Descent into the Depths of the Earth (5 page)

Jus stared in wonderment. The faerie hovered, looking at him
with a strangely satisfied smile, and then fluttered back into the tavern.

Cinders’ red eyes gleamed.
Faerie give a kiss! Faerie
give a kiss!

Jus’ ear tingled. He actually turned a strange shade of
reddish pink. Polk joined him in staring at the tavern door. The teamster
cleared his throat into the silence.

“Spring?”

Enid blinked and said, “Autumn’s only just begun.”

“Maybe faeries get it early?”

“Oh, dear.”

Jus wonderingly touched his ear—still red hot from Escalla’s
kiss. He blinked, shook himself, then swept his maps efficiently underneath his
arm.

“All right! Let’s get fed. There’s smoke about three miles to
the north. We’ll leave in ten minutes, head north, and investigate. Enid, if you
want to organize your books, you might want to stay here while we go to town and
fly after us in a”—Jus sniffed at a strange odor—“in… in a…”

Something was frying, possibly bacon, possibly honey. A
sickeningly sweet stench redolent of dental cavities coiled about the village
roofs. A pan banged noisily from the tavern room, and Escalla’s voice pealed
into the street.

“Breakfast! Come on, adventurers! Get it while it’s hot!”

Enid and Polk uneasily looked at one another. The sphinx
looked a little pale as she said, “Escalla cooked?”

“She cooked.” Polk bit his lip in trepidation “Well, ah, she
is a girl. I kinda guess all girls can cook.”

Escalla had a metabolism like a hummingbird. Her concept of a
happy breakfast had enough sugar in it to turn grown men into gibbering loons.

Jus gave a sigh and tightened up his sword belt. “This could
be interesting.”

Enid blinked and said, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Inside the tavern, Escalla had laid out a dented old serving
platter full of food. She hovered above the table, pleased as a cat swimming in
cream, and very ostentatiously primped a vase of champagne roses at the center
of the table.

“There was honey in a pot in the pantry, and we still had
sugar, so I made cakes and bacon!” Breakfast gleamed beneath a sweet glaze of
sugar crystals. “Eat hearty!”

Everyone stared at Escalla’s creation, which sat there
gleaming under an ocean of syrup. The faerie personally made sure that everybody
had a helping. She put extra syrup on her own plate, dipped waybread into the
mixture and crammed it straight into her mouth.

“’S good! Try shome!”

With painfully polite expressions, the faerie’s companions
all tried the meal one by one. It had a jolt like an electric eel. Everyone made
a great show of swallowing and nodding, making Escalla beam.

The faerie had brewed tea in a big rusty kettle she found in
a cupboard. The resulting brew was colored half by rust and half by tea leaves.
She happily poured the mixture into tin mugs for one and all. Polk sniffed at
it, looked at the Justicar with the eyes of a man who had just been handed
hemlock, and watched Escalla as she went about her chores.

“Aren’t you drinkin’ any, girl?”

“Oh no. Tea makes me hyper!”

Sitting beside her bouquet of roses, Escalla sat on her hands
and happily watched Jus as he ate. In his time, the man had been stabbed, cut,
burned, bashed, bitten, clawed, and gnawed upon, so this seemed comparatively
mild torture. He stoically drank the tea and ate the food, consuming it slowly
and carefully without batting an eye.

Escalla primped the roses again, looking about and hoping
that everyone noticed the flowers. She then came whirring over to land at Jus’
side. She looked at him with a wry fondness and then chucked him on the chin.

“Jus, about the rescue thing… that’s… that’s just so
sweet. You never thanked me like that before.”

Jus frowned, wondering why women had to fix upon the most
strange little things.

“I’ve thanked you before.”

“Yeah, but you never made it so obvious you meant it!” The
faerie giggled then chucked him on the chin again. “Well you didn’t have to go
to all that trouble.”

Jus bit his lip. All he’d said was thank you. He wondered how
she would act if he’d given it to her in writing. With a shrug, Jus turned back
to his tea, managing to ignore the strange deposits floating on the top.

