Over on the bank, Markos had been watching the whole while. Despite the fact that Jak had relaxed himself when moving around the rock, Markos hadn’t seen him. All he’d noticed had been the slightest flicker of movement that may have been nothing more than the scuttling of a cloud across the moon.
ELIAS AND CHAN HAD BEEN in hiding for most of the afternoon, bickering with each other. The giant couldn’t resist goading the albino, and for his part Chan would always rise to the bait, unable to understand how the giant could be so casual when everything seemed to be going wrong.
“Tell me something—would your brother believe two outsiders? Would Sineta be upset about her father saying nothing to her about the legends? Of course not, and of course, if you were paying attention. So listen to me. We go back tonight. Mebbe they’ll be waiting for us and mebbe not. If that bitch has got her whitelander friends to get the treasure out, then we just chill them.”
“How the hell do we do that when we’ve only got one blaster between us?” Chan had demanded.
Elias fixed him with a glare. The sardonic humor that always seemed to be in his eyes had suddenly faded. “We would have more than one blaster if you hadn’t been so damned useless. And we’ll do it because we have to. We have no choice now, no going back. I do not intend to travel to the whitelands knowing that Mildred and her little friends have that knowledge as power over me. Is that clear?”
Chan had nodded, his throat too tight and dry to speak. As with many others on Pilatu, he had always thought of Elias as untrustworthy but harmless, too laid back to be of any danger.
The look in the giant’s eyes told him that he had been wrong. And the thought of being alone in the woods with this revelation was a more frightening prospect than taking on the companions.
So now, as the night hit its stillest and darkest watch, he found himself stumbling after the giant as Elias made his way through the woods, from the copse where they had taken shelter to the riverbank by the outcrop and caves, where the whiteland treasure lay hidden.
They followed the same path as they had taken that afternoon, only traveling in reverse. It wasn’t long before they gained the riverbank, with the crop a few feet out into the water, rising to a peak with a cave beneath.
“There it is, just sitting there waiting for us,” Elias said with a chuckle. “See, my cowardly little friend. It’s not that hard, is it?”
“I CAN HEAR SOMETHING,” Markos mouthed at Mildred and Sineta as the sound of the two men thrashing through the woods reached their hiding place.
Mildred nodded and pointed in the general direction of the sound. Markos assented.
“Wait till they are in the open,” he said softly. “Wait until Jak moves,” Mildred amended. Markos looked puzzled. “But surely—” Mildred shook her head. “Just do it.” She looked around at Sineta. Even in the dim light of the half moon it was plain to see that the woman was anxious and hyped up in anticipation. Despite Sineta’s willingness to be here, Mildred found it obvious that the woman had never been in a fighting situation before, and she was terrified, even though prepared to fight.
Let’s hope her nerve holds, Mildred thought, taking in the tight grip that Sineta had on her blaster.
She looked back in the direction of the sound. They were nearing the clearing that delineated the riverbank and would soon come into view. Now was the moment of truth. Looking at Markos’s face, intent but impassive, prepared for combat, she wondered how he would take it when his beloved brother came into view.
The brush at the edge of the woods was swept aside and Elias strode out onto the riverbank, looking around him. His eyes—even at this distance—blazed, and Mildred sucked in her breath. It looked like the giant had cracked under the strain and was quite mad, which would make him completely unpredictable.
His companion stayed hidden while the giant looked up and down the bank and across to the outcrop, where Jak remained silent and still in the shadows. Elias saw nothing and assumed that the cave was empty. He turned to the brush, where his companion stayed hidden, and laughed loud and harsh, gesturing with his blaster.