The story of Marshall Ibycus is one of heroism as much as scientific ingenuity. However, five hundred years after his death it remains difficult to separate fact from legend. It is beyond doubt, though, that without the illicit preparations of Ibycus and his staff, the survival of the Colonists would have been questionable at best.
Further, historians mostly agree that it was Ibycus’ willingness to deceive the University that allowed his family—and himself—to escape to Esper at a later date. Writings of contemporaries indicate that his reputation for honesty and forthrightness was a perfect screen for this deception.
Planet of Hope: A History of Esperanza
Maya squinted at the glass tube as she held it to the sunlight.
“What’s the verdict?” asked William.
Maya’s brow furrowed. “It doesn’t look bad. We shouldn’t drink it until I can test it with better equipment, but so far, it seems okay.”
“So what’s the problem?” asked Jack.
“We still don’t know where the dump drained into the river, and the last test on the way up was near the waterfall. I won’t be convinced until I get another sample from there.”
“That won’t take long,” said Rachel as she looked back at the mountains. “We’re two or three days from the falls, at most.” They had maintained a quick pace for three days since leaving the tunnel and their silver drone guide. The Elder had provided them with plenty of dried meat, saving hunting and foraging time. Even William’s leg had improved. Progress was good.
“What does your gut tell you?” William asked Maya. “Is the water clean?”
Maya glared at him, hands on hips, her smirk barely contained. “William Whitehall, I am a scientist. I do not make guesses based on the contents of my stomach. I collect and analyze data and use proper scientific procedures to reach rational conclusions.”
William groaned out loud and grinned. “Fine, then. From the data that you now have—which I stipulate may be insufficient for a conclusive determination—combined with the wisdom you have gained from years of experimentation and scholarly study, are you comfortable providing a preliminary report on the condition of the river?”
“Well, when you put it like that,” she said with a huge smile, “I’d say the river is clean. We did it.”
Joy and relief flowed through him, pride swelling his chest. He felt ten feet tall and light as the wind. As he laughed along with the others, he felt a sense of belonging that he had never experienced before, and noted with surprise it didn’t alarm him. In fact, he welcomed it.
Maya raised a finger in warning. “Remember, though, we still need to test the water below the falls. All knowledge is provisional. One test proves nothing, but it’s a good start.”
Jack sunned himself on a large rock while watching Charlie go through his exercises. After being confined underground for so long, Charlie felt stiff and weak and had taken to running through the Guards’ standard fitness routine each morning and evening. “Glad to feel the sunshine again, Charlie?” asked Jack.
“King’s beard, yes,” said Charlie with a shy smile. William had never heard Charlie swear before. It seems everyone was starting to relax after their long ordeal.
Three days later they reached the falls. The plume of mist rose so high that they saw it a full day before, but reaching the bottom proved more challenging. The cliff wall that had blocked their way upstream was as much of an obstacle on the south side of the river. Far below, a black sandy bank stretched into the distance. It would make for easy traveling, but the wall frustrated their efforts to get there.
William decided he and Jack would scout for a path down. Rachel seemed insulted, and William recalled her guilt about being ambushed on a path she and Jack had scouted. He tried to put her mind at ease. “I need to keep moving, Rachel. I’m restless. If I have to wait here, I’ll go crazy. Besides, I want to talk to Jack.” She accepted his statement, although she didn’t look too happy about it. Maybe she wanted to be alone with Jack? He chuckled to himself as he realized he didn’t care.
“We’ve been stuck together for days now—what could you possibly want to talk about that you couldn’t before?” asked Jack as they pushed southward in search of a descent.
“I want to know how on Esper we’ll manage to trade with the dragons if we can’t tell anyone about them.”
“Didn’t you convince the Elder to let us tell whoever we wanted?” asked Jack.
“No, I convinced him to let us tell whoever we trusted. There’s a difference.”
“Okay, so what?”
“So…who do we trust?”
“King’s boots,” said Jack after a long silence. “I see your point.”
“Right. Anyone we tell winds up with the same problem, until we either decide to tell no one, or else everyone knows. And that’s before we get our hands on one bar of iron or print a single page.”
Jack slashed at the dense bushes that blocked their path. “It’s probably not that bad. People have worked secret mines before. Only a few people knew where the Cartringham silver mines were.”
“Don’t be silly,” said William. “They were in Cartringham.”
“Yes, but where in Cartringham? The city was full of silver trade workers, but hardly anyone knew where the mine was, because the Duke kept it secret.”
“So?”
“Well think about it. What if there had been dragons there, and only those few people knew about it?”
William stopped short. “Wait a second. You really think Cartringham had dragons? The Elder never mentioned any other hives.”
“No, that’s not my point,” said Jack. “I’m saying that however they kept their location secret, we could do the same. As far as the people in Marshland and Faywater Port are concerned, they won’t care who’s doing the mining as long as the metal flows downstream.”
“Okay, so how do we set it up?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Okay, what if we—”
“I said, I’m thinking about it. Shut up for a change.”
