Calis’s eyes seemed to light with the prospect. Then he fought back his enthusiasm and said, “Don’t sell her short, Nakor.”
Nakor nodded. The two had spoken at great length about what they had seen, and knew they were dealing with the most dangerous foe since the Tsurani invasion of the Riftwar. “I know, but men are men, and unless the Pantathian magic is so powerful as to make their hearts change, many of these soldiers of hers will forsake her banner without payment.”
“Still,” said Hatonis, “denying her the shipyards would be a major victory. My father ran the most successful trading consortium in the City of the Serpent River. We can send men to the Pa’jkamaka Islands and ensure they do not sell her ships. I will personally guarantee no shipwright in the City of the Serpent River will work on her behalf.”
Calis said, “You know that after Maharta she will march on you? It’s logical.”
“I know we shall have to fight her. If we must, we can abandon the city and live again in the wild. We men of the clans were not always city men.” Hatonis smiled a dark smile. “But many of her greenskins will die before that day comes.”
Calis said, “Well, first things first. Jadow, Sho Pi, see if you can find us a way down from here.”
The two men nodded and trotted back along the trail, looking for another way down.
“As long as we wait,” said Nakor, opening his bag, “anyone want an orange?” He grinned as he pulled out a large one and stuck his thumb in, squirting juice on Praji and de Loungville.
They found a trail down, a narrow rocky pathway as treacherous as the first one had been kind. Three men fell to their deaths when a ledge of stone, seemingly solid, had collapsed under their feet. Now the remaining sixty men huddled in a narrow defile, huddled around two campfires, vainly trying to withstand the cold as a sudden change in weather sent the temperature below freezing.
Calis and another three men had gone hunting, for the remaining rations were gone, but could only come back reporting no game was near. The company was too large, said Calis, and game was staying clear. He said he’d leave before first light and try to get as far down the trail as possible, to see if he could find a deer or other large game.
Praji said there were bison roaming the plains and many of them lived in the woodlands of the foothills. Calis said he’d keep that in mind.
Erik and Roo sat shoulder to shoulder, holding out their hands to the fire, while others huddled miserably as close together for warmth as they could.
The only exception was Calis, who stood a short distance away, unmindful of the chill.
Roo said, “Captain?”
Calis said, “Yes?”
“Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?”
De Loungville, from near the next fire, said, “Keep your mouth shut, Avery!”
Roo spoke through chattering teeth. “Hang me now and get it over with, why don’t you? I’m too cold to mind.” To the Captain he said, “You and Nakor have been thick as fleas on a beggar since you came back, sir, and, well, if we’re going to be getting killed, I’d like to know what for before I close my eyes.”
A few other men said, “Yes,” and “That’s right,” before de Loungville’s bellow silenced them.
“Next man opens his gob will find my boot in it! Understood?”
Calis said, “No, there’s some justice in what he said.” He looked at the men nearest him and said, “Many of you will not get home. You knew that when you were given reprieve from your sentence. Others of you are here because you’re loyal to the Lion Clan or because you’re old friends of Praji’s. And some of you are just in the wrong place.” He glanced at Greylock, who smiled a little at the last.
Calis knelt and went on, “I’ve told you some of what we face, and I’ve warned you that should this Emerald Queen prevail, this world as we know it ends.”
The clansmen and Praji’s mercenaries hadn’t heard that, and several muttered disbelief. Hatonis silenced his own men, and Praji shouted, “He’s telling the truth. Shut up and listen.”
Calis said, “Long ago the Dragon Lords ruled this world. You may have heard legends of them but they were not legends. They were real.
“When the men of the Kingdom fought the Tsurani a half century ago, a door was opened, a door between the worlds. The Dragon Lords, who had left this world ages ago, tried to use that door to return. Some very brave and resourceful men stopped them.
“But they’re still out there.” He pointed into the night sky, and several men looked up at the distant stars. “And they’re still trying to get back.”
Nakor suddenly spoke. “This woman, the Emerald Queen, she was once someone I knew, a long time ago. She is what you would call a sorceress, a magician. She made a pact with the serpent men and they promised her eternal youth. What she didn’t know was that she would lose her soul, her spirit, and become something else.”
Nakor continued, “There is very bad magic under that mountain.”