sharp.”
Graym smiled at him. “And a sword. And maybe a
quick parole for friend Darll, and a tavern for me to run – ”
“And a woman for me,” Fenris said firmly.
“And me,” Fanris echoed.
Graym scratched his head, looked dubious.
“Right,” Darll said. “I’m sure that somewhere in
Krinneor there’s a pair of dirty, nearsighted women with no
self-respect left.”
The Wolf brothers brightened considerably.
*****
By late night, the blanket screens were down and they’d
piled wood on to make a man-high flame. The Wolf
brothers were singing a duet about a bald woman who’d
broken the heart of a barber, and Darll was weeping.
“You ‘member,” he said, his arm around Graym,
“‘member when the bounty hunters attacked, and I saved
us?”
“You did well, sir,” said Graym.
Darll snuffled. “I was going to run off, but then I
remembered you had the keys to the manacles.”
Graym patted his pocket. “Still do, sir.”
Darll, tears running down both cheeks, wiped his nose.
“You know that when you free me, I’m going to kill you.”
Graym patted Darll’s shoulder. “Anybody would, sir”
Darll nodded, wept, belched, tried to say something
more, and fell asleep sitting up.
Graym lay down, rolled over on his back, and stared at
the stars. They were faint in the dusty air, but to Graym they
shone a little clearer every night. “I used to be afraid of
them,” he said comfortably to himself. “They used to be
gods. Now they’re just stars.”
*****
When the sun came up the next morning, it rose with
what Graym heard as an ear-splitting crack.
He opened one eye as little as possible, then struggled
to his feet. “Isn’t life an amazing thing?” he said shakily to
himself. “If you’d told me yesterday that every hair on my
head could hurt, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Fenris stared out at the dusty field nearby and quavered,
“What’s that terrible noise?”
Graym looked where Fenris was pointing and found the
source. “Butterflies.”
Fenris nodded – a mistake. His eyes rolled back in his
head and he fell over with a thud. Fanris, beside him,
whimpered at the sound of the impact.
Graym, moving as silently as possible, crept over to
Darll, shook him by the shoulder. Darll’s manacles rattled.
Darll flinched and opened two remarkably red eyes. “If
I live,” he murmured fuzzily, “I’m going to kill you.”
Graym sighed and rubbed his own head. “I thought you
already had, sir.”
*****
By midmorning, they were back on the road and near the
first rank of western hills. Graym, pulling the cart along
with Darll, was almost glad they had lost so many barrels.
The wagon lurched to a stop at every rock in the road . . .
and there were many rocks.
At least the companions were feeling better. Skull-
Splitter’s effect, though true to its name, wore off quickly.
Jarek was humming to himself, trying to remember the
Wolf brothers’ song of the night before. Darll, after
swearing at him in strained tones for some time, was now
correcting him on the melody and humming along.
Fenris, perched on the cart, yelled, “Trouble ahead!”
Fanris gazed, quivered. “Are they dangerous?”
Darll grated his teeth. “Kender! I hate the nasty little
things. Kill ’em all. Keep ’em away. They’ll rob you blind
and giggle the whole time.”
Graym looked up from watching the rutted road. Before
he knew what was happening, he was surrounded by
kender: eager, energetic, and pawing through their
belongings. The kender had a sizable bundle of their own,
pulled on a travois, but the bundle changed shape
ominously.
“Ho! Ha!” Darll swung two-handed at them, trying to
make good on his threat to kill them all. They skipped and
ducked, ignoring the length of chain that whistled
murderously over their heads.
“Here now, little fellers,” Graym said, holding his pack
above his head. “Stay down! Good morning!” He smiled at
them and skipped back and forth to keep his pack out of
reach, and he seemed like a giant kender himself.
One of the kender, taller than the others and dressed in
a brown robe with the hood clipped off, smiled back. “Good