James Lowder - The Ring of Winter

The boy turned back to study Artus and Pontifax for a moment. "Father!" he shouted, then disappeared between a high row of boxes.

The boy's father appeared at the end of the long aisle running from the door to the back of the warehouse. "Pay Inyanga no mind," the man said. "He is trying to prove to me he loves the store so he can inherit it some day."

Despite this, Artus opened the door and kicked as much mud off his boots as possible before treading across the clean planks. Pontifax removed his shoes completely. The old mage smiled at the stern-faced boy, who had returned with a bucket and mop. "It's our mess," Pontifax said, holding up a hand. "Allow me."

He muttered an incantation. Instantly a blue light limned the mop, then it jerked out of the boy's hand. As the child stared, it cleaned up the mud and swabbed the whole area in front of the door. Finally the mop floated back to the bucket and lowered itself into the now-grimy water.

"I used to sweep up my father's store when I was your age," the mage said kindly. "There were lots of times when I wished someone would come along and make the broom do the work itself." He patted the boy and hurried after Artus, his bare feet peeking out from under his long brown robe.

"This is Ibn Engaruka," Artus said when the mage reached the long, low counter that ran the entire length of the warehouse. The owner nodded politely, though his face was an impassive mask. The young boy resembled him closely, from the broad nose to the hard-set jaw. Even the clothes they wore were alike.

Ibn gestured to the wet patch near the door. "It has been years since magic has blessed this place," he said stiffly. "I was just telling your comrade here, a local sorcerer used to trade magic for goods. He placed some enchanted gems under the floorboards to keep the store cool. That keeps my foodstuffs from spoiling so fast, do you see?"

Before either Artus or Pontifax could reply, Ibn clapped his hands. "Inyanga, bring some chairs for these gentlemen." The boy had apparently foreseen the order, for before his father finished speaking, he had dragged two wooden stools to the tired explorers.

"It is best to do business when comfortable," Ibn said, but he did not take a seat himself. Instead, he leaned on the counter, openly sizing up the strangers before him. "What brings you to Chult? If I understand your goal, I can better help you to reach it, do you see?"

"We wish to hire a guide and six bearers, and buy supplies for a few weeks trek into the jungle. But we prefer not to discuss our reasons for being here," Artus began, "There are others-"

"No need to say more. I understand entirely," the shopkeep said, holding up a restraining hand. "I will tell you this, though. The men and women here will do no traffic with slavers. It is something we will not tolerate, do you see?"

"Of course," Pontifax said. The mage nodded emphatically. "We're no slavers. You can count on that."

"Then I can help you," Ibn replied, "but not for a few days. This very morning, before dawn, the only guide in Port Castigliar has gone away with the unpleasant young woman from your ship. It is too bad you could not travel together, but-"

"Young woman?" Artus repeated, shocked, "No young woman got off the Narwhal this morning."

Ibn shrugged. "I could be mistaken, but I doubt so very much. Only locals and people from trading ships stop here, and yours has been the only vessel in days."

"Was there an elf with her? A young, blond-haired fellow?" Pontifax asked, rubbing his chin.

The boy, who had been watching the mage from atop a pile of crates, shouted down, "No. She left the camp with the guide. No bearers and no supplies: She was very rude to me and my father."

"She tried to strike Inyanga when he shouted at her for tracking mud into the store," Ibn noted. He pulled a large ledger from beneath the counter. "The guide leaves a record of his destination with me. I am his agent, do you see?" After flipping past a dozen yellow-edged pages, he frowned. "There is no entry here. Perhaps this woman is searching for the same thing you are, for she is certainly as secretive."

Artus was on his feet before the book clapped shut. "There has to be another guide here. You, perhaps? Or the boy?"

"Absolutely not," Ibn said. "Inyanga and I, we will not leave our home, and the bearers, they are slaves freed from galleys along the coast. They work here to earn their passage home, do you see? They do not know this place any better than you." He slid the ledger back under the counter. "You will have to wait for the guide to return. Until then, you can stay in one of the huts. A few are empty now, since three of my bearers bought passage back down the coast aboard a merchant ship last week."

The door slammed open, and the leader of the Narwhal' s shore party stuck his head into the depot. "All the stuff is on the beach," he shouted. "Stacked and covered with a tarp. We're going."

"Not until I inventory the boxes," Ibn replied. He vaulted over the counter. "Pardon me, gentlemen, but Captain Bawr's men have trouble counting their own fingers and toes."

Artus and Pontifax watched the shopkeep hurry outside. "We could risk going on alone," the mage ventured halfheartedly.

"That would be foolish." Inyanga climbed down from the crates. "You would not last a whole night in the jungle alone. There are goblins and wildmen who would eat both of you for dinner." The boy laughed. "And the Children of Ubtao. They do not like strangers roaming around in Ubtao's jungle. Then the bearers would bring you back, and my father would have to bury what's left of you in the ground beside the beach, like the other men who came here and wandered off on their own."

Artus knew many tribes in Chult worshiped Ubtao as the mightiest of gods, the maker of men and animals. Perhaps these "children" were his high priests. "Well, Pontifax?" the explorer sighed.

"What else can we do?" the mage replied. "We take up residence here in Port Castigliar until the guide returns."

Here lies Wurthek of Tethyr.

He has gone to chart the realms beyond.

Artus pulled a clinging vine off the tombstone. It was as thick around as his thumb, and, when it hit the ground, the vine snaked slowly back toward the jungle. Artus merely stared at it; the rain and the somber setting had dampened his already-dark mood so much that anything less than a charging dragon would have gotten a similarly subdued reaction.

The explorers' graveyard started at one end of Ibn's store and ran behind it for almost its entire length. By the shopkeep's count, it held one hundred and eight bodies. Stones marked most of the sites, though the jungle had long ago reclaimed some of the ground. High, thick-rooted trees towered overhead, their fronds sheltering Artus from much of the downpour. Creepers wound around the grave markers and anything else that stood still too long. Hidden in the wall of green, birds called and monkeys chittered and shrieked. Other, more ominous sounds echoed from the jungle, too, but they were far-off and muted.

Over everything hung a blanket of hot, humid air, thick with the sickly smell of rotting vegetation. Not even the breeze from the sea, only a few hundred yards away, could force the pestilent haze away for long. Like the jungle itself, the humidity soon reclaimed its lost ground.

I wonder if Wurthek's wife knows where he is? Artus pondered grimly, crouching before the marker. He cursed not having his journal; he could have written down all the names-the ones still legible, anyway-and taken them back to Suzail with him.

"He was a mapmaker," came a voice from behind him.

Ibn squatted next to Artus and pointed to the stone. "I cut these myself, do you see? When the men and women from your part of the world make it back this far, but can go no farther, I let them rest here until Ubtao calls them. Then I bury them, as is the custom in the northern lands. They seem safe enough, I think."