"Id has idz own gravidy field," said Dyffed, forgetting his earlier promises. "See how the drees grow oud frob idz neck? And thad lake, on idz cheek-there, you see id. Idz nod spilling off indo space. Gravidy!"
Teldin felt overwhelmed. "Does this thing have a name?"
"Oh, of course id does. The fal knows id. I think id goes like… like this." The gnome hummed to himself, then started to sing a scalelike melody entirely out of tune.
"Dyffed," said Teldin.
"You asked!"
Teldin looked back at the megafauna, ending the conversation. "I suppose we should get as close to the horn as we can, as long as we don't have to walk farther than a few miles. How about that lake, over there?" He looked questioningly at Aelfred, who nodded agreement and walked back for the speaking tube.
"It wouldn't hurt to find something farther from those trees, sir," Gomja offered. "We haven't any idea if this creature is inhabited."
Teldin wrestled with the idea, not knowing if Gomja had something unpleasant in mind. "I think I'd rather keep out of sight, in case the scro are following us" he finally said. "The closer to those trees we can set this down, the better the cover we'll have from aerial fly-bys."
Gomja looked uncomfortable. "Yes, sir, but I think we're in less danger from the scro than the native wildlife. The last forest we found had those rastipedes, and-"
"Damn it!" Teldin bit off the rest of his response, forcing himself to relax. "Gomja," he finally said, "thanks, but no. We'll put it down there, by those big redwoods."
Gomja looked thunderstruck at Teldin's outburst. His broad mouth slowly fell open. "Well…" he said uncertainly. "I'm with Teldin," Aelfred said. He raised a muscular arm and pointed. "There are a few places where trees have fallen into the lake, and if we set down next to those trunks, the scro will have a hell of a time trying to separate the ship from the rotting trunks. I doubt that anything big enough to worry about will have made it this far up into the sky. Twelve hundred miles is a long way up."
Teldin found his hands had balled up into fists. He forced himself to relax. He looked around and caught Gomja staring down at the lake, fingering some of the medals on his chest. Teldin fought the urge to ask Gomja where he'd purchased them. It would serve nothing to cause trouble now. They had some distance to go yet, and Gomja might prove to be dangerous.
Long minutes passed as the Perilous Halibut drifted down in silence toward the forest. The megafauna's head, seen from so dose, had now become simply a mountaintop. It could even be mistaken for a small asteroid, thought Teldin, recalling the Rock of Bral. In any event, he had to admire Loom-finger's skill on the helm. For a gnome, he was doing a masterful job.
"This water isn't antimagical, is it?" asked Aelfred suddenly, peering over the railing. Teldin froze, having forgotten to ask and fearing that he had doomed the ship from his inattention.
"Oh, no, idz perfedly safe," the gnome said cheerily. "My ships always landed nearer the horn, bud this is fine. We should have a nice walk frob here."
Teldin questioned the nice walk. It was becoming obvious that the redwoods were far larger than he'd first guessed. Some appeared to reach many hundreds of feet up, and they were crowded together so closely as to produce considerable darkness within them. Teldin stepped back from the railing, prepared to help Aelfred with the mooring lines.
Gomja drew his pistol so quickly that Teldin had no time to prepare himself for it. He flung himself back, raising his hands to shield his face as the grim-faced giff aimed and fired.
In the next instant in which he could think rationally, Teldin saw that the giff was aiming away from him, at something below, near the tree line. He looked, hearing the gnomes cry out in fear at the same moment, and saw a huge oil-black bird sail out of the woods, then dip a wing and sail around and back into the darkness. As it went, Teldin distinctly heard a drawn-out, warbling screech issue from the creature and echo in the forest before it vanished.
"Skullbird," said Aelfred. "Gomja, give me a pistol."
The giff was already pulling another pistol from his belt. "I have more experience with these, I believe. I've fought skullbirds before, too, and I know where they are vulnerable. Let me handle this."
Aelfred swore and looked around. "Give me that crossbow," he ordered a nearby gnome. He took the proffered weapon, cocked it back with one jerk of his arm, and loaded it with a razor-headed bolt. Teldin suddenly realized he would need a crossbow himself, but he saw no others available.
