Free Stories 2015

by Baen Books

  “… can choose evil. These rumors,” she forced herself to go on, not thinking about the meaning, “do they say where these people might hide themselves?”

  “Has to be not far from Pondsparkle. Hidden from eyesight, hard to sense by magic or other methods.”

  Lalira frowned in thought. He’s right. Has to be near. They dragged Mommy off; even four or five of them couldn’t hop very far carrying her—she’s not small, and they’re not built to carry people.

  But it couldn’t be right near her house. Her mother had surveyed everything nearby, and Lalira had gone with her most places, quite a way into the Forest Sea and all the way along the—

  She paused, the piece of bread she’d cut halfway to her mouth. Oh. “They could be anywhere along the shore, though.”

  Mudswimmer made a rude noise. “Oh, I’m stupid! Of course. Dragged her to the lake, then wherever they had to go.”

  Still…even the Toads had a fair amount of magic, and their priests would have support from their god. How could something like that be hidden so nearby, unless…

  “Mudswimmer,” she said slowly, “the Rainbow Mountain… It’s made of prismglitter, isn’t it?”

  “Well, not all made of it, but it’s got a lot of sheeratilna, as the Saurans call it. Whole ridge that comes up from—” His jaw suddenly hung open. “Oh. Ohhhh, yes, that makes sense!”

  “A cave under the mountain!” The Rainbow Mountain was really more a big hill—a few hundred feet high—but it sparkled like a gem because it was mostly a mass of prismglitter, a very magical stone that could drastically interfere with magic if you weren’t attuned to it. A perfect hiding place for a secret cult.

  “That’s bad,” Mudswimmer said as she tore into the bread and devoured some leftover hopclaw from the coldbox. “I mean, the entrance will be across the lake, and underwater. You can’t—”

  She smiled, and started to feel a tiny trickle of hope as she tapped the gem at her throat. “The Crystal Breath,” she said. “Let’s me breathe anywhere—even deep underwater.”

  Mudswimmer hopped up on the table to look; while he still made her nervous, the motion didn’t make her flinch. “But in armor you’ll have to walk on the bottom. I can’t stay down that long—and it’s up to a hundred, hundred fifty feet deep. Plus, the Burning Waters…”

  He might make her nervous, but she needed all the help she could get. “If you stay on my shoulder, you’ll be in the air-bubble, too.”

  “And finding our way across? In the dark underwater?”

  She bit her lip. The thought was terrifying…but she still had to do it. She remembered the Wanderer, diving to the Troll-caves though he was afraid of the water itself. “That ridge of prismglitter—it’s the boundary between the Burning Water and the rest of the lake. If we follow it…”

  Mudswimmer bounced slightly. “I…guess that would work. If we don’t boil, or get eaten by something that likes the deeper water.”

  “I can’t go around the lake,” she said. “One way goes through the Forest Sea for miles, and the other—”

  “Through our city. I know.” He took a deep breath, swelling slightly, and then deflating again. “Well, get what you need. I guess we’re going for a very soggy walk.”

  iv.

  She strode through the black water, the glow of the lightglobe showing her the path, a glittering rainbow in the darkness.

  Well, that was how she’d imagined it, anyway.

  “Ow!”

  “What did you expect? Little boats, pieces of trees, dead fish and armorfangs, they all end up on the bottom! And where are we? On the bottom!”

  “This is a fishing line!”

  “Oh, drought. You’re tangled in it.” Mudswimmer took a deep breath and dove into the water to help detach the hook.

  “People should clean up after themselves!” she shouted into the black around her.

  Black was an understatement for the water. She’d thought the forest was dark at night? It was practically daylight compared to this. And murky! The lightglobe barely gave her ten feet of vision, and it was as bright as she could make it.

  This deep—seventy or more feet down—the water was cooler, except when swirls of hot, even murkier water jetted around her from the Burning Waters on the other side of the ridge, filling her nostrils with the scent of sulfur and death. She shuddered; they’d once slid down the wrong side of the ridge and heard the squeals and moans and rumbling of the boiling springs coming closer, the heat of the water rising; she’d barely stopped their descent in time, close enough to one vent to feel it vibrating the water around them.

