Barb Hendee - Child of a Dead God

Sgaile spun the boat slowly, pulling its side in against the knoll. Leesil grabbed the pack Osha held out and tucked it in the bow.

"Magiere…?" Wynn called out.

Leesil looked up.

The little sage stood at the shack's corner just beyond the half-collapsed chicken coop, and then she backed up without turning.

"Sgaile!" Wynn shouted.

Chap bolted toward her as Leesil took off past Magiere. He grabbed Wynn, a freed stiletto already hidden in his hand, and pulled her back. Magiere raced around him to the shack's front, hand on her falchion's hilt. Leesil saw the source of Wynn's warning as Sgaile came into the open.

A man and a woman approached through the shallow water at the knoll's north side. Leesil went rigid at the sight of their gray-green attire.

Anmaglahk.

Both weatherworn, the woman held a shortbow drawn with an arrow nocked. But Leesil focused on the man.

Cowl down, his hair was almost white and cut short, standing up in unwashed bristles. His amber eyes were flat and emotionless, and even trudging out of shin-deep water, his steps barely left ripples. He didn't look down once, as if he'd never missed a step in his life. His gray-green cloak was tied up, and he held no weapon.

"Sgaile?" Leesil said, tearing his gaze away to glance at his companion.

Sgaile remained silent as the newcomers crested the knoll, stopping ten paces off. Then he nodded once to the older male.

"Greimasg'ah."

"I have a purpose from Most Aged Father," the man said in perfect Belaskian, and his tone was as emotionless as his gaze. "You will turn both the artifact and the dark-haired human over to me."

Magiere ripped the falchion from its sheath, as the female anmaglahk turned the bow on her.

Hkuan'duv had not seen these humans this close. It was unsettling.

He did not blink when Magiere pulled her weapon.

Somehow, her black hair with the strange red glints, her white face and dark eyes, made him feel tainted. The proximity of the shabby half-blood, the deviant majay-hi, and even the small woman in rolled-up pants did not affect him the same way.

This half-dead thing with the defiant face and unnatural color sparked revulsion.

Most Aged Father had warned Hkuan'duv about her, ordered him to eliminate her.

In spite of his discomfort at her close proximity, he was relieved to finally reveal himself to Sgailsheilleache and Osha, no longer skulking behind them. He had openly given his purpose, and it superseded all others. This entire matter was over.

Sgailsheilleache stepped out and raised a shielding arm before Magiere.

"I do not understand," he said in Elvish. "My oath of guardianship is not completed… and cannot be broken."

"The word of Father outweighs all," Hkuan'duv answered flatly.

"With respect, Greimasg'ah… nothing outweighs my oath."

Hkuan'duv stared at him.

Sgailsheilleache was openly questioning the will of Most Aged Father and the needs of his caste and people. Hkuan'duv studied him more closely, as Sgailsheilleache's gaze shifted wildly back and forth.

"We serve!" Hkuan'duv snapped. "It is our place to put the hope and safety of our people above our own concerns. You will turn the artifact over at once!"

Sgailsheilleache's eyes stopped shifting and locked upon Hkuan'duv.

Sgaile's stomach clenched.

In the night, Most Aged Father had spoken to him like a son, asked after Osha, and expressed relief at the prospect of their homecoming. Now Hkuan'duv, one of the revered Greimasg'ah, had arrived by the next dawn- demanding that Sgaile revoke guardianship and turn over the artifact… and Magiere?

Chap lunged out before Hkuan'duv with a threatening snap.

The Greimasg'ah held his ground, but Danvarfij backed a step, visibly uncertain of turning her bow on a majay-hi.

"Wait!" Leshil called, and the dog pulled up short. "What's this about?"

"He will not listen to Sgaile," Wynn whispered. "They want Magiere and the orb."

Sgaile flinched as Magiere took a threatening step forward, trying to push past his arm. He grabbed for her, but she slapped his hand away. Sgaile shook his head sharply, holding up his open hand, and she stopped.

"Relinquish the artifact," Hkuan'duv repeated, and his eyes narrowed. "Or I will take it."

The tightness in Sgaile's stomach released.

Hkuan'duv could not relinquish his accepted purpose. And Sgaile would not break his guardianship-to Magiere or her promise to the human sages. He stood opposed to two of his own caste.

He stilled his emotions and shook his head slowly at Hkuan'duv.

"I am my people," he said in clear Belaskian, "their ways and the protection of them… and I will not break a sacred oath!"

Leesil couldn't follow anything said in Elvish, other than what Wynn had translated in a whisper-and one Elvish term.

Greimasg'ah.

How had these two anmaglahk found them on the edge of the Everfen? He quickly calculated who he'd have to take down first. Between a master anmaglahk and the woman with a loaded bow, it was even odds which was more immediately dangerous.

In truth, only Osha's loyalties struck Leesil as uncertain. The young elf appeared confused and frightened by what was playing out before him. Sgaile would never break his word, and he'd proven that more than once. But Leesil didn't truly understand the shifting authority in Anmaglahk hierarchy. Who would Osha follow-his teacher and Sgaile's oath, or a revered master of his caste, sent by Most Aged Father?

Leesil shifted his eyes to the woman with the bow aimed at Magiere. It was clear which one he had to take down first.

Sgaile spoke a final reply, clear for all to hear.

At the quick flick of the female elf's eyes, Leesil snapped his hand forward.

Her bowstring released as the stiletto spun from his hand.

Sgaile shoved Magiere aside as Leesil pulled the catches on his punching blades. The arrow grazed Magiere's arm and flew out into the swamp. The woman crouched swiftly, and the stiletto passed harmlessly above her.

Leesil pulled both winged blades as she came up.

She never paused. By the time he'd readied his blades, she'd notched a second arrow. Chap charged as the woman pulled back the bowstring.

Sgaile slipped into the master anmaglahk's path, bone knife in hand, and shouted, "Osha, do not interfere!"

"No!" Wynn shouted. "Stop, all of you!"

No one listened to her.

Wynn's late cry accomplished nothing, and her mind raced for a way to stop this confrontation. But Chap did not even slow in his attack.

He snarled savagely, but the female anmaglahk changed tactics before he closed. She hopped, folding her legs an instant before he snapped at her knee. One foot lashed down and struck the side of his head. Chap's muzzle bit into wet earth as he twisted off his feet.

Wynn flinched, stunned that any elf would strike a majay-hi.

Magiere came back from Sgaile's hard shove as Leesil went at the elven woman with both winged blades.

Osha jerked Wynn back, pinning her to the shack's side. But she saw his stricken profile as he watched Sgaile and the Greimasg'ah in horror.

They slashed and feinted so fast that each time Wynn flinched another strike was already in motion. She counted half a dozen attacks. What would happen if one of them spilled the other's blood?

"Stop them!" she shouted at Osha. "You must do something!"

Magiere rounded the older elf's flank, cocking her falchion in a double grip. Osha blocked Wynn with his body, as if he didn't know what else to do.

The female anmaglahk ducked Leesil's first strike as Chap hauled himself up.

A stiletto appeared in the woman's hand as she whirled and slashed for Leesil's face.

Magiere's mind went blank as the woman kicked Chap's head and the dog went down hard in the wet sod. Rage welled up inside Magiere.