Page 36 of Ceridor

Dunu glanced at my sister, then to the roll, then to me, and like a human child she seemed to piece together that I expected her to come with me when I stepped through the door. She was still a sprite, but her behavior had gotten more human-like the more time she'd spent with Effie.

I stepped out of the inn and turned around, holding out the roll. Dunu came with me and said "Danke"—Effie had lovingly taught her to not abbreviate it—and crammed it in her mouth.

Dunu followed me as I walked through town, accepting each new roll I'd offer up once she finished eating the prior one and grew impatient.

Ultimately Dunu wasn't very communicative—we could assume she'd come from the Danube river, and thus that her mother could be the Danube river goddess that Ulbrecht was wedded to, but in the end we didn't know what Dunu's objectiveswere. Ceridor worried over the ramifications of lighting Dunu's candles in Helvetican territory. If her rosary chains that held candles were connected to the lantern gods that protected Ulbrecht, then they needed to be in Danubian territory and out of Helvetica, lest it start a transnational power struggle between two neighbors.

So Dunu had to go, at least while we still knew so little. And while Dunu had not given us any reason to think she was sinister, we were erring on the side of caution.

Ceridor had taken the rosary beads that held the candles, and said he'd explain things in more detail on the road.

We came to the creek where she'd first found me. Dunu looked at the creek and then at me as I knelt to her height. Though her Helvetican German was only sparse, she clearly had a sharp intelligence. I therefore spoke to her in hopes that even if she didn't understand everything I said, that someone close to her would translate.

"Thank you for coming to visit us. My sister Effie has loved spending time with you. We will take the beads you gave us, and light the candles, but over there."

I pointed along the creek, where it met with the great river and ran due east, straight into Danubian territory.

"If you have more candles you want us to light, we'll do it there," I said, making it really clear that not here, but far in that direction, we'd give her what she wanted.

That was what Ceridor had insisted we tell her, because somehow these beaded chains and candles were connected to the lantern power in Danubian territory that my lover suspected was dangerous enough that it could spark wars and invasions on its own. Better to keep it out of Helvetican territory completely.

Dunu ate the last of the rolls, then she stepped in close and in surprise I realized she was coming in for a hug.

Wishing Effie could see this, I gave her a hug, then flinched when the little girl turned her face to the meaty juncture between my neck and shoulder and fucking chomped me.

I gasped and grabbed at the spot, shocked it didn't draw blood with how much it had hurt. Dunu stuck her nose in my hair and took a big whiff, then stepped back with a satisfied look.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what she'd done: she'd scented me so she could follow us. Though she'd bitten Ceridor's arm a while back, maybe she was smart enough to know that my lover could evade her more skillfully than I could.

I had half a mind to kick her into the water, frustrated she'd bitten me, but Dunu still looked enough like a young girl—albeit a kelpy, creepy one—that even after the chomp I just didn't have it in me.

Dunu sank into the water. Once her face submerged she hovered there, watching me for a moment. I pointed downstream, toward the river, out of Helvetica, through the Alps and into the central Danubian plains.

Ceridor's theory was that the power these beads and candles connected to was not necessarily on the side of humans and certainly didn't seem to care about human political borders. Since no less than the High King of the Danubian region was tied to that power, it was extremely unwise to have anything connected to it also cropping up over the border with his neighbors.

Dunu pointed just as I did, her image wobbling with the water, then shot down the stream, out of sight.

Not for the first time, I wondered whether the old innkeeper Hilda had been a witch or some kind of magic practitioner, though there was virtually no evidence for it. Why else would Dunu seek us out to light the candles for her?

Ceridor had been taking pains to make sure the lantern's power never crossed the border into Helvetican territory, onlyto have Dunu undercut his efforts and have Effie and I do it anyway.

Peter—Marit and Corbi's new partner—had also met Dunu and had been given a candle rosary like we had. In fact, as it was adorned with red jewels, it was likelyexactlythe one we had first lit at the inn. Peter and the monks were very careful to not light any candles in the rosary until they crossed into Danubian territory, but unbeknownst to them, my sister and I had already done it.

Including Ceridor and his apprentice Awariye, plus Marit the librarian and his partners Corbi and Peter, a group of monks was coalescing around this mysterious power, because the now-deceased mystic who had brought the power to Danubian territory had claimed that the power would protect Ulbrecht the High King. Since Ulbrecht had imposed a feeble peace on my blood-drenched homeland for eight years now, that absolutely sounded like something worth protecting, for the sake of Helvetica's stable border if nothing else.

I touched the water in the creek, reveling in the chilled temperature, and wondered—not for the first time—why on earth a creek sprite would be eager to spread fire around.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ceridor

Many tearful hugs were had with Effie and Magnus, and Johann promised over and over that we'd be back in time for Christmas.

The May Day Spring Festival on May first was coming up. Since it had been two years, Johann was dying to see his homeland, so we would cut into West Danube territory before turning back into the mountains and working our way south toward Diana Monastery.

Johann looped his fingers in mine and I sent him a smile. We were traveling light, just our packs and a days' food and water with us so we didn't have to stop much before getting to his former home and capital. We were in no rush and thus chose to walk. We could chat more easily this way, since I needed to fill him in on a lot of things we would be heading into. Security sensitive conversation was harder to do on horseback, especiallyon forest paths where we'd need to ride single file and constantly be scanning for anyone nearby.

"So tell me about this power," said Johann softly, bumping our shoulders together.

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