  She felt the snag suddenly let go and Mudswimmer emerged back onto her shoulder; to her surprise she found it almost comforting. “Hook’s out.”

  She carefully unwound herself, then continued. The good thing about walking this close to the Burning Waters was that even the predators—the giant water-beetles called armorfangs, the great reptilian nerestis, and others—avoided the area. They’d seen a few shadows in the water at a couple of points, but nothing had tried to close the distance.

  She ducked under a bare, rotting tree-branch and carefully edged her way over the trunk. Her ears popped as she moved on—but this felt different. “I think we’re going up!”

  “I think you’re right.” The little Toad squinted. “Hold on, let me scout ahead.”

  She leaned against the rotting trunk and waited, trying not to look in all directions at once. As long as she was moving, as long as she was focused on a task, she could keep the fear at bay, but alone in this murky void, her imagination became all too adept at translating every shift in current, every drifting cloud, as an approaching monster.

  She almost screamed when something moved in front of her, before she realized it was Mudswimmer.

  “Definitely coming to the shore. We’re almost to the Rainbow Mountain, so if you’re right about the caves, they should be somewhere off to our left. Not too far down, either.”

  “What about my light?”

  “Better dim it once we get to the surface. We’ll go along the shore carefully and I’ll check below for caves.”

  “Won’t they notice you?”

  He shrugged. “I’m tiny. Me and my cousin Duckweed are about the smallest Toads anyone’s seen in centuries. They don’t even notice us when we’re in the city. In the dark, underwater? No.”

  “Well, you just be careful.” She realized she might be afraid of Toads in general, but she didn’t want anything to happen to Mudswimmer. Maybe that’s one good thing coming out of this. If we live through it. “Are you…well, you know I’ll probably have to fight some of…”

  “If they’re following Bal…” He halted before pronouncing the name. “Er, that Demon, they’re bad people. It’s okay.”

  As she emerged from the water, she dimmed the globe and put it away. Weight dragged at her, and the armor seemed three times as heavy. But I’ll need it.

  It suddenly struck her how crazy this was. One lone girl and a tiny toad trying to find—and then, what, invade and conquer?—a whole nest of demon-worshipping cultists. But she couldn’t wait—who knew what was happening to Mommy now—and the only source of help…

  She bit off a curse at her weakness and moved on, trying to make as little noise as possible.

  Mudswimmer suddenly popped back up. “You were right! Cave entrance just below that big boulder up ahead. And I see a faint light farther in, so you should be able to just drop down and go in. No guard in the water.”

  “This is it.” She looked at the boulder, then down, taking a deep breath of her own. “Look, Mudswimmer—you don’t have to come any farther.”

  “Yes, I do,” he said quietly. “I know I’m small, but I’m the only help you’ve got.”

  She swallowed. “O-okay. Thanks.”

  She dropped through the clearer water here below the Rainbow Mountain. At ten feet, she felt the rock wall bend inward, and a dim, dim light was visible, rippling slightly, showing there was air no
t far away.

  And then, moving against the dim light, a massive, lumpy shadow whose outline made her shiver. Mudswimmer’s one thing, but that…that Toad’s…probably five feet long. Outweighs me too, I’m sure.

  Mudswimmer tugged on her collar.

  “Yes, I see.” She could tell by the outline that the big creature was watching the entrance. If I try to come up right in front of him, he’ll be able to attack, or sound the alarm, before I’m all the way out of the water. I have to hit him hard before he can…but how?

  Your companions are your greatest weapons, she remembered Mithras Silverstar saying. Lalira didn’t want to risk her only ally…but if she wasn’t willing to let him do anything, why have him come along at all?

  “Mudswimmer, can you distract him somehow? Get him looking away from the pool long enough for me to at least get all the way out of the water?”

  The little Toad scrunched his face up in a comical expression that managed to get a tiny smile on her face. “Well…I think so. But won’t you be all waterlogged?”

