They found a stream. The water appeared pure and fresh. Light dappled the grass beneath them as if filtered through the leaves. Brightly coloured parrots squawked in the branches above them. There were the tracks of deer of some sort, and large predators. The air was warm and balmy and only slightly humid. Despite himself Felix was starring to relax a little. There were food and water here so they were not about to die of thirst.
They trekked uphill, following the path of the stream. After days on a ship, Felix found it hard going. Katja went up the path like a gazelle, seemingly glad to have the free use of her limbs once more. Of course, to Gotrek, a dwarf, the steepest of slopes were no more of an impediment than a flat plain. He was not even slightly out of breath by the time they reached the top and found the first ruin. It looked like a small watchtower, built on a lookout point. Stone had been piled on stone crudely, but strongly. It looked like nothing Felix had seen before in his travels.
'Human work,' said Gotrek, after considering it for a moment. 'Very shoddy. Destroyed by orcs, judging by those bones.'
'But long ago?' said Felix, wanting reassurance, although the facts were plain to see. Birds nested amid the tumbled stonework, white guano splattering the rocks. There was no sign of greenskin presence here. Briefly Felix considered helping himself to some of the eggs but decided against it. Perhaps the time would come for that later, before they left. He was not even sure how edible gull eggs were, although he was ready to try anything in a pinch. 'There are no orcs here now.'
'Many orc tribes are nomadic. They might have moved inland in search of better hunting, or because their gods sent them some sign, or because their chief felt like feeding on the flesh of his kin on the other side of the island. You can never tell with orcs.'
Felix had known the slayer long enough to begin to follow the track of his thoughts. 'You think Goldtusk and his merry crew might have come from around here?'
'Maybe. Perhaps he recruits from among these islands. Or has a stronghold here.'
'Goldtusk recruits from this island, I am sure of it. These waters were familiar to him. My father said there were orcs on the island. They often attacked his men.'
'You picked a fine time to tell us about this, Katja,' said Felix.
'No dwarf would have let that affect their decision,' said the woman.
Gotrek grunted agreement but Felix was aggrieved. 'Perhaps not but it would not do any harm for them to know what dangers they might face.'
The girl grinned. She had cleaned up well and she clearly knew the charm her snub-nosed beauty gave her. 'Volcanoes. Orcs. Goblins. Earthquakes. Savage animals. They already knew, or could have guessed.'
'Anything else? Your father didn't mention any evil sorcerers, curses on the treasure, fearsome dragons, huge monsters, did he? And when was the last time you saw him anyway?'
'I told you. Ten years ago more or less, before he left on his final voyage. I begged to go with him, but he said I was too small.'
'Very touching,' said Felix, unsure quite why he was so annoyed. There was something about the woman that made him suspicious. 'Do you expect us to believe that the local folk just let a pirate live among them?'
'In Tilea things are very hard, Felix Jaeger. There is little difference between a pirate and a fisherman, sometimes. My father returned to his village often, and his relatives were always pleased to see them. He lived like a prince and he was generous.'
'And what of your mother. Was she not some sort of daemon worshipping sorceress?'
'Lies. My mother was a simple Tilean farmer's daughter.' There was a slightly hysterical tone to her voice. Felix had obviously touched a raw nerve. He felt an obscure urge to apologise, but he did not. He was still nettled by the fact that the girl had not mentioned the orcs. It felt a little like a betrayal, although he was not quite sure why it should. He had known her for less than a day. He simply stared at her.
'There was something else,' she said, glancing at the dwarf.
'Yes,' said Felix.
'My father mentioned that there was something that lived in the ruins, a monster that guarded a magical gem as big as your fist. It was too powerful to be overcome by his men. He swore he would return with a greater force and overcome it. That was the last time I saw him.'
Gotrek looked interested now. Talk of mysterious monsters was a sure way of getting his attention. Felix wondered how much the girl knew of the slayer cult and whether she was deliberately pitching this story at Gotrek. She was clever enough, he was sure. There was clearly more to this woman than met the eye.
'No need for us to worry about that,' said Felix. 'We'll be happy with Redhand's treasure.'
'I don't know about that, manling,' said Gotrek, just as Felix had feared he would.
'You'll get a chance at both. My father left his treasure in the city.'
'How convenient,' said Felix. He definitely had the feeling that they were being manipulated. Still, he could understand why. Katja Murillo had neither ship nor crew, and words were her only way to get them to do what she wanted.
From somewhere down below came the sound of a single musket shot. Felix was startled, but it was not repeated. Perhaps it had been a signal for them to return.
'We'd best be getting back,' he said. 'The others might need our help.'
5. Into the Jungle
WHEN THEY returned to the beach they discovered Urli had shot a deer. The dwarfs were excited, for this would be the first fresh meat they had seen in days. Already someone had started to build a fire on the beach from driftwood and fallen branches. Urli was at work gutting and skinning the creature. A boat had been sent back to invite more of the dwarfs to the feast. It looked like only a skeleton crew would be left aboard for the night. Felix did like this situation at all.
It was not just dwarfs the ship's boats had brought, there was ale as well. Soon the fire was blazing merrily; the deer was being roasted along with yams and tubers the shortbeards had collected.
