There were no tracks leading into the village from the woods. Jus walked slowly around the village, finding nothing but the body of another man who had tried to run. The woods were free of the lizard stink. Frowning, Jus returned to the village and stared at it in thought.
Prisoners had been herded together in the street, culled, then marched toward an ancient apple orchard. Jus followed the river of tracks-perhaps two hundred prisoners with half as many captors-and then thetracks suddenly seemed to stop.
The tracks simply shut off as though a line had been drawn across them. Jus looked carefully at the tracks and then stared upward at the crooked apple trees.
Something seemed strange about the bend of two trees up above. The boughs leaned inward to form a perfect arch, almost as if deliberately tied in place.
The arch rested directly above the tracks. Jus circled it, passing a hand carefully into the empty space defined by the archway. His hand tingled as if expecting to find a door, but his fingers met no resistance. He touched only empty air.
Something flickered in midair. Before Cinders could shout a warning, Jus had already turned, his sword a blurring arc of black steel. A javelin split in two as Jus sliced it from the air. He ran roaring at an apple tree that suddenly tried to blunder to one side.
Jus jammed his black sword through the bark and heard a scream. Blood jetted as he ripped the steel free, parried a claw, and hacked a savage blow straight down. His sword cleaved into a reptilian skull, and a reeking creature fell writhing on the dirt.
Colors shifted. What had once looked like the trunk of an apple tree now lay sprawled over the leaves. It was reptilian, a huge bipedal lizard with a chameleons skin. Colors faded as the creature died, its thick skull split open. Oil oozed from its hide, filling the air with its foul stench. Jus kept away from the creature’s reach as it died and wiped his sword on ahandful of wet leaves.
“Troglodyte.”
The secret of survival was knowledge. Jus had made it his business to study every creature in, on, or under the Flanaess. Troglodytes were a carnivorous lizard species-savage, cunning, subterranean dwellers. Hatingsunlight, they would scarcely be likely to venture far away from their caves.
Caves beneath this sort of soil seemed unlikely. Jus looked at the apple tree arch, knowing it was a faerie gate, and wondered just how far away it led.
Intensely stupid, troglodytes would normally have killed and eaten their prey. Were they intelligent enough to herd their meat on the hoof? Perhaps, but no troglodyte could ever puzzle out a magic gate. Jus cast about the orchard carefully then began inspecting every tree.
A flicker of motion caught his eye on a bough high above. Jus scowled, sheathed his sword, and climbed into the lower boughs.
Motion flickered again, and he found it. A single black silk thread had snagged upon the bark. Jus inspected without touching, then brought Cinders’ snout close to the treasure.
“Can you smell it through the stink?”
Little bit. Cinders snuffled unhappily. Is faeriesmell.
Jus sat in the tree for a long moment of silent thought. He carefully retrieved the fallen thread and stored it in a folded paper inside his pouch.
It seemed he had work to do.
Half an hour saw him home again. He passed a giant’scrumbling bones and then walked into weed-strewn streets. Outside the old tavern, Polk’s cart stood hitched to his rather nervous mule. Enid stood amongsther saddlebags and scrolls, awkwardly trying to fit them across her own back. Jus appeared silently, hitched the sphinx’s bags into place, and tied thestraps. She beat her huge, heavy wings to test the load and then looked back at him in alarm.
“Heavens, what’s that smell?”
“Troglodyte.” Jus went to a rain barrel and took a handful ofash to scrub his sword and his hands. “Polk! We’re leaving! Move it or we’ll belate!”
Bustling out of the tavern and looking as though he had been seeking the solace of his magic faerie bottle, Polk winced as he walked into the light.
“What is it, son? What’s happening?” Polk’s bluster wasweighed down by misery. “We ain’t late. There’s nowhere we have to be, nothingwe have to do.”
“We have to get to the ruined castle.” Jus tightened hissword belt, settled Cinders properly in place, and then fastened a hand into Polk’s tunic and lifted the small man onto the driving seat of the cart.
“Why the castle?”
“The day’s wasting.” The Justicar began leading the way downthe road. He could feel his two companions staring at his back. “We have to getback to where I killed the hydra. If we’re not there by midnight, we’ll belate.”
Enid hurried along, drawing anxiously level with the Justicar. “Late? Whatever for?”
“To meet Escalla.” Jus felt a nasty inward glow ofsatisfaction at a secret well kept. “When she comes, she’ll be coming fast. Haveyou got her gear?”
Polk and Enid both sat in place. The cart stopped. The two travelers stared at Jus as he looked at them with an artfully raised brow.
Polk blinked like a stunned owl. “B-but she said she wasstaying with the faeries!”
“It was all a pack of lies! It’s what she does, Polk. Escallasays she owes it to future generations.” The big man pulled a coal from hispouch and popped it into Cinders’ mouth. He breathed deeply, filled with newenergy. Suddenly it seemed to be a brighter day.
“She’ll be escaping in a couple of hours. Come on! Looks likewe’ll be on the run from the whole Seelie Court.”
Cinders grinned like a mad piranha and energetically thumped his tail against Jus’ backside. Faerie coming back! Faerie coming back!
The Justicar marched down the road with a new energy in his step. Polk and Enid exchanged one brief glance of joy and then hastened after him.
“Son! Hey, son! But her father’s wishes! Ain’t you breaking alaw or something?”
“Law?” The Justicar walked onward, his face wreathed in asmile. “Polk, forced marriages are unjust.” The big man hitched his sword.“Don’t you remember? No one touches the faerie.”
Polk suddenly grinned, flicked out his reins, and drove happily off along the road.
“Hurry up, son! Quit yer dawdlin’, or we’ll be late!”
8
The morning dawned bright. It always did. Illusion spells sawto it, and if winter shadows seemed at odds with a summer sun, then a flick of the imagination whisked all one’s troubles away.
Escalla rose from her bed and felt the air flicker with spy spells as her mother’s agents kept a tight watch on their prey. The girl washedand dressed nicely in gray silk. The slowglass necklace had been thoughtfully placed to record her every movement in her sleep. Escalla looked levelly at the thing, then dropped it over her neck before turning to the business of the day.
She spent her first hour of the morning painting upon a papyrus-a painting rich with colors, if a little scant on skill. She propped itup to dry, paced agitatedly about the room, and then fluttered into the morning sun.
Mother awaited her on the lawns. They looked at one another-one lean and sculpted, the other lithe and sharp. Escalla’s mother finallyturned and signaled for her daughter to walk with her.
“You have been very curt with your betrothed. I expect you totreat him with more cordiality.”
“He wanted to sip something, but it wasn’t cordial.” Escallaproudly held up her hems as she stepped over the lawn. “Are you pimping me now,mother?”
The woman glared coldly at her daughter. “This clan has plansthat reach far beyond mere woods and fields and streams. Tielle realizes it, but the gods have cursed us with having to seal our deal through you.”