as far as they could reach, checking the trees that grew along the beach below his cliff. Many birds roosting in the branches, and yes, the trees also housed some monkeys.
Keeping his touch subtle so the fire mages wouldn’t sense someone using power nearby, Yanko brushed the minds of the monkeys. As he woke them from their sleep, he pointed out that enemies had come to their beach, enemies with dangerous weapons. He felt guilty for bothering them when they were in no danger, but one look at the form slumped under the tarp reminded him that there was a good reason for this deception.
One monkey howled a warning cry. It was soon taken up by others, up and down the beach. The monkeys leaped from branch to branch, knocking coconuts and leaf litter to the ground. The pirates watched the commotion, drawing closer together and pointing.
Yanko hoped it was enough of a distraction for Dak. He couldn’t see the big Turgonian down there, but gave him a mental salute, then backed away from the edge of the cliff. He had a lodestone to find and not much time in which to do it.
Chapter 6
It took Yanko longer than he expected to scramble down from the rocky escarpment in the dark. He dared not create a light to guide him, not with so many people on the island now. He couldn’t be sure those pirates would stick to the beach. If they had a good map or knew where they were going, they might cut inland early.
More than once, Yanko knocked rocks loose as he descended. Every time, he winced at the noise. He could see the pool through the trees, the roar of the waterfall growing louder. It lay entirely in darkness, no hint of lanterns or mage lights in sight. He hoped that meant he was alone, but before he stepped out of the trees, he forced himself to close his eyes and study the area with his mind.
Here and there, birds and small animals snoozed in the bushes and treetops, but nothing larger lurked around the pool. The waterfall drowned out the noise of the ocean. It could drown out the sound of approaching voices or footfalls, too, so he stretched his awareness as far down the river as he could, figuring that was the most likely direction the pirates would come from. He did not sense any people approaching, but as he was withdrawing, he stumbled upon the unexpected.
There was something in the water. It wasn’t a person or any form of life, but it wasn’t rock, either. He always struggled to feel non-living things, since they lacked the presence that people and animals had, but he slowly worked out the shape of the object. A metal cylinder. He crept forward, wondering if he could make it out with his eyes. Was it completely below the surface? Or had it—
With a jolt, he realized what it was. A Kyattese underwater boat.
It had to be the same one that had been spying upon the Falcon’s Flight. At least, he thought it had been spying upon them. Maybe it had simply been coming here, the crew already knowing about the waterfall and not needing to stop to interrogate villagers—or tortoises—along the way.
Yanko groaned to himself as he picked his way along the edge of the pool. He could just glimpse the top of the underwater boat with his eyes, a darker shadow poking above the surface. Only a hatch on a small portion of the top was visible, with the majority of the vessel under the water.
When he drew even with it, Yanko stopped to check it with his mind again. When they had seen it before, he had sensed people inside of it, even though it had been a good hundred meters away. This time, he didn’t sense anyone. Had the crew all climbed out to search behind the waterfall? If so, he was surprised they hadn’t left a guard, but maybe they hadn’t known the pirates were coming.
Yanko tried to sense behind the waterfall. He could feel the shape of a cave back there, or at least the opening of one, but beyond that, it grew fuzzy to him, almost as if some magical camouflage lay over the area, thwarting his probe.
“Wonderful,” he muttered.
He continued toward the waterfall, leaving the underwater boat without disturbing it. A part of him was tempted to swim out, to try to get in and snoop around. Maybe the Kyattese had