The Knave of Souls - Fantasy - Sequel to The Jack of Souls

Chapter 27

...an unknown tooler is said to have accidentally discovered the process for refining fire-cone resin...after harvesting the resin from a batch of cones, he is said to have used the empty cones to flavor his moonshine... When bits of resin still in the cones dissolved in alcohol, they separated from seeds and oily impurities and left a residue of powder in the bottom of the jugs. We call that powder blasting resin or spitfire resin.

        —First Tooler's Primer, Master Tooler Jobbs

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SEEDS OF SORROW

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Harric reined in at the foot of a huge red cedar rising straight from the middle of the yoab run. Where the trunk met the ground, the tree was wide enough for seven or eight people to link hands and stretch around it. Nothing this big had been seen near Gallows Ferry since the big saw mill went up at the rapids. The yoab apparently demonstrated their respect for such a grandmother tree—too huge to push over—by rubbing against it and diverting their run around it; a ragged skirt of bark hung about the base of the trunk for more than twice the height of a man, suggesting the beasts rubbed against the tree like giant cats might against the leg of a giant.

Judging by the sprinkling of needles over the raw soil of the run, no yoab had been here for weeks. That was good.

His eyes followed the graceful lines of the trunk up into the canopy, where its limbs mingled with those of its neighbors. A couple of red squirrels appeared in some of the lower branches, and peered down at him, then skittered around to the other side of the trunk.

"Father Kogan," Harric said. "Wake up." He opened Mudruffle's map to study the spot where the golem had marked it.

"Mh? What'd I miss?"

"You missed me cursing this map," Harric said. "I can't read the annotation. It says, Red Tree, which is clear enough. But then it either says, steer clear, or path clear."

Kogan blinked at him. He leaned out to one side to see around Snapper and Idgit, then his eyes followed the tree skyward. "A beauty." He yawned, revealing a mouthful of brown, cracked teeth. "Let's camp."

Harric frowned. "Heard a yoab bellow while you slept."

"Back near Will and Caris?"

Harric nodded. He let out a breath, trying to expel some of his worry, too. "It's got me worried the beasts might be coming down from the heights already."

Kogan mashed the sleep from his eyes with a meaty paw. "How do you know it was a yoab? Ever heard one?"

"Last month. My ears are still ringing."

"Har!" Kogan squinted up at the canopy. A few golden beams of sunlight slanted down to splash across the rough bark of the giant firs. "Late afternoon, looks like. As good a time as any to camp."

"All right. Let's move off toward the river."

Harric found a low gap in the rubble at either side of the yoab run and urged Snapper up and over, onto the spongy moss and ferns of the forest floor. Idgit followed, with Brolli wobbling, asleep, in his saddle. Picking his way between huge rotting logs, Harric headed toward a flat-topped hillock a half a bowshot from the yoab run. The site would be close enough to the run that they'd be able to see Willard and Caris when they passed, but hopefully not so close that a passing yoab would notice them.

"Wake the chimpey?" Kogan said, when they dismounted atop the hillock. Brolli still sagged in his saddle, a blanket draped over his head.

"Let him sleep."