Ironhelm - Douglas Niles [49]
But Iheir attention remained fixed upon the gargantuan faces. They showed a male and a female, each with a broad mouth and wide nose. The faces were flat and rounded, and even the male was unbearded- The eyes, though mere carvings in granite, seemed to stare at the ships with keen scrutiny.
"Your father says these people do not know of the gods," said Halloran. "I look at these faces and I cannot help but disagree."
Marline shrugged. "Well, let's go!" she said, nodding at the longboat, which now floated beside the Osprey.
Halloran groaned inwardly. "We've talked about this! You'll have to wait here until we've scouted the shoreline!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Martine turned toward the longboat.
"You can't go ashore with the first swords!" Halioran began to panic. She stepped to the short rope ladder dangling from the gunwale, and he followed helplessly. She smiled up at him as she descended with natural grace.
"Well, at least stay close to the boats!" he grunted, swinging onto the ladder as she sat in the stern of the little craft.
Halioran felt the same mixture of emotions that had belabored him for the three days since Marline had boarded the Osprey. Her beauty taunted him as she dazzled him with a smile, but he felt absolutely powerless in her presence, and this frightened him. The combination of emotions made him miserable.
Not to mention the matter of her father. The Bishou was a central pillar of the legion's morale, a spiritual authority to match Cordell's unerring generalship. And he served, faithfully as far as Halloran knew, a stern and unforgiving deity. True, the power of Helm had healed Hal's wounds when Domincus had prayed to the Vigilant One. But Halloran felt it a grave risk to incur the wrath of the Bishou.
Hal accepted Helm as much as he accepted the idea of any god. In truth, the god of eternal vigilance offered a useful comfort to a man-at-arms such as himself. But was he now inviting the god's disfavor by… what was he doing, anyway? He simply allowed Marline to have her way about Ihings, and he knew Ihere was nothing he could do to change thai.
With a sigh, he lurned to the bow and looked at those monslrous faces, now leering down at Ihem as the boals glided into the shadow of the bluff.
"Wake up, you miserable dolt!" Gultec kicked the cleric none too gently.
Mixtal squinted and groaned, barely seeing the snarling jaguar face leering into his own. "What… what happened?… Where's the girl?"
"Gone. Her fighting prowess apparently overwhelmed you."
"How did-" Mixtal suddenly sat up, ignoring the stabbing pain in his skull. "The signs from Zaltec! Where are they?"
"Not signs from Zaltec, idiot." Gultec gestured to the east as Mixtal realized that he had been carried to the base of the pyramid. "They are men, warriors, even now gathering on our shore in great numbers."
Mixtal blinked and stared. Cold terror vied with incoherent awe in his breast. He feared the retribution of the Ancient Ones, for he had let the girl escape. At the same time, he now witnessed a miracle, or thought he did.
"What makes you so sure they're warriors?" he demanded. "They look like messengers from the gods to me!"
Gultec cast a contemptuous look at the cleric. "They sent their scouts ashore first. These investigated the forest around the beach. Now see how their numbers unfold on the sand, and they gather in organized companies."
"But they have no feathers! No clubs! And look, some of them are silver!"
Gultec growled inaudibly at the vista far below. "It troubles me, this silver. I do not see why a warrior would burden himself with such a weight. It makes me suspect they are very strong."
The Jaguar Knight turned to the priest. "Stay here and watch them, but do not let yourselves be seen. I will speed to Ulatos and warn the counselor."
Mixtal nodded dumbly as Gultec turned and trotted toward the edge of the forest on the inland side of the pyramid. In seconds, the Jaguar Knight passed from sight among the tangled