***
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the Supreme said, even rubbing her eyes when she saw me. She apparently couldn’t believe who had shown up. “You had the nerve to come here after what you did?”
“Hey, there!” I walked over to the throne where the mother of all the vilas sat and looked at her insolently. “You have my people—give them back.”
“Hold on a second, mortal,” Hilda said. Then, she literally swept me off my feet, her grip so strong that she just gave me a little tug on the shoulder and sent me flying. “What are you doing here, Regina Rem Trigge? Are you out of your mind? Our mistress will grind you into the ground for what you’re doing!”
“I don’t stick my nose into your business, Hilda, so you can stay away from mine,” the vila said as she hopped down off the throne and came over to stand in front of the dryad. “You have your war—go wave your iron around there. What does a Northerner like you have to do with my swamps?”
“This has nothing to do with whose lands these are,” the Northerner replied, her hand on her sword. “It has everything to do with you looking to kill some mortals as part of a rite. You’re starting human sacrifices. Why? For who?”
“What are you going on about?” the vila asked with a smile. “Who told you that?”
The dryad pointed at me. “Him.”
“Who are you going to believe, Hilda?” Regina said with a compassionate look. “This adventurer, hireling, and traitor? He only ever looks out for himself, and he used you to get here. You think he would have been able to find my island by himself?”
She had me there. I’d used Hilda, and I wouldn’t have gotten to the island without her. It was all true except for one thing: the Supreme was obviously gearing up for some human sacrifice. Just look at the way her bodyguards are eyeing us. They were just waiting for her signal to attack.
“Regina, you and I are sisters, Mesmerta is our mother, and I don’t want your death,” Hilda said, taking her hand away from the pommel of her sword. “But, I do want to be sure you didn’t succumb to Evil.”
“I’m not sure how I can convince you of that,” the vila said, holding out her arms. “Why don’t you walk around my island, talk with my girls—”
“And with my people,” I added quickly. “Who knows what they’ll say?”
Hilda softened slightly. “All right. I’ll do what you say, but you’ll be sorry if you’re lying.”
The warrior woman walked away and headed toward the noisy vilas.
“And now, let’s talk about how you’re going to die,” Regina said, rubbing her hands and smiling happily. “First—”
“Oh, please,” I replied with a dismissive wave. “Go catch a frog and tell it all about your plans—you aren’t going to scare me. I’ve seen so much recently, that you’re basically like a scarecrow in the garden. You look disconcerting at night, but you’re just kind of funny when it’s light out.”
“Mortal, you’ve lost it entirely,” the Supreme replied, taken aback. “Do you realize who I am?”
“Of course.” I didn’t pay any attention to Shursh, who had crouched down behind me and was tugging on my cuirass in an effort to get me to stop. “You’re the confused ruler of a small people trying to choose between the lesser of two evils. The problem is that you stopped seeing the difference between what’s good for your people and what’s good for you personally. You don’t care about power for their sake; you want it for its own sake, and you’d like as much of it as you can gather.”
Regina squinted unpleasantly at me. “Oh, yes? What else would you like to say?”
“Oh, that’s all,” I replied, scratching my ear. “Mesmerta let you know who you are to her, and you went off and found a new patron—someone who promised to give you what your Goddess wouldn’t offer. I’m not sure which of them you pledged allegiance to, but that did happen. Now, you’re trying to prove how devoted you are. You only made one little mistake: the two people you caught belong to me. And I’m not going to let you burn them.”
“I could wave my hand right now, and they’d carve out a third pillar for you,” Regina said very calmly. “We’d be fine adding a rogue who thinks and talks too much.”
“You’re not going to carve anything,” I replied with a chuckle that was somewhat for show. “Mesmerta would turn you inside out as soon as she found out, or maybe the other three dryads would come running. And that’s just one side of the coin. As far as the other side goes…”
I held out my hand.
“Here, hold my palm in yours. You haven’t gone over to Evil, but I imagine you can see marks.”
Regina held my hand for a minute. Finally, she looked up at me, her eyes wide with shock.
“Mortal, who are you? How?”
“Just like that.” I felt an immediate sense of relief since everything I’d been telling her had been a bluff. It was the truth, but it was still a bluff. “You need to get out of your swamps and see the world more often. Bring my people here.”
Finally, a use for all my marks. It’s a small one, but a use, nonetheless.
The vila tightened her lips stubbornly. “What am I going to do for victims? I won’t get another chance, and I’m not going back to Mesmerta. Yes, she created me, and yes, she’s a goddess, but what good has that done me? You’re right, human; I want power. I want to be feared; and he’s the only one who can give me that.”
“The Dark Lord?”
“Yes. I spoke with him in his palace, and he told me what I need to do,” the vila replied proudly.
“Where is his palace?” I thought I had something there, but Regina’s face told me that I wasn’t going to find anything out.
“Fine, that’s your business,” I shrugged. “Did you see his mark?”
“I did,” the Supreme nodded. “And now, I’m not sure what to do. I can’t burn you, and your people… I don’t know… What do you think I should do?”
“What do you mean?” I smiled. “Find a replacement; burn one sacrifice instead of my two.”