Escalla leaned forward and lowered her voice so that only he
could hear. “Ah, Jus, I’m aware that I sometimes cause a few…
difficulties,
so I’m going to try and think a little more about how you feel
from now on. I promise.” She crossed her sleek cleavage with a finger.
“Partners?”

Jus looked at her, fond but puzzled. He held up his finger so
that the faerie could clasp it in her hands. “Partners.”

She seemed relieved to be free of the burden of true
confessions. Escalla slung her ice wand over her shoulder, dragged her
collection of scrolls and spell lists over to Jus’ backpack and stuffed them
inside. Her roses were carefully taken outside, where Polk helpfully installed
the vase upright between the blanket bundles. Escalla tidied the blooms, clapped
her hands and rubbed them together, and seemed eager for another challenging
day.

“Right! So we’re off to look for locals. Should I go
invisible and take the point?”

“No need yet. Just stay close.” Jus intended to walk into
town in as non-threatening a manner as possible. “Enid, are you staying here?”

“I think I might. There are ever so many books to organize.”
The sphinx padded over from her work tables with a little rolled papyrus in a
tube. She dropped it into Escalla’s lap. “Here. Stun symbol. My last until we
get more gems. Sorry that it smells of squirrel!”

Escalla blinked. “Squirrel?”

“She means rabbit.” Jus had already hidden all evidence of
last night’s feast. “Enid, be careful. Follow the road to catch up.”

“Have fun in town!” The sphinx waved goodbye as Polk’s wagon
rumbled off down the trail. Enid’s freckles shone like stars as she smiled. “I
might find you a stirge for dinner!”

* * *

Three hours later, the Justicar lay against a tree trunk
carefully surveying a crumbling pile of stones. A fountain poured sweet water
into a broken moss covered font. A chapel lay half crushed beneath the weight of
a fallen tree. With Cinders on his back, Jus lay hidden in the shadows carefully
testing the area for any hint of danger. The hell hound’s red eyes gleamed as he
thoughtfully sniffed the air.

Magic. Very recent.

“Same scent as this morning?”

Same type. Fancy.
Cinders sniffed the air.
Gone now.

Leaves shifted as the Justicar came out of cover. Stealth had
long served as his deadliest weapon. Moving to circle the fountain, he scanned
carefully for tracks.

A tiny scuff marked the fountains moss. The moss oozed water.
Jus touched it with his fingertips and thoughtfully sniffed before raising his
hand up to Cinders’ nose.

The hell hound thoughtfully savored the air.
Elfie-faerie-pixie smell.

A patch of empty space over the far side of the clearing
shimmered as it dropped down through the trees.

“Hey, guys! You see anything?”

“Nothing.” Jus shrugged. “Yet.”

“Hoopy!” Escalla popped into view in midair.

At a loud summons from Jus, Polk’s wagon came rumbling down
the road. Now mostly empty, Polk insisted on dragging the vehicle behind the
party in the hope of filling it to the brim with jewels and gold. While the
vehicle arrived, Jus spread out his maps at the rim of the fountain and rubbed
at the harsh stubble on his chin.

“All right, according to the milestone, this is Agnes’
Fountain. The map puts that just at the north end of the Dreadwood.” He folded
the map away, then uncorked his drinking flask and took a swig of beer. “That
smoke we saw is about half a mile away. Escalla?”

Jus held out his beer flask and swirled it, expecting the
girl to take her share. After a minute he frowned and looked at the flask.

No Escalla.

The faerie stood on the fountains edge with her hands clasped
behind her back, her head tilted and her face in a knowing smile. She walked
artlessly on tip toes, making a pair of prancing little steps towards the
Justicar.

“Oh Ju-uus!” Escalla’s voice slyly sung. “Look what I just
happened
to find over by the fountain!” The girl held out a small package
all tied up with ribbons and waved it in the air. “A box of sweets.”

Puzzled, the Justicar and Cinders recoiled. The hell hound
sniffed suspiciously at the package, stiffened his ears, and wagged his tail.

