“Hgud!” she said in Gnomic. “Hello!”
A tangle of mossy hair worked its way through the mud to our left. The hobgoblin blinked and swiveled to see us better, her shoulders still belowground. “Eh? What’s this all about?” she asked in Gnomic.
“Is Chief Hobblehilt nearby?” I asked. “We need to speak with him.”
The hobgoblin was unmoved. “You just signed enemies are approaching. What enemies? Where?”
“That’s what we need to talk to him about,” Mari said in nearly flawless Low Gnomic. “There’s a whole horde of Tekari coming from the northwest.”
The hobgoblin squeaked and disappeared, only to reappear a few minutes later with the fat, surly chief of the Merybourne Underburrow and a number of other garden-folk, including, to my delight, my old friend Tobble. He squealed when he saw me and jumped into my arms as Mari began explaining the situation to Chief Hobblehilt.
“Aliza! You came back!” Tobble said.
“Of course I did, silly,” I murmured. “You didn’t think I’d stay away forever, did you?”
“They said that snudgut—sorry, that dragonrider of yours took you away to his palace in the mountains. We didn’t think we’d ever see you again!”
His words were teasing, but there was a hint of uncertainty in his tone that stirred a guilty pang in my heart. Dealing with the aftermath of the Worm had occupied the inhabitants of Hart’s Run for weeks after the battle, both human and Shani alike, and with my own time divided between my sister Anjey’s wedding preparations and my own, I’d given less thought than I should have to a proper farewell to my friends among the garden-folk. Tobble’s chiding was well deserved. I kissed his damp forehead. “I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
“Aye, you should’ve. But shh, I want to hear what’s going on!”
“You sure these creatures will pass through Merybourne?” Hobblehilt was asking Mari. She looked to me.
“No, Your Honor, we’re not sure,” I told him. “They might go around. I hope they do, but if not, we can’t let them pass without a fight.”
Chief Hobblehilt stroked his mossy chin and exchanged a glance with his underlings. One of them, a thin gnome in a mud-colored uniform, bent down and whispered a few words in his ear. The chief nodded solemnly. “Well, when you put it like that . . .” He turned back to us. “We were unprepared for the Battle of North Fields. The Thegegth monsters won’t find us so again. What do you need from us?”
I smiled. “How fast can your people dig?”
Chapter 10
Sisters-in-Arms
The sun was angling low in the cloudy sky when we heard the first horn from Little Dembley. Henry tapped my shoulder and pointed up. Just visible in the distance, Akarra wheeled and dove, spitting dragonfire. I swore and threw down the bundle of branches and garden debris I was carrying. It joined a long, low pile stretching the entire length of the west pasture. Lower than it should be, but there wasn’t time for anything more. Even with a score of volunteers from the Manor helping build it up, it was hardly an obstacle, let alone a defense.
“Back! All of you, back to your positions,” Alastair cried.
The Manor-folk scattered, disappearing beneath the fringe of pines that bordered the pasture. The sounds of grunting and a few curses tumbled down as those with bows hoisted themselves into the lowest branches of the trees. Those with axes, swords, daggers, and hammers retreated beneath the boughs. Henry was the last to vanish, grimly saluting with his rapier before taking cover.
Or nearly the last. A dark braid swung out of sight toward the end of the line. Oh no you don’t! A foul word slipped out as I dashed toward the figure.
“Watch it!” Leyda cried as I pulled her from the trees. The farrier’s hammer in her belt tipped out and landed on the ground with a soggy squelch.
“What are you doing out here? And where did you get that hammer?”
“Master Farris had an extra!”
“He— Oh, never mind,” I hissed. “You’re supposed to be inside with the others!”
“You told Henry that everyone who can fight should fight,” she said. “Well, I can fight! I want to fight, Aliza.”
“No.”
“Why not? You’re out here, aren’t you?”
“Aye, but I’m . . .” I stopped. I was what, exactly? A Daired? Hardly, at least not in any way that counted on the battlefield. Here and now, though, that was beside the point. I would not lose another sister to the Tekari. “We’ll be fine. Get back to the house.”
Alastair jogged up. “What’s going on? Miss Leyda, what are you doing?”
“She was just leaving,” I said, but Leyda sidestepped my grasp and snatched up her hammer.
“I’m going to help, Master Daired,” she said firmly.
He took the hammer from her and gave it an experimental swing. “With this?”
“It’s all I could get my hands on, sir.”
“Badly weighted for you, Miss Leyda.”
“Exactly. Thank you, Alastair,” I said. “Now will you—?”
“You’d better use this instead.” He drew a long knife from the sheath strapped to his calf and handed it to her.
“Alastair!”
Leyda turned an even deeper shade of red. “Are you—? I mean, thank—thank you, my lord!” She took the knife, bowed, and vanished into the trees before I could stop her.
“Are you mad?” I said. “Alastair, she’s seventeen! She doesn’t know how to fight.”
“Most of the people here don’t know how to fight, and your sister’s seen more of the battlefield than all of them combined. Besides,” he added with a shadow of a smile, “you should know better. Bentaine women are notoriously hard to dissuade.”
I clenched my teeth, hating him for being right, hating myself for handing him the one argument I couldn’t stand against, but before I could rally fresh protests, a second horn sounded from the west. The Tekari were getting closer. Fear swept anger clean away and I gripped Alastair’s arm, thinking suddenly of the scar on his shoulder and his maimed hand and the numbing doubt that weighed down his sword arm. What if all this wasn’t enough?
He covered my hand with his. “Aliza, it’s all right. They won’t get through.” He nodded to the line of brush and overturned earth before us. “It was a good plan.”
“And if they do?”
“Then I’ll be waiting.”
“What if they go around?”
“Akarra will make sure they don’t.”
I looked up. Akarra had stopped flaming and was flying toward us. Alastair leaned down and kissed me softly. “Myet av-bakhan, khera.”
“Aye, you be on your guard too.” I slipped my hand into the pocket beneath his hauberk and drew out the little bottle of beeswax. “Don’t forget this.”
I left him warming the vial in his hand and retreated to the trees. The branches were dense and it took a moment to find Leyda crouched beside one of the largest trunks. “You have no idea how much trouble you’re in,” I murmured, settling next to her. “Mama and Papa must be worried sick.”