The Mysterious Coin by James E. Wisher

Author:James E. Wisher [Wisher, James E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781945763502
Publisher: Sand Hill Publising

Rondo stood at the ship’s rail and watched the sea of green passing below them. He’d seen forests before, but never a forest like this. They’d been flying over it for nearly a day. If there was anything resembling civilization under the boughs, he had yet to see any sign. And the trees. Gods above, some of them were nearly as wide as the tower itself and twice as tall. How were they supposed to spot anything with that thick, evergreen canopy, not to mention the equally thick fog, obscuring everything?

Maybe Umbra had some magic trick that would reveal the tower when they arrived. Rondo glanced back at the pilot’s station. Umbra stood at the control pedestal fully shrouded in his black cloak. Rondo still hadn’t seen the man’s face. Having to guide the ship during the day put the wizard in a foul mood and Shade admonished Rondo to keep his distance. That was advice Rondo fully intended to follow.

The ship lurched and came to a full stop. Rondo barely had time to think before Shade came bounding up on deck followed a moment later by gray-clad mercenaries of the Shadow Blade company, all twenty of them. Apparently, they often worked for Lord Black. Shade had been busy during the trip divesting them of a chunk of their pay in the innumerable card games they played to pass the time. Rondo didn’t like to gamble, a habit he picked up from his parsimonious father. Shade, on the other hand, took everything with a smile, win or lose.

“Jax, my man,” Shade said. “Are we here?”

“We’re somewhere,” Umbra said. “These are the coordinates Lord Black supplied, or at least as close as I can get. Further searching will have to be done on the ground.”

“Right. Rondo, you’ll take First Squad east and I’ll take Second west. We’ll search until dark then fall back to the ship. If you find anything mark your location and return to the landing zone. Okay?”

Rondo didn’t know the first thing about the forest, survival, tracking, or anything remotely useful in a situation like this. Nevertheless, he nodded. “Got it.”

“Great. Second Squad on me.”

Ten mercenaries gathered around Shade while the rest moved to join Rondo. None of them looked overly thrilled to have him for a leader. That was fair given how little Rondo wanted the job. Hopefully the mercenaries knew their business and Rondo could just stay out of the way.

The deck wobbled under him and a moment later Rondo found himself in the air and slowly descending beside his squad. Thick branches slapped him in the face as they fell through the canopy. Once they were through, they wove around branches thicker than some trees back home to finally reach the ground.

Their boots made no sound when they landed on a thick cushion of needles. Spruce perfumed the air and bird calls flitted on the breeze. If you enjoyed being outside this was probably paradise. For Rondo it was a personal hell.

“The other group is

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