"All hands!" Gomja bawled at the shocked gnomes. "Arm yourselves immediately! I want a full-time guard on deck, eight troops, with stockpiled missiles! Move!" The gnomes scattered in haste, several climbing down hatchways and shouting to other gnomes below them. Within a minute, supplies of crossbows, armor, and weapons began pouring out in bucket-brigade fashion from the interior of the ship, until the top deck was awash in stacks of bolts, throwing axes, daggers, and other items.
The ship, now only fifty feet above the water's surface, slowly turned so that it was parallel with a particularly huge fallen redwood in the water. Slowly, then, it sank toward the water's surface.
"We could stand to get a little closer to shore," Aelfred muttered. "That tree isn't a dock, and it's probably slick. It will make for bad shooting if that skullbird comes back. I hope it wasn't gathering friends."
"What will it do?" Teldin asked in a low voice. He had finished cocking and loading his own crossbow.
Aelfred grinned. "Whatever it damn well wants. Those things are purest evil. Did you ever hear any tales about them?" Teldin shook his head, no. "Good," said Aelfred, his voice barely audible. "We're actually in luck that these gnomes aren't experienced sailors. The rumors about skullbirds are all bad ones, and morale always takes a blow when one appears. They're harbingers of bad luck. If they roost on your ship, it means your vessel will be destroyed. Besides, they're not particular about what they eat, and they can pick a man off the deck as easily as anything, then carry him off and eat him in midair. I hate the bastards. At least scawers don't know good from evil. Skullbirds know they're evil, and they love it."
The water below them was twenty feet away, then ten, then five. The ship splashed gently down, huge ripples rolling away through the algae-choked water. Odd, thought Teldin, how the lake had looked much more inviting from far above.
"Shore party!" shouted Gomja. "I want ten volunteers! The rest stay with the ship!" He looked hesitantly at Teldin, his pistols lowering until they pointed down at the steel deck. "We ate about five miles from the base of the horn, sir. May I accompany you to meet the fal?"
Teldin glanced at Aelfted.
"You'd better come with us," said Aelfred easily. "You can keep an eye out for flying friends while we see the fal. I don't trust the wildlife here."
The look of satisfaction and joy on Gomja's face would have been heartwarming if Teldin had trusted him at all. "I've been looking forward to a little action," commented the giff, easing his grip on his pistols, "but I'm still not convinced that this is the best place for us to land."
"Yeah, well, we're here," said Aelfred. "We should be able to handle things. Dyffed will be going with us, of course. Gaye and Sylvie should stay back here. I'd better go below and tell them what's up. Gaye won't like it, I know."
Teldin nodded. Gaye had something on her mind lately. She was acting strangely around him, and he couldn't figure out what the problem was. He pushed the image of the raven-haired kender out of his mind. Her problems weren't his concern right now.
The shore party took ten minutes to form. Aelfred and Gomja led the way from the ship onto the huge redwood trunk, using grapples and planks. The trunk wasn't as slippery as they had feared. Walking in close order behind the front two came Dyffed and most of the other gnomes, each holding a crossbow and outfitted in armor and assorted weapons. Dyffed had put his armor on over his old clothes, making him appear in Teldin's eyes to be an overstuffed doll. Teldin and a group of three gnomes formed a tight cluster that brought up the re
ar.
Teldin looked up into the mighty redwoods on the shore and felt a deep sense of unease. He glanced back at the ship and saw Gaye and a few gnomes watching them from the top deck. The ship's cheery banners drooped in the still, warm air. He raised a hand and waved good-bye. Everyone but Gaye returned the wave; Gaye stared silently back, her expression unreadable. Maybe she was pouting because she had to stay behind. See if I care, thought Teldin, and dropped his gaze to the bulk of the ship. He wondered whether Sylvie or Loomfinger was on the helm, watching them leave. Sylvie had gotten a little more sleep and was looking much better now. Aelfred had given her the news on their current location, and she'd hardly believed a word of it.
