Mudge came and stood next to his friend, put a comforting
paw on his shoulder. "Ah, lad. 'Ave you learned so little
o' life since you've been in this world? Who knows wot
old Jalwar promised the girl? 'E's a trader, a merchant.
Obviously 'e made 'er a better offer than anything we 'ave.
Maybe 'e were bein' marooned on that beach by 'onest
folk 'e'd cheated. This ain't no world for takin' folks on
faith, me friend. For all we know Jalwar's a rich old
bugger in 'is 'ome town."
"If he wanted Folly to help him, why would they take
the map? They wouldn't need it to retrace the trail back to
Snarken."
"Then it's pretty clear they ain't 'eadin' for Snarken,
mate." He turned and stared down the barely visible path.
"And we ought to be able to prove it."
Sure enough, in the dew-moistened earth beyond the
campsite the two sets of footprints stood out clearly, the
small, almost dainty marks of Jalwar sharp beside Folly's
sandalprints. They led downslope toward the desert.
" Tis plain wot they're about, mate. They're 'eading
for Crancularn. That's why they stole the map."
"But why? Why not go theah with the rest of us?"
Roseroar was shaking her head in puzzlement.
"You're as dense as 'e is, luv. Ain't it plain enough yet
to both of you? Jalwar's a trader. They're goin' to try and
buy up the 'ole supply o' this medicine 'is sorcerership
needs so badly and 'old it for ransom." He stared at
Jon-Tom. "We told the old fart too much, mate, and now
'e's bent on doin' us dirty."
THE DAY or THE DISSONANCE
2O5
"Jalwar, maybe..." Jon-Tom mumbled unhappily, "but
I can't believe that Folly..."
"Why not, mate? Or did you think she were in love
with you? After wot she went through, she's just lookin'
out after 'erself. Can't blame 'er for that, wot?"
"But we were taking care of her, good care."
Mudge shrugged. "Not good enough, it seems. Like I
said, no tellin' wot old Jalwar promised 'er in return for
'elpin' Mm."
"What now, Jon-Tom?" asked Roseroar gently.
"We can't turn back. Map or no map. I suppose we
could go back to the village of the enchanted folk and get
another one, but that would put us weeks behind them. We
can't lose that much time if Mudge's suspicions are correct.
They'd beat us to the medicine easily. I studied that map
pretty intensively after Grelgen gave it to us. I can remember
some of it."
"That ain't the 'ole of it, mate." Mudge bent and put
his nose close to the ground. When he stood straight again,
his whiskers were twitching. "An otter can follow a scent
on land or through water if there's just enough personal
perfume left to tickle 'is nostrils. This track's fresh as a
new whore. Until it rains we've got a trail to follow, and
there's desert ahead. Maybe if we pee on the run we can
overtake the bloody double-crossers."
"Ah second the motion, suh. Let's not give up, Jon-
Tom."
"I wasn't thinking of giving up, Roseroar. I was thinking
about what we're going to do when we do catch up with
them."
"That's the spirit!" She leaned close. "Leave the de-
tails to me." Her teeth were very white.
"I'm not sure that would be the civilized thing to do,
Roseroar." Despite the deception, the thought of Folly in
Roseroar's paws was not a pleasant one.
"All man actions are dictated by man society's code of
honah, Jon-Tom," she said stiffly. She frowned at a sudden
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Alan Dean Foster
thought. "Don't tell me that after what's happened heah
yo still feel fo the little bitch?"
He was shouldering his backpack. "We still don't know
that she went with Jalwar voluntarily. Maybe he forced
her."
Mudge was waiting at the edge of the campsite, anxious
to get moving. "Come on now, mate. Even if you exclude
age as a consideration, the girl was bigger and stronger
than that old ferret. And she could always have screamed."
"Not necessarily. Not if Jalwar had a knife at her throat.
Look, I admit it looks like she went with him voluntarily,
but I won't condemn her until we know for sure. She's
innocent until proven guilty."
Mudge spat on the ground. "Another o' your other-
worldly misconceptions."
"It's not otherworldly. It's a universal truism," Jon-
Tom argued.
"Not in this universe it ain't."
Roseroar let them argue while she assumed the lead,
glancing occasionally at the ground to make sure they were
still on the trail, scanning the woods for signs of ambush.
For the moment she preferred to ignore both of her
argumentative companions.
From time to time Mudge would move up alongside her
to dip his nose to the earth. Sometimes the footprints of
their quarry would disappear under standing water or mix
with the tracks of other creatures. Mudge always regained
the trail.
"Must 'ave took off right after the last o' us fell
asleep," the otter commented that afternoon. "I guess
them to be at least six hours ahead of us, probably more."
"We'll catch them." Jon-Tom was covering the ground
easily with long, practiced strides.
"Maybe that ferret weren't so old as 'e made 'imself out
to be," Mudge suggested.
"We'll still catch them."
But the day went with no sign of girl and ferret. They
THE DAY or THE DISSONANCE
207
let Roseroar lead them on through the darkness, until
accumulating bumps and bruises forced Jon-Tom to call a
halt for the night. They slept fitfully and were up again
before the dawn.
By afternoon the last trees had surrendered to scrub
brush and bare rock. Ahead of them a broad, hilly plain of
yellow and brown mixed with the pure white of gypsum
stretched from horizon to horizon. It was high desert, and
as such, the heat was not as oppressive as it might have
been. It was merely dauntingly hot. The air was still and
windless, and the shallow sand clearly showed the tracks
of Jalwar and Folly.
It was a good thing, because the sand did not hold their
quarry's spoor as well as damp soil, and Mudge had
increasing difficulty distinguishing it from the tracks of
desert dwellers as they started out across the plain.
"I 'ope you remember that map well, mate."
"This is the Timeful Desert, as I remember it."
Mudge frowned. "I thought deserts were supposed to be
timeless, not timeful."
"Don't look at me. I didn't name it." He pointed
toward a low dune. "The only sure source of water is a
town in the middle of the desert called Redrock. The
desert's not extensive, but it's plenty big enough to kill us
if we lose our way.''
"That's a comfortin' thought to be settin' out with."
The otter looked up at Roseroar. "Any sign o' our friends,
tall tail?"
Roseroar's extraordinary eyesight scanned the horizon.
"Nothing but sand. Nothing moves."
"Can't say as 'ow I blame it." He kicked sand from his
boots.
By the morning of the next day the mountains had
receded far behind them. Jon-Tom busied himself by
searching for a suggestion of green, a hint of moisture. It
seemed impossible that the land could be utterly barren.
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Alan Dean Foster
Even a stubby, tired cactus would have been a welcome
sight.
They saw nothing, which did not mean nothing existed
in the Timeful Desert. Only that if any life did survive, it
did not make itself known to the trio of travelers.
He felt sure they would overtake Jalwar and Folly, but
they did not. Not all that day nor the next.
It was on that third day that Mudge had them halt while