The Creek Widow narrowed her eyes.
"The monster," said Talen. "Before it put me back."
"Talen," Uncle Argoth said, "how did you do it? What magic was that?"
Talen shrugged. "River had said you could kill a man by giving him too much Fire. I gave the monster everything."
"Incredible," Uncle Argoth said.
The Creek Widow shook her head. "My boy"-she took his hand-"My bright, shining boy. You have s.n.a.t.c.hed victory from the jaws of death."
"But I didn"t," he said. "The monster put me back."
"What are you talking about?"
"The monster," said Talen. "It put me back into my body."
"But the monster lies in pieces," said Argoth.
"It was there, on the other side. I don"t know how else to explain it."
"This place," said the Creek Widow surveying the chamber. "It will take a great many days to understand what went on here."
"Is the woman gone?" asked Talen.
"Can you feel her inside you?" asked Uncle Argoth.
Talen turned inward. He could not feel her. "I heard her scream," he said.
"Yes," said Uncle Argoth. "We heard it also."
"There were doors between us," said Talen. He felt inward and could find no trace of that link between him and the woman. "They are gone."
"Let us hope. But even if she is gone," said Uncle Argoth, "I do not think her sisters will sit long. To them we are mad bulls broken from the pens and goring the good villagers."
"Talen," said River. "Do you think you can stand? We need to make our way out while this odd light lasts."
"I can stand," he said and rolled over and pushed himself to his hands and knees. Every joint of him protested in pain. His head swam. But he forced himself up. "I can stand."
A mult.i.tude of what looked to be pale sea kelp littered the chamber floor. "What is that?" he asked.
"The woman"s creatures," said River.
"Or were they her children?" asked the Creek Widow.
"We should take some to examine," said Uncle Argoth.
"I"ve tried to pick them up," said River. "I cannot seem to handle them."
Uncle Argoth bent and tried to pick one up, but it only slid aside. He tried again and failed.
The Creek Widow shook her head. "There are simply too many questions. And we don"t have time for them. We need to see to Purity."
When Sugar recovered from the explosion, she ran to Mother who was still chained to the wall and knelt next to her. Mother was covered in dust, slumped. The living collar still coiled about her neck.
"Mother," Sugar said and grabbed her hand. "Mother."
She did not respond.
"Please," Sugar said and felt for a pulse on Mother"s wrist. There was nothing. She moved her fingers. Moved them again, and then felt something. She pressed harder. It was a pulse. It was weak, but it was there.
Legs too was covered in dust. They all were. Legs also had a cut on his head, and the blood had mixed with the dust on his face and in his hair. "Sugar," he called.
"Here," she replied, and then Mother stirred.
Sugar turned round. "Mother," she said.
Legs felt his way over and grasped Mother"s other hand.
And then Mother wearily opened her eyes. She took a shallow exhausted breath, and then looked up at Legs and then Sugar.
"My dears," she said. "Bless the Six."
"They"re gone," Sugar said. "We can get you out of here."
Mother licked her dry and peeling lips then reached out to touch Sugar"s and then Legs"s face. She smiled wanly. "You shining children. You are the moon and the sun."
"Oh, Mother," Legs said and pressed into her in a tight embraced. Sugar pressed in as well, gave her mother a kiss on the cheek then enfolded Legs and Mother in her arms.
"They killed Da," Sugar said.
"I know, Sweet," Mother said.
The warmth of Mother"s body, the stroke of her hand, the touch of her cheek on Sugar"s skin-suddenly the stone within her melted and was replaced with a wave of emotion that rose from within, bringing to the surface the grief that had deserted her since the mob attacked. She sobbed tears into the dust on her mother"s neck.
"You"re wonders," Mother said and stroked her hair. "You both are wonders. Thank the Six."
Then Mother winced and cried out in pain.
Sugar pulled back. "Matiga!" she called.
"We"re here," Argoth said behind her.
The Creek Widow looked down at Mother and rolled up her dusty sleeves. "You don"t look good, my girl. But we can fix that."
"Look at that collar," Argoth said. "It"s moving. Can you still feel the woman?"
Mother reached up and felt the collar about her neck. It moved slightly at her touch. "The link with her is broken," she said.
"We"ll find a way to remove that," Argoth said.
Mother shook her head. "I"ve seen things here," she said. "The woman took me abroad one night. Things are not right."
"What do you mean?" the Creek Widow asked.
"The world of souls," Purity said.
Behind them Ke dragged himself to his feet. He was battered and bleeding about the head. He looked like he"d been worked over by a sledgehammer. He said, "We need to leave. Our light is burning low, and we do not know what else resides in these warrens. We need to get out."
The Creek Widow nodded. "How do you feel?"
"Like a bag of rocks," he said.
She motioned at the chains holding Mother. "Help me with these," she said.
River and Zu Argoth joined her, and despite the fact that they were all injured, they pulled the chains from the wall.
