“Then why do you care if I finish him off?”
“I just do,” Raine snapped. “You are not going to eat the poor man in front of me.”
“Please,” the Shad moaned.
Raine went to him. Averting her gaze from the gaping hole in the man’s belly, she knelt on the ground beside him.
“What is it?” she asked softly. “How can I help you?”
The man’s eyes fluttered open. “Pocket,” he said with a gurgle. “Hurry.”
Raine searched the man’s blood-soaked tunic, expecting to find a memento of a loved one or a religious icon. Instead, her fingers closed on a slender roll of paper.
She slid the cigarette from the man’s pocket. “Is this what you want?”
The man nodded, his eager gaze on the cigarette. Raine went to the fire and lit the roll, taking care not to breath the smoke. Kneeling beside the man, she put the cigarette between his lips. He inhaled greedily, sucking the sweet smoke into his lungs.
“Ahhhh,” he said with a sound of pleasure-pain and died.
Bowing her head, Raine murmured a prayer for him and the rest of the dead. When she rose, the rock troll was gone.
“Squanerfugan,” she shouted, running into the snowy dark. “Come back. You can’t leave me.”
The rock troll materialized in front of her, his red eyes aglow. “Keep your skin on, huu-man. I padded away for some fresh air. Your tender little scene back there was making me queasy.”
“I don’t know why,” Raine said. “You killed him.”
The rock troll laughed, a horrible, racking sound. “You’re a funny little morsel. I’m beginning to like you.”
“I could say the same of you, but it would be a lie.”
The rock troll gave another rattling chuckle and stalked up the rocky path, twitching his tail. Clutching her broken wrist, Raine tripped and stumbled after him. The trail was icy, and she fell, slicing her knee on a sharp rock.
Raine staggered to her feet, tears of fresh pain stinging her eyes. The rock troll watched her with hot eyes.
He crept closer, his nose quivering. “Fresh blood. You smell sweet, Tidbit.”
“Don’t even think about it. Monster oath, remember?”
“I remember.” Giving her a toothy smile, the rock troll flipped his leathery tail into the palm of her left hand. “Hold on and mind the barb. It’s poisonous.”
The rock troll padded up the trail, pulling Raine behind. Raine tucked her injured arm next to her body and held on. Though her dress and stockings were wool, the wind was bitter, and her wrist ached from the cold.
“Where are we going?” she asked, panting.
“You tell me. You’re the binder.”
“Do you know Mam Rimefield?”
“The giantess?” The rock troll rolled the word off his tongue. “Yeah, I know her. Did she give you the binding word?”
“If you must know, I overheard it.”
“Sticking your nose where it don’t belong, eh? Nobody likes a snoop.”
Raine thought of Tekla’s mirror and was ashamed. “Will you take me to Mam, or not?”
“Sure, sure, whatever you want,” the rock troll purred. “Follow me. I’ll soon have you where you belong.”
They walked for hours, twisting and turning along tortuous paths that led up one slick mountain trail and down another until Raine was lost and confused. She was tired and footsore and half delirious with pain by the time the first pink and purple edges of sunrise appeared over the mountains. At last, the rock troll halted. Raine dropped his tail and bent to catch her breath. After a moment, she straightened and looked around. The mountains of Udom were breathtaking, vistas of black snow-covered rock and icy streams. The harsh land was beautiful, wild, and desolate.
“Lonely, ain’t it?” the rock troll said.
Raine whirled about with a gasp. The rock troll lounged on the trail, swishing his tail lazily back and forth. She shuddered. He was even uglier in daylight, big as a rhinoceros, with scales like an alligator and a deformed feline face. His wide mouth parted, showing rows of sharp teeth. There was a hungry gleam in his glowing red eyes.
The small, leathery ears on the top of his bony skull twitched. “What’s the matter, Tidbit?”
Raine backed away. “W-why are you looking at me like that?”
The rock troll rose and stalked after her. “I’m hungry.”
“Y-you said you’d take me to Mam. The binding word, remember?”
“The binding lasts from sunset to sunrise, or the other way around.” The rock troll padded closer on silent paws. “Sun’s up. That means all bargains are off.”
