FSF, October-November 2006

by Spilogale, Inc

  Gripping the sword in front of him, he ascended to the penultimate step below the platform. Close enough that the wizard couldn't miss him but still not close enough for his eyes to penetrate the complete darkness beneath the roof, not with the moon down. He avoided glancing up to see if Holly was perched there. “Hey, wizard. If you intend to use your magic against me, come out and do it. I can't stop you."

  To his surprise, he heard a sudden shifting inside the edifice. A second later, Ehren appeared beside one of the columns. His bow was drawn, the pale wood curving in the shadows like a crescent moon. An arrow pointed straight at Maggot's chest, from not more than fifteen feet away.

  "You're a better swimmer than I would have guessed,” he said. “Who sent you to follow me?"

  "Why did you follow me here?” Maggot demanded.

  "Me, follow you?” Ehren laughed, dropping the point of the arrow just a bit as he did.

  "Why didn't you answer when I spoke to you before?"

  "You spoke the Snake——tongue!"

  There was a word there Maggot didn't understand, any more than he understood the reference. He stuck his tongue way out of his mouth and wiggled it. “It's not a snake tongue. No fork. See?"

  Ehren tensed, jerking the bow up toward Maggot's voice. “Mockery and lies—just what I expect from someone speaking the Snake——tongue."

  "You speak it too,” Maggot said, sidling over after he spoke this time. “Do you mock and lie also?"

  "Stay where you are and answer my questions!” Ehren inched forward, almost out of the shadow of the doorway.

  "Here is your sword,” Maggot said. He set it down on the top step, right at the very edge, letting it clink against the stone. “You dropped it. I'll leave it right here for you."

  "What are you doing?"

  "You dropped your sword,” Maggot said, backing down the steps. As his head dropped below the other man's line of vision, Ehren came forward again.

  "Wait! Where are you going?"

  "Away from that arrow,” Maggot answered.

  Three things happened at once: Maggot retreated down the steps, Ehren ran forward, and Holly leapt from the roof, smashing the wizard to the upper terrace. Maggot bounded up the steps and found her sitting on Ehren. He was conscious, but too terrified to struggle. His eyes were wide with terror. As Maggot approached, Ehren slowly stretched out one hand toward the knife at his belt. Holly slapped it down like she was swatting an insect. The man held back his cry, but cringed. When he saw Maggot, he spat. “You animal!"

  "Does it talk too?” Holly asked, her brow wrinkled as if she were trying to understand how grunts could be words. “What's it saying?"

  "He just called me an animal,” Maggot answered, not taking his eyes from Ehren's.

  She snorted. “That's funny. It called you an animal."

  It was and he wasn't? Maggot said nothing.

  Ehren glared at him. “You can speak with that creature? Do you have it bespelled, like one of your demon-snakes?"

  "No snakes,” Maggot replied, switching languages. He wiggled his tongue again. “How do you know this language?"

  Before the other man could answer, Holly spoke. “Hey, Maggot?"

  "Yes?"

  "You promised meat."

  "I did."

  "Well,” she said, grabbing Ehren's head in her big knobby-knuckled hand and turning it from side to side like someone examining a pumpkin while he screamed. “Do you want to take the first bite or can I? I'm hungry."

  "We aren't going to eat him."

  Anger flashed across her face. She squeezed Ehren's head until his screaming stopped. All she needed to do was tighten her grip and it would pop open. “You promised me."

  "I promised you fresh meat. I meant deer meat. With his bow—” literally, his killing smile, so-called for the shape of it seen sideways—"I can catch a deer for us. Venison will taste much sweeter than his meat."

  She grimaced doubtfully.

  "Have you ever eaten people before?"

  She thrust out her tongue.

  Maggot mimicked the gesture. “You don't want to. It tastes terrible.” He didn't know this—he'd never tasted human flesh, and wasn't about to, any more than one troll would eat another. Nor was he about to lose his only source of information—why had Ehren pretended to be his friend, then tried to kill him?

  "I don't want to wait until tomorrow night to eat,” she pouted.

  "You won't have to,” Maggot promised. “Is your cave big enough to hold all of us?” The word for all of us was the same as the word for band.

  "Oh, yes. It's not large enough to hold the entire band though. My old band, that is."