Despite feeling the tug of the bottle, Felix did not drink anything stronger than water. He lacked the dwarfs' ability to see in the dark and their keen senses of hearing and smell, so he wanted his head clear. At night, the sense of danger had increased, although there was nothing physically menacing to be seen. The white breakers rolled cheerfully to the shore. The larger moon, Mannsleib, viewed its face in the mirror of the waters. Morrsleib had yet to appear.
Gotrek too seemed subdued. He held a tankard in one hand, but did not drink with his usual gloomy relish. Often he would leave the fire and the tales and songs of the sailors to go stand at the jungle's edge and peer into the dark. He seemed to be considering actually going into the jungle to hunt. Felix was glad that he did not.
He was equally glad when the dwarfs decided to return to their ship about midnight when the meat was gone and the fire was low. Most of them, save a few who were already too inebriated to move, rowed drunkenly back to the ship. Felix was not too thrilled when Gotrek decided to remain on land, but he hunkered down on the beach with his back to the jungle and stared out at the distant running lights of the steamship.
He was surprised when a few minutes later, Katja dropped down beside him. She offered him a tankard of ale, but he shook his head.
'I wanted to thank you for saving me from Goldtusk,' she said. 'I didn't do it very well at the time. You can understand why, I hope. Things were crazed. Emotions were running high...'
'Think nothing of it,' said Felix, unwinding a little. Perhaps she was not so bad after all, he thought. But still there was something about her that unsettled him. She seemed determined to put him at his ease.
'Its lovely here, don't you think?' she said, gesturing towards the sea. Felix understood what she meant, but he could not quite bring himself to agree.
'It is, but there is something about this place I don't like.'
The girl sighed. 'Aye, you are right. It looks beautiful by day or by night, but there is a presence here that sometimes makes my blood run cold.'
'Do you really think your father's treasure is here?'
'Aye. I am certain of it.'
'Why did he pick this place? There must be a dozen more welcoming islands in this chain.'
'Perhaps that is why he picked this place. He knew it would be shunned.'
'That makes a certain amount of sense, but if it had been me, I would have left this island undisturbed and gone somewhere else.'
She shrugged. 'Something brought him back here to his doom. I am sure of it. He wanted that gem more than he ever wanted anything.'
'Why?'
'I'm guessing he thought it held the secret of great power and eternal life.' Felix almost laughed, but there was something in her voice that compelled belief and undercurrents of the same lust she claimed had driven her father.
'That sounds more like something your mother would want.'
'My mother was a normal mortal woman.'
'Narli seems convinced otherwise...'
'Many dark tales followed Redhand and his crew. The same tales have dogged many other pirates.'
'They have not always been lies.'
'Perhaps not. Why are you travelling aboard a ship full of dwarfs?' Felix laughed at the transparently obvious attempt to change the subject.
'A long story. In a moment of drunken madness years ago, I swore an oath to follow Gotrek and record his doom in an epic poem.'
'He does not seem to have found it yet.'
'You have no idea how strong Gotrek is. I have lost count of how many monsters he has killed.'
'He certainly killed a lot of orcs today.'
'He hates orcs.'
'I have heard it said dwarfs hate anything that is not a dwarf.'
'They don't hate humans. They are allied with us.'
'They are allied with your Empire. That's something different.'
'I suppose it is. What's Tilea like?'
'Beautiful. Rugged. Poor. Wealthy nobles, ancient city states. Corrupt. There are many prejudices, many superstitions. There are many wars. Our men become mercenaries and bandits and seafarers...'
'Your women too, it seems.'
'I am a seafarer, yes.'
'And you came looking for pirate gold.'
'Why not? The people who it belonged to once have no use for it now.'
Felix felt like reminding her that it was her father who killed them, but he did not. Maybe she was no more responsible for who her father was his own, than he was. Gustav Jaeger was a wealthy merchant after all, and no man became as rich as his father without having a few crimes on his conscience, Felix was sure.
He lay back and gazed up at the stars. They looked different here than in the cold skies of the Empire. He wondered why that was, and filed it among the many questions he could not answer. He noticed that Katja had stood up and was looking back over her shoulder.
'The little dwarf is taking an awful long time to come back,' said Katja.
Felix realised she was right. He rose to his feet and strode over to where Gotrek sat slumped by the fire. 'Mobi is taking a long time about making water.'
'What do you want me to do about it manling, go and give him instructions on how it's done?'
'Maybe something happened to him.'
'Mobi!' Gotrek bellowed, startling some drunkards awake, and not a few animals under the tree line as well by the sounds of it. 'Mobi!'
There was no response. Gotrek got up and stomped over to where the shortbeard had last been seen. There were tracks in the sand leading in one direction, but none coming back. Felix's unease returned. He did not like this at all.
They moved along the edge of the woods but found no sign of the youngster at all. 'Maybe he wandered off into the woods and got lost,' said Felix unconvincingly.
'Maybe. There's no sense in looking for tracks now. It will have to wait until morning.'
But when morning came they found no tracks either, and no sign of where or how the shortbeard had vanished. The search parties found no trace.
