Against the Giants

night. I’ll think on it.”

The company rode out of the city at daybreak three dayslater. Vlandar took the lead, and the others strung out behind him. Bringing up the rear was a score of Lord Mebree’s best fighters and Pferic, who led two packanimals while his assistant, Zyb, a freckled boy of perhaps fourteen years, led the third.

For the most part, they rode in silence along the east bank of the Javan River, with an occasional word from Vlandar on direction or stops. The rangers had their own mode of silent communication and moved out ahead to scout once they left the farmsteads and pastures behind. Khlened seemed to be hung over or simply sulking about yet another imagined slight. Nemis’ lipsmoved now and again-perhaps going over spells that might prove useful. Agya hadquarreled with the paladin over one of the last pranks she’d pulled in the lowermarkets the night before they left. Though she now and again spoke to Vlandar, she ignored Malowan. Lhors found himself riding most of the day next to the paladin, who pointed out an occasional landmark along the broad, smooth-flowing river that began high in the Barrier Peaks and ended in the Azure Sea.

There wasn’t much to see to the east and north but hills.Although Lhors had never been quite this far north, every tree and bush seemed to speak of home to him. It was all he could do not to turn and head south, but a small, despondent voice in the back of his mind whispered, but you have no home now….

The desire for revenge that had seized him the other night was still there, but it smoldered now, and he let it alone to do so. Better to concentrate on the task at hand.

Not very far to the west, Lhors could make out the feet of mountains, the Jotens. Somewhere among those peaks and valleys lay the Steading. Lhors swallowed, his throat suddenly dry, then stood in the stirrups to take the weight off his already stiff backside. Movement well to the rear caught his eye. Lhors stared hard, but the figure was much too distant for him to tell much.

“Malowan? I think there’s someone following us.”

“Yes,” Mal said without looking back. “I saw him earlier.Arkon the Adamant.” The paladin’s voice was dry, and the corners of his mouthtwitched.

Khlened, who was riding just ahead of them, reined in so they could catch up to him. “Green whelp,” he growled. “Believe I’ll go back there and teach him themeaning of ‘no’!”

“Leave him be.” Vlandar had apparently been near enough tocatch the whole exchange. “He’s not worth the trouble. Save your horse for thejourney ahead. The boy will either grow up or he won’t. At this point, it’s hischoice.” He kneed his mount and went back to the head of the party.

Khlened moved back to where he’d been. Lhors could hear himmumbling under his breath but couldn’t make out what he was saying.

They rode at a ground-devouring pace, though Pferic made certain they took frequent stops to rest the horses and donkeys. Khlened objected-mildly enough for him-but Vlandar backed the horseman. “We’ve at leasttwo days to reach Flen and our boat. We’re between two prosperous cities and ona well-traveled river. This is still no place to be caught afoot. Others besides honest travelers and king’s men frequent this way.”

Still, they made a long day of it to make up for the lack of speed. Most of the afternoon had been a subtle climb-enough to prove adiscomfort to a man riding who wasn’t a horseman, Lhors decided wearily. He wasready to fall from the saddle when they finally stopped for the night just after sundown.

The few oak trees around their camp were heavily festooned with vining leather-leaf, a parasitic plant that only grew at higher elevations, and the evening air was cooler than it had been in the city.

Pferic set the boy Zyb to gathering firewood while he hobbled the horses for the night. The lord’s soldiers had set guard around the campalready and apportioned watches. Lhors helped Pferic, giving a handful of grain to each animal before he accompanied Zyb to help collect kindling.

The next day was much like the previous, but just after midday, they rode into Flen. The boat turned out to be two flat-bottomed boats, each surprisingly small with a long rudder oar and two poles per side. There was a small cabin midships and a sturdy mast just before that. Lhors, who had never set foot on a boat in his life, stared wide-eyed at the arrangement and was slightly disappointed when Khlened and Nemis showed them how the sails were furled. It was a very simple operation, one even he could manage to help with.

Vlandar bid farewell to their escort and divided up the party right away. “I have given some thought to this, so if you dislike my choice, Isuggest you try to live with it, since we all must function as a team from now on. Once you know which boat is yours, get your things aboard as quickly as possible and come back out to the dock. There’s a captain coming from thecompany that patrols the rivers. We’ll all need to know what he can tell us, andhe’ll be sending four or so of his men with us to bring the boats back.”

Vlandar then sent Lhors and the rangers to the lead boat where he would be, leaving the second to Malowan, Agya, Khlened and Nemis. Lhors looked around in the brief silence that followed the announcement. He couldn’tdecide if anyone was displeased or not, but he was grateful not to be in closequarters with Agya.

“What of the horses?” Rowan asked.

Vlandar spread his hands. “What I said back in Cryllor stillholds. Unless this Captain Holken tells us otherwise, I’ll want someone besidesPferic on horse to keep an eye on the lands along both banks, possibly someone afoot as well if the terrain calls for it. Last I heard, the middle reaches of the river are not well patrolled, and there are villains of every kind who prey on travelers. We won’t need all of the horses, however. Likely we’ll leave Zybhere with most of them.”

“Sounds as if we won’t be coming back the same way we go,”Khlened mumbled.

“No, remember what I told you in the barracks,” the warriorsaid. “Maybe we’ll return as we went in-and in a hurry. If so, we’ll need theboats and the horses. But if we must go on to another place, Mal and Nemis are working on a way to let our outside party know to turn around and return here.”

“Since we don’t know what we’ll face or find,” Malowan added,“we are trying to provide for several possibilities.”

“Mmmm.” The barbarian nodded and went to unload the packsfrom his horse.

The sun was still well above the western hills when agray-bearded bear of a man with a captain’s patch on his hardened leather armorstrode up to the two boats with four men behind him.

“Vlandar, isn’t it?” he asked. “I’m Holken, and these are themen I’m sending with you. They’re experienced in the-ah-trade along theriver between here and Istivin.” He grinned. “So’m I, but worse luck, I’m neededhere and up the Javan to the north.”

Vlandar met his hand halfway and led them onto the deck of the first boat.

“Be that secret-like, or do we all listen in?” Agya asked.

Malowan shrugged. “We’ve still some loading and settling todo. Vlandar will let us know what we need to know.”

“P’raps,” the girl replied. She gazed back the way they’dcome. “Wonder where that fool of a rich lad’s got ’isself to?”

“He’s waiting,” Khlened growled. “I can almost sense himm’self, waiting for us to be on the move and out of this walled town so’s he canfollow once more.”

Malowan sighed and shook his head. “Unfortunately, Khlened, Ifear you are probably right.”

Just then, Vlandar reemerged and called the company together while the local men were storing their own weapons and supplies. When everyone had gathered, he explained, “These men patrol the river between here andIstivin, and they know the dangers. For an old landsman like myself, they’llprove good instructors at poling a boat and reading the river. We’ve only a fewhours of daylight left, but the farther we get upriver tonight means one less hour tomorrow and the day after.”

Malowan looked at each of them in turn then nodded. “It’s agood plan. Let’s be off.”

Several hours later they stopped for the night against thenorthern bank of the Davish River where it was undercut by high spring flow. Here, they could not be seen from the south, were partly protected by rock face to east and west, and reasonably comfortable on a pebble-strewn shoreline. Even without a fire-the Flen guards had advised against one-they were fairly warm.With a nearly full moon, they could see each other well even in the shadow of the overhang.

Rowan and Maera spent an hour or so scouting the area. Upon their return, Rowan announced that their