  "Good. I'll tie him up and we'll put him in there. Then I'll go get some meat for you."

  She let go of Ehren's head, and it bounced off the stone. He groaned, shook it off, and looked up at Maggot, almost hopefully. “What were you talking about?"

  "She wants to rip off your head and suck your brains out through your neck,” Maggot answered, removing a rope looped at the man's waist.

  Ehren snorted one desperate laugh. When Maggot didn't change expression, he twisted his head, eyes flicking anxiously at Holly's massive form.

  "That's not wholly true,” Maggot admitted, as he pried one of Ehren's arms from under Holly's leg and wrapped the rope tightly around it. “They don't really suck the brains out. They use their tongues to scoop them out. You ever see a troll's tongue at work?"

  Ehren struggled, futilely. “If you wish to kill me for your Snake Queen,"—that was the word Maggot didn't understand before; he wondered what a queen was—"then do it. But don't mock me this way."

  "I'm not mocking,” said Maggot, shifting to the other side to bind that arm. “I've seen trolls do that to a head before."

  He stopped struggling. “And you would leave me to one of these monsters?"

  Maggot finished tying the man's hands behind his back, then he patted Holly on the shoulder and she rose. He jerked his prisoner to his feet. “No, if you tell me why you followed me here, I'll spare your life."

  "Me follow you?” he said, repeating his earlier surprise.

  Holly licked her lips loudly and made an impatient slurping noise. Ehren's legs trembled, and Maggot had to prop him up.

  "Maybe,” Maggot added judiciously.

  * * * *

  9.

  They walked in silence back to the pyramid, shoving Ehren ahead of them. Holly sniffed the air nervously. It was still and very cold. Morning could not be too far off.

  "You can't let it eat me,” Ehren protested as Maggot pushed him up the stairs. “We are both men, not monsters like that thing."

  "She is no monster,” Maggot said angrily, shoving him ahead, all the while Holly was asking, “What's it saying, huh, Maggot? Huh? What's it saying now?"

  Holly's cave inside the huge stone mound faced the northwest corner. The entrance was part of a false wall, not a door, it appeared to Maggot. A thin skin of marble had cracked and been enlarged. A tight passage, cluttered with fallen stones and Holly's waste, penetrated the structure and went around a corner. Just past the bend, a narrow doorway opened into a small chamber that smelled heavily of troll. Ehren gagged at the odor.

  Maggot stripped the wizard—if that's indeed what Ehren proved to be—and found a bag containing pieces of hard, dried meat. He smelled it, licked it, tasting the salt, and then bit into it. He had to jerk his head side-to-side to break a piece off, but it softened up as he chewed it.

  "Meat,” he said, offering a piece to Holly.

  She snatched it eagerly from his hand, put it in her mouth, then spit it out again. It flew down the corridor like a miniature arrow and clicked when it hit stone. “Yuck! You call that meat? I've eaten old bones that tasted better."

  "I'll take the bow and go find something for us."

  "Don't go!” She shuddered. “The sun'll be up soon."

  "I can travel in the sunlight, Holly."

  She snorted disdainfully, and moved aroun
d on her haunches as if she couldn't get comfortable, but she didn't say any more.

  Sorting through the rest of the man's possessions, Maggot found a crystal that filled his fist, glowing faint blue and seeming to pulse as if it had its own slow heartbeat. An uneasy shiver ran through his bones, and he shoved it back into Ehren's bag. “I'll tie his legs together too."

  "I'll make sure it doesn't leave,” Holly promised.

  There were several ways to understand that comment. Maggot didn't ask for explanations; he cut off a length of rope and bound the man's ankles.

  "Why are you doing this?” Ehren asked.

  "I have to go out for a short time,” Maggot answered.

  "Don't leave me here alone with that monster,” he begged in a husky whisper. “I thought you had questions for me."

  Holly shifted uncomfortably. “What's all that squeaking mean? It's as bad as a squirrel. Chitter, chitter, chitter."

  "It means nothing,” Maggot said.

  "Then tell it to block the cave—” to shut his mouth—"because I'm tired. I want to sleep, and I don't need any squeaking keeping me awake."

  Ehren twisted in Maggot's grasp. “What's it saying?"

