“You’re the tiebreaker, Sai,” Hatch said.
She looked at each of them and could see the reasoning behind their arguments. She didn’t
want to walk anymore. Her feet were sore and tired. But she couldn’t help but think of the witches
that had attacked them at Wildflower’s. Their lightning bolts and other strange magics were
formidable and dangerous. Could they even hope to prevail in an attack on the witches’ home
territory? How many might there be in those few huts up ahead?
“Either choice seems risky,” she stalled, still mulling it over in her mind. “But if they knew we
were here and were going to attack, wouldn’t they have done it already?”
Hatch nodded as a grin split his face. She decided that he was handsome when he wasn’t telling
her what to do al the time.
“I think we should attack—take the fight to them for a change.”
“The longer we try to spy on them,” said Von Wilding, “the sooner they wil know we are here
and we wil be caught in a trap.”
“Then let’s hurry,” argued Hatch.
Von Wilding bit down viciously on a piece of jerky and chewed it like he was stil arguing with
Hatch.
Hatch smirked. “We stay close but low and try to see how many there are. We take out the most powerful ones with our bows first. Sai, you port in close and tie them up if you can, but if not, be vicious.”
She nodded.
They crawled through the underbrush on their bel ies, careful to not make the reeds bob too
much at their passing.
The witch weald huts were formed in a semicircle about a central courtyard of swept dirt while
a smoldering fire was situated in the middle, a great black cauldron hung on wrought iron posts over
the blaze.
At least three witches were chattering amongst themselves near the fire. A tiny one was
waddling about gathering firewood, while an especial y crooked-looking old crone shouted at her to
hurry.
“I’ve never seen one so small before,” whispered Von Wilding.
“It is odd, maybe a dwarf witch,” agreed Hatch.
“Anything is possible,” said Von Wilding.
“What do we do?” asked Sai.
Hatch scanned the weald again and pointed at the three witches sitting together. “We’ll distract
them with a fire—we’l burn down one of the huts. Then divide and conquer.”
“What if more witches see the smoke?”
“In this fog? Not a chance.”
Von Wilding argued, “Attacking them like this is taking a big chance. I hope you are right.”
“Scared?” taunted Sai.
“I’d be a fool not to be cautious.”
“So I’m a fool?”
“You said it, not me,” Von Wilding whispered back and shot her a toothy grin.
“Quiet, you two.”
Hatch looked to Sai, who said, “I’m sick of being on the receiving end here. Let’s do it.”
“All right, we’l get those three last. Let’s take care of the old crone and the little one first. How should we start that fire?”
“I’ll do it,” said Sai. “I’l port behind those trees until I’m to the hut. Then I’ll look inside, grab the old one, and tie her up.”
The others nodded and then Sai was gone, moving in a blur as she ported in behind the huts.
She was behind the closest hut. Hugging its edge, she crept around until she was inside. There were dirty bedrol s piled on the floor, a table shoved into a corner, and an odd collection of bones
heaped upon it. Crowding the bones were jars of curious liquids in al colors imaginable, and other
jars with obvious disgusting items like eyes and organs. Sai didn’t want to think about any of the
body parts belonging to a Riftling, let alone a lousy human, and hoped it was all “eye of newt” and
the like.
There were several brooms leaning along the wall and Sai determined that they would be perfect
kindling to set the hut aflame. Sai lay two brooms together, took out her steel and flint, and
produced sparks like tiny stars.
Someone opened the tent flap and maroon twilight splashed inside across Sai’s guilty hands.
The figure was short. It wasn’t a dwarf; it was a little girl. Her face was dirty with soot, save
where tears had run the darkness down and away. She was wide-eyed with shock. Sai guessed she
must be one of the children taken from nearby vil ages, kidnapped and forced to become slaves for
the witches. Perhaps they eventual y became witches too, but no, not so young. Sai’s mind reeled at
the implications in a whirlwind encompassing a fraction of a second.
“I’m here to help,” Sai said, almost as surprised as the girl.
The girl was frozen, clutching her broom.
“I’m just making a distraction.”
The girl’s lip trembled in fear.
Sai reached toward her. “I’m a friend.”
The girl’s piercing wail could have been a banshee’s. “Heretics!” she screeched.
Sai grabbed her and clamped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. The alarm had been
heard by everyone.
Cries erupted from outside the tent, and Sai could only hope that Hatch and Von Wilding were
making do with the new surprise distraction.
Using her multitasking skills from years on the street, Sai continued to hold the girl under her
arm while simultaneously lighting the brooms on fire and dashing them over the hut, catching oil
lamps and parchment aflame. Then, as the smoke threatened to choke both of them, she ported out
of the hut.
Black smoke-like centipedes raced up the cracks in the thatch hut as flames licked at the peak of
the conical roof. The girl still struggled, but she was so smal and weak that Sai had no trouble
retaining a grip on her shoulder.
