Fabia said, “No!”
Although puzzled, Orlad dared not ask what she meant. He had been inclined to trust his strange sister’s motivations ever since a mysterious invisible force had aided the rescue of Witness Tranquility two nights ago, but there were times when Fabia made his blood run colder than the Milky, and this was one of them. Dantio was frowning. Waels and Hermesk just looked puzzled. Those two must never be allowed to suspect that they were traveling with a Chosen.
He changed the subject quickly. “When the Ucrist asked you to name your price last night, Pathfinder, you told him something about Yeti Pass. What did that mean?”
The weatherbeaten man shrugged. “Om fornito presto orotinatori do happo alcuni.”
Orlad curbed his temper. Revenge was a fruit that was sweeter when ripe. After four more days he would not need this old grouch. Then he would see about mending manners.
Fabia took pity on him. “I asked Horth. There is no known pass between the Vigaelian Face and the Cignial- Zer Face, but there is a certain valley, far to the west, where strange apelike animals turn up from time to time. They’re called yetis. They’re always solitary, and always male. No one has ever seen a female yeti in Vigaelia. The males must wander in over the Edge from Cignial-Zer. Father once hired Pathfinder Hermesk to hunt for a pass, but withdrew his support because he was killing too many of his helpers.”
“I am comforted by this information,” Dantio said wryly.
“Half my life I have spent looking for Yeti Pass,” the Pathfinder said. “And now I have a backer who never fails.”
“That’s right,” Fabia agreed sadly. “If there’s gold to be found, Horth will find it. He never fails. None of his ventures ever loses. And no success can ever make him happy.”
By evening, even grass had disappeared, and the Milky wandered through a land of rock and lichen. Mount Varakats glowed red against a cobalt sky. The travelers slept on the cold ground, their bedrolls huddled together for warmth and their heads tucked under the upturned canoe in case of rain.
The next day the Milky shrank to a brook and they had to portage around shallows. Waels and Orlad, as the strongest, were given the honor of carrying the canoe itself. Later Hermesk left the river altogether and took to the lakes-small lakes, big lakes, winding and twisting, portage after portage. Even when snow flurries blotted out the world, the Pathfinder never hesitated, guided by his goddess.
As the day grew steadily colder, though, he began to grumble about ice. At the noon break he suddenly balked. “We must turn back. The lakes are starting to freeze.”
“We are not going back,” Orlad said.
“Fool boy! You do not know what you are saying.” The old man’s voice grew shrill. “Ice will destroy the canoe, understand? If you step on a rock under the snow and twist an ankle, you will never be able to climb the pass. Would I tell you how to fight a battle? My goddess tells me we must turn back or we will die.”
Orlad said, “My god tells me we must continue. We’ll vote on it. Waels?”
“We go on, lord.”
Waels had been a safe bet. “Fabia?”
She smiled wanly. “I yield to the authority of my brother.”
Long may that last!
Dantio looked almost as worried as the Pathfinder. “He speaks the truth, Orlad.” He leaned closer and touched his brother’s cheek. “But you haven’t lost your seasoning. I vote to continue.”
“We go on,” Orlad said. He removed one mitt and formed the bear’s paw. Half a year ago, on an epochal first night in the chapel, the agony of battleforming had almost stunned him, but now he was ready for it and did not even flinch. It was Hermesk who cried out when the black fur and the deadly claws appeared in front of his face.
“We go on!” Orlad repeated. “Or I rip your precious canoe to shreds. You will deliver us to Varakats Pass at First Ice, as you swore to do, or you will die with us. If you cannot return to High Timber from there, you are welcome to accompany us to Florengia.”
“This is madness!”
“Yes, but you will address me as your lord.”
By nightfall the lightest pack seemed to weigh more than an ox, and even going back over flat ground for another required serious effort. Orlad decided he had underestimated the advantages of mammoth travel. He remembered to collect all the paddles and make sure they spent the night in the bedroll between him and Waels.
By morning, snow was still falling and in places had drifted waist-deep. There was ice around the lakeshore.
Orlad awoke dreaming that he had been dreaming in Florengian. In reality he could ask some simple questions now and even understand some of the answers. He was certainly learning faster than Waels was, so his childhood memories might be returning.
They had hardly struck camp when the snow turned to rain. Later the sun came out. The weather changed faster than a weathervane could spin.
Late on the fifth day, a long rainstorm lifted to reveal a landscape Orlad recognized. He was not surprised, because for some time the ground had been littered with old mammoth dung. The Celebres had arrived at First Ice and the Nardalborg trail.
That morning they had left the canoe wedged between rocks so it would not blow over. They had been walking ever since. Although he and Waels carried the heaviest packs, he had expected to walk the other three clean off their feet. He had not. The problem here was not legs and strong backs, it was lungs. And cold. He was soaked through. He felt as if he had never been warm in his life. It might be a long time until he was. All the others were in as much distress as he was.
In the far distance stood a cluster of barns and sheds, a lonely outpost of humanity in a rocky, barren hollow flanked on three sides by slopes of dirty ice. He looked around anxiously, afraid that the lifting of the rain might have left him exposed in full view of Caravan Six. Fortunately, the rolling slaggy landscape stretched off to the south as a desolation of rock, ice mound, and water, apparently empty of life.
“We’ve won,” Dantio said. “We’re here first. Nothing shows within my range. Those droppings are not recent.”
Orlad sat down on the gravel and wriggled free of his pack. “Need a break.” The others dropped beside him to do the same. “Pathfinder, you have amply fulfilled your side of the bargain. Fabia, give him the receipt.”
“Of course.” She fumbled in pockets and produced a small leather bag. She put five tiny pebbles in it, then passed it across to Hermesk. Horth would recognize the bag and five pebbles as the agreed signal from her that the contracted services had been delivered. “I am grateful, Master Pathfinder.”
“You should be.” He spoke sourly, but he did take the bag.
Orlad had given up dreams of teaching him manners. “Will you come with us, or try to find the way home alone?” If he could portage the canoe single-handed, he was a better man than Orlad.
“Finding the way is no problem,” Hermesk said sourly. “Surviving the journey will be.”
Dantio spoke up. “It is your decision, Pathfinder. If you choose to come to Florengia with us, and if our father still rules Celebre, then he will give you an immense reward for aiding our return. I swear this.”
The surly oldster sneered. “Enough to buy a farm and put my feet up? Watch the weeds grow? Your father cannot reward me. Horth could-with Yeti Pass.” He stared up at the lowering, darkening sky. “I will decide in the morning. At least we can sleep under cover tonight.”
Orlad sighed. “I’m not sure we can. If Stralg’s forces are anywhere near here, they’ll certainly push hard to arrive by nightfall. We’d be sitting ducks in there.”
“They can’t travel in the dark, can they?” Fabia was staring at him in open dismay. She was exhausted-face pale under its windburn, dark shadows below her eyes, straggles of black hair escaping from her equally black hood. Why did she wear black furs when there were so many other colors available? Saltaja had worn black on the one occasion Orlad had met her.
“They could follow the mammoths’ trail,” he said. “They’d only need a single torch. We’ll have to bivouac near here somewhere, far enough away that we won’t be seen if Saltaja arrives with a horde.” The glacier climb beyond the camp was an ordeal for tomorrow, and no place to be benighted.
“Saltaja may be dead,” Dantio said quietly. “The Werists may have all switched sides, as Huntleader Karrthin
