“But sometimes a twig is just a twig?” Peter said. “I can get behind that.”
“Tending to her woods,” Tiff said, under her breath. “Her woods. This is her battlefield. We should avoid making it a battle.”
I glanced back at Corvidae.
I was all too aware that Corvidae had taken up the spot at the very rear of the group. Putting us between a crone in the guise of a child and a wolf in crow’s clothing.
Couldn’t tip off the others without tipping him off. If I called his bluff as I had with Mags, would that be in my favor? Or, conversely, had he been watching us? Had there been a reason, other than his natural talents, that he knew that Roxanne had the blades under her jacket? Had he been watching earlier?
Was I being paranoid? Was this the ultimate conclusion the Abyss had been leading me toward, from the time it plotted that vision? Would I ruin a good thing, sabotaging myself?
I thought back to Peter’s words.
My pattern, my last-ditch measure. Fight, scrap, push forward. My last ditch measure, every step of the way, had been to sacrifice a little bit of myself, on the course to winning the fight.
I wouldn’t make it to the end of this if I kept it up.
I saw the satyr and maenad drop a little, tensing, as if poised for a fight, they’d seen some cue I hadn’t.
I brought the one wing in front of me, a shield, and because holding it to one side made me a bigger target.
Mara turned on the spot, facing us head on.
14.06
“You’re intruding.”
The words carried. They had an impact that went beyond sound and language.
It was as though the very forest reacted. Drawing closer. A pressure weighing on us. The satyr shifted his footing, uncomfortable, and the weight on the snow made it compact. He only dropped by an inch, but it was a surprise, and it caught all of us off guard.
I had little doubt that everyone that had a heart could feel it pounding, while they wondered just how dangerous this particular patch of woods was.
Would the ground swallow us up?
Could we do anything if it did?
We’d come here for a reason, and we might as well focus on it. Dragons and giants aside, our big concern here was what happened to the town.
Might as well get straight to the point. “Jacob’s Bell is being drawn into the Abyss.”
“I know. Good,” the crone told us.
“How do you know?” Tiff asked.
“The small warband on my doorstep, blood fresh on their hands, claws, and breath, darkness in their eyes. They demand answers of me? Presumptuous.”
I spread my wings and arm, bowing a bit. “Mara Agnakak.”
“Don’t bow to me, Atawateecim. I’ll see it as mockery.”
“Um,” Tiff started.
The crone didn’t let her finish. “You betray custom. One should give notice before trespass. The laws are with me in this. The laws are with me in any and all retribution I take.”
Her words took on a heavier accent and a fair degree of force as she said retribution.
“How were we supposed to give notice?” Tiff asked. “There’s nothing in the books, and in the past few weeks I’ve been here-”
“I am not at your beck and call,” the crone said. “I would not give out my name or share a means of finding me.”
She was articulate, even if her voice was accented, and awfully good at putting emphasis to words. Not unlike certain members of my family in that. I glanced at Roxanne and Peter. But in her case, she’d had a lot of practice. She’d been around for a while, even if she hadn’t done much talking in that time.
I really wished I had a better idea of how she operated. I was in the dark about her particular talents and abilities, or how to counter those talents and abilities. I might as well have been back on day one. In the cold, freezing woods, dealing with the Briar Girl’s specialized zombies.
There were differences, though. Rose wasn’t here, and it was a good thing, rather than the inverse, I had allies, and I was… different.
Very very different.
“Should we have contacted the ambassador?” I asked.
“That stupid little child? I would not have answered.”
“Meaning we should have called before answering, but you… had no intention of answering the call?” Tiff asked.
“Yes,” the young crone said.
“That seems like a pretty big flaw in these rules,” Evan muttered under his breath.
“Shh,” I said.
“You can’t complain if we had no other avenue,” Tiff said.
She was trying to sound firm, which wasn’t her usual pattern, and she was almost succeeding. I was a little surprised to see that she had it in her. She’d come a long way from the person I’d first met, who’d stuck to Alexis like glue, mouth shut.
“You had avenues,” the crone replied. “Not coming was one.”
“Mara,” I said. “I don’t want to start something here. We’re not approaching with hostile intent. I don’t want to be enemies.”