Bitter Gold Hearts

______LV______

Skredli apparently had an honest streak. If somebody had tried that stunt on me, I would have tested the trick somehow. Unless they were better talkers than I.

"You guys gather around close," I said, after I'd given the breed fifteen minutes to get started. "I've got two tricks left. This one is the best." I took out a crystal bigger than the others the witch had given me. It gave off the minutest amount of soft orange light. I suspect it had stretched her limits to create it—if it did what she claimed it would.

"When I break this, we'll be invisible to the second sight, or whatever you call it, for about ten minutes. We'll still be visible to regular eyes. Once I crack it, don't waste any time."

"You fibbed to Skredli, you bad boy," Saucerhead said.

"Sideways. Sort of. Maybe. If he runs after he makes his diversion, I won't chase him."

"What about me?"

"I warned him. You do what you want when we have the Stormwarden wrapped up."

He grinned big enough to see in the dark.

"Everybody got it?"

They said they did. Morley asked, "What else have you got?"

"What?"

"You said you had a couple of things. I know you, Garrett. What are they?"

"Just one more. A crystal from the same family I used before. This one causes violent muscle cramps."

"Please yell or something this time, Garrett."

"All right. Here goes."

I broke the glowing crystal.

Skredli found half a dozen guys to back him and made his move when we were a hundred-fifty yards from the farmhouse. It wasn't a happy move for the most. The attack was over before we were two-thirds of the way to the house. Worms of blue light snapped and snarled around the place. Men yelled. A couple staggered away ablaze. But nothing reached us. I watched Skredli brush off a patch of fire and head for the woods beyond the house. Saucerhead saw him too. He growled but stuck. The Stormwarden stepped out the front door. We dropped down in the grass. There was enough light cast by burning men to show her grinning. She turned back into the darkened house.

I flung my last crystal. I hit the dirt.

Tinkle. And a long scream.

I charged. The others damn near stomped on my heels. They knew as well as I that we had to get her wrapped up in the few seconds when the pain distracted her too much to protect herself.

She was fighting it when we arrived. I tried to clap a hand over her mouth. She ducked me. Morley let her have a fist in the temple that loosened her up, then Crask and Sadler pinned her to the floor. I got back around and clamped my hand over her mouth. "Get the damned light going, Saucerhead."

The woman couldn't remain still. The spasms racking her were as violent as convulsions.

A lamp came to life. But Morley had lighted it. Saucerhead was nowhere to be seen. Morley set the lamp down and brought a rag that I stuffed into the Stormwarden's mouth. In seconds he returned with rope. We bound her. Her spasms began to ease. "Where did you come up with rope all of a sudden?"

"They didn't need it anymore."

I looked. He was right. Gameleon and the Baronet had checked out. Donni Pell was alive but that was about all. Domina Dount was unbound but standing in a corner, her face a mask of horror, eyes wide but unseeing, skin as pale and cold as a human's can get. I don't think she knew we were there. "Not a very nice lady at all," I said. I sort of wished Amber could be there to see what had happened to her father.

There wasn't a lot left of him or his half-brother. I understood why he'd been scared enough to murder Courter Slauce. Had he foreseen this, I could see him being scared enough to ice Amiranda.

Even Sadler and Crask were impressed. And they weren't the types one impresses with human messes. The Stormwarden was recovering. Her eyes were open, hard, unfriendly. "What now?" Sadler asked. Our next move was obvious. There was only one way to save our butts: do unto others first. But that was a hell of a giant step, even after we'd started taking it. I've got no use for our masters from the Hill, and the others had none either, but we'd been conditioned to think them immune to our ire. A wish came true. A sound. I thought it was Saucerhead. But Sadler and Crask, nearer the door, whipped out blades and got set for trouble.

Amber walked in. And right behind her was Saucerhead's witch.

I gawked.

Shaggoth stuck his head in the door while Morley muttered something elfish, sniffed disgustedly, and withdrew into the night.

Morley finally managed, "What the hell was that?"

"A troll."

Amber didn't react physically this time. She looked at her father's remains. She looked at her mother. She looked at Gameleon and Donni Pell. She looked at her mother again. She looked at Willa Dount, then she looked at me. Her lips were tight and white. She shook her head, took Willa Dount into her arms and began making soothing sounds.

"What now?" Sadler asked again.

I looked at the witch. "Your stuff came in handy."

"I guessed it might." She looked like she might lose her most recent meal.

"What're you doing here?"

"Shaggoth came upon this child on the road, in hysterics. He brought her to me. I wheedled some of her story out of her and guessed some more and thought you might be in trouble. We've been on the hill behind you for the past hour."

"Ran into Amber just by chance, eh?"

She smiled. "We like to keep track." She glanced around. "Your associate has asked twice what you want to do now."

"It isn't a matter of what I want to do. It's what I have to do to stay healthy. I was planning to dump them down the well and fill it. By the time anyone digs them up they won't be identifiable."

"You tend to think as grimly as those you oppose today, Garrett. You're the knight in the knighted land, remember? A rage for justice? That's what you brought with you when you visited me. Not kill or be killed."

"Show me the way. My head's locked in. It's gotten too bloody and too brutal."

"Amber. Come here."

Amber left Willa Dount, who had begun to show some color. "Yes?"

"Explain to Garrett what we discussed while we waited on the hillside."

"Discussed? You told me... Garrett, all we have to do now is get some people from the High Council to come and see what's happened. Nobody else has to get killed. We can just sit tight and keep things the way they are. Answer questions honestly. My mother has overstepped her rights. They'll take appropriate steps. Including making certain Mother never hurts anybody again. You and your friends included."

I thought about it. I thought about it some more. Maybe they were too damned idealistic. But if the right bunch came out, some of the Stormwarden's enemies, we might come up smelling like roses. They could tie it in a knot and make a good show, get what they wanted, and come out looking like champions of justice themselves. "It's worth a think. Let's take a walk." I grabbed her hand and went outside.

"What is it?" she asked.

"The gold?"

"It's gone. Isn't it? Anyway, if it turns out the way the witch said, it won't matter. I'll get everything that belonged to my mother and father and she won't be there to—"

"The gold isn't gone. Not most of it. Willa Dount hid it somewhere. Skredli's bunch weren't after two hundred thousand. They asked for twenty thousand. Domina forged an extra cipher into all those letters."

"Oh. I see. You want your half."

"Not really. I never counted on getting it. I just want you to keep it in mind if you bring in a tribunal. They get a sniff of that, they could get itchy to grab."

"It's all right with you? To do it this way?"

"It's fine with me. It's you I'm asking about."

"She said it would be."

"The witch?"

"Yes. She knows you better than I do, I guess."

"Let's go inside." We went. I told Crask and Sadler, "You guys got any reason to hang around?"

Crask was leaning against a wall, watching the witch. He said, "Yeah." He pointed. "Her." He meant Donni Pell. "Chodo wants her. When you're done with her. If she's still breathing."

"What for?"

"An ornament. Like the broads that hang around the pool. He thinks she'd be interesting, all he's heard."

"I see." I liked an aspect of the idea. I examined my conscience. Better than killing her. Maybe. "It's all right with me. Take her now."

The witch gave me an unreadable look. Then she stepped over and did something to Donni Pell. The girl began breathing easier. Saucerhead came strolling in. He saw the witch and looked sheepish immediately. I got the distinct impression the world would be plagued by an ogre breed named Skredli no more. Morley said nothing. In fact, he did one of the fanciest fades ever. I paid no attention while Crask and Sadler started out with Donni Pell on a crude stretcher. And when I looked, Morley was nowhere in sight.