“Fistandantilus used the dwarves as his tool!” the dwarf maid shot back. She rose to her feet, both fists planted on the table as she stared into the big dwarf’s face. “The dwarves were fools! You Neidar are always so happy to bring him up; I should think you’d be ashamed by the memory! Your ancestors fought and died for a foolish war and a foolish cause based on a foolish grudge. Oh, why can’t you understand!”
She sat back down suddenly as if exhausted. Harn looked at the surrounding dwarves, many of whom were gaping at the female with expressions ranging from awe to fright. Poleaxe shrugged and looked at her as if thinking about edging away.
“What’s the use?” Gretchan asked with a sigh as if all the anger had blown out of her. She shook her head. “I’m tired.”
“Um, well, then, maybe I can show you a place to stay,” Harn said. “You know, clean rooms, good beds. Just for sleeping, of course!” he added hastily.
“Fine. Please do that,” she replied.
When Gretchan had finished her beer-Poleaxe had consumed three mugs in the same interval-they rose and left the place. The big dwarf walked right beside the maid, who seemed to be her usual cheerful self again. Still, when Harn placed his arm around her shoulders, she smoothly shrugged herself free. Gus and Kondike lagged a short distance behind. The Aghar continued to glare at the hill dwarf’s back, and he had the comforting feeling that the dog shared his distaste. He continued to watch suspiciously as Gretchan stopped at several stands in the market, purchasing some vegetables and, from a butcher, a large joint of bone with bits of meat on it.
True to his word, Poleaxe led them to a clean, comfortable boardinghouse, waiting while Gretchan paid, in advance, for two rooms for the next week. When the big Neidar tried to follow them up the hall, she turned and spoke gently but with a firm undercurrent.
“You’ve done too much already. I just thank you so much for your helpfulness and hospitality,” she said, dazzling him with her smile. “I can find my way from here. But I do hope I’ll see you tomorrow! Perhaps at Moldoon’s again?”
Poleaxe looked as though he were going to argue. Before he spoke, Kondike pushed past him, stopped before his mistress, and dropped to the floor with a heavy sigh. The big, black dog simply lay there, head raised, brown eyes fixed upon the hill dwarf.
“Well, all right, then,” Poleaxe said, his eyes narrowing a bit. “Tomorrow it is.”
The sun was an excruciating, intolerable blaze against the blackness of the minion’s ghostly flesh. The harbinger of dawn crested the eastern horizon with surprising alacrity, stabbing forth those hateful rays while the creature was still licking its wounds from the scorching presence of the dwarf maid’s blazing staff.
Hissing in fury and discomfort, the monster sank through the ground with the coming of dawn and spent the long, warm day nestled directly in the bedrock of the hills, a hundred feet or more below the surface of the world. Time was no matter of concern for it as it dwelled easily among the ancient rocks and absorbed the cool power at the base of the world. The minion had a purpose to serve, a task to accomplish, but it had to wait until nightfall.
Only when the sun had fully set and cool night was lord of the world did it again emerge. Seeping upward, it emerged from the ground like smoke rising from a buried fire. At first immaterial, it coalesced in a woodland glade, taking shape, extending its great limbs, flexing talons and bringing the fires of the Abyss to those hateful, glowing eyes.
Spreading black wings, it finally took to the air, gliding silently through the night sky. The red and white moons were waning, setting low in the west, but the black moon was high and full. Unseen by most, that orb of black magic, named for the god Nuitari, cast its full measure across the widespread wings of the minion. The minion relished the cool wash of magic, a balm greater than warm sunlight on the flesh of a shivering dwarf or human.
When its red eyes fixed upon the ground, the creatures of the woodland sprang anxiously toward their dens or cowered under rocks or beneath steep riverbanks. Even hunting owls took to sheltered limbs, and wolves, lips curled against the unseen but dangerous flyer, cringed in the shadows and hoped for the monster to fly past. And always the minion did just that, for the moment. Its wide nostrils flared, it tasted the breeze and picked up the scent it sought.
Pressing forward with powerful wing strokes, the monster soared over ridges, flying in a straight line above a course of winding valleys that would have forced any land-bound traveler to meander wastefully. Soon the minion spotted the twinkling lights and the multitude of buildings that were proof of a sizable town, one that completely filled the bottom of a valley between two steep ridges. Many sounds of voices, some clamorous, some drunk, some singing, some angry, reached its sensitive ears. A smith was working late into the night at his forge, the pounding rings of his hammer marking a cadence that seemed to underscore the energy of the whole town. Cattle lowed and pigs squealed when the minion flew above their pens, sending the animals scurrying for their barns and sheds.
Circling back above the town, the minion flew low, trying-for the time being-to remain unseen by the denizens. Any one of them might look up to see the gaunt form of the monster silhouetted against the stars, and the beast did not want to take that chance. The memory of that searing light, the charring of the dwarf maid’s staff, caused its lips to draw back in an unconscious snarl. She had powers that the monster feared and must avoid.
But at the same time, her presence was a beacon.
The minion knew beyond a doubt that the maid and her staff were down in the town somewhere, and it would have to avoid her terrible talisman. At the same time, the minion understood that, near to the dwarf maid, it would find the gully dwarf that was its prey.
SEVENTEEN
Gretchan watched Harn Poleaxe swagger down the hall and through the inn’s entryway. She frowned, trying to decide what it was about the big Neidar that bothered her. She disliked him-he seemed an unusually stubborn and boastful example of his kind-and she suspected that he had not been telling her the whole truth about the Mother Oracle. What was his game? She knew she would probably have to talk to him again, employing all her considerable persuasive skills, to get to the bottom of the story. For the moment, however, she was glad to be rid of him.
“You and Kondike take this room,” Gretchan suggested, opening the first of the two she had rented. “I’ll take the other one.”
The little Aghar’s face grew pale. “Where is other one?” he asked nervously.
She laughed. “I keep forgetting how strange this all is to you. Don’t worry; I’ll be right next door.”
“ Where next door?” he pressed.
“Right here.” She touched the neighboring door. “But I’m going to go out for a while. I’d like you to stay here and keep an eye on Kondike for me.”
“Keep eye on him?” Gus looked skeptical. “My eyes on me! Two eyes for me!”
She sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. “Now don’t be silly. Of course you keep your own eyes, but just watch Kondike for me, all right? ‘Keep an eye on him’ means to pay attention to him. Don’t let him get into any trouble.”
In fact, Gretchan was perfectly comfortable leaving her dog alone in a room while she went about town; she had done so in many communities in the course of her travels. She was more worried about the gully dwarf getting curious and bumbling into trouble, so she had invented the little job to make sure he stayed put until she returned.
“I watch him,” Gus declared. “I keep eye on him! And two eyes on me!”
“Thank you. Here… these are for both of you.” She removed the packages she had purchased in the food market. The Aghar’s eyes lit up as she handed him a small wedge of cheese as well as a few carrots and radishes. Kondike welcomed the soup bone and immediately started gnawing away on the scraps of meat still clinging to the large joint.
But Gus was scowling again. “Where you go? You not eat food? You go see big Poleaxe dwarf?” he asked
