worm than a tongue. 'Does it wish the same as before?'
'No, nothing so long term. We require you to guide us through your tunnels, far to the west.' Then, at the creature's puzzled blinking, 'Ah, in the direction of the sunset. For at least…' Damn it, how do the little creeps measure distance? '… at least, um, thirty-thousand paces. My paces, not yours.'
'It wishes to walk, yes, to travel below? Through his paths and corridors? This, he does not like, no, has never allowed. What does it offer?'
Corvis pretended not to hear Irrial's whispered 'I don't have a lot more where that first one came from.' He gestured vaguely toward the cave mouth, still hidden from outside by Seilloah's phantasm.
'Many men hunt us. I offer you the chance to spill their blood, to avenge the theft of your ancestors and the rape of earthen wombs, as I did before.'
The gnomes cocked their heads toward one another, puppets with loosened strings, and whispered in tones that Corvis felt vibrating in his gut and through the floor.
'No,' the speaker grumbled finally, 'he does not think so, no, does not agree. Before, the Rebaine offered him crowds, yes, homes and cities high above, far above, where normally he cannot go, no, cannot reach. And now it thinks these men here, yes, in the hills above are payment? They are not payment, no. He can take them whenever he wants, anytime, yes.
'And he can take the Rebaine, yes, and its companions.'
'That would not be wise of him,' Corvis warned, rising to his feet with Sunder in hand. 'It would also be inappropriate.'
The gnome, which had just begun to step forward, paused. 'It thinks so? He wonders why…'
'Because I never actually did release you from my service,' he said with a smile. 'You agreed to serve. It's been some time, but I never ended our agreement.'
It was a feeble argument, and he damn well knew it. But he knew, too, that the gnomes did not share humanity's sense of time, and given their peculiar, even alien thought patterns, it just might…
No.
The laughter of the gnomes sounded like a man choking on gravel. 'It is foolish, yes, pathetic and stupid! He will eat of its flesh, suck the juice of its inner white stones!'
'Don't do this.' Corvis wasn't sure if he was still warning, or if he'd crossed the line into pleading. He felt Irrial moving behind him, heard the rasp of steel on leather as she drew. 'We've worked well together before. We might again. Don't ruin it now.'
'He-'
Every face in the chamber turned as the cat yowled, a wretched, high-pitched squall of pain and terror. Belly pressed to the floor, it fled from beside Irrial's feet and out into the uneven hills. For long seconds, humans and gnomes peered at the illusory wall, as though they could follow the animal's flight.
Even as Corvis directed his bemused attention back to the gnomes, the foremost creature, the one who'd spoken, abruptly twitched. It was faint, scarcely a shiver, and the former warlord wouldn't even have been certain he'd seen it were it not for what came next.
'It is correct,' the creature said thoughtfully. Was there, perhaps, just a slight change in its timbre? 'He has worked well with the Rebaine in the past, yes, before.' The creature twisted its head completely around to address the others behind. 'He will guide it, yes, as it has asked.'
Every other gnomish jaw dropped in a surprisingly human expression-assuming one allowed for the odd angles and excessive length of those gaping maws. 'He is confused,' one of them-presumably the one who'd been addressed-began. 'Why does he-'
The speaker raised a crooked arm overhead, a motion more comical than threatening. 'He is not asking, no! He is telling! He will guide it, yes, will do what he says!'
The pronouns were, at this point, impossible for the bewildered humans to follow, but the gnomes obviously got the message. The one who'd been yelled at actually managed to look a bit hurt. 'He will obey,' it murmured petulantly.
The speaker nodded, a hideous gesture that took its head so far back it actually touched between its misshapen shoulder blades, and then stepped through a seamless stone wall without another word. Most of the others went their own way as well, leaving the sulking guide along with a very confused Irrial and Corvis. For several long moments, they stood motionless, unsure of what to say.
'It comes,' the creature finally snapped at them, 'yes, follows swiftly. He will not wait for it, no.' With that it stuck its arm elbow-deep in the wall. 'Go, pass through, yes.'
'What about-?' Irrial began.
'I'm here.' From a narrow crevice a strange shape emerged, soft and malleable as though extruded from some digestive orifice within the rock. Only as it hit the ground and scuttled toward them did Corvis recognize the two-foot salamander for what it was.
And it was then, finally, that he realized just what she had done.
Face pale, he knelt down-ignoring the impatient muttering of their reluctant guide-and lifted the creature to perch upon his shoulder. 'We're dead if they figure out what you did before we're gone,' he whispered.
'They won't,' she assured him quietly. 'My previous host is, ah, somewhat indisposed. I walked him off a deep ravine down in the caves. It probably didn't kill him, but he won't be talking to anyone else for a good long-'
'Come!' the gnome shrieked at them. 'Or he goes alone, yes!'
Steeling himself, Corvis stepped toward the wall. Every sense, every instinct, screamed at him to stop, that he was about to walk face-first into a solid barrier. Though he'd intended to stride casually through, he couldn't keep himself from raising his hands before him, just to be sure.
It was, he decided later when he'd calmed his mind enough for rational thought, rather like pushing through a curtain of beef fat. It failed, for half a heartbeat, to give at all, and then it oozed around his fingers, his arms, his face and chest. It crept over every inch of his body, pressing deep into his nostrils, the hollows of his mouth and ears. No, not over-through; he felt it sliding inside him, in his throat, his lungs, his gut. He struggled with a panic more primal than any fear he'd ever known, forced his gibbering brain to ignore the sensation of crushing suffocation that threatened to overwhelm him. Despite his efforts to blank his mind, he wondered what would happen if the impatient, spiteful little creature pulled its arm from the rock, allowing the wall to return to its normal state, and he found himself on the edge of hyperventilating despite his seeming inability to breathe.
And then he was through, standing in darkness as unrelenting as a demon's heart. Though the viscous stone had felt wet and pasty as it passed over him-through him, and he shuddered at the thought-it hadn't clung at all. He was no dirtier than when he'd begun, not the slightest bit damp save for his frightened sweat. For a time he simply stood, breathing deep of the stale but welcome cavern air, listening as the salamander on his shoulder did the same. He heard a horrified gasp beside him and knew that Irrial was through as well.
The air around them was dry, dusty, and very, very still. Wherever they were, it was a long way from any proper passage back to the world of light and wind.
'It follows.' Corvis jumped at the voice; he'd heard no hint of the gnome's passage. He took a moment to mutter a spell, sending a gentle light emanating from his left hand. The gnome, presumably quite capable of seeing in the dark, glanced back with some irritation, but he felt his own tension ebb somewhat, and sensed some of the stiffness pass from Irrial's shoulders as well.
Though there was, for the moment, nothing to see, nothing around them but an uneven passage of featureless stone. Corvis waved for the gnome to proceed, and the humans fell into step behind.
'I don't understand,' Irrial whispered, trusting the echo of their footsteps to keep her voice from their guide's ears. 'I thought you couldn't inhabit anything with a soul.' She, too, had clearly pieced together what Seilloah had done to ensure the gnomes' cooperation.
'That's correct,' the salamander told her. 'I can't.'
'But-'
'If you ever hear someone refer to gnomes as 'soulless,' ' Corvis said, 'they're not just saying the bastards are vicious. It's the gods' honest truth. I have no idea what the little shits really are or where they came from- nobody does, as far as I know-but they're even less human than they look.'
Irrial shivered. Then, 'So why-?'
It was the witch, this time, who anticipated her question. 'Because they have a sense of self, and a will of
