Conway's Curse (7 page)

Conway’s head lifted sharply. He stared at the wizard, and Tion could see something like horror and pain crease his otherwise somber face.

Tion stood on the bench and planted his fists atop the table. “You should probably know that until you saved Kail and me, I didn’t believe you existed. Now that I’ve met you and seen your true colors for myself, I see I was right the first time.” He turned and cradled Conway’s head for a moment and then kissed his forehead. “I’m going to go see about Kail. Come with me?”

Conway smiled sadly and shook his head. “I still believe, Tion. I have to.”

Tion nodded and turned to the wizard. He made an effort to quench the blue fire that threatened in his eyes. “Kail is loud and angry, and Conway here is powerless and gentle. Both of them are more real to me than you.” He jumped down from the bench, turned, and peered over the top of the table. “Good night, wizard. Despite everything else, thank you for saving me and my love.”

Wylde flinched. “Good night,” he mumbled.

Conway
nestled into bed between the two sprites. “I gave my room to Wylde,” he had said when Tion answered the knock on his door.

Tion sighed and curled up against Conway’s chest. “I’m surprised Marvin let him stay.”

“I asked him to,” Conway said. “Told him I’d work double if he’d allow it.”

“You’re a good man, Conway. Did you know that?”

Conway shrugged, and Kail muttered in his sleep, jostled by the gesture. “Wylde said that too.”

“I hope he was sincere.”

Conway shrugged again, and Kail muttered sleepily, “About time you showed up, Oaf. I was getting cold.” He rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

Tion smiled to see him hug the human’s chest. As much as he loved the sprite, Tion still felt his heart swell whenever he caught glimpses of Kail’s true nature. That thought led him back to Wylde, and Conway. “Are you still afraid of him? Of Wylde, I mean?”

Conway shook his head. “No. We talked a bit when he went to bed. I still get a funny feeling when I look at him, but I think it’s mostly because I feel sorry for him.”

“Why?”

“
You
know, I don’t think I would have understood it if I hadn’t met you two. Until then, I didn’t really know how lonely I was.” Conway’s voice took on a pensive note, and Tion felt it thrum through his chest. “I think that’s why Wylde seems so angry. He doesn’t have anyone and he knows it.”

Deep in the forest, the woof howled, and Tion shuddered. Conway snugged him close, despite his own trembling. “I’m really glad he found you in time.”

Tion blew out the lamp. “Me too, lad, believe me.”

Tion
woke as Conway sat bolt upright, dumping him against the pillow. Kail snarled as he too hit the bed with a thump. “What the hell’s wrong with—”

Fierce snarls sounded in the square, and Conway leaped to the window. “It’s the woof! It’s the woof!”

“I really hate that phrase,” Kail snapped as he ran to the window and tucked under Conway’s arm to see. He slid aside as Tion joined them.

Faint starlight illuminated the shaggy beast as it pawed at the well. It swiped at the bucket hanging over the opening like a cat batting a toy, then whirled and growled as someone exited a shop and held up a torch. The woof snarled and charged, and the man screamed, throwing his torch and darting back into the building. The woof pawed at the door, and Tion had barely enough time to wonder why the thing didn’t just tear the door down when he heard a shout.

“Arms! To arms!” A figure darted out from the narrow gap between two of the oldest stone buildings, calling for the villagers to bring weapons. The woof whirled and charged, but the figure slipped back into the gap, apparently relying on the beast’s size and the narrow gap to keep him safe.

“We’ve got to help him,” Tion said, scrambling into his clothes.

“What in the hell can we do, Tion? Look at us!” Kail pulled on his breeches and boots and grabbed a shirt.

“I don’t know, damn it! We’re little, aren’t we? Maybe we can distract the thing and hide, like he did.” Tion pulled his shirt over his head. “All I know is we can't let anyone else get killed by that thing.”

“But why, Tion? They’re just humans.”

Tion froze. “Conway is human, you bastard.” He spoke coldly as he cinched his belt. “I don’t know you right now.”

“Conway’s different!” Kail shouted at Tion’s back as his partner left the room with the human in tow.

“He’s right, you know. This isn’t your fight.”

“It’s not yours, either. You don’t even live here, and yet here we are.” Tion pounded on doors as he ran for the stairs. Conway stopped long enough to beat on the door to his old room. He ran after Tion without waiting for a response.

Marvin was already stoking the big fireplace as Em lit the lamps. He was still in his nightshirt but had managed to get his boots on, at least. Outside, the woof howled again.

“The damn thing has never come into the village before,” Marvin said. He turned to Conway, who was taking the skillet from its peg. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“There’s a man outside that needs help,” Conway said simply. “We’re going to help him.”

“Wait for me.”

Tion paused at the door and turned to look. Wylde descended the stairs as he spoke. “I don’t think I’ll be much use, but I’ll try.”

Conway nodded and stood beside Tion. Kail followed the wizard down the stairs. “Me too, but I’m already gonna need a clean pair of pants.”

“Marvin, how much lamp oil do you have?” Wylde asked. He lifted the lamp hanging beside the door.

“A half case of small barrels or so, why? What are you thinking?”

“That I have no intention of dying in the dark. We need light, and if I have something to hand that will burn, I can give us some.” Marvin scurried toward the kitchen, and Wylde turned to Conway. “Come here, lad.” He put one hand on Conway’s head and the other on the huge frying pan. “Hold still.” The wizard muttered something strange and stepped back. Bright blue light flashed, blinding Tion for a moment. When he could see again, Conway held a large shield nearly as long as he was tall.