William shut up. When Jack asked for silence it was usually for good reason. He wasn’t what William would call a deep thinker, not like Lester, or maybe even William himself, but when Jack needed to solve a problem he could focus like no one else William knew. And the results were almost always worth it. William took over the task of slashing at the brush while Jack followed behind, muttering to himself.
The wall got no lower nor the slope gentler as they pushed forward. Without Jack’s help it was slow going, and William eventually halted in exhaustion and sat down. He had lost track of how long they had been at it, but he found the sun through the trees overhead and guessed three hours at least. If they didn’t find a way down soon they would have to turn back.
“Why did you stop?” asked Jack, who stared at him with a puzzled look on his face.
“We both stopped,” said William. “And I’ve been doing all the hard work, too.”
“That doesn’t sound likely. Anyway, have you found a way down yet?”
“Since we’re still on this side of the cliff, let’s assume I haven’t.”
“And you’re sure you were doing all the hard work?”
“Shut up, Jack.”
“Anyway, should we head back?”
“Don’t bother,” said Rachel as she emerged from the path William had blazed. “We decided to come find you.” Maya and Charlie arrived closely behind her.
“Get this, Rachel,” said Jack. “Will says he’s been doing all the hard work.”
“He has,” said Rachel. “You don’t have a drop of sweat on you, and he’s soaked through.”
“Why didn’t you stay at the river?” asked William.
“I was thinking,” said Jack. “That’s the hardest work of all.”
“A lot of good it did us, Jack,” said William.
“We got scared,” said Maya.
“We did not get scared, Maya,” said Rachel. “At least I didn’t…I got n
ervous.”
“Fine, you were nervous. I was scared.”
“You know, Will,” said Jack. “If you hadn’t stopped I probably would have thought of something by now.”
“Thought of something about what?” asked Maya.
William gritted his teeth and looked skyward. “Never mind him. What were you nervous about?”
“I was thinking of how to arrange a system where we could trade with the dragons without anyone else learning about them,” said Jack.
“Did you think of anything?” asked Charlie.
“No, because Will stopped,” said Jack. “I’m not even sure what he was doing the whole time.”
William smacked his sword against his shield, startling the others. “For the love of the King, the Queen, and all the Dukes in all the lands, could someone please tell me why we should be nervous?” William looked at the shocked faces staring back at him and added, “Besides me jumping off this cliff to get away from the lot of you?”
Rachel recovered first. “Well, we have all the food we need for a while, so I haven’t been looking for anything to hunt. But I got bored waiting for you guys and looked around to pass time. There’s nothing larger than a squirrel here.”
“Big deal,” said William. “That’s how it was before, right? The dragons have probably cleared everything around the mountains.”
“True, but there’s not even any animal paths here. It’s been empty here longer than the north side of the river.”
“So what does that mean?” asked Jack.
“I don’t know. And not knowing makes me nervous.”
“That’s it?” asked William.
Rachel shook her head. “No. Steve’s been acting strange.”
“Strange how?”
“He keeps looking over the cliff, like there’s something down there.”
“Didn’t you say there were no animals here?” asked Jack.
“I know when he’s sensing an animal. I can usually even tell what kind of animal from how he acts. This is different.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” said William. He had come to trust the dog’s instincts, especially since the first wolf attack. Steve’s quick reaction had saved William from becoming a meal.
“There’s one more thing,” said Rachel. “When I looked at the river bank below, I’m pretty sure I saw tracks. Human tracks.”
The sweat on William’s neck grew chilly; he stifled the urge to shiver. Not in front of the others, he thought. “You could have started with that bit of information,” he said, his voice matching his cold skin.
Rachel’s jaw dropped as a look of dread spread across her face. “Oh…sorry…I meant…I was just telling you in the order I noticed it. I never meant to drag it out.”
William relaxed. “Okay, never mind. You surprised me is all. I shouldn’t have gotten upset.” What to do next? No one had any ideas, but it was evident they all felt safer together rather than being split up. He looked around for ideas, and something began nagging at his mind. Something was missing. “Charlie, did you bring all the gear with—”
“Wait a second! Where’s Steve?” asked Rachel. That’s what he had missed, and his absence was both conspicuous and alarming given Rachel’s report. He suppressed the urge to call the dog’s name, in case their worst fears were realized and someone heard them. A muffled bark filtered through the trees. A few tense moments later Steve crashed through the brush. William breathed a sigh of relief, as did everyone else.
“You silly puppy, where did you go?” asked Rachel, her relief evident.
“Wait a second,” said Jack. “He came from this side, right?” He poked at the bushes where the dog had emerged, and stuck his head through. “Well, would you look at this…he found it!”
“You must be kidding me,” said William. They all jammed themselves through the brush to look at the path. It was narrow, but not too steep, and looked safer than the one they ascended weeks before. “That’s impressive. Rachel, did you send him to look for a way down?”
“No. He scouts around unless I tell him to stay close. We got lucky, I guess.”
“I don’t think so,” said Charlie. “Look.” Small handholds were fixed to the cliff exactly where they would be needed.
