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"Sssh." Cass took her by the hand to very edge of the
warded campsite. "Watch."
One airborne creature succumbed to the lure of an espe-
cially virulent fuchsia-and-teal shrub. In a flutter of wings, it
landed on a beckoning branch and buried its face in a cluster
of scented leaves. Almost at once, the leaves flew off in dif-
ferent directions, unveiling three sprites exactly like the new-
comer, only wingless. They set upon the visitor with piping
cries of glee and carried their pinioned victim deep into the
heart of the bush.
"Dear lord! Will they eat her?" Davina was aghast.
"Him," Cass corrected. "He's safe as may be from im-
mediate consumption, for a male newly mated. Powers that be,
my lady, would you devour your own husband, as if you were
no better than a she-spider?"
"Yes, but ... three of them to one male?"
"And one triad to every mature leaf cluster on that shrub.
It's usual for all three to breed too. If it weren't for the inherent
cunning of the males at avoiding capture, I don't know where
we'd be. My father's courtiers sit around complaining and
wondering why they can't take a deep breath in summertime
without getting their teeth full of pixies!" Cass rested his hands
on his hips. "Why do we waste so much time on the battlefield
and spend so little on worthwhile things, like getting these
damned pixies to stop it?"
"Now I've seen everything," Sandy said.
176 Esther M. Friesner
"Then it's working for you too?" Cass was at her side
again. He behaved as if the earth had mistaken Lionel for a
canape. "Can you truly see as I see?"
"I can see the stones now," Sandy cried. "Oh, and so
much else!"
The stones were marvelous to see, each one taller than
two elves, a deep blue gray striped with tracks of red lichen
and furry moss, here and there the star of a minuscule yellow
flower that had no name in the lands above. Garlands 'of blue
gentian crowned the monoliths, wreaths of flowers and striped
bronze ribbons fit for any bride to wear.
The sky of Elfhame Ultramar had shown itself too. The
tops of trees were ghosts that faded in and out of sight, but
never assumed enough solidity to obscure the bright dome
above. "It's . . . blue." Sandy sounded cheated.
"We have made it so," Cass told her. "Blue and bright,
without a sun to account for the color. Were you expecting
dark caverns, or the underside of a grave mound? The blue
fades with the waning of our day, which runs just opposite to
your own. But" here he sighed "there can be no sunset; no
sunrise; and if we want a light to guide our steps in the dark,
we must kindle our own. There is no moonlight, there are no
stars."
Pazhim's shoulders twitched. "There are nights I'd be
more than glad to have a friendly moon at my back. Pray the
Powers we don't cross paths with any of them on our way to
the high court."
"Them who?" Lionel demanded.
The elf regarded him with sad, pansy-heart eyes. "Jun-
gies. Heads. What does it matter? You couldn't do anything to
stop them."
"Junkies?" Lionel repeated, getting it slightly wrong.
"Heads?" To Sandy he said, "Sounds like Central Park all
over again."
Pazhim began drawing a map in the dirt. "Here is the
white road, and here is the great stream, and here is the high
court, with outlying regions, and here are we."
Sandy and the others leaned in to watch his sketch take
shape. Fazhim gave no scale, but the distances still looked
daunting. "It's a good thing for you that Tiv and I came out
to meet you," he said. "Your fastest route to the high court is
by boat on the great stream, in spite of the dangers, and we
sailed up in one of our swiftest.''
"I never came down by this gateway before, so I didn't
ELF DEFENSE 177
know we'd need a boat," Amanda said. "But if we come by
the great stream, won't Kelerison be able to intercept us when
it emerges from the forest, into the parklands here?" She
stabbed at the nigh court with her dagger point. Fazhim
flinched.
"My lord Prince Cassiodoron is not without other
friends," Tiv said. He dared to pat Amanda's hand, even
though'it held an iron dagger. "Nor are you unkindly remem-
bered, my lady. Of all King Kelerison's fancies, you were the
only one who never treated us as if we were magic fetch-and-
carries, as in the old-country tales. Fazhim and I are but two
of a comradeship of seven, all of us my lord prince's friends.
We've left two others well placed along the water route, to
watch for any of Kelerison's patrols and either warn us off or
throw additional wards around us."
"Throw? Something that big?" Lionel jerked a thumb at
the standing stones.
"Wards set over you on earth must be of earth; wards
cast over water are of water."
"We left the remaining three in the high court proper,"
Fazhim continued. "Their job is to create an internal distur-
bance, if a distraction is needed when we arrive, and to watch
over the children."
"The children!" Lionel's hand reached for Sandy's and
squeezed it.
"Well, of course." Tiv lifted his moth-light brows. "We
said we knew all about your quest. It's hard enough keeping
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