“Oh, hoopy!” Escalla instantly cheered up. “So you can get meoff?”
“Nope. Unless we get the slowglass necklace back, you’retoast.” Jus ushered everyone outside. “Come on!”
Lord Charn awaited his daughter and her friends, keeping a worried look upon the nighttime sky. The distant sound of elf hounds could be heard off to the south. It signified nothing. Hunters could be lying invisible almost anywhere. Escalla’s father took his daughter’s hands and drew her up intohis arms.
Jus began to mount the way back up to the magic gate above the castle courtyard. He called down, “We have to get the murderer before thehunt gets Escalla. She’s safest on the move with us. Polk, get climbing!”
The archway above the castle yard was a small window-toosmall for a sphinx. Enid eyed it unhappily and tested her wings. “Can I fly andmeet you where the gate empties out?”
“Best not.” Jus cursed and then jumped down to rest a hand onthe sphinx’s soft brown hair. “Look. Set up shop back at that old desertedtavern. Take Polk’s mule with you. Read your books, eat stirges, and make it look like you, Polk, and I have set up camp. We’ll be a while. Just wait. We’ll comeback quick as we can.” Jus shoved Polk onward and pressed a sprig of fennel intohis hands. “Polk, go through the arch and just stay put!”
“Son, maybe I should stay with Enid and-”
“Enid will keep her mouth shut if any faerie huntcomes by. You get to come with us!” Jus propelled the man skyward. “Nowhurry up!”
Escalla fluttered over to the unhappy Enid, kissed her on the nose, and then shot up toward the gate. As the arch flashed with light, the fugitives slipped through in haste, ending up in the forest near the palace in the faerie realm.
Lord Faen awaited them. He quickly ushered the way to a stone gazebo just out of sight of the family wing of the palace. An archway showed the recent scuff of boots. Jus ushered his party together then turned to lift a hand in farewell to Lords Faen and Charn. Lord Nightshade held out a piece of silver wire and thrust it beneath the gazebo’s arch.
Magic flickered. Jus stepped through, dragging the wailing Polk underneath his arm. Left with her father and Lord Faen, Escalla fluttered unhappily. She flew to the gate, stopped, rushed back to give her father a kiss, and then shot through the arch an instant before the gateway flickered shut.
Standing alone with Lord Faen, Escalla’s father suddenly felthis world turn a little dim.
10
In the dark of night, the stink of corpses hung foul andsickly sweet. There was a reek of smoke, and a stir of rats and night creatures fleeing from gnawed carrion. Standing beneath an ancient stone archway, Escalla, Jus, and Polk looked about, listening to awful, furtive little noises in the dark.
“Sour Patch.”
The shanties were burned, and the bodies of slain refugees were hanging rat-gnawn in the gloom. At least the stink would have driven away any faerie courtiers. Surveying the wreckage, Jus rested his hand on his sword and pointed the way over to the apple orchard.
“This way.”
Escalla looked around, appalled by the half-seen corpses in the gloom.
“What the hell happened here?”
“Massacre before dawn this morning. It was a slave raid. Theykilled the old and weak, then took everyone else through a gate over there in the apple trees.”
Escalla had found the body of one of the familiar half-orc guards. She flew slowly backward, trying not to stare at the corpse.
“Wh-who did it?”
“Troglodytes.”
“Yeah.” Escalla looked bitterly at the stinking dead.“Troglodytes led by a faerie.”
The Justicar looked over at her with his steadying dark eyes. “You all right?”
“I’m all right.” Escalla blurred her wings and headed for theapple trees. “I’m getting sick of this. Let’s get ’em.”
A dead troglodyte lay near the gate tree. As Jus fished the carefully folded black threads from his pouch, Escalla wincingly drew close to the bisected troglodyte. A javelin lay glittering in the grass nearby, the head severed from the shaft in the tell-tale sign of Jus’ celebrated parrytechnique.
“Ick! It stinks like an orc’s outhouse!”
“Oil.” The Justicar wrinkled his nose at the stink. “Theyexcrete an offensive oil when roused.”
“It worked. I’m offended.” Escalla looked at the hideoussplay of troglodyte organs lying on the ground. “Do you have a key to thisgate?”
Jus held up a glimmering black thread and said, “I’m prettysure I do.”
“Then try this locator spell thing of yours. Let’s see wherethe slowglass necklace is hiding.”
Lord Charn had cast the spell on the necklace. The broken link of Escalla’s necklace had been glued to a small sliver of enchanted wood,and the wood had been hung from a length of thread where it could quiver and swivel like a compass. Holding her battle wand casually beneath her arm, Escalla hovered in midair and watched intently as Jus dangled the little charm and let it slowly twist and settle.
The needle pointed south and hung quite still. The Justicar looked at it intently, then bundled the charm back up again.
“You father said it would start to quiver as we got closer.”
“Well it’s pretty damned still.” Escalla ran her fingersthrough her long blonde hair, letting it spill like a waterfall down her back. “Damn! That was one greedy piece of work, snitching the necklace!”
“We’re lucky they seem to value it.” Jus settled the faerieinto her accustomed place, setting her on his shoulder. “How long until thelight passes through the slowglass jewel?”
“Fourteen days. We’ll have plenty of time!” Escalla shrugged.“We’re only an hour or two behind them. How far can they get?”
Walking around and around the dead troglodyte, Polk heaved a sigh then unshipped a heavy ledger from his pack. He licked his pen-forgettingit was a pen and not a pencil-and took notes with blue ink now staining histongue.
One trawglodite, the little man scrawled awkwardly, usingspelling he invented on the fly. “Was it a mighty battle? Fierce?”
“It chucked a spear at me, and I cut it in half.”
“I see. I’ll put it down as a mighty blow, then.” Polksniffed, partly from troglodyte stink and partly in annoyance. “Son, do you haveany idea how hard it is to keep accurate records around you?”
“Look into my eyes and see how much I care, Polk.” Jus jerkedhis thumb toward the gate. “Now come on! Let’s get out of here before the faeriehunt finds us!”
“Wait! Hold on.” Escalla hovered with her spellbooks open.She dusted herself in diamond powder from her kit packs and sent spell syllables twisting through the air. Her skin took on a brief gleam of magic, which faded cleverly from view. “There we go!”
Jus glowered. “What was that?”
“Stoneskin! It’s brand new. You’ll love it!” The girl posed,admiring her perfect, pure white little arm. “Protects you from cuts, punctures,bites, and swords!”
“Can I have one?”
“Tomorrow, man! What? You think I’m made of high levelspells?” Escalla ushered the way to the apple tree gate. “You’ve got armor,muscles, and stuff. Now come on. Let’s get weaving!”
Jus held out one of his pieces of black silk thread. As it passed beneath the arched apple boughs, a gateway shimmered into life. Polk immediately walked past Jus into the gate, his quill pen behind one ear and a half eaten apple in his mouth. Jus made an annoyed noise and stepped after the man, Escalla flying along at his side.
They stepped out into a wilderness of charred, dead bones.
It had been a town once, a healthy place with earthen walls topped by a palisade. Wooden houses and temples now lay burned and broken, making shocking silhouettes against the night stars.