Steel And Flame (Book 1) (65 page)

“I mean it.  Have you ever gone into the Deeps
yourself?”

“A time or two.  When I was young and foolish.”

“Foolish?  Look at today’s weather!  You could see a
breeze being born miles away!  And I’m only going out when it’s bright, unlike
Harley and his boys.”

“What’s that?  I must have missed a bit of news.”

“Oh, Harley’s convinced the schools swarm thicker in
the moonlight, the tide take him.  He
has
brought in several nice
catches on his night runs but he’s been delving the Deeps in the dead of night,
hoping for a rarity that stays too far down to catch during the day.”

“Is he mad?  He doesn’t own a deepwater lady!  Just
that little skiff for skimming the shallows.”

“We’ve all said as much to him time over time.  He’ll
wash up on shore one of these mornings, you wait and see.  If the sea doesn’t
swallow him whole.”

Lorry shook his head and glanced across the water,
which had become liquid fire under the orange sunset.  “I never knew anyone so
foolish when I was younger.”

“Sure you did!  But you’re old now and want to
remember everything as ‘the good old days’!”

“You’re no fresh minnow yourself!”

“Of course not, but I’ve still got enough life left in
me to enjoy it.”

Lorry scowled.  “Anyway, you owe me for your net. 
Unless of course you don’t want it back!”

“Fine, change the subject.  Won’t change the facts. 
What’s your pleasure?”

“I already got a meal for the next few days, and I
know you’re good for hard coin, especially after that sticker.”

“All right.  Let me go in and get it.”

Brass opened the door to his cottage, knocking thatch
off the roof when he entered.  He brushed his hair absently and ducked lower. 
Lorry studied the ocean while he waited.  Most ships were in port for the
night.  Those who were still out moved toward shore.  Except…

“Hey’la, Brass?”

“Hold on,” came a muffled reply from inside the
cottage.  A moment later, Brass emerged with a handful of coins.  “Here you
go.”

Lorry gestured with his chin while he accepted the
coppers.  “Has that ship been out there all day?”

“Which one?”

“Farthest out.  I saw her this afternoon and thought
she was a merchant going past.  She hasn’t moved at all.”

“Hmm.  I don’t know.  I didn’t look around very hard
today.”

“But you were in the Deeps, weren’t you?  Didn’t you
see her out there with you?”

“I was out there, yeah.  So was Pelrod, Bakston and
Della.  I know she wasn’t out there then.”

“But I saw her right there while I was mending.  She
hasn’t moved an inch.  How could you not see her?”

Brass gazed with mild interest.  “Then she’s farther
out than we were.  Must be a few miles past my own limit when I go into the
Deeps.”

“I think you’re the one the tide has taken!  Do you
know how big a ship she’d have to be if we could see her from here?”

“That’s all I know.  Could be a warship.  Maybe
several if the king has his armada out.  Just looks like one ship from here.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why’re you so knotted up about it?”

“I don’t know.  A feeling I suppose.”  Lorry shook his
head.  “She’ll be gone in the morning, I wager.”

Worry quickly colored Brass’ features.  “I hope so. 
If she doesn’t move, she could be in trouble.  Village might have to send out a
few ladies to have a look-see and make sure she isn’t foundering.”

“Not many girls in the village can make it out that
far, and one of them’s yours.”

Brass looked sour.  “And I bet your ‘feeling’ turns
out to be something.  Damn.”

“Well, we’ll know in the morning.  Maybe I will go out
with you tomorrow after all.  I’ll at least come by and see you off.”

“Fine.”

Lorry returned home to spend a fitful night asleep,
his dreams plagued by slimy, coiling creatures writhing in the black midnight
of deep water and monstrous apparitions with burning red eyes hotter than the
sun.  He blamed Setin’s fascination with his sea monster tales while he left to
find Brass on the piers.  A day on the water might be exactly what he needed
after all.

Brass stood beside his boat while his men worked
securing various sails and nets.  His hands were balled against his hips and he
glared out at the distant horizon.  Lorry had forgotten about the far off ship
until Brass grunted, “She’s still out there!”

“Oh?”

“She’s bigger now though.  She must have moved in
closer during the night.  Can you make out anything?”

“Not without a Captain’s Glass,” Lorry replied.  He
strained his old eyes to distinguish details.  She had grown from a dot in the
distance.  The shape looked more vertical than horizontal, which meant she must
wear several tall masts.  “Wait a minute,” he barked suddenly.  “Is she on
fire?”

“What?”

“Is that smoke coming off the top?  Must be; there’s
no mists this morning.”

“Rot and ruin!” Brass swore.  He collared one of his
men.  “Run to the village and round up everyone with a deepwater lady who’s not
put out yet.  I think we have a rescue on our hands.”

Death at sea; the common fate of sailors and
fishermen.  A rescue turned into an all hands operation.  The entire village
would move if it could save lives from the sea’s embrace.

Brass’s man ran off while the fisher jumped on board
to help speed the preparations for setting to sea.  Lorry watched the far off
vessel.  The smoke seemed to be acting…unnaturally.  Dull panic shouted in the
back of his mind.  Instead of thinning as it dissipated into the air, the smoke
became thicker.  As he watched it, the cloud grew larger.  And…

“Brass?”  His friend worked too frenetically to hear
Lorry’s voice.  Lorry froze, watching the distant sky and his words came out in
a husky whisper.  “Brass?”

Still not having heard, Brass continued working
feverishly, only stopping a minute later to turn and ask sharply, “Lorry, you
coming out with us?”

He saw his friend staring with wide, horrified eyes
and turned to see what had spooked Lorry.  “Sweet merciful gods,” he whispered
in a voice hardly louder than Lorry’s.

