Escalla had found the body of one of the familiar half-orc guards. She flew slowly backward, trying not to stare at the corpse.
“Wh-who did it?”
“Troglodytes.”
“Yeah.” Escalla looked bitterly at the stinking dead.“Troglodytes led by a faerie.”
The Justicar looked over at her with his steadying dark eyes. “You all right?”
“I’m all right.” Escalla blurred her wings and headed for theapple trees. “I’m getting sick of this. Let’s get ’em.”
A dead troglodyte lay near the gate tree. As Jus fished the carefully folded black threads from his pouch, Escalla wincingly drew close to the bisected troglodyte. A javelin lay glittering in the grass nearby, the head severed from the shaft in the tell-tale sign of Jus’ celebrated parrytechnique.
“Ick! It stinks like an orc’s outhouse!”
“Oil.” The Justicar wrinkled his nose at the stink. “Theyexcrete an offensive oil when roused.”
“It worked. I’m offended.” Escalla looked at the hideoussplay of troglodyte organs lying on the ground. “Do you have a key to thisgate?”
Jus held up a glimmering black thread and said, “I’m prettysure I do.”
“Then try this locator spell thing of yours. Let’s see wherethe slowglass necklace is hiding.”
Lord Charn had cast the spell on the necklace. The broken link of Escalla’s necklace had been glued to a small sliver of enchanted wood,and the wood had been hung from a length of thread where it could quiver and swivel like a compass. Holding her battle wand casually beneath her arm, Escalla hovered in midair and watched intently as Jus dangled the little charm and let it slowly twist and settle.
The needle pointed south and hung quite still. The Justicar looked at it intently, then bundled the charm back up again.
“You father said it would start to quiver as we got closer.”
“Well it’s pretty damned still.” Escalla ran her fingersthrough her long blonde hair, letting it spill like a waterfall down her back. “Damn! That was one greedy piece of work, snitching the necklace!”
“We’re lucky they seem to value it.” Jus settled the faerieinto her accustomed place, setting her on his shoulder. “How long until thelight passes through the slowglass jewel?”
“Fourteen days. We’ll have plenty of time!” Escalla shrugged.“We’re only an hour or two behind them. How far can they get?”
Walking around and around the dead troglodyte, Polk heaved a sigh then unshipped a heavy ledger from his pack. He licked his pen-forgettingit was a pen and not a pencil-and took notes with blue ink now staining histongue.
“It chucked a spear at me, and I cut it in half.”
“I see. I’ll put it down as a mighty blow, then.” Polksniffed, partly from troglodyte stink and partly in annoyance. “Son, do you haveany idea how hard it is to keep accurate records around you?”
“Look into my eyes and see how much I care, Polk.” Jus jerkedhis thumb toward the gate. “Now come on! Let’s get out of here before the faeriehunt finds us!”
“Wait! Hold on.” Escalla hovered with her spellbooks open.She dusted herself in diamond powder from her kit packs and sent spell syllables twisting through the air. Her skin took on a brief gleam of magic, which faded cleverly from view. “There we go!”
Jus glowered. “What was that?”
“Stoneskin! It’s brand new. You’ll love it!” The girl posed,admiring her perfect, pure white little arm. “Protects you from cuts, punctures,bites, and swords!”
“Can I have one?”
“Tomorrow, man! What? You think I’m made of high levelspells?” Escalla ushered the way to the apple tree gate. “You’ve got armor,muscles, and stuff. Now come on. Let’s get weaving!”
Jus held out one of his pieces of black silk thread. As it passed beneath the arched apple boughs, a gateway shimmered into life. Polk immediately walked past Jus into the gate, his quill pen behind one ear and a half eaten apple in his mouth. Jus made an annoyed noise and stepped after the man, Escalla flying along at his side.
They stepped out into a wilderness of charred, dead bones.
It had been a town once, a healthy place with earthen walls topped by a palisade. Wooden houses and temples now lay burned and broken, making shocking silhouettes against the night stars.
An ancient dolmen made an arch overhead-an arch tall enoughto shelter a giant. Jus straightened up, Cinders glistening like new iron in the starlight. He listened for sounds, then strode into the ruins, surrounded by the moan of wind traveling through the weeds.
As Polk crunched on his apple, a voice suddenly echoed from the dark.
The voice was very excited and very, very young. Jus, Polk, and Escalla turned.
A young man slithered down from the earthen ramparts, holding a crossbow in his hands. Chain mail rattled, and a long sword on the boy’s beltthreatened to spill him head over heels. He stumbled in his eagerness to keep his captives covered as he yelled out into the dark.
“Sergeant! Sergeant! I’ve found them! I’ve got the Takers!”
Escalla instantly turned invisible. Jus held his peace until three more men arrived in a clank and clatter of chain mail armor.
One of the newcomers took one look at the youth and bellowed in rage, “Private Henry! Do these individuals look in the remotest wayreptilian?”
“N-no, Sarge, but-”
“Do they perhaps have claws or scales of a lizardlikepersuasion of which I am unaware?”
“Uh-” The recruit waved a hand in vindication. “But Sarge!See! The big one’s wearing black!”
“Private Henry, you are a pustulous canker on the hallowedbutt of the border patrol!”
Annoyed by his recruit as only an old soldier could be, the sergeant looked Jus and Polk carefully up and down. He kept his voice loud and his hands resting near his weapons.
“Gendemen! Geltane is a strange place to be taking a strollin the dark.”
The Justicar made a bass growl in agreement, then nodded slowly in the dark. “I’m on a private commission, hunting a murderer.” Juslooked about at the ruined town. “Someone raided the refugee camp of Sour Patch.The whole adult population’s gone.”
With a bitter huff of breath, the sergeant relaxed. His martial fury gone, he revealed himself to be a very tired soldier. The man shook his head and pointed across the ruined town.
“Well, I guess they must have come through here. Gods knowhow. It’s at least twenty miles from here, but someone did see movement in theruins just before dawn.” The man turned and led the way along through the ruins.“Found a trail. Looks like a couple of hundred people. The trail just seems tostart right about here, and we lose it about half a mile farther on.”
“Lose it how?”
The sergeant gave the helpless shrug of an angry, frustrated man. “You got me beat. Come and see.” The man clicked his fingers. “PrivateHenry, you light one field lantern in the approved fashion! Now, boy!”
It took Private Henry a good three minutes to manage the mysteries of his tinderbox. As he worked furiously away in a corner, a little patch of svelte perfection popped into existence beside Jus and produced a brilliantly glowing stone upon a string.
“Hey, J-man! Hey, guys!” Escalla waved to the soldiers. “Inthe interests of the preservation of social skills, I’m Escalla, the one withthe big nose is Polk, and the man with the dog skin is your pal and mine, the Justicar!” Escalla produced her packets of sweets and began to hand out allaround. “Here you go. Good for the soul. Private Henry? Good tinderbox, man! Youreally know how to strike those sparks!” Stared at by astounded soldiers,Escalla slapped her hands and rubbed them together. “So what have we got?”
The Justicar laid a level glance upon Escalla and said, “Mypartner, Escalla.” Jus bent down, producing his own charmed light stone-a giftfrom Escalla many weeks ago. “Did anyone see who made these tracks?”
