Erik said, “Let me go down and take a look. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
He heaved himself out of the chair and moved to where his Crimson Eagles were camped. “Jadow!” he shouted, “bring a squad!”
The large lieutenant and a sergeant named Hudson fell in almost instantly, and by the time Erik had moved to where the horses were picketed, he had a dozen other men hurrying along to catch up. The horses were saddled and ready to ride in minutes, and Erik formed up his squad. He glanced around, astonished at how well the army was being encamped. The move from Sarth northward had been at a forced march and the quartermasters had been pressed to their limit to get provisions together and underway on short notice. Yet here was the bulk of the Armies of the West, nearly eight thousand men under arms in the van, with another ten thousand less than a week behind, moving into locations preselected by Owen’s staff. Logistics was still more an abstract concept to Erik than a real one. His time on the road had been in Calis’s small companies in Novindus, or in defensive positions in Krondor and Darkmoor. This was his first experience having responsibility for large numbers of men on the march.
The dust was almost overwhelming from the thousands of men, wagons, and horses moving along both sides of the road. He knew he could ride freely down the cliffs to the coast and no enemy spotter would be able to see anything that would give away his inspection of the beach area.
He found the path leading down to a cove a mile behind the lines and led the patrol downward. The road narrowed as it wound down to the beach, so they rode single file.
They halted while Erik looked up and down the coast. He turned to the men Jadow had gathered, and said, “Any good swimmers here?”
Two of the men held up their hands, and Erik grinned at Jadow. “Oh, no, man. Not since we had to swim that river to get to Maharta.”
Erik jumped down and began removing his armor. “This time we won’t have to wear eighty pounds of iron.” Jadow dismounted and, muttering curses, also started stripping off his armor.
The two men who had volunteered were soon standing next to Erik and Jadow, all wearing only their undertunics and leggings. Erik said, “We swim in pairs. This current looks rough. And be wary of the rocks.”
He led the men as far along the beach as they could go before encountering the finger of cliff that extended into the rocks. Wading out into the surf, he turned and said, “It’s safer to swim, I think, than to risk wading through the surf as it pounds those rocks.”
The men followed, and Erik led them out until the waves started to break. He dove under a breaking wave and came up behind it. He struck out away from the beach, and when the water was merely surging back and forth, turned on a course that ran along the beach. The water was cold despite the time of the year, and the going difficult, but after a few minutes, Erik saw that he had left his partner behind. He waited and let the man catch up, then started swimming again. They drew even with the first of a series of small coves, and stopped, letting the others catch up and tread water a moment. He said, “We need to swim about another mile, then head in.” He pointed. “The beach seems to open up over there.”
Jadow said, “I can’t tell; all I see is breaking surf and rocks.”
“Well, avoid the rocks,” said Erik, setting out again with powerful strokes.
He led them around a second point of land and toward more rocks. He stopped and pointed. “There! A section of open beach.”
He swam straight in toward the breakers, catching one to ride in, and stood up in knee-deep water. He looked around and saw the other three men also riding waves in, though Jadow seemed to have swallowed a fair amount of water on the way.
Erik glanced up to the cliffs. He motioned and said, “I think we’re between our lines and theirs.” Looking up and down the coast, he said, “It’s difficult to tell.”
After a moment to catch his breath, he continued, “Come on. We’re going to have our work cut out for us to get back before dark.”
Jadow groaned.
“What?” asked Erik.
“Man, I just didn’t even think; we’ve got to swim back, don’t we?”
Erik and the other men laughed. “Unless you want to stay down here.”
As Erik started off at a trot up the beach, Jadow said, “I’m thinking a beach life might be the thing; I could fish, make a hut, you know.”
Erik grinned. “You’d get bored.”
They hurried along the base of the cliffs, Erik looking up from time to time. They found a long, winding beach, a series of tidal pools, and some large outcroppings of rocks, but Erik was at last convinced they were a safe distance behind the enemy fortification without being seen.
He looked upward and asked, “Jadow, what do you think about climbing that cliff?”
Jadow looked upward and finally said, “Not much.”
“Can it be done?”