The Divining

     The girl was up on her toes, with her eyes closed, a beatific smile on her lips as she sang to her angels.

     "Veeda," Ulrika said again, rising from the campfire. "Come away from there. You will hurt yourself."

     Iskander, too, shot to his feet. "Veeda," he said.

     She did not hear them. Her voice high and melodic, her eyes closed against reality as she pictured golden beings in another world, Veeda spun and twirled in the moonlight.

     And when she danced dangerously close to the fallen blocks, Iskander went after her.

     Veeda's shin caught the corner of one of the stones just as Iskander reached her. She cried out and tumbled. But Iskander caught her. He held her as she gazed at him with a startled expression.

     From her place by the fire, Ulrika witnessed something that she sensed not even Iskander and Veeda were aware of: the way their eyes locked, the way she breathlessly held onto him, the tightness of his grip and, most of all, the long moment in which the embrace lasted—Iskander and Veeda were in love.

26

WHILE ISKANDER WAS UP in the mountain pass to begin his vigil, watching the enemy camped below and waiting for his opportunity to take revenge, and while Veeda visited Zeroun's caravanserai which lay a mile from the ruins, Ulrika was alone among the broken columns and stairs that led to nowhere.

     Now she would meditate. If this place was indeed Shalamandar, then surely the answers would be revealed. Because this was where Wulf and Selene had stopped to rest. This was where her own existence began.

     She chose a place on the limestone terrace and sat, crossing her legs, attaining a relaxed posture. She had not eaten breakfast, having discovered that fasting did indeed sharpen her concentration and kept her awake. And now she closed her eyes, slowed her respirations, and began her whispered chant to the All Mother.

     As she prayed, she grew excited in anticipation of seeing the crystal pools. She imagined they would be beautiful—shimmering and sweet, cool, refreshing water that revived the spirit as well as the eye. How large wouldthey be, she wondered, and how many were there? Where did the water come from? Were the pools fed by waterfalls or streams or artesian wells?

     Ulrika opened her eyes. Nothing was happening.

     Drawing in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and began again, sending her thoughts out into the unknown, willing her soul to explore the cosmos while she held a vision of her i

     She would try again tomorrow.

27

ULRIKA," VEEDA SAID, "MAY I ask you a personal question?"

     They were preparing breakfast while Iskander was in the brushy foothills foraging for eggs. They had been a month at the City of Ghosts, had built a comfortable camp in the ruins, and had observed the first dusting of snow on the distant mountains. Winter was coming. Soon, no caravans would be able to cross the mountain passes and the threesome would be trapped in this ancient valley.

     They had fallen into a routine. Iskander went daily to his mountain pass to keep watch over his enemy, still camped on the other side. Veeda mended clothes or cooked with Ulrika, or went to the caravanserai where she was making friends among the girls who lived there.

     Ulrika had kept at her daily meditations with no success. She should have received visions by now, if this was indeed the place where her life began. She should have learned the nature of the Divining and when to start on her destined path.

     As she looked at the distant mountains dusted with snow, she knewshe must soon make a decision: to stay and continue what was turning out to be a futile exercise in seeking answers to her gift, or buy passage on the next caravan that came through and could take her south. She had, after all, only the word of a stranger that this place was indeed Shalamandar. Zeroun had even said, "Local legend says that was the name long ago." But legends had a way of growing distorted and even completely wrong over the years. Ulrika wondered if she should return to Babylon and find another way to determine the location of the true Shalamandar.

     "You may ask me anything you want," she said.

     "Have you ever been in love?"

     Ulrika looked at the girl's shy smile, pink blush. Setting aside her knife and the late autumn onions they had bought from Zeroun, she said, "I am in love right now, Veeda. With a wonderful man who is at this moment on his way to a far-off fabled land."

     "And does he love you?"

     "Yes." But, she thought, we have been apart now for a long time. Has he reached China? Does he find the women there exotic and beautiful? Perhaps irresistible ...

     She missed Sebastianus so much it was like a physical pain. Every day she read his letter, spoke out loud the words he had written, ending with "I love you." She ached for his warmth and strength, yearned to feel his powerful arms around her, needed to experience the solidness of his body and the security of his embrace.

     She touched the scallop shell that lay on her breast. "Sebastianus gave this to me. It co

     "Does it co

     Ulrika looked at the wide, questioning eyes, dark and filled with sorrow and hope. And it occurred to her that she had more in common with this tribal girl than she had realized. They both did not know were they belonged. "I suppose it does," Ulrika said. "I had never thought of it."

     Veeda looked down at her hands and said hesitantly, "How do you ... how does a woman get a man to notice her?"

     "Veeda," Ulrika said gently. "Iskander notices you."

     The blush deepened. And Ulrika thought: should I tell her I suspect he feels the same way? But he is holding back. What keeps Iskander from expressing his feelings for her? The enemy on the other side of the mountain, waiting for him to come down ...

     "When he goes up there," Veeda said, pointing to the mountain that loomed over the ruins. "I feel a hole here," and she tapped her chest. "When he returns, it is filled again. But Iskander will never love me."

     "Why do you say that?"

     "Because of Asmahan."

     "Who is Asmahan?"

     "She is Iskander's wife. He thinks she is still alive."

     Ulrika stared at Veeda. "I did not know he was married," she said. And then she knew the truth: Iskander was not searching for remnants of his tribe, but for one woman. And it was not out of an ancient rivalry that he sat here and plotted the deaths of the men who camped on the other side of the mountain pass, but a need to take revenge on men whom he believed had killed that woman.

     Ulrika was sad for Iskander. So much senseless killing. Iskander's tribe wiped out. Veeda's clan gone. And now Iskander wanting to erase his enemy from the face of the earth. When would it end?

     "Caravan!" Iskander shouted as he sprinted up the stone steps to the terrace. "A caravan is coming!"

     Ulrika turned to look back over the plain and saw, beneath the morning sun, an astonishing sight: hundreds of camels, horses, and donkeys, laden with packs and riders, slowly snaking their way across the flat plain. Lifting the spit from the fire—she was roasting a ski