by Kay L. Ling
Elias looked faintly amused. “We’ll manage. The gnomes will help.”
Lana eyed the carcass. Then what? Bury it behind the castle?
The book resumed its annoying pleas for help. “Save me! Do not let them take me away! Human filth! Thieves! Savages!”
It might not be wise, but Lana couldn’t resist taunting the book. “Oh, shut up! Your buddy can’t help you; he’s dead. And he’ll make a mighty fine purse and matching luggage.”
Chapter 4
Jules and Elias bent over the dead pythanium and stroked its smooth, geometrically patterned scales.
“I’d like to see you in pythanium shoes,” Jules teased, glancing over his shoulder at Lana. “Maybe I’ll make myself matching boots.”
“Barbaric!” the spell book cried.
“Barbaric? Your cover is leather,” Lana shot back. “Where do you think leather comes from? Dead creatures!” Curiosity overcoming her squeamishness, she finally screwed up her courage and crouched down to touch the scales. “Too bad I can’t take anything from Shadow home with me.”
“We’ll make you a souvenir and you can keep it in my cave,” Elias suggested.
“Have you guys ever been this close to a pythanium?”
“No,” Elias said as he examined one of its wings. “It’s not wise when they’re alive, and I’ve never seen a dead one.”
“I never expected to touch one,” Jules said. He began to uncoil the pythanium to get a better look. “I’ve seen them carry off animals that weigh twenty or thirty pounds. They have very powerful legs.” He and Elias pulled the upper wings aside, exposing its legs.
Elias let out a sharp cry.
Lana jumped. “What’s wrong?”
“Look at the metal band around its leg!”
“What about it? Is it some kind of identification tag?”
“Leave now! You are in grave danger!” the spell book warned.
Hadn’t it said the same thing right before they entered S’s suite and plundered her vault?
Elias shifted his position to let in more torch light, and then leaned closer. Lana leaned closer, too, and saw a shimmering pink stone set into the leg band.
“Yes!” Elias cried. “I can’t believe it! It’s the ommort!”
Lana’s jaw dropped. “No way!”
Jules nearly pushed Elias aside in his haste to see it. “Are you sure?”
Elias laughed softly. “Yes, there’s no doubt about it. A pale, watery pink gem with distinctive chatoyancy—a cat’s eye stone—definitely an ommort mirkstone.”
Lana sat back on her heels. “I hate to give S credit, but that’s an ingenious idea—hiding the deadman’s switch on her pet pythanium.”
“Who’d look for it there?” Jules agreed.
“Even if someone saw it, chances are the pythanium would fly away with it,” Elias said, “so I can hardly believe our good fortune. If only it were this easy to solve every problem.”
“Easy? It could have killed us,” Jules protested.
Elias waved Jules’s concern away. “We had the situation under control.”
“Really? Even with my knife I—”
“How do we get the leg band off?” Lana cut in, heading off an argument.
“Simple. Like this.” Jules laid the creature’s leg against the stone floor, and with one stroke of his knife, whacked off the foot.
“That works,” she said with a grimace. “Is there any way to tell if the gem released all the spells?”
“No,” Elias said. “We must smash the gem and take no chances.” He sighed. “I hate to do it. They’re rare since so many have been destroyed.”
“Are you sure we can’t deactivate it somehow? What if you took it through the portal? Would its abilities change to something harmless?”
“They can’t be deactivated, and there’s no time for experiments. We need to destroy it now.” Elias stood and dusted off his hands.
Jules slid the metal band off the severed foot and held it up, studying the harmless looking pink gem. “It’s hard to believe something so small can cause so much trouble. I’ll smash it with a rock.”
They gathered up their sacks and headed for the rear entryway.
Both guards eyed Jules’s bloodstained clothing but didn’t say anything.
Elias said, “I’m afraid we left a mess in the main passageway.”
“We’ll take care of it.”
“Don’t bother. Sheamathan’s pet pythanium met a rather unfortunate end, but we’ll haul out the carcass and skin it tomorrow.”