  "She says if you say another word, she won't keep her promise to me to leave your skull alone. If I were you, I'd lie here very still and pretend I was dead."

  His eyes grew large, and he stiffened at once.

  "She won't eat you if she thinks you're dead,” he lied. He hoped Ehren didn't know that trolls preferred their meat already dead. Turning, he said to Holly, “I'll return as soon as I can. You will leave the person alone, won't you?"

  "If I don't get too hungry,” she said. And then, grabbing Ehren by the arms tied behind his back, she picked him up and dragged him into a corner of the tiny chamber.

  "Remember,” Maggot called out. “Be quiet. Play dead and she won't eat you.” In trollish, “I'll be back soon."

  He exited the broken wall and stood out on the platform, armed with Ehren's weapons. The sky was noticeably bluer. He hated leaving Ehren alone with Holly. Worse, he hated going off to hunt without first cleaning his wounds and getting some rest. But he had a promise to keep, and there was no telling what Holly might do if she didn't eat. One deer could give Holly meat to gorge over a couple of days, but he'd be better off seeking something small instead; he didn't have the strength to drag anything large back to the pyramid or up the steep incline. Also it was best to avoid the slope where the panther lurked and the direction in which he'd last seen Big Stinky.

  Limping down the steps, he headed out of the dead city and into the broad valley. As the land narrowed, sloping down toward a thin trickle of a stream, he saw dark round shapes huddled on branches about fifteen feet high. Gobble-birds.

  He drew his bow and shot at the largest target. It squawked, spreading its wings as it fell off the branch. There were sudden cries of gobble gobble gobble as the other birds flew ponderously to the ground and took off running in all directions. The wounded bird flapped around in a frenzy, rolling down the muddy bank, and into the stream. Maggot dispatched it quickly. It was a good-sized bird, close to thirty pounds. Its black feathers had a bronze sheen to them. The skin that hung from its beak was pale blue.

  As he carried his prize back toward the pyramid, songbirds began their morning carols. Dawn, tinged with shades of orange and peach, ripened to the east, beyond the city and behind the mountains. The two miles back seemed to take much longer to hike than on the way out, but it gave him time to think.

  Talking again—both to Holly, who reminded him of his childhood friends and acquaintances, and to Ehren, who had reminded him of his friends Sinnglas and Bran—confused Maggot. Whatever he'd gone looking for when he fled the imperial city, he had not found it.

  He climbed the steps of the pyramid as day spread feathery white clouds like wings across the light blue sky. He had lived in both daylight and darkness, but to which did he belong?

  Holly's snores rumbled in the stone tunnel like a spinning wind. He stepped over her, dropping the gobble-bird by her side, and went to see the prisoner. Maggot's eyes had not adjusted to the darkness yet, so he could see almost nothing.

  "Praise the snake demon,” Ehren whispered. “You return, and I honor you for it."

  "Why?” Maggot asked.

  "I thought you meant me to die here."

  "Perhaps I still do.” The questions bubbled up like a fountain he could no longer contain. “Why were you following me? How did you trail me here? Tell me, tell me three times, and tell me true."

  Ehren turned his head and spat suddenly. Then leaned his chin forward as if he meant to take back the spit. He glanced sideways at Maggot, then slowly turned his head. “Forgive me. I just praised your false god, in joy at seeing you, so I don't know why I should have reacted so to your perfidious custom. It is clear you do not know any better."

  Maggot stretched out on the floor and laid his head upon his arm. “Speak when you have something to tell me. Until then, do not disturb me."

  "Wait."

  Maggot closed his eyes. “I'm listening."

  Shifting uncomfortably, Ehren said, “Tie my hands in front, damn you—my arms have gone numb."

  It went against Maggot's nature to confine creatures or hurt them for amusement. With one hand he reached around and found Ehren's fingers were cool to his touch. He'd knotted the ropes too tight. The other man sighed and untensed his shoulders as soon as Maggot loosed the first knot.

  Wiggling his fingers, Ehren said softly, “What does the Snake Queen want in these lands? Does she seek the Jewel? Tell me the truth, and I will see you rewarded with wealth beyond your greediest desire."

  Maggot only heard the name of the Snake Queen. “I ate a snake the other day. One of the black ones with stripes."

