But Edric prided himself on his sense of direction and he kept the general coordinates of the smoke in his mind and continued to lead his little band on a winding climb into the heart of the island. Only once did Edric really feel lost. They had been forced to walk around a curving ridge that swept them out in the opposite direction they'd been heading, and when they finally got around it, he realized he no longer knew what direction they'd been heading for. “Make’s me wish I had Blackthorn with me,” Franklin said. “Oh, please,” Markis said. “Your mutt could get lost chasing his own tail.” “I know he’s no good on the trail,” Franklin said. “But a man feels better when he has his dog with him.” “So, what now, hotshot?” Markis said to Edric. “It’s easy,” Edric said. “We use dead reckoning, just like on the ship. We imagine our original position and the position of the smoke as two points on a map. Then we estimate the distance and direction we’ve traveled to guess how close we are.”