The guards’ shocked expressions were comical. “As you wish,” said one in an awed voice.
“This I’ve got to see,” murmured the other.
They went outside. Jules set the ommort on the stoop, went off to find a rock, and with one blow, crushed the gem to harmless fragments.
“Ommort mirkstone deactivated,” Lana said with a satisfied smile. Destroying the gem had reduced the potential dangers.
Elias glanced about. “Let’s get these valuables back to Strathweed. Wait here and I’ll bring a cart around.”
“Would you like me to drive?” Jules called after him.
Elias turned. “I wouldn’t hear of it. What good is a moonlight drive with a pretty girl if you can’t sit beside her?” He walked away, humming to himself.
Lana said dryly, “I see he’s stepping up his matchmaking efforts.”
“He must have read my mind. Shadow is a dismal land, but it doesn’t look so bad at twilight. And in your company, even a barren wasteland looks charming.”
That took her by surprise. “I wouldn’t have guessed flattery was among your many talents.”
“Generally, it’s not, so feel free to take the credit. Or the blame. Whichever way you care to think of it.”
Once again, she found herself feeling shy around him. It was fascinating, yet intimidating, to spend time with a man who hadn’t been human since the late 1800s. For years, in his wolfhound form, he had needed her help and tried to communicate with her telepathically, which had terrified her. Now she was attracted to him, and she knew the feeling was mutual, but attraction wasn’t enough to sustain a relationship. How many good-looking men had she been anxious to date, and when she’d gotten the chance, they hadn’t impressed her. She didn’t know much about Jules. Only what she’d learned from old letters and from watching him these last few weeks, but so far, she was impressed. Unfortunately, obstacles stood in their way. She was twenty-two and he was twenty-six, but their chronological age wasn’t the problem. They were from different centuries and cultures, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Jules had hinted he planned to stay in Shadow.
What could they ever be to each other, living in two separate worlds? She had wrongly assumed that once he was human again he’d return to her world, find a job, and start a new life, but she understood why he might not want to. Shadow was more like the Fair Lands of the 1800s, and besides, he wanted to help the gnomes rebuild their world. She shared that goal, but she had other obligations. Soon, she’d be taking over the jewelry store.
The sound of the approaching cart interrupted her thoughts. The shaggy, ox-like maraku huffed and stamped its feet as the cart rolled to a stop.
“Your chariot awaits,” Jules said, motioning gallantly.
Elias sat up front on an elevated seat, holding the reins loosely in one hand, apparently at ease with this mode of transportation. The rear of the cart was open and had wooden benches around the sides. Jules helped her up, handed in the bags, and then climbed in and sat beside her. She was keenly aware of their thighs touching. He reached over and took her hand.
“Enjoy the ride,” Elias said, “but not too much. We need to keep watch. There’s more than one pythanium in the area, and other species we’d rather not encounter.” The cart rumbled off.
Jules said near her ear, “He just ruined our romantic drive.”
To some degree he had. This place was creepy even by daylight, and with night approaching, it only got
worse. She glanced about uneasily. “I hope he doesn’t drive through the pythanium feeding grounds.”
“The trail to Strathweed doesn’t go anywhere near there, but pythanium hunt at night, so we may see some in the air.”
“Other than pythanium, I haven’t seen anything but those horrid carnivorous bugs that live in the forest by the portal. Well, except for the dead thing I tripped over.” She shivered at the memory.
“What did it look like?”
She laughed nervously. “Hard to say since I only saw its skeleton. It was the size and shape of a fox, but the head was broad and flat, and it had a snout like a pig.”
“Ah,” Jules said, nodding. “A luffow. They’re ugly, but they won’t hurt you. They’re sort of like pigs and they eat anything—grass, weeds, bugs, and rodents. They have a keen sense of smell but terrible eyesight, and they’re easy prey for pythanium and other predators. Including the two-legged kind.”
“Ewwww. Have you ever—”
“Have I eaten one?” he rubbed his thumb gently over her knuckles. “In my wolfhound form, probably. Eating them seems disgusting, but there’s nothing wrong with the meat.”
