Warhammer-Angelika Fleischer 05-Liars Peak by Robin D. Laws

Author:Robin D. Laws
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Warhammer
Publisher: The Black Library
Published: 2010-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

The switchback led behind the rightward peak and into a steep, heavily forested gorge, the meeting point of two jagged mountains. Centuries of flooding had deposited a layer of loose stones on the valley’s narrow floor. It would be easier going, but the dense stands of trees along either side of the ravine would provide abundant opportunities for ambushers to lurk. Angelika beckoned to Jonas for a conference, and laid out the choice for him: to press on despite the risk, or to turn back, reversing a day’s arduous travel. Dusk was coming. It brought with it swirls of fog. They rolled in the hollows, obscuring the bottom of the ravine.

Jonas’ gaze swept the lurching, scraggly pines above. ‘Can we get to the other side of the valley before nightfall?’

Angelika shook her head. It was hard to estimate the length of the ravine, or see what lay beyond it. ‘If you ask me–’

‘I am asking you, Angelika.’

‘Let’s camp here for the night. That way anyone who wants to sneak up on us can only do it from two directions, instead of four.’

Jonas nodded his assent and, as the last of the men filed out of the switchback and onto the rocky surface of the ravine, he waved to Emil, who gave the orders for a dig-in. Jonas leaned close to Angelika’s ear. ‘Speak to Franziskus. I’ve made him an offer, and if you care at all for him, you’ll persuade him to take it.’

Filch offered her cheese. She took it and told him to go away. She sought out Franziskus. He’d found a long stretch of fallen pine log and had sat himself upon it, head in hand and elbow on knee.

‘Never have I seen a person so visibly in a quandary,’ she said, sitting beside him. She pressed the halfling’s rind of cheese, uneaten, into Franziskus’ palm. They spent a minute or so debating which of them ought to eat the cheese, which Franziskus knew to be exquisite, before Angelika grew annoyed, ripped it from his hands, chomped it in two, and held the remainder, still moist where her teeth-marks were, in front of his lips. Sulkily he took it from her, turning it over in his hands. He reminded Angelika of a squirrel, deciding whether to devour or bury his latest bit of forage.

He told her about the offer.

‘Take it,’ she said.

‘On one hand, he believes each word he says, as he says it. On the other, he intends to drive a wedge between us.’

‘His motives don’t matter. Take the commission.’

‘I knew that’s exactly what you’d say.’

She stood. ‘Stop saving me, Franziskus, and start saving your own damn hide.’

She wandered across the bed of rounded, fist-sized granites and quartzes until she reached Jonas. Two of his swordsmen struck a smallish tent for him. Angelika swallowed, despising the necessity of this next gambit. She’d taken Jonas deep into the mountains, but she was no closer to searching his kit and getting back her ring. She stretched, twisting her body into a girlish posture.

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