“Any Were those were made by Guards?” William asked.
Charlie shook his head. “We never patrol this far. If we did, we wouldn’t waste time making those. Whoever did has been here for a while.”
The path appeared well-used: they saw no footprints, but the stones were bare and free of moss, unlike the surrounding boulders and fallen trees. If they were going to use this path, they would have to descend quickly and hope for the best. It was that, or back out and find another way. But was there any place safe that they could retreat to? They had seen signs of people on both sides of the river now; short of taking a major detour they would have to travel through bandit territory.
He decided before anyone else spoke. “Grab everything. Jack, you go first, make sure the path is safe. Give me your gear so your hands are free. Rachel next. If someone attacks, you need to protect Jack. Charlie next, then Maya. First we get down as fast and as quiet as possible, then we figure out what to do next. Go!”
It did not go as quickly as William hoped. Their gear made the descent more treacherous than it would have been otherwise, and at one point where the path doubled back on itself they stopped and lowered the packs by hand. But they reached the bottom uninjured and equipment intact. If anything, the brush was even denser than above the cliff. William had it in mind to head for the river, having seen the clear and empty banks from the falls above, but decided the extra speed wasn’t worth the risk of exposure.
No one dared speak for fear of giving away their presence, but they made plenty of noise slashing through the foliage anyway. Two hours of toil and tension later, William called a halt. Maya, exempt from brush-slashing duties, got a cold meal together. Jack flopped to the ground and closed his eyes, while Charlie leaned against a tree to catch his breath. William found a log to sit on and inspected his new sword. The edge was still sharp despite the abuse he’d given it. A sword should never be used this way, but it had come through better than he had dared hope.
“How long do we keep this pace?” asked Jack without opening his eyes.
“It took us four weeks to get from Marshland to the falls,” said Rachel.
“Sure, but we took our time,” said Maya. “And this side of the river should be easier to travel on.”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Jack. He rolled over and propped himself on his elbows. “How long until we can take our time without worrying about getting captured?”
William wiped his sword on his sleeve to remove the green stains. “If I had my way, we’d walk to Marshland without stopping. I won’t feel safe until we get home. Even then, Charlie and his colleagues will need to come back here and clean the place out. But since we can’t go non-stop, I suggest we do our best getting through the woods for another day, and then make for the river. As long as we’re in dense forest, we know no one else has been here. But that doesn’t exactly satisfy me.”
No one argued, but was it because he was right, or were they simply too tired to think of anything else? He forced himself back onto his feet. “We need to get going.”
Jack grumbled. “Can’t we travel at night? No one will see us then.”
It wasn’t a serious question, but William answered anyway. “Can you imagine hacking our way through this in the dark?”
Jack staggered to his feet. “Fine. But you’re leading. I don’t think I can swing my arms at another branch.”
“You’ll be fine once you warm up again.”
“I’m plenty warm, thanks.”
It was true, though. After a few minutes their muscles relaxed to the inevitable and the pain faded. But they were still tired and sweaty. True relief came an hour later, when Maya noticed the trees had thinned. “I can see the sky ahead. Maybe we’re near the river.”
They pushed their weary bodies toward the patch of blue, but instead of the river they discovered a wide clearing. William’s skin crawled, and he reached for his sword. His own thought was mirrored in Charlie’s eyes: this clearing was man-made.
They had no time to discuss anything. Several men emerged from the far side, armed with crude axes, clubs and spears. They wore the same rags and cheap armor as their previous attackers; they were clearly from the same group that attacked them before. The bandits faced them from several paces away, and approached slowly without a word, maneuvering to surround them against the forest wall they had just cut through. William scanned the area quickly. If they tried to escape through the forest they would be easily captured. Neither could they stand and defend themselves; they were outnumbered, admittedly by poorly armed men, but there was no winning this fight. Only one option remained.
“Charlie, get everyone out of here. Make for the river, then march as far and as fast as you can towards home.”
Jack grabbed his shoulder. “Will, this isn’t a game! This isn’t the time to play hero.”
“What else am I supposed to do, Jack? I don’t have time to argue. Maya has to get back, and if you care about me at all, you’ll make sure that happens. I’ll try to escape later; I don’t think they want to kill anyone.”
“You’re willing to bet your life?” asked Jack.
“Of course I’m not!” said William. “But sometimes we have to do what we don’t want to do. That includes you. Get going!”
Jack slowly retreated with the others. They hesitated a few feet from the clearing, reluctant to leave. The bandits had trapped William in a semicircle, apparently respecting the long blade in his hand, but they would soon get over their fear and overwhelm him with their numbers. He turned to his friends. “Go! Get home, get help. I’ll hold them for as long as I can, but you need to leave now. That’s an order.” Charlie’s training took over, and he urged the others forward. Maya’s eyes were red, and Rachel’s clenched jaw trembled with fury. Jack gave him a look that told him he would exchange places if he could. And then they were gone.
The Defender of Rebel Falls: A Medieval Science Fiction Adventure (The William Whitehall Adventures Book 1) Page 22