Following the merchant’s directions from Kāi'ěrwén, the party rode upstream along the northeastern branch of the Lam River, choosing the southern bank so they would not need to cross again at Mǐ shā’s Ferry.
Near midday, as the river curved sharply between walls of thick jungle, they unexpectedly rode into the middle of a brigand encampment. The outlaws had apparently been preparing an ambush for river traffic and were caught off guard by mounted travelers approaching from inland. Confusion lasted only seconds before arrows filled the air.
Beatriss and Tetsukichi immediately drove their horses into the startled archers, cutting through the camp before the brigands could properly form ranks. The mounted charge broke the ambush almost at once, but farther back on the trail Tsao Ho and his monks came under heavy attack from spearmen emerging from the brush. The monks fought bravely but lacked the experience of hardened frontier fighters.
By the time the fighting ended, the brigands had been scattered or killed, but one monk lay dead and several others were badly wounded. Afu and Ju-May tended to the injured while the survivors buried their companion beside the river beneath a cairn of wet stones.
Two more hours of riding brought the travelers to what they believed must be Mǐ shā’s Ferry. On the opposite shore stood a squat stone building in the same ancient style as the ruined outpost where they had sheltered in the mountains. A weathered ferryboat drifted loosely against its moorings. Most importantly, a rough road led southward from the riverbank exactly as the merchant had described.
By late afternoon they reached the final landmark mentioned in the directions: a narrow footpath disappearing eastward into dense jungle.
The trail quickly became oppressive beneath the heavy canopy. Heat and insects closed around them. After some time they began hearing faint human voices somewhere ahead and thought they glimpsed firelight through the trees. Encouraged, they pressed forward, catching the smell of cooking fires drifting through the humid air.
Then, abruptly, the sounds ceased.
The silence unsettled them. They dismounted and attempted to force their way directly toward the lights through the undergrowth, but after nearly a hundred yards of hacking through vines and tangled roots they found no clearing at all and began to fear losing the trail entirely. Reluctantly they returned to the path and continued east on horseback.
Roughly half an hour later the jungle finally opened before them. They saw lanternlight reflected on water, heard the sound of a river nearby, and glimpsed buildings raised above the mud on timber pilings.
A group of armed warriors waited for them at the bridge leading into Quitokai.
The guards did not attack, but their suspicion was unmistakable. When Beatriss explained that she and Tetsukichi knew Gwinch, the warriors conferred briefly and agreed that the two foreigners would be permitted to speak with the village elders.
The meeting was direct and without ceremony. Beatriss openly explained why they had come. Gwinch was their friend, she said, but troubling rumors had reached Khanbaliq. They wished to know whether he had truly allied himself with slavers operating along the frontier.
The elders answered just as plainly.
Gwinch, they said, had defended Quitokai against the slavers and had helped organize resistance among the jungle settlements. Not long before, he and his companions—including two powerful sorcerers—had led an assault on a nearby stockade, freeing many captives before continuing deeper into the jungle in pursuit of General Goyat and Governor Kawabi.
The elders welcomed the travelers to remain in Quitokai as guests.
Over the following days, the party debated what should come next.
For Beatriss, the answer seemed simple. She had confirmed that Gwinch was not openly serving the slavers, and that was enough. Her instinct was to return north to Kāi'ěrwén and Menkan and eventually reunite with her children and household in Anca Sansar’s grazing lands.
Others disagreed.
Tsao Ho believed their mission had never been merely to locate Gwinch, but to continue the hunt for Goyat and Kawabi themselves. Golfo, to Beatriss’s irritation, seemed inclined to agree. Tsao Ho in particular spoke openly of following Gwinch’s trail deeper into the jungle.
And there was still another possibility.
Among the captives freed from the stockade were survivors who described the raid in disturbing terms. According to them, Gwinch’s sorcerers had unleashed some terrible creature during the assault—something that tore through slavers and guards alike while Gwinch evacuated the prisoners.
But not everyone had escaped.
Beneath the stockade, the survivors said, there remained a dungeon where many more captives had been imprisoned. Most assumed the creature had slaughtered them together with their captors. Yet hope persisted that someone below might still be alive.
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