Long minutes passed as the Perilous Halibut drifted down in silence toward the forest. The megafauna's head, seen from so dose, had now become simply a mountaintop. It could even be mistaken for a small asteroid, thought Teldin, recalling the Rock of Bral. In any event, he had to admire Loom-finger's skill on the helm. For a gnome, he was doing a masterful job.
"This water isn't antimagical, is it?" asked Aelfred suddenly, peering over the railing. Teldin froze, having forgotten to ask and fearing that he had doomed the ship from his inattention.
"Oh, no, idz perfedly safe," the gnome said cheerily. "My ships always landed nearer the horn, bud this is fine. We should have a nice walk frob here."
Teldin questioned the nice walk. It was becoming obvious that the redwoods were far larger than he'd first guessed. Some appeared to reach many hundreds of feet up, and they were crowded together so closely as to produce considerable darkness within them. Teldin stepped back from the railing, prepared to help Aelfred with the mooring lines.
Gomja drew his pistol so quickly that Teldin had no time to prepare himself for it. He flung himself back, raising his hands to shield his face as the grim-faced giff aimed and fired.
In the next instant in which he could think rationally, Teldin saw that the giff was aiming away from him, at something below, near the tree line. He looked, hearing the gnomes cry out in fear at the same moment, and saw a huge oil-black bird sail out of the woods, then dip a wing and sail around and back into the darkness. As it went, Teldin distinctly heard a drawn-out, warbling screech issue from the creature and echo in the forest before it vanished.
"Skullbird," said Aelfred. "Gomja, give me a pistol."
The giff was already pulling another pistol from his belt. "I have more experience with these, I believe. I've fought skullbirds before, too, and I know where they are vulnerable. Let me handle this."
Aelfred swore and looked around. "Give me that crossbow," he ordered a nearby gnome. He took the proffered weapon, cocked it back with one jerk of his arm, and loaded it with a razor-headed bolt. Teldin suddenly realized he would need a crossbow himself, but he saw no others available.
"All hands!" Gomja bawled at the shocked gnomes. "Arm yourselves immediately! I want a full-time guard on deck, eight troops, with stockpiled missiles! Move!" The gnomes scattered in haste, several climbing down hatchways and shouting to other gnomes below them. Within a minute, supplies of crossbows, armor, and weapons began pouring out in bucket-brigade fashion from the interior of the ship, until the top deck was awash in stacks of bolts, throwing axes, daggers, and other items.
The ship, now only fifty feet above the water's surface, slowly turned so that it was parallel with a particularly huge fallen redwood in the water. Slowly, then, it sank toward the water's surface.
"We could stand to get a little closer to shore," Aelfred muttered. "That tree isn't a dock, and it's probably slick. It will make for bad shooting if that skullbird comes back. I hope it wasn't gathering friends."
"What will it do?" Teldin asked in a low voice. He had finished cocking and loading his own crossbow.
Aelfred grinned. "Whatever it damn well wants. Those things are purest evil. Did you ever hear any tales about them?" Teldin shook his head, no. "Good," said Aelfred, his voice barely audible. "We're actually in luck that these gnomes aren't experienced sailors. The rumors about skullbirds are all bad ones, and morale always takes a blow when one appears. They're harbingers of bad luck. If they roost on your ship, it means your vessel will be destroyed. Besides, they're not particular about what they eat, and they can pick a man off the deck as easily as anything, then carry him off and eat him in midair. I hate the bastards. At least scawers don't know good from evil. Skullbirds know they're evil, and they love it."
The water below them was twenty feet away, then ten, then five. The ship splashed gently down, huge ripples rolling away through the algae-choked water. Odd, thought Teldin, how the lake had looked much more inviting from far above.
"Shore party!" shouted Gomja. "I want ten volunteers! The rest stay with the ship!" He looked hesitantly at Teldin, his pistols lowering until they pointed down at the steel deck. "We ate about five miles from the base of the horn, sir. May I accompany you to meet the fal?"
Teldin glanced at Aelfted.
"You'd better come with us," said Aelfred easily. "You can keep an eye out for flying friends while we see the fal. I don't trust the wildlife here."
The look of satisfaction and joy on Gomja's face would have been heartwarming if Teldin had trusted him at all. "I've been looking forward to a little action," commented the giff, easing his grip on his pistols, "but I'm still not convinced that this is the best place for us to land."
"Yeah, well, we're here," said Aelfred. "We should be able to handle things. Dyffed will be going with us, of course. Gaye and Sylvie should stay back here. I'd better go below and tell them what's up. Gaye won't like it, I know."
Teldin nodded. Gaye had something on her mind lately. She was acting strangely around him, and he couldn't figure out what the problem was. He pushed the image of the raven-haired kender out of his mind. Her problems weren't his concern right now.
The shore party took ten minutes to form. Aelfred and Gomja led the way from the ship onto the huge redwood trunk, using grapples and planks. The trunk wasn't as slippery as they had feared. Walking in close order behind the front two came Dyffed and most of the other gnomes, each holding a crossbow and outfitted in armor and assorted weapons. Dyffed had put his armor on over his old clothes, making him appear in Teldin's eyes to be an overstuffed doll. Teldin and a group of three gnomes formed a tight cluster that brought up the rear.
Teldin looked up into the mighty redwoods on the shore and felt a deep sense of unease. He glanced back at the ship and saw Gaye and a few gnomes watching them from the top deck. The ship's cheery banners drooped in the still, warm air. He raised a hand and waved good-bye. Everyone but Gaye returned the wave; Gaye stared silently back, her expression unreadable. Maybe she was pouting because she had to stay behind. See if I care, thought Teldin, and dropped his gaze to the bulk of the ship. He wondered whether Sylvie or Loomfinger was on the helm, watching them leave. Sylvie had gotten a little more sleep and was looking much better now. Aelfred had given her the news on their current location, and she'd hardly believed a word of it.
The walk across the fallen tree was uneventful, though getting down from the thirty-foot-high trunk once the shore was reached proved difficult. Gomja managed to find a huge tangle of rotting roots and vines that served as a rope ladder, and everyone was sent down before the giff tried his luck. The vines held, but only barely.
"Thad way," said Dyffed, pointing with a bandaged right hand. Teldin winced at the sight of the injuries the bursting of the thingfinder had caused; the gnome's index and middle fingers were missing, and the white cloth wrapping his hand was already slightly stained with red.
Gomja took a breath and readied his two pistols. "In formation, road step," he said in his normal, sea-deep voice. "Forward!" Everyone fell in behind him as he set off with confident strides into the dark and pathless wood.
It wasn't long before the stench of rotting algae and wood was replaced by the smell of redwoods and earth. The ancient trees reached over their heads like the pillars of a tremendous cathedral. Shrieking birdlike cries echoed through the forest, many originating from far overhead among the distant branches. Teldin once thought he heard the skullbird again, but he saw no sign of it.