Now the guards were gone again, heading back to the Keep at first light with the four rescued prisoners, and Jerdren—and Eddis—had three more men-at-arms.
He cast Eddis another sidelong glance. Shed recovered nicely from that wounded arm, though shed been cross most of the previous day.
But she’s never been cut like that before, he reminded himself. First one’s always a shock. At the moment, she was talking to the girl Blot. No, Flerys. Funny, insisting on the name change. The kid was used to being called Blot, wasn’t she? Odd, too, the way the swordswoman left the girl in M’Baddah’s charge most of the time. I thought women doted on children.
Mead had stowed his spellbook and was dividing the arrows he’d found in the ogre’s cave, half to his brother, half to M’Baddah.
“Magic arrows—huh,” Jerdren said dubiously. He hadn’t felt anything unusual about them, but since elf and outlander were the best archers, it made sense to give them the extra shafts.
The company was about ready to move out. Time for a last look at the map.
Eddis came over as he unfolded the thing. “I thought we worked everything out last night,” she said. “We’re still going back after the rest of those hobgoblins, right?”
He shrugged. “I was just thinking. Usually, there’s one torture chamber per clan—or so I’ve heard. Sure, we didn’t take out the leaders or finish ’em all off like we did the kobolds, but I’m thinking they’ll keep.”
“The leaders know by now that we’re out here someplace,” Eddis reminded him. “You said only a pack of fools would give them the chance to come at us.”
“Yeah. We killed just about every hobgoblin we found. Why would they come looking for us? Anyway—” he shrugged that aside—“you got me thinking about prisoners. Maybe you’re right, Eddis. Nobody deserves to die like that. Remember that madman’s story about the fellows who rescued him and then got grabbed themselves? Way he described ’em, I’d say it was bugbears.”
“I wouldn’t know, but those men are probably dead by now, Jers. It’s been too long since Zebos got out.” She sighed faintly. “If we aren’t going back to that last cave, what’s your idea?”
“Farther in and up,” Jerdren said promptly. “Something else the madman told Blor—how the creatures close to the road weren’t as deadly as those farther in and higher up? We can waste a lot of time killing kobolds and their kind, Eddis. Creatures that are a nuisance but not deadly, and there’s a lot of ground to cover here—more than I would ever have thought back at the Keep. I’m thinking we get farther back in and up on the ledges, where we can get a better feel for what’s here. Me, I’m all for scouring out these caves entirely, but even I can see that isn’t likely. Snow’ll bury us to our chins before we get that far. Autumn’s well on, and this summery heat can’t last much longer. Besides, say we completely clean out one cave like we did with those kobolds, maybe something else comes along right behind us and fills it up, and there we are again? I say we start picking our fights, get smart about it. We kill off bugbears and others like ’em, maybe the goblins and orcs’ll see the damage we can do, and they’ll up and run for it.”
“Could be. Good point, though—picking our fights.” Eddis took the map from him and eyed it for some moments, finally shrugged and handed it back. “Farther back in it is. Keeping in mind that we’ve got a few new fighters to break in.”
“They’ll do all right, and we still have our priest and our mage,” Jerdren reminded her.
“Yeah, well, whatever else we accomplish here, we can at least leave something of a map for any who follow us.”
“Don’t talk like that, Eddis!” Blorys protested. He’d come up behind them. “You sound like you think we’ll all die here!”
She shook her head, smiled up at him. Her eyes were warm. So were Blorys’. Jerdren blinked and looked away. Eddis and my brother? When did that start? Blor’d never smiled at a woman that way in his young life, and Eddis …
Even more unnerving, he felt disappointed. As if I would have a chance with her… He shook the thought off, let his eyes wander. Man like me hasn’t any business wanting a woman, even a fighter like Eddis.
“I’m not planning on it,” Eddis told him, “but I agree with Jers. Let’s pick our fights from now on. It’s no good battling rats when there’s bear in the woods. Another thing,” she added with a sidelong glance Jerdren’s direction. “We did all right against that ogre, but if we find ourselves in a spot like that again, and it looks like we’re losing—well, that won’t help the Keep or us. At that point, there is nothing wrong with turning tail and running.”
Jerdren stared at her, astonished.
“Dead heroes don’t kill anyone,” she reminded him. “Smart heroes back off and go find another cave to play in.”
Jerdren let his head fall back, and he laughed heartily. “Gods, but you have a tongue on you, woman! Don’t look at me like that, Brother. She’s right, and I’m smart enough to see it.” He folded the map and put it away as he got to his feet. “If everyone’s ready,” he added, “we’d better move out.
They hadn’t gone far when Willow, who was ahead, stopped and held up a hand for silence. “I hear something overhead,” he said softly. “A droning noise.”
“Stirge,” Jerdren said flatly. “Stay close, all of you, and keep your eyes open. If one lands on you—”
He spun around as Flerys yelped. An insect as long as her upper body was clinging to Eddis’ back, its long proboscis feeling along the side of her face as she swore under her breath and furiously swatted at it.
“Hold still, I’ll get it,” Blorys said, but Eddis spun around and slammed into the nearest tree, squashing the thing between her and the trunk. Green muck and blood splattered. The swordswoman staggered away, nose wrinkling at the foul odor and the mess. M’Baddah was at her side then, rubbing briskly at her neck, armor, and leather cap with the cloth that held his spare bowstrings.
“Get moving, now!” Jerdren ordered. “There’s never just one of those things.”
Eddis nodded, dragged out her own bowstring cloth, and mopped at her face as they started out again.
They heard the deep, whining buzz several times but saw no more of the bloodsuckers. Once within the ravine, they moved north, staying fairly close to the rock wall, moving warily but quickly now, crossing the few open places at a near run.
When the ledge at their right hand began to curve south, Jerdren called a halt so they could get their breath back and study the lay of the land. The trees were very thick here, the air musty and humid. From the little he could see, he thought they might be near the inner curve of the ravine. Good as anywhere for a start. A few moments later, they went on.
The rock face rose steep and crumbly here, but there were plenty of handholds, and Blorys found a way up they could all negotiate. In the thick dust, Jerdren could make out footprints. Lots of them, and very big. A few paces on, Willow found a rough trail that worked its way up the ledge.
The trees came together again, leaving them in a twilightlike gloom. The cave that came into sight among the trees was even darker. There were signs on both sides of the entry, written in several languages, including Common.
“Safety to humanoids,” Eddis read in a low voice. “Welcome!” Her lips twisted. “Someone has a sense of humor.”
“Hope it’s not more hobgoblins,” Jerdren murmured. “Man could get bored, fighting them twice in a row.”
He sent M’Baddah and Mead on ahead, holding back the rest of the party until they could check the opening.
Silence, broken only by the echoing kruk! of a raven, somewhere off to the south. The scouts returned quickly.
“I sense large beings, evil ones,” the mage said, “and the passage smells like wet dogs.”