Chapter 6 Part 4

She had dozed in and out of a light sleep for the short trip to the pass until she was awakened by a jolt. Armegon nudged her again and she looked up. "Come on," he urged her. "It’s time to go."

Calista gathered her property and followed her companions out onto the main part of the ship. Ultrecht was speaking to a tall man with short, light brown hair and a slightly crooked nose. Ultrecht gave the man some money and then took a piece of paper in return.

The others disembarked via a ramp and Calista followed. Ultrecht joined them presently. The ramp was pulled back aboard the craft and the ship resumed its voyage with a hiss of steel on glass.

"So did you get him to sign?" Armegon asked Ultrecht.

"On a provisional basis, yes," he replied. "I had to guarantee that we would meet his operating expenses until his cut of the profit became great enough to pay his bills."

"What’s it going to cost us?" Armegon asked.

"About ten thousand a year," Ultrecht replied, "plus a set of enchanted runners like those on the Westwind Cutter."

"Need I point out that we don't have that kind of capital?" Armegon objected.

"Don't worry," Ultrecht said. "By the time we get through with this business with Blackpuss, we will either have the money or we won't be alive to worry about it."

"That’s a very morbid thought," Ruk observed. "Are things going to get that bad?"

"We wish we could tell you," Avery answered. "We may very well have to fight one or more gods before this is over."

Ruk stopped in his tracks. They had reached the edge of the desert and the green grass of the strip lay out before them. Beyond that lay the western peaks of the Orkon Mountains.

Armegon glanced over his shoulder at the statue-like minotaan. He too stopped and read fear on the face of the giant warrior. The halfelf nodded gently. "Ruk, we can never thank you enough for all the help you’ve given us this far. If you think things are going to get too hot for you, we’ll understand and not think badly of you if you leave."

The black giant slowly shook his bull's head. The thick neck rippled with the muscles. "No," Ruk answered, "I’ll see this through to the end. I suppose it just suddenly dawned on me how serious this is going to get."

That night they camped at the mouth of the pass. Since they had pushed on partly through the night, they slept well into the next morning and rose around noon.

The suns were shining hotly down from the skies when they entered the canyons that made up the pass. The passage wound gently upward between the peaks and among the crags. The way was rocky but not difficult. Unlike the slopes near the foot of Mount Gale, the slopes of the Orkon mountain range was fairly devoid of plant life. There was the occasional mountain goat, one of which even had a bell attached to a collar to greet them as they went, but other than that only high flying birds broke the silence.

When night came, they camped in the cleft of a large rock cliff face. A trickle of water dripped from a crack and ran gently along the side of the cliff for a good fifty meters before disappearing into the dark depths of another crack. They took advantage of the bounty to refill their water stores with fresh water.

The night was comfortably warm and no fire was needed, which was good since they could find very little wood to burn. When the suns returned in the morning, they broke camp and resumed their trail through the pass.

It was three days later when the path began to slope gently downward again. The sign that they were over halfway through the pass was gratefully accepted.

The following day they passed beneath a particularly obvious recess in the side of one cliff. Avery climbed to the ledge and disappeared for about ten minutes. When he reappeared he spoke briefly with Ultrecht and Armegon. They told Ruk and Calista that that was the cave where they had been ambushed and where Seymore had been killed. They stated that they did not know it at the time but they suspected that Tyson was responsible for that trap as well. They did not linger in the area for long, but elected to move onward.

The next day they emerged from the pass into the green forests of the Great Deep. Calista showed great relief at returning to the area where she had grown up even though it was still a few weeks march to the south.

"Nikki's camp would be about a week in that direction," Avery said after getting his bearings. He pointed almost directly east and slightly south. "Tycho is probably two to three days that way." He changed his point to a north by northeast direction.

"We can visit Tycho later," Armegon said. "We need to free Sam first. He’s probably beginning to show serious signs of anemia and malnutrition by now." Avery started the march and they were off into the woodlands with the others following.