If luffow was the only meat on the menu, she’d stick to salad. “Can’t the gnomes find anything better?”
“It isn’t easy. Many native species died when S destroyed their natural habitats, and her creatures hunted others to extinction. If you want meat here, you can’t be fussy.”
“And Elias . . . does he—”
“No. He hunts deer in the Amulet, and he eats native plants and grows root vegetables.”
She thought a moment. “I think Raenihel’s clan hunts there, too. They’ve served me venison. And I bet they raise vegetables in the Amulet since this land doesn’t look healthy enough to grow much.”
“That’s possible. The Amulet encompasses most of County Forest Park, so there’s plenty of usable land.”
“I was thinking. With no Amulet in Shadow, anyone who found the portal and figured out how to get through could come here. That doesn’t seem very safe. They could travel anywhere and bring in dangerous objects.”
“The Fair Lands Amulet protects Shadow to some degree, but it’s by keeping things in rather than keeping them out.”
She wasn’t sure she understood.
“Gems and other valuables can’t be stolen and taken to your world,” he said in response to her puzzled expression.
“Oh. I see what you mean. But Shadow should have its own Amulet, don’t you think? To keep things out that don’t belong.”
“Like venison and vegetables?” he teased.
Leaning closer, she lowered her voice. “Elias took advantage of the gnomes in his early days here, and that wouldn’t have happened if Shadow had an Amulet. He would have been confined to a small area, and they could have avoided him.” Loyal to Elias, Jules nodded, looking uncomfortable. She went on, “For that matter, what about Sheamathan? Where did she come from? The gnomes claim she’s from this world, but maybe she came from somewhere else. And Raenihel says she’s the last of her kind and hundreds of years old, but who knows?”
“You should talk to Elias. He knows more about S than I do. They weren’t exactly friends, but they spent time together. They must have discussed her background at one time or another.”
“I have a hundred questions about Shadow,” Lana said, frustration creeping into her voice. “I haven’t seen much of it. I asked Raenihel how big it is, and he had no idea. He told me gnomes don’t travel far.”
“That’s true. They’ve spent their whole lives in hiding. I don’t think Elias has gone very far, either. His knowledge of Shadow comes mostly from S.”
“So, it’s useless to ask him questions.”
“We have access to her library now, and she has books in her private suite too. I think we—” He broke off, looking up at the sky, and she followed his gaze. Not far away, three dark forms glided overhead, circling slowly.
“Pythanium?” she asked.
“Yes, they often hunt in twos and threes.”
“They won’t come after us, will they?”
“Probably not. They generally go after small game.”
The cart hit a rut, jostling them. Jules wrapped a protective arm around her and pulled her close. Under any other circumstances, she would have enjoyed it, but right now she was conjuring up images of being carried off by pythanium.
For a while, as if by mutual agreement, they stared straight ahead, refusing to look at the sky. When she finally looked up, the creatures were quite a way off, gliding low as if they had spotted something. One dived sharply, and then the others followed. They had probably found dinner.
The cart started up a hill and headed into the forest that stretched nearly all the way to Strathweed. Lana was relieved to leave the open land behind. She felt safer among the trees.
Elias drove over a fallen limb, and the cart rattled in protest. “Sorry!” Elias called over his shoulder. “How are you doing back there?”
“You drive like a madman, but we’re fine,” Jules said, laughing.
“Speak for yourself!” came a gruff voice near Lana’s feet. She jumped. She had forgotten about the spell book. “My spine is battered and you have shaken my pages loose. Never have I suffered such indignity. You have no concern at all for my wellbeing.”
Jules glanced at Lana and rolled his eyes. “It’s better treatment than you deserve.”
“I deserve a place of honor. I don’t suppose you brought my alamaria pedestal. I find its energy soothing.”
“Too bad,” Jules said. “You’ll have to make do without it.”
Hopefully, they wouldn’t regret being rude to the book. But without S to give it orders, what could it do to them?
