by Jim C. Hines
“Such arrogance,” said Kas.
“Not at all, my diminutive friend. But I would wager on any of my companions over you and your withered wife.”
“And why is that?” Yog asked, sounding amused.
“Because they’re Heroes.”
CHAPTER 20
LEECH
Leech sat atop the southern wall of Grayrock, examining the nymph’s remains. The uneven stone wall was a far cry from his dissection table back in Brightlodge, but it provided a relatively flat surface with plenty of sunlight, and the angle drained any runoff down the outside.
“I’ve seen nine hundred sixteen and a half dead bodies in my time.” Shroud’s casual comment made Leech jump. The man had come up behind him without a sound. “This is the first time I’ve seen one burned from the inside. Well, the second if we’re counting acid burns.”
“She drowned and burned at the same time.” Leech set his knives aside and stretched his back and shoulders. Hunching over the corpse for so long was doing bad things to his spine. “It was a quick death, and a fascinating one. But it makes a proper autopsy a challenge. How’s Glory doing?”
“Still sleeping. Inga and Greta are with her.” Shroud crouched to study the corpse more closely. Of all the Heroes Leech had met, Shroud came closest to sharing Leech’s interest in the body’s workings. “Have you found anything useful?”
“Wait ’til you see this.” Leech touched Shroud’s arm.
“What are you doing?”
“Watch and see. It’s pretty exciting.” Leech drained a sliver of Shroud’s life energy and channelled it into the body: specifically, into the right arm.
The nymph’s hand twitched.
An arrow slammed into the corpse. Shroud had drawn and shot in less time than it took to inhale.
“It’s all right,” Leech said quickly. “Stop shooting the dead body!”
Shroud returned the second arrow to his quiver. “Just making sure. You know, when a Conclave assassin kills someone, they stay dead.”
“She is dead. Mostly.” Leech turned away to grab a sack of bones he had brought along from Brightlodge. He dumped them in a pile. “I’d been playing around earlier with the fragments from Yog’s skeletal fence.”
Leech picked up a jawbone and held it out to Shroud, who took it without flinching. “Look at those teeth. Chompers that loose should’ve popped right out the first time the skull tried to bite someone. But we’ve seen ’em chew through rope and leather, not to mention flesh. When Yog sends her bones against us, her Will must take the place of gums, muscle, and other connective tissue.”
“Makes sense.” Shroud tossed the jawbone back.
Leech transferred another drop of life into the jawbone. The teeth clicked and rattled. “I’d already figured out how to drain the energy from the bones, to protect us from another attack. But it works both ways. I think this is how she animates them, by siphoning some of her own excess life and power into the bones.”
“And this helps us how?”
“By itself? It doesn’t. But isn’t it fascinating?” He pointed to the nymph. “Yog’s done the same thing with her Riders. Skye’s life is gone, but a bit of Yog’s energy remains. I wouldn’t be surprised if Skye’s bones eventually joined the rest in Yog’s fence.”
Shroud’s expression brightened. “Does that mean if we kill Skye—again—we’d be killing part of Yog?”
“I don’t think so. But I discovered something else.” He set the jaw aside and picked up a finger bone. As before, he fed the bone just enough to start it twitching, but this time he didn’t stop. The bone twitched more violently, then—
Leech pointed triumphantly to the other bones. “Did you see?”
“I see that finger bone jumping about like …” Shroud fell quiet as the pile of bones shifted.
Leech hurled the finger bone into the lake. Several tiny bones hopped out of the pile and clacked against the stone, like fledgling birds trying to follow their mother.
“I’m not sure, but I think the bones that reacted were from the same body. Before Yog turned them into a fence, like. They’re still connected.”
“Any chance you can control them the way Yog does?” asked Shroud.
“I doubt it.” He picked up part of a skull. “But if any of this fellow is in Yog’s fence, I might be able to disrupt that part of her assault. The same goes for the rest of these bony bits and bobs.”