Katja led the dwarfs deeper into the forest. There were ten of them, the toughest of the marines, led by Urli. Ahabsson had elected to stay with the ship and supervise the repairs. Felix supposed it showed that the captain trusted them. On the other hand, they were not about to go anywhere without the ship, so he could afford to.
Now they were on solid ground again, the dwarfs had broken out far more traditional war gear. They wore chainmail and carried shields on their backs. They had helmets too, but in the sweltering heat most left them dangle from their straps around their necks. All of the dwarfs carried muskets or crossbows, except Urli who carried a wicked-looking blunderbuss. Even Felix had borrowed a couple of pistols from the captain and stuck them in his belt. He had donned his old chainmail shirt. Even though it turned clambering uphill in the enervating heat into a nightmare, he was glad of its protection. Only Gotrek and Katja wore no armour.
There were mosquitoes in the jungle, and leeches and large ants with a fiery bite that Felix discovered for himself when he tried to brush them from his armour with his bare hands. The dwarfs looked as out of place among the lush tropical vegetation as orcs at an elvish wedding. Felix did not feel any more at home himself. He had grown up in Altdorf, the capital of the Empire and would much have preferred to be back there now.
Only Katja gave no signs of unease as they followed the stream along deeper into the woods, and Felix suspected that was merely because she masked her feelings well. She sat on the bole of a toppled palm tree and took a swig from her flask. The dwarfs stood around peering off into the gloom, swigging ale from leather bladders.
'What now?' Felix asked. 'What are we looking for?'
'An old road of some sort, or a path. There was a line on the map that could only have been that.'
'You're placing an awful lot of faith in a design on a jewellery box, aren't you?'
'My father was a cunning man, Felix Jaeger, and a meticulous one. Also I can recall him speaking of some ancient highway that ran across the island through the jungle.'
Felix realised exactly what a wild goose chase they were on. They were relying on this girl's memories of a pattern on a box, and her scanty recollection of her father's old stories to guide them across an island as large as an Imperial county in search of a treasure that might or might not actually be there. And that was assuming Katja was telling the truth, a thing of which he was not entirely sure.
Only dwarfs would leap at such a long shot, he thought, and then realised that he was deluding himself. Many adventurers had done far stranger things on the strength of even vaguer rumours. He and Gotrek had done such things themselves. And, he supposed, they had nothing better to do while the ship was being repaired.
When he considered things, Felix realised that Ahabsson was risking nothing save the lives of the marines. All of the essential crew, the engineers, gunners and sailors were still aboard ship. The captain had insisted on keeping them there, despite their clamour to accompany the treasure hunters. If the search party never returned from the jungle, he could simply finish repairs, up anchor and sail away. Felix wondered how much credence the captain really put in the girl's story, and realised that it did not need to be much. He was gambling the lives of his passengers and some of his warriors against the possibility that there might be loot to be had. That was all. Felix felt his respect for the captain's business acumen rise in proportion with his resentment of it.
'Once we find the highway, what then?' Felix asked. He realised that every dwarf present had fallen silent as they waited for the girl's answer.
'I will let you know when we get there,' she said. Now they were in the forest, Felix realised her manner had changed. It was far more regal. She had assumed the bearing of someone who was used to being obeyed without question.
'What if something should happen to you?'
'You'd best make sure it doesn't,' she said, laughing, but it was obvious there was some real mistrust there.
'We'll do our best,' he said, as she got up and made ready to go a
gain.
They found the road at noon. In many places it was overgrown. Long grass had sprouted through cracks in the stonegiving the impression of great age. It was made of dressed stone, and there were weather eroded patterns on it that reminded him of things he had seen a long way away on the other side of a continent.
'This looks a little like the stone work we saw on the Paths of the Old Ones, and the temples in Albion,' he said to Gotrek.
'Aye, manling. I wondered when you would notice. They are not exactly the same though. More like human copies of those ancient runes.' Katja shot them a sidelong glance.
'You have been to Albion?' she asked. Felix nodded.
'You are extra-ordinarily well travelled.'
'Some people would say so,' said Felix, pushing ahead of the dwarfs and following the path deeper into the jungle. He had very dark memories of the Paths of the Old Ones and no wish to relive them. Leaves from overhanging branches stroked his face. The screech of parrots mocked him.
'Come back, Felix,' he heard the girl shout. 'You are going the wrong way.'
'You think the Old Ones have been here?' Felix asked Gotrek as they strode along. The slayer tipped his head to one side as he considered his answer.
'Perhaps. This is not orc work.'
Felix noticed that the girl was staring at them. 'What do you know of the Old Ones?' she asked. 'I thought only scholars and sorcerers possessed that lore.'
'Very little. We encountered some of their handiwork once. A long way from here. You give the impression of knowing more about them than I.'
'My father was a learned man in his own way. He claimed some pre-human race had made the temples and the city, but that the orcs had taken them over for their own. It's more likely that men lived here after the Old Ones and before the orcs. The Old Ones are long gone. I have talked with many scholars about them myself.'
'Ask five scholars about the Old Ones and you will get fifteen opinions,' said Felix. 'There is little known for sure about them.'
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