Chapter Three

KLANG!

Koamalu’s spear deflected the arrow one of the men in the back had shot at Ryland’s head, sending it clattering off nearby.

“In the rocks!” Koamalu shouted, and the two young men dashed behind them into the natural maze created by the fallen boulders next to the waterfall. Two more arrows chipped off pieces of stone around them before they were safely inside.

Ryland was thinking fast, and not liking the conclusions.

There were only two ways out of the pool area alive - the way the men had come, and the path up on the far side of the waterfall he'd planned to use to make his escape. However, the big rocks they were using as cover ran out long before the path up, and as the enemy had bows, they'd never make it up the path anyways.

That left him and Koamalu to fight seven seasoned mercenaries, and he wasn't sure that any man dumb enough to take his side in these odds was one he wanted to rely on.

If he could bribe the newcomers, he would, but they wouldn't be as easy to manipulate as the young south islander. Their best outcome came from bringing Swailes his head, and they seemed more than eager to do it. Ten years of being away meant he was a stranger to the men, and he’d never get a word out if he tried.

That left only one choice…

Koamalu cursed his luck - what was he thinking?

He'd sided with this guy on an impulse, and now yet again his actions had gotten him in trouble. It was just like Mama Sita said when he'd jumped in and fought that giant red serpent of the bay - “Young Tua, with that head of yours, you won't even know how you died!”

Now what could he do? Give them the guy? They'd probably kill Koamalu anyways, and he'd have to face his ancestors looking like a coward. On the other hand, the odds weren't looking good, so maybe there'd still be a chance to negotiate? Nobody wanted to fight unless they had to.

He glanced at the red headed boy next to him, and was surprised when their eyes met.

“I can get us out of this,” said the blue eyed mainlander, looking at Koamalu with deadly seriousness. “But we have to work together and you need to do exactly as I say. Can you do it?”

Despite the intensity of the look and situation, Koamalu felt a sudden sense of calm wash over him, like when his grandfather was with him. There was something about this one who shook his executioner's hand that made Koamalu feel he could trust him.

"I'm with you, uo."

Burt Lenyar reacted to the boys running in among the rocks with a sigh and a chuckle.

Did they really think they were going to escape? And the fish eater, what was he thinking joining Hauke’s boy?

Still, it saved haggling over the reward, and this was all fine as far as Lenyar was concerned. He owed Elsbeth Hauke for the public beating she’d given him after he’d been caught having a little fun with one of the town sluts, and with her gone, he was more than happy to take the payment out on her younger brother. A little sport to make the trip up the falls worth it before they went back down to collect their rewards.

He left one of the men with bows to guard the way they’d come and sent the other around to where a shallow stream of ice water flowed down from the pool. They’d need to cross the stream to get to the path up the mountain, and it would make them easy targets. He and the remaining five men advanced on the maze of fallen rocks, and he took the left while sending two to the middle and the remaining two to the north end of the pool, swords drawn.

These men weren’t veterans, but they’d been with the company a few years, and knew their stuff, so he wasn’t too worried about their ability to deal with the kids. Hauke’s boy was definitely not a problem, and the fish-eater had just arrived- how much trouble could he be?

Still, Burt was cautious, so he drew his hunting knife for his off hand and carefully entered the rock cluster at the spot near the south end where the two young ones had vanished. Everything here was slick and wet with mist from the falls, which roared next to them, and he made sure to keep his steps on the wet gravel even and his back to the rocks to keep a narrow profile. He had no doubt that short spear the fish-eater carried could do damage, and he didn’t fancy being on the end of it.

He’d only had time to check around a few rocks when he heard a shout over the thunder of the falls somewhere to his right towards the middle. Thinking they’d found the boys, Burt began to run, rushing between rocks until he suddenly skidded to a halt.

He’d seen the leg and boot of a man sticking out from the edge of one of the rocks.

He was pretty sure it wasn’t one of the boys, too big, so instead of going right to it, he doubled around another rock so he was coming at it straight-on and not turning a corner. Sure enough, once he’d gone around the farther rock, he saw it belonged to one of his men who lay slumped over and bleeding on the wet gravel.

Burt didn’t have to get close to know who it was, and fearing ambush, he kept his distance, looking for the man’s partner. There was no sign of the other mercenary, and thanks to the roar of the falls he couldn’t hear what else was going on.

Licking his lips, Burt decided to keep going towards the north side of the pool and try to meet up with the other two men who were sweeping in from that side. He would come back and take care of this one later, maybe see if he had a little coin.