Leech glanced out over the lake, wondering how Ben was doing. “When Yog cast her spell on Kas and Ben, do you think she transformed their true bodies into doll form? If we chiselled Kas open, would we find miniature stone lungs and intestines inside? Or did she rip the mind from the flesh and transfer it into a pre-made doll? If that’s the case, you’ve got to wonder what became of the original bodies.”
Shroud was staring at him.
“Sorry. Just thinking out loud.”
“Something’s wrong.” Shroud pointed to the ground below, where Inga was running towards them, sword drawn.
“We’ve got visitors!” Inga bellowed.
Shroud unravelled a climbing rope, secured it to the crenulations, and slid down the outside of the wall. He jogged to the edge of the woods and scaled a tree, nimbly disappearing into the foliage. From there, he would have a clear shot at anyone approaching the town.
Leech gathered his bones and followed, albeit less gracefully. “Is it Yog?”
“We’ll know soon enough,” said Inga.
Leech could hear raucous laughter in the distance, too faint to discern the details. “Sounds like redcaps.”
He and Inga made for the river. Inga moved ahead. Leech drew a deboning knife and waited. This could be part of Yog’s assault, or it could just be a band of redcaps who had heard about the fall of Grayrock and were coming to plunder and cause mischief, not necessarily in that order.
A single figure jogged through the shadows. He moved like a human, not a redcap. “Wait!” Leech squinted. “That’s Rook.”
“Are you sure?” asked Inga. “I can’t see his face from here.”
“I can.” Leech was already running. “A good surgeon needs good eyesight.”
Inga followed, but the weight of her equipment slowed her down, meaning Leech was the first to see the extent of Rook’s injuries. That many cuts, bruises, and what looked like at least one dislocation would have killed a lesser man; Rook simply looked peeved.
“Leech. Good man.” Rook pointed to his right shoulder, which bulged a good three inches from where it should have been. “Fix that for me so I can finish whipping these dogs.”
“What’s after you?”
“Just redcaps. Though I imagine Yog will be on her way soon enough.” He shook his head. “I hate this plan.”
Leech put his knife in his teeth long enough to grasp Rook’s arm, pull it out, and pop the shoulder back into place. Rook’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t make a sound.
“What about the others?” asked Inga.
“Alive, last I knew.”
Leech took the knife from his mouth and stepped past Rook as the redcaps closed in. “Ever wondered whether redcaps’ hearts are as twisted as the rest of their bodies?” He took a small vial from a padded pouch at his belt, removed the stopper, and carefully dipped the blade into the blue-black goo inside. “Let’s find out.”
One of Shroud’s arrows took the first redcap. Leech’s knife spun through the air to lodge in the abdomen of the second.
The redcap looked down at the knife. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but the skin around the blade quickly began to darken and blister. “Och. A’m feelin’ a bit wabbit.”
His eyes rolled up in his head, and he collapsed. That was when Inga charged past like a bull, using her shield to send three more redcaps flying into the river.
Another tried to get behind Inga and stab her with a short sword. Leech pulled the life from that one, making him stagger, and transferred the energy into Rook’s body. It wasn’t enough to kill the redcap, but it slowed him
enough for Inga to whirl and finish the job with her own sword.
The fighting ended as swiftly as it had begun. Leech brushed his hands together and turned back to Rook.
“What was that?” Rook asked, nodding at the diseased and dying redcap.
“A particularly nasty infection. You don’t want to know the details. Just make sure you don’t touch the body. Or the ground around him. In fact, we should probably burn the corpse to be safe.” He poked and prodded at Rook’s injuries. “You’re bleeding internally. You’d have dropped dead before the day was over.”
Rook shrugged his good shoulder. “I should have died in the Deadlands more times than I can count.”
Leech found two more redcaps who weren’t dead yet and used their remaining life to stop the bleeding, mend several bones, and seal some of the cuts covering Rook’s body. “You’ll live, but you need rest.”
“I’ll rest when I’m dead.”
“Which will be sooner than you expect if you try to fight in this condition,” Leech said.
“What happened?” asked Inga.
