leander had never suspected the world was so big.
the wagon traveled over deserts, mountains, rivers, and plains.
sometimes the woman calling herself queen jen rode alongside the wagon on her tall horse. more often she rode ahead by herself, then waited for the wagon to catch up.
always they kept behind the edge of the vast army of corak son of the lightning, who was gathering a whole vast continent together for an assault on the empire.
the empire of the vultures.
but although queen jen and her little band stayed behind the line of corak’s army, they gradually circled it and in doing so crossed through endless hidden little kingdoms and outposts of abandoned empires, small forbidden cities, and the camps of unconquerable tribes and mad sects.
all the while coming ever closer to their goal - the heavily defended capital of the empire of the vultures - the gold and sapphire city of za.
after a few of his innocent questions had been brushed aside, leander gave up on trying to understand queen jen’s purpose in reaching za , and he got through each day one at a time with his new companions.
his new companions - the girl named hero, the faceless man, whose name was legion, the old witch woman whose name was perdition, and the shapeless driver, who name was mug.
the two yaks who pulled the wagon were called pythias and bucephalus, and it was with them that leander got on with best.
queen jen had what seemed to leander an endless supply of coins - of gold? - with which she could purchase provisions for the group when absolutely necessary, but she preferred to hoard them, and the group foraged when they could.
and, when they passed through any kind of city or settlement, hero would attempt to earn some coins by performing in the streets or dusty roadways, singing, dancing , and performing magic and acrobatic tricks.
leander was assigned to assist her in these endeavors,. it was quickly apparent that he was useless to her, except as a butt or foil. but he was not very good even at that, and hero was wont to berate him, savagely and endlessly, for his clumsinesses.
the other members of the crew found her abuse of leander highly amusing, and encouraged her in it.
only the two beasts of burden, pythias and bucephalus, showed the boy any sympathy. but he had a thick hide, and much preferred his new life, with its constant change of scenery, to his old one as a goatherd.
hero took her complaints to jen whenever she had the opportunity.
“he is useless. why can i not have a snake instead? i could train a snake to some really good tricks. and get some good coin.”
“i do not care for snakes,” jen would reply. “he is what you have. make do with him.”
“then at least let me train him properly. by beating him!” this got a good laugh from the others, especially the old woman perdition.
hero continued. “how can i train anybody properly when i can not put a stick to them?”
“i think he is used to beatings,” jen answered. “and if there is any beating to be done, i will do it.”
“but he is useless!”
“i have my plans for him. he will be useful to me.” thus jen ended the discussion.
in this way the group continued, until they finally reached the outskirts of the empire proper.
they began to pass through towns of some size, but were still many miles from za.
one night, as the sun was setting, they came to an inn outside the city of uo-path.
a squad of imperial dragoons was making merry in the courtyard in front of the inn.
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