"Help your brother," the Creek Widow said to River. "Argoth and I will take care of Purity."
River went to help Ke. Zu Argoth reached down and gathered up Purity and her chains in his arms.
"What about Da?" Talen asked motioning at the monster into which the soul of Zu Hogan had been transferred.
Ke put his arm around River"s shoulders and leaned on her. "He lies there yet," he said grimly. "I don"t think the woman had the time to fully quicken that beast. We"ll come back for him. We"ll figure it out, Talen."
The Creek Widow took Legs"s hand. "Sugar and Talen, lead us out of this place."
Sugar let Talen lead because she didn"t want to release Mother"s hand. She didn"t want to stop stroking her arm. She didn"t want to ever let her go again.
They began the journey back, but they could not move quickly with River supporting Ke and Argoth and the Creek Widow taking turns carrying Purity. Nor could Talen do much more than shuffle with his injuries. All this meant that the torches burned out long before they"d reached the entrance to the caves.
The stood in the darkness and Sugar wondered how they would ever make it back. Then Legs spoke up. "I think I recognize this place. Give me the lead."
Sugar used the rope in her sack and tied them all together, and then they moved forward, hands held out to feel in the darkness before them. Not long after, Legs said, "I do know where we are!"
"How can you know that?" Talen asked.
"Orientation points," said Zu Argoth. "A dead spot where there is no breeze, the place where you can hear the pouring of distant water, the corridor with the double echo."
"I listen to mice and mosquitoes, remember?" Legs asked.
Talen shook his head. There was definitely more to that boy than met the eye.
Legs made his way to the front, and then they continued forward. They walked for what seemed hours in their shuffling line. They did take some wrong turns, but Sugar eventually heard the water falling over the rocks. It wasn"t long after that that Legs led them out of the cave and into the light.
Sugar blinked in the sunlight. The warm air of early evening wrapped about her like a blanket. She took in a glorious breath of sunlight and air. They"d done it!
Argoth lay Mother down, and Sugar dropped to her knees next to her in relief.
A moment later the woods about the cave boiled to life with men armed with swords and axes and spears and bows, all wearing Shoka blue and green.
"The sleth woman!" a man shouted.
A murmur arose, and the bowmen drew their arrows, pointed them at Sugar and the others. There had to be at least a hundred of them. Behind them teams of hunting dogs began to bark and strain at their masters leashes.
Argoth looked at the faces of the men surrounding him. He looked at their dogs. They stood thirty paces away, the proper distance for confronting sleth. He knew all of them. Then Shim pushed his way through and stood at the front of their line.
"Captain Argoth," the warlord boomed. "Whom do you serve?"
For a moment Argoth faltered. Had he misjudged Shim? Were all of his pleadings and talks of alliances just a ruse? After all, it was Shim who had told him the lie that Skir Master had lost his beast. It was Shim who had wanted him to expose the Order just before the Skir Master arrived.
"I serve you, Lord."
"Oh, but I have a Bailiff here that says the monster is yours." Shim motioned at the Bailiff of Stag Home. Next to him stood the man they called Prunes, a warrior of many battles, a man that was frightened by neither death nor torture. His face, oddly enough, shone with fear. And Argoth realized these men were preparing to slaughter them.
Argoth shook his head at the futility of their fight. They"d just dealt a blow to an unimaginable enemy, and these fools were going to kill them.
"What did you say?" asked Shim.
"The monster," said Argoth, "is destroyed."
"And its master?"
"Fled. But you can search the cave and verify what we say. You will find a room with the bodies of Hogan the Horse of Blood Hill who fell trying to protect the people of this land as well as the bodies of nine more terrors that would have been unleashed upon us."
The Warlord turned to the Bailiff. "Since you bring the accusations, I"m going to let you lead the search. Pick fifty men."
The Bailiff turned and looked at Prunes who appeared to quail at the prospect of entering the cave, but he did not refuse and soon the two of them had selected the men to go with them. They decided to use Purity"s daughter as the guide, bound her hands, and disappeared into the hole. The rest of the soldiers eyed Argoth and the others warily.
"What about the sleth woman?" a captain of the Shoka asked, clearly worried Purity might rise to attack them.
Shim looked down at Purity. "Is she sleth? Or is she a victim of yet another Fir-Noy plot against the Koramites? Was her guilt ever proven? If she truly is a wicked killer, then I will slit her throat myself. But first I want answers."
"We should at least bind her and those children," another man said.
"Feel free," Shim said and waved the men on.
The men hesitated.
Argoth said, "I vouch for every one of them. But if you will throw me your ropes, I will bind them."
That seemed to satisfy the men, and they threw Argoth a number of lengths of cord to bind the wrists and ankles of the others. When he finished, Argoth sat on a rock. And they waited, the men of Shim"s army ready to fill them with arrows.
The search party returned as the sun was setting and confirmed what Argoth had told them. They brought with them the body of Hogan and part of the monster"s leg.