Descent into the Depths of the Earth

“I’m a ranger. Trust me.”

Whatever had happened to the village, it had happened many years before. The place was clean, no dangers, no enemies. With a heavy sigh, the Justicar unfastened the paws of the hell hound pelt from his neck and drew Cinders from his shoulders to shake the dust out of his friend’s fur. The bigman walked back and sat down on a mounting block outside the tavern, unfastened his helmet and let it crash down into the grass, then began to carefully brush the hell hound’s fur.

Cinders’ tail thumped as the dog skin grinned its madpiranha grin. Camp? Start fire?

“Yep. Guess we can.” The Justicar, a ranger who had fought asavage war against injustice for more years than he cared to tell, spread his friend out across his lap. A big currycomb brushed the hell hound’s fur to abrilliant shine.

Tired and with his ribs aching from a hydra’s bite that hadfailed to pierce his armor’s scales, the Justicar and rose heavily to his feet.New territories meant new work. There would be towns here, meaning inequality and injustice. More than enough labor for a mortal man to do…

“Night’s coming,” he announced. “We’ll stay in the tavern.It’s big, and we can block the doors. Polk, get the mules under cover before thestirges get them. Enid, see if there’s any water down that well.” The rangerretrieved his helmet and his hell hound skin, then shoved open the tavern door. “Check every room. Keep your eyes open. If there’s trouble, call me.”

Inside the tavern, heavy ceiling beams were still hung with bunches of dried herbs. A single iron pot lay overturned beside the hearth. Jus strode ahead of Escalla, checked the kitchens with their pot hooks and empty pantries, then clumped upstairs to check for lurking terrors. A single stirge-big as a small dog, feathery, and shaped like a mosquito-fled in terrorout a window of the master bedroom. Jus banged the shutters closed then turned to make his way back downstairs.

Escalla sprang into view beside him, shedding invisibility with a barely audible pop. Her long blonde hair shimmered like golden silk as the faerie toyed with it nervously in her mouth.

“Hey, Jus? Good fight with the hydra back there, huh? Reallylivened up the day. I mean, you look at a place and think, ‘Gee, now here’s adead spot.’”

She wavered nervously, keeping out of reach. Bone tired, Jus sat down on the steps, wincing as his bruised side twinged. He unclipped the shoulder fastenings of his dragon scale cuirass, unbuckled his sword belt, and let the whole ensemble crash heavily to the ground.

“You and your hydra! Damned thing almost stove in my ribcage.”

“Yeah, but you’re not mad about it or anything, are you?” Thegirl hovered back and forth like a nervous bee. “I mean, it just lets you seehow cool this journey is! Danger everywhere! And I’m sure we can find someinjustice just dying to be, um… re-justiced and stuff.”

The Justicar pierced Escalla with one dire eye and said, “Escalla, we just found a twelve-headed hydra in a watchtower. That’s enoughactivity for today.”

Going into a magnificent sulk, the faerie kicked at a dead woodlouse on the floor. “You’re mad about the hydra. I knew it. Why does it haveto be my fault?”

Unamused, Jus looked levelly at Escalla. “You swiped scrollsfrom its treasure horde, didn’t you?”

“Only one!”

“I thought we had decided not to go haring off on our own?”Jus’ words had the damning weight of common sense. “What did I tell you aboutwandering away where I can’t protect you?”

Stung, Escalla proudly sat her little bottom on a broken stool.

“I wasn’t wandering. There was a plan.” Sniffing,Escalla tried to weasel her way out of making an apology. “I’m a ruinexploration professional. Do I want my comrades to be burdened by useless side trips?” Escalla placed one hand loftily upon her breast. “I was merelyattempting to add to party assets without slowing your travel time. The presence of the hydra was simply an unforeseen variable!”

“You screwed up.”

Escalla regarded her friend through leveled lashes. “I am afaerie. Faeries do not screw up. We just have occasional bouts of adverse results production.”

“Uh-huh. Well, at least you got a spell scroll out of it.”Jus found a dried apricot in his pouch and gave the girl the bigger half. “Arethe rest of the pixies in the forest just like you?”

“Nah. I’m the cute one, one of a kind, and I’m sure as hellno pixie!” Escalla stood, turning to clench her rear. “See those lines?”

“Pure thoroughbred.” Jus lifted one arm experimentally andgave a wince. “I think I hurt.”

“You think?”

“All right, I do hurt.” The man planted a hand beneathhis sweaty tunic and shoved a healing spell into himself, the magic crackling like a pine cone in a fire. “That damned hydra almost killed me!”

“He never laid a glove on you. This is just a trail sore.”Escalla whirred up into the air. “Hey! We found a tavern. I bet there’s abathtub here!” The girl called out of a window. “Hey, Enid! Was there water inthat well?”

The sphinx was sitting in the tavern yard eating a freshly killed stirge. She guiltily hid her meal and cleared her throat. “Um, yes therewas!”

“Well, find a bucket! We’ve got work to do!” Escalla hung herhead out of the window and frowned at the sphinx. “Are you snacking betweenmeals again?”

“No!”

“Enid, stop it! How are we going to land you a niceandrosphinx if you won’t listen to your fashion advisor?” The faerie leanedthrough the windowsill. “Check my bags on the wagon. Have we got any faeriecakes left?”

“One.”

“Hoopy! We can have it with dinner!”

“Ah,” Enid peered into a leather bag. “It’s a bit green.”

“I like ’em green!”

“Ah, it’s a bit greener than you like it.” Enid tilted herhead. “Actually, it’s really kind of furry.”

Escalla opened up her arms. “It’s fungoid enriched! Justbring it in!” The faerie turned happily to Jus. “See J- man, you just relax.Auntie Escalla will take care of everything. A nice bath… and I kept a faeriecake! Enid can walk on your back. She’ll keep her claws in this time, I swear!”

The Justicar expectantly raised one brow, waiting. Escalla turned, muttered beneath her breath, looked at him sourly, and finally sniffed in irritation. “All right, all right! I’m sorry about the hydra! Not that it wasmy fault!”

Evening in the abandoned village had a certain picturesquequality that soothed the soul. The quiet roofs and empty streets caught the light of sunset just so. The plaintive hoots of surges echoed through the trees. Woodsmoke drifted beautiful blue curls against the evening sky. Somewhere in the background, a delicious smell of cooking stole through the tavern, making mouths water and all thoughts turn to supper.

In a stone room at the back of the kitchen, a giant wine barrel had been converted to a makeshift bath. Sitting like a ponderous leviathan, the Justicar let his shaven head jut over the barrel’s rim. Hot watersteamed, heat soothed, and he seemed uncertain whether such luxuries really befitted his role as defender of the weak.

Escalla sat in a copper pot, seething like meat in a stew. The faerie, who always read in the bath, was flipping through the scorched pages of a book rescued from the hydra’s lair. It hovered in midair, held by theeffects of one of her spells. The book was ancient. Escalla became more and more fascinated by the pages and even managed to lose interest in the delicious smell of frying meat coming from the kitchen a few feet away. After several long minutes of relaxed reading, she set the book aside and used an old toothbrush to scrub at an itchy spot between her wings. With her foot drumming the bottom of her bath like a well scratched dog, she looked over to where the Justicar’s headfloated amidst the steam. She gave a satisfied sigh and swam closer for a better look.

“Hey, Jus! Do you have to shave your head a lot? I mean, isit just a once a week thing? Once a day?”

“Whenever.” Jus moved and a vast swell of water spilled overthe edge of the gigantic barrel. “It’s not