Part 24 (2/2)
”Uh-” Esk said.
”Don't tell me, let me guess. She embarra.s.sed you.”
”It's amazing how often I do that,” Bria remarked innocently. ”I must be very clumsy about outside world ways.”
”To be sure,” Latia agreed dryly. ”Well, I'm here to report that the path continues beyond. It's an odd scene, but presumably it is what we want.”
They stepped through the mirror. The other side was indeed strange; instead of being a mirror, it seemed like a clear pane of gla.s.s, showing the path they had just come from. A one-way mirror-what strange magic!
The path ahead was gla.s.s, too, reflective in the manner of the lake surface. The scenery to the sides was odder yet; it was all of gla.s.s. The brush was greenly tinted gla.s.s, and the trees had brownly tinted trunks and greenly foliage. A grayly tinted gla.s.s rabbit bounded away as they approached, and a redly tinted gla.s.s bird sailed overhead.
”It reminds me of home, a little,” Bria said. ”Only there everything is of bra.s.s.”
”We'll get you home when we can,” Esk rea.s.sured her.
”Oh, I'm not homesick! This is a wonderful adventure. I'm just comparing.”
The gla.s.sy forest opened out into a gla.s.sy plain, with many gla.s.s blades. Creamly tinted gla.s.s animals glazed on it. They made gla.s.sy moo-sounds and moo-ved away, worried by the nongla.s.s intruders.
Glazed? Grazed, Esk realized. Then again- Then a gla.s.sy unicorn charged up, ridden by a gla.s.sy man. The man dismounted and strode toward the party, drawing a s.h.i.+ning gla.s.s blade. He spoke with the sound of breaking cutlery, brandis.h.i.+ng the weapon. ”Your gla.s.s will be a.s.s!”
”No,” Esk said, realizing that the gla.s.sy man meant mischief.
The man changed his mind. He remounted his gla.s.s steed, and they galloped away, sending up a cloud of gla.s.s dust.
”Let's move on through here quickly,” Latia suggested. ”I don't think these folk are friendly.”
They hurried on along the path. Soon they came to another sheet of gla.s.s. ”This should be our exit,” Latia said. ”But I'll just check. You two can get back to what you were doing.” She stepped through the gla.s.s, and they watched her walk around a curve in the path beyond.
”What were we doing?” Bria inquired brightly.
”Uh-”
”Oh, yes, I was apologizing to you. I don't remember what for, but better safe than sorry.”
”But you don't need to-”
Her warm kiss cut him off. He decided that it was pointless to protest. Bria was correct: she could be very soft when she chose to be.
Yet her body was entirely bra.s.s, and some of her ways were bra.s.sy too. Any expectations he might have were foolish. He knew this; in fact he was absolutely sure of this. Yet somehow he doubted.
Latia returned, coming around the curve and stepping through the gla.s.s. ”Yes, it's our path,” she reported. ”And it seems to be near the ogre fen.”
”Oh? How do you know?” Esk asked.
”Oh, nothing specific. Trees twisted into pretzels, boulders cracked with hairy fist marks on them, dragons slinking about as if terrified of anything on two legs. Perhaps I am mistaken.”
Esk didn't press the case.
They stepped through the gla.s.s. Esk turned to look back, and it was a mirror, showing nothing of the gla.s.sies beyond. That had been another interesting experience!
Latia had described the terrain accurately. They were definitely in ogre country. Esk felt nervous; he had ogre ancestry, but little direct experience with full ogres. This could be a disaster.
Soon they heard a great cras.h.i.+ng, as of trees getting knocked down. An ogre stomped into view, carelessly sweeping brush and rocks aside with one ham fist while picking his monstrous yellow teeth with the tenpenny nails of the other ham hand.
This seemed like a worse and worse idea. This was a plain animal brute! The ogre stood twice Esk's height, and was so ugly that clouds of smog formed wherever it glanced.
”Oooo, what a beast!” Bria murmured admiringly.
The ogre heard her. His s.h.a.ggy puss swung around to aim at her. ”What this me see-one tiny she!” he exclaimed.
”We came to talk to you ogres,” Esk called.
Now the ogre spied the rest of the party. ”He walk, to talk?” Ogres lacked facility with p.r.o.nouns, because they were very stupid.
”Yes, we walk to talk,” Esk said. ”Please take us to your leader.”
The ogre scratched his hairy head. Giant fleas dodged out of the way of his dirty nail. ”Want to take, no mistake?”
”No mistake,” Esk agreed.
”Okay, you say!” And the ogre reached out and grabbed Esk, hauled him up, and jammed him into the huge backpack he wore. Then he grabbed Latia and Bria and treated them similarly, ”I hope you know what he's doing,” Latia muttered.
”I hope so too,” Esk muttered back.
The ogre strode on, shoving brush and trees out of his way, while the pack jogged violently with his motion. The three clung to the rim and the straps, because getting bounced out would lead to a painful fall.
The ogre arrived at an ogre village. There was a huge fire in its center, beside which sat a great black pot.
”Heat pot!” the ogre bellowed. ”Me got!”
”Uh-oh,” Esk said. The pot was full of water, but he could see some bones in the bottom. They reminded him of Marrow, and that was not rea.s.suring.
The ogre swung the pack off and brought it to the pot. He began to invert it.
”No!” Esk cried.
Perplexed, the ogre paused. ”No so?”
”We came to talk, not to be cooked!” Esk yelled.
Other ogres had appeared, including several females. If the males were ugly, the females were appalling. ”We look, not cook?” one inquired, scratching her head so vigorously that the lice scattered in terror.
”We want your help for the voles!” Esk cried, wis.h.i.+ng he had never undertaken this foolish mission.
”Put vole in bowl!” another ogre exclaimed, smacking his lips with a sound that startled the birds from a distant tree.
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