  She tapped the chain shirt. “Adventurer’s gear—my father’s. Keeps you as dry and comfortable as possible.”

  “Ooh. Good. Okay, here I go!”

  Mudswimmer darted to one side and practically vanished in the shadows at the edge of the tunnel, moving up. Even though she knew where he was, she could barely make him out, and realized that he meant to try to go around the guard.

  When the large shadow suddenly shifted and turned, she knew it was her turn. For an instant she couldn’t move; the shadowy shape was too close, too close to memory and fear.

  But Mudswimmer’s up there!

  The thought of someone depending on her broke the paralysis, and she lunged from the water, getting her feet under her and dropping the sleeves to their full length.

  The huge Toad spun, eyes narrowing—and then widened, snorting in mirth.

  She felt her face burn; she knew what he saw: a dripping-wet, skinny girl with sleeves scraping the floor like a toddler in her father’s clothes, a huge helmet three sizes too big, padded with whatever could fit, and no weapons to be seen.

  But at the same time that gave her the chance. She leapt and spun.

  The weighted sleeve smashed into the Toad, bludgeoning it as effectively as a small mace, sending it staggering back; a second step of the combat dance and the other sleeve traced a graceful arc up and an implacable path downward, hammering the creature so hard that its flat, broad chin was driven to the stone beneath.

  “Blackwart’s Breath!” Mudswimmer stared in horrified disbelief as the big Toad went limp, unconscious, maybe dead.

  She pointed to the long, black-edged spear that had fallen from the thing’s hand. “It would have done worse to us.”

  Mudswimmer shook himself, then bounced in a subdued way. “Yes…yes, I guess you’re right.” He looked closer at the big Toad. “He’s still alive.” He glanced at her, an obvious question in his eyes.

  If he wakes up before we get the rest of the way…but I can’t just kill something helpless. Even a Toad. She shook her head.

  Mudswimmer looked relieved. “What now?”

  “Now?” She pointed a shaking finger down the passageway. “No choice.”

  Mudswimmer stayed on the floor and off to the side as they made their way along. For several minutes they moved—mostly noiselessly—along the corridor, and she began to hear something that sounded like the intonation of a chant or ritual.

  “I think we—”

  Three Toads suddenly leapt into view, spears leveled. “Far enough!”

  She froze—both from the sudden confrontation and the realization that three-to-one, prepared, was beyond her ability to defeat, even if the center one was only the size of a bushel basket.

  Mudswimmer was immobile, hidden in the shadows.

  “No weapons?” one said disbelievingly.

  “Maybe hidden. Search her, Stickrider. We’ll keep her still.”

  What can I do? I can’t do this by myself, I—

  She saw, from the corner of her eye, Mudswimmer still edging along the wall. If he can distract one… She suddenly remembered one of the few spells she did know. Maybe…

  Stickrider was roughly patting her down, pulling and tugging on her clothes. “Here, a dagger hidden behind her. Otherwise, nothing.”

  “Courageous… and a fool to enter here without weapons.” The smaller one was clearly the leader. “An additional sacrifice will be wel—”

  Mudswimmer bounded onto the smaller one’s head, shoving his flat helm forward and over the bulging eyes.

  At that moment, she whipped her hand towards the other Toad in front of her. He was out of range of even her long sleeves—but a faint reddish jet flickered from her hand, bridging the few additional feet, and he bellowed in agony as firespice materialized over his huge, golden eyes. At the same time she whirled her other sleeve backward; it only grazed Stickrider but separated her from him.

  A few more seconds of desperate combat later, all three toads were also unconscious on the floor.

  “We’ve got to move! Someone might have heard that!”

  She ran forward now towards the chanting. Maybe I don’t have any chance, but I have no choice…and I’m not giving up.

  She slammed into a pair of heavy doors, and they ground open.

  Before her was a great room with a dozen or more Toads positioned around it… and in the center a gargantuan Toad, so huge and black that she almost fainted from looking, and below that Toad…

  Her mother, seated on a carven-stone chair.

