On Into Daelin

"I did not appreciate being called a 'rat bastard', and other worse things. If this world's version of me is content to have friends who address him so, then he must be a very different man from myself. For him to do so in front of ladies made the offence much worse. I was certainly not going to say that I knew him."

Thesamar began to chuckle. "'In front of ladies...' Fred, your concern for us is rather touching, but though I'm a princess I can assure you that I've heard far worse than that. And I'm sure that the same goes for my 'sister'. Remember that I've been tortured by a dragon - or (as we hypothesised) by Zardoz pretending to be a dragon - and not been broken. I'm not likely to be shocked because I hear a few rude words."

"Perhaps you Aqualarians are different from the ladies of Allaria then. But that is the way I was brought up, and I doubt that I should be able to change even if I wanted to. But what you've said reminds me of something. There were no marks of torture on you when I found you. In fact for someone who had been chained up for a week - I think you said - you seemed in remarkably good physical condition."

"Zardoz is an exceptionally powerful mage, remember. It was easy enough for him to inflict excruciating pain without even breaking the skin, if he so chose, or if he wanted to injure me to make a point then he could instantly repair the damage afterwards. And there were other, more subtle, tortures that he used that did not involve pain. In some ways, those were even worse. But I don't want to talk about it any more; it is not pleasant to dwell on, and I have already told you more than enough."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry, Thesamar."

"Well, I suppose I told you more than I need have done. Now let us fall back and ride with the others."

Another six days of travelling, and they passed from Luthor into Daelin, the largest and most prosperous of the Three Kingdoms. It would be at least another week - probably a little longer - before they reached the city of Kryse near the country's southernmost point.

This northern region was at first little different from Luthor in its landscape, with the road passing mostly through forest, with only an occasional small village to relieve the monotony. Gradually, though, the forest gave way to farmland as they headed south. "The wealth of Daelin was originally based on farming," Jarvis told them.

"Originally?" Astra queried. "What is its wealth based on now, then?"

"The supplies of iron, tin and copper that have been discovered, and the foundries, smithies and metalworkers that take the ore and make tools, pots, weapons and armour from it."

"We've seen no signs of mines or foundries, though."

"Not yet, no. They are mainly found in the southern part of the country."

They spent that night in an isolated wayside inn. In the morning:

1. They went on their way.
2. Jarvis was missing. And so were all Fred's gold pieces!
3. A stranger came and sat at their table as they were having breakfast.

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