“Good,” said the voice. “Now don’t make any sudden moves, and—”
“If we were going to make any, we would have made them while we still had the knife,” Chantel pointed out.
“—And,” said the voice, “take all your money and tie it in a handkerchief, and toss it up here.”
“We haven’t got any money,” said Bowser.
“I left my handkerchief at home,” said Anna.
“I don’t know if we could throw that high, anyway,” said Chantel. “And we don’t know which side of the gully you’re on.”
“Both sides! I told you,” said the voice, still with that awful twang. “We have you surrounded. However, you should throw it on this—I mean, on the north side.”
There had been a high squeak at the end of surrounded.
“I think it’s just kids,” Chantel told Anna and Bowser.
“No whispering!” drawled the voice.
It was hard to be circumspect when you had a snake in your head. “I’m not afraid of you,” she called up at the weeds. “I think you’re just kids.”
A crossbow bolt zipped past her ear and buried itself in the ground.
“I think you shouldn’t have said that,” Anna remarked unnecessarily.
Chantel shivered. Not because of the crossbow bolt. It was getting dark, and a chill had begun to settle in. Shadows filled the bottom of the gully.
“It’s cold down here,” she said. “We’re going to come out.”
“Chantel, they’ve got crossbows,” said Anna.
“And we don’t,” said Chantel, loudly. “We’re unarmed. They have nothing to fear from us.”
“Can we climb up?” Bowser called. “Without you shooting us?”
“Wait!” said the voice above. “Let me—us—let us consult our comrades at arms. Each other, I mean.”
There was a sound of murmuring from above. It all seemed to come from one side of the gully, and from the same spot.
“All right,” said the voice. “But leave your knife down there.”
It was nearly dark now. Chantel started climbing. Bowser picked up the crossbow bolt and stuck it in his belt. Chantel had the impression that he also picked up his knife at the same time.
It was much harder climbing up the slope than falling down it. Chantel kept stepping on her robe. Most of the plants she grabbed to pull herself up were prickly. She uprooted one by mistake and nearly fell. Finally she arrived at the top, even dirtier and more beprickled than before, and having uttered even more dire swearwords. Despite the sheer misery of the situation, she couldn’t help but notice that nothing bad had happened when she swore. Somehow she’d always assumed that, at the very least, the sky would fall.
It was dark up here, too. Twilight was edging toward night.
Chantel reached down and pulled Anna up the last couple feet, and they futilely brushed dirt off each other’s robes. Bowser scrambled up after them.
“Right,” said the voice, now much closer and definitely cracking. “So put your hands on top of your head and—”
“You’re the ones with the crossbows,” said Chantel. “Why are you scared of us?”
“I’m not scared!” the voice snapped, from deep in the night-shrouded thicket.
“All right, you’re not scared,” said Chantel. “Are you going to come out and let us see you?”
“Chantel,” said Anna warningly.
“They’ve got crossbows,” Bowser said.
There was a rustling sound, and a Marauder emerged from the brush.
As best as Chantel could see in the darkness, the Marauder, just one Marauder, was about five feet tall and had red hair that stuck up, and front teeth that stuck out. His nose was slightly crooked, as if someone had broken it for him sideways. His eyes had an amused look that was doing its best to conceal a hunted look . . . he’d been running from things, Chantel thought. He held the crossbow so casually in front of him that Chantel was afraid it might go off by accident.
“Who’re you?” said Chantel.
“Pardon her,” said Anna. “She’s got a snake in her head.” She curtseyed. “I’m Anna Bellringer, of Miss Ellicott’s School, and this is Chantel Goldenrod, and Bowser Stepmonger.”
Bowser appeared to consider bowing and then discard the idea as ridiculous. The Marauder was no older than they were.
“Who’re you?” Chantel repeated.
“Franklin,” said the Marauder. “Are you from the walled city?”
“Yes, Lightning Pass,” said Anna, managing to stop herself from curtseying again. “And we’re lost. We came through the catacombs and we ended up out here, and now we need to know how to get back again.”
“Catacombs?” Franklin looked interested. “You can get into the city that way?”
“Absolutely not,” said Chantel, recognizing the danger. “There are hordes of bloodthirsty fiends, plus some vampires and a really grumpy zombie. And a dragon,” she added for good measure.
“Wow. You got away from all of that?” said Franklin.
“We’re very fast runners,” said Anna.
“Plus they’re sorceresses,” said Bowser.
Franklin had lowered the crossbow, but now he raised it again. “Good ones or evil ones?”
“Good,” said Bowser at the same time that Chantel said, “Evil.”
“Can you tell us how to get to the city gates?” said Chantel.
“Do you really need gates, sorceress?” Franklin looked skeptical. “Don’t you have magical ways to get through the wall?”
“No magic can get you through Seven Buttons,” said Chantel firmly.
Franklin shrugged. “The only gate is down to the south, at the harborside. That’s where you Lightning Pass folks trade with the outside world, without letting anybody actually come into your precious city. Don’t you even know that?”
“Of course we know it,” said Chantel. “But we don’t know how to get there. So if you could show us—”
“Wait a minute.” The Marauder boy raised his crossbow again. “You’re forgetting that I’ve captured you. You’re not going anywhere unless I say so.”
Chantel had never seen a crossbow pointed straight at her before. She found the experience rather exhilarating. It cut through all the usual nonsense of life, the veiled threats and the worries about the future and about people not liking you and about not being good enough. A crossbow was immediate and real.
Besides, she had a snake in her head. Chantel took a step toward the boy.
“Chantel!” said Bowser urgently.
“Don’t move again or I’ll shoot,” said Franklin. The crossbow didn’t waver. “I’ve shot people before.”
The look in his eye said he meant it. Chantel had to admit she’d assumed he hadn’t. But she found she still wasn’t frightened.
“Fine,” she said. “I won’t move. So now that you’ve captured us, what are you going to do with us? We don’t have any money. We don’t have anything worth stealing.”
Franklin looked nonplussed.
“And you’re all alone,” she went on. “How long can you keep that crossbow pointed at us?”
“Chantel—” said Anna.
“Look.” The crossbow wavered. “You can’t go around telling people you’re a sorceress. There are people who would kill you for it.”
“Is sorcery illegal in the Roughlands?”
“The what?” said Franklin.