Dennis McKiernan - City of Jade

“Aye. The cap’n, he says y’ be, j’st as soon as th’ warband finish briakin’ their fast.”

Noddy came topside, a glum look on his face.

“Oy, naow, Noddy, y’ be all chapfallen, y’ be,” said Long Tom, when the bosun came up the stern ladder.

“Oi wanted t’ go to th’ city with th’ others,” replied Noddy.

“Wull, y’ can’t, what wi’ James all wounded and such. Oi mean, we can’t leave th’ ship wi’ no bosun.”

Nikolai nodded in agreement with Long Tom’s words, but Noddy said, “Ar, they ain’t no enemies left, what with the Mage and Trolls bein’ deaders, and the livin’ Foul Folk all run away.”

Nikolai shook his head. “Lady Aylis, last night she say she t’ink bad Mage might be Knight of Sword. If right, King of Sword still enemy. Ship might need sail.”

“Wull, that’s easy f’r you to say, Nick,” Noddy dolefully said, “ ’cause you get t’ go, while me ’n’ Long Tom have t’ stay j’st in case some runaway Rucks ’r th’ like show up ’n’ th’ ship has t’ be moved. ’N’ wot ’r th’ chances o’ that, eh? Nought, I say. Nought.”

Nikolai smiled and said, “I tell ever’ting we see.”

“Won’t be th’ same,” grumped Noddy.

Long Tom sighed his concurrence.

As Aravan and Aylis came out onto the main deck, Aylis said, “You will need my ‹sight›. Besides, with scouts running ahead and your blue stone amulet and the warband about, I will have forewarning as well as protection should peril be nigh.”

Nikolai leaned over to Long Tom and whispered, “Cap’n, he no win this battle.”

“Aye, he won’t,” murmured Long Tom in reply.

Aravan looked long at the jungle ahead, and then at Aylis, and then the jungle again. Finally, he said, “Fetch thy weaponry.”

Aylis smiled and said, “They’re already adeck.” She gestured to one of the crewmen, and he stepped forward to hand Aylis her bow and a full quiver of green-fletched arrows.

“I don’t think we’ll need climbing gear,” said Binkton, looking back downward as he reached the top of the ladder up from the main hold.

“We might,” came Pipper’s voice from below. “I mean, Bink, who knows what lies past that col the Foul Folk were camped in? There might be cliffs and-”

“All right. All right,” said Binkton, clambering on out. “Bring it if you wish. But, me, I just think it’s extra weight.”

Moments later Pipper emerged, a backpack strapped on. Just as his cousin did, Pipper also bore a small horn to signal the band, should there be a need.

“You’ve got your sling and plenty of bullets, right?” asked Binkton, he himself well armed with bow and arrows.

“Right,” said Pipper, patting a pocket and touching a bullet case affixed to his belt.

“Can’t be too careful, you know,” said Binkton. “As Uncle Arley says, ‘Be prepared.’ ”

“That’s why I’m bringing climbing gear,” said Pipper, a superior smile upon his face.

“Argh!” growled Binkton, shaking his head.

Brekk and Dokan and the warband emerged, twenty of whom were going on the march, while the remainder of the Dwarves would stand watch on the Eroean , all but the two wounded below.

A squad of nine armed sailors made ready to march with the warband as well-cargo handlers and other such, for they would make estimates as to hauling and lading in the event they all came upon something the captain would have them eventually stow in the holds.

“Where’s Liss?” asked Pipper, looking about.

“She and her fox have gone ahead,” said Fat Jim. “They left just a wee while ago.”

“That little sneak!” burst out Binkton. “Come on, Pip, let’s go. I don’t care if her fox is faster than us; we’ll show her what Warrow scouts can do.”

“Hold,” commanded Aravan.

As the buccen swung about, Aravan said, “I would have ye two no more than three hundred of your paces ahead of the main body. Stay alert, for we know not what lies to the fore.”

“Three hun-?” Binkton started to protest, but Pipper said, “You heard the captain. Three hundred it is.” Then he saluted and said, “Aye-aye, sir.”

And so, as the warband and sailors assembled, along with Aravan and Aylis, Binkton and Pipper started down the gangplank, Binkton grumbling, Pipper whistling a merry tune.

“One-two-three,” growled Binkton.

“What are you doing?” asked Pipper.

“Counting off three hundred bloody paces,” snapped Binkton. “Don’t want to get too far ahead, you know. Where was-? Oh, how about six-seven-eight-”

And on they went: Binkton stubbornly counting, Pipper sighing at his cousin’s unseemly behavior.

When Binkton reached the three-hundred mark, he stopped, Pipper stuttering a few steps before stopping as well. Binkton looked back toward the ship through the swaying foliage, the plants rocking in the wind. “Huah! I can see the top of the masts, but nothing else,” said Binkton. “You know, it’s quite far away.”

“Well,” said Pipper, “give me a boost and I’ll see if the warband is following.”

Binkton cupped his hands, and Pipper stepped into the finger stirrup and looked back. “Ah, they’re just now starting. And you’re right: it is quite far we’ve come.”

He turned and looked the other way. “The trees are just ahead.”

“Time to go in caution,” said Binkton, as Pipper stepped back down. Binkton lowered his voice and added, “Spread wide, but keep the path in sight.”

Binkton slipped left of the overgrown path as Pipper moved off rightward. And into the canopied forest they went. All about them, giants of the rain forest reared upward, their trunks buttressed with flanges. Banyan trees, too, huge and many-trunked, added to the interlace overhead. But the forest was not silent, for the wind caused wood to creak and vines to swing and the leaves above to whisper shssh .

Neither Pipper nor Binkton could see or hear the other, with Binkton somewhere off to the left and Pipper off to the right, and they moved stealthily onward, now and again making certain they had not strayed too far from the overgrown path.

Far behind came the warband and sailors. And Aylis said, “Even with my ‹sight› invoked I cannot see the Warrows.”

“They are stealthy, my love,” said Aravan. “I think neither of us will espy them unless they deliberately make themselves visible.”

“Do you think they will remain within three hundred paces?”

Aravan laughed. “Mayhap not. Yet I gave them that command so that they would not run off completely willy-nilly.”

“Think you they would do so?”

“Pipper sometimes strikes me as impulsive, but I also would not put it past Binkton to do so just to show Lissa that he and his cousin are scouts as well.”

“Are they scouts or not?”

“I deem someday they will be very good at the task, yet I think them more valuable as two who can get into places others cannot.”

“Lock picking and acts of stealth and guile, you mean?”

“Aye. After all, they were taught by one of the best.”

Binkton froze in place, for, in spite of the wind in the forest, he heard quiet movement ahead. He nocked an arrow to his bow and silently stepped behind the bole of a tree.

The stealthy movement continued to advance toward him, and Binkton envisioned a monstrous snake or dreadful jungle cat sneaking upon him. He listened, and as it drew closer he knew this was no snake, for it did not slither but stepped softly instead.

And he waited. .

And on it came. .

Until. .

It paused on the opposite side of the trunk.

And then a voice said, “Don’t shoot. It’s just me.”

Binkton exhaled the breath he had been holding. “Lissa?”