The walk across the fallen tree was uneventful, though getting down from the thirty-foot-high trunk once the shore was reached proved difficult. Gomja managed to find a huge tangle of rotting roots and vines that served as a rope ladder, and everyone was sent down before the giff tried his luck. The vines held, but only barely.
"Thad way," said Dyffed, pointing with a bandaged right hand. Teldin winced at the sight of the injuries the bursting of the thingfinder had caused; the gnome's index and middle fingers were missing, and the white cloth wrapping his hand was already slightly stained with red.
Gomja took a breath and readied his two pistols. "In formation, road step," he said in his normal, sea-deep voice. "Forward!" Everyone fell in behind him as he set off with confident strides into the dark and pathless wood.
It wasn't long before the stench of rotting algae and wood was replaced by the smell of redwoods and earth. The ancient trees reached over their heads like the pillars of a tremendous cathedral. Shrieking birdlike cries echoed through the forest, many originating from far overhead among the distant branches. Teldin once thought he heard the skullbird again, but he saw no sign of it.
They marched for at least ten minutes before Teldin saw a gnome in the middle of the formation turn his head to the left, as if he was listening to something. The gnome poked another one beside him, whispered, and both looked to the left with wide and curious eyes. Teldin looked, too, but saw and heard nothing. Nonetheless…
Teldin clapped his hands together once, giving the signal Aelfred had arranged for stopping the column. All the gnomes halted at once, with Gomja and Aelfred doing so a moment later and looking back in confusion. The gnomes quickly looked to the left and listened with grave concentration.
"Interesting arrangement of rhythmic low-frequency noise, remarkably similar to slow bipedal ambulatory movements," said Dyffed, cupping both hands around his big ears. "Must be a big one."
"Then let's keep moving," said Aelfred, hoisting his crossbow and starting ahead again. Gomja nodded and waved the column on. For a moment, Teldin was almost glad the big giff was with them. He thought he'd understood Dyffed to say that the noises the gnomes could hear were like footsteps-big ones. If so, he wanted to keep moving as well. Gnomes heard things humans and others never would.
They proceeded on for perhaps another five minutes before one of the gnomes looked to the left, gave a wild gasp, and accidentally fired his crossbow into the air. Everyone stopped and looked.
An immense, ragged figure was now visible among the most distant of the mighty trees. It was making its way with long, slow footsteps that cracked saplings and crushed fallen logs with each step. The creature was vaguely manlike, but grotesquely thick bodied, with short, twisted legs and a flat, misshapen had. It was of astounding size, as tall and as broad across the shoulders as the main mast of the Probe. The cydopes Teldin remembered from the Rock of Bral would not have reached past this creature's wide belly.
A skullbird's high-pitched screech rang through the forest, as if offering encouragement and directions. Within moments, the titanic creature caught sight of the party. It started to smile. It took a house-spanning step forward.
"Run for it!" shouted Aelfred.
"Prepare to fire!" roared Gomja, raising his pistols.
"The hell we'll fight!" Aelfred shouted back. "That thing could break our ship in half!"
The gnomes were paralyzed with anxiety and fear, unsure of which commander to obey. The oncoming monster made the choice for them by stopping to seize a young redwood in its hands. The tree was every inch of one hundred feet high, but the giant merely wrapped his gargantuan hands around it and tugged once on the trunk. With an awful groaning and snapping, the tree tore free of the earth, trailing its broken roots. With a crooked-toothed leer, the colossus shook the tree briefly, snapping off its upper branches, then slowly advanced on the party again. It clutched the tree like a spear.
"Perhaps we should find more defensible ground," said Gomja thoughtfully, lowering his pistols. "Then we can-"
"Run for the horn!" Aelfred shouted. The gnomes took this as their signal, and they instantly broke formation, running pell-mell through the redwoods as fast as their short legs could carry them. Aelfred took the lead, Gomja stayed in the middle, and Teldin brought up the rear.
Teldin fought the urge to run at full speed, knowing that the gnomes could not possibly catch up to him if he did. He forced himself into a jog, but the cold hand of panic urged him on as the rumbling thunder of the humanoid colossus came on behind him. Some of the gnomes dropped or threw away their weapons to speed their flight, but Teldin held his as tightly as he could. Aelfred and Gomja did the same.
