Kingdoms of Light

bushes that lined the canyon. Lilting fragrances from the flowers they disturbed rose up toward the road. Color might have vanished from the world, but there was still sweet fragrance aplenty.

Oskar clapped Cezer on the back. 'Come on, fuzzball. Let's see if you can keep your dainty costume spotless while slogging and sliding down through soggy vegetation and muddy hillsides.'

Tugging at first one lace-trimmed sleeve and then the other, the younger man sniffed haughtily. 'With the greatest of ease, my rough-hewn friend. Watch, and marvel at natural grace at work.'

Samm and Taj followed behind them. 'Those two have always argued, no matter what kind of body they happened to be occupying. Up in my cage, I was able to see and hear everything.'

'Lucky you, living in a penthouse.' Unable to fit between two trees, Samm simply shoved one aside. Upturned roots bled mud and worms as it crashed to the ground. 'As for myself, I find I quite like this new perspective.'

'We're all going to have get used to these new forms if we're going to fulfill Master Evyndd's last wish.' Taj hopped nimbly over a small stream. 'And stop staring at me like that! You're making the back of my neck burn.'

'Sorry.' The giant contritely shifted his gaze.

It was not an easy descent, but by relying on their natural instincts they crossed obstacles and surmounted barriers that would have given even very agile humans pause. By nightfall they had reached the base of the cataract. While the perpetual mist that rose from the water-worn rocks at the bottom of the falls did not bother Samm—much less Taj and Oskar, who reveled in it—the other members of their party were adamant about finding a drier place to spend the night. A small rocky overhang surrounded by dense vegetation provided the shelter they were looking for. Close at hand, falling water plunged earthward behind the diffuse arc of muted color that was the rainbow they had come to find.

Somewhat to everyone's surprise but to Cocoa's especial delight, Oskar proceeded to make a fire. Their amazement surprised him. 'If you'd watched as many of these being built as I have, you'd understand.' While he tended to the comforting blaze, the rest of them set about gathering the driest plant matter they could find with which to fashion temporary bedding.

'In the morning,' Mamakitty announced, 'we'll start working on how we're going to capture some of that colored light to bring back home with us. If empty water bags won't serve, we'll think of something else. Once we've gathered our fill of color, we can seek out other masters like our Evyndd. They will know best how to spread it through the Gowdlands and beat back this hex of the invaders.'

'I don't think the water bags will work. I still think we need a special kind of container. Something that will hold anything.' For once, Cezer was not being sarcastic.

'I wonder if we could make something?' Taj mused.

'Too bad we're not bringing back sound.' Cezer's serious mien had not lasted long. 'Then we could just grab it and shove it down your throat. You being the master of song, and all.'

Having come so far, and participated in at least one fight (even if it was among friends), Taj was no longer so easily intimidated. 'I'm composing a special song just for you, tyrant of baby mice.'

As Cezer's expression tightened, Oskar stepped in front of him. 'Since you're so full of suggestions and energy, why don't you help me gather some more fuel for the fire?' He indicated the cheerful but modest blaze. 'That is, unless you fancy waking up cold sometime before dawn.'

'No, that doesn't appeal to me.' Joining his companion, Cezer added, 'The Master knew what he was doing. Ordinary humans would have difficulty spending the night in a place like this, but not us. We're all used to sleeping on the ground.'

'Speak for yourself.' As the other men disappeared into the bushes, Taj started looking for a comfortable tree in which to make his bed.

The relentless rumble of the falls served to hasten everyone's sleep. Not that help was needed. The difficult descent down the mountainside to the river below had exhausted everyone. A short evening meal was followed by rapid dispersion to individual beds.

Oskar was the last to allow himself to relax. By the time he had finished thinking, and planning, everyone else was already asleep around the fire. Samm had gone off by himself, to find a separate clearing where he would have enough room to make himself comfortable—and also so that he would not roll over in the middle of the night and crush one of his more fragile companions.

