04 Watcher of the Dead by Jones J. V

Author:Jones, J. V [V, Jones, J.]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-16T03:40:04+00:00

"They vent the marsh gas, stop it from building up."

"What happens if it builds up?"

Chedd slammed the paddle against the lake surface, spraying water into the boat. "Explosion. They've lost a few clansmen that way."

"That could be the curse. Marsh gas."

Chedd turned to give her one of his special withering looks. "Gray's always been in the marsh. It may have sunk a bit, but it's always been here and it's always had to deal with marsh gas. You can't curse a clan with something it's already got."

She had to admit it: Chedd Limehouse had a superior grasp of the laws of cursing. "Over there," she told him. "Green Fur went between those rushes."

"Aye, Captain." Chedd did as he was told while sounding only a little bit sarcastic.

As they moved south toward the rushbeds, Effie realized she hadn't felt afraid once since they'd left the Grayhouse. Here she was--outside--with a big gray sky above her and open water and a jungle of bulrushes at eye level and she felt . . . what was the word she'd thought of earlier? Serene.

She glanced at Chedd. He was paddling hard and fat in his lower back and butt was jiggling. She loved him. He was crucial to her peace of mind. "You missed the turn," she told him. "It's back there."

Chedd grumbled. "Greenie's probably just checking his traps."

"So. We'll still learn something about the Reed Way."

"He'll knock our heads together and chuck us into the Stink."

"No he won't. He paid Waker Stone good money for us, remember? And what a man pays for he doesn't throw away."

Chedd grumbled some more. As he turned from open water into the rushbeds, light and wind dropped. Walls of bulrushes grew eight feet high on either side of the boat. They smelled meaty. Sticky white horse-fly chrysalises were glued between the canes. Effie spotted a little yellow warbler perched above one of them, waiting for something to come out.

Paddling slowly and carefully to keep them centered on the narrow channel, Chedd was focused and silent. His feet were now on the deck. Effie wondered whether he was thinking the same thing she was: Escape was becoming more and more unlikely. As the crow flies they were a third of a league from the Grayhouse, but they couldn't see it. They couldn't see anything, only high cliffs of rushes.

"Eff, are you remembering the way back?"

"Yes." Up until then she hadn't been, but she was absolutely going to remember from now on. "You can see Green Fur's wake on the surface." She pointed to the gentle flow of ripples tapping the prow of the boat. "We have to keep them in our sights."

"That's dodgy logic," Chedd told her. "Ducks, wind, muskrats: anything could cause those ripples."

Effie knew Chedd was right. They'd lost sight of Green Fur half an hour back and although Effie was pretty certain he had turned in to this channel, she had no idea if he was still on it. The problem was the breaks in the rushes.

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