“It’ll take its strength from you, Conway, and it probably won’t hold its shape for long, but hopefully it will help.” Wylde motioned to the sprites. “You two, grab a stick of firewood. Hurry!”

Outside, Tion heard men yelling and the woof snarling. Someone screamed beyond the window as he ran to the wood crib and snatched two lengths of wood. He tossed one to Kail and stood before the wizard. “Wylde, I….”

“Hush now.” The wizard spoke gruffly. “You were right, and no matter what happens, I’m in your debt.” He grasped the firewood in the sprites’ hands and closed his eyes.

Blue light flared and swirled as the wizard muttered. It died away slowly this time, and instead of firewood, Tion held a gleaming pike in both hands. Kail held its twin.

“They won’t break,” Wylde said, gasping a little, “but they’re no good if there is no one to use them. Stay close to each other.”

Tion and Kail looked at each other sheepishly. Mute apology nevertheless sang out, and Kail nodded, smiling fiercely. Both sprites glowed as soft red light surrounded them and deepened to the bright orange of molten metal.

Marvin came back with a cask under each arm. “What’re you gonna do?” he asked as he handed the small barrels to Wylde.

“Wish I was ten years younger,” the wizard said, opening the door.

Torches
guttered and flared as men clustered around the woof, poking and jabbing with a bewildering array of farm gear. Rakes and shovels, a sickle, and a scatter of scythes served more to enrage the beast than do any real damage.

“Over here!” Wylde called as he strode toward the well at the center of the square. He set one of the casks at his feet and threw the other high into the air. “
Light
,” he commanded, gesturing at the falling cask. It froze in midair and burst into bright blue flame. The square flooded with light, and Tion groaned at the wreckage illuminated by the miniature sun.

Men and a few women lay strewn like jackstraws, some moving and some not. Those who could ran toward the well and the waiting wizard.

“Conway,” Wylde said, “get between them and the woof. Remember the shield draws from you!”

Conway nodded, hesitating only a moment, and ran toward the approaching woof. Tion shouted for Kail and followed him. When the last of the villagers had made it to the well, Conway planted the edge of the shield against the unyielding stone and braced his shoulder against the beast’s charge. The woof roared and launched itself high into the air and came down snarling against Conway’s shield. Blue-white light flared, momentarily brighter than Wylde’s little sun, and the woof howled with pain and frustration as it crumpled against Conway’s shield.

Despite the magical augmentation, Conway staggered back from the blow and fell to one knee. Tion and Kail leaned against him to lend their support as the woof charged again. More blue-white light flashed, and Conway groaned against the onslaught. “It feel like I’m being hit by a boulder,” he cried, and Tion grimaced.

“Kail! You go right, I’ll go left. Aim for its gut!”

Together, the sprites stepped out from behind Conway’s shield as the woof crashed against it a third time. When the flash of light faded, they jabbed in unison, and the woof howled its rage. It whirled and snapped, first left, then right, but the sprites had already retreated behind the human. The woof backed away and tried to circle around the shield, but Conway pivoted with it and gave it no quarter.

Blood, as black as tar in the wizard’s blue light, splashed across the stone as Tion and Kail darted in and out of Conway’s protection, jabbing and slashing in unison each time the beast charged and struck the shield.

“Guys, I can’t do this much longer!” Conway’s voice shook with exhaustion. “We aren’t killing it.”

Tion heard the wizard shouting to get the wounded inside, but he didn’t dare turn around to see.

“If we could just—” Conway cried out as the shield sapped more of his strength to ward off another of the woof’s thudding attack.

“Tion!” Kail panted. “Like we did to the Oaf!”

Tion nodded grimly, and together they dodged out and away from Conway just as the woof ran at them. They charged the woof’s flanks, but instead of stabbing, the sprites jammed their pikes between the woof’s flashing legs. The sound of snapping bone was sickeningly loud as the woof tangled in the unbreakable pikes and tumbled headfirst into Conway’s shield. Tion bounced backward to land skidding on the stone, and Kail flew in the opposite direction. Conway crumpled and fell beneath the shield, pinned beneath the weight of the crippled beast.

Tion sat up and saw his partner slumped against the wheel of a honey wagon. “Kail! Can you hear me?” He struggled to his feet and limped toward Kail, but the woof scrambled up on three legs and snarled. Tion cast about for his pike and spotted it a dozen yards away. Kail moaned, and the woof turned its head in his direction.

“No! Over here, ugly fucking thing. Come get me!” Tion edged toward the pike, waving his arms to draw the woof’s attention. “C’mon, woof! Puppy! Mangy dog!” In the back of his mind, Tion knew he was ranting, just as he knew his chances of reaching his weapon before the woof reached him were slim at best, but his thudding heart was filled with only one thing:
keep the beast away from Kail.
Movement caught at the corner of his eye, but he ignored it, not daring to look at anything but the woof as it limped toward him. Even on three legs, it would be fast. Tion bolted for his pike, and the wolf charged. As he feared, the thing was still fast, but before it reached him, the animal howled and whirled, biting and snapping at its flank and at the pike sticking out of it.

“All Kingdom Javelin Contest,” Wylde said blandly. “Winner, three years running.” He staggered, and the miniature blue sun flickered. “Hurry, Tion,” he said, and his voice held real anguish. “I can't hold all this magic much longer!”