With a sigh, Oskar rose and walked over to the berth he had fashioned for himself out of leaves, smashed twigs, and other forest floor detritus. It was not his soft, padded bed back home in the Master's house, but it was better than the bare, rocky ground. Nearby and not far below the site of their campsite, the river Shalouan foamed its way eastward, toward Zelevin and Sibrastkou and the other mountain communities that had so far largely escaped the most devastating effects of the Totumakk invasion. Eventually, he knew, the Horde would extend its hand here as well, to these peaceful hillside towns and river communities, to pillage and despoil. Before that happened he hoped he and his companions could furnish the means for forestalling any further abominations.

Stepping into the center of his bed, he paced his ever-tightening circles before finally sitting down and curling into a sleeping position, his head resting on his hands, legs stretched out away from him. The resounding music of the cataract overwhelmed all but an occasional crack of burning wood from the fire, and lulled him into a deep and unforced sleep.

When he awoke, it was still dark out. Not the dark induced by the Mundurucu hex, but true middle-of-the- night dark. A sound had disturbed him. As he rolled over onto all fours preparatory to rising, he saw Mamakitty standing protectively alongside Cocoa, with Taj and Cezer hovering nearby.

Confronting them were a pair of tall, slender shapes clad in black capes and matching caps. Each held a crossbow trained on his friends. Reaching down and behind him, Oskar silently felt for his sword, which he had removed for sleeping. It was not where he had laid it, nor was his dagger in its sheath on his belt. Both, he quickly saw, lay in the heap of confiscated weapons piled beside the two caped figures.

In front of them, twirling a small but nasty-looking mace like a conductor warming up with his baton before a concert, stood a slightly shorter but far more muscular individual. His long jaw and nose combined to create an extraordinary silhouette. But it was his eyes that drew Oskar. Even in the reduced light at the bottom of the gorge, they burned with a maniacal fury.

As he rose, that gaze turned to confront him. 'Ah, the last drowsy wayfarer awakes. Please to come forward and join your friends, Mister—?'

'Oskar.' Walking slowly over to stand next to his companions, he considered making a jump for his sword.

His unspoken intention amused the leader of their captors. 'Please to try it.' The mace ceased rotating. 'I can crack your skull three times before you reach your weapons. I would very much enjoy doing so, to hear your bones break and see your blood gush. But I am constrained by those whom I serve.'

'No need to ask whom that might be,' a disconsolate Cezer muttered.

'How did you find us?' an angry Mamakitty wanted to know.

It was Ruut who replied, the cocked crossbow held easily in his exceptionally long, limber fingers. 'Did you really think anything of note could escape the attention of the Khaxan Mundurucu? They are alert to even so insignificant a threat that such as you might pose. Quoll speaks the truth when he says he would like to break your bones. But we are commanded to bring you back with us to Kyll-Bar-Bennid. The Mundurucu wish to know what you intended to do, you who mouth the names of a dead wizard.'

'We're not doing anything.' Taj took a step forward. 'When we heard that our master had died, we felt free to leave his house. We travel together to seek gainful employment in Zelevin.'

'Really?' Ratha's lips hooked upward in a humorless smile. 'That's all?'

'That is all.' Taj nodded and smiled back.

The crossbow bolt grazed his left side, slicing through the flesh and bringing forth a swift flow of blood. Clutching at his ribs, Taj looked down uncomprehendingly. Warm redness oozed out between his fingers.

'You—you shot me,' he mumbled in stunned disbelief.

'No.' Ratha was already reloading her weapon. 'I almost shot you. That was just a tickle, to show you how we treat those who think us stupid. If I'd really shot you, you'd be lying on the ground now, with a metal shaft sticking out of your guts, squealing like a pig on the killing hook.'

'Why?' Mamakitty trembled with anger.

'We want to move quickly. That means we don't have time to waste on foolish lies. Personally, I don't care