A hideous crone suddenly loomed from the shadows pointing a wand at Sai. Light crackled at the tip and a beam shot forth, but Sai was faster and ported away and behind the crone. She let go of
the girl and used the flat of her blade to crack the witch across the skul .
Sai grabbed the girl’s col ar as she attempted to bolt away.
The crone staggered but wheeled around and raked hideous nails across Sai’s exposed arm. “A
pox on thee,” rasped the witch.
The cuts burned on her skin far worse than they should have, and Sai wondered if it had been a
pox curse, rather than just a scratch.
The witch brought her wand up for another spel when her sneering face suddenly went blank
and she toppled over with an arrow in her back.
Sai couldn’t tel if it had been Hatch or Von Wilding, but she saw movement in the thick bushes
not far away.
More arrows flew from the shadows, catching witches like pincushions, yet more witches
appeared from the huts, cackling and screeching like banshees.
Lightning lanced across the clearing and blackened bushes, but there was no sound, no cry of
pain. Sai hoped that meant her companions were fine and had moved rather than become
incapacitated. She couldn’t al ow herself to think it could be any worse.
Another witch raced around the other side of the hut and almost bumped into Sai. “They’re
trying to steal Esmerelda!” she cried to her fel ow witches as she brought her wand up like a fencing
blade.
“I don’t have time for this,” muttered Sai as she ported away, dodging the arcane blast of green
energy that zipped beyond where she had just been standing and shattered a tree behind.
The witch looke
d about, puzzled, then down at her own wand as if it were responsible for her
foes’ disappearance.
Sai ported behind a witch and said, “Hey ugly.”
The witch snarled and whipped around, blasting with her wand as Sai ported away. Sai put
herself between the other witches, who were now casting dark magics at each other. Green lightning
and purple rays flashed back and forth furiously in weird entanglements. The witches screeched in
horrible agony until al went suddenly silent.
“That was amazing!” shouted Von Wilding. “You got them to destroy each other. Bril iant!”
“And she even has a prisoner to answer questions for us,” said Hatch as he stalked from his
hiding place to where Sai still held the littlest witch.
“I don’t think so,” she said, putting a halt to Hatch’s intimidating stride. “This one isn’t what she appears.”
“What?”
“I think she was kidnapped and then apprenticed to become a witch.”
They looked at the littlest witch and could see that Sai was right. Behind the dirt and grime, and
beneath the dark cowl and conical witch’s hat, was just a little red-haired girl with freckles and
pigtails. She stuck her tongue out at the men.
“What is your name?” asked Sai, stooping to be at the girl’s level.
“Esmerelda. Why did you destroy my aunts?”
“They weren’t your aunts. They were witches that kidnapped you. Tel us, do you know where
your mother and father are? Where are you from?”
“My aunts have had me for a long time. Maybe most of this year. But I miss my mommy. I used
to live in Stilt-Town.”
“Do you know where that is?” asked Sai.
Von Wilding nodded. “Yes, but it’s out of our way and we need to hurry.”
“We can’t leave her here and we can’t take her with us to Von Drakk’s. We need to take her
home first.” Hatch nodded his agreement, though his face was grim.
“Uncle Von Drakk?” asked Esmerelda.
They looked at her in curious shock.
“That’s what my aunts said to call him,” she said with a whimper. “He’s scary.”
“When did you see him last?” Sai asked.
“He was here a few nights ago. He said he was expecting you. That he would see you again
soon.” Her dirty brows rose and she looked concerned at their surprise.
“Me?” asked Sai. “Again?”
“Yes, he said a Riftling with two fighting men was coming. But it’s all right,” she assured Sai.
“He said you would betray your wicked companions and join him. Then he said we could all be a
family again with the Midnight Queen as our new mother. I want a mommy again.”
Hatch and Von Wilding looked at Sai.
“Did I say something wrong?” Esmerelda asked, glancing at their faces.
“Oh boy,” breathed Sai.
Chapter 9: Stilt Town
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Sai said as they tramped through the swamp.
“Even if Von Drakk was lying,” said Hatch.
Sai growled, “Of course he was lying!”
“Let me finish. Even if he was lying that you would betray us, which he probably was—.”
“Did you just say ‘probably?’” Sai stopped short, slapping her hand against Hatch’s chest and
putting her nose as close to the tal er man’s as possible. “If I was going to betray you—which I
haven’t—I would have done it already, before coming to this hel acious mosquito-ridden part of the
world. Trust that!”
“I’m not even talking about that. I’m just trying to say that if he knows we are here, that’s what
is dangerous. My whole plan was to sneak in under his nose.”
“Yeah! Good job with that,” snapped Sai. “You’re quite the park ranger, aren’t you?”
“That’s royal warden to you, thief.”
Von Wilding had Esmerelda on his shoulders and said, “Don’t argue about this in front of the
child.”
“I’m not a child. I’m eleven,” protested Esmerelda.
Hatch continued, “Wel , he knows we are here and my plan had been to be sneaky. I wanted to
avoid the mistakes that Princess Citrine made when she came in with a whole company of fighters.
