Descent into the Depths of the Earth Read Online Free

‘muscle confirmation’.”
    “That just happen to be shaped like cute itty bitty dimples!”
    Jus nursed his pride with a sniff and rearranged his sword
again.
    There was something odd about the village. Something disquieting. Jus knew Cinders had sensed it, though the hell hound had seen
nothing invisible. There were no traps and apparently no creatures lurking
underneath the floors, yet there was a sense of imminence, as though something
dark and sinister had the place on its mind.
    For her part, Escalla had no suspicions. She seemed to have
other troubles on her mind. Coming to the edge of her bath, she looked out of
the cooking pot at the Justicar.
    “This is kind of a nice place though, huh?” The girl waved a
nervous hand about the room. “It’s a convenient little stop. Did you see all the
squirrels? Those things are really cute!”
    “Very.”
    “I like them. Too bad we can’t stop. We should get out of
here first thing tomorrow.” Escalla sighed and sniffed the delicious smell of
frying in the kitchen. “I thought we only had hard tack left. What’s for
dinner?”
    “Just eat it. You’ll love it.”
    The faerie squirted water through her clasped hands. “So are
we leaving at dawn?”
    “Maybe.” The Justicar heaved a sigh. “Polk’s gotten us lost.
We’ll have to circle around, find a settlement, and figure out just where we are
so we can plan a route.”
    “Will it take long?”
    The Justicar rose half out of his barrel, stretching and
cracking his shoulders. His skin was pale where his armor always covered him,
but his head and hands were tanned. “You’re very keen for us to keep heading for
Hommlet.”
    “Yeah.” The faerie shrugged, sat up, and began to wring out
her long blonde hair. “There’s something weird about these woods, something…
I don’t know. It makes me feel creepy. I just want to get out of here.” The girl
sighed. “I wanna go to Hommlet. We’ve got the deeds, man! Still, I want to make
sure no one’s really unhappy about it or anything.”
    “No one’s unhappy.” Jus watched Escalla for a long moment,
strangely pleased by the efficient way she wound her wet hair into a towel and
tied it into a turban. “Most everything has good in it. You just have to know
where to look.”
    With her slim, naked back to him, Escalla’s little wings
gracefully fanned themselves dry. “I’ve never really been told that I have much
good in me.”
    Jus knew when to listen. He rose out of his bath and sat with
a towel wound about his middle, leaning forward onto his hairy knees and
watching her in silence. Slim and strangely graceful, Escalla quietly wound
herself inside a towel. She turned to look over at him, her face thin, her shape
tiny and vulnerable.
    “I lived alone for a long time, Jus. A long, long time.” The
girl turned away and pulled her towel tight. “Thanks. You know, just for… for
stuff.”
    Jus studied the faerie for a long, quiet moment. She fidgeted
with her towel, staring at a puddle of bath water on the floor. Jus had never
gotten on particularly well with people. He did what he had to in order to
follow clues, sift information, and feel the pulse of a town, but his days and
nights were spent in the company of his own thoughts. First Cinders and then
Escalla had come to knock on the doors of his citadel, and now his days of
solitude were over.
    Trudging damply over to Escalla’s side, the man took her
small hand into his fingers, squeezed softly—and then turned to wander off and
find his clothes.
    “Dinner’s done.”
    Escalla looked down at her hand and gave a rueful little
smile. Wavering up into the air, she flew off in search of Cinders, hoping he
hadn’t eaten too much brown coal before blowing her hair dry. Polk ran past her
through the kitchen holding plates of surprisingly glittery-looking meat. There
was whiskey in the jug and a fire in the grate. All in all it seemed the village
offered them a cheery