“Kas betrayed us. Sterling saw it coming. He got the others into Yog’s hut so they can try to figure out where the old witch is hiding her life.” Rook touched his left eye, which was swollen halfway shut. “This might all be going to Sterling’s plan, but when we’re through, I still intend to put that doll to a grindstone and wear him down to sand.”
Nothing Leech said would persuade Rook to rest. Inga had to threaten to physically tie Rook up and carry him off before the man grudgingly agreed.
“He’s as mule-headed as my cousin,” Inga said fondly.
They set him up a small shelter just inside the wall, atop a floating wardrobe Shroud lashed to the gates. Rook groaned as he settled back. He placed his crossbow at his side. The gate and the assorted debris would give him cover while allowing him to shoot anything that approached.
“How long do you think we have before Yog arrives?” asked Inga. They had gathered a short distance beyond the wall. Shroud was sketching traps and ambush points in the mud and muttering to himself about the most efficient way of cutting down an approaching force.
“Depends on how fast a walking hut can travel.” Leech looked out at the woods. “She can’t kill the others ’til she deals with Ben.”
“We won’t let that happen.” Inga peered over Shroud’s shoulder. “Maybe we should wake Glory up and have her start laying down her own traps.”
“Good thinking,” said Shroud. “I passed Greta as she was leaving, and she told me Glory looked to be resting more comfortably.”
“What do you mean leaving?” Inga searched the surrounding land. “Where did she go?”
“She said something about bringing a pike to Founder’s Hill for luck.”
“Are you thick in the head? You thought nothing of an unarmed child’s walking off alone while we’re waiting for Yog and her army to come crashing down on our heads?”
Shroud shrugged. “That child was old enough to follow us through the woods, and levelheaded enough to save Glory’s life.”
“Leech and I are going after her.”
“We are?” asked Leech.
“If she’s run into trouble, she’ll need healing.” To Shroud she said, “We’ll be quick as we can. Signal if you see Yog.”
With that, Inga set off running. Fortunately, they didn’t have far to go. A well-trod path led northwest into a small clearing in the forest, where Greta sat in front of an old stone marker. Moss and dirt covered much of the rectangular stone.
“What are you doing out here?” Inga demanded.
Greta jumped and bit back a cry. “Oh. Inga. I didn’t hear you.”
“She clanks like a kitchen mishap, and you didn’t hear her?” asked Leech.
“I was thinking.” Greta’s face was pale, and her eyes red. Judging from the streaks through the dirt on her cheeks, she’d been crying. “I just needed a little time alone. I thought I’d lay a pike on Grayrock’s grave. It’s stupid, I know, but they say it brings you luck. Only I didn’t have a pike, so I drew one in the dirt.”
Inga softened. “There, there. Don’t worry, Inga’s here. What’s really troubling you, lass?”
“After I pulled Glory out of the lake, I started shaking.” Greta looked away.
“Seems like a normal reaction to chilly water,” said Leech.
“It wasn’t that. I was afraid. Seeing my home destroyed, and Skye trying to kill us all … I tried not to let the rest of you see. Heroes aren’t supposed to get scared. But then those redcaps arrived, and I saw how hurt your friend Rook was …”
“I know!” crowed Leech. “Did you see that dislocation? His arm was popped out enough, you probably could’ve twisted the whole thing right off!”
Inga glared. “Why don’t you check around to make sure nothing sneaks up on us, and I’ll take care of Greta here.”
Leech shrugged and left the two of them alone. There wasn’t much to see. A few old stumps from when the site had been cleared. A ring of pine trees with their blue-green branches intertwined.
He pushed through the pines, but found nothing save for a black squirrel, a half-rotted log, and a small hornets’ nest. A mosquito landed on his wrist. The bite was sharper than any needle or blade. Leech had barely felt a thing when it bit him.
He carried the mosquito back to the clearing, still watching it feed, and sat down on one of the stumps. On a whim, he drained the life from the mosquito—it seemed only fair—and tried to transfer that life into the tree stump. He had never been able to tap the energy of plants the way he did.…
“What is it?” asked Inga.
