horses back to camp.”
M’Whan was watching the river, though it was getting too darkto see much. “How far up there do you think it is, Father?”
“A distance. I am keeping count.”
Both nodded. Willow eased back into shelter, and M’Whansettled down in the low brush with his father.
They didn’t have long to wait, but this time down, thebandits barely spoke, and as the horses finished drinking, one of them uncovered a dark lantern-just enough to light the path. Then they started back uphill.M’Baddah rose cautiously, as the sounds assured him the party could no longersee him, and was rewarded with a brief glimpse of movement a distance overhead. It vanished into the trees almost at once. He stepped onto the bank, and M’Whangot to his feet as Willow came back to join them.
M’Baddah pointed uphill and whispered, “Stay away from thewatering place. Leave no prints.”
He moved out silently, over flat rock and onto wiry grass, his son right behind him, the elf bringing up the rear, a strung bow and arrow bunched in one hand. Just beyond the grass was more stone, and then a rough path- an ankle-deep, shoulder-wide indentation in the dirt. It led away from thewater and up, into forest.
It was darker here. M’Baddah stepped aside, so Willow couldlead the way, since the elf could see clearly here. They moved quickly, for the path was clear and smooth. It wound between trees and up a gentle slope, then took a sharp turn and began to switchback up steeper ground, littered with fallen trees, rockslides, and boulders.
Willow stopped abruptly and touched his ear-a gesture theoutlander could barely make out, it was now so dark. Silence. Then M’Baddahcould hear it as well: the clink of a harness, just ahead and a little ways on. A thin, flickering beam of light touched a tree ahead and higher up, then vanished.
“No danger,” the elf whispered, “but we are close enough tothem, I think.”
Moments later, he was on the move again, but almost at once, he slid off to the side, behind a huge slab of rock and waited for the other two to join him.
“Fire, ahead there,” he whispered. “I smell it, and I canjust hear men’s voices.”
“What now?” M’Whan asked, as quietly. Both he and the elfturned to M’Baddah.
“We wait,” the outlander said. “An hour or so and they willsleep. They do not post sentries, but it will still take all the care and quiet we three can manage. We’ll map the place best we can.”
Suddenly, sharply, he signaled for silence and lowered himself to the ground, dark cloak over him. On the other side of the stone, voices could be heard.
“Down already?” a deep voice asked. “Captain doesn’t want thehigh sentry left untended.”
A rough voice answered. “Let him keep watch himself, then.There’s nothin a man can see this time of night without a moon, and that Keep’slocked up tight until sunrise anyway, you know that. Any bread left?”
“Might be. P’raps some of Blot’s venison stew.”
The second man snorted. “Won’t be any bread, but plenty ofstew. The wretched brat manages plain bread but can’t cook anything else.”
“Shhh! Captain’s brother is everywhere these days, and hedon’t put up with anyone giving Blot grief, remember?”
“Huh. Why the captain had to send our only cook on that lastraid…!”
“Because the man wanted to go, and that’s his right-was. Sameas yours.”
“I know, I know.” Silence. The man spoke finally, his voicequieter. “Any new raids in the planning?”
“Huh. What I hear, they’ll wait as much as five days now.”
“Better send soon,” he grumbled. “It’s fall, the grain cartscome in about now. If we’re to winter out here again, we’ll want a proper shareof that.”
“By all the gods at once,” the other hissed, “you trying toget us killed? Even his brother don’t try to second- guess the captain!”
“Well, you asked me,” the sentry said as the two men movedaway.
M’Baddah waited to be certain both had gone on and only thenraised his head. He grinned briefly at his son and the elf.
Middle night saw the three back across the river andstruggling to get damp feet into their boots. The sky was clear, the stars casting just enough light to let them pick a path back to the road. Once across it, M’Baddah stepped aside to let Willow lead. Several moments later, he couldmake out the faint flicker of firelight through the trees and the unmistakable red of Jerdren’s short-cut hair as the man crossed behind the fire. Momentslater, they walked into camp.
“We decided against a cold camp,” Jerdren said. “Anything outthere can probably smell us out anyway, the fire can’t be seen from the road,and most of us voted against cold stew.” He and Blorys made room for the three.“Mind talking while you’re eating? We know you found someone-couple of men andsome horses.”
“We found the camp,” M’Baddah said. He smoothed the dirtbefore his crossed legs and began drawing a rough map of the camp with his dagger. “The camp itself is a long climb up, on a wide, forested ledge thatoverhangs the river. A good place for it. The trees are thick enough and the camp set back far enough from the edge that no one could see it until they came upon it. We were fortunate.”
“No,” Eddis said quietly. “You knew the right kind of placeto look.”
The outlander cast her a brief smile and went back to his map. Jerdren set aside his cup and rose to look over the man’s shoulder. “Thesite is compact, built around three central fires. There is a trail, here, the way we came. We could not find another trail leading down from the camp.”
“Then I’ll wager there isn’t one,” Jerdren said.
“We were able to listen to men talking-at the river, outsidethe camp, and several in the camp itself. They see no reason to keep watch around the camp, merely a man or two awake at night in case creatures or men come upon them. This has apparently not happened, so the camp guard may be awake, but I doubt he is vigilant. There is also a path that leads up, and it climbs very steeply, from what we could see. That goes to the sentry watch we expected, and they do watch the road and much of the Keep from there. There are at least thirty-four men, and I think there may be as many as forty.”
“Two or three apiece, with a few left over?” Jerdren grinned.“I’d call it bad odds for them, wouldn’t you?”
“On ground they’re familiar with and we aren’t?” Blorysasked.
Eddis caught his eye and shook her head. Jerdren shrugged and gestured for M’Baddah to go on.
“There is a large tent here.” The outlander indicated a placejust back from the north and southwest fire pits. “It seems to be for theircaptain to hold meetings. He and his brother also sleep in there. The horse line is south, where the cliffs rise up steeply, and the rest of the men sleep under a long canvas, or in the open, according to their choice. The drop-off is to the north-there. It hangs over the river, I believe, but the edge is near enough thecamp that we did not go there.”
He glanced up and nodded to Willow, who took the dagger and his place at the rough-drawn map.
“To the west-here,” the elf said, “I found crates covered inwaterproof blankets. They are grain and food stores mostly. I checked what I could of them. No gems, gold, or coins there, but I would say that any wealth must be kept in the captain’s tent. By what I overheard, he trusts very few ofhis men.”
“The men who attacked you, Jerdren, were from that camp,”M’Baddah went on. “It seems one of you cost them their cook. There was muchgrumbling over the lack of skills of this Blot, who has taken over his duties.”
Blorys got to his feet and moved to where he could gaze over the elf’s shoulder at the map. “Clear enough. One way in, but they aren’tkeeping watch over it-lazy or foolish, I’d say.”
“Perhaps,” M’Baddah said, “but it has worked well for them,until now. One thing you and your men did, Jerdren-they have no plans foranother ambush right away. The last one was bad for the men’s morale.”
Eddis smiled at him. “Good work,” she said. “We’ve foundtheir camp, we know what it looks like, and we’ve got a good idea what we’refacing here. I like that. Still…” She frowned at her fingers, then turned toher co-captain. “Jerdren, you may not like this, but hear me out, will you? I’mconcerned about numbers. M’Baddah says probably forty of them. I know that youfought some of their men, and you weren’t very impressed, but that doesn’t meanall of them are poor fighters. They’ll be on their home ground, fighting fortheir lives and a way of life that’s been pretty good for them so far. We’regood in a fight, all of us-we’ve proved that. But I want you to think about whatthe odds are really going to be like here.”
