The Elves of Cintra (Book 2 of The Genesis of Shannara)

Delloreen hated the Klee, calling it an animal and disdaining it as an unthinking monster that knew nothing but killing. She wasn’t wrong, but she missed the point. It was because the Klee was all this that Findo Gask found it useful.

Once, it had been a man, a long time ago before he had encountered it in the ruins of a town amid so many dead that he could scarcely believe a single creature had killed them all. Once, it had been human. What had changed it was anybody’s guess. The Klee never talked. It barely listened, and it listened mostly to Findo Gask.

The huge demon slogged out of the quicksand and mud to stand close to him, bent forward expectantly. It knew he had come for a reason, and he knew that the reason involved what it craved most.

“I want you to find somebody for me,” Findo Gask said. “A Faerie creature, but it will have another form. I will give you a sense of what it will feel like, and you will be able to unmask it from that.”

The Klee shifted from one foot to the other, a slow ponderous movement that signaled its understanding. From somewhere deep within its chest, a strange wheezing sound rumbled.

Findo Gask smiled. That was the Klee’s expression of satisfaction.

He reached out and touched the demon boldly on the chest with one finger. “Find this Faerie creature, and when you do, kill it,” he said.





Chapter TWENTY-SIX


REUNITED FOLLOWING Candle’s kidnapping by the boy with the ruined face and Logan Tom’s search for plague medicine through the dark streets of Tacoma, the Ghosts continued their slow journey south. Departing their camp outside the city while it was still night and there was a reasonable chance that the Senator hadn’t yet discovered the loss of his “property,” they rolled south on the AV and attached hay wagon in the manner of their namesakes, shadows sliding through darkness. Catalya showed them the way, taking them off the freeway and through backstreets that bypassed the Senator’s stronghold and the places where he was likely to have stationed sentries to warn him of trespassers. By dawn, they were well outside the city and moving steadily away.

Owl, riding inside the Lightning with River and Fixit, gave her charges strong doses of the serum that Cat had brought with her from her secret stash, covered both children with blankets, bathed them with cool cloths, and talked them through their feverish dreams in her soft, reassuring voice. Both began showing improvement almost immediately, their temperatures dropping and their restless discomfort turning to a deep sleep. Within twenty-four hours, their purple splotches began to fade, as well, and it became apparent that both would recover.

Logan could tell himself with some conviction that things were progressing well enough that he no longer needed to consider leaving the Ghosts behind while he continued his search for Hawk. His fears over the possibility that shepherding a bunch of street kids would slow him down and burden him with unnecessary responsibilities had faded after the previous night’s events.

It seemed to him now, in the light of the new day, that the kids could shoulder responsibility for themselves sufficiently that he needn’t feel that he must do so for them, and while that seemingly should have given him further reason to go on alone, it had quite the opposite effect. Given the freedom to leave, he found he no longer wanted to. The idea of abandoning the Ghosts had grown increasingly distasteful to him, and he found that he was more comfortable having things continue on the way they were.

Which wasn’t to say he might not change his mind later.

Events might one day dictate that he do so; you could never tell. But for now, at least, he could let the matter alone and simply concentrate on the journey ahead.

The only problem was Cat. As he had feared, and she had suspected, she was not universally accepted by the other kids. Panther, not surprisingly, was the most vociferous, calling her Freak to her face and making it clear to all that he did not think she belonged with them, no matter what she had done to earn the privilege. Chalk took the same stance and, surprisingly, Sparrow. Perhaps the latter’s near-death encounter with the Croaks while they were fleeing Seattle had helped shape her thinking. Perhaps it was something she wasn’t telling them. But while keeping mostly silent on the matter, she nodded often enough while Panther was holding forth that Logan Tom had no doubt about where she stood. She, too, had no use for the girl who was neither one thing nor the other.

The rest were more welcoming. Owl embraced Cat immediately and told her they were happy to have her travel with them, ignoring the groans and looks offered in counterpoint by Panther. Candle took her hand and walked with her during their first day on the road, a small gesture that made Logan proud of her.