Lorry heard him.  It broke his paralysis.  The old man
ran back across the pier, running as hard as he ever had in his life, ignoring
the burning pain stabbing through his arthritic joints.  He did not know
exactly what terrifying events were in motion but he knew one thing with every
fiber of his being.  It was knowledge that chilled his soul.

He was already too late, but even so he must try to
take his family as far away as his feeble body could manage.

*        *        *        *        *

This is what comes of trying to blend in with these
outlanders.  Working duty a half trained village scout could perform in his
sleep, not an inch closer to your goals, and paired with a
mage!
  Councilor Orlan would weep!

Colbey picked his way up the rise deep in the Green
Reaches with the casual silence his training had made second nature to him. 
Behind him, the herd of
oxen
trampled everything within ten yards,
cursed endlessly and constantly grumbled about needing a rest.  If an arrow
strike from the trees cut them down, it would only be what they deserved.

He paused atop the rise and had to wait two minutes—a
full two minutes—before the captain struggled up beside him.  The man fought for
breath, his head lowered, his hands on his knees, while the other three men
labored on the final climb.

This stone rise was steep in many places, yet barely
reached two hundred yards in height.  That these men were so out of shape they
found it a challenge spoke volumes of their worth.

Beyond the rise was hidden the Nolier supply base. 
Enemy scouts were scattered across the ridge, watching for intruders.  Colbey
easily led the Galemarans around them.  There were only three passes through
the forest ridge that a horse could manage and the Noliers concentrated their
security forces there, apparently unconcerned that men on foot might simply
climb over elsewhere.  He glanced back at the leaders of the Galemaran strike
force and thought the Noliers had a point.

Their labored breathing finally lessened in
intensity.  Colbey resumed the trek without a word to the captain or his men. 
They had gained the ridge’s heights.  Next they needed to traverse the crest if
they wanted to see the base.  Colbey led the way, finding it ironic that the
mage
best kept up with him of the entire group.

He had been taught from infancy that, of all the
outlanders who threatened the village and forest, the mages were most
dangerous.  Not because their powers made them perilous, but because they would
be drawn to the village, unable to avoid the siren call emitted by the forest
pool.  Now he helped one of the bastards!  Colbey shook his head.

The forest’s silence made him wince.  All this
thoughtless crashing about had scared away the animals.  If Nolier scouts
somehow missed the noise, then the sudden silence from the sylvan inhabitants
would certainly alert them.

“Down there,” he directed, stopping behind several
spruces, trees that only grew along these rocky heights within the Reaches. 
None grew lower down among the oaks and other broad-leafed trees.

“How many scouts are stationed along this ridge?” the
captain asked.  He had regained the majority of his wind.

“Not many.  They’re all down in the passes.”

The captain looked to the mage for verification, which
annoyed Colbey to no end.  With a shrug the mage answered the unspoken
question.  “I only saw the one earlier.”

“All right, let’s have a look.”

Colbey set himself apart, perching upon an outcrop to
watch for signs the Noliers had discovered them.  The men withdrew collapsible
brass scopes from their belts and peered through at the enemy camp.

“Not much defense in place,” one of the captain’s
aides observed.  “They’re thinking we’ll never penetrate the Reaches.”

“That’s one theory,” the captain agreed.

The other exclaimed, “Look how arrogant they are! 
They haven’t so much as
framed
an earthwork, or a wall.”

“As I said!  They’re overconfident!  They expect to
have no problem with us!  The facts speak for themselves.”

The captain shook his head.  Before he could speak,
the mage offered his own thoughts.  “The difference between us and them is
we’re fighting to hold a position that belongs to us, and they’re not.  They
might not care if they lose this land.  The ridge makes a good defense and
holds off an enemy long enough for them to scatter if they feel they need to. 
I suppose they expect to know about our presence before we can ever get through
the passes.”

“That makes no sense!  Are you saying they don’t care
if they lose a supply depot?”  The first aide sounded angry.

“Is it a supply depot?” the mage countered.  “I don’t
see any warehouses.  It looks to me like a staging ground, there to protect and
hold the supply line.  The Noliers knew they couldn’t snatch as much land as
they did and not face us!  Probably they only want to hold us off as long as
possible so they can bring as much gold as they can across the river.”

“And lose how many men in the process?  Are you
actually saying the trade-off is worth it if they planned all along to give the
land back?”

“And what about the resistance up north?” asked the
second aide.  “They sure didn’t fold at the first sign of opposition!”  The two
glared at the mage as though he had challenged their authority.

“I don’t have all the answers, or even one,” the mage
admitted.  “But look at that camp down there.  Does that look to you like
they’re serious about holding onto this land?”

“No,” replied the captain.  “It doesn’t.  Marik, can
you sense that mage down there?”

“I haven’t tried yet, but I don’t know if I could in
any event.”

“Then try.”

“Yes, sir.”  The mage squatted near the captain.  He
adjusted his sword as he did so, the first time Colbey had ever seen one on a
mage, and stared down at the Noliers without using his scope.  For several minutes,
he did not move a muscle, rarely blinking.

Finally he shook his head as he focused on the
captain.  “I can’t tell.  I need to be closer.  I’m straining the limits of my
sight as it is.”

The captain considered for a moment before addressing
Colbey.  “Can you bring him closer to the camp?”

“Of course,” Colbey replied, irritated anew by the
question to his abilities and by the need to work with the
mage
.

“We can find our way back to the men if that lookout
we passed on the way up was the only one.  You take Marik as close as he needs
to be, then bring him back when he has an answer I can work with.”

The captain and his two aides reversed course, moving
as clumsily as before.  While they departed, the aides began extolling their
own opinions anew.