How did the Justicar do it? Silence spells? Magical rings? The big man could move in total silence when he needed to. Horribly conscious of every snapping twig, Henry slithered off in pursuit of the chain monks, his pulse hammering like a mad thing in his throat. Tielle could kill him with a single gesture. The chain monks could flail him to death. Henry crept carefully in pursuit of the enemy, painfully aware that this was a very stupid thing to do.
He managed to keep Tielle in view. Pure white and alarmingly under-clad, she showed up in the darkness as a pale little shape. The hellish clamor of the chain monks apparently deafened her to the sounds of Henry creeping quietly behind her. Chain monks paused at the edge of the hill, then charged down upon a little campfire hidden in a gully full of stones. Chains whipped through the air, smashing into rocks and stones, lighting the night with sparks. The chain monks shrieked and gibbered, turning the gully into absolute chaos.
Polk came running swiftly over the lip of the gully, leaving the monks stamping and wailing far behind. The badger held the folded portable hole in his mouth, having dragged Escalla back inside before he ran. Polk slid to a halt and went flat behind a fold of earth, blinking as he tried to see Tielle.
"Son? Where is she, son? Damned badger eyes can't see squat!"
"Shhh!" Henry almost couldn't be heard above the monks' manic screams. He held a hand over Polk's snout. "Keep still!"
The campfire had been beaten into flinders, and every rock in the gully had been overturned. Henry thanked the gods that Tielle had come to the fire before the eagle warrior, but the cadaver was possibly still minus one foot.
The young soldier lay flat and watched as Tielle brought order to the chaos. Well-built, blonde, and angry, the faerie flew above her minions and lit the night brilliantly with a spell.
"Stop that! They're not here! Fan out and look for signs!" The faerie adjusted the thong of her costume, casting an eye over her slaves. "You! Bring me the crystal ball. Now!"
Henry watched as a chain monk uncovered the crystal ball from its robes. The monk was surrounded by its comrades, and Tielle hovered overhead. There was no way to reach in and steal the prize. Henry squeezed himself flat against the ground as Tielle turned in his direction, the faerie activating the crystal ball with a quick pass of her hands.
"Show me Escalla!" Glaring into the ball, Tielle made a noise of frustration. "She's gone! I can't see." Tielle swore, then opened her hands above the crystal ball. "And the other one! Show me the Justicar!"
The crystal ball apparently didn't respond. Tielle swore. She tried shaking the crystal ball, then slapping it. She was aware Henry existed but apparently couldn't remember his name to ask the crystal ball. She finally cursed and glared out over the gully.
"They're in that damned portable hole again!"
Tielle hissed, chewing a knuckle as she thought. Finding a well-folded portable hole in the middle the night was impossible. The faerie gave a sudden smile, looking malicious and sly.
"This is all for the best! We'll return to the vampire pool. We need more water from the pool, and more spells to use on all our little friends tomorrow." Tielle whirred her wings in annoyance. "Come on! They're only walking. By tomorrow morning, they won't have gone far. We can play a nice new round of the game tomorrow, after they've lost a full night's sleep."
With that, Tielle dismissed the whole night's work. She had two of her chain monks whip their manacles about two small, scrubby trees, bending their branches together while she lashed them into place with cord. Tielle consulted a leatherbound book held by one of her servants, then quickly drew symbols on the ground, branches, and trees. She tossed a handful of something through the arch of the branches, the wind catching some of her offering and blowing it away. The space beneath the arch instantly blazed into life, forming a shimmering blue doorway of a very familiar kind, and Tielle chivvied her shambling chain monks through the magic gate. With a last sneering look over the hills, Tielle passed beneath the arch, and the gateway went dead as she disappeared.
The return of absolute darkness was a shock. Henry half rose, blinking, with ghostly images of the glowing gateway dancing through his eyes. He kept a hand on Polk, keeping him still, while he tried to decide whether all of Tielle's monsters had gone.
The silence was absolute. Tielle's chain monks seemed incapable of stealth. Deciding to risk it, Henry rose and let Cinders take a sniff at the breeze. The hell hound made a careful check, then settled his fur.
Monster gone. Bad faerie gone. Magic here. Maybe big bit. All on trees.
"Thanks, Cinders."
Released at last, Polk sputtered in fury. "You let them go, boy! They got away!"
"Polk, there were a million of them!" Henry scuttled over to the tree arch, trying to think just like the Justicar. "No. The thing to do is follow them and steal the thing. Strike where they're off their guard."
"That ain't heroic, son! Man to man! Blade to blade! That's the way it's done!"
"Shh!" Henry felt Polk giving him a headache. He suddenly felt a lot sympathy for the Justicar. "All right. See if you can find what she used as a gate key. Some of it blew away in the wind."
Cinders did the hunting, sniffing as Henry thrust the hell hound's head at bushes and scanned him over the ground. All of a sudden, the big black hell hound thumped with his tail.
Girlie smell!
They finally found two long hairs caught against a bramble bush-fine golden hairs, almost a twin to Escalla's locks. Henry took them carefully in his hand and looked at the gate, then picked up Polk and made sure the badger had the portable hole held safe and sound.
"Right. We go in, we get the crystal ball, then use it to find a miracle!"
The badger gave a snort. "It's not too late to opt for a direct duel to the death, son! Go blade to blade with the minions of evil! Think of your career!"
Henry let the comment go. He advanced, waving one golden hair before him. As the hair flashed and disappeared, the gateway bloomed an eerie blue, and Henry stepped through into an echoing, empty cave.
12
Henry slowly straightened, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light. He let Polk slip from his grasp and looked owlishly about himself, hoping to escape notice simply by keeping still.
They stood in a limestone cavern. The walls gave off a strange silvery light, making the dead black spaces of the cavern soften at the walls. Henry saw shapes silhouetted down a tunnel far ahead and heard the rhythmic noise of chains as the monks marched away. This particular cave was lined with entrances and tunnel mouths-some high, some low. The magic gate had opened from one amongst a dozen identical holes.
Henry needed a way to mark this escape gate in the darkness. He ran his fingers underneath Cinders to scratch his own skull, then hit on an idea.
"Polk! Pee!"
"What was that, son?"
"We need a way for Cinders to sniff his way back here. Badger pee!" Henry kept his voice in a whisper. "Come on. You always wanted to make your mark."
"Son, toilet humor is beneath you."
Polk wandered off to have some privacy, and Henry kept watch on the distant, swaying shapes of the monks. He grew more nervous as the monsters slowly disappeared into the gloom.
"Polk! Haven't you finished?"
"I got stage fright, son! Now just hold your horses." Polk finally sighed. "All right, there! Are you happy? Now let's get moving!"
They moved. Henry scuttled forward, half bent over as though this might offer some sort of concealment. Polk walked his badger walk, his belly fur brushing at the dirt. They walked along a floor unnaturally clean and cared for, descending slightly downward as they followed the chain monks' trail.