Chapter Twelve
In which the important thing is to pick the right moment to run away.
“Oh, come on,” Regina said as she followed the look I was sending Hilda’s way. The latter was fruitlessly trying to get the attention of the vilas, who were ignoring her, chattering away about something as she did. “No, I’d be better off burning you.”
“Not at all. Believe me, Hilda would be a much better sacrifice than my people, or even me. First, you’d be killing a servant of a light Goddess, which would earn you points in the dark gods’ eyes. Second, you’d prove to everyone that there’s nobody higher than you. Mesmerta might not come after you for killing Hilda, too, though she definitely wouldn’t be happy if you burned me. Hilda’s job is done; mine isn’t.”
That last argument was really pushing it… If Regina killed me, there wouldn’t have been anyone to bring the Goddess back, and, therefore, no one to take vengeance on Regina. The dryads weren’t a big help, though they weren’t a big threat, either. All they might do was summon a phantom for a few hours at night. Anyway, that didn’t matter.
“Ah, I don’t know…”
The hook was set, judging by the look the vila was giving the dryad. It was like a sniper gazing through the scope—checking the distance, reading the target.
I glanced over at Hilda, too. She was strong, wide-hipped, clattering in her armor. No, I didn’t feel bad. The situation, of course, was paradoxical—I’d spent so much time and energy trying to get her back to looking the way she was right then, and there I was, about to send her straight to the fire… Yep, that’s pretty much it. I knew she never had been and never would be a friend of mine, given how dutifully she served Mesmerta, and, as far as the Goddess was concerned… Clever old Ort had been right; as soon as she got back to the world, the first thing she’d do would be to get back at me. There was no way around that. Gods are always petty, dirty, and vindictive, and she would have no use for a witness to how she’d come bac
k to the world. More specifically, she’d have no use for the person who brought her back. That wasn’t even taking into account the fact that she’d sense the marks Tekhosh and Tiamat had left on me. And those dryads? I remembered their eyes. If the Goddess told them they needed to drain my blood drop by drop for her, they would pin me up against the nearest tree and gut me like a pig. Who cares that I’m the one who made them queens? For all I knew, an order like that could have been in the offing.
And therefore, the fewer weapons Mesmerta had at her disposal, the better. Hilda was the best fighter of the four, with the others not quite sharing her big build. Although, they could probably do a number on me, too, if they wanted to. Egina, I remembered, had burned someone with fire. I should look into, um, neutralizing them, too. The fewer, the better; I made a mental note to give that some more thought later.
“We’d have to tie her up,” the vila said thoughtfully. “That would take some doing.”
“She isn’t expecting anything, at least,” I replied. “Toss a net on her from above, give her a smack on the head with something heavy, and chain her to one of your pillars. Do you have chains?”
The vila settled onto her throne. “We can find them. What about her sisters?”
“You can lure them here or to another swamp one by one. You’d just get a thank-you for killing one; you’d get a reward for all four. Probably, a nice reward, too!”
“You think so?” Regina asked as she rubbed her chin.
“I’m positive.” I lent the word as much confidence as I could muster. “Those four are Mesmerta’s advance guard, her launching pad. She doesn’t have anyone else—nobody remembers or knows her. If you play your cards right, you could have her cleaning your boots. See what I’m getting at?”
“Get rid of these four, and I…” Regina whirled her fingers around each other as she thought to herself and looked at me with newfound respect. “You’re quite the guy, mortal. Give you an inch, and you’ll take a mile.”
“You bet I will, Supreme,” I replied with an evil smirk. “Although, that only goes for those who aren’t on my side.”
Regina narrowed her eyes. “And we’re on the same side, now?”
“That’s up to you.” I looked around pointedly. “I don’t see my people.”
Regina snapped her fingers, and one of her guards jumped up and flew off somewhere.
“Can I count on you?” she asked, interlacing her fingers.
“That depends on what you’re looking for. Life is a tricky thing.”
“If you find your way to the throne of the Dark Lord, will you put in a good word for me?” Oh, how the woman in front of me itched to jump over to the Dark side. Was she always like this? Sometimes, you don’t see the simplest things. Someone looks nice, kind, and all, talks about human rights, waxes lyrical about how we’re all one big brotherhood, but one tough, life-and-death decision, and that’s all history. Of course, they’re the ones who have to live. Everyone else? Well…
“You don’t feel bad bringing your girls into this?” I asked, nodding in the direction of the noisy vilas. “They’re not like you; they’re just a bunch of kids hoping for a second chance at happiness. A house, kids, a family… There’ll be a big fight, eventually. War, blood, spilled guts, all of that. They’ll probably all die. Dwarves love getting their hands on nice, womanly bodies, what with their big beards and…well, you know what I mean.”
“You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet,” Regina replied indifferently. “I can always find more idiots like these.”
I didn’t even know which of the two devils had the biggest horns. Was it the vila, rocking the gold shoe on her foot? Or was it the one in the iron, decked out in the latest Fayroll fashion? If I’d had my way, I would have killed them all.
***
“König!” Flosi shrieked. “See, woman? And you were afraid. I told you the könig wouldn’t forget about us, and there he is!”
