Descent into the Depths of the Earth

“When do we go back to town? Your ruse must have worked, boy!The soldiers will be out searchin’, so now’s the time to head back and face downtheir leader with cold, hard steel!”

Annoyed, Jus glared at the little man, half tempted to harness him next to his own mule. “Polk, we are not fighting anyone!”

“But they said they knew a pale lady! Were she good, she’d bethe ‘fair lady’, but ‘pale lady’… she just has to be evil!”

“They thought we worked for her, Polk. Shut up anddrink.”

The glade seemed peaceful, deserted, and quiet. Little birds twittered amidst the brilliant red autumn leaves while the cups of fallen acorns shone twinkling in the sun. Water flashed and sunken leaves lined the streambed with red and gold.

The Justicar stood, feet planted wide apart, and his gaze speared Escalla. The little faerie raised one brow and pointed at herself in inquiry. Jus answered by crooking a finger in her direction.

“Escalla. A word.”

Deliberately innocent, Escalla drifted into the air and kept pace with Jus as he stalked beside the stream. Already guessing virtually everything he needed to know, the Justicar turned toward Escalla.

“The tavern…?”

Rubbing her hands together and looking a tad embarrassed, Escalla shook her head in wonder. “Yeah, some place, huh? Sad how some peoplejust take an instant dislike to you for no reason at all!”

Unamused, Jus held her in place with a scowl. “You promisednot to cause any more trouble.”

“Aw, but it’s an endearing kind of trouble!” Escallamade a sheepish grin, then pranced in midair in front of the Justicar. “It’slively! It’s fun! You’d miss it if it wasn’t there every day of your life! How’syour hand, by the way?”

“Hurts.”

Escalla took his hand and gave it a little faerie kiss, light as a feather and strangely warm. “Well, it was a good punch.”

Jus flexed his hand and winced-then remembered that he wassupposed to be cowing Escalla beneath the weight of his indignation.

“You promised no more scams! You lied to me!”

Escalla sighed miserably and suddenly seemed the heart and soul of guilt. Her long antennae wilted, and her pointed ears fell. “I’m sorry,because you know, when you think about it, when we lie, we murder the truth.”

“Yes.” Puffing up with righteousness, Jus gave a dire nod.“Well put. I agree.”

Escalla put on her most gentle, wise, and sorrowful face. She laid one hand on the Justicar’s shoulder and used her other hand to show him theglory of the trees.

“Autumn leaves falling, branches stark and withering, andwithin it all, the acorns send green shoots into the soil. Beautiful, aren’tthey?” The girl floated like a spirit of the wilds, while overhead tall oaktrees soared. “Each new green shoot springs from the loam, but do you know wherethat loam comes from?”

Jus stood his ground and folded up his arms. “Do tell.”

“It comes from the dead leaves and trees that have gonebefore.” Escalla seemed full of an infinite, quiet motherly love as she floatedamidst natures timeless wonder. “New life springs from the death of old, andideas are the same! Truths are just preconceptions, ideas trapped and put into a box! Sure, lies murder the truth, but when we kill truths, it allows new ideas to spring up in their place! A glorious profusion of nature. Intellectual freedom! Art and science and light and love!” The avatar of a glorious future,Escalla turned a pirouette up in the sky. “Jus, we owe it to futuregenerations. They deserve that intellectual freedom! And it’s all in our hands,Jus! I say we owe it to the future to lie through our teeth right now!”

He stopped and stood there, arms folded, and watched her patiently. Escalla hovered in front of him, coyly biting one finger.

“Not buying it?”

“Not really.”

“Still… pretty hoopy speech, huh?”

A warrior for justice should not be amused at falsity. Jus sniffed and kept a straight face. “One of your better ones.”

“Ha! Sorry, man. I drive you nuts.” Escalla flipped a fingeras though tipping an imaginary cap. “If you didn’t love me, you’d never put upwith me.”

“Yeah.”

Jus’ face cracked into a fond smile despite itself. SuddenlyEscalla met his eyes and matched his expression. The girl suddenly blushed, then paled and hastily whirred backward, thoroughly flustered. Aware that his ears were glowing an uncomfortable red, Jus cleared his throat, scowled, and turned to look along the stream.

Escalla cleared her throat and sped off to the wagon, busying herself by tidying an already neat pile of coins. Jus decided to walk along the stream and look for nonexistent tracks.

From his perch atop Jus’ head, Cinders sniggered and hissedsmoke. Funny!

Choosing not to comment, Jus tugged his armor straight and went about the serious business of being the Justicar.

Back at the wagon, Escalla meandered in midair like ahummingbird surveying her domain. With a sly, self- satisfied little smile, she blew a strand of hair from her eyes, pushing her long cornsilk locks behind her pointed ears. Remembering a hand mirror tucked into dark recesses of her baggage, the faerie fluttered down to pull at the satchels stored upon the cart, spilling her embarrassing collection of lingerie, old scrolls, and stale faerie cakes into the sun.

Gold sparkled amidst the bric-a-brac. Busily propping up the mirror against the baggage, Escalla flicked the gold a single annoyed glance. She stood before the mirror and turned sideways to admire her little figure, tidied her hair… and then frowned as the golden glimmer caught her eye oncemore.

There, lying amidst a colorful scatter of underwear, was a tiny little necklace on which a single clear stone shone and glittered in the sunlight. Escalla approached it, looking at it in startled disbelief. She touched it. The gold work was impossibly fine and fashioned perfectly for the scale and delicacy of a faerie.

Incredulous, Escalla lifted up the jewel and watched it sparkle. With the prettiest of little blushes, Escalla quietly put the necklace on. She admired it in awe, unable to believe just what was happening.

The gold was a dark, rich orange that showed her hair to be of a far more precious hue. The clear stone hung between her breasts and seemed to shimmer and flow with all the colors of the forest sky. It caught the green of her eyes and turned it from a sly glimmer to a shade innocent as forest grass. Escalla turned and gazed at her reflection in the mirror, looking at herself in blank astonishment.

It had been custom made for her-custom made with infinitecare.

Escalla turned and looked toward Jus. The man knelt beside the stream, carefully examining fallen autumn leaves in the mud. The faerie felt something akin to a tear well in her eye, even as she swelled her breast like a puffer fish about to burst.

A blush spread from her eartips to her toes. Suddenly girlishly shy, she found herself unable to move or even speak. The necklace hung fluid and gleaming about her neck, while Jus artlessly managed to avoid watching her.

Polk corked his jug and gave a loud, satisfied sigh. He had given his astonished mule a slug of whiskey, and the poor animal now stood with its knees knocking and its eyes staring into different dimensions of space and time. Turning, Polk saw Escalla’s necklace glistening about her alabasterthroat.

He creased his brows and exclaimed, “Jewels!” The teamsterscratched his head with a noise like sandpaper. “Is that treasure?”

“Oh, definitely.”

Escalla floated quietly into the air, feeling a strange, numb sensation. She hovered indecisively for a long moment then tugged her skirt straight, took a deep breath, and flew over to the Justicar.

He knelt, examining a fallen maple leaf, one of untold thousands that carpeted the banks of the forest stream. This particular leaf showed a tiny mark on the moist dirt that sheened its upper surface-a mark likea tiny footprint only a few inches long. Escalla landed softly on the mold nearby, her hands behind her back and her body swinging from side to side like an embarrassed child called up before her school.