Steel and Stone

or the left. There was only room for the horses to pass in single file. The smell of muck increased, as did the whine of insects. Once something purple, the size of a horse's hoof, scampered across the path right in front of Obsidian, dragging a small, fluttering bird. So startled was the mare that it was all Kitiara could do to restrain her rearing mount. When Obsidian had settled down at last, Kitiara shouted back, 'What in the shadowless Abyss was that?'

'Bog spider,' Tanis said tersely. 'Poisonous.'

As evening darkened, mosquitoes descended in hordes upon the travelers. Tanis unrolled a blanket from his bedroll and wrapped it over his head to discourage the biting insects. Kitiara followed suit. 'Don't brush against the plants,' he warned. Kitiara grunted in reply but kept Obsidian in the center of the trail.

Tanis suddenly dismounted, picked up a stone from the trail, and tossed it into the reddish grasses. A splash followed. 'The left fork led to Haven?' he repeated.

Kitiara stopped and looked around. 'So she said.' Her gaze flicked from moss to grass to the narrow path. 'So she said.'

Grasses pressed in on each side. As dusk deepened, they heard something large splash into the water off to their left. Bats swooped and circled overhead, feasting on nighttime insects. A humming, like the sound of a thousand insects, thrummed through the marsh.

'Have you ever done battle in a bog?' Tanis asked quietly. Ignoring the mosquitoes, he let the blanket fall from his head and felt for his sword.

Kitiara shook her head. 'You?'

Tanis nodded. 'Once. With Flint.'

By some unspoken decision, they kept their tone offhand. 'What lives here?' Kitiara asked.

'Ever heard of the Jarak-Sinn?'

Again she shook her head.

'They're a race of lizard people. Their venom is deadly,' Tanis said. With the night growing more dense around them, it seemed more appropriate to whisper. 'And of course, there are ogres; you find them everywhere,' he continued. 'And shambling mounds. They look like piles of rotting leaves-until they rise and envelop you. Swamp alligators; I fought gators with Flint. They carry venom in a spine at the ends of their tails. They try to paralyze you and pull you into the water and drown you.' He didn't mention that the feisty dwarf had almost lost his life in such an encounter, surviving only after liberal doses of Qualinesti herbs to offset the poison.

Kitiara pushed the blanket back from her head and drew her sword. Tanis's was already out.

'So we're in the swamp. Should we retreat or go on?' the swordswoman asked.

Tanis looked at the scarlet grasses. 'We couldn't turn the horses on this narrow path if we wanted to. Push on, but be ready, Kit.'

They moved on more slowly, their ears pricking with every new splash and bubble from the swamp. The stench of rotting plants and animals grew worse. Solinari had risen and was bathing the travelers in platinum moonlight.

Then, all at once, what looked like two silver moons hung in the sky. Kitiara pointed and shouted. 'Look, half-elf! A light! It's Haven after all!' Ignoring the half-elf's cry of dismay, she kicked Obsidian in the sides and clattered confidently ahead. The half-elf had no choice but to force Dauntless into a gallop.

'Kitiara, wait!' he shouted. 'It's a will-o'-the-wisp!' The swordswoman raced on as though she hadn't heard him.

The path widened and curved to the right of a black pool. Solinari shone above them, its light giving an otherwordly glow to the sphagnum moss in the trees that ringed the travelers. Tanis drew up behind the mounted swordswoman and lunged for Obsidian's reins. Kitiara turned toward him. For a moment, confusion flickered across her face. Then her countenance cleared. 'A will-o'-the-wisp?' she asked.

The second orb hung lower, behind the pond. It was an arm's length in diameter. Its pulsating color shifted from white to pale green to violet to blue.

'A will-o'-the-wisp is intelligent,' Tanis explained, his sword still at the ready. 'It lures its victims, masquerading as lanterns and confusing people until they stray into quicksand.'

'Quicksand?' Kitiara looked about her.

Tanis pointed to the black pool at their feet. 'Quicksand.'

Her voice was hushed. She glanced at the hovering globe of twinkling lights. 'Will it attack?'

'It may. Don't let it so much as touch you. You'll receive a shock that could kill you outright.'

Kitiara dismounted, sword in her right hand, dagger in her left. 'That must be the creature that killed Jarlburg and the others,' she said. 'It probably came to the edge of the swamp near Meddow and coaxed them in.' Tanis nodded his agreement. 'What does a will-o'-the-wisp eat?' the swordswoman persisted.

'Fear.'

Kitiara's glance showed that she thought Tanis was making fun of her, but the half-elf continued. 'I've heard that a frightened person emits an aura. Some creatures can sense it. Instead of killing its victims immediately-by brushing against them, for example-the will-o'-the-wisp prefers slow death for its victims because the creature can absorb fear and store it as food.'

At that moment, the pulsating ball brightened, slowly but steadily, until its glow allowed the half-elf and swordswoman to make out the litter around the pool of black quicksand. In the eerie glow, they spotted skulls, swords, and pouches of money. Kitiara pointed. 'Treasure?'

'Probably thrown to the will-o'-the-wisp by victims hoping to buy mercy,' Tanis said.

The lower branches of trees that overhung the pool were bare of leaves, evidence of desperate hands groping for anything that could resist the black sand's pull.

Kitiara's face was shiny with perspiration-as was Tanis's own, no doubt, the half-elf realized. The will-o'- the-wisp glowed ever brighter, its color transformations coming more swiftly now. 'Kit,' he said, 'it's feeding on our fear! Think about something else.'

She closed her eyes. 'Solace.'

'That's good,' Tanis said soothingly. 'The vallenwood trees… think about them.'

'Everywhere I've gone,' she said, 'people have asked me what it was like to live in houses in the great Solace vallenwood trees.'

'With the rope bridges from tree to tree.'

'You could live your entire life without putting a foot on the ground.'

'Which is not the way for a dwarf,' Tanis commented. 'Flint Fireforge has one of the few houses at the base of the trees. He rarely leaves the ground except to visit Otik's tavern.'

The light dimmed, then brightened, then dimmed again.

Then darkness.

Suddenly, the only source of illumination was the faint light of Solinari. Tanis leaped from Dauntless, slinging his bow across one shoulder. 'It's going to attack!' He slapped the gelding on the flank while Kitiara followed suit with Obsidian. The two horses galloped down the path in opposite directions. The half-elf and swordswoman placed themselves back to back, waiting. Tanis heard Kitiara whispering to herself, 'Solace, Solace.'

'Vallenwood trees,' he replied. 'Remember the vallenwoods.'

Then the night burst around them. There was an explosion so bright that it momentarily blinded the half — elf. When his vision cleared, he saw a ball of blue flame streaking toward them. Grabbing Kitiara by the arm, he dragged her down on the path, and the cometlike creature, lightening to pale green, whisked overhead. The ends of Tanis's hair crackled as the will-o'-the-wisp rushed by Kitiara swore.

'Huuumannnzzz!' The ghostly voice seemed to surround them, ebbing and strengthening and insinuating itself into every pore of their bodies. Yet the will-o'-the-wisp itself had returned to its position above the quicksand. The creature oscillated, its swirling colors shifting many times with each breath the companions drew.

'By Takhisis!' Kitiara ejaculated. 'You didn't tell me the thing could speak!'

'I didn't know myself.'

'Youuu havvve no chanccce, huuumanzzz.' The will-o'-the-wisp flickered from green to blue to violet to glaring white.

Tanis swallowed and gripped his sword more tightly. 'It's vibrating faster. It must make sounds that