My faithful squire picked up his pace, what was presumably the last of the three sacks under one arm. With his other, he held Abigail upright. She was exhausted and, judging by the pale, greenish tint of her face, terrified. The odd part was that Flosi’s axe was dangling at his waist—either they’d given it back to him in a hurry, or he hadn’t needed to use it.
Regina’s eyebrows shot up. “König? Wow, you’re making waves. And yet, you still look like the same old tramp.”
“This is just a disguise. I wouldn’t want people to get jealous.”
“Good idea,” she replied as she stood up. “Anyway, there are your people. Let’s talk about what we’re going to do, now.”
“We already figured everything out, no? You get a recommendation from me when I have the chance.” I patted Flosi on the shoulder and gave Abby a hug, surprised when she just about collapsed onto my chest. “What else do you need?”
“Aren’t you going to help us take out that walking arsenal?” Regina asked, glancing over at Hilda. The dryad was furiously waving and yelling at the vilas flying around above her.
“No, you can do that without me,” I replied firmly. “I gave you the idea; the rest is up to you.”
Regina looked at me sharply. “That’s no good. We’re in the same boat, now.”
“Why would you say that? You’re taking your road, and I’m taking mine. You’re the only one looking for power and might.”
“So, you still haven’t figured out what’s going on. Okay.” The vila narrowed her eyes and barked an order to her guards. “Don’t let them go anywhere!”
We were encircled by a half-dozen armed vilas, none of which were looking at us that sympathetically. Regina flew up into the air and disappeared.
“How are you doing, Abby?” I asked the shaking girl.
“Terrible,” she whispered. “They said they were going to burn us.”
“Them?” I gestured toward the vilas with my chin. “Yeah, they like to do that.”
She twitched, a shiver running down her body.
“Shursh,” I said quietly to the beaver, “are you sure you want what you asked me about? I mean, about letting you die?”
“Ofsh course,” the former poet replied. His round eyes were fixed on me.
“In that case, you have a choice to make,” I said even quieter. I didn’t want the vilas to hear me. “Either you leave with us, and not with that one in the armor, in which case, you’ll have a shot at freedom or death, or… Well, or they burn us all in a couple hours. It’ll be nothing but a bunch of fun flames licking around the bonfire, while these all tell each other how great it is that they all got the chance to sit down together on a winter night like this.”
“The servantsh of Mesmerta will be furioush,” Shursh replied.
“I don’t know if that one, in particular, will have the chance to get mad. In fact, they’ll probably kill her today if you do what I need you to do.”
“They’ll kill her?”
“I imagine it will even be a painful death.”
“Wonderfulsh!” the beaver said with a clap of his paws. “Can I watchsh?”
“Nope. If we stick around, we might be included in the event—but we’d be getting killed, and not doing the killing. What do you think? You’re immortal and all, but still…”
“Whatsh do you wantsh me to do?”
“Can you get us all somewhere else?” I whispered in his ear.
“To another swampsh, sure. I can only go in swampsh…”
“That doesn’t matter—just get us as far away from here as possible,” I whispered. “By the time that monster figures out what’s going on, we’ll be long gone.”
If it worked, I was going to have to stay away from swamps—the ones were vilas lived, definitely, and maybe all of them…
“What are you doing?” Hilda yelled.
I looked over and saw the dryad waving around, getting more and more enmeshed in the net a few vilas dressed in quilted leather breastplates and armed with sabers had thrown over her. Regina started putting toget
her an elite guard?
“Regina, what is this?” Hilda screeched, wiggling around and only getting herself more tangled up. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
“Of course, I do,” Regina replied from above her, a majestic look gracing her face. “We’re going to have some fun.”
“It’s going to be bad here,” I said, holding my sister close as she watched in horror.
“Shursh, it’s time.”
Regina held out a hand to me. “Hey, Hagen, you were right—it wasn’t that hard.”
“Traitor!” Hilda screamed. “I’m going to…”
She had somehow gotten her dagger out and had started cutting through the net. The vilas and their sabers flew down.
“Shursh, go!” I wasn’t sure how things were going to end, and we had to get going. I didn’t want to have to pick a side if it came to that.
***
Suddenly, we were standing on the edge of a different swamp.
“Hi, there,” came a voice, and my heart leaped. “Who are you?”
Above us hovered my old fiancée, Elmilora Krakh Traug. She was batting her blue eyes and waving amiably.
“Travelers,” I replied quickly, giving Flosi a smack and shoving him in the direction of the woodlands. He’d been staring at the beautiful girl. “We were just leaving.”
“I can’tsh go thatsh way,” Shursh said with a shrug. “Swampsh are my home.”
“Find some snag to hide under,” I replied, warily watching Elmilora flutter above me. “They could be looking for you, so don’t come out.”
“If one ofsh the dryads calls me, I have to go,” the beaver said sadly. “That’s my fatesh.”
“Don’t worry, they won’t. And if they do find you, you can just say that you got confused when the fighting started. The soul of a poet and all…”
“Well saidsh,” Shursh said, rubbing his paws under his eyes.
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