“Yes.”
“We must have covered that by now — we’ve been walking for ages—”
“Yes, Delia. But we are north of our course—”
“Oh, yes, I know you have been concerned...” She pondered. Then, briskly, she said, with that defiant tilt to her chin: “All right, then. The airboat carried us a good way, and we have marched a long way. We do not seem to be able to head south — so we must go on. I think we will find the next Vallian port city up the coast will be Ventrusa Thole. There are port cities of Pandahem, but I think we would be wise to avoid them.”
Pandahem, I knew, was a great rival of Vallia’s in the carrying trade and in business of the outer oceans. But there was a quiet animosity in Delia’s tones that startled me.
“Do you hate them so much, then, my Delia?”
“Hate? No, not really. We b