Sweeties!

Escalla waggled the box slyly in mid air. “Aren’t I the lucky
one? Let’s share them, shall we?”

Throwing his mule’s reins aside, Polk landed beside the
fountain with a thump. “Sweets!” The man instantly took one from the packet.
“Best Tegel toffee!”

The faerie shrugged gaily and said, “I just found them. Guess
we might as well share!”

Jus raised a brow as he inspected the package. “It was just
lying there?”

“Of course it was! How strange it should be right there where
I could find it.” Escalla shot a sly, amused look at Jus. “I’m beginning to feel
a little spoiled. Or a little pampered.”

Jus took a morsel and let Cinders sample it. The hell hound
smelled no poison or magic in the sweets or on the box. Walking aside to suck on
one of the morsels and puzzle over events, Jus found himself pacing back and
forth beside the ruined chapel.

“Cinders, did you see a box there when we arrived?”

No box!
The hell hound grinned his manic grin.
Maybe
faerie keep as present. Give to friends for treat!

“Yeah.” Jus rubbed at his bristly scalp. Why was she being so
full of gifts and song today? If she’d bought treats all the way back at the
last town, why save them for this exact moment? Was she planning something? Had
she screwed up again?

Jus paused.

Was she going to leave?

The thought caused an instant hollow pit in Jus’ stomach. He
turned, but there sat Escalla, laughing with Polk. Irritably jerking his usual
grim persona back into place, Jus marched back to his companions and stood with
them by the fountain.

“Right. We found sweets.”

Escalla tilted her head to look at him out of the corner of
her eye. “Right.”

“So it’s just lucky.” Jus kept his eyes on the forest.
“There’s no reason to read anything into it at all.”

The faerie steepled sticky fingertips. “Yep. Quite right.”
She bit her bottom lip and peered across her shoulder at the Justicar. “Unless
someone wanted to say something special?”

Jus folded his arms. “No.”

“Fine!” Escalla twiddled her wings. “Fine. Guess there’s
nothing to say.”

“Nothing.”

“Good.”

Polk was busily stuffing sticky sweets into his pocket for
later. “I’ve got something to say!”

“Shh!” Escalla shot the little man a glance. “Silence is
golden.”

Grandly dusting herself off, Escalla drifted up into the air.
She bowed, ushering Polk, Jus, and Cinders onward, slipping the uneaten treats
into the back of the wagon for later use.

Taking the lead, Jus marched on down the trail, his brows
drawn into a heavy frown. He looked back across his shoulder and saw Escalla
riding between the ears of the wagon mule. She slyly waved her fingertips at him
and gave a very knowing smile.

Annoyed, Jus hunched forward and kept his eyes searching for
trouble on the road. Above his helm, Cinders contented himself with making
sucking sounds and mumbling a strange little tune into the ether.

Jus cocked an eye toward the dog.
“You’re
eating one?”

Scorched almond.

“It figures.”

A shabby assortment of heaped stones masquerading as a town
sprawled across the forest path. A substantial settlement had apparently been
razed to the ground and then rebuilt by people big on enthusiasm but small on
engineering skills. There were hundreds of shabby tents and lean-tos in the
shelter of the older ruins. The sign outside the village had been painted upon
an old, scarred shield. It read: SOUR PATCH. GOOD FOOD AND LICKER.

The village had been cobbled together out of rotten canvas
and old scrap. Bark huts half tumbled into open sewers, and hundreds of
dispirited peasants shuffled down the dirty streets. More and more people were
arriving, all of them ashen, dressed in rags, and carrying everything they owned
upon their backs. Long lines formed at wagons that were dispensing bread and
gruel. Children were crying, and the air stank of human misery.

The streets seemed overcrowded with the hungry and the poor.
A gibbet hung empty at the center of the village, attended by two guards with
rusted armor and faces redolent of brutal stupidity.

As the Justicar stood looking at the squalid, crowded camp, a
figure bowed down with wood trudged close nearby. Dropping his load, the
newcomer looked from Jus to the village and back again.