Koamalu was pretty impressed.

His new friend had turned out to be both a brave and wiley little guy.

Ryland had used himself as bait to distract one of their enemies and get him to chase him while Koamalu had quickly dispatched the other from behind, his target’s fall covered by the sounds of the waterfall. Then Koamalu had circled back around a nearby rock as his friend had instructed and arrived just in time for the redhead to lead the other enemy right into Koamalu’s spear butt.

Two down.

Then he followed Ryland’s instructions and ran to the north, arriving at a blue tinged rock the other boy had mentioned. Ryland had told him to go left at the rock and…

Or was that right?

Koamalu frowned.

Oh well. What does it matter?

Without waiting he dashed to the left.

Right into the swords of two of their pursuers...

As he ran, Ryland was suddenly grateful to his older brother Darrel.

The falls were his elder brother’s place to bring the local maidens- away from the prying eyes of their parents and adults. There, the teens would do what teens did when they had their time alone, or at least they would try.

A young Ryland, and his favorite partner in crime - Gar Coomb’s middle daughter Hanrietta, would sneak up here after them and play pranks on the young lovers. Hanri was especially good at animal calls, and many a girl cried and asked to go home when she heard a prowling animal, much to Darrel’s frustrations. Of course, Ryland was just as guilty, and loved to climb about the rocks like a little monkey, throwing stones and playing tricks that made his older brother howl in frustration and curse the gods.

Eventually Darrel found another place to take the girls, but not before Ryland knew every nook and cranny of the rock maze and could navigate them even after dark.

It was this knowledge that let Ryland turn the rock cluster into their advantage, and a place where two might have a chance against seven. He had forseen that Burt Lenyar would split his forces, and Delmar Swailes’ man had accommodated him nicely. Now he had to keep those units separated if his plan was going to work, and that required keeping Lenyar busy while the south islander did his part.

Which was why he’d yelled at Lenyar a moment ago, and why the older man was now chasing him among the rocks in the opposite direction that Koamalu was supposed to be ambushing Lenyar’s men.

“Little bastard!” Lenyar cursed as Ryland heard the older man slip and stumble on an exposed patch of wet rock behind him. “I’m going to hang you by your innards”

The younger man stole a quick glance back at the mercenary, who was still trying to get back to his feet. He was tempted to say something back, but his pursuer was already plenty angry enough to keep him focused. Instead Ryland used the opportunity to get out of the other man’s sight and duck to the left to circle back around in the opposite direction.

CRACK!

It wasn’t until the arrow chipped off a piece of rock next to his head that Ryland realized that this path left him exposed to the archer guarding the trail he’d come by and that he’d made a mistake coming this way. He’d failed to take a rise the archer was standing on into account, and now he was in a bad situation.

The rocks next to him formed a wall of over a dozen paces before he could get back under cover- a natural shooting gallery for the archer. He estimated a good archer could get off two more shots before he found shelter if he kept going forward- shots that had a good chance of hitting. On the other hand, Lenyar was somewhere behind him, and going back risked running right into the man, so that wasn’t an option either.

However, thinking fast, Ryland threw himself to the ground and took advantage of the lines of smaller rocks that came up to somewhere around his knees. These sheltered him from the archer, and as long as he kept his belly to the ground he’d be safe from the man’s fire at this angle.

He began to shimmy forward, scraping his tunic along the ground like a snake as fast as he could manage while keeping low and praying there weren’t any big gaps in his cover that the sniper could take advantage of. Meanwhile, he also prayed that Lenyar wouldn’t come this way before he could get to the end.

CRACK!

Another arrow hit the rock just above his head and he was forced to drop and lie flat on the ground. He turned his head to quickly check, and saw that the cover here was lower- maybe too low to protect him if he raised his body at all.

He was stuck.

Then things got worse.

He heard a loud whistling sound pass over him.

At first he thought it was an attempt to hit him from another angle, but then he realized the arrow hadn’t hit the rock wall next to him but instead gone over it. Not only that, it was unusually loud for an arrow that was so far away and near the roar of the falls.

Oh no. The truth came to him.

One of the tools used by archers working for banner companies was signal arrows which were designed to make an extremely loud whistling noise as they flew. They were used to distract enemies, to signal trouble up ahead…and to call for help.

He’s trying to let the men in the rocks know he’s got me pinned here.

He couldn’t stay, he had to move before…

From the rock openings in front and behind him, he heard running footsteps crunching on gravel.

He was now well and truly trapped.