“Look to your ears, wolf.” Hathcar rose. “And tell the
others to look to theirs. Parsh, you come with me.” He
glared at Brungunt. “We will return as quickly as possi-
ble. This magic sounds to me like it works better in the
dark, and I don’t want to give that four legs another day to
think of a better place.” He glanced through the trees
toward the moonlit ruins. “Hamstring him, yes. I’ll see
that damned meddler crawling to me on his knees, and
then we’ll break those as well.”
XIV
Hathcar crouched low as he pointed toward the clearing
in front of the silent fortress. The slim girl who stood
next to him watched closely, her eyes wide. She had
been awakened in the middle of the night by her mother
and sent off in the company of this ugly stranger. She
hadn’t wanted to go, but her mother had insisted, assuring
her it would only be until sunrise and that everything was
all right, everything had been arranged. Then she would be
brought home and allowed to sleep all day. And they had
promised her candy.
“There is the place, little one.”
“Don’t call me little,” she snapped. “I’m as grown up
as you are! And my name’s Silky.”
“Sorry,” Hathcar growled softly, restraining himself.
He wasn’t very fond of cubs, but he needed this one’s
cooperation.
“You’re going to pay my daddy two gold pieces for
luring out this unicorn to you. What makes you think he’ll
come out and follow me?”
“He’ll come,” Hathcar assured her. “Just be nice to
him, tell him how strong and beautiful he is.”
238
THE DAY OF THE DISSONANCE
239
She stared warily at the cuscus and his two companions