Chapter 21

"Does it look familiar?" Nil asked Lavender as they stood side by side in the bow.

"I think so," she shrugged noncommittally. Before them was a modest-sized port of low buildings stretched wide on both sides of the mouth of a river. "But it doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because those are my mountains," she said pointing to the horizon beyond the port. "That was my home." It was a clear, bright day but the distance was great enough one could just barely make out the faint outline of rocky mountain peaks through the haze. They could be made out well enough if one knew what he was looking for, but only because of the white flashes that had to be sunlight reflecting off snow and ice on the upper peaks. Nil was intrigued; he had never seen snow before.

"Ah, you said it took you about twenty days to get here from there?" he asked.

"About," Lavender nodded looking down at him; she always enjoyed looking at him and was still constantly amazed he seemed to enjoy doing the same for her. "I was traveling mostly at night and hiding during the day for the first ten days or so."

"Worried they would come after you?" he mused.

"Some," she admitted, "but mostly..." her voice trailed off and when he looked up at her, she actually blushed and avoided his eyes. "Mostly I did not know what to expect down here," she said finally. "We do not know much about the lowlands and you shorties; I was ... apprehensive."

"I would have been scared to death," Nil chuckled. "So, it might take anywhere from a couple of ten-days to maybe four or five ten-days since we will have wagons, and of course we don't know where we're going."

"Assuming we can obtain draft animals," Lavender added.

"There is that," he sighed. "But I don't expect that to be much of a problem. I'd be surprised if they didn't have plenty around this town, for the right price."

Soon they were joined by Makro, the twins, Jarrah, Rabszolga and Marc, the captain of their guard and officially second in command. Fobie looked decidedly pale and almost a touch greenish as she stared longingly at the dry, unmoving land they were approaching. Halfway through their twenty-day journey she had started becoming violently ill at odd times and to nobody's surprise announced she was pregnant a couple of days later. Nil was ecstatic, Deimie and Lavender seemed happy for her; Jarrah annoyed, Rabszolga amused and for some reason Makro sullen. It didn't take long for Jarrah to get her older sister to admit she felt it was her right to be the first of the sisters to become pregnant. Not logical, but then feelings rarely are.

"You still have the contraceptive in your system," Jarrah tried to explain. "It's going to take a few of your cycles to purge it out completely. I can't say it won't happen sooner, but I would be surprised if it did."

"Then how did Fobie catch?" Makro demanded. "She's been taking it just like the rest of us!"

"No, she hasn't," Jarrah snorted. "I know what you're going to say: All of us have been told to take it since we started our cycles. Well, those two stopped about a season ago."

"Surely you have..." Makro started.

"Of course I've been giving it to them right on schedule," Jarrah huffed. "But that doesn't mean they're been taking it or that I stood there and watched them. I'm a healer, not a nursemaid."

It took a couple days of Makro's sulky sniping at everybody, especially Fobie, before Nil took matters into hand. He pulled her into their cabin for a private talk. Neither he nor May would ever discuss just what happened but nearby listeners were heard to gossip and told of considerable amounts of screaming, sounds remarkably like that of a hand smacking a bare bottom and afterwards moaning and an entirely different kind of screaming for more than an hour. The only thing known for sure was that when Makro left the cabin she immediately sought out those she had been short with, especially Fobie, and profusely apologized.

With the leadership of their company assembled, Nil outlined their next step.

"First; nobody goes anywhere alone, and I mean nobody!" Nil pointedly looked at Fobie and Deimie as they returned his look with feigned innocence. "Everybody is to be armed when off the ship and I want at least two guards with each group that leaves. Captain, that includes your men. If they are off by themselves I want them in groups of at least two but I'd feel safer with more. We're looking for three things: draft animals ― horses preferably ― maps and information.

"May, I'd like you to look for draft animals for the wagons. I'm going to see if there is a Warriors Guild Hall in town; if not then I'll go to the local constabulary. If there is a Guild Hall it's my guess they will know whatever information we want, or at least know where we can go to find it."

"Do you think they will even talk to you?" Makro asked. "Father was, or maybe still is, a Guild member, but you aren't. It's not like they're known to be free with information."

"Maybe not," he shrugged, "but you don't know until you ask. If nothing else I can ask about contracting local Warriors for the trip. I assumed we'd have to pay for information and even though contracting Warriors is expensive it may be the best way to obtain the information. The extra sword or two couldn't hurt either way. Gold we have; information we don't."

The closer they came to the pier the less Nilsen was impressed by the port of Ordu. It appeared to be shabby and vacant. When they were still half a mile from the piers the ship's captain ordered the sails furled and launched the small boats to tow them in. They were met by a boat from the port captain and directed to a berth; there were plenty to choose from.

After mooring they were met by a single functionary with whom they negotiated port fees, taxes and bribes. It was evident this was a small backwater port with little in the way of commerce or government representation. He did tell them there was no Guild Hall in town but that there was a small army outpost that doubled as the local constabulary. For the most part he lost interest in them when they told him they had no slaves for sale and he just shook his head when they informed him they were planning to open a trade route to the interior mountains.

