The Gambler's Fortune (Einarinn 3) by Juliet E. McKenna Page B

aim to keep things peaceable but it’s a cursed long hike on lousy roads. And it’ll take us just about as far from the Forest as it’s possible to get!”
    “We should try the mountains between Solura and Mandarkin.” Sorgrad drew in the westerly road and the edge of the Great Forest. “The Solurans leave the Mountain Men alone, keeping them sweet so any Mandarkin thrust south runs backward off a cliff edge, helped along by an axe. West of the Ferring Gap, the Mountain Men keep pretty much to themselves. If anyone has old lore, they’ll be your best bet. Anyatimm in Gidesta have pretty much abandoned the old ways, marrying out and settling in the villages with the lowlanders.”
    I looked at the map and then up at Sorgrad. It was unusual to hear him using the Mountain name for his people, Anyatimm. Besides teaching me Mountain script and a few words like the ones for “horse.” “gate” and “sunset,” so we could pass messages between ourselves, he’d never shown any link to his origins. “So where exactly do you two come from? I don’t recall you ever saying.”
    “That’s not important.” He tapped the map. “Look at the lay of the land. We go to the Forest first, find out what we can and head over into the fringes of Solura. We can avoid the Gap completely if we make our way up the Pasfall and reach the sokes, the valleys that is, that way.” He looked up. “It was Soluran mystics healed Halice’s leg, wasn’t it, with lots of mumbling and incense?”
    “Planir’s sent his own men to make inquiries there,” I said absently. “It’s a cursed long way around, ’Grad. It’ll take half the season.”
    “How long could a run-in between lowlanders and easterlings delay us?” Sorgrad demanded.
    “That’s hard country,” I said doubtfully. “I’ve heard stories and they can’t all be fireside fantasies.”
    “Another reason why we should go to the Forest first and wait for better weather. Spring down here can still be winter in the uplands.” Sorgrad had the air of a man laying the winning rune in a spread.
    Make a living out of gambling and you learn when to lay your pieces and when to hold them in your hand. I still wanted to take the mountains first, reckoning Sorgrad and Sorgren’s blood and breeding were better bones for a winning hand than my uncertain birth. Perhaps we should trust to luck; every rune falls with two faces uppermost, after all. “Why don’t I take a turn around the taverns and see if I can get a promising tune out of some minstrel. You and ’Gren see if you can find anyone who might let us travel north with them. When we know what our options are, we can decide.”
    “Good enough,” Sorgrad nodded. “Now what about this wizard of yours? You don’t think we might do better without him?” He looked sideways at me. “He’d be easy enough to lose with the city so full for the festival. Won’t he be passing any information straight to his Archmage? You’ll get more value for any learning if you keep it to yourself, until you know who it’s worth most to.”
    “Messire D’Olbriot made the deal with Planir.” I shrugged. “He agreed a wizard should come to send any news back straightaway. If we find aetheric magic, Messire wants it fast enough to be some use if Elietimm boats turn .up now the winter storms are over. Getting letters back, even by courier, would take half a season. Pay a merchant to carry it, he’ll like as not forget it; hire a messenger and he’ll either get lost or hit on the head for his satchel. No, Planir knows he’s beholden to D’Olbriot on this and D’Olbriot knows he’s beholden to me.”
    Sorgrad was patently curious. “So what do you get out of this?”
    “You know that one deal, the one that sets you up for life?” I drew a teasing breath. “This could be it, ’Grad, this could just be it.”
    Sorgrad laughed. “Like Cordainer’s offer? Like I don’t know how many other schemes Charoleia’s suggested over the