More than a few thrust out from nearly vertical inclines, and in places nothing grew at all. The creek was much louder there.
They found the source of the creek, just as the miner had told them it would be, or nearly so, as he’d failed to mention it originated from an opening some twenty feet up a nearly sheer incline, spewing out of a hole that looked as if someone had come along and tried to tap the ridgeline halfway up like an ale keg. Judging from the loose shale that banked and heaped itself along the lower parts, where the scrappy pines took on a horizontal growing strategy, ascent would be a nightmare of shifting rock with edges that would cut like dull, nasty razors. And that was only to get started going up.
Ilbei glanced around again, suspecting that the area had once been the bottom of a large pool. Looking up to where the incline pinched into the mountain itself, a cliff face marking the easternmost portion of the lowest of several steppes, it seemed likely that once, long ago, there would have been a good fifty-span waterfall. Harpy Creek was all that remained of a once significant waterway.
“It smells like vinegar,” he said, upon assessing the area. He tilted his head back and looked up into the hole from which the water spat. “But I damn sure don’t smell anythin like vulture filth blowin out of there.”
Meggins and Kaige took the comment in stride, having been told back in Hast of Ilbei’s olfactory gifts. But Jasper turned a querulous look upon the gray-bearded sergeant with a tilt of his head. “I don’t smell anything.”
“Smellin is my sort of magic, son.”
“So what do you suppose the vinegar is, Sarge?” Meggins made a point of sniffing carefully at the air, which Kaige emulated right after.
“I don’t know. We’ll get up there and have a look right quick.” He swiveled his head and saw Jasper staring up at the hole, sniffing the air as Meggins and Kaige were. “Jasper, since you’re the skinniest of the lot, see if’n ya can get up there and have a look inside. Careful now, that shale will slide on ya and slice ya up like a heap of dragon’s teeth.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you. It’d be the work of half a day to open that wide enough fer me or Kaige to get through, and we might even have to grease Meggins up to make him fit, even if’n there was one of them potameides inside, flirtin and makin sweet promises. That means it’s you what goes. So get along now.”
“Get along and what?” Jasper gasped.
“Get on up there and see what’s in there makin that smell.”
“But I don’t smell anything. And frankly, I think your assessment of the diameter of that opening is rather stingy. Granted, it’s difficult to gauge from down here, but by the volume of water issuing from it, I’d sa—”
Ilbei grabbed Jasper by his arms and turned him physically around, facing him toward the hole. “Ya done heard me already, lad, so up ya go.”
“That’s right, lad,” Meggins echoed, doing a fair impression of Ilbei’s voice. “Up ya go.” Both he and Kaige were snorting and making sounds that bordered on giggling.
Jasper started to protest again, but the firm hand of Sergeant Spadebreaker on his back was enough to set him in motion. He looked up toward the opening and sighed, withering in the heat. “Fine,” he said. “But if I die, let it be on your conscience.”
“I can live with that,” Ilbei said. “Now get to it.”
Chapter 9
J ust as it had appeared it would be, climbing the slope under his own power was impossible. Though not vertical, the slope was so steep that, try as he might, Jasper could not get more than three or four spans up it before the loose rocks slipped and slid beneath his feet, his balance gave way and down he’d come, sliding amongst a small, sharp-edged avalanche. Needless to say, the first few times quite amused Meggins and Kaige, but on the fourth attempt, Kaige stopped laughing when Jasper slid to the bottom again, this time
They found the source of the creek, just as the miner had told them it would be, or nearly so, as he’d failed to mention it originated from an opening some twenty feet up a nearly sheer incline, spewing out of a hole that looked as if someone had come along and tried to tap the ridgeline halfway up like an ale keg. Judging from the loose shale that banked and heaped itself along the lower parts, where the scrappy pines took on a horizontal growing strategy, ascent would be a nightmare of shifting rock with edges that would cut like dull, nasty razors. And that was only to get started going up.
Ilbei glanced around again, suspecting that the area had once been the bottom of a large pool. Looking up to where the incline pinched into the mountain itself, a cliff face marking the easternmost portion of the lowest of several steppes, it seemed likely that once, long ago, there would have been a good fifty-span waterfall. Harpy Creek was all that remained of a once significant waterway.
“It smells like vinegar,” he said, upon assessing the area. He tilted his head back and looked up into the hole from which the water spat. “But I damn sure don’t smell anythin like vulture filth blowin out of there.”
Meggins and Kaige took the comment in stride, having been told back in Hast of Ilbei’s olfactory gifts. But Jasper turned a querulous look upon the gray-bearded sergeant with a tilt of his head. “I don’t smell anything.”
“Smellin is my sort of magic, son.”
“So what do you suppose the vinegar is, Sarge?” Meggins made a point of sniffing carefully at the air, which Kaige emulated right after.
“I don’t know. We’ll get up there and have a look right quick.” He swiveled his head and saw Jasper staring up at the hole, sniffing the air as Meggins and Kaige were. “Jasper, since you’re the skinniest of the lot, see if’n ya can get up there and have a look inside. Careful now, that shale will slide on ya and slice ya up like a heap of dragon’s teeth.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you. It’d be the work of half a day to open that wide enough fer me or Kaige to get through, and we might even have to grease Meggins up to make him fit, even if’n there was one of them potameides inside, flirtin and makin sweet promises. That means it’s you what goes. So get along now.”
“Get along and what?” Jasper gasped.
“Get on up there and see what’s in there makin that smell.”
“But I don’t smell anything. And frankly, I think your assessment of the diameter of that opening is rather stingy. Granted, it’s difficult to gauge from down here, but by the volume of water issuing from it, I’d sa—”
Ilbei grabbed Jasper by his arms and turned him physically around, facing him toward the hole. “Ya done heard me already, lad, so up ya go.”
“That’s right, lad,” Meggins echoed, doing a fair impression of Ilbei’s voice. “Up ya go.” Both he and Kaige were snorting and making sounds that bordered on giggling.
Jasper started to protest again, but the firm hand of Sergeant Spadebreaker on his back was enough to set him in motion. He looked up toward the opening and sighed, withering in the heat. “Fine,” he said. “But if I die, let it be on your conscience.”
“I can live with that,” Ilbei said. “Now get to it.”
Chapter 9
J ust as it had appeared it would be, climbing the slope under his own power was impossible. Though not vertical, the slope was so steep that, try as he might, Jasper could not get more than three or four spans up it before the loose rocks slipped and slid beneath his feet, his balance gave way and down he’d come, sliding amongst a small, sharp-edged avalanche. Needless to say, the first few times quite amused Meggins and Kaige, but on the fourth attempt, Kaige stopped laughing when Jasper slid to the bottom again, this time
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