suggested. 'For her own safety, of course.'
'Of course.' Bahrn cocked an ear, listening as Diadree continued her tirade behind the door. Eventually, it leveled off to wordless squalling punctuated by the thud of what sounded like furniture disintegrating as it hit the wall. 'I could overpower her,' he acknowledged. 'I could also pin her to the ground with my morningstar-' he ignored the distinctly hopeful look Arlon shot him-'but she stands less chance of being harmed if we allow her to wear herself out first.' He paused as another crash and shriek rang out. 'Considering her current state, it shouldn't take long.'
Arlon eyed the trembling walls skeptically but didn't argue. He settled down on the ground to wait, scrubbing at bloodshot, tired eyes and the beginnings of dark stubble at his cheeks.
'What kept you awake?' Bahrn asked, recalling the young man's restlessness the previous night as they drew closer to Orunn.
'Nothing-startled by a dream.'
Bahrn turned his attention from Diadree's door and found Arlon looking at him, as if quietly daring the mercenary to find humor in that. He had portrait eyes-slow to move and barely noticeable when they did. Yet he still managed to draw in and absorb the space and people around him so completely, Bahrn wondered if the wizard had ever been denied anything in his short life and if those who had dared the defiance were still alive.
'What kind?' asked Bahrn.
'I dreamt the earth was shaking.'
'You weren't dreaming,' Bahrn said. 'The tremors are the reason the village stands empty today. Orunn was abandoned this time five years ago.' He pointed down to a bare patch on the opposite side of the lake where crops had once been sown. A jagged crack cut across the barren soil into the foundation of a nearby house. 'Almost overnight, the land became too unstable for farming or living.'
'What caused them?'
Bahrn shrugged, the armor plates at his shoulders creaking.
'Caprice of the Gods? Magic? You, wizard, would be better qualified to speculate than I.'
Arlon snorted. 'You're capable of many things, Bahrn- claiming ignorance is not one of them. Qualification was the reason I hired you. You know the roads south of Ironfang Deep, when I wasn't aware there were mercenaries, especially educated ones-' he swiped a vague finger at the double painted dots creasing Bahrn's forehead-'who traveled extensively through this area.'
'I grew up here,' Bahrn said and smiled blandly as Arlon's face tensed, 'Since we're discussing qualifications…' Then he added, 'Yes, I knew Diadree had no family… and that she is no wizard.'
There it was, spoken aloud, the lie that had followed them all the way from the dwarven city, where Arlon had paid him to act as guide to Orunn to find Diadree. Bahrn had been surprised a foreigner had even known of the tiny village's existence.
Comprehension dawned on the wizard's face. 'The burnt home you were staring at over the cliff.' 'Mine.'
'I do not understand you. Why did you agree to lead me here, then?'
'I never thought we would find her,' Bahrn admitted. 'But, if we did, to ensure nothing happened to her.' 'You think I intend her harm?'
'Few have ever borne her love.' Himself included, Bahrn thought. 'What do you intend now we've found her?'
'Foremost, I intend to staunch this bleeding,' Arlon's eyes slid away from Bahrn's, and the easy manner he'd adopted during their journey to Orunn was back as he busied his hands tending to the cuts. 'And I will question her-in your presence, of course. What can you tell me about her?'
'There's little to tell. When I was young, Diadree rarely left her home here on the mountain.' Though insignificant amongst the Mountains of the Alaoreum and greater Tur-mish, the broad peak easily held both the village and the Fox Ear in its shadow. As far as Bahrn knew, Diadree had lived on the mountain all her life. 'She is harmless.'
Arlon dabbed at the bloody marks on his cheeks. 'Forgive me if I doubt you.'
'She was angry.'
'She is out of her mind,' Arlon said. 'She's been living alone in a dead village for a very long time, and it's cost her her sanity.'
Silence followed the pronouncement. Bahrn's eyes darted to Diadree's house. It had ceased shaking.
He positioned himself to block the front door just as it burst outward, Diadree following in a rush. Bahrn snagged her round the waist as she flew by and lifted her gently off her feet.
Gods, she has a bird's bones, he thought. How long had she gone without a proper meal?
The rest of her, if possible, looked worse, like a garden grown wild from seasons of neglect. Her long gray hair hung in the same thick braid he remembered, but it had not seen soap or brush in all that time. Greasy mouse- tails of it escaped all over, hanging down in her eyes and trailing over loose cords of flesh in her neck. She wore a patched apron on top of filthy skirts, all of which gave off a jaw-clenchingly unpleasant smell.
Diadree flailed arms and legs, but Bahrn simply gathered her in against his armored chest.
'Well met again, Diadree. It's been a long time,' he said.
Bones cracked as the old woman swiveled her head around and up until they were practically chin-to-chin. To his surprise, recognition flashed in her milky blue eyes.
'Bahrn? Norint's son, Bahrn?'
'You remember me?'
She grunted. 'Bahrn the bully-the fat one with crooked teeth who used to slobber and stare in my windows with his bully friends.' Her eyes narrowed. 'I broke a broomstick over your head for it.'
'Did she? Practically harmless, Bahrn, I agree.'
At the sound of Arlon's voice, Diadree resumed her violent midair kicking. Bahrn allowed her to slip down to the ground, but as soon as her feet were planted, he dug in, and forced her to stand in place.
'We're not going to hurt you, Diadree,' the wizard soothed in a voice that prickled the skin at Bahrn's neck.
'In that case, you can turn around and follow the cracks back the way you came,' Diadree snapped. 'Watch you don't trip and fall into one.'
She tried to back away as he approached, and she stumbled.
Bahrn steadied her and noticed a dark brown stain soaked into the hem of her torn skirts.
'You're hurt,' he said.
'It's nothing-old.' Diadree shrank back as Arlon bent and gingerly probed the bone. 'Healed now, as best it can be. I don't feel it on level grass, but walking up and down the mountain puts me in the Nine Hells of hurt.'
'It's a miracle you've survived on your own for so long,' Bahrn said.
'Why? Because of the ores and other uglies scattering through here to pick the houses clean?' She laughed scornfully. 'They don't come up here. No one does. No one needs to.'
'We've come to take you out of here. You're not well, Diadree,' Arlon said, straightening.
Diadree smiled unpleasantly. 'You mean I'm crazy. Yes, I heard you. It's true I am many things.' She paused, her hand straying to her cheek to scratch at the grime darkening her face. 'Crazy might be one of them,' she conceded, as if she'd never given fair consideration to the possibility. Her eyes snapped to Arlon's face. 'You are many things as well, some of which may even be true.' She wrinkled her nose. 'You smell of magic even if you don't flaunt the power.' She jerked her head at the wizard's pale, bare forehead. 'And I'm sure you're highly intelligent, for someone who reeks so thoroughly of magic, but you're looking for the wrong woman-'
'But the right mountain,' Arlon interrupted. 'I'm looking for Amrennathed's home.'
Diadree went rigid under Bahrn's hands and said, 'Amrennathed is even less your affair than I am.'
'Who is Amrennathed?' Bahrn wanted to know.
'A dragon. In local legend you know her as the Queen of the Mountain,' Arlon explained. 'I came here searching for her.'
'For a children's story?' scoffed Bahrn. 'You've wasted your steps. The mountain has no queen but Diadree, and she's not a dragon, except in speech.' The old woman's shoulders quivered with what might have been laughter. Bahrn couldn't be sure. 'Your queen was used to scare children into good behavior.'
'Never worked,' Diadree muttered.
