Gloria's Plan

"I am sure that I will manage," Balischo said. He was delighted at the prospect of being on horseback once more, rather than in the strange conveyance that the sorceress had called a coach.

"Before going any further we need to decide what route we are going to take," Gloria said. "We could head directly for the cave entrance in the hope of getting there before your tribe does, and then wait for them there. Or we could go to the spot where you and Vedagaisic left them, and then follow the trail that they would have taken in the hope of overtaking them. I'm assuming that we could do that without any trouble?"

Balischo nodded. There were few proper trails across the plain, but a sizeable group of horses would leave a track of beaten-down grass and hoofprints that would be easy to follow.

"Do you understand maps? It would help if you could point out to me the approximate spot where you left the tribe. That way we could tell whether heading directly for the caves would 'cut off a corner', as the saying goes, and save us time."

She took out a scroll of paper from her bag and laid it out flat. Balischo saw that it was covered with lots of markings but he could not make any sense of them. He supposed that it must be what Gloria had called a "map".

"I don't know what a map is," he confessed.

"It is a representation of how the land lies. It shows the roads and rivers and mountains and so forth, all in the correct relation to one another. Looking at it, it seems that to get to the caves your tribe is going to have to cross the Marcion. The river is too deep to ford unless you go way up into the foothills, and there's only the one bridge shown on the map. That's right, isn't it?"

"I don't know. I have never been that far north, as there is no hunting there. Astra was going to guide us. [89023] But Viani mentioned that, in one of the visions Astra showed her, on the second night of the three that her journey took she had stopped at a bend in the Marcion River, on a low hill. The following night, she stopped in a field on the other side of the river. [88625] So she must have crossed the river on the intervening day, presumably by the bridge. I expect that she would lead the tribe back the same way."

"That's very helpful. Because horse riders couldn't return to the valley by crossing the mountains like she did, she would have to take a different route for the final part of the journey, and come to the main entrance to the caves, but I don't think that should be a problem for us. Of course we will have to go via the bridge as well, to cross the river. When we get there, will you be able to tell whether the tribe have already crossed? I'm guessing that the passage of a substantial number of horses would leave traces in the soil or grass on either side of the bridge."

"Yes, I will be able to tell. I am a good tracker."

"Good. Then what I suggest we do is to head for the bridge by the most direct route. When we get there, if the tribe have already crossed, we can follow their trail and hopefully overtake them before they reach the caves. If Astra is on foot, and has to stop during the hours of darkness, then there ought to be a good chance of that. If they haven't yet crossed, then we can wait for them at the bridge. Does that sound like a good plan to you?"

1. "Yes."
2. Balischo summoned up the courage to say "no"
3. Balischo thought that he could see a possible problem with Gloria'a plan, but he didn't dare to say anything.

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