Part I

Part II

A slap on the surface of her pool soon brought Dara awake. Looking up, she recognized Quilla's form and surfaced. {All done?} she gestured. Quills signed with a sllght hesitation, {I think so. I found six, and six steeds. I tethered them at the edge of the grass.)

Dara replied, {Then come bathe, you look like you could use a bath. I will tend to your wounds. Wish I knew a healing spell, but I found some water plants I can use when I was scouting the pool earlier, that will have to do.)

"A bath," exclaimed Quilla aloud, "now thore is a good idea."

She dropped her weapons by the pool and pulled off her loose robe, then waded into the pool. She leaned back with a contented sigh in the tepid water.

She glanced down at herself and decided Dara was right. Her left hand was bloodied from breaking the chain and pulling the bowstring, while her left wrist was similarly bloody from being struck by the released string.

That, she knew, was why archers wear gloves and wristguard. She would have to adjust some of the ones the slavers had, if she could find the tools. The cuts from the knives were shallow, but they could use some treating too.

Quilla sighed as she compared her tall slender frame to her ideal of beauty. Quilla had always been tall and gawky, and even at an age where she was starting to be considered an old maid she had less developed curves than some girls half her age. Her skin was dark, save where it was cut by old scars, and her hair yet darker. She admitted, as she gazed at her faint reflection in the surface of the pool and admitted she had nice eyes, wide and blue and as bright as a clear day.

Dara returned. Quilla noted her fabulous form, revealed by her clinging damp garb, with envy. Dara was nearly as tall as Quilla, but no one would ever confuse her with a boy. Her finely scaled skin was pale, faintly bluish, her hair was black as the night sky above and her eyes were as green as the sea. There was no doubt, the slavers would have had high bids for the triton.

If Quilla only accepted that lush curves were not her nature, she might have realized that she had developed a coltish leggy beauty. She would not have believed it, but she would have earned the slavers nearly as much as her companion. As it was, she considered herself at best plain, and often downplayed her femininity by masculine dress and manners.

Dara took the cloth and carefully scrubbed the various wounds, then bandaged them. Quilla accepted the firm and gentle touch of the triton, though it stung as half sealed wounds were broken open to scrub the dirt out.

Dara signed after she finished, (What now?).

Quill signed, {Tonight we rest, what is left of the night anyway. In the morning we prepare to go after them.}

Dara stated, {You rest now, I've already slept. And water works wonders for tritons.}

Quilla spread out a blanket, appropriated from a slaver, and yawned, {Good. Wake me at false dawn.)

Quilla frowned down at the map as she tried to explain in her hesitant sign speech, {If we were on Onyx looking down, the desert would look something like this. We are here.}. She made a tiny mark, (We escaped from here.}

She made another mark a short distanse away, {This is where they would have camped last night.} (Now this,) she made another mark, {is the next oasis, where they were headed. My people were traders in these lands, I know where the trails lead.)

Dara looked up at the black moon, shining darkly in the night sky, and chewed on her lower lip. {I am sorry, in Agua things are not so flat. It is hard to think like this} signed the triton.

Quilla rubbed her brow, (Well look, we can not stay in this oasis much longer, the best we could hope for from most of the locals is to be promptly married off to someone. The worst, well some of the tribes appease the devils they worship by torturing prisoners to death.}

Dara shuddered, {I could not long survive in such a small pool anyway.}

Quilla continued, {Now, since neither of us can ride, our best choice is to load all we need on one steed and lead it, freeing the others. At our best walking pace, if we leave just after sunset we will reach the next oasis just after dawn, before it gets really hot. The caravan should have just left then. We can rest that day and pass them in the night, when they set out the next day, we can set a trap for them.)

