And came eye to eye with Womba.
He couldn't even scream.
'Ngah! Ngah!' he managed, but Riolla, still unsure of their solitude, shoved the dagger back into his ribs and craned her head the other way.
Womba looked at him all doe-eyed and dewy, and was about to tweak his bindings loose and carry him off when another visitor appeared out of the mist and took a seat at the fire. Womba's nose, confused by a sudden abundance of strange smells, had missed the intruder.
'By the empty jar of Nin, Naruq! Why are you here? Can you never announce yourself like anyone else? I might have killed you before you could have been recognized,' Riolla sputtered.
The tall elf smiled sardonically. 'I doubt that very much, Schreefa. Very much indeed. As you were told, I am your guide through the curtain of light. You have taken a prisoner, I see. Although I think this one was not so difficult. Hello, Ogwater, is it?'
'Ngah. Nagahhh!' Og cried.
Ignoring the elf, Womba nonetheless withdrew, fearing she had frightened Ogwater. A swirl of steam brought a new, particularly strong scent, her little yellow eyes hardening with what the smell suggested.
'Ngah, Ngah!' repeated Og, but Riolla had forgotten him.
'Not much of a conversationalist, is he?' said Naruq. Riolla studied the elf for a moment. 'I haven't seen you since the route was closed. What have you been up to?'
'Nothing I care to discuss. But I have a bit of information you might like to hear. For a price, of course,' said the elf.
'How much?'
'I think half of what you let the digger find under the Clock will do.'
Riolla looked at him levelly. But he knew he had guessed the truth.
'Surprised that I knew you planned to take it alt for yourself?' he continued. 'I could have told the Raptor back in Sumifa, but then 1 would have had to do your job, too. And this way, we both get what we want. You can have Sumifa, but I want Sarraza and what lies below it.'
'What do you know about the Clock?' growled Riolla. Og perked up his own ears, but pretended to drowse from fatigue.
'Enough. But you don't.'
'What do you mean? she hissed.
'Well, — there is the matter of how it works.'
'What do you mean? Stop toying with me, Naruq.'
'The digger has what he needs now to find and open the Clock. It's in that book his father has carried with him all over Almaaz. You did not know you were being followed? Yes, I thought that might bring a pique to your complexion. But the digger and his book are not a problem, even if he gets the Treefather to read it for him.'
'Why not?'
'We now have something he wants.'
Naruq stood and parted the foliage behind him to reveal Claria, her golden eyes molten with anger, her hands and feet tied, and a gag in her mouth.
Already agitated by Claria's perfume, Womba could contain herself no longer. When she saw the girl, she roared and leapt from her hiding place, ripping the small tree that Og was tied to from the ground by its roots. Og bounced free from it just before she swung it. Naruq, caught totally by surprise, barely managed to dodge the blow himself. Riolla rolled her eyes, the orcess's appearance just one more inconvenience. Claria could only roll under another sturdy bush and hope for the best.
Womba missed her again and again, each swat of the tree breaking it farther down its shaft until the orcess held only a stick of kindling in her scaly hands. Naruq had drawn his dagger, but could not get his aim until she turned her face toward him and he brought the knife across her cheek with a vicious slash. Her eyes full of blood, Womba bellowed again, grabbed Og, who had not yet worked free from his ropes, and ran into the night.
'That was brilliant. Now he can go and tell the digger what we plan to do,' said Riolla.
Naruq chuckled, wiping his dagger on Claria's robes. 'Oh, but don't you see, Schreefa? The orcess will take him as far from the others as she can. By the way, you did check his pockets, didn't you?'
'Of course not. Why should I; he didn't even have Rotapan's staff. You expected me to actually touch him? It was all I could do to tie him up, the little cockroach. He would never hurt me anyway.'
'He had two of the stones.'
Riolla's face went ashen. Naruq looked down his long angular nose at her with disdain. 'The digger is headed for the Treefather. He's the only one who can read the book. I'll have to take him into the forest, so I'll hear what the old graybeard has to say and be back as quickly as I can. Your job is to take care of her while I'm gone. Don't hurt her or let her get away, Riolla. You need what only I can provide, or you'll never get to the Clock… think on that, and be grateful I have decided to give it to you.'
Riolla sneered at his back as he melted into the forest. Then she turned to Claria and smiled, her mouth a little pink rosebud of false pity.
'We meet for the first time, my dear. I had hoped you would see me at the wedding. Maceo was quite taken with you at one time, I know. But of course, all that is over now. And your little insignificant life will be over soon, too. I'll just take his ring back to him for you.'
Riolla reached for the ring on Claria's finger, and to her great surprise, the girl did not try to draw back her bound hands. Instead, she wiggled her finger, now swollen again, right under the Schreefa's nose. Riolla cocked an eyebrow at Claria and tried to remove the ring.
Which, of course, would not come off. Claria laughed behind her gag. Riolla was not amused.
'Ah… well, then. There are other ways, my dear,' she cooed.
Rotapan finished reciting Riolla's request and fell silent.
'All right, Wyrvil. Hand over the coin,' said Drufalden, tapping the arm of her throne with a long silver nail.
Rotapan blinked and rolled his eyes, adjusting them to the blazing brightness of Drufalden's chambers. Saelin had removed the half-ore's blindfold only after they had been escorted through the maze of ice and stone that formed Drufalden's personal corridor.
Rotapan fished into his pocket and reluctantly brought forth the Ninnite coin. Drufalden examined it carefully, at last satisfied that it matched the Raptor's description.
'You just saved your miserable life, Wyrvil. I've been waiting for years at the chance to have you standing before me. Tell Riolla her escort will be waiting. I'll send five hundred of my finest assassins to wait at the curtain. She can meet them there.
'Get him out of my sight before I forget myself, Saelin.' Drufalden waved her hand at the assassin.
Saelin smiled, bowed, and dropped the blindfold neatly back over Rotapan's head. As they moved through the frozen corridor, the air seemed strangely warmer and smelled different. Rotapan felt water beneath his feet. Then he heard a peculiar sound.
Like the thawing of a river. Like the cracking of ice.
Saelin heard it, too. There was half a mile of corridor left to go. The assassin ran for his life, splashing down the long maze, leaving the half-ore to stumble blindly into the melting walls, the roof of the corridor already dissolving at a rate far faster than a natural thaw.
Rotapan tore off the blindfold and raced after the assassin, Saelin's footprints a fresh trail in the sugary, ice.
Exhorting Chelydrus's mercy the entire distance, Rotapan coughed and wheezed through the slippery corridor, the roof raining icy water down his neck, but holding up in spite of the sudden thaw. The half-ore slid the last several feet out into the courtyard, barely avoiding a drenching puddle of slush, picked himself up, and looked around for Saelin. The assassin had vanished.
Leaving Rotapan with nowhere to go. Except home. He wrapped his thin cloak about himself disgustedly, set himself in alignment with the sisters, and proceeded through the melting courtyard and down the mountain.
Behind him, Drufaiden's crystalline kingdom seeped into dirty rivulets that became muddy streams, which then emptied into the rivers below. By the next day, ice that had stood in walls a hundred feet high would flood the land below the mountain and end up pouring into the Silver Sea. Rotapan paused as he passed by the remains of
