The Mad God's Muse (The Eye of the Lion Saga Book 2) by Matt Gilbert Page B

scout. I saw lights from the sea last night.
There is a town nearby. For now, we salvage everything we can from
the wreckage. If we are to go to war, we will need shields. One for
every man is the least I expect by nightfall. Ilaweh willing, we'll
find some armor and javelins, too.”
    The men were eager to be led,
once they had accepted a leader. They fell to the task of scavenging
with gusto. By the time the sun hit the horizon, they not only had
arms and armor for one and all, but had rounded up food for dinner
and a even recovered Bashir's lost sword. The most pleasant
surprise, by far, was the discovery of a spyglass. Tahir had managed
to salvage one, and they discovered it when they buried him in the
sand.
    Ahmed, Sandilianus, and their
men set out shortly after dark. Ahmed was grateful indeed for
Sandilianus’s help. The man had a knack for direction. He
found the small fishing town in an hour, where Ahmed might have
taken the whole night. This
is another lesson of leading: you are not smarter than your men.
    Sandilianus pointed toward a
small, sheltered beach a few miles in the distance. “There, I
think. According to the natives a hundred leagues back, it is called
Brust, though I wouldn’t even trust that much. We paid them
good coin, and the dogs led us onto a reef.”
    Ahmed raised an eyebrow at
this. “Did they tell us to go north or south to avoid it?” he asked, though even as he spoke the question, he knew the answer.
    “South,”
Sandilianus groused. “And that is what we did....” He
trailed off a moment, started to speak, then paused with his mouth
open, eyes wide with sudden understanding. “The old map…and
the Nihlosians called us Southlanders! They reckon north and south
opposite of the way we do, don’t they?”
    “Aye. I think it is so.”
    Sandilianus’s face grew
suddenly haggard and pained as the realization sank in. “ And
we might have saved our brothers had we realized it.”
    Ahmed shook his head
vehemently. “I think not. If you must blame someone, then
blame Brutus.”
    Sandilianus gave him a scowl.
“So we’ll blame the dead man? Convenient.”
    “I told Brutus for months
that Ilaweh wanted us to stay, but he would not hear of it. I warned
him just last night that it was dangerous to defy Ilaweh’s
will, that it could turn ill for us if we forced him to intervene.
Now we see the truth of it.”
    Sandilianus rubbed at at his
eyes a moment and heaved a great sigh. “Do you speak truth,
Ahmed, or do you say this just to make me feel less guilty?”
    Ahmed laid a hand on his
shoulder and squeezed. “I swear to you in the name of Ilaweh,
it is true.”
    “Then let us do his
will.”

    Ahmed observed the town through
the spyglass, he and his party lying low in the grass of a nearby
hill. It was a village of a few hundred, perhaps a thousand, mostly
primitive buildings of straw and mud, with some larger places built
from rough-hewn logs, nothing terribly unusual. But the people! They
were the same small, brown men he had seen in Aviar! “This
should be easier than we think. These people are cowards by nature.”
    Sandilianus looked at him with
suspicion. “How could you know such a thing from looking?”
    Ahmed chuckled, and considered
letting the elder soldier think him possessed of uncanny power, but
it would be disrespectful. “I have seen them before. The
barbarians in Aviar capture them and sell them as slaves.”
    “Truly? And they do not
fight?”
    Ahmed shrugged, still scanning
the town. “Some do. Most don’t, though. We should be
able to intimidate them well enough, which is good. I want no
killing unless we must. Now, as to whether they have anything worth
taking…”
    He panned over the town. It was
situated at a small harbor, and boats dotted the shore. Most were
small, but there was one larger vessel that might do. Ahmed passed
the spyglass to Sandilianus to get his opinion.
    Sandilianus grunted in
surprise. “That is a Gruppenwalder ship!”
    “The