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Valiant rolled his eyes, despairing of such distrust. "Their King has banned the trade in a number of very popular semiprecious stones. Fortunately, some of his subjects are still as interested as I in a healthy trade."
"I'm telling you, it smells of death." Fox's voice sounded even more hoarse than usual.
"You're welcome to try the main entrance!" Valiant sneered. "Maybe Jacob Reckless can become the first human to saunter into the King's fortress without ending up cast in amber."
Clara his her hands behind her back as if she could make them forget whom they'd touched.
Jacob avoided looking at her. He reloaded his pistol and fetched a few things from his saddlebags: the snuffbox, the green glass vial, the looking glass, and Chanute's knife. Then he filled his pockets with bullets.
Fox was sitting under the bushes. As Jacob approached her, she cowered, as she'd done when he first found her caught in the trap.
"Keep a lookout for Goyl patrols," he said. "Better hide the horses between the rocks. And if I'm not back by tomorrow evening, you take her back to the tower."
Her. He didn't even dare say her name.
"I don't want to stay with her."
"Please, Fox."
"You won't come back. Not this time."
She bared her fangs, but she didn't bite. Her bites had always carried love.
"Reckless." The Dwarf poked him impatiently in the back with the butt of his rifle. "I thought you were in a hurry."
Valiant had refashioned the rifle into a rather bizarre weapon. There were rumors that in Dwarf hands, metal could even grow roots.
Jacob got up.
Clara was till standing by the stream. She turned away as he approached, but Jacob pulled her with him. Away from the Dwarf. Away from Fox and her anger.
"Look at me."
She wanted to free herself, but he held on to her, even though it set his heart racing once again.
"It meant nothing, Clara! Nothing!"
Her eyes were dark with shame.
"You love Will. Do you hear me? If you forget that, we can't help him. Nobody can."
She nodded, but in her eyes he saw the same madness he still felt himself. How long would it last?
He took her hands. "You wanted to know what I'm planning to do. I'm going to find the Dark Fairy and get her to give Will his skin back."
He saw the shock in her eyes and put his finger on her lips. "Fox can't know about this," he whispered. "She'll just try to follow me. But I swear to you, I will find her, you will wake Will, and everything will be okay."
He wanted to hold her. He'd never wanted anything so badly. But he let go.
Jacob didn't look back as he followed the Dwarf into the night. And Fox did not come after him.
35
In The Earth's Womb
Fox had been right. The cave Valiant led Jacob to smelled of death, and you didn't need a vixen's delicate nose to detect it. Jacob took just one glance inside and knew immediately what creature dwelled there. The floor was littered with bones. Ogres dwelled surrounded by their leftovers and, contrary to popular belief, not only ate humans but also gorged themselves on Dwarfs and Goyl. Items strewn among the bones hinted at the people who had died here; a pocket watch; the torn sleeve of a dress; a child's shoe, heart-wrenchingly small; a notebook, the writing rendered illegible by dried blood.
Jacob's first instinct was to return and warn Clara, but Valiant made him go on. "Don't worry," he whispered. "The Goyl took care of all the Ogres around here a long time ago. But, lucky for us, they never found this tunnel."