He leapt at her with a roar. Raine shrieked and rolled aside, narrowly avoiding his claws. The pain in her arm from the jarring impact made her sick to her stomach. She ignored it and scrambled to her feet.
The rock troll landed on the trail some twenty feet past her. “Stupid huu-man,” he said, wheeling about with a growl. “Did you really think I would let you live?” He prowled toward her, toying with her, lifting his paws with deliberate menace. “Don’t worry, Sweetmeat. I’ll make it quick, ʼcause I like you.”
The rock troll sprang at her again, but, this time, Raine was ready for him.
“Stop,” she said, taking her wizard stone in her left hand.
A burst of blue light struck the rock troll, freezing the monster in midair.
“Of all the treacherous, deceitful, black-hearted creatures—” Shaken and furious, Raine circled the suspended monster. “Here’s something you don’t know. I’m a wizard, see?” Muttering a command, she made her wizard stone visible and waved it under the rock troll’s malformed nose. “An angry, cold, dirty, irritated wizard.”
“Now, Tidbit,” the rock troll said, rolling a red eye at her. “Don’t be like that. I didn’t know you was a wizard. I was just funning wiv you.”
“I don’t believe a word you say. You’re a horrible, evil, lying monster.”
“I’m a stinker, and I know it.” The rock troll gave her a hideous grin. “Would it help if I said I’m sorry?”
“No, it would not. I’m going to teach you a lesson.”
Raine waved her hand. The startled rock troll pivoted and slammed, paws first, against the cliff.
She held her uninjured hand, palm out. “Stick,” she commanded, gluing the monster to the rock.
The rock troll yowled and struggled to free himself. “Hey, I’m stuck. Lemme go.”
“No.” Raine dropped her wizard stone. “But don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging there more than a century or two. Because I like you.”
She turned and stomped away.
“Tidbit, come back,” the rock troll wailed. “Sweetmeat, have a heart. You can’t leave me here.”
“Oh, yeah?” Raine shouted over her shoulder. “Watch me.”
The rock troll was still howling when she rounded a bend.
Raine marched along the narrow, winding path for some time before her anger cooled and her predicament dawned on her. She was in the mountains without a cloak or gloves, and it had begun to snow, hard. Her arm hurt like the dickens, and she’d worn her old boots to the games. They were better than evening slippers, but not by much. The soles were thin and worn, and the rocks on the trail bruised her feet.
The adrenaline rush from her near-death encounter with the treacherous rock troll faded, and she sat down on a rock to review her circumstances. Things did not look good. She was lost in a land of man-eating monsters without food, water, or shelter, and she had little hope of finding her way out. Hungry creatures eyed her from the rocks and gorse. She felt them watching her. Measuring. Calculating.
Salivating.
The faint blue glow of her wizard stone kept the predators at bay—for now. But when night came, and she was alone, the monsters would grow bolder, and she wouldn�
��t have help. No one knew where she was; it could be days before anyone found her, if then. She could shapeshift into a bird or a mouse, but she wouldn’t be able to fly or walk, because of her broken wrist. To add to her worries, Flame was maintaining radio silence.
Flame? she said, giving the thought a mental push.
There was no response.
Opening her mind, Raine reached for the dragon’s consciousness, and smacked into a gray wall of nothingness. Wherever Flame had gone, he could not be reached.
A tear trickled down her cheek. Angrily, she wiped it away. If she were a better wizard, she could translocate, but Udom was vast and the Citadel was leagues and leagues away, and her internal GPS sucked. What’s more, the rock troll’s meanderings had her completely turned around. What if she miscalculated and translocated into the side of a mountain or wound up in a lake?
This was terrible. She didn’t know what to do. Her chin wobbled, and she burst into tears.
“Why do you cry?” a brittle voice demanded.
Raine lifted her head. An odd little creature no more than six inches tall regarded her from a nearby bush. Brown as a root, with a wrinkled, hairless body and webbed feet and hands, the creature had a face like a dried apple and long, leathery ears. A skinny tail curled between its legs, and a pair of delicate, glistening wings sprouted from its tiny shoulders.
