"Spiders?"
"Even worse. They've no brains at all."
Edgur felt his exultation fading. Even killing Joren was proving too hard for him.
"There is a way-a good way-to remove your rival," Dare said quietly. "It has the benefit of being 'hands-on,' so to speak, and also will shield you from any blame whatsoever."
"What is it?"
"I can provide you with a charm that will allow you to take on the aspects of any animal you choose-a wolf, a panther, a giant constrictor. In that form you will be able to find your enemy and extinguish him."
Edgur pondered the idea with growing excitement. "Yes, that would work! None of Joren's fancy moves or money can save him from a wolf! Riliana will be heartbroken by her suitor's death-"
"And all the more susceptible to the comfort of another," Dare finished for him.
"I'll do it!"
Dare leaned forward, grinning. Edgur was disturbed to see the boy's teeth were shockingly long and pointed.
"What will it be?" he said. "A wolf?"
Edgur averted his eyes from the boy's feral visage. "Uh, no. There aren't many wolves in these parts." He remembered a story he heard in the guildhall kitchen about a bear ravaging local herds of cattle. "I think… a bear. A grizzly bear."
"Excellent choice! There's no fiercer fighter in all the forest." Dare pressed his fingertips together, arching his fingers to create a tent with his hands. A greenish spark appeared between his palms, a spark that rapidly grew larger until it assumed the shape of a convex disk. Dare's youthful brow knotted, and the muscles of his thin arms tightened as he concentrated. The disk became a solid amulet two inches wide, and when Dare ceased his silent conjuration, it fell to the moss at Edgur's feet. He picked it up. It was an emerald of fantastic size and beauty.
"You hold in your hands living mana of the forest made solid. " Dare said. "Half its power will be expended when you use it to transform into a bear. The other half will be needed to make a man of you again. " Dare thrust a finger at Edgur. "Do not lose the amulet! Without it you cannot change into a bear or change back once assuming ursine form. Do you understand?"
"Yes, great one. As a bear, will I have human knowledge and thoughts?"
"Yes, but you may not always act on what you think. A bear is not a man. Remember that. "
Edgur carefully placed the amulet in his coat pocket. When he looked up again, Dare was gone. The bright snake began to lose its glow, and the night rapidly encroached on the clearing once more. A thousand eyes encircled Edgur, but this time he wasn't afraid.
"Thank you, great one!" he shouted. "I'll never forget this!"
The great white owl rose from the oak tree and flapped away, his soft wings inaudible against the rising background of crickets, peeping frogs, and whippoorwills. Phreus circled until Edgur thrust his broken sword in his belt and hurried after the patient bird. The owl's snowy plumage was easy to see even in pitch darkness.
When he was gone, a panther warrior slowly approached the oak tree. His shoulder was bloody, and the end of a crude iron rapier protruded from the wound. The panther crept to the tree and prostrated himself among the gnarled roots.
"Master, I am here," said the panther raggedly. "Did I do well?"
Dare's voice filtered through the sighing oak leaves. "You did well, Aga. You drove the human straight to me and played the stalking panther to perfection."
"You're most gracious, master."
"Pull out the broken blade, Aga, and I will heal you."
Paws were useless for the task, so the panther had to use his teeth. His wound burned fiercely, and he closed his jaw delicately on the ten-inch blade. With a single sideways wrench of his head, the panther warrior drew out the broken blade. His caterwaul carried far in the darkness, raising the hair on Edgur's neck as he hurried home.
Phreus left Edgur at the gates of Argivia. The young man was so excited by his night's adventure he couldn't sleep. He spent the time till dawn writing a passionate love letter to Riliana, predating it a day hence. By then Joren would be dead and Riliana his.
He knew his enemy's habits. Joren divided his evening hours among three taverns: Penkin's, the Acorn amp; Hammer, and the Midus Well. Joren and his cronies would be at Penkin's come sundown. Edgur managed to put in a full day's work at the coppersmithy, brushing off his colleagues' questions about the duel. All was well, he told Meckie and Artulle; the duel was over, and so was his love for Riliana.
He stayed late at the workshop, ostensibly to repair a double boiler sent over from Tanton's distillery. When the shop was dark and empty, he got out the emerald amulet and placed it on his worktable. Even by lamplight the gem was dazzling. Though the surface was smooth, the amulet was faceted internally like a star, each line cleaving from the center to the outside edge. The color was deep and dark, with gold highlights fracturing off the inner facets.
Edgur donned his good jacket and placed the amulet in the inside pocket. He slipped his letter to Riliana under a pile of guild correspondence going out in the morning. The city watch announced the hour. It was time to go.
Penkin's was at the bottom of a steep hill near the harbor. Argivia's harbor had steep, bowl-shaped sides. All the warehouses and businesses catering to the sea trade were sited down in the bowl, while the landlubber residents inhabited the high ground above the harbor. Penkin's was a typical waterfront dive, a gaming house as well as a tavern, much frequented by sea captains and foreign traders. Edgur trod down the steep cobblestone lane, the shore breeze blowing in his face as he went.
He thought about the first time he met Riliana, at the guildhall of the coppersmiths during the Feast of Fruits. He'd not wanted to go, but Meckie, Artulle, and the other journeymen chided and teased him for two weeks until he sullenly decided to attend. Normally he didn't like formal events. Graybeard guildmasters made windy speeches while he suffered in the stiff, uncomfortable guild uniforms. Edgur forgot all that when he beheld Riliana.
Her hair was black as onyx, and her enormous dark eyes spoke of wit, kindness, and passion. He was smitten, and he followed her around the hall like a marionette. She was good-natured about it and even consented to dance with him. Their one slow caper was the most wonderful six minutes of his life. The idyll ended when Joren showed up. Riliana introduced the big sap as her fiance. Joren monopolized Riliana for the rest of that night.
But Edgur didn't give up just because she was engaged. He contrived ways to return to his master's house and steal brief moments with her.
"What will you do if my father catches you loitering here?" Riliana once asked him.
"I'll tell him I love his daughter," Edgur replied simply.
She smiled. "Shouldn't you tell her first?"
Edgur ran straight into the broad back of a sailor idling at the red brick quayside. Muttering apologies, the youth got his bearings and realized he'd walked ten yards past Penkin's tavern. He quickly doubled back. It was still early, and the house was not yet full. Edgur skirted the patrons at the bar and took a dark booth in the corner, facing out so he could see whoever came in. Though he preferred Penregon beer, Argivia was a wine town, so Edgur nursed a flagon of muddy Korlisian burgundy and waited for his rival to appear.
He was in the dregs when Joren and four cronies entered, laughing and calling loudly for dice. The young blades cut a swath through the other gamblers clustered around the dice and card tables. Edgur watched Joren bet and lose more money in a single pass of the dice than he earned in a year.