely on that, instead, so there’s no harm in learning to do it the boring way.”
“We’ll try a chant later,” Jani said. “The corp’s right. We need to sleep.”
“One other order of business,” Blay said with as severe an expression as he could manage. “We need to set a chain of command in case anything happens to me. The person highest in the chain is always in charge, and I expect all of you to obey him as you would Sergeant Puro.” He paused, looking a lot like Puro right now, until everyone nodded. “Tirud is my second. Then it’s Jani, Butu, Nolen, Phedam, Retus, and Lujo. Is everyone clear on that point?”
They nodded.
“Good. Get some sleep.”
The sun appeared over the horizon, then, bathing the great sands of the shanjin with fire. Brilliant orange, the sun ascended in the cloudless sky, the endless hills sitting like waves frozen in amber. Butu and Nolen stared at it with awe, and all motion in the camp stopped.
“‘This, our beach on the sea of death,’ ” Tirud quoted from the blood priest chant that opened their healing ritual. “This is the last time we’ll have natural shade for several days. With magic or without it, we’ll really have to work to find water.”
Butu had volunteered for first watch, and so sat a little way from the tent while the other sordenu went to sleep. The beauty of the sunrise quickly faded into stifling heat, and the light breeze only moved the hot air around oppressively.
“I’ll keep the watch, the watch all morn. You see, I’ve sworn to keep the watch,” he chanted softly, concentrating on watching the wind kick up dust and trying not to let his mind wander to what the chant was doing.
He practiced other chants, as well. He changed the shape of a knife blade, polished his sword, turned sand into sling bullets, and most of the other chants he knew that didn’t require any movement from his spot.
I need a water-finding chant, he thought.
Butu composed and discarded several possibilities, but he didn’t feel the familiar tug of nearby water except from their camels, where their waterskins were. He still hadn’t found any sources of water when the time came to wake Nolen for his watch. Butu returned to the tent he shared with Lujo.
Two hours after dawn, and I’m already starting to sweat. He willed himself to sleep, and, as if by magic, did fall asleep.
Unwelcome visions of losing all his magic like Tirud had filled his dreams. When he woke, sweat drenched his clothes. Butu wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, but it was far too hot for that now. Lujo was gone, and Butu could see the blazing orb of sunlight even through the tent’s roof.
He staggered out of the tent, stripping off his uniform shirt. Tirud was on watch, his eyes scanning the sands ahead of them. The rest of the squad was sitting in a circle in the shade of a rock, eating. All the other tents were gone, and the camels turned their heads to Butu expectantly. He flapped his shirt at them.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Retus said cheerfully as Butu approached.
“I hope I didn’t oversleep.”
“We were going to wake you in a few minutes, but you’ve gotten up at a good time.” Blay handed him a canteen.
Butu drank from it deeply. The water was as hot as the air, but at least it was wetter than his mouth. After drinking several mouthfuls, he offered it back to Blay.
The corporal shook his head. “Drink it all. You’ll need it.”
“Yes, sir.” When the canteen was empty, he sat at the edge of the circle. “How long’ve you been awake?”
Nolen shrugged. “I’ve kept the watch, the watch all day.” He winked conspiratorially.
Tirud muttered under his breath.
“I couldn’t sleep, right? It was too hot.”
“You’d better not fall off your camel while we’re looking for water,” Phedam warned.
“Let’s finish up and get moving,” Blay said, standing up. “Lujo. Stow your tent. Jani and Phedam, ready the camels. Retus, pack up the rest of the camp with me.”
Kingmaker Page 22