The evidence of what happened to them is al around us.”
Sai shook her head. “What do you mean it’s al around us? What are you talking about?”
Hatch stopped and pointed at the swamp.
“Guys, I was hoping she wouldn’t notice,” said Von Wilding. “Great job.”
“I knew they were there,” said Esmerelda somberly.
“Who? What are you talking about?” asked Sai, but quickly she saw where Hatch was pointing.
Half-covered by dirty green swamp water and small slithering serpents was a mass of broken,
armored torsos and limbs half-stuck out of the murk. A few skeletal faces stil in their shattered
helmets leered from the briny surface. Broken lances and banners wilted in the water as toads and
other creatures sat atop the remains of what were once Crystalia’s finest.
“They came with Citrine to get revenge. They were strong, and they were many, and yet they
fel to Von Drakk. Only Von Wilding escaped the carnage because he was scouting ahead, and as far
as he knows they took Citrine alive, which is why we are here now trying another method, but I’m afraid it hasn’t worked either,” said Hatch, gloomily
“I didn’t think it would look like this,” mumbled Sai.
“It’s all right,” said Esmerelda, “that’s life here in Glauerdoom Moor. Everything goes back to
the mud eventual y.”
Von Wilding gave an uncomfortable smile to Sai, turned, and hurried along the path.
“Considering everything else about this place, why didn’t they rise up and try to get us like every
other vile creature in the Moor?” Sai asked.
“They did once,” said Von Wilding. “It took a powerful spel to put them to back to rest.”
***
By midafternoon, a muddy, wel -traveled path took them off the wet ground and right into the
deeper brackish water. It was up to their knees even in the shallowest places. Posts were erected
every few yards on each side to show where the true path was. If not for the moss-covered
signposts, Sai would have had no idea where they were going as the overcast afternoon drifted into
purple-bruised twilight. If it didn’t drain her energy so terribly, she would have ported to every single post to save herself the drudgery of walking in the foul murk. More than once they had to pull
leeches from themselves. A swimming python even threatened them once.
“This can’t be right,” said Sai. “This can’t be the best road to get to a vil age.”
“It is,” answered Von Wilding. “I know right where we are.”
“Real y, because it seems like you say that a lot right before we tramp into some terrible place,”
said Sai.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t terrible, I just said I know where we are. No offense, Esmerelda,” said
Von Wilding.
“None taken,” answered the little girl, still riding his shoulders.
“And, where are we now?” asked Sai with dripping venom as she pulled another struggling
leech from her arm.
“Stilt Town!” Von Wilding said, rather pleased with himself as he pointed ahead.
“Home!” cried Esmerelda.
It was the most curious town Sai had ever seen. Al the homes and buildings were sitting on
stilts a good three to four feet above the waterline. Some were built into the large trees
nearby, and many seemed stacked upon one another, rising high in the gloomy sky. Rope bridges and planks
connected al of them so that a person might never have to set foot down into the water. But there
were no sounds or lights apparent in the windows and Sai wondered for a moment if they had come to a dead city.
“Be careful,” cautioned Esmerelda. “The water is deeper near the buildings. We’l need
someone with a boat to come and get us from here.”
“She’s right,” said Von Wilding. “They are built into a particularly deep spot to help keep the
zombies and witches from walking right up to them.”
“Like a moat?” asked Sai.
“Exactly. It’s as safe a system as people here can manage,” said Von Wilding.
“Ho! There! We need a ride!” cal ed Hatch.
“Wel , if there are more witches in there, they know where we are now,” grumbled Sai.
Von Wilding shook his head. “If the witches and zombies had claimed Stilt Town, it would be
burned to the water. No, good people are stil there.”
“I see no lights, nor hear any sound. Are you sure?” asked Hatch.
“I am,” said Von Wilding, “but they are cautious after nightfal to not attract the dark things any
more than they have too.”
There was silence from the gloomy town for a short spel , until a watchman with a lantern
looked out from the window nearest them. “Oi! Who goes there at this time of night?” he called
back.
“It’s not that late,” answered Sai.
“We are travelers from Crystalia,” shouted Hatch. The echoes of his voice carried farther into
the swamp than any of them would have liked.
“And the Moor too,” added Von Wilding.
“Humph,” snorted the watchman. “Landlubbers,” he grumbled. “Give me a moment, I’ll get
me raft.”
It was a long wait until finally, a raft appeared from behind one of the buildings on stilts, and a
very skinny old man urged it toward them with a long pole. He had a nightcap on and was wearing a
striped robe. His lantern hung from a second pole on the raft. He stopped when he was stil twenty
feet from them to take a better look at them. “Sorry, but one can’t be too cautious in these times of
woe. Plenty of witches, zombies, and other foul creatures are about at night seeking to do us good
folk harm if they can. We have to stay vigilant.”
The Glauerdoom Moor_ebook Page 6