"Ain't nothing there but giant cannibals," he said still shaking his head. He was, for a few extra silver coins, able to direct them to the local carter where they might be able to find horses.

"The Kushitic are not cannibals!" Lavender grumbled after he'd left. Nil insisted she stay out of sight initially but she had overheard the disparaging comment.

"Of course not," Nil scoffed. "But at least he knows your people are up there; that's something. I'll bet you caused quite a stir when you came through here the first time. It shouldn't be too difficult to find out if any of your people followed you, at least this far."

"I do not think they would," she snorted. "But you can be sure they will not be glad to see me when I return."

"We'll deal with that when we get there," Nilsen said decisively, and then he looked at her fiercely. "You may have belonged with them once, but you belong with me now. If they even think of doing something to you they have to go through me first. Your people may think they're big and tough but I guarantee they aren't anywhere near as mean and nasty as I can get."

"Are not you the little tiger," she teased as she reached out and tweaked his nose.

"Somebody thinks that baby is going to keep her butt from being paddled," he said as he ran his fingers along his nose as if to check its alignment. "I can tell you right now it won't."

"Promises, promises," she chuckled. Nil just shook his head and sighed.

As it turned out, the draft animals were the easiest part of their preparation. Makro was able to secure the required number of animals plus a few extra for a very reasonable price. Trade and commerce had been slowly declining in Ordu for some time and there was a surplus to be had.

Information on their proposed destination was another matter entirely. The army outpost was little more than one non-commissioned officer and a couple of privates whose disinterest in anything outside their wine jugs was evident. They weren't locals and had almost no knowledge of what lay more than five or six miles outside of town. The sight of a seven-and-a-half foot tall giantess almost piqued their curiosity, but not enough. The fact that they had never seen anyone as tall as she confirmed that Lavender's people hadn't followed her this far. They did recommend a bookseller that might ― if anybody did ― have maps.

The bookseller ― if one could call someone who had a half-dozen moth-eaten old volumes in a shop otherwise filled with dubious home remedies a bookseller ― had plenty of information about the mountains and the monsters that inhabited them, but no maps. Nil was both disappointed and not. It would have been nice to have a reasonably reliable map of the region but from the way Lavender kept scrunching up her mouth ― he assumed to keep from laughing out loud ― he realized any map obtained there would be of the same dubious quality as the information the old man gleefully imparted. Nil thanked him profusely, gave him a sliver coin and left as quickly as he could.

"How could you live in an area and not know anything about where you live?" He asked in bewilderment. "I will say I am astonished to learn your people sacrifice babies to the moon god and bathe in your enemies' blood. Do you really think he didn't know you were one of those 'savages' as he so delicately put it? I mean I love every inch of your beautiful hide but you do stand out in a crowd." Lavender just grinned down at him.

"Okay, looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way," he sighed. "At least we can see where we want to go. The trick is to find a road heading generally in the right direction and stop and ask along the way. You said you can tell which peaks are in your people's territory so we just head that way and hope for the best."

"There were times I traveled cross-country," Lavender informed him. "But mostly I followed along roads I found. The trick will be finding which road goes where we want to go."

"Roads mean people," Nil nodded. "So at least there are some out there. Hopefully enough to keep us pointed in the right direction."

It was going to take a few days to unship the wagons and get the gear and "trade goods" loaded. Instead of sticking around and interfering with the ones who knew what they were doing, Nil decided to take a trip to the farmers' market on the edge of town. Preserved provisions they had in abundance but having fresh for at least the beginning of the journey sounded like a good idea. Besides, if anyone knew the surrounding area it would be the local farmers.

Nil, Lavender, two guards, and Deimie struck out for the market with a handcart and Rabszolga tagging along. The produce selection wasn't particularly impressive but they were able to glean from some of the stall-minders the approximate locations of roads and small villages further inland. The trouble came on the return trip.

They were walking down what was laughingly called one of the port's main streets when they were suddenly surrounded by eleven raggedly-dressed but heavily-armed men. They must have thought the group an easy mark because a good number of them looked rather nervous when they were suddenly confronted by four gleaming swords held in obviously competent hands. It was unlikely they saw, or would have been worried about the extremely sharp knife Deimie held ready under her cloak.

"Where are you going there, stranger?" the leader said while standing in front of Nil.

"Back to our ship, friend," Nilsen replied casually. "We wish no trouble."

"Why, no trouble at all," the leader chuckled. Like the rest he was carrying a sword but it looked as ill-cared-for as its owner. "Just hand over your coin and the women and we may let you live."

"I don't think so," Nil replied affably. "Aren't you a bit worried the constables will frown on you accosting visitors to your fair city in the middle of the street in broad daylight?"

"Those useless bastards?" the leader roared. "They don't run these streets; I do! Now hand over the coin and the bitches before I get angry."

Nil paused for a moment as if to consider but finally sighed and shook his head. "No, I don't think so. The coin and the women are mine and I don't feel like sharing right now."