With only seconds to act, Jus picked up Polk, ran toward the gate, and bellowed over his shoulder, “Sergeant, thank you! We’ll be back!”
Jus leaped through the gate, Cinders swirling about his back. There was a flash, then Jus landed on dry soil that stank of sulphur. Cinders made an appreciative noise, sucking in the stink of smoke and flame. The night sky above was lined by the vicious teeth of a mountain range, teeth back-lit by hellish volcanic flames. A natural archway of rock formed the magic door behind them. Polk sat blearily looking at the volcanoes. Leaping about like a mad locust doing an interpretive dance, Escalla clutched at her groin and pranced about in pain.
“Damn it! Assa frassa fragin dammit!” The girl made amad little dance in the dark. “Holy Hanali, that stings!”
Jus rose, disoriented by his passage through the gate. “Whatstings?”
“Mind your own business! Ow! Ow! Oooow!”
Jus poised himself to investigate further, when suddenly there came a flash, and fresh light flooded through the gate.
Private Henry sat up in the dust, blinking in fright. The young soldier sat up, then yelped as Jus hauled him to his feet with one mighty heave of his hand.
Too late. The gate snapped shut, its eerie light cutting off to leave the archway dead and dim. Jus planted himself before the young soldier and roared, “What are you doing here?”
“Sir! Um, well, sir…” Terrified, the boy looked up at thevast, grim figure looming over him. He helpfully offered his lantern “I… Ibrought a light, sir!”
“That’s wonderful.” The Justicar turned to the faerie. “Allright, Escalla. Send him back.”
“No.”
Jus turned to look in astonishment at the faerie, who hovered unhappily nearby.
“Jus, I can’t.” She looked embarrassed, pained, andevasive all at once. “I haven’t got any key material left! The gate took itall!”
“The gate took it all?”
Jus blinked, recoiled, and for two heartbeats his countenance froze. Then his whole face lit into a smile. The big man suddenly folded forward and bit his fist. Huge shoulders shook, then a laugh escaped him to shake and shatter the night. He laughed for the first time in public memory, laughing all the harder once he saw Escalla’s face. The Justicar laughed so hard he cried.
Escalla stood flapping her mouth in indignation, then turned away, her ears flaming bright. “Oh right! Sure, sure. Now it’s funny!What happens when we need to go back?”
Cinders snickered like a mad thing, his tail whirling madly round and around. Funny!
Jus was having trouble breathing. One look at Escalla set him off laughing again. “A white wedding dress…!”
The girl swelled up in righteous anger. “All right! Yes, Iadmit it! I qualify. I qualify for a white wedding dress! Right! There! Are we all happy now?”
Jus almost choked. “No one touches the faerie!”
Escalla seethed, folded her arms across her breasts, and turned away. “Oh, go bite a purple worm’s butt!”
In the pitch dark world of the Dreadwood, tiny lights dippedand swirled though the treetops. The forest floor glowed the sickly colors of dreams as savage little shapes tore through the woods in search of prey.
Beside a burned and ruined village, among corpses and old apple trees, an elf hound ran sniffing wickedly at the ground. The creature leaped up to land upon an upper branch and found a scent clinging to the bark. He gave a long, flute-like howl.
Two faerie warriors flashed into visibility. They flew up to the branch and joined the elf hound, then pulled out a hunting horn and blew a low, moaning note that echoed above the trees.
Long minutes later, Lord Ushan arrived.
The faerie lord still wore his robes that swam with all the colors of flame, but now the fire ran blue and white instead of red. The lord knelt beside his hunters and fingered a single strand of perfect golden hair that had caught upon the apple bark.
He breathed a long, slow breath of triumph and turned his face toward the waiting apple trees.
The warriors watched and waited while Lord Ushan of Clan Sable let his thoughts drift with the wind.
The gate could lead almost anywhere and pursuit was no longer the top priority. A great many plans had worked well tonight.
It was enough.
Lord Ushan made a slashing motion with his hand. The warriors sheathed their swords then flashed back into invisibility, their wings whirring as they shot off into the gloom.
Twenty minutes after their arrival, the group stood at thelip of a chasm that plunged deep into the earth. Volcanoes lit the distant horizon, ebbing and pulsing like blood. The red light made the shadows seem darker and more filled with menace, and the whole landscape seem to shift and move in hunger. The air held a stink of sulphur, ash, and acidic rain. Cinders breathed it in like a breath of holiday air, while his companions’ noses snortedfrom the hellish stink.
The tracks of hundreds of feet led down treacherous paths toward the chasm floor. Skeletons and corpses glimmered in the ebbing volcanic light, showing where some captives had slipped and tumbled to their doom. In this grim scene, the only sounds were the distant hiss of steam from the volcanic range and a sudden snicker from the Justicar.
Stung and indignant, Escalla shot the man a dire glare.
“Will you stop it with the laughing already? Enough!” Thegirl tossed her golden hair. “I just happen to be saving myself for MisterRight.”
“While dressing like Miss Wrong!”
“No one likes you, Jus! We took a poll!” The faerie waved herhand toward the chasm. “Now if we are all quite ready, would you take areading with the locator spell?”
Jus and Polk were utterly incapable, their hands still weak and shaking from their suppressed laughter. Seething, Escalla relieved them of the locator needle and stood at the precipice, unraveling the needle’s string.As she made ready, Private Henry stood over her, looking skinny as a bean pole and about as dangerous as a mouse. Escalla saw the lantern quiver and shot the boy a glare that could have shattered stone.
“Kid, don’t you say a frazin word!”
“No, ma’am!” The young soldier blinked in the lantern light;his face seemed to be mostly composed of freckles, and he seemed to be in absolute, worshipful awe of her. “Not one word. Not one!”
For once, someone seemed to be treating her like the legendary sylvan overlord she really was. Escalla sniffed importantly, absurdly soothed, and smoothed her long gloves.
The girl let the locator needle dangle, taking a reading on the whereabouts of the slowglass necklace. The needle pointed straight down the canyon at a good, sharp angle. The needle actually quivered, wavering happily from side to side as though excited by the proximity of the prey. With a professional sniff of disdain, Escalla put the locator needle away and flew over the path.
“This way.” Escalla magnanimously gave Private Henry a magiclight. “Here, Private. I will lead, and you may light the way.”
Having been given a magic light by a real faerie was apparently the high point of the young soldiers life. He looked up at Escalla in amazement, held up the magic light, and proudly began walking down the path, crossbow in one hand and magic light in the other. Escalla made to go after him, when Jus suddenly lumbered over to the trail.
“Escalla, we can’t take him with us!”
“Well he can’t stay here. He’ll get eaten.” The faerie gavean expressive shrug. “He’s safest with us.”
With a sigh, Jus acknowledged the point. Finally composed, he unsheathed his sword, the blade long, black, and comfortingly lethal, and walked to the path.