7
It took time for the men to haul the massive bodies away. Bythe time Jerdren and the others returned to the camp, their provisioner had a fire going once more and the last of the porridge reheating. The men who’d beenon guard when the orcs attacked ate as the others began packing up their blankets or retrieving what unbroken arrows and other weapons they could. Mead turned the pages of his book. Eddis sat cross-legged on her blanket, counting out the contents of the orc’s purse Jerdren had tossed her-most of the weightcame from copper pence and a small bar of silver that gleamed wetly in the early morning sun.
There were also two odd little bundles of sticks and string. M’Baddah, who sat close by bandaging one of the injured, looked them overcarefully and suggested she give them to Mead.
“I think they are fetishes, but he may know what they areused for and if they are dangerous for us to keep.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Eddis said. She dropped them atopthe dust-coated bag and wiped her hands on her breeches.
It was quiet for some moments, except the crackle of the fire, and the faint groans of one of the spearmen who’d received a nasty crackon the back of his head. Fortunately, his helm had kept him alive.
Jerdren came back into the clearing and knelt at the fire to pour hot water over his bloody hands. None of it seemed to be his blood. He blotted them on his shirt and grinned at Eddis.
“There’s one way to work up an appetite!”
“Not my favorite,” Blorys replied. He’d come up behind herand settled down next to her. “Arm better, Eddis?”
She nodded.
“Good for your reflexes, a fight like that,” Jerdren said.His grin faded. “We need to talk. The few orcs we left alive ran, and from whatI saw, I’ll wager they’re still running. Maybe it was just our bad luck to picka place to camp where we’d cross paths with ’em. Still-is it possible there’s ahold of those brutes around here?”
The Keep men eyed each other. “There’s no rumor of a hold,”one said finally. “Now and again, hunting parties’ll see prints that might beorcs or other such creatures. And they’ve been seen at a distance-but only a fewof ’em at a time. Fewer than we fought here.”
“But you don’t send patrols eastward, do you?” Jerdren asked.“And you don’t hunt this far into the wilds, so would you even know?”
“I would know if there was a hold close by,” Mead said. Hewas stowing his book in its case as he came up to join the others. “I testedthis area for evil before agreeing we should camp here, if you recall, and I made sure none of the orcs we fought last night had followed us.”
“Oh, right.” Jerdren rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It justseems odd, as much wilderness as there is, that they just happened to wind up where we are.”
“We didn’t travel that far last night, and we weren’t exactlybeing quiet, this morning,” Eddis replied dryly. “And there’s the fire. Withthis wind, they could probably smell the smoke for a long ways. But if you ask me, it doesn’t matter if these orcs were part of last night’s bunch, or ifthey’re a completely different troop.”
“It might matter,” Jerdren said. “Because if there are bandsof ’em wandering around out here, that just might mean we’re close to a den. Wearen’t out here to battle orcs. They’re big and nasty, and cursed few of ’emcarry what I’d call a decent pocketful of coin. Besides, if there’s orcs allover the place here, what chance is there we’ll find that band of robbers in thesame area?”
“I’m not arguing with you,” Eddis said.
One of the spearmen looked up from his pack. “I’m rememberingsomething,” he said. “About two years ago, there was a company of men rode infrom the east, early in the year. They told us they’d had one fight afteranother-orcs and all manner of other creatures-some distance from the Keep,where the road runs through heavy woods, down in a long, deep ravine. They broke free, finally, but half their number were dead, and most of their pack horses were gone, too.”
“That long ravine is at least another day’s ride from here,”another said. “Up where the caves are, or so it’s said.”
“Caves?” Jerdren sat up straight and suddenly looked veryinterested. Blorys sighed quietly.
The Keep man shrugged. “Back when Macsen was still lord ofthe Keep, men went farther from the walls, and all this around here was peaceful. None of us here have ever seen the caves. There’s always been stories,though, about a great run of caverns where monsters of every kind live.”
“Oh.” Jerdren waved that aside. “No robbers there, then.That’s too far a distance for the men we’re seeking, anyway.” He came partway tohis feet and looked around. “We just about ready to move on?”
“Nearly,” M’Baddah said. He was rubbing salve into anarmsman’s cut fingers, while Mead tended to the man with the aching head.
“Good.” Jerdren broke out his map. “Anyone got an idea wherewe are? I mean, we re obviously somewhere in this area.” He pointed at a placewell within the woods, where they came down close to the road.
“More like here,” one of the archers said. He indicated aplace farther south. “We don’t come this far to hunt, not often, but seems to meI’ve been here, time we came down the road last year. If I’m right, the river’llbe right close to the road when we do come into the open, and there’s the swampsjust on the other side.”
Blorys came around to look over his brother’s shoulder. “Youknow,” he said, “I’ve been thinking about the other side of the river-not whereit’s swampy, but back west. Here, where the water divides, those are islands,right? This time of year, will the river be low enough to cross?”
The archer nodded. “This time of year, water’s almost warm,and it’s low enough to ford, plenty of places. We haven’t looked that far eastof the Keep, partly for the distance, partly because they’d see us coming downfrom the Keep road and have all the time they’d ever want to set an ambush.”
“Yes,” Blorys replied, “but this time, they don’t know we’reout here.”
“Unless they’ve heard all the fighting,” Eddis said dryly.
“True. Even if they did, there’s no reason they’d suspect whowe are or why we’re here. It just seems that this area is fairly close to theKeep, near enough to make it easy for men to see what’s on the road and go afterit, but still far enough away that men could bring their horses down to the river to water them and not be seen. Especially if they come down at dusk.” Heran a thoughtful finger along the river. “Since they know the Keep isn’t sendingmen to look for them, then I’d wager they aren’t changing their camp very often.If at all.”
Eddis nodded. “Makes enough sense to test your idea, Blorys.You think we should-what? Pick a couple good trackers and hunters, send themacross the river to check the banks for prints, and see which way they go?”
“Exactly. Even if the tracks fade out on hard ground orstone, we’ll know where to start. If I’m right, there should be plenty of signsof their passage.”
“Besides, it’s about the best choice left,” Eddis said. “Wehaven’t found anything to show they’re north of the road. The other side of theriver seems the next best chance for finding them, I’d say.”
She looked around the fire. Everyone seemed ready to move on, and their provisioner was ready to douse the fire.
“Like you said, Jers, probably those orcs are still running,but I’d feel pretty stupid if we were still sitting here when they came back. Isay we move out now and move as fast as we can. Once we reach the south edge of the woods, we can look over the land, make certain exactly where we are, and decide what to do.”
Jerdren nodded and rolled up his map. “Good idea. Let’s getgoing.”
Eddis backed away from the fire pit as the cook emptied his pot over the fire.
?At least one of you hunters out front with me,? Jerdren said.?And Willow? You?ve got good ears, I’d like you at the rear. Eddis?”
“Rear with Willow, or flank,” she said.
He grinned cheerfully. “I was just thinking, way you carvedup those two orcs just now, maybe we want you in back, in case they try sneaking up behind us.”
“Funny man,” she retorted and scooped up her pack.
The ground remained fairly level, the woods open. Eddis could see well into the trees on both sides, but steady wind high in the branches made too much noise for her to hear anything else. By the time Jerdren called a halt, she could clearly make out the road, and across it, a bright green line of brush that marked either the river or