He dropped to one knee and placed both hands on the stump. He could see where each stroke of the axe had bitten into the wood. “Dead trees. Dead bones.”
“You sound like Blue. What are you talking about?”
Leech reached for the darkness, searching for that tiny, short-lived spark that had lingered—if only for a moment—within the stump. Greta whimpered and backed away. He must have let his shadow aspect show for a moment there. “We have to get back to Grayrock.” Leech beamed. “I know where Yog hid her life.”
CHAPTER 21
INGA
The hut?” Inga used Bulwark to shove a low-hanging branch out of the way.
“Isn’t it obvious? Yog hid her life in a wooden box,” said Leech. “Nobody said it had to be a small box, hey? Wood has no animate life of its own, but her hut tromps around the woods like an animal. She must have found a way to infuse her life into her home.”
“Take down the hut and we take down Yog.” Inga grinned. “I’ve never fought a hut before.”
“We’ll have to be careful,” said Leech. “Tipple and the others are still inside.”
A high-pitched whistle tore through the air.
“What was that?” asked Greta.
“Shroud’s signal arrow.” Inga picked up speed, positioning herself in front of the others. When they emerged from the woods, there was no sign of Shroud. No doubt he was hiding like a mountain lion, waiting to pounce.
Inga took Greta by the shoulder. “Get inside and keep an eye on Rook and Glory.”
“Or just Rook.” Leech pointed to the slender figure standing atop the wall by the gate.
“Aren’t you supposed to be resting?” Inga shouted.
Glory conjured a ball of flame. “As if you lot stand a chance against Yog without my help.”
“She sounds like herself again.” Leech took Greta by the hand and led her to where a section of wall had crumbled. Water trickled over the hill of broken stone.
That wall had been standing a short time before. The water must have eroded the foundation. At this rate, how long would it be before the last of Grayrock fell and washed away?
Inga waited until the others were both safely behind the walls—“safe” being a relative thing—then climbed up to find a good place to wait.
There was no subtlety to Yog’s approach. Inga heard the trom
p of the wooden hut smashing through the trees long before it came into view.
The redcaps were first to emerge from the forest. They were a far cry from Yog’s earlier forces, numbering less than a dozen. The frontmost redcap suddenly howled and clutched his foot. A second pointed and laughed, but did the same two steps later. Inga chuckled, remembering Shroud’s plans. The redcaps had reached Shroud’s caltrops, then.
The rest slowed their approach, spreading outward, where another tripped over a line that set off a flash bomb directly in her face. One of Shroud’s arrows finished her off.
Inga stood atop the broken section of wall, Bulwark in one hand, her sword in the other. The stone blocks created a pile of cracks and corners that would snap your ankle like kindling if you weren’t careful. She shifted position, testing her footing.
“Tipple will be furious about missing this fight,” Glory yelled.
“Maybe we can save a few stragglers for him,” Inga called back.
Headstrong and the enchanted hut came next. The ogre waved a pair of enormous axes, one in each hand, while her noggins shouted what might have been a war cry. Though it could just as easily have been indigestion, assuming those things actually ate. Inga’s granddaddy used to make similar noises after eating too much trout.
A swarm of skulls flew towards her, their eyes burning with blue flame. Inga smashed the first out of the air with her sword. Bulwark blocked the next, but there were too many to stop them all. Teeth clamped onto her leg. Another skull tangled in her hair, jaw clacking.
Both skulls suddenly fell away and clattered down the rocks, dead. Deader, rather. She spared a quick nod towards Leech.
Headstrong and the hut split up. The ogre charged directly at Inga, while the hut circled to Inga’s left, climbing the rocks as easily as a mountain goat.
Inga shifted one leg back and dug her toe beneath a broken fragment of stone. She focused on the ogre’s eyes, letting her peripheral vision track the movement of both axes. The instant Headstrong drew back to strike, Inga kicked the stone upwards. It hit the ogre directly on the mouth. It wasn’t enough to stop her, but it startled her long enough for Inga to lunge forwards and land a cut along the front of her thigh.