Dara grinned wolfishly, (Sounds good if we can overcome the magic block.}

Dara considers, (I know you used magic to defeat our foes, and I have some of my own. Perhaps we should share knowledge, so we can figure out how best to use our talents. For instance, you sign much better today than before you slept.}

{No magic there,) signed Quilla, just training. The Selee who founded the Silvern Archers taught us some of his techniques. Selees never age, so they have to be able to remember things from centuries ago. We are selected as Shamans of Silvern, and trained to focus through our bows, or any bow which is in our hands. We are taught another spell, a conjuration that we can use rarely. I personally have another enchantrnent on me, that increases my vitality. I know six enchantments, plus the conjuration.}

Dara responded, (How interesting, I am under an enchantment of protection. Tritons are naturally tough, but my hide is as tough as armour, which has its good and bad points. I know a few spells that are only useful in water, such as how to talk to fish or let airbreaters breathe water. Like you, I have only a half dozen spells that can be used on land. You have seen my Balls of Lightning spell, and my Wind Motion spell, and my Unseen Guard spell. I also have a Bright Guardian spell to block magic, the spell of Walking Unseen, and the reverse of the Water Breathing spell, which makes creatures unable to breathe.}

(I thought I saw the lightning work inside the magic block, how?) inquired Quilla.

{The lightning is real, once created. When set on a path, if the magic is then blocked, it continues on that path,) explained the Triton.

She added, (Otherwise, I could guide it. I would not have missed that second guard had the magic been there.}

Quilla scratched her chin, (That could be useful.}

She signed slowly, {I have six enchantments,} as I said. {One can either add force to an arrow, or act as an arrow if there is none to hand. Another, which can also act as an arrow, becomes a net which can hold anything up to the size of a large steed. The third of the enchantments, which needs no real arrow, becomes a grapple. It hooks things at a distance and I can haul back on a line of power hooked to it. The fourth, and the last which needs nothing, simply destroys what it hits, anything to the size of a hundred men. There is the placing, which must be placed on a true shaft, that bypasses all armor. Finally there is the explosire hit, that blasts silently when it hits. The conjurer is able to bring nearly anything needed seeing that it is made of common materials, but it can only be used rarely. Say one or two times each day. I can place as many as four enchantments on one shaft; except that the piercing arrow can only be placed on one other enchantment.}

{I see why they placed you in the spell chains. You could conjure a key and walk off. Speaking of which, can you remove these collars?} responded Dara.

Quilla took a dagger and forced the locks, breaking the dagger In the process. {Why waste a conjuration? We might need it more later.)

Dara looked thoughtful, {Sometimes the direct approach works. Now I have an idaa. First, we get in front of the caravan...}

The caravan guard rode ahead through the valley between two high dunes and saw nothing but more sand. He gestured for the rest of the caravan to advance. Suddenly, when the caravan was directly between the dunes, a motion caught his eye. As he opened his mouth to shout a waming; the figure that had appeared fired a trio of shafts. The third fired before the flrst hit.

Quilla hit right where she was aiming; the steep dune to the carwan's right. Dara appeared, her hands crackling wilh energy. The sand blew into the air by the arrows was caught in the wind she conjured.

The blown sand settled over the cavavan, burying everyone exeept the scout in two feet of sand and knocking everyone off their feet or steeds. As the slavers tried to struggle free, Dara flung a ball of lightning at the first slaver in line and Quilla shot an arrow through the scout. Quilla said loudly, in the local language, "I would drop my weapons and surrender if I were you. My friend and I can drop you all where you stand."

A guard in the back, perhaps trusting his hidden position, tried to hit Quilla with a thrown dagger. He was with the dagger still in his hand when hit by an accurately aimed shot. Some of the captives seized the change to get even; striking the slavers or choking them with their chains.

Pandemonium reigned as slavers were beaten or choked into submission, any who attempted to draw a weapon being transfixed by an arrow from the archer or fried by having ball lightning strike the blade.

Eventually, after all the slavers were unconscious or dead, Quilla and Dara were able to restore some order. "Listen up evcryone. We will take chains off; one way or another. Search the bodics and the steeds for the key. When we get the chains off; we will chain them up and see how they like it." That got a rousing cheer.

After the chains were removed from the former captives and placed on the still-breathing slavers, Quilla began, "Now, we need...."

One of the men angrily interrupted, "Who put you in charge?" One of the others shouted him down, "She just freed you, would you have preferred to keep the chains on?"

Quilla shouted, "Listen to me." When she had silense, "I will lead because I have lived most of my life in this desert. How many of you know where to find every oasis and hidden cistern? How many of you know how to avoid sand-drakes and sauron tribes?"

