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

“Come here, little kitten!” he boomed out. “Don’t hide in the shadows! And bring your big friend with you!”


They walked down the closest aisle to the dais and climbed the stairs to where the Senator sat behind his desk. He rose to embrace Cat, a sort of quick half hug that was over almost before it began. A perfunctory act, Logan decided. A tradition that was not necessarily indicative of any true feelings.

Nevertheless, Cat was smiling. “Your words give hope, as always,” she said.

“A poor effort from a poor public servant. But what else do I have to offer?” The mouth was shoved to one side in his lumpy face, twisted and scarred like the rest of his features. But his voice was strong and compelling. His one good eye shifted to Logan. “You’ve made a new friend?”

“This is Logan,” she said. “I found him on his way into the city. He was heading for the compound.”

“No, no, no, Logan,” the Senator declared grimly. His ruined face twisted into something new. “You don’t want to go there. You don’t want to have anything to do with those people. They are selfish and greedy. They are evil.”

“They are probably scared,” Logan said.

The Senator smiled crookedly. “Why are you here?”

“He needs plague medicine for sick children,” Cat answered quickly. “I told him I would share what we have.”

“Sick children? Where are you taking them?”

Logan hesitated. “That’s a difficult question to answer. I’m still not sure. I’m searching for their home.”

The Senator’s gnarled features tightened. “Why not here? We have space for new arrivals. We have homes that can be opened to those seeking shelter.”

He paused. “Or are we not a suitable choice?”

“He already has a destination,” Cat interjected, giving a dismissive shrug to the suggestion. “Besides, he is not a constituent. He is a traveler passing through.”

The Senator stared at her. “You seem to have taken an unusual degree of interest in our friend, little kitten. Is there something you are not telling me?”

She gave him an exasperated-little-girl look. “Please don’t treat me like a child. I am doing for Logan what I would do for any visitor requiring help.

You have said over and over again that medical care for children is central to your political platform. Why is this suddenly a problem?”

The Senator seemed to consider this, his good eye fixed on her, unmoving and unblinking. Then he nodded. “It isn’t a problem, little kitten. As you say, we are here to help all who ask for it. We are not like those in the compound.” He pointed at her. “See that he finds what he needs. But remember our bargain.”

The girl nodded and said quietly, “You don’t need to remind me.”

The Senator eyed her sharply, and Logan wondered what they were talking about. He said, “I appreciate your help.”

The Senator’s gaze fixed on him. “I think you’ll need more help than I can give you.”

Logan stared at him uncertainly.

“Even here, even though we are Freaks, we have heard of those who carry the black staffs with the strange carvings. We have heard of the power you possess and the fear you inspire in your enemies. We could use a man of your talents should you change your mind and choose to stay.”

Logan shook his head. “I am not my own master in this business. I go where I am sent.”

Cat was looking at him in surprise, but she kept silent. The Senator’s mouth shaped itself into a crooked smile. “Maybe you were sent to us.”

“It would shorten my journey considerably,” Logan answered him, smiling back. “But I’m afraid I have to go on.”

“Then you had better get started,” the Senator declared, and waved him away dismissively.

TWO OF THE SENATOR’S LIZARD bodyguards followed them as they walked from the temple hall and into the darkness once more.

“Don’t say anything,” the girl told him quietly.

She took the lead, walking them back down the street they had just come up and then off to the west and into a district of collapsed buildings. Mounds of debris and rubble covered what must have been dozens of square blocks.

The entire area had the look of a war zone, and for as far as Logan could see in the moonlight there was nothing standing that was even halfway whole.

They were well into the center of the rubble, an unfathomable maze, when the girl turned into an opening between two partially collapsed walls and moved to a door that sagged open and splintered on its broken hinges. She stepped through the entrance into a room partially lit by moonlight that streamed down through a collapsed roof. Logan followed, but the Lizards remained outside. Debris lay in heaps against the walls and in the corner spaces. Without a word, she began pulling away stones and pieces of wood from one such pile. Logan was quick to help her, and within minutes they had uncovered a trapdoor.