  “Lalira Revyne,” the gigantic Toad said calmly. “Welcome. We have been waiting for you.”

  v.

  As she stood gaping, the great golden gaze shifted. “Mudswimmer? Your report?”

  “We worked really well together,” the little toad said in a matter-of-fact tone. “She deduced our involvement, armed herself, and figured out many of the key clues on her own.”

  “What… I don’t understand!” Lalira burst out. “Mother—”

  “I’m sorry, Lalira,” her mother said, her voice filled with genuine regret. “But you did insist on what you wanted, and I didn’t want you to go unless I could be sure. And your problem with the Toads…”

  “So we tested you,” said the great Toad.

  “I almost killed some of your own people!” she said, so confused and angry she didn’t know who to take it out on, but knowing that this was wrong.

  “Oh, mudbubbles! Do you think I didn’t expect that? The important word was ‘almost.’ And all those involved I promised to heal, or even bring back if the worst happened.”

  “To bring back—who are you?!”

  “I have a few names here and there, but most often simply Blackwart the Great.”

  She stared openmouthed at the towering figure—so like, yet now that she could feel the power radiating from it, so utterly unlike, the one that had terrified her years ago. “You…the God of the Toads?”

  “You wanted an Adventure. So did little Mudswimmer. I wanted a new emissary among you two-legged types. And here was a mother with a problem, asking for help.”

  She glared in disbelief at her mother. “You—”

  “I knew I couldn’t stop you, Lali,” her mother said softly. “Not unless I could prove to you that you weren’t Adventurer material. But after what happened to your father…and some of our other friends…I had to be sure you were. I’ve seen people with the dream but not the real heart die—or worse. The Great Toad offered me a chance to find out, and maybe not lose you in the process.”

  Lalira was still shaking; the combat, facing so many Toads at once, her mother’s willingness to participate in this… “And did we find out?”

  “We did,” Blackwart said, his voice so deep it shook the ground. “First, you intervened to save a helpless creature—though it was one you feared and were repelled by.”

  “That was a trick?” she said, turning furiously on Mudswimmer.

&n
bsp; “Well, yes and no. I really was trapped by the spinesnarl, and if you hadn’t helped me, I might have been killed.”

  “Once you showed compassion,” Blackwart continued, “your mother’s kidnapping was staged. You were watched, and showed keen observation skills, a bit of clumsiness—” a chuckle ran around the room “—not out of place for either a toad or a young human, and, despite obvious fear, a determination to seek out and rescue your mother. You overcame your revulsion of my people and worked with Mudswimmer; you found weapons, and an interesting way to come to this hidden place. You further overcame your fear by daring to face us here, when you knew the danger. When given the chance to kill or not, you chose mercy. And, perhaps most importantly for a would-be Adventurer, when in danger you showed quick and inspired thinking. Tipstone will not forget staring into a fountain of spices soon, I think!”

  Another ripple of laughter ran around the room, echoed even by Tipstone, who was entering from the passage, his huge eyes still swollen and watery. Lalira felt the shakes fading, replaced by wonder. I really did do all those things… and they were very real for me, even if it was a trick, sort of.

  “At the same time, Mudswimmer showed he could withstand great pain and danger for the sake of another cause, could play a part with skill, and could find ways to assist others despite his small stature. He’s earned the right to a choice-name.” The Toad-God gave a broad smile that somehow did not seem at all the same as that of the Demonlord. “And you both endured a bit of looking ridiculous without allowing it to impair you, something which is more important than you might think.”

  Lalira finally managed to smile up at Blackwart. “All right…I think I’m still a little mad at both of you…no, all three of you,” she said, looking at both her mother and Mudswimmer ”But…I guess I understand.”

  “Then it is settled,” Blackwart said, and with that disappeared. His voice, however, continued to speak. “If it meets with your mother’s approval, that is.”

  “What?”

  Her mother came forward and embraced her, and—after a second—Lalira hugged back. “It means I won’t be seeing you for a while… because Blackwart himself is sponsoring you.”