Raine wiped her face on the sleeve of her gown and sat up. “I’m lost and frightened.”
“Bleck.” The creature’s hard raisin eyes were without sympathy. “Stupid human. You should not be here.”
“I didn’t have a choice. I was kidnapped by some bad men and attacked by a rock troll.”
“You stuck Blederak to the rocks?” The tiny creature tittered. “That is funny.”
“Who is Blederak?”
The creature made an impatient gesture. “The rock troll.”
“Oh. We weren’t . . . er . . . formally introduced.” Raine straightened. “Yeah, I hung him out to dry. We had a difference of opinion. He saw me as breakfast—I didn’t.”
“Rock trolls are cruel and nasty, and Blederak is the worst,” the creature said with a nod. “Did you kill the soldiers, too?”
“Of course not. That was Blederak. I don’t know what to do. Will you help me?”
“Bleck.” The creature tilted its head and considered her. “Why should I? You are nothing to me.”
“Because, I—”
“The human tied a knot in Blederak’s tail,” the creature muttered to itself, cutting her off, “and that is something, but no good comes from helping a human. This every remnant knows from the nest.” The lacy wings on the thing’s back slowly opened and closed. “I will leave it for the chimera. Yes, that is what I should do.”
“Leave me for the chimera to eat?”
The creature’s wrinkled little face creased in a smile, displaying small, pointed teeth. “Yes. The chimera will eat anything.”
“Good to know,” Raine said, pressing her lips together. “Squanerfugan.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I said squanerfugan.”
“Bleck. The human knows the binding word?”
“Yeah, so you won’t be leaving me for the chimera, or the trolls, or the leprechaun next door.”
“What is a leprechaun?”
“Never mind. You have to help me until—” Raine glanced at the sun. “Until the sun goes down. Those are the rules.”
The creature buzzed like an angry bee. “Very well, I will take you to the Smith of the Mountains. Let Him decide what to do with you.” The thing’s black eyes glittered. “May He punish you. May He smash you to jelly with His great hammer.”
“Nice,” Raine said. “Are all stone fairies as sweet as you, or did I hit the jackpot?”
The stone fairy’s wings fluttered in annoyance. “The human knows what I am?”
“I made an educated guess. I met a unicorn recently who was stung by a stone fairy.” Raine lifted her wizard stone. “See this, you ill-tempered little hornet? Double cross me, and I’ll stick your wings together.”
“If the human is a wizard, why does it need me?”
“I told you. I’m lost and one of my…er…wings is broken. But that’s beside the point. I know the binding word.”
“Pbbbt,” the stone fairy said in disgust.
“Nice. This smith you mentioned, is he, by chance, Kron?”
“Bleck, we do not speak His name. He is simply the Smith.”
Raine sighed. “All right. Take me to the Smith, and no leading me around in circles. My feet are killing me.”
The creature sniffed. “I am glad.”
Humming with malice, the stone fairy flew down the mountain.
“Wait up. Not so fast,” Raine said. “Some of us can’t fly.”
Holding her broken wrist, Raine slipped and slid down the rocky hillside after the creature, banging her knees and elbows in the process.
The stone fairy was waiting for her when she reached the bottom. “The human is too slow.”
Raine groaned and got to her feet. She was bruised and scraped in half a dozen places. “Try coming down a mountain without wings.”
The stone fairy gave a contemptuous chirp at this excuse. Suddenly, the creature’s puckered little eyes widened, and the stone fairy let out a shrill, metallic shriek.
Raine yelped in pain and surprise. “Hey, what’s the big idea? Are you trying to burst my eardrums?”
A loud crash behind Raine made her jump.
“Ogre,” the stone fairy said, pointing a twiggy brown finger.
Raine turned. An ogre was lying unconscious on the ground less than twenty feet away, the great mound of its belly rising and falling. In one thick hand, the ogre held a club.
“He was going to squash you like so.” The stone fairy pressed its tiny hands together. “I stopped him.”
“Thank you,” Raine managed, shaking.
“Bleck,” said the stone fairy, and buzzed off.