There was silence, until the fistt man who spoke stated, "Evevyone needs water, I concede the point. While we are in this desert, you lead."

"Does cveryonc agree?" Quilla asked. The women, then the men, all did, "Aye."

"All right, we head back to the oasis. Put the weakest up on the steeds, including the injured. We want to be back there before we decide what to do next," ordered Quilla "Everyone who can use weapons, take the ones you know. One weapon to a person until everyone is armed. Everything else, including spare weapons, we will divide fairly after we reach the oasis."

The steeds were helped out of the sand and the caravan turned back to the oasis. When they reached the oasis, Quilla ordered, "First everyone drink and fill the water skins, then we can bathe." she added, "One thing, I know you men have been kept from womcn since you were taken, but all of us women have been forced or were kept virgin to increase our value. Any of you men who try anythiing with a woman who is not fully willing will not live to see the next sunset."

She pointed her bow at a man-sized rock and loosed a shalt that caused the rock to explode, then said, "Clear?"

The men grumbled but agreed.

Quilla nodded, "Good, now I want everyone to line up and count off in fours."

Everyone now knowing that Quilla knew what she was doing, and could enforce her will, they lined up and counted off. "Number ones, your job is to dig Jakes trenches. Nobody is to foul the water or the plants with excrement. Number twos, your job is to gather fuel and set fires, dried dung makes good fuel, but to not use any living wood, it does not burn well. Number threes, you are to gather and prep the food, I will help you wilh gathering local food. Number fours, you are to stand guard duty while we work, we do not want to be taken by surprise, " Quilla stated. "No bathing until after the chores are done, we have a camp to run."

It worked surprisingly well, because everyone was working, and everyone knew it. While the food was not fine and the jakes not the finest, the camp was workable. Quilla ordered the guards to change shifts by numbers through the night.

In the morning, Quilla ordered the jakes covered with ashes from the fires buried, then stated, "Our best hope is to head for Kamaras." That caused some grumbling, "I know the slavers planned to take us there, but it is the nearest large city, and the laws will protect us from the slaver's guild when we bring back their bullies in chains. Caravans and ships from Kamaras set out to every land in the nine planes, it is the only place where all of us can be fairly sure of finding a way home."

After some debate, the people all agreed. It took work to translate for some, like Dara, who does not speak Haraki.

Quilla says, "To save water, we will travel at night and rest by day. The most tired will take turns riding, while others lead their mounts. As for the good we now have, weapons are to be held by those who can use them best. If there is any debate, wooden weapons can be used to settle who can use the weapons best without doing too much damage. Coins are to be divided evenly, or as close as possible. Any extra coins will be placed in common, and anyone caught stealing will be punished. Food will be divided evenly also. No debating, if someone wants more than they have, they can trade for it.

"Spell books are weapons, they belong to Dara or whoever else can use them best. Other items we will carry back to Kamaras to have evaluated, then we will sell them. If a person wants to buy something for the evaluated price, let them do it there."

At sunset the caravan set out. Fair treatment, with the weakest riding and Quilla leading the caravan, made for excellent time. Eight days later, the caravan hit the trade road: At that point, a trio of thieves attempted to make off with several of the more expensive items. Fortunately a careful, and concealed, watch had been set by Dara and Quilla and all three thicvos were capturcd and put in the chains along with the slavers.

Another caravan of slavers setting out met the caravan but, facing an armed and prepared foe on a trade road, they were forced to retreat. Finally, on the tenth day, the caravan reached the gate of Kamaras.

The goods were evaluated at the market by the gate and sold, everyone but the thieves and slavers receiving an equal share. The slavers and thieves were turned over to the slaver's guild, and the former captives broke up and went their own way.

Quilla said goodbye to Dara at the docks, before the triton dove into the sea to swim to the subsurface gate to her home. As Quilla stared off after Dara, a man said, "Quilla the Archer?"

She turned quickly to see a man in the uniform of the Guard. The man continued, "We have heard good things about you, how would you like to come work for us?"

Quilla smiled, "I seem to be out of work at the moment. Tell me about the job."

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