XXIV
Boulden nowadays.The game wasn't quite over when the ferry on which the warrior had placed her mark was untied and brought to the front of the boarding dock. Deirane stood up and dusted off her outfit.
“A draw,” she said, “nobody won.”
“How’s that a draw?" Saalyn retorted, "Two more moves and you'd be mate.”
“That’s not sure. I had several possible escapes.”
“You had none.”
For the third time, Levander, the leader of the troop, called his boss. This time Saalyn heard him. She turned around.
“What's wrong?”
“Look at the sky.”
She looked up. Dark clouds were gathering on the eastern horizon. Rain was coming soon. On the Pentarchy, the stormy season was approaching. For a few months, cyclones would batter the archipelago at the rate of one every two or three dozen. In Boulden, a
