Ironhelm - Douglas Niles [58]
"You say nothing because you show us much, and yel we fail lo understand." Something-could it be assent?-colored Colon's eyes. "You show us, I think, what we once were and what we might be again. You show us, and we fail to see.
"Now, Coton, I have had a dream. I believe this dream is a vision from Qotal, and so I go lo seek Ihe will of Ihe god." Poshtli paced slowly, carefully remembering the details he related to the mute cleric.
"I dreamed of a vast desert, a desert that included Nexal! I crossed the desert on foot, suffering from heat and sun, lacking waler. Then suddenly I was surrounded by little men, and these men had a great wheel of silver." Poshlli no-liced that Colon's eyebrows raised slightly at his description.,
"In the wheel, I saw the reflection of a feathered snake, a long, sinuous thing of brillianl plumage and greal wisdom.
And Ihis snake was Ihe voice of Qolal! I am certain of it!"
Poshtli remained silenl for many minuies, patiently regarded by Coton. Finally he looked up and spoke.
"I will leave Nexal in search of this truth. Perhaps it lies with the strangers. I have seen them, flown above them, as they come to shore in Payit. Perhaps it lies somewhere in between our ways and theirs, or perhaps I may not find il al all." Poshtli stared straight into Colon's eyes. "But I musl find Ihis silver wheel!"
Colon's eyes flickered upward, to the clear blue sky. The cleric's gaze flickered once lo the south, Ihen again focused vacantly in the distance. Poshtli saw the guidance in Ihe gesture.
"I will walk. My feel, nol my wings, will carry me ihrough the True World-perhaps lo this knowledge thai slill eludes me, perhaps nol.
"Bul I will find it, or die in the attempt."
Daggrande imagined the salt spray eating al Ihe steel, corroding the gleaming sheen of his helmet, pocking Ihe flawless metal of his breastplate, even gnawing at the blade of his short sword. He led a troop of Iwo dozen legionnaires, a mixed band armed wilh crossbows and swords, toward the top of Ihe stone stairway. Halloran and Marline had disappeared somewhere above some few minutes earlier.
"Damn lhal woman anyway!" he grumbled lo himself. "Now Cordell lells me lo follow Marline, lo 'keep an eye on her'!.What am I, a nursemaid?" Daggrande suspected, of course, lhal Ihe Bishou had a hand in the order. The dwarf had seen Domincus glowering after his daughter and Halloran when the Iwo had started up the bluff.
"I thought the kid had more brains than thai," he complained. '"Course, he's only a human, but I expected more from him."
Abruptly Daggrande ceased his musings, becoming every inch the warrior. He could not define what aroused him, whether it was the scent of blood, the faint sound of com- bat, or something more primeval, but he instantly signaled his crossbowmen to raise their deadly weapons.
The dwarven veteran stepped carefully up the last few stairs. He saw the top of the bluff, a brushy strip along the escarpment backed by dense rain forest perhaps a hundred paces beyond.
Daggrande moved carefully onto the brushy plain, crouching, with his crossbow held ready. With the same care, he ordered his men off the stairway, deploying them in a semicircle as they reached the top.
Daggrande could see no sign of human presence save the squat pyramid a mile or so down the coast. He spent no time wondering where Marline, Hal, and the swordsmen had gone. Instead, he quickly turned the formation to the right, toward the pyramid, forming a skirmish line a hundred paces long. The legionnaires started to march, probing the brush as they advanced.
In another minute, they found the bodies.
Erixitl watched breathlessly, frozen in the minimal safety of a clump of bushy ferns. She saw the high priest who would have slain her leading the way, his gaunt and bony form plunging recklessly forward. He was followed by his apprentices and a company of warriors. Erix saw the prisoners, including-the young