James and Jazhara moved up the canyon. After carefully picking their way through the narrow opening, they came to a quarter turn, bending to the left. James peeked around the corner. Then he turned and held up two ringers to Jazhara, and mouthed, “Two guards.” She nodded. He glanced up at the rim of the canyon and pointed to a spot slightly behind Jazhara.
Following his gaze, she saw a handhold, and nodded quick agreement. Shouldering her staff across her back, she climbed nimbly up onto the ridge. James followed. At the top he whispered in her ear, “I’m going to move up the draw a bit and see what’s there. If there’s a way to get past the guards, I’ll find it. If not, we’ll try the other side.”
“What if there is no way on the other side?” she whispered back.
“Then we have to kill the guards and move quickly before we’re discovered.”
Jazhara’s face revealed her reaction to that possibility. “Please find another way,” she asked.
James crept along the rim of the canyon, keeping low to reduce the chance of being seen against the still-light sky. He passed the bend and glanced down to make sure he wasn’t likely to be spotted by the guard stationed at the opposite side of the canyon, but to his relief the guard was nowhere to be seen.
James continued his slow approach. The rise increased in height as he reached the lip of the box canyon. Below he could see a dozen tents, dominated by a huge one capable of housing at least a dozen warriors. He sat back on his haunches for a moment and weighed his concerns. The tents were of human origin. Goblins built huts from sticks and branches in their own villages, or stayed in caves or under lean-tos when out foraging or hunting.
Then James saw a human. So: human renegades were behind the goblin raids! He half-expected the man to be wearing the black of the Nighthawks, and was almost disappointed when he approached the fire and revealed himself to be a simple mercenary. James gave that some thought: mercenaries and goblins. It seemed that Bear must be involved in the goblin raids - or whoever was behind Bear . . .
Which left James with a problem to consider at some other time, since right now he needed to focus on rescuing the child.
The mercenary kicked a goblin who grudgingly moved aside so that the human could take out a knife and cut a hunk of meat off a quarter bullock that was roasting on a spit. The man deftly impaled the meat with his dagger, tore off a piece, and turned away from the circle of goblins around the fire. James watched him chew the savory beef.
Then he heard the baby crying. An influx of emotion he hadn’t expected accompanied the realization that the child still lived, filling him with relief and a redoubled sense of urgency. James’s eyes glanced here and there, his gaze traveling around the camp. The old thief in him spied a course along the canyon rim that would put him above the big tent in which the child lay.
James glanced at the camp below. A couple of goblins sported wounds, obviously from their aborted raid on the Wayfarer the night before. How to get in and out without being detected? James wondered.
He looked up at the sky and judged it about three hours before the waning Small Moon rose. Middle Moon was a quarter full, and was now high in the sky. It would set as Small Moon rose. Large Moon was also waning, and would rise an hour after Small Moon.
James calculated. That gave him roughly an hour of relatively deep darkness in which to infiltrate the camp, steal the baby, and return to where Solon and Kendaric waited. As loath as he was to risk passing by the guards three more times, he knew he had to return to Jazhara and discuss his plan with her; he would need her help.
Moving slowly he passed the bend and reached the point above Jazhara. Softly, he whispered her name and from below heard her answer, “Here.”
He jumped down.
“What did you find?” Jazhara asked.
“The baby lives and I think I can get to her, but I need to know if you have anything that we can use to keep her quiet. I will almost certainly be discovered if she cries out.”
Jazhara said, “I can make something; how much time do we have?”
“I must be back above the tent within the hour.”
“Then I have little time. I’ll need a small fire and my things are on my horse.”
James motioned her to follow. “Quietly,” he said. He led her back down the canyon to where Solon and Kendaric waited. At once, Kendaric started to ask questions, but James waved them away. “The child lives and I’ll fetch her out, but right now I need a fire.”