  "You mock me again."

  "You ask too many questions. What is the Jewel?"

  "The jewel of Arop,” Ehren said.

  "You two are as loud as thunder,” Holly grumbled, sounding drowsy and grumpy. “Is the storm going to be over soon?"

  "Sorry,” Maggot answered. “We'll keep it down."

  "What did it say,” Ehren whispered, almost too soft for Maggot to hear.

  "She asked if your brains were ready to eat yet. I told her they were still warming up.” With Ehren's hands half-untied, Maggot thought of the crystal in his bag and reached for it.

  "Meat!” Holly said, across the room. “Oh, Maggot. Thank you!"

  "I was glad to hunt it for you,” he answered.

  Across the dark cell, the bird's ribs cracked as she turned it inside out and started chewing. She spit out some feathers. There were slurping sounds as her tongue cleaned out the stuff inside.

  Ehren shuddered.

  "Why did you follow me here?” Maggot asked him, fingers sifting the bag. He could hear Ehren working lose his bounds, saving him the trouble of untying them.

  "Maggot,” Holly interrupted in a singsong voice. “Can't you stop squeaking with it, and come over here."

  "Just a moment,” he told her, his nose wrinkling. He thought he caught a whiff of the scent trolls put off when they wanted to mate. But he wasn't sure, not even in this small room. His inability to recognize such smells or respond in kind had been a source of great embarrassment to him and amusement to the other trolls. Part of the gap that had sent him in search of human mates.

  "But Maggot.” She ambled over, stretching out her big hands to rub her rough fingertips gently over his skin. She picked something off his back—a loose scab—and put it in her mouth. She was grooming him! He shifted his weight away from her hands. She had taken the turkey for an interest gift—the signal from a male troll to a female he wished to mate.

  His fingers closed on the pulse of the crystal and pulled it out of the bag. “Is this the Jewel you mean?"

  "No,” said Ehren. “But it'll do.” He lifted his hands in front of him, making an odd gesture as he blurted out words in a language Maggot didn't understand.

&
nbsp; The heartbeat pulsed into hot life, burning Maggot's fingers, and he started to fling it aside. Before it had gone an inch from his hand, it flared, shooting out a searing white light that burst in Maggot's eyes, blinding him, lancing pain through his head—the last thing he glimpsed was Ehren frantically untying his feet. Holly screamed in terror.

  Maggot grabbed for Ehren's legs and missed. “Catch him, Holly!"

  But she thrashed on the floor, shrieking. Rocks tumbled in the doorway as Ehren climbed over them. Maggot staggered to his feet, rubbing his eyes, trying to push the light out of them but it was hopeless. He fell sideways, reaching for the wall, climbed upright and felt his way toward the exit.

  "Maggot? Maggot? Where are you?"

  "It's all right, Holly!” He shouted, even though there was no sound to shout above. “I'm going out to catch him."

  "No!"

  Something slammed into him, knocking him off his feet and away from the door. “Hey!"

  "You can't leave me, Maggot,” she yelled at him. “You can't leave!"

  "I have to,” he said, finding his feet. “I'll be back."

  "No!"

  Her hand smacked him again, and sent him sprawling all the way to the far wall. There was no use being silent. She could smell him, no matter where he was, despite the singed sharp scent to the air.

  "He's getting away."

  "Let it go away. We don't need it."

  Fury shook Maggot. He'd been tricked, betrayed. He rolled toward Holly's voice, as if going toward her, then dodged the other direction.

  "What about me?” she cried.

  A stone flew across the room and hit the wall near Maggot with a loud and hollow thunk. Chips of stone flew through the air, striking Maggot and cutting his skin. The next stone clipped his shoulder, and he ducked, covering his head. “Holly! Stop it!"

  She roared and rushed past him into the anteroom. Scrapes and clatters and large slabs of stone slamming into each other sounded in the doorway. Even unblinded, he wouldn't have dared to go through the doorway.

  "What are you doing, Holly? Stop! Let's talk!"

  "You are not leaving. I am not going to be alone again."

  "Holly—"

  "I'm not!"

  Her voice was muffled by the mound she'd built. The big stones slammed into place, one after another, with a grave finality. He was walled up inside the pyramid.