“Where are you taking me?”
“Elias’s cave at Strathweed.”
“A cave,” the book moaned. “Before the week is over my cover will be moldy and my pages will curl. Naturally, you are too stupid to think of that.”
“Mold will give you character,” Jules said.
“You are not amusing. I will not be treated like a common book. I am a treasured repository of knowledge.”
Lana caught Jules’s eye and mimed tossing the book over the side of the cart. He smiled.
The book was loud enough that Elias could surely hear its complaints. Lana suspected he had driven through a couple holes just to annoy it.
Finally, Elias called back, “We’ll be home soon. I’ll break out the fialazza and we’ll relax by the fire.”
“Turn back! I refuse to live in a cave! You are in grave danger!” shouted the book, and then it began muttering insults.
Lana said, “Fialazza. That sounds like the perfect way to end the day.” She propped her feet on the bag, momentarily shocking the book into silence.
The ommort might have set off more spells before they smashed it, but on the bright side, they had cleaned out S’s vault full of gems and valuables, appropriated her annoying-but-useful spell book, and killed her pet pythanium.
She could hardly wait to see what tomorrow would bring.
Chapter 5
When Lana woke the next morning, she stretched and stared up at the cave ceiling, enjoying the novelty of being in another world. She supposed she should feel guilty for taking the only bed, but Elias had insisted.
Last time she was here, a week and a half ago, she’d slept on a pile of animal skins so Jules could have the bed. His transition from wolfhound to human had been touch-and-go for a while, a frightening ordeal for all of them. She had brought him back to life with Fair Lands gems, but naturally, he needed to heal and regain his strength, and it had been hard to convince him of that. Typical male pride, she thought with a grin. Men hated to look weak. Elias could be just as bad, and he was more than a century and a half old.
She watched both men as they slept. It was hard to imagine they had ever been close in age, but in the 1880s, when they’d first become friends, they’d been fifteen years apart. El
ias had continued to age in Shadow, although gem powers had slowed the aging process and extended his life. Jules, on the other hand, had stopped aging while he was a wolfhound. Both men had gone through ordeals in Shadow that had changed them in ways she couldn’t imagine, and their age difference was unimportant to them.
Her gaze drifted to the far side of the cave, beyond the sleeping men. The ever-present “fire” of glowing stones gave off a soft, orangey glow, and clumps of foxfire around the perimeter of the room shed a dim, bluish light. Eventually, the lack of windows and daylight in the cave would bother her, but now it seemed pleasantly womblike. Elias used lightgems and mineral oil lamps during the day, and spent a few hours outside so he wouldn’t turn into a mole.
She liked this room’s rustic charm. Elias had gotten most of his gnome-made furnishings when he’d first arrived. He used this side of the cave as a living room. He had a desk and chair, two large tables covered with gem and mineral samples, a few oversized wooden chairs with tapestry pillows, and a bedframe that held a mattress stuffed with weeds and moss. Along one wall, freestanding wooden shelves held books, ledgers, tools, and useful pottery items.
The other side of the cave, his kitchen and dining area, had crocks of food, shelves with cookware, and a wheeled stand with eating utensils and pottery dinnerware.
He must use a chamber pot at night; it was a fair walk to his ramshackle outhouse. She’d used it once, and it hadn’t been as bad as she’d expected, but not having a real bathroom and running water seemed like a hardship for anyone like her who loved a hot shower in the morning. But Elias had something that almost made up for it. An underground river ran through this network of caverns, and there was nothing that compared with the wild, primitive joy of bathing in a subterranean river while listening to the splash of water flowing around ancient, fallen stones.
She looked around for her lightgem. Like it or not, she would have to use the outhouse. Slipping out of bed, she slid her feet into her sneakers. She’d slept in a white, extra-large T-shirt that reached mid-thigh, so it should be okay to skip the jeans and go outside like this. She cupped her hand around the lightgem to block most of the light and tiptoed toward the broad crevice that led to the outer cave.
