Page 118 of The King of Koraha
He raised an eyebrow. “Want to reconsider the double time?”
“Then you go and I’ll catch up.”
“No. We stay together. Or do I need to remind you what happened the last time we split up?”
Guilt squeezed her chest. “No. But—”
“I understand. I also believe that since Xerxes doesn’t have you, he will stop at Nintri and gather more soldiers and supplies. Which will slow him down and give us more time to reach the King.”
Of course he made perfect sense, but it did nothing to calm the impatience boiling up her throat. “We’ll leave at angle zero, then.”
“Do you know how to find the next travel shelter on the way to Qulsary?” he asked.
Seven hells. “No. That’s why I hired Omar. Do you?”
“Not a clue. And I’m not about to go racing off in some random direction either.” He gave her a hard stare. “I never want us to be stranded topside during apex again.”
Neither did she. She’d barely survived. Twice. “We can figure it out. Qulsary is northwest of our location. The sun starts its jump in the east, so we can keep the sun over our right shoulder and—”
“No. One miscalculation and we’ll be lost.”
“We can follow Xerxes’ tracks.”
“It’s been three sun jumps. The wind will have covered them with sand. Besides, he’s not going to Qulsary.”
Frustration pulsed. “That’s just a guess. I’m not waiting.”
“It’s a good guess. He killed the messenger and us. He has time. There’s no one else who can warn the King.”
“Except the Invisible Swords and monks escorting the taxes.”
“The fake caravan will get there in roughly twenty-nine sun jumps,” Rendor said. “The real caravan won’t make it at all.”
“How do you know there are two?”
“Xerxes isn’t an idiot. He expected you to send a decoy.”
“Did he expect me to assign Mojag to the second caravan?” she asked.
“He assumed you’d have a magic wielder traveling with the wagons, but if Mojag can move the dunes…that second one might reach Qulsary after all.”
“I’m not an idiot either.”
“Never said you were, sunbeam.” He flashed her a smile. “Is it heading directly to the capital?”
“Yes. If they haven’t run into trouble, it’ll arrive in Qulsary two sun jumps after the fake caravan.” She considered Xerxes’ timeline. He already had a head start but would need added time to collect his people and travel to Qulsary. “Both caravans will still be too late to warn the King. We’re in the best position.” They could reach it in twelve sun jumps.
“I agree. And we’ll leave with the next messenger that comes through.”
“But that might take—”
“Only a few more sun jumps at most. There hasn’t been any since we survived, and they come through here fairly frequently.”
“How do you know?”
Rendor dropped his hands from her waist and stepped away. “We questioned the messenger from Apanji. Xerxes wanted to know how many people used this route.”
By his scowl, she didn’t need to ask if it was the one they killed. Instead she sorted through everything she knew about traveling on the surface of Koraha. Perhaps she’d read something that would help them find their way to Qulsary. Waiting for another messenger would be nearly impossible in her current frame of mind.
