teenage whore. Nothin’ bigger than a snake could get out
the back way. We’re safe enough here, all right.” Jon-Tom
gladly handed back the otter’s bow and found himself a
soft place on the floor.
‘ Then I guess we wait until they attack again or give up
and leave us alone. I suppose we ought to stand watch
tonight.”
“Allow me, suh,” said Roseroar. “Ah’m as comfortable
with the night as ah am with the day.”
“While we wait to see what they’ll do,” said Drom,
“perhaps now you’ll tell me what you people are doing in
this country, so far from civilization.”
Jon-Tom sighed. “It’s a long story,” he told the uni-
corn, and proceeded to relate it yet again. As he spoke, the
sun set and the trees blended into a shadowy curtain
outside. An occasional arrow plunked against the stone,
more for nuisance value than out of any hope of hitting
any of the defenders inside.
Hathcar had indeed lost too many in the futile attack to
try it again. He knew that if he continued to fling his
followers uselessly against an impregnable position they
would melt quietly away into the woods. That night he
moved away from the main campfire and sought counsel
from an elderly rat and wolf, the two wisest of his band.
“So how do we pry those stinking bastards out of
there?”
The rat’s hair was tinged with white and his face and
THE DAY OF THE DISSONANCE
235
arms were scarred. He picked at the dirt with one hand.
“Why bother? Why not let them rot in there if they so
desire? There are easier pickin’s elsewhere.”
Hathcar leaned toward him, glaring in the moonlight.