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“Then I’m not going with you and you can just stay here bound. Better bound than dead.”
I felt the blood leave my cheeks as I looked at him.
“Is what we’ll be facing that dangerous?” I asked, my voice coming out in a whisper.
He shrugged.
“It might be—it’s up to Baba Yaga. She might not send anything at all against us—but usually she wants people to prove themselves. And if she sends something to fight, then I need room to fight. I don’t want to have to worry about you getting between my war hammer and whatever it is I’m fighting.”
I had a sudden image of that enormous metal hammer coming at my head and winced.
“Okay, point taken. I just hate to hide while you do all the fighting. It doesn’t seem very, uh, feminist of me.”
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Are you trained in some kind of combat skill?”
“Well…no,” I admitted grudgingly.
“Then it’s not cowardly or ‘unfeminist’ to hide,” Rath told me. “I just want to know you’re safe. If your magic was unbound, you could cast some spells for me but since you’re bound and you’re not trained in combat, the best thing you can do is just stay out of my way. Okay?”
“All right,” I said reluctantly.
“Good. Then we’re on the same page and we can go.” He nodded.
“Wait—before you do, I need to clean up a few things in the kitchen,” I told him. “And do you have a friend who could come and check on Sebastian in case we don’t get back tonight?”
He thought for a minute, then nodded.
“Sure, let me make a call.”
“Great—thanks.” I nodded and ducked into the kitchen. When he’d been talking about fighting, I’d had an idea. It might not be a very good one, but it was better to be prepared.
It only took me a moment and then I was ready to go. Well, as ready as I was going to get anyway.
I had no idea of the danger that awaited us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
After petting Sebastian one more time, Rath and I left my Grandma’s house and headed across the bridge. But once across it, instead of turning to the right towards town, we turned to the left. Both of us were carrying packs and Rath also had his enormous war hammer over one broad shoulder.
“If you ever need to leave the barrier, just walk away from town in any direction,” Rath told me. “In about twenty or thirty minutes, you’ll find yourself stepping across into the outside world.”
“How will I know it’s the outside world?” I asked curiously. “I mean, what if it just happens to be the same season outside as it is in the bubble when I cross over?”
“You’ll feel a tingling sensation all over your body,” he told me. “And you might see a kind of rainbow shimmer in the air. It’s sort of like stepping through an enormous soap bubble, if that makes any sense.”
It didn’t really, but I guessed I would find out.
And find out, I did—about twenty minutes later. We were walking along, talking—Rath was obviously shortening his long stride so I could keep up with him without running—when suddenly he came to a halt and took a deep breath.
“All right—this is it,” he murmured to me. “Do you see it?”
I squinted my eyes and sure enough, I saw a wavery, rainbow shimmer in the air in front of us. It really did look like a giant soap bubble.
“I see it,” I said, nodding.
“Good. As soon as we cross through the barrier, I’ll state our intentions. Unless you want to be the one to do it?” he added, raising his eyebrows.