The long, regular thunder behind them grew steadily louder, mixed with the cracking of branches and the calls of frightened animals. Teldin risked a glance behind him as he can, seeing that the human mountain was slowed by the narrow spacing of the redwoods. The giant's tree-sized spear snagged and caught other trees, tearing out house-sized chunks of bark. Teldin guessed the creature was only a fifth of a mile behind them and gaining.
Ahead, Teldin saw what appeared to be a break in the forest leading to open air. He took another look behind and saw that none of the gnomes had fallen down-a miracle if there ever was one. The giant was now closer still, each stride sweeping over the forest floor with ponderous ease.
Teldin looked ahead again. Aelfred and two unusually quick gnomes had broken out of the tree line into the open space. Moments later, the rest of the gnomes and Gomja poured out of the forest behind them, with Teldin at the rear. The titanic humanoid was only five hundred feet back and still gaining with each earth-shaking step.
For some reason, Teldin noticed, the huge giff was slowing down now and looking up into the sky, as if searching for something. Teldin had no time to find out what it was. He knew the whole group had but seconds left before the monstrous creature was upon them. Far ahead, across a long stretch of bumpy ground, Teldin noticed a vast, whorled spire, which he recognized as the megafauna's horn. Somewhere at the top of the horn was the fal, but the horn itself was still several miles away. There was no way to get to it in time to escape the colossus.
Teldin slowed down and shouted out at the top of his lungs. "Split up and run for the horn! It can't catch us all!"
The gnomes paid no attention to him, as they were already running off in different directions in their awful panic. Teldin turned around, facing back toward the forest. As he did, the colossus broke through the tree line and strode out into the open with broad, slow steps that shook the ground at Teldin's feet. The behemoth's monstrous spear was clutched tightly in its wagon-sized fists. It was perhaps three hundred feet away.
"Teldin!" The roaring voice was Gomja's. He turned and saw the giff motioning for Teldin to run to him. The giff was off to one side, maybe two hundred feet away.
Something moved in the sky behind the giff. To Teldin's astonishment, the object appeared to be a large green butterfly, swooping down toward the tall grass of the field. He recognized it as a small spelljamming ship of some kind. Something about it looked familiar.
"Run, sir!" Gomja roared out, pointing to the green butterfly behind him as it approached and slowed down to hover in the air, a man's height above the ground. "Run for that ship!"
Teldin st
ared in amazement, then looked behind him and saw the humanoid giant was moving again-toward him. It was raising its tree-trunk spear. The giant's two huge, dark eyes squinted beneath beetled brows, sizing Teldin up and appearing to mark him as a worthy target.
Teldin backpedaled, forgetting about Gomja and the green ship. Maybe if I move fast to one side just as he's thrusting down, he thought, I can get out of the way. He looks too slow to do any harm. I can't outrun him, but I can sure dance around him.
Fate apparently decided to test that theory. The giant thrust with the log, seemingly in slow motion. Teldin bolted, not waiting to see if the giant's aim was true. There was a rush of wind, then an earth-shaking crash as the spear slammed into the ground to Teldin's left. The tree trunk sank more than twenty feet into the earth, flinging a fountain of soil and stone into the air. Teldin threw his hands in front of his face and dropped the crossbow, almost stumbling over it as he ran.
A long shadow passed over him. He heard the sudden whistling of wind from a large, fast-moving object, and he dived to the ground to roll and escape it. Could the giant have thrown something else-at him, too? He didn't want to wait and find out.
"Sir!" Gomja bawled again. "This way!"
Teldin scrambled to his feet and looked back. The giff ran toward him, his huge girth swaying. Gomja waved a pistol in one hand, heedless of the colossus's presence. "Go to the ship!" he bellowed urgently. "They want to help you! Go to the ship!" The green butterfly came on behind him, trailing by a dozen yards.
The colossus roared, its booming voice almost deafening Teldin as it washed out all other sounds. A long shadow passed over the ground near him again-this time heading for the giant. Teldin began running from the giant again, but had enough time to look back once over his shoulder.
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