Raine followed the flitting creature. Though she was nervous and kept her wizard stone at the ready, they encountered no more monsters. They traveled for several hours, leaving the barren, black landscape of northern Udom behind for a gentler countryside of rushing streams and tree-covered peaks. They had to stop periodically along the way for Raine to rest, which annoyed the stone fairy no end, but, at last, they came to a quiet glen between two mountain spurs. There was an air of expectancy about the valley, a sense of awareness that made the back of Raine’s neck prickle. She gave the stone fairy a suspicious glance. Had the testy sprite led her into a trap? She touched her wizard stone and gently probed the area with her mind. She detected a presence in the valley. It wasn’t evil, nor was it entirely benign.
A hammer clanged in the distance.
The stone fairy settled on a low hanging branch of a tree at the entrance to the valley and flicked its mobile ears. “See that wisp of smoke on the mountain? That is where you will find Him.”
Raine eyed the tree-covered slope with dismay. It looked steep, and she was tired and queasy from pain.
“More climbing?” She sighed. “All right. Lead on.”
“The human must go alone. I can go no farther. The Smith likes beautiful things, and I am ugly.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. Come with me. Talk to Kron.”
“Stupid human, you do not understand. The binding is done. You release me?”
Raine sighed. “Yes. Thank you for your help, especially with the ogre.”
“Bleck,” the stone fairy said, and flew away.
Raine felt curiously bereft without the unpleasant little creature. She limped to the end of the valley, keeping one eye on the curling thread of smoke at the top of the peak. Energy pulsed from the mountain, strong and insistent, pulling Raine closer. The Smith knew she w
as here and was drawing her to him. She sent a prayer heavenward that the powerful entity she had trespassed upon was Kron, and not some other deity. She’d met Kron, at least, and he and Mimsie were an item. Mims would put in a word for her.
And Flame; the thought spurred Raine on. With any luck, Flame would be with Kron.
She stumbled around the mountain base until she found a footpath leading to the top of the ridge and scrambled up the slope on wobbly legs. She was trembling with exhaustion and her injured arm kept her off balance. Despite her weariness, the urge to keep going was overwhelming, and she did not slow. Lungs burning, she made it to the summit and looked around. A puff of smoke drifted from the fir trees on the side of the path. She staggered toward it and found the door of a cave. In her fatigue and delirium, it seemed a dark, lidless eye in the face of the mountain. Deep inside the crag, there was the wheeze of bellows and the steady clang of a hammer on metal. The hammer paused.
“Well?” a sonorous voice boomed. “Do not stand in the door. Come inside. I cannot leave the metal, lest it grow cold.”
Raine wanted to weep with relief. The deep bass voice from the heart of the tor belonged to Kron. She was safe. The nightmare was over.
She tottered into the gloomy cave and the rough stone walls blazed to life, thousands of miniature lights twinkling in the darkness.
Krrron, Krrron, Krrron. The fairies raised their voices in adoration, their gauzy wings fluttering in delight.
“Yes, yes, I love you, too.” Kron’s deep voice vibrated from deep inside the mountain. “Settle down. I am trying to work.”
Ahhh, the fairies murmured collectively, and continued their paean in softer voices.
Raine hobbled down the long, winding tunnel, guided by the fairy lights and the clangorous noise of the hammer. The shaft ended, and she stepped into a large chamber with a high ceiling, blinking in the glare and heat of an enormous furnace. The god Kron stood at the forge. He was a gigantic figure, his arms and shoulders bulging with muscle. His craggy, rough-hewn face dripped with sweat, and his black hair, damp with perspiration, was tied carelessly back with a strip of leather. A loose tunic fell to his knees, leaving his brawny calves and ankles bare. Over the simple garment, he wore a leather apron, pitted and scarred from the fire. His enormous sandaled feet were planted wide. In his left hand, he held a pair of huge tongs. At the end of the tongs was a glowing sword, hot from the fire. He raised the enormous hammer in his right hand and brought it down. Sparks of molten metal flew into the air to dance about the cave like maddened fireflies. A reptilian shape